The Drinking Sage 55

Silence flowed on the terrace where moonlight shone.

None of the three figures standing there opened their mouths.

“Ah, sob.”

Only the sound of sobbing struck my ears like background music.

“Lady Sage.”

My voice trembled slightly as I called Adela. It was evidence that my mental state was being shaken enough to overcome the curse of emotionlessness.

Adela showed no reaction to my call. The teardrops that had been falling steadily had disappeared somewhere.

Then came a trembling smile. The corners of her mouth curled up pitifully.

“It’s a lie, right?”

“Lady Sage.”

“It can’t be. You couldn’t have said such a thing.”

Adela didn’t budge at my calling.

Like a broken machine, she just repeated the same words.

“Yes. This is a bad dream. Right? Such a reality cannot exist.”

“Please calm down.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

Bang! Mana struck the air. The mana in the atmosphere had reacted to Adela’s emotions.

The violently trembling flow of magic power represented her feelings.

Adela’s expression distorted. On her beautiful face, sorrow and anger were mixed here and there.

Her voice, choked with anger, followed.

“Did I not say that I would confess here? Surely you must have heard!”

“…”

“I said I would hear your heart, and yet…”

Her resentful outcry changed direction, turning into a lament filled with grief.

Adela relaxed her stiffened face. However, that didn’t mean her heart had also eased.

Unsurpassable sadness. The despair of a woman from whom even tears no longer flowed.

“Since when?”

“Lady Sage.”

“Since when did you decide to reject my confession?”

At her sharp question, I closed my mouth.

That I didn’t sigh was due to the exercise of minimal self-control.

My eyes tightly closed as I recognized one fact.

‘She realized.’

Yes.

Saying that I liked Rinet the most.

In the end, it had the same meaning as rejecting Adela’s confession.

The answer that Adela, who had been waiting for my response, would hear when she came here. It was, in other words, a cruel rejection.

‘It’s painful.’

As befitting her title as the Sage, her ability to understand the situation was very keen.

Only, it drew a result that was cruel to Adela herself.

“…It was when I whispered to Lorela.”

“Ah, ha.”

In response to the confession uttered, Adela returned a formless sound.

Eventually, she hung her head deeply. The sight of her pitch-black hair hanging long somehow had an eerie feel to it.

“Lady Sage. It’s not for me to say, but it doesn’t mean I’ve firmly set my heart on the Saint yet. Please don’t be too disheartened.”

My mouth babbled whatever words it could to somehow dissuade her.

After speaking, a wave of shame washed over me, and I privately let out a sigh. I wanted to cover my face with self-loathing.

‘How ugly.’

Saying that I liked the Saint by a slight margin was a statement that hurt both Rinet and Adela.

Whether it was Rinet hearing that I only liked her slightly more than the other women.

Or Adela, who might hear it as if she still had a chance and should try harder.

The desperate struggle of a man, ugly to the extreme.

‘But.’

What else could I do?

‘Love is between two people.’

I had always learned that the lifelong partner is one person, and that love is between one man and one woman.

No, it was something that needn’t be learned. Because it was so obvious that I never doubted it.

Just that the root of all problems is that there are three women who say they like me, an unworthy man.

Finally recognizing the ugliness of my statement, I recited words of apology.

“…I’m sorry. It was something I shouldn’t have said.”

But, there was no answer from Adela.

Silence. A few seconds so quiet that even I was tense and swallowed hard.

At the end of it came a simple statement.

“It’s fine.”

Now all emotions disappeared.

Adela’s expression was truly nothingness. The anger, pain, and grief that had been visible until now had all vanished.

What remained was only lack of emotion.

“Anyway, I couldn’t stand by your side, Your Highness.”

“Lady Sage.”

“You just like the Saint the most at this point in time? By a slight margin?”

-Ha.

Adela twisted up one corner of her mouth.

It was the first sneer she had shown me.

“Will that change? Will you dislike the Saint later?”

“…”

“Even if I were to take that position. Would that be true love?”

My mouth wouldn’t open.

There could be no words to return. No matter what I said, it would just be an excuse.

“…I see.”

Adela’s mouth corner dropped again. This time it bent downward as if showing sadness.

“Your Highness will love only one person. It’s just that the position isn’t mine.”

“…That’s not it.”

