Ch.225Interlude, A Story (6)

The beginning is always the hardest part.

Looking at the blank white paper before her, Lena pondered. She was contemplating how to begin the story she would tell her child. Thinking about the ‘first words’ to share with her daughter wasn’t an easy task.

After much deliberation, Lena decided to leave the first sentence blank and fill in the content first. She always saved the most delicious food for last, so perhaps this was a choice befitting her.

‘What story should I tell?’

It was a difficult decision, but a pleasant one.

Just like parents who choose clothes and shoes for their children, Lena began writing her letter with a gentle smile.

Chapter 1 was the story of herself and Albert.

In a dark cell without a ray of light, with a stake rooted in her back, without even a proper desk, hunched over with the parchment pressed against the rough stone floor, she told her story.

A story to tell her daughter.

About who her mother was.

About who her father was.

“My name, as I write this letter, is Lena, The Only Witch.”

“‘The Only’ is a bit embarrassing, isn’t it? Not ‘only’ as in solitary existence, but ‘only’ as in I alone am great, I alone am noble and high.”

“Looking back now, it’s embarrassing.”

“But there was a time when I couldn’t even feel that embarrassment. That’s when I met your father!”

During that period when she lived for her own self-importance.

When everything in the world seemed trivial and insignificant, when she looked down on everything with arrogance, Lena met a human named Albert.

She recalled that day that became the turning point in her life.

“Your father was the Brave of United Kingdom. The echoing Albert! Your father was truly, even thinking about it now, terrifyingly strong. The way he charged with twin swords was so frightening!”

Lena was defeated by Albert.

She had never encountered such a strong human before. But Albert didn’t kill her. Instead, he knelt before Lena and bowed his head.

“I have seen the atrocities the United Kingdom committed against you.”

“Your revenge is justified.”

“Your anger, too, is justified.”

“But I cannot allow you to burn my country. I have a responsibility to protect this land.”

The hero of the United Kingdom apologized to the witch.

He was so righteous and honest that he couldn’t ignore the atrocities the United Kingdom had committed against Lena. Even though it happened long before he was born, even though it had nothing to do with him, Albert willingly knelt.

A hero represents the United Kingdom.

The first sword to be wielded.

Therefore, Albert believed that his head should be the first to bow.

Writing this story in her letter, Lena smiled painfully. Because from that day, this tragedy began.

“I hate humans.”

“I know.”

“I hate your United Kingdom, I hate the Empire, I hate all humans in this world. Witches and humans can never coexist. The war won’t stop until one side remains.”

“That too, I know.”

“Then why don’t you kill me?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

Albert didn’t kill Lena.

No matter how many times Lena attacked him, no matter how bloodied and battered he became from her magic, Albert always managed to subdue Lena without hurting her.

“Do you find me amusing?”

“Not at all.”

“Then, is it because I’m weaker than you? Do you think you can win no matter what, so you’re sparing me? You’ll die that way.”

“I don’t think you’re weak.”

Albert smiled.

Again and again and again, Albert blocked Lena’s path. As these days continued, Lena became curious about this human called Albert.

What made him that way?

What made that human such a stubborn one?

Curiosity turned into interest, interest into fascination, and fascination into a love-hate relationship. When Albert was struggling against a dragon threatening the United Kingdom, Lena found herself heading to the battlefield without even realizing it.

“Lena?”

“Shut up and look ahead.”

Then she helped Albert hunt the dragon. Why she did such a thing, why she made such a choice, Lena couldn’t understand.

“Only I get to kill you. Even if that cursed United Kingdom falls, it should be by my hand. Not by some lizard. Got it?”

It was an excuse.

In truth, Lena knew.

She knew that this was the first time she had interacted with a human for so long, and that in her colorless world, only Albert had color, and she had become interested in that color, but Lena ignored it.

As such days continued.

“……”

“Kuh, cough.”

One day, Lena defeated Albert.

The duel that had continued for over 10 years suddenly ended. Lena looked at Albert collapsed before her. She could have killed Albert with just a twitch of her finger, but for some reason, Lena couldn’t do it.

“It’s over.”

Albert smiled bitterly.

“Would it be too much to ask for forgiveness from the people of the United Kingdom?”

“…Even at the end, it’s the United Kingdom.”

“Well, I do have one other wish.”

Albert exhaled a long breath.

