episode_0175

Aunt Merid first looked at Marie, who was the shortest, and then at Ruyef, who was the tallest.

The emotions swirling in her brown eyes were a mixture of surprise and delight. It was as if she had finally met a long-lost friend after a very long time. Her tongue was tied by the sudden encounter, but she quickly made an expression like a child wanting to run to Ruyef and embrace him tightly.

But that innocent face shattered into a million pieces the moment she saw ‘me’ over Ruyef’s shoulder.

“Gasp!” Merid’s face visibly turned pale.

She pointed at me with a trembling finger and shrieked. “A ghost?!”

To the people of Breezedawn, ‘Ritsu’ was dead. They had buried me in a coffin and covered it with soil. All the villagers had been witnesses, attending the funeral.

But when I stood before her, perfectly alive, with a hollow, lifeless face, staring at her with an intense gaze, Merid began to gasp for breath as if she was about to choke.

“Be-behind you! The dead Ritsu is…”

Ruyef turned around and glanced at me. Then he looked around to see if anyone was watching them.

It was a sudden encounter. Although he hadn’t prepared for this situation, Ruyef calmly tried to soothe Merid, who was on the verge of hysterics.

“She’s not a ghost, Aunt Merid. Ritsu is alive.”

His tone was so calm, it felt almost indifferent.

“…What are you talking about?”

I didn’t want to needlessly burden Ruyef. “Ruyef, we can explain later. There are too many eyes here.”

“Hm. Right. Aunt-nim, please come this way for a moment.” “Huh? Oh…!”

Ruyef hoisted Merid onto his back as if carrying a burden. And quickly entered a deserted alleyway.

Aunt Merid’s voice was loud and sharp, and it could draw unnecessary attention. That much had to be avoided.

“Let me go!”

He put Aunt Merid down in a dim spot, out of sight.

With a bewildered face, she urgently asked. “What on earth happened? Ritsu? Ruyef? Please, explain.”

I knew that no explanation given to Merid now would suffice. Because no one except me could understand the cause and effect of all these events.

“I’m sorry, but there’s no time for a long explanation. Just know that we are alive. More importantly, where are all the villagers?”

“The ‘villagers’… you mean our Breezedawn family?”

The moment she recalled the name Breezedawn, Merid’s eyes widened. It was effective. As if remembering that name she had forgotten her entire life, she began to speak with a clear mind.

“A few of the elders are gone, but thankfully, everyone else is safe. They were released as free citizens two days ago.”

“Released… does that mean they were imprisoned somewhere?”

Merid nodded at Ruyef’s question.

“The lord of Taildon suddenly led soldiers to our village. And then they suddenly seized the elders and dragged them here. For the first few days, they were imprisoned, but after a while, they told us they needed help preparing for an expedition and made us work.”

I understood. Why Uncle Marvin had appeared before Tia as a Taildon soldier. Lord Kintop had taken the villagers and forced them into labor to settle his debt with me. From that day on, the people of Breezedawn became residents of Taildon.

The fate of the village, without its Elder-nim and swept away by a furious storm, was terrible. Because there was no one to stand as a support against the raging, cruel winds… The frogs in the well were scattered by the wind and rain.

The villagers reportedly followed Marvin, who was their interim Elder. Marvin took the lead in pledging loyalty to Lord Kintop and became his soldier. It was said that he was the one who actually commanded the people of Breezedawn.

Marvin gathered everyone’s consensus to simply do as they were told for now. He encouraged the people, telling them that they weren’t slaves, they were given food and shelter, and it was just ‘a little’ help for Taildon’s work.

However, organizing an expedition was extremely arduous for people who had spent their entire lives farming and cutting wood in the mountains. During the long period of labor, several elders passed away, and Aunt Merid’s once delicate skin became increasingly rough. Just looking at her face, one could tell how much hardship she had endured.

My aunt recounted her memories in a tired voice. “…We were dragged along with the expedition and went right up to Deseo.”

Lord Kintop’s forces were said to have advanced all the way to the Deseo gate. They built a camp there and stayed for about three weeks. No one knew what had happened inside Deseo Castle or why they had to bring soldiers that far. They were tense, wondering if a war would break out, but nothing of the sort happened. One day, as they endlessly spent their nights and days at the camp.

“That was the end of it.” Suddenly, Lord Kintop gave the order to return to Taildon. And by the time they arrived in Taildon. He abruptly gathered all the ‘surviving’ Breezedawn people, gave them compensation, and released them as free citizens. He told them they could live in Taildon or return to Breezedawn, where they originally lived.

“But Marvin said he would live as a Taildon resident… and there’s no one to be Elder in Breezedawn, so we couldn’t go back to that village… so we just stayed like this.”

