Episode 160 – Anniversary (End)

*

As the rickety carriage finally came to a stop, I groaned, patting my stiff lower back.

Twenty years had passed since I died, and another seven years had gone by since then, but even in all that time, it seemed the roads in this neighborhood hadn’t been improved.

Well, the only industry that kept this town alive was the city’s largest cemetery, so there was no way anyone would invest in such a shabby slum.

I felt like investing myself, but I’d given all my assets to Mena and Banata, the mother and daughter, and Ulgaros had to use the Demon King’s treasury for the prosperity of the demon race, so all I had left was a few boxes of gold and silver treasures stashed away in the corner of the Misty Flower Inn.

Of course, that was still a considerable amount of wealth, but the person who would become my wife was none other than a princess-turned-queen.

Ellie might not be extravagant, but as a queen, she would need at least a minimum amount for maintaining her dignity.

Besides, even if it wasn’t for personal luxuries, I thought, if I could quietly fill the national treasury when it was running low, wouldn’t she give me a bashful smile filled with gratitude and surprise? So, I restrained myself from impulsively opening my wallet and just patted my aching lower back and butt as I got out of the carriage.

At least to me, seeing Ellie’s face light up with surprise and joy at something unexpected seemed more valuable than paving the roads in this town.

It’s so hard to make a smart woman happy.

Besides, now that I was out of the carriage, it seemed like this town was changing little by little.

There were more children on the streets than before, which meant that more young couples were moving into this neighborhood.

The children were running around and playing, each wearing brightly colored masks.

Turning my head, I saw that not only the children but also many of the adults were wearing masks.

Not just this town, but all the towns and bustling streets I’d passed through in the carriage were full of people wearing masks.

To me, it felt a little awkward and bizarre.

It wasn’t that a sudden plague had struck the country, forcing people to wear masks to cover their faces.

This culture of the whole country wearing masks and enjoying a festival had started about five or six years ago.

Today was that very festival day.

As time passed faithfully, the pages of the calendar turned quickly as well.

While I was waiting for Ellie, who was probably busy with work at the royal castle, Deborah-nim casually asked me if I knew what day it was.

When I shook my head and said I didn’t know, the look on my teacher-nim’s face was even more pathetic than the day I openly rebelled against her during my training and was immediately subdued.

Along with telling me to pay more attention to my surroundings, Deborah-nim told me what day it was.

The day the Hero Party defeated the Demon King,

And the day my body died.

The very day that was called Victory Commemoration Day.

And now that the name of the hero who became the Demon King had been hastily erased from the country’s memory, it was the day to commemorate Baron Salvier, the hero who defeated the resurrected Demon King Robin.

The Hero Advent Festival.

,They’re really something when it comes to naming things.”

I grumbled as I watched the people passing by in masks and took out a mask from my pocket, putting it on my face.

The familiar sensation covered my face, and the familiar darkness slightly obscured my vision.

I walked slowly towards my destination, weaving through the crowd.

*

My steps feel light as I climb the hill.

I had regained my human body and refused to return to my undead form, and since Ellie was stuck with Deborah-nim all day long, she naturally started training me under the guise of rehabilitation.

Honestly, I really didn’t want to, but seeing that I was getting stronger, it seemed Deborah-nim wasn’t just tormenting me for fun.

Seeing my muscles gradually developing, Ellie would blush and poke my elbow.

Then, she would laugh awkwardly and make a playful joke, saying, ,You could go back to active duty!”

Active duty, as in… thieving?

I got a flick on the forehead from Ellie for saying that.

As I smiled, recalling the comical banter with her, my steps reached my destination before I knew it.

I slowly lowered my head and brushed the dust off the tombstone at my feet.

Then, I slowly read aloud the letters engraved in relief on the tombstone.

,Resting peacefully in the arms of the Goddess.”

My gaze lingered on Mela’s name engraved below the phrase.

The two pieces of her, one existing in my mind and the other in the world, would they be united as one in the arms of the Goddess by now?

I scoffed at my own thoughts.

Based on my experience of dying and being knocked down for 20 years, there was no such place where souls went after death.

Well, who knows? If she’s a saintess specially favored by the Goddess, maybe it’s different.

