#84
“…beside me?”
“You…”
The rest of the words became faintly blurred. The Duke, who couldn’t complete his sentence, looked at me directly.
“To protect you.”
The sword still wants to protect me. Isn’t that true even now? It probably thinks that its own body suffering pain is a hundred, a thousand times better than me being in danger. I don’t understand why the sword feels that way. What am I that it wants to protect me so much?
“I don’t understand. What am I that it would protect me? I’m nothing…”
“You are not nothing.”
The Duke’s voice that just pierced my ears sounded so painful. I couldn’t understand why the Duke was speaking as if he felt sorry for me. Had he ever paid this much attention to me? Come to think of it, contrary to the rumors outside that I was an abandoned son, the Duke had tried to have dinner with me whenever possible and tried to grant whatever I wanted.
Not giving a single warm word or sincere interest, the Duke had nevertheless been beside me in his own way.
“Andelion, aren’t you my son?”
A statement without any modifiers struck my heart painfully. Because the adjective that he didn’t utter came to my mind.
Was I perhaps your ‘precious’ son?
At that moment, all the futures I had known shattered.
I had a vague feeling that this might be the case. Since the flow had already diverged from the original work, I had a premonition that the Duke could also be different from the original, but I had tried to ignore it.
Since when had I stopped fearing the Duke’s gaze as much as before?
Probably since he placed the sword in my hands. The Duke, who gave me the sword while still worried, looked awkwardly out of character. It was the first time I had seen his face unfamiliar with everything. I was so fascinated by this new side of him that I couldn’t take my eyes off him for a while without realizing it.
“Then, why…”
Despite this, the Duke had tried to maintain distance from me. He only met me out of obligation and didn’t try to come any closer. That distance, which couldn’t be bridged, was too great for me.
As if the Duke understood those feelings, he nodded in agreement with my words.
“Because that was the right method.”
“The right, method?”
The Duke, who had been keeping his mouth shut, looked into my eyes and opened his mouth.
“I was planning to overthrow this country.”
For a moment, my body trembled. He was now telling me the future I had known.
“I thought it would be better for you to stay as far away as possible from me, who would become a danger to this country.”
His words made sense yet weren’t fully accepted. Wasn’t there already a better way to keep me distant?
“Then I thought it would be better to separate us from the time you were born.”
When I said that much, a bitter emotion rose on the Duke’s face. Without explanation, I could understand what he was thinking now.
Perhaps it was the Duke’s paternal love. Though he knew it would be safer the more distanced we were, he couldn’t push me away until the very end.
“I’m sorry.”
I thought that the words that had popped out unconsciously might have been a great wound to him. Just until yesterday, I hadn’t even imagined that my words could shake the Duke’s heart. If I heard the Duke say it was fine, my brain, pushed to its limits, felt like it would declare a strike. Since there was still much to hear, I quickly opened my mouth to ask something new.
The sword said it wanted to protect me. The Duke did so because he was my father, but why had the sword done such a thing?
“Then, why did the sword want to protect me?”
At my question, the Duke glanced toward the temple outside the window. The black pillar that had risen high into the sky had long disappeared, but he couldn’t not know about the one still imprisoned in the temple’s underground. After a brief wait, the Duke slowly answered my question.
“It would be better if you heard that directly.”
I also wanted to hear it directly from the sword. But wasn’t that impossible? After saying he would tell me everything, was he not going to reveal everything in the end? Just as I was about to press further, the Duke looked at me and said,
“Can’t you hear his voice? He will tell you.”
“What? That…”
So the Duke couldn’t hear his voice after all?
Saying that, the Duke gave a slight smile. It was just a slight upward curve of the corners of his mouth, but it was definitely a smile.
“Can’t you, hear it?”
“I can’t hear the voice directly. I can only guess by seeing how he expresses his emotions in other ways.”
Sometimes the sword would emit light. Could it be that the Duke recognized emotions by seeing that? The Duke’s expression, as he spoke about him, softened like melting ice. It was a different look from the face that had been looking at me.
Looking at such a Duke, I opened my mouth as if entranced.
“Father, what kind of relationship do you have with him?”
Somewhere, I heard someone’s heartbeat. The owner of this small, thudding sound was none other than me. I couldn’t know what would come out of the Duke’s mouth. In history, the Duke and he were enemies like no other. However, it was hard to see the Duke, who was trying to rescue him from the temple, as being at odds with him. If that was the case, were they friends? Or if not that, then…
“He is the person I love.”
For a moment, I couldn’t understand the Duke’s words properly. Was the ‘love’ I knew meant to be used at a time like this?
I felt my brain, not functioning properly, creaking. My brain, unable to digest the information that had come in all at once, finally declared a strike and stopped. At that moment, the Duke’s hand fell on my dizzy head.
“The details, I will tell you after everything is settled. So please wait a little.”
I never expected the Duke to stroke my head. It was truly shocking in many ways, so I could only nod without saying anything.
* * *
The dark corridor, which felt like it would give me chills, made my whole body cold. The only thing illuminating the corridor was the torch held by the person in the lead. Magic could easily light up the surroundings, but if we carelessly used magic power and were detected by the magic power sensing artifacts reportedly hidden secretly in the secret passage, it would be a disaster.
Since we had to move as carefully as possible, we couldn’t even open our mouths carelessly. We had just entered the secret passage that Persis knew, taking advantage of the confusion among the guards due to the recent shift change.
Rikin was at the front, followed by Persis, and finally, I was following the two of them. Originally, I shouldn’t have been here. It wasn’t a place I could follow, and compared to the two of them, I was less capable and could be a burden that would make them more vulnerable in an emergency.
Nevertheless, I was here for an unavoidable reason.
A few hours ago. After Persis and Rikin had their discussion and were preparing their plan, I handed the sword I was holding to them.
‘You said priests don’t detect mana, right? Then take it with you.’
‘Andelion.’
At that, the Duke, who had been quietly providing them with some information, called my name in a low voice. Although I still hadn’t fully accepted the various pieces of information the Duke had told me, the important thing for now was to rescue him who was imprisoned in the temple.
I looked straight at the Duke and strongly made my case.
‘With the sword, you can accurately determine the path. Then there will be less danger for those entering the temple. Rikin, you said priests can’t detect mana, right?’
When I asked Rikin, he nodded while crossing his arms.
‘That’s right. Even priests can’t sensitively feel the difference between mana and magic power. Even if the high priest came, it would be barely detectable? Even if the Pope were right in front of them, they would barely catch it, let alone ordinary priests.’
‘You heard that, right? Taking the sword is the best method.’
‘I’m against it.’
At that moment, Persis, who had been quietly listening, objected to my opinion.
‘Even so, bringing a demon sword into the temple is too risky. They might not be able to pick out mana, but there might be someone who feels something alien.’
‘Still, it would be better than wandering among people whose intentions we can’t understand.’
I wanted to help those entering the temple, even if just a little. It made no sense not to use a sure method that could reduce the risk. If they wouldn’t take it, I was planning to force it into Persis’s hand.
‘Only Lord Andelion can properly use it.’
‘Kara.’
As soon as he heard Kara’s words, the Duke called her name as if shouting.
At those unexpected words, I couldn’t say anything and tightly hugged the sword. The gazes of everyone around gathered on me. The idea that only I could use it properly made no sense. Didn’t the Duke in the original work use the demon sword freely as if it were his own body? I had mentioned it thinking of that, but I hadn’t expected to hear that only I could use it.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
