For You 73

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#73

As soon as the two of us entered the room, Kara turned around and approached me. She wiped away the tears flowing down my cheeks with her sleeve. She dabbed gently so as not to irritate my skin, which made me feel sorry for causing her more worry.

“What happened?”

“Kara.”

I slightly extended the sword I was holding toward Kara. Although it appeared different due to the magic cast on it, there was no way Kara wouldn’t recognize what this sword was.

Kara’s face hardened when she saw the sword in my hands. It seemed that only now did she notice what had been obscured by my tearful appearance.

“That sword…”

“Kara, there’s a problem.”

At my words, Kara’s eyes changed. It was an expression I’d never seen before. She became more solemn, her eyes intensifying. She looked like someone who had already predicted what I was about to say.

“The sword, it’s not moving.”

The sword had told me to find Kara if I was in danger. So I thought she would understand my meaning with just this much information.

“Let me check it for a moment.”

Having grasped the situation, Kara didn’t ask for details and immediately said she would examine the sword. I nodded and extended the sword to her. Kara placed her hand over the sword in my grip and channeled magic into it.

Blue magical energy seeped into the dark blade before dispersing into the air and disappearing. The sight of the magic particles breaking apart made me even more anxious.

Kara deeply furrowed her brow and took the sword from my hands.

“Stay here.”

“What?”

“I’ll be back shortly.”

“Wait, Kara!”

I tried to follow her as she was about to leave the room. But Kara blocked my path and gripped my shoulders.

“Wait here.”

Kara spoke firmly, as if there was nothing more I could do. I knew I was powerless, but I didn’t realize it was to this extent. This happened because I lacked strength, because I couldn’t make the right judgments, because I was naive. There were many reasons, but ultimately it was because of me.

If that was the case, I at least wanted to know why things had turned out this way. I didn’t want to make the stupid mistake of escalating the situation due to my ignorance.

I snatched the sword back from Kara’s hands. Her eyes widened, clearly not expecting me to assert myself so strongly.

“Kara, you know something, don’t you?”

“Young Master Andelion.”

Even though there was a demonic sword in the Duke’s residence, the employees of the household pretended not to know of its existence. They seemed to think it was just a somewhat special sword. I had thought the Duke had cast a spell on this sword, but that wasn’t the case.

Some of them knew but chose to remain silent. And Kara was no exception.

“You must know it’s a demonic sword. And you must know why it’s like this now, don’t you?”

Kara’s eyes widened at my words. Perhaps she thought I would be the only one who didn’t know this sword was demonic. How could that be? A talking sword—I’d never heard of such a thing. Even without knowing the original story, it was an easy fact to figure out that this sword was demonic.

“I can’t hear its voice.”

“Pardon?”

“It always spoke to me, but since last night, I can’t hear its voice.”

If you want to hear the secret someone is hiding, you need to reveal what you’ve been concealing. I had never told anyone that I could hear the sword’s voice. I was worried that if word got out, the Duke might take the sword from me or try to obtain the sword’s power more quickly through me.

“You could hear the sword’s voice?”

I knew it sounded absurd. But I didn’t think Kara would disbelieve me. If she knew something about this sword, she would understand what I was saying.

Kara looked at the sword in my hands with a shocked expression. I could see her struggling with whether to tell me something or not.

I had no intention of backing down. The tears that had flowed uncontrollably had long since stopped. That’s how resolute I was as I faced Kara.

“Please, Kara. What’s wrong with the sword? What should I do?”

Kara let out a small, pained sound, closed her eyes, and then slowly opened them.

“The ‘sword’ that spoke to you, Young Master Andelion, is not visible inside this.”

“…What?”

“There’s no time to explain further now. We need to show this to the Duke. Fortunately, he hasn’t gone to the palace yet…”

Just then, the door to the reception room opened, and the Duke entered. I never expected the Duke to come in person. Of course, I had planned to show the sword to the Duke as a last resort, but I hadn’t anticipated him coming directly.