I slowly raised my head.

Standing alone on this grave, which was also my grave even though I wasn’t buried in it, I suddenly remembered the day I revealed my identity to Mela here.

She must be lying under those pebbles where she buried her head.

Mela is dead in the place where she begged me to kill her.

I shivered slightly and rubbed my arms.

I felt like I could still clearly feel the cold raindrops hitting the pebbles all day long.

But it wasn’t that I missed her or regretted my choice that day.

Because I knew that the belief that I could choose the situation was just an illusion.

I knew very well that I, who was trapped in pain and regret that day, could never have made such a choice.

However, just in case,

If only, just maybe,

If I had forgiven her.

Even if we couldn’t be together, at least she would still be alive now, wouldn’t she?

Thinking such meaningless thoughts, I stood there blankly.

Then, I heard someone stepping on pebbles behind me.

There were many people visiting the cemetery because it was a holiday, but seeing how close they were getting, it was clear they were here to see Mela.

The owner of the footsteps spoke to me.

,Have you been well?”

,…”

,I didn’t expect you to be here, Baron-nim.”

,…”

,I’m sorry… Would you like me to leave if I’m intruding?”

,No, it’s okay.”

I slowly turned around.

White hair hanging long, a white eye patch covering her eyes.

A white nun’s habit with purple sleeves and skin as white and clear as to not lose out to the fabric.

Unlike Mela, who had an impression like a brightly shining sun, she, who looked like the bright and warm light shining from that sun in human form, was Tess, Mela’s daughter.

Tess raised the corners of her mouth and smiled as she greeted me.

,It’s been a while.”

,…Yeah, didn’t your brother come with you?”

,He’s probably busy managing the orphanage and church in the countryside. Our youngest sibling is living there with him too.”

,…I see.”

Tess slowly walked towards the tombstone, knelt down, and groped for the letters on the tombstone with her hands.

,Mom. I’m here.”

I stepped back for a moment so as not to disturb her, and Tess bowed her head and prayed in a familiar manner.

The image of Mela praying every night during our travels as the Hero Party, which now felt so distant, overlapped with Tess’s back.

After a while, she finished praying, slowly got up, plucked flowers from around the grave, held them tightly in her hand, and approached me.

I accepted the flowers she handed me without a word.

They were bright orange salvias, resembling Mela’s hair.

It couldn’t be that the flowers I left on the day of the funeral had seeded, so it was clear that she or Edward had planted them, remembering that Mela liked these flowers.

Tess carefully picked up a flower with her index finger and thumb and put it to her lips.

Her small, cute lips moved as she sucked the nectar from the flower.

Watching her quietly, I slowly pushed a petal between my lips as well.

Sarereu,

A subtle sweetness spread in my mouth like paint dissolved in water.

Seven years old, or was it six?

My earliest memory, barely visible even when I closed my eyes and traced back.

Mela had been in my memory since then.

Like that subtle sweetness filling my mouth, a nostalgic memory spread in my heart.

The little girl who used to play by the river all day, soaking wet and covered in dirt, picking salvia petals that bloomed behind the village together and laughing heehee.

Suddenly, the image of young Mela with her orange, disheveled hair and a missing front tooth made me smile.

Until she died, she had always been there, from my first memory to my last.

In fact, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong to say that my life was made up of her.

But not anymore.

Coincidentally, my life couldn’t end even after death, and my second life, which began after being resurrected, was sadly incompatible with her.

It was a ruthless conclusion and even a bit ironic, but my resurrection was like a death sentence for Mela.

Feeling like a bitter taste came late after the subtle sweetness, seeping into the root of my tongue, I asked Tess, who was standing next to me, in a low voice.

,Would Mela have been happier if I hadn’t come back to life?”

,…”

Tess was silent at my words.

She couldn’t bring herself to affirm it out of conscience, but she couldn’t deny it either.

Well, to her, I was also a savior.

Tess slowly opened her mouth after the sweetness of the salvia flower had completely disappeared.

,Maybe so.”

,…”

,But if that were the case, I would have died.”

,Would that… be so.”

Even though she was smiling, it was difficult to read Tess’s expression because of her covered eyes.