“I don’t think it suits well as last words. What a shame. I was planning to say it after my 1000th victory against you.”

This was their 1000th duel.

Lena finally sighed and dropped her staff.

“I lost. This is your 1000th victory. Speak.”

“……”

“I said speak.”

Albert rose with a groan.

“You once said you were The Only Witch. That you alone were the highest being in the world.”

“I did say that.”

“Then.”

He knelt on one knee.

Then he looked up at Lena.

“Then I will become your world. Look only at me. Look down on me, despise me all you want. If you choose to be the only one, I will gladly lower myself.”

It was a knight’s oath, or perhaps…

“Will you be my lover? Lena.”

A confession.

“What, uh…?”

Lena’s gaze wavered.

“Suddenly?”

“I don’t think it’s sudden after knowing each other for 10 years.”

“What exactly do you like about me?”

“Well, I can’t pinpoint just one thing.”

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t speak falsehoods.”

“…Is it because of the United Kingdom? Do you think I won’t destroy the United Kingdom if I become your lover?”

“I’m not devious enough to use love as a tool. It’s unfortunate if you don’t believe me.”

“No, that’s not it…”

After hesitating, Lena rubbed her face.

She didn’t know love. She had never felt the emotion of liking someone. So, Lena couldn’t understand why her heart was racing now.

“Then we can find out from now on.”

Unexpectedly, suddenly, everything always starts that way. Lena finally took Albert’s hand.

2.

The story continues.

Lena wrote down her story with Albert in the letter. Rather than simply listing memories, she tried to help her daughter, who would read this letter, visualize ‘what kind of people her parents were’.

It would have been nice if she could only tell such stories.

But in the end, there was a story she had to write.

How their story ended. And, how you were born. Lena felt her fingers holding the quill grow heavy. But Lena put strength into her hand and wrote the story.

The end of love between a witch and a human is only tragedy.

So, the story of Albert and Lena was also a tragedy.

“It seems my kind cannot forgive me for loving a witch. It can’t be helped. Such are the times.”

Albert was branded a traitor to humanity.

“The same goes for me, Albert. It seems witches cannot forgive me for falling in love with a human.”

Lena was branded a traitor to witches.

“The homeland I protected now points its sword at me.”

“The witches I saved now raise their staffs against me.”

The two, at odds with everything in the world, fled endlessly. They fled and fled, but they realized they could no longer escape. Only tragedy remained.

“If it’s going to end in tragedy, let’s at least leave evidence.”

“What evidence do you speak of?”

“Evidence that you and I loved. And, evidence that humans and witches can love.”

Witches cannot bear a human’s child.

But, Lena had studied for many years how humans conceive children. She finally discovered how to create a new soul from souls.

Although she couldn’t carry a child in her womb, she could make a child of hers and Albert’s be born into the world.

“It will take a long time. It might take decades, maybe even centuries. But it’s definitely possible.”

“That’s…”

“We can’t run forever. The end will come eventually. If so, I don’t want that end to be a complete end that leaves nothing behind.”

Just like you humans do.

Lena smiled sadly. Albert, with his usual gentle smile, embraced Lena.

One last night. And a bit of a miracle.

“I was happy to be with you, Lena.”

“Same here, Albert.”

Lena headed to the Outer Continent to draw the attention of witches.

Albert went to the continent to find ‘a place to hide the child’.

Opposite directions, but the same purpose.

Lena fought against the witches in resistance, and was eventually dragged to the Black Tower with a stake in her back. Albert defeated numerous knights pursuing him, broke through a nation’s army, and finally hid the child somewhere on the continent.

“No one.”

The Brave of United Kingdom pointed his sword at the United Kingdom in the end.

“No one shall pass this point.”

Albert met his death.

But he achieved his goal. No one knew what he had hidden or where until the very end.

“……”

Writing down all those stories.

Lena looked at the paper.

If everything up to now was a ‘story’, what she was about to write from now on was a letter.

“You know.”

Lena stroked the letter with her fingertips.

“I don’t know what you look like, what your voice sounds like, or what kind of eyes you’ll use to look at the world.”

She wanted to know, but couldn’t.

“Do you resemble me? Or do you resemble Albert? I’d prefer if you resembled me. Despite appearances, I was quite famous for being pretty. But if you resemble Albert, that would be fine too.”

Lena smiled as she closed her eyes and imagined that appearance in her mind.

