Ch.83Cherished Wish (2)

# On that day when Lorian transformed into a demon, her mountain achievement was shrouded in bloodshed.

With a body that had just completed childbirth, she slaughtered all of the system’s pursuit team.

The Dark Sky Corps, which had belatedly come from Duke Feita’s territory for support, witnessed a woman standing nobly on the blood-soaked ground.

They trembled at the sight of Lorian, who had created a field of corpses with nothing more than a dagger barely the size of a forearm.

“The Duchess is alive!”

“And the enemies?!”

“…All annihilated.”

Warriors wrapped in black robes hurriedly supported Lorian. Her body was limp. It was that of a weakling without any strength to be found.

Hatred capable of tearing apart the abominable sky had moved her body. The Dark Sky Corps had no choice but to accept this.

“Nes… where is Nes?”

“Th-that… just now… word arrived that the subjugation has been completed…”

“…”

“Duchess…”

“…”

“…We shall escort you.”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t find words to respond. She had fainted immediately upon hearing news of Netionpis.

After being rescued by the Dark Sky Corps, Lorian awoke in the Feita family home. The plush bed and light blanket felt so luxurious that she wondered if it was appropriate for her alone to enjoy such comfort.

While she lay here, Nes would be rotting lonely in the dirt. He should have been lying beside her in a bed like this.

Though that would be forever impossible now.

Ding!

Since strangely no one was keeping watch, she rang the bell to summon a maid. Immediately there was a sharp knock, and then a familiar face walked in as if by magic.

Though aged like herself, the elegant eyes visible behind round glasses left an unforgettable impression.

“Aselln?”

Aselln Meoric. The founding head of House Meoric, one of the four ducal families. Not only that, but he was a superhuman who single-handedly managed the entire imperial administration as an outstanding scholar.

He got straight to the point.

“Before accepting your greeting… first, I express my regrets for the tragedy you’ve experienced.”

“Only now?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I can only say ‘only now.’ The imperial family will no longer need to check Duke Feita.”

“That damned crazy bastard has the nerve.”

“Bartlant threatened to leave the border if he kept dancing with his sword like a madman.”

“The emperor must have thrown a fit about replacing him with imperial troops.”

“His attitude changed when I threatened to go on strike too.”

The explanation made sense. Currently, the imperial administration was being reorganized under Aselln’s leadership. If he went into seclusion, the entire imperial system would be paralyzed.

“I apologize again, but that was the limit. You know, we cannot persecute the descendants of Astel…”

“…That’s right. That was the contract.”

Lorian narrowed her eyes, gazing into the distance. She was no naive girl.

Someone of Aselln’s stature wouldn’t personally travel to a ducal territory just to check on someone. He surely had another purpose.

She couldn’t help it if he was trying to create a debt by restraining the emperor. Even between friends, debts had to be repaid.

Unlike the old days…

“Let’s get to the point, Aselln. What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“Even I am not cold-blooded enough to demand a transaction from a friend who has just experienced such tragedy. Besides, do you think Bartlant would expect compensation? That muscle-bound man living alone in his teens?”

“…No.”

“You’ve grown too old alone, Lorian.”

Aselln’s assessment shot out sharply, seeming to pierce her heart.

She had precariously survived in a world of cold calculations since her teens.

Even before the founding of the Eld Empire, the Feitas were a ducal family. Though they were special nobles in charge of special operations in the underworld, in reality, they bore the burden of darkness and disgrace.

She encountered two lights in her life.

The first was Astelnerca Euglinas. He transformed the mundane world and led people. Thanks to him, she could meet interesting friends.

“Like Astel, that guy’s absence must be enormous.”

That guy – meaning Netionpis.

He was the second light that penetrated Lorian’s life.

To her, who judged the world by the value of people and things, Netionpis was special.

It was shocking that a person with the most brilliant value would clumsily express his unreserved affection. Only he gave genuine feelings to Lorian Feita as a single human being.

Without him, Lorian’s world was blocked by walls of suspicion and calculation, driving her to become a wretched old woman.