Even if there was a smile on her lips, who knew if her eyes were tearful?

I remembered the old saying that eyes sometimes speak more than the mouth.

She said with a faint smile on her lips.

,I found out later that my illness was caused by being hit by a carriage tainted with magical energy while it was transporting the Demon King’s horns.”

,…”

,Magical energy seeped into the wound and spread throughout my body, becoming a chronic illness. My eyes are ruined forever.”

,I couldn’t fix that much.”

,It’s a blessing from the Goddess that I didn’t die or become a twisted monster.”

,…How did that carriage end up carrying the Demon King’s horns until it was tainted?”

,Jennifer imo (aunt) was carrying them around for research. In the end, she was trying to bring them to that secret laboratory in the mansion, and that’s when she hit me.”

,…”

Tess chuckled and lowered her head.

The salvia flower, all the sweetness sucked out, fell to the ground from her lips.

,So, I’ll say this.”

,…”

,Thank you. Baron-nim. I was able to live because you came back. I was really, really grateful.”

I kept my mouth shut, unable to speak.

The time I healed Tess.

It was a moment when I showed selfless goodwill, setting aside all the calculated reasons or emotional reasons, such as the plan to use her for revenge or goodwill towards Mela, for reasons I didn’t even know myself.

Was it pity, or hypocrisy?

Was I influenced by Lily?

Or, as Lara said, was I just someone who couldn’t bear to see someone in trouble?

I still don’t know.

Maybe I just wanted to do something human, even if only a little, in the path of revenge filled with terrible devastation and painful screams.

Not for her sake, but for the sake of my inner peace.

If so, I had no reason to be thanked by her.

My throat was moving wildly as if I wanted to say something, but my lips remained tightly closed, not even twitching.

I couldn’t even nod.

Even if I nodded, she wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

Tess was about to turn around slowly, but she stopped abruptly for a moment and slowly turned back towards me.

Then, she asked slowly in that frail voice.

,Do you still miss Mom?”

,…No,”

Tess spat out a short word with a bitter smile.

,That’s a lie.”

A faint purple light shone from inside Tess’s white eye patch.

I laughed in vain.

I should have realized it the moment I saw the purple sleeves of the nun’s habit.

,Divinity of Truth Detection.”

Tess said in a playful voice.

,Perfect, right? It’s the kind of ability a young lady whose family was ruined because of her parents’ lies, which she never knew about, would have. Besides, the penalty of losing my sight is practically non-existent for me.”

,…Ha, I’ve been had.”

Tess took a step closer and said to me once again.

,Baron-nim… No, Ed.”

,…”

,Do you still love Mom?”

The purple light flickered once again beyond Tess’s eye patch.

But there was no tension.

After all, lies are meaningless in front of the Divinity of Truth Detection.

,…No,”

Tess smiled, whether with her eyes or just her lips, and slowly turned around and walked away.

,…Congratulations.”

*

The bar in the town near the cemetery, where the roads were a mess, was crowded with people.

It was usually a place where only a few old men who enjoyed gambling as a side job were sitting, but thanks to the festive atmosphere, all the townspeople were out on the streets.

In front of the bar, a merchant was sitting, selling masks that were made to cover only from the forehead to the nose, making it easier to eat.

You have to give it to the merchants for their cleverness.

Thinking that, I bought two masks and went into the bar.

Deborah-nim, who was a regular at this bar, must have already secured a seat and be waiting for me.

It was obvious why she wanted to meet here.

It was definitely to make fun of me for crying in her arms like a baby.

I braced myself and searched for her, passing through the crowded customers.

,There she is,”

It wasn’t difficult to find Deborah-nim.

No matter how many people there were, it would be more difficult to miss that impressive blue hair.

Wearing a mask that revealed her mouth and with an unopened bottle of wine on the table, she looked uncharacteristically demure.

I approached her, tapped her on the shoulder, and sat down across from her, saying.

,I thought you wouldn’t buy a mask, Teacher-nim, but surprisingly, you bought one and came in wearing it.”

Deborah-nim stared at me without answering.

The moment our eyes met, I sighed, feeling my mind go blank.