“Half of you is a witch, and half is human. It means you can belong anywhere, but it also means you might not belong anywhere. It won’t be easy, truly.”

It will be a difficult life.

“I want to protect you. I want to hold your hand and walk with you. I’m sorry that I have to leave you in this harsh world.”

Lena felt guilty towards the child who would live such a life.

“I want to put shoes on your feet, teach you how to walk, wrap you up so you won’t get hurt… but I can’t. I’m so sorry for that, my child.”

But still, Lena wrote.

“If the half that Albert gave you allows you to live in a peaceful world, the half I gave you will protect you. Because half of you is the soul of the fifth strongest witch in the world.”

So.

“I hope you’re happy. I hope you can smile. I hope you live without resenting the world. Your life is too precious to live in resentment. I don’t know when, where, or how you’ll live…”

The final sentence approaches.

“You are the fruit of me and Albert. You are proof that we loved. So you were born not under a curse, but under a blessing. Even if the whole world curses you, the two of us bless your path.”

The last sentence she had revised over and over for 600 years.

“I love you, my child.”

The last sentence, and at the same time, the first sentence.

“To my beloved child, Roseline.”

Lena pressed down firmly as she wrote the letter.

“From your mother, Lena.”

3.

Roseline Askarlo.

Half witch, half human.

“……”

After turning the last page of the letter, she remained silent. Her eyes were trembling, and her fingers holding the letter were shaking. Carefully placing the letter down, Roseline covered her face with her hands.

Only her breathing could be heard softly echoing.

With her face covered by her palms, her eyes hidden, Roseline pondered the contents of the letter.

‘The Only Witch Lena, the Brave of United Kingdom Albert.’

Roseline knew their story.

She had looked into the story of the three fools who loved witches. But she had never once thought they were her parents.

The timeline didn’t match.

They were people from 600 years ago.

So Roseline wanted to think that this letter was a pleasant lie created by someone. But the content of the letter could never be a lie.

A place only she knew.

The letter detailed the ruins where she was born. But if it was just that, it could still be a malicious prank by the magician who created her. Roseline was a mercenary, she didn’t trust the world, and she didn’t believe in pleasant stories.

She doubted endlessly.

She dug into the possibility that this story was a lie.

However, Roseline had evidence that could not be denied by anything.

Swish.

Roseline untied the twin swords from her waist and held them in her hands.

No.21 ‘Echo’.

The masterpiece she had somehow acquired as if guided by something.

The weapon said to have been used by the Brave of United Kingdom, Albert.

When she acquired the masterpiece, Roseline simply thought she was ‘lucky’. But the world isn’t made up of just coincidences and luck.

“Just because it’s a masterpiece doesn’t mean it can’t break.”

“If a transcendent deliberately uses a masterpiece, that is, if they accumulate damage by utilizing functions beyond what’s allowed for the masterpiece, the masterpiece goes to sleep. Like a living creature.”

“And then it suddenly appears somewhere.”

The rule of masterpieces.

“In front of the person most related to the previous owner.”

“In front of someone of their bloodline or family.”

A possibility she knew about but had never connected.

She had thought about it, but dismissed it as ‘too good to be true’.

“Ah……”

Roseline sighed.

Or perhaps it was a groan.

Roseline Askarlo.

Since opening her eyes to the world, she had never felt parental affection. She thought that parents were non-existent for her from the beginning and that she was a created being. So she couldn’t love herself.

An artificial being. A cursed being. A dirty being.

What hurt her most when she heard such words was that she herself couldn’t refute them. In her mind, those taunts were all true.

But.

“You were born not under a curse, but under a blessing.”

The letter said.

“Even if the whole world curses you, the two of us bless your path.”

That it wasn’t so.

That you aren’t such a being.

“……”

Roseline’s expression contorted.

With her head bowed, she bit her lip firmly. Born and living in the world for 40 years. For a long time, she couldn’t love herself, but after 40 years, she could finally affirm herself.

An echo that crossed a gap of 600 years from the distant Outer Continent to reach the mainland.

Feeling that echo, Roseline suddenly looked at the masterpiece in her hand.

Masterpiece, Echo.

A masterpiece with the mystery of returning received echoes.

“Echo.”

A word she muttered unconsciously.

And in that moment, Roseline affirmed the half of herself she had denied for 40 years.

…Witches sometimes choose their mystery later in life.

Roseline’s mystery was determined.