Tears came to her eyes at this newly realized, miserable truth. Forgetting that Aselln was watching intently, heat rose from deep in her throat.

“I want… to see Nes.”

“That would be impossible. The hero and saint disappeared after the subjugation report, and their whereabouts are vague.”

“Could I find and kill them if I mobilized the entire ducal house?”

“If you could face powers that can cross to the opposite side of the continent in an instant.”

“…”

It was very like Aselln to clearly point out limitations. He was so excessively rational that it made her want to commit murder, so biting were his words.

“Let’s turn the conversation to something productive. While I didn’t come seeking compensation, I do have business.”

“You? With me?”

“What if it’s about Netionpis?”

Lorian made an expression of disbelief. But as soon as she heard it was related to Netionpis, her eyes twisted savagely.

“Tell me, now.”

“Eternal immortality.”

Aselln took a calm breath and continued.

“When Netionpis last visited me, he recited a string of research findings. It was such a radical theory that I won’t bother explaining it, but…”

“Don’t stall. I feel like I’m going crazy, so keep talking.”

“…It seems Netionpis had found a clue to eternal immortality. Moreover, the report content from the hero and saint who subjugated Netionpis is significant.”

“What did those bastards do?”

“They deliberately excluded keywords related to ‘death’ in their report. Since they just babbled one-sidedly and disappeared, this is in the realm of speculation and possibility, but… perhaps Netionpis might not be dead.”

“Aselln.”

“Speak.”

“No matter how old I’ve grown, killing you would be nothing to me. So tell me straight. Can you swear there’s no lie in what you’ve just said?”

Flames of fury blazed in Lorian’s black pupils. This was a survival theory about her companion, no one else.

She knew the principle that the higher you fall from, the more it hurts. And with Aselln’s claim, she had already climbed stairs higher than the sky.

This was absolutely not a topic where lies could be tolerated.

“I don’t deny that it’s highly subjective reasoning. If my reasoning is wrong, it would be a lie. But if you’re asking if I intend to deceive you, I would swear I have no such intention.”

“…”

“Assuming Netionpis achieved eternal immortality, the saint probably completed the subjugation in the form of sealing. With his power, immortality would make physical suppression nearly impossible.”

“So you’re saying Nes might someday return to the world?”

“At least if that time comes, we’ll already be rotting nutrients in the ground.”

Lorian closed her mouth tightly at Aselln’s negative outlook. There was a possibility his reasoning was false, but even if it were true, Lorian couldn’t face her companion.

Suddenly, despair pressed down on the top of her head. Seeing her trembling, Aselln exhaled a deep sigh.

“My business is done. Before I leave, let me add one more thing.”

Compassion settled in Aselln’s eyes. For Aselln, known as the most indifferent person in the empire, this rare display of emotion was enough to catch Lorian’s attention.

“Though not as proficient as Netionpis, I am also skilled in medicine. So as a physician, I assure you, your remaining lifespan is short.”

“What?”

It was a sentence that would make even Lorian sit up. But Aselln calmly laid out objective knowledge.

“Whether psychological or physical factors, you as a human are already broken. So I hope you spend your remaining time wisely.”

“Wait, Aselln!”

“I am not a god, so I cannot change anything. Perhaps if it were Astel…”

“Ugh…”

“I hope you consider what you can leave behind. That’s my sincere wish as a friend.”

With only those words, Aselln left Lorian’s room.

In the bedroom where she was left alone, Lorian agonized.

She wanted to believe Aselln, who had suggested the possibility that Netionpis might be alive. And she wanted to kill the current emperor who had induced her to cling to such a thread-like hope.

By the Eldchain contract, she could not persecute Astel’s descendants. The same applied to her descendants.

Her companion had left her side, and her body was too old for another pregnancy. Succession of the family headship to a relative was certain. Then Feita would become the only ducal family free from the contract.

If they continued the lineage and restored their power, assassinating the emperor wouldn’t be just a dream. Destroying the empire that had betrayed its public duty was also a considerable option.

‘What should I do…’

Nes. I don’t know what choice you would want.

Would you be satisfied if I rebelled against this abominable world?

Is confronting hatred with hatred the way for you?