Whatever he had heard, his face looked somewhat urgent. His clothes weren’t properly arranged, and his hair, which was always neatly combed back, was naturally falling over his forehead. Moreover, the first words the Duke uttered upon entering made my jaw drop.

“Andelion, are you alright?”

Ignoring Kara beside me, the Duke came right up to me and raised his hand as if to touch my face, but stopped mid-air. I could see him checking my condition, unable to bring himself to actually touch me.

I knew that the Duke cared about me a little—just a tiny bit—because I was important for the Duke’s future.

My eyes met the Duke’s as he looked at me. With his lips pressed together in displeasure, he appeared as if he was genuinely worried about me.

Unable to say anything, I clutched the sword that I had just taken back from Kara. It felt like I had to.

The sword had told me to go to Kara if something was wrong with it. It said the best option would be to go to the Duke, but since it could see I was reluctant, going to Kara would be fine too. Even when the sword itself was in danger, it considered my feelings.

When it was in a dangerous situation itself. Why did it consider me even then?

I took a deep breath and extended the sword toward the Duke.

“The sword, it’s not speaking.”

The Duke’s eyes widened slightly at my words.

“Please help me, Father.”

It was time to accept the Duke’s help.

As soon as he heard my words, the Duke turned his gaze to Kara. Without saying anything, Kara nodded and gently took the sword from my grip, extending it to the Duke.

“He’s not in here.”

The Duke’s eyes widened at those words. Then he turned to look at me, his face appearing extremely confused. He must have thought this was something I shouldn’t hear. Indeed, the conversation between the two of them was difficult even for me to comprehend fully. Not in the sword? It was as if something was supposed to be inside this sword.

That also meant that the entity that had been speaking to me all this time wasn’t the ‘sword’ itself.

“Kara.”

“How long do you plan to keep hiding it?”

The Duke reached out to take the sword from Kara. But Kara hid the sword behind her back and glared at the Duke fiercely. I had never seen Kara treat the Duke like this before, when she had always been respectful.

“Did you think it would be possible?”

“Hand it over.”

“Young Master Andelion says he heard the voice.”

As soon as Kara’s words fell, the room was filled with silence. The Duke swallowed briefly and nodded as if he understood. Only then did Kara extend the sword she had been hiding behind her back to the Duke. The Duke carefully received the sword from Kara and raised one hand to slowly run his finger along the blade.

From where the Duke’s finger touched, the magic began to unravel, revealing the sword’s original appearance. The pitch-black blade, reflective enough to see one’s face, seemed to emanate an ominous aura. Indeed, that sword looked most fitting in the Duke’s hand. The Duke, who had been slowly examining the sword, turned his gaze to look at me.

My body naturally flinched. The Duke approached me, still holding the sword. It felt like he might stab me with that sword at any moment. I thought it wouldn’t happen with Kara present, but I couldn’t predict how he would react if he thought the situation had become complicated.

I withstood the Duke’s gaze and waited for him to speak. The Duke slowly extended the sword he was holding toward me. Thinking he wanted me to take it, I grasped the sword that had briefly left my hand.

Although I had never properly wielded this sword, I had held it many times and thought it had become somewhat familiar to my hand, but it seemed I was wrong. The sword the Duke handed me felt as unfamiliar as if I were seeing it for the first time. Not wanting to admit this fact, I gripped the sword handle even more tightly.

“How is it?”

“You’re right. He’s not here. I’ll go to the palace first. Something must have happened…”

“What do you mean he’s not here?”

It seemed they didn’t want to explain the details to me. But I couldn’t back down. If I retreated now, all my efforts in asking the Duke for help, despite the risks, would be in vain. I couldn’t let that happen.

Realizing I wouldn’t back down, the Duke let out a small sigh. A sigh? The Duke sighing? Somehow, it was hard to believe.

“There’s no time to explain. I’ll tell you the details later.”

The Duke saying he would explain? Was this really the Duke I knew? Throughout everything—from the original story to being born here and all the moments I had spent with him until now—I had never seen the Duke like this. I nodded, dumbfounded.