“No. I understand. I won’t say any more. It would just be the ugly struggle of a woman who couldn’t win love.”

Even though I wanted to say ‘don’t talk like that,’ I couldn’t muster the voice.

Adela turned her back to us. The elaborately dressed attire. The fair skin revealed by the low back was drooping.

“I’ll go now.”

“…Lady Sage!”

“Don’t see my face during the remaining schedule. I’ll arrange your way back to the academy.”

-I don’t know if I’ll return to the academy myself.

With those words, Adela snapped her fingers. And in the blink of an eye, she disappeared from sight.

‘Spatial Movement’.

A secret technique said to be usable only by the highest-level mages.

‘She used even that to disappear.’

It probably meant she wanted to leave this place quickly.

“Haa….”

A deep sigh escaped from my mouth. It was no longer possible to suppress it inside.

I was feeling slightly dizzy and holding my forehead with my hand when I heard the voice of the other person beside me.

“What will you do?”

The woman who had been observing the situation until now. It was Rinet.

“What do you mean?”

“The Sage has become a poor woman who wasn’t chosen. What are you going to do?”

What on earth could I do?

Rinet’s statement somewhat heated me up. For the first time since the curse of emotionlessness was cast, the emotion of anger circulated through my bloodstream.

“Then what should I do?”

Something I had never done towards the three women until now.

I snapped at Rinet with heat. Even though she was not at fault, and if anyone was at fault, it was solely me, I couldn’t hold back.

“I thought I would love only one person. That I would spend the rest of my life with the one woman I love.”

“…”

“But why must I cut off the hearts of several women?”

Perhaps it was also a lament.

Why did the Saint, the Sage, and the Sword Star say they liked me, this unworthy one? Why didn’t they break off their feelings?

Why did they make it so that I had to cut someone off?

“…”

Rinet didn’t immediately answer my words.

She seemed to be carefully considering what to say. After rolling her tongue a few times.

“I can’t do it.”

She uttered incomprehensible words.

“…?”

“If things continue like this, surely the possibility of me taking the place by Your Highness’s side increases, but…”

Rinet said so and stepped away.

Click, click. Her feet headed towards the exit of the terrace.

Contrary to the expectation that she would leave, the Saint turned her waist and looked back at me.

“After all. I don’t want to see you suffering.”

My breath stopped.

Rinet’s face, turning to look at me, was gentle. As if she were an elder.

Like an older sibling giving guidance to a younger brother. Rinet’s expression was supremely kind.

“Your Highness. I really don’t want to do this. You know?”

“What do you mean…?”

“I’m a woman too. Of course, I want my man all to myself.”

-But, it seems my man would be too hurt that way.

Rinet said so and raised her hand.

With all other fingers folded, only the index finger remained. The hand, shining in the moonlight, also meant “one.”

“I’ll give you a really big hint. Saying this means I can’t turn back, but. Well, it can’t be helped.”

“…”

“Your Highness. Listen carefully.”

She took a deep breath and then.

“I don’t mind if you choose someone else.”

She uttered with firm emotion.

“What?”

My mouth returned a foolish question. I never imagined that Rinet herself would say such a thing.

The Saint waved her index finger as if to say don’t misunderstand.

“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t say ‘I don’t mind if you don’t choose me.’ I said ‘I don’t mind if you choose someone else.'”

“What difference does that make? Isn’t it the same thing?”

“So, figure it out.”

With those words, Rinet left the terrace.

Along with her back view. What echoed in my ears was the last words the Saint had left.

-Whatever decision you make, I will still love you.

 

Inside a room with dark tones.

The bottles of alcohol spread on one shelf fully revealed the owner’s taste.

However.

“…”

Surprisingly. The owner, Adela, didn’t touch a single bottle.

She just lay on the bed blankly, recalling the scene from earlier.

-I like you the most, Lady Saint.

“Hahah.”

What escaped was a hollow laugh.

Her heart was cut. As if someone had put a hand in her heart and tore it to shreds.

“Ha, haha…”

An infinitely sad feeling, like falling into the deep sea.

“…”

It hurts every time she recalls it. Every time she thinks about it, she feels like dying.

“But…”

Sniff, and.

Adela, dropping teardrops onto her pillow.

Muttered one sentence.

“Still, all I can think of is your face.”

Recalling the one man she held in her heart.