If you wish, I’ll wear filth in the underground for hundreds of years. Always aspiring toward the sunny side…

Lorian’s eyes slowly closed. Her body was already a mess. Exerting mental effort accumulated fatigue.

‘I have little time left… but so much more to think about…’

Sleep caressed the bottom of Lorian’s feet like a sticky swamp. Unable to resist, she relaxed her body and fell asleep.

Immediately after, the world Lorian opened her eyes to was vast.

Her body felt light, and the sensation of wild grass against her bare feet was vivid. It was as if she had returned to her youth.

Her mood lifted at the endless fields and clear sky.

She ran.

Freely, like a girl, hopping like a rabbit.

She lay down vulgarly alone in the infinite prairie. When she tired of that, she set off again on a journey toward the horizon.

How much time had passed?

After running and running for a long while, she arrived at yet another prairie with the same scenery.

“Where is Nes?”

She thought of him. Being alone was boring. Being left alone in such a vast world was lonely and desolate.

Then someone formless whispered to her.

Nes is isolated alone in a dark, cold place. He waits only for the connection that will someday come. Someone gives her this hint.

Suddenly, memories of reality rushed in like a burst dam. Our lives shattered the dream world with vast energy.

Someone asks.

How was the vast plain? The world that stretched to the never-ending horizon?

She answers.

It was exciting, thrilling, and even comfortable.

But in the end, it was lonely.

The questioner silently pondered. As if savoring her answer.

Just when she began to doubt if she had heard things, clear praise warmly resonated.

[You know well, Lorian.]

“What?”

For the first time, she seemed to hear a voice. It was a longed-for voice easily retrieved from old memories.

Just as Lorian was about to call his name, the world collapsed.

When Lorian opened her eyes again, a low ceiling greeted her. It was the canopy of the bed engraved with the family crest.

“Ah…”

Lorian groaned. Judging by the sky outside, it seemed she hadn’t slept for long.

Ding!

She rang the bell tied beside the bed. This time, the person who opened the door was not Aselln, but a proper maid.

“Call the Dark Sky Corps commander.”

“Yes, understood, Duchess.”

The maid accepted the order modestly and closed the door. While Lorian was organizing her thoughts, she was inwardly surprised by a respectful knock.

The Dark Sky Corps commander had responded to the summons with excessive speed.

“I have come running at your call, Duchess.”

“You’re still the same, Lea.”

“I am moved that you remember such an insignificant name.”

“I’m not such an incompetent family head that I wouldn’t know my relative’s name.”

Dark Sky Corps Commander Lea Feita. She was Lorian’s fervent follower. She was also a reliable subordinate who carried out the family’s special operations without the slightest error.

“I will gladly accept punishment for failing to prevent the calamity that befell you, Duchess. I only ask that you personally cut off my limbs.”

“You’re too heavy, Lea. Please don’t force any more heartbreaking tasks upon me.”

“Ugh…”

Crystal-like droplets fell from Lea’s deeply bowed face. Tears heated with emotion dissolved her repentance, making it bitter.

“When I leave this world, inherit the family.”

“Duchess?!”

“From today, Lea, you are the Viscountess Feita.”

“How can you say such things?”

“I would like you to carry on my wishes.”

“Wishes…”

After pondering Lorian’s words, Lea purified her gaze and steeled her resolve.

“Command me.”

Lorian seemed pleased with her subordinate’s serious attitude, and for a moment, a faint smile lingered in her eyes.

“I believe in my companion. Nes was an adventurer who explored eternal immortality, so he must be keeping a low profile somewhere even now.”

“It shall be as you believe, Duchess.”

“Thank you.”

It was sincere from the depths of her heart. She was grateful that Lea accepted her far-fetched story without ridicule and without doubt.

“I want Feita to be a strength for Nes when he appears someday. I wish for you to be his hands and feet, to help him.”

“I will make it the family’s lifelong mission and serve with all my being.”

That was the last conversation between Lorian Feita and the next family head, Lea Feita.

Because Lorian entered eternal rest ten days after their private meeting.

She could not correct her critical misjudgment.