episode_0020

“!!!!!!”

Astolfo’s eyes widened as he watched the sword swing at him in an instant.

Clang-

He blocked the sword’s trajectory, which had flown towards him, with his spear.

Creak- Creak-

“You’re utterly insane.”

Astolfo scowled like a demon and glared at me.

But in my eyes, Astolfo was no longer visible.

I glared at Kara with bloodshot eyes.

Seeing me use a power she had never witnessed before, Kara couldn’t hide her bewildered expression.

“Agapé, that power, what in the world…”

“Tell me!”

The whites of my eyes turned black.

Drip. Drip.

Blood tears flowed as capillaries burst.

The bloody tears, mixed with muddy water, were as dark as the blackened whites of my eyes, and sticky.

“Please, tell me it’s not true… Kara…”

It felt like the world was collapsing.

It felt like something inside me was twisting.

A searing pain began in my chest, centered around my heart, like flames igniting, and the pain soon turned to heat.

The hot flames seemed to burn my heart, gradually eroding my sanity.

Shimmering─

As that happened, the black aura increasingly transformed into flames.

Unconsciously, the power of the aura began to intensify into flames, and Astolfo also showed signs of bewilderment, pushed back by the force.

“What in the…-”

Clatter- Clatter-

The tip of the sword, drawn with my right hand instead of my ruined left, was still in its scabbard.

Because it was drawn in a hurry, and the scabbard was on my right side, Agapé was pressing Astolfo with an extremely unstable posture.

“Kara…”

I looked at her with eyes mixed with despair.

Kara’s pupils trembled deeply.

She parted her lips as if to say something, but before she could, a fist imbued with aura struck my head.

Slam───!

Eeeeeee─

A ringing in my ears made my head hazy.

Due to the impact on my brain, I instantly became defenseless.

Astolfo kicked my abdomen with his aura-infused boot.

Thud──

Crack-

“Cough…”

My ribs were broken.

The impact transmitted to my heart and lungs below, making it impossible to breathe.

Crash─

I was slammed into a tree again and slid down, collapsing.

A gush of blood poured from my mouth.

Drip- Drip-

I couldn’t even properly scream and lowered my head.

Shing─

“Just die already, you lowly wretch.”

Just as Astolfo’s spear tip was about to pierce Agapé’s head, Kara’s sword blocked Astolfo’s spear.

Clang─

“Kara…!”

Creak- Creak-

Astolfo’s murderous gaze turned to Kara.

“What are you doing?”

“Stop it.”

Her gaze turned to Agapé.

“He’s a dead man anyway. You don’t need to dirty your hands; this man will be executed for heroicide.”

“Kara!”

“Please…”

Squeeze-

Kara’s hand, gripping the sword, tightened.

She looked at him with desperate eyes.

Astolfo reluctantly clicked his tongue and withdrew his spear.

“Tch.”

“…………”

He spat at the dying Agapé and growled savagely.

“Consider yourself lucky, you inferior being.”

With those words, he returned to his tent.

As the sudden commotion somewhat subsided, Danoa approached.

“Sir Kara, what in the world…”

“Danoa.”

“Yes, Sir Kara.”

“Have the surrounding knights withdraw.”

“What? But then this man will-”

Just as Danoa was about to continue, he stopped speaking and nodded at Kara’s gaze, which was fixed on him with tightly shut lips.

“…I will obey the command.”

With him, Danoa withdrew all the surrounding knights.

Now, only Kara and Agapé remained in front of the heroes’ tents.

“……”

Kara, looking down at the dying Agapé, poured a highest-grade potion over his head.

Trickle-

His wounds began to heal rapidly, and his breathing also somewhat returned.

“…………H…a…ha, ah……”

“……”

If she had poured the potion just a little later, Agapé would probably have died.

Fortunately, thinking the major crisis had passed, his faded eyes regained their vitality.

His eyes, having just returned from the brink of death, looked up at her.

“……”

‘Question.’

That was the first thing visible in his eyes.

Beneath that was betrayal.

And beneath that was sadness.

At the very bottom, an immeasurable depth of despair lingered.

Kara silently gazed into his eyes.

Without showing any sorrow or coldness. She looked at him with an expressionless face, as if determined not to reveal any emotion.

“…I don’t know where to begin.”

Agapé, breathing heavily, said that first.

“…I understand.”

