episode_0035

Liesel.

My brother was always indifferent, but when he called my name, he was a person who radiated warmth like a faint ray of sunlight.

But now my brother doesn’t show that warmth even when he calls my name.

Nungi’s eyes had completely lost their vitality, making them indistinguishable from corpses, and his voice was as cold as flesh.

My brother, who seemed emotionally worn out, did not respond to any stimulation. It was just responding as if it were a living doll.

That’s why I felt sorry. Because I probably also contributed to making my brother like that. Because my thoughtless words must have made you like that.

That’s why I apologized. I’m sorry. Nevertheless, my brother said this.

“No. Since that day, everything you said has not reached my heart at all.”

I knew better than anyone else what that day meant. The day I first called my brother a monster. The story of the day my relationship with my brother broke off was clear.

I tried to untangle the chain, but my brother broke the chain before I could do anything. Because that was the most effective way to unravel the tangled chain.

“… Miss, when can we leave?”

“Please leave now.”

I had the confidence to unravel the tangled chains, but I did not have the confidence to repair the broken chains.

In that case, all I could do was hold the broken piece of chain and move it away.

I wasn’t even cruel enough to weave the chain in front of the injured person to break the chain.

It would have been better if I had been selfish to that extent. Since I’ve already shown myself to be selfish, I wish I could have been that selfish.

I am an awkward person. Banpoon is a person who can be neither altruistic nor selfish. No, to be precise, I should say that he has neither kindness nor courage.

“Oppa…”

I just didn’t have the courage. The courage to properly weave a chain that would break in front of my brother. I won’t even be able to weave a skein of thread with my trembling hands because I’m afraid of my mistake.

I was scared that the voice that was always kind would turn cold and list my mistakes, so I ran away. He is truly a blatantly selfish fool.

“Would you really mind if you didn’t eat anything…?”

The coachman who was driving my brother looked at me with worried eyes.

Come to think of it, I haven’t drank anything since I drank coffee yesterday.

But can just one day of thirst and hunger overcome years of deprivation?

“It’s okay. Please leave.”

The carriage rushed away with a clanking sound.

The coachman who drove the carriage, the adventurer who escorted me, and the birds flying far away could all return to their daily lives, but I could not.

For the rest of your life, you will regret the chains you did not make today. Even if the moment of choice comes again, it is clear that I will give up.

In the end, time will pass smoothly. Today’s events, regrets, and wounds will become increasingly blurred. In this way, they will live in peace, forgetting about each other.

I cried because I was afraid of that ignorance.

“Oppa……”

As I mumbled the only words my mouth, which had committed so many sins at the moment, could utter, the sun began to set before I knew it.

Even though the sun had set, setting was not the only worry in my mind.

“Young lady, there is a long way to go. It’s better to eat something…”

The coachman, who knew well that my body was weak, expressed his concern by handing me soft white bread.

Just as I was thinking that the innocent times ahead might proceed a little differently if there was hunger, the forest began to move noisily.

“Hide behind! It looks like there is a monster!”

“Monster? Haha, you’re a person who says funny things!”

It was clearly human language. Nevertheless, the voice could not be considered a human voice.

“Giant…?”

I had heard of giants before.

A race of people with skin like rock, they were promised various benefits by the military commander during the war and sided with humans.

And at the same time, traitors who betrayed the Empire and inflicted devastating damage on the Allied Forces. As a result, the monsters lost their hometown after 50% of their race was massacred to set an example for their older brother.

“The devil’s sister was really nearby, just like the lizard said!”

“I waited only for today. To avenge the grudge of that day!”

“If you kill the devil’s sister, you will be repaying him to some extent.”

The giants, who numbered approximately twenty, were all properly armed.

They were so threatening that even I could tell that they were not just a band of thieves but warriors of the fallen giant race.

“Hurry and run away! If you run all day, you will arrive at the entrance of the village…!”

The adventurer swung his sword, but it broke in two as if he had hit a huge rock.

