Ch.396Chapter 396. Reunion (2)

* * *

When I close my eyes—

What unfolds before Luna’s eyes is the scenery of Zeilant Castle.

“Lady Lunarian, I will always support you!”

“I know it’s a difficult request, but I want to live under Lunarian’s banner, not Brans’!”

Every single word from the territory’s people who placed their sincere hopes in her, the ruler of a small nation, was her strength and pride.

“Thank you so much.”

And as she stood there waving her hand in greeting—

There was always a man’s voice coming from beside her.

“My lord. There is no need to use honorifics with your subjects. Please maintain your dignity as a ruler.”

Somehow, his words of admonishment didn’t feel unpleasant, and Luna would mutter with a slight smile while blushing.

“But, I find this more comfortable.”

“Even if it’s comfortable, a ruler must stand above others as the supreme sovereign—”

“By standing side by side.”

“…!”

“I believe there are perspectives to be seen, facts to be understood, by standing side by side.”

The white-haired man who accompanied her like a shadow, upon hearing Luna’s words, nodded and—

“My lord is truly a unique person.”

“Me? Is that so…? I don’t really see it… I’m just the ruler of a small nation with a single territory.”

“No. Perhaps that very quality is what will make you the unifying ruler.”

“Unifying ruler…”

From the beginning.

The words “You’re the only one who overestimates me by saying I’ll become a unifying ruler” lingered on her lips.

“But I can’t do anything alone.”

“I know. What great achievement could be accomplished alone?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Luna turned her head sharply to look at the man.

Then, she firmly grasped his hand.

The man flinched in surprise for a moment—but soon, he didn’t reject Luna’s touch.

“I… need my strategist. Without you, I… wouldn’t know which path to take.”

The strategist who came to an insignificant, humble small nation and illuminated the way.

The person who drove away the powerful Brans forces through successive miracles.

The precious person who approached me when I had nothing… and told me I would grasp the world.

The white-haired man, struck by Luna’s sincerity, stared blankly at her face for a moment—

Then, with remarkably clear and distinct eyes, he told Luna:

“I will serve by your side until the moment the unified empire is established, my lord.”

“…Yes!”

* * *

—And now.

The man who should be my strategist alone… knelt before her.

Wearing a cloak emblazoned with the emblem of another force, not our own… to me.

——”My lord, Serpina,” he had said.

“Lord Swen…?”

“…”

“Why… why? Why…?”

Luna slowly rose from her throne.

But—she couldn’t even properly support herself and staggered.

“My lord! My lord…!”

Ginor hurriedly supported her, but—

—Thud.

Luna collapsed without being able to say another word and lost consciousness.

* * *

How much time had passed?

Sitting in the reception room prepared in the royal castle, I was enveloped in tension as if I were in the middle of enemy territory.

I never expected… never expected that Luna would faint immediately upon seeing me.

Since Luna already knew I was with Serpina, it shouldn’t be so incomprehensible that I would visit as an envoy, right?

‘It seems like something… has gone strangely wrong during the time we haven’t seen each other.’

Just as I was thinking that—

The door opened, and an old man with a familiar face walked in.

“…”

“It’s been a long time, Lord Ginor. Have you been well?”

At my words, the old man—Ginor—cleared his throat a few times and sat down across from me.

“How is Luna’s condition?”

“She lost consciousness, but there’s no internal injury. It seems she just fainted from the shock of the sudden event. But there’s nothing to worry about. She’ll probably regain consciousness soon.”

“That’s truly fortunate.”

“Fortunate, you say?”

Bang!

Ginor slammed his hand flat on the desk.

It was too energetic to be a performance from an elderly body.

“What are your true intentions, Swen?! Weren’t you serving Luna as your lord?”

“That’s right. My lord is Luna.”

“Stop playing with words! You’re under Serpina now, aren’t you?! And yet you make cryptic statements about opening a path for everyone… but in the end!”

Ginor looked at me with blazing eyes and said:

“You have no intention of coming back to our side, do you?”

“…”

“Well? You can’t deny what I’m saying, can you?”

…Indeed, I should call it Intelligence 99.

He seemed to have already noticed that I had no intention of defecting to Lunarian’s side.

“Before I answer, may I ask why you think so?”

“It’s so simple it doesn’t need explanation. If you had intended to come back, you would have done so already. Before sending that strange letter saying you would ‘find a path for everyone.'”

“I’ll be honest. When Irene became a corps commander, I thought it was all your design. I thought you were gaining Serpina’s favor, planning to return gloriously to Luna’s side with the central continent territories at the end. But even after being appointed corps commander, you didn’t come back. If you had decided to return here, you certainly wouldn’t have missed that clearly optimal timing.”