“……”

Agapé lowered his head without a word.

It seemed it would take time to accept the current reality.

“……! Ugh…!”

Then, he began to retch.

Splat-!

An enormous amount of blood gushed out.

The blood, enough to make one think he might die from it, soaked the surcoat embroidered with the Oleg Knights’ insignia.

It formed a dark red puddle on the dry ground.

Drip- Drip- Drip-

Without wiping the blood from his mouth, he raised his head.

His complexion, paler than when she had just seen him, looked so bad it wouldn’t be strange if he died on the spot.

“Agapé, I…”

“For ten years… I searched for you.”

Ten years.

It was a very long time, enough to change mountains, but not a moment was wasted in searching for her.

“I worried about you.”

He muttered in a weak voice.

“I wanted to tell you I missed you.”

“……”

“Even though it was hellishly difficult, I endured and came all this way. To find you, to save you, whom I thought would be suffering…”

Drip- Drip-

“Kh, khuhuhuhuhu…”

Agapé let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“What on earth have I been living for so desperately?”

It felt like he had lost the meaning of his life.

No, he had already lost it.

Both Agapé and Kara thought and understood those words that way.

“……”

Kara said nothing.

No, she couldn’t say anything.

Because even she didn’t know what to say.

Because she didn’t know what words would bring even a little comfort to the man she loved most.

That’s why she simply kept gripping her trembling hands, trying to suppress the shaking.

“…Agapé.”

After long deliberation, Kara finally opened her mouth.

“Let’s… end this now.”

“……”

It was the answer he had expected.

Agapé, who had been lowering his head, showed no reaction, like a corpse.

“It’s been ten years.”

Ten years.

Now Kara spoke about the weight of ten years.

“A lot has happened during that time.”

Going to the prophets’ abode and undergoing hellish training.

Meeting comrades who are now heroes.

Various events overlapped and occurred in succession, leading to an engagement with the eldest son of the Impurity family, with marriage as the premise.

Kara, who had slowly explained the events in chronological order, highlighted the main point.

“I have gained precious people too.”

“……”

“Going through battlefields where lives are on the line, I now have comrades who are incredibly precious to me.”

Seven years.

That was the time Agapé and Kara had spent together.

In contrast, Kara had lived and shared hardships with the heroes for a full ten years.

In such a situation, where would her heart lean?

“Astolfo consistently protected me when you weren’t there. From the prophets’ pressure, and in battles against the army of death.”

“……”

“…I’m sorry.”

Now, I only want to look forward.

“……”

Those words felt like a plea for me, a remnant of the past, to disappear.

I couldn’t protect her in her most difficult moments.

I couldn’t build more memories with her.

She had spent longer with comrades who had given her more than I had, so she had grown more attached…

Because she had spent more time with Astolfo, her feelings for him had deepened.

And so, it sounded like she was asking me to disappear.

“…I’ll ask you just one thing, Kara.”

“…Tell me.”

“When you sent me that letter ten years ago, did you give up on us from then on?”

To his flat voice, she nodded.

“…Yes.”

I gave up then.

To protect me from the prophets, from countless people, and to stay by my side…

“Because you were too weak.”

“……”

Weak.

That word, in particular, pierced his heart like a dagger.

“…At least.”

Couldn’t she have given me a single chance?

A chance to follow you, a chance to protect and save you.

Was my existence so weak in Kara’s eyes that she couldn’t even give me a single chance to grow stronger and prove myself?

A laugh escaped him at his own wretchedness.

“Phuh…”

“……”

Agapé.

Kara called my name.

I instinctively knew these were her last words.

“Let’s end this now.”

“……”

“It’s time to wake up from this dream, Agapé.”

In the past, we promised to marry once we left the city.

Now, it seems I can no longer keep that promise.

“…I’m sorry.”

She bit her lower lip.

Then Kara turned her head and walked towards the tent Astolfo had entered.

“…Now, never appear in my life again.”

After those words, I could never see Kara again.

At the same time, something inside my heart felt like it shattered.

Crumble─

[What is human goodness, and what is human evil?]

[Even before future philosophers pondered such questions, the domains of good and evil were separated within the human heart.]

[Those domains were eternal, but not immortal.]

[Crumble- Crumble- Crrrrumble-]

[For everything is ultimately restructured and remade anew.]

『Feanor, Part of 《The Story》』