“Is that possible, you idiots!”

When the giant kicked, the big carriage crumbled like a cookie.

“Today you will return to the devil Raoul, impaled on logs!”

“Don’t call your brother a devil!”

The word devil seemed to be clawing at my brain. Because the moment I called my brother a devil was repeated.

Even doing this now may be to ease my own pain. Yes, because I am a foolish and selfish idiot.

But those details were nice now. I just couldn’t bear to call my brother a monster or a devil any longer.

“You are the devil! You betrayed me first, so why are you suddenly acting like a victim?”

“We just didn’t send the reinforcements we promised! Are you just dismissing it as betrayal?”

“The shameless one is oily resin! Do you know how many people have died because of your selfish betrayal!”

The events of that day were so famous that I didn’t even need to find out about them, so I knew them in detail.

Even my brother, who usually showed a facial expression, sometimes showed a cruel expression when the story of giants came up.

“That’s it! Because an insignificant insect cried!”

The giant tried to hit me with his club.

Your body will definitely be crushed and you will die miserably. Still, it wasn’t scary at all. Rather than live without forgetting this pain as time passes by smoothly.

Because I thought it would be better to just crush my body. Because it would be better to die with just one pain than to live in vain.

“There are three truths in the world that no one can deny.”

At that moment, the huge club the giant was holding was shattered and turned into powder.

“The first truth is that every object disappears without a trace when touched by its unique sound.”

It was a voice that was dry and cold like a garden on a winter day, but contained the warmth of spring within it.

I knew it right away because it was the voice I had always dreamed of.

okay.

That was my brother’s voice.

When my brother hit the head of the giant holding the club with his staff, it exploded. The body, which was supposed to be harder than a rock, burst open like a paper bag containing blood.

“That’s why the second truth is that I will always be your death.”

My brother jumped on top of the headless body without even a single trace of blood.

Then he blocked my path and held his cane as if to protect me.

“And the third truth is that I am always on your side, Liesel.”

Raoul Bergé. My brother is despised everywhere because he killed his comrades, even though he made numerous contributions in the war.

My poor brother, who had to swallow any insult under the peace that the empire that had seen so much bloodshed was pursuing.

My brother, whose reign has become unstable due to the war, I can’t even reach out to.

“The devil has ended up here…!”

“Even if a group of bugs get sand on their carapace and learn to swing their front feet.”

Even so, in terms of his skills, his brother was said to be the strongest in the empire along with the princess.

The huge weapons they wielded, the thick armor they wore, and their bodies that were harder than that armor.

In front of my brother, I was no better than a piece of paper.

“I have never given permission to breathe.”

“Please, save me…!’

My brother stretched out his hand, which seemed to be slightly trembling.

“Even if I die, it won’t be unfair.”

The giant’s head, touched by the blade of my brother’s hand, was cut off cleanly.

My brother wiped the blood off his fingertips and looked me in the eyes.

“Liesel.”

“Oppa…”

I could feel it in the current ‘Liesel’. That usual warmth.

The voice was no different from yesterday, but I could feel it today.

My brother hasn’t changed. I was able to feel it because I was confident that my brother was still on my side.

My brother was like a winter garden. There was always spring in that cold dryness.

“Camilla only told me today. I said something absurd.”

“No, oppa… I’m the one who said something absurd. I’m harassing my brother… no, I’m sorry to say things like that.”

“It’s probably half wrong and half right. I am a human who can be a monster, a devil, and a traitor. As long as it’s for you.”

My brother stroked my head.

It was like the day my brother went to war. Because those cold hands were, paradoxically, very warm.

“Even though the chain is broken, there is no need to re-knit the broken chain. It’s just a matter of starting a new chain.”

“Oppa… I’m really… I’m so sorry…”

“Because we are connected by blood ties that are stronger than those chains.”

I was able to hug my brother for the first time in a very long time.

That cold body was so warm that I didn’t want to let it go.

I will never break this chain again.