Even if they were to return, the village was desolate. There were few elders left, and no young people like us. It would be no different from living in a dead village.

Aunt Merid must have also decided in her heart to just remain in Taildon. I understood everything.

“…” That was my honest feeling. Honestly, I thought my heart would feel heavy hearing the tragic stories of the villagers. After all, they were family I had lived with since childhood. I thought my lonely heart would feel at least a slight pull when facing them. But… my expectation was completely off. To my absolute surprise. I felt nothing. It was as if I was hearing the sad life of someone else, a traveler riding in the same carriage, enthusiastically chattering about unrelated matters. To me, it sounded like a story from another world.

“Where is Marvin?” In the end, I had no choice but to remember the reason I returned to Taildon from Gordburg.

“Marvin? Why Marvin…” “I need to meet him.”

Merid looked at me with an unfamiliar gaze. “Ritsu… Is it really Ritsu? You seem so different…”

“Aunt-nim.” Ruyef said with his eyes closed. “Please tell us. Where is Uncle Marvin?”

A heavy atmosphere hung in the air. Everyone present knew each other. Just a year ago, we were all from the same village. We were companions who ate stew from the same pot and shared baked bread. It was a past filled with joyful conversations and happy laughter, not this cold atmosphere. But now, there was no trace of those memories. Marie, quietly hiding behind Ruyef’s back… was proof of that vanished bond.

You think I’ve changed? I couldn’t help but change. What Merid plotted to drive Tia out of the village. …I saw it all.

Merid, who had been sensing the mood, lowered her head and replied. “Marvin is near the lord’s castle. You can ask anyone there and they’ll tell you.”

Having received the answer, I immediately started moving. I didn’t say “See you again,” which I always did when parting ways with the villagers. Because I had already exercised my utmost patience.

* * *

Marvin’s ‘current home’ was much larger than his ‘Breezedawn home’ used to be. It looked like a comfortable life, enough to immediately understand his decision to live as a Taildon resident.

When I knocked on the door, a voice from inside asked. “Who is it?”

Marvin was guarding the house alone. He opened the door, reeking of strong alcohol, and his reaction upon seeing us wasn’t much different from Merid’s.

“What?!” He revealed his roughly trimmed beard, looking utterly shocked. Then he demanded an explanation, asking what on earth had happened. As expected, there wasn’t a single speck of welcome in his surprise. Rather, I could vividly see a subtle expression that conveyed how inconvenient my return felt to him.

He opened his mouth as if his jaw would break. “What… This isn’t a dream, is it? How is Ritsu alive?”

Likewise, there was no time to waste on such questions. “Gordburg.” “What?” “What happened after you chased Tia there?”

“!” Marvin stumbled backward. His face was assessing whether he had drunkenly spread rumors about that incident, which he had told no one.

“What are you talking about…? I, I don’t know! How would I know where that girl ran off to?” “You chased her through the east gate; there must have been a last traced location.”

“Tsar… Mountains.” Marvin hastily replied. “Yes! The soldiers said it was the Tsarrak Mountains. They abandoned the carriage there and fled! After that, whether they died or lived, it’s none of my business…”

Tsarrak Mountains. The place Tia and Fosao fled to escape the pursuit… Is that where the two of them first met? I got a lead. I seemed to know for sure where Tia had gone now. Since I had a destination, all that remained was to head there again.

“I heard you’re now a soldier of Taildon.” “Th-that’s right, I am.” “Make us a passage permit to pass through the gate right now.” “Now?”

Marvin looked towards the shelf where the passage permits were kept, then suddenly felt something amiss and turned his head back to look at us. “…But why should I?”

Had he sobered up? His voice had finally changed. His rambling tone was gone, revealing the true Marvin.

“Hey, Ritsu. I don’t know how you pried open your coffin, but anyway, I truly congratulate you on being alive. But child, is this… right, what you’re doing now?” He spoke in a low, gruff voice.

“I am now a ‘Taildon soldier.’ I’m no longer Breezedawn, nor your friend, nor do I have any reason to obey your words as if I’m the Elder-nim. But what’s with that rude attitude, treating me like a servant or a criminal and demanding things?”

In the past, when I heard Marvin’s angry voice, I felt an instinctive fear. He was the most competent and admirable person in the village, apart from the Elder-nim. The masculine strength emanating from his robust physique exuded a heavy pressure that my small body dared not defy. I had tried not to upset Marvin, hoping that the sparks of his anger wouldn’t land on me. However, such attempts at managing him meant nothing. Now that I realized they had caused me to lose everything. No matter how much this man standing before me glared and bulged his eyes at me, he simply appeared insignificant.

“You still don’t know?” I told him honestly. “You are a criminal.”