“Well? Am I wrong?”

At this point, it was better to be honest than to engage in pointless wordplay.

“You’re right. I have no intention of leaving Serpina’s side.”

“Well, let’s accept that as fact. And yet you say the person you serve as lord is Luna?”

“That’s right.”

“Ha!”

After saying that, Ginor tilted his head back and laughed heartily.

Is this the second time? Seeing him laugh so openly and generously.

“Swen, you haven’t changed at all since your days with the Aeshus forces!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, Lord Ginor.”

Ginor silently stroked his beard.

Somehow, I could tell his mood wasn’t particularly bad.

“So. What’s your aim? What exactly is this ‘path for everyone’ you speak of?”

“Before explaining that… since things have come to this, I think it would be good to make proper introductions.”

“Introductions, you say?”

* * *

“…”

A strange silence hung over the reception room.

The one who broke this silence was my knight guard, Lady Irene, sitting to my left.

“Lord Ginor. It’s been a long time. Have you been keeping well?”

“…It has indeed been a while in many ways, General Irene. I’ve been fine, thanks to you. And you?”

“The same for me as well. Quite some time has passed since we last met.”

Actually, up to this point, everything was fine.

The problem was the pink-haired low twin-tailed beauty sitting to my right.

The first magician to appear and the only one on the continent to earn the title of Grand Magician—Reika.

“…”

To her, who couldn’t say anything and kept her head bowed, Ginor spoke first.

“Reika. Have you been well?”

“…Yes, Father.”

“Good. It seems you’ve kept this father’s request until the end.”

Ginor’s request—to serve Swen well.

Considering that Swen is beside her right now, it would be no exaggeration to say she has thoroughly fulfilled that order.

“…I’m sorry. I should have contacted you by letter earlier—”

“It doesn’t matter if you didn’t contact me. A daughter is bound to leave her family someday.”

“…!”

“Since we’re on the subject, let me ask. Swen. Can I hear your answer about our previous conversation? Seeing that you still keep Reika by your side, it seems you’ve also made up your mind.”

Hearing those words, I slowly looked at Ms. Reika.

Ms. Reika, looking into my eyes… slowly nodded her head.

Probably.

Probably she feels the same way I do.

It couldn’t be otherwise. We… had kissed each other.

We had risked our lives to save each other.

If someone were to say this was just friendship… it would be disrespectful to both Ms. Reika and myself.

“I am considering it seriously.”

“Meaning?”

Squeeze.

I held Ms. Reika’s hand.

She was the first to apply pressure.

If even her hand, sweaty with nervousness, seems cute to me… I must truly be smitten.

“I am seriously considering welcoming Ms. Reika as my new wife.”

“I see. Well, since I was the one who proposed it in the first place, I also—wait.”

Ginor tilted his head slightly and asked me.

“New wife, you say?”

“Yes.”

“…Swen. Don’t tell me you’re already married?”

Nod.

As I nodded my head, Ginor’s gaze naturally shifted to my left.

And, sitting to my left, Irene—

“…”

With ears visibly red even from the side, she closed her eyes and slightly bowed her head.

“Well… I thought as much, but still, facing it directly, I can’t hide my surprise.”

“…You thought as much?”

“Not just me, but anyone who was at Aeshus forces back then would agree. Swen, there was only one moment when your eyes changed. Only when you looked at General Irene.”

“…”

I unconsciously bowed my head like Irene.

My face feels hot.

…I’m probably visibly blushing too.

They say couples grow to resemble each other, but this wasn’t what I wanted to imitate.

“So. Are you now Swen Juliette?”

“We haven’t decided yet.”

“What?”

“Well… I thought it wouldn’t be too late to sort everything out after the chaos ends.”

Hearing my words, he seemed to notice something… but didn’t appear inclined to speak about it.

“I understand. Certainly, that’s not what’s important now.”

Right.

What’s important is why I won’t leave Serpina.

“Lord Ginor. Please listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

“Go ahead.”

The truth.

For Serpina’s sake as well, I needed to explain what really happened that day to as many people as possible.

“On the day of the succession dispute, you believe that Serpina von Einhart massacred all my siblings to obtain the blood-stained crown—is that right?”

“Believe? It’s a fact.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“…!!”

To him, who twitched his eyebrows in surprise—

“Serpina didn’t kill anyone. And… that is the decisive reason why I won’t leave Serpina’s side.”

—I revealed the truth of that day.