,…Huh,”

,…Hehe.”

,What are you doing, Ellie.”

The person sitting there wasn’t Deborah-nim, but Ellie, who had dyed her hair blue.

Perhaps the Queen-nim’s workload was slightly reduced because it was a holiday.

Since it was a day to wear masks, there couldn’t be a more suitable day for her, the Queen, to walk around hiding her identity.

But if she had time, I wish she had come with me from the beginning.

I felt a little resentful, even though I thought it was very Ellie-like to use the precious time we could have spent dating together to tease me.

Maybe if I had come with her, I could have used a better means of transportation than that terrible-riding carriage.

Knowing or not knowing what I was thinking, Ellie said with a playful smile.

,I was wondering when you would recognize me, but you recognized me almost immediately. As expected… Hehe, if you had recognized me late, I would have been scolded at home tonight.”

Ellie chuckled contentedly.

Seeing the corners of her cheeks, not covered by the mask, turn slightly red, it seemed she was quite pleased with the result of this little test.

Since I had already scored points, I decided to drive the wedge in with a little flattery.

,I can’t mistake the person I love.”

,…!”

At my words, Ellie stammered, showing an ambiguous reaction somewhere between admiration and embarrassment.

,…O-oh, oh-oh.”

Oh my god, I made Ellie speechless.

Even without trying to see the corners of her cheeks, which weren’t covered by the mask, it was easy to tell that her face was flushed red.

Ellie, who was creaking like a broken machine for a moment due to embarrassment, shook her head and cleared her throat before saying quietly, as if she was shy.

,You… be prepared tonight.”

,Even though I guessed your identity? Why?”

,Ahbabbap, it’s not that.”

,Hmm?”

Ellie suddenly raised her upper body and brought her face right next to my cheek.

Then, she whispered slowly and stickily in a quiet, seductive tone.

,Be prepared in a different way. Husband.”

,…Wow,”

Ellie plopped back down in her seat.

Her face was getting redder and redder, to the point of being completely red.

Judging from the tingling heat I felt near my cheekbones, my face was probably the same.

Oh my god, such a cute woman is the Queen of this country.

I hurriedly picked up the wine bottle that was on the table and twisted open the cork.

I wanted to cool down the heat with something cold.

,Give me some too…”

,If you’re going to be so embarrassed, don’t do it in the first place.”

,Hehe, but wasn’t it nice?”

,…Stop pretending to be relaxed, you and I are the same when it comes to being inexperienced.”

Ellie shook her head.

,No? I had someone I was dating, you know?”

,What?”

,Didn’t you know?”

,…When? In the last seven years?”

Ellie smiled at me, who was frozen by the shocking confession, and held out her right hand to me.

,Say hello. This is my ex-boyfriend.”

With those words, Ellie shook her index and middle fingers back and forth in front of my eyes.

,…”

,Pihhihi, were you surprised? You were surprised?”

Come to think of it, this woman had always enjoyed sexual jokes that didn’t suit her status.

I filled her glass, trying to act nonchalant.

Ellie lifted the wine glass and gently swirled the red liquid inside a few times, saying.

,You know, Ed.”

,…”

,I would have waited for you, even if it had been 10 years… no, 20 years.”

,While living with your ex-boyfriend, Mr. Index and Middle Finger?”

,…Are you perhaps jealous of my finger pointing?”

I chuckled and lifted my glass.

Ellie extended her glass forward in a smooth motion.

Suddenly, she looked so elegant holding the wine glass.

Even in a shabby and noisy bar in a poor neighborhood, her dignity didn’t fade at all, and instead, she sparkled like the brightest jewel in this place.

I quietly clinked her glass against mine.

,For Her Majesty.”

,For our first time tonight.”

,…Ha, you’ve really made up your mind.”

Contrary to my expectations, the wine didn’t cool down the heat at all.

Maybe it was my fault for expecting the alcohol to cool down the heat.

Ellie didn’t take her eyes off me even while drinking the wine.

Just like I couldn’t take my eyes off those emerald eyes of hers, glistening with desire.

At the same time as taking the wine glass away from my lips, I said.

,Your person.”

,Huh?”<!–</p>