episode_0206

The main castle gates were wide open.

This passage, which directly connected to the main gate, was only accessible to royalty and high-ranking nobles, so I couldn’t enter.

Soldiers and armed knights had to use an arched passage opened a little distance away.

I slowly slipped into the shadow of the castle.

Throughout my life, the only time I had entered a ‘castle’ was when I went to meet the lord of Taildon.

My first impression of the castle in Taildon was definitely one of discomfort.

It was entirely made of stone, making it hard and cold, and there were steep stone steps in front of the entrance. Along the outer walls of the castle, there were traces of a deep moat, so the surrounding earth was hollowed out to the height of a child. I heard that wars were frequent in the past, which caused the lord’s residence to gradually become a fortress.

However, Deseo Castle was not like that.

Perhaps it was because the vast sea itself served as a natural fortress. It had never experienced the threat of invasion, leaving behind only the magnificent grandeur of a ‘castle’.

Without a single narrow or steep stone staircase, the corridors stretched out wide and expansive, and the size of each door leading inward was overwhelmingly large.

Paintings by some artist hung on the walls in golden frames. The floor of the corridor was meticulously laid with beautiful tiles of various colors. Even ordinary pillars, which one might pass by without interest, had royal crests intricately carved in amber.

It was so splendid that my gaze was drawn to it naturally. It was a wonderland of nobility and solemnity, entirely different from the world I had lived in.

Eating sweets with the soft mountain breeze in quiet Breezdon.

It felt like only yesterday we walked together through the lush green forests of Dragonez.

Everything artificially created, processed, and hardened—.

Now, Tia is living in a place like this.

However, these alien landscapes all quickly flowed past me.

My feet, clad in clanking plate boots, didn’t give these things a moment to capture my attention.

I walked along the corridor. It was the central hall.

Chandeliers hung from the distant ceiling. A red carpet with golden embroidery stretched over the stairs and continued to the reception room.

I looked up at the firmly closed reception room door. The wall, where the king’s portrait should have been, had nothing hanging on it.

It would probably take a lot of time to paint Tia’s portrait.

Ding- dong- ding-.

Clear bell sounds rang from another spire at short intervals. It was different from the quiet clock-telling bell sounds of normal times.

It sounded like the call to assemble the castle guard.

I traversed the desolate space where no servants, soldiers, or nobles were visible. Beyond the central hall, there was a dark staircase leading downwards. It was at that moment, as I was about to descend.

“Hey!”

Someone shouted from behind me.

It didn’t seem like a very loud shout, but the man’s voice echoed like in a cave.

“Her Majesty the Queen has just commanded everyone to assemble immediately, where are you going alone?”

I turned around.

A sturdy man stood there. Looking at his armor, he was probably a lower-ranking knight receiving patronage from a high-ranking family.

“……I have something to do.”

“Something to do?”

He looked at my armor. And as soon as he saw the Piolo family crest engraved on the chest, his face instantly contorted.

He seemed to wisely realize that getting involved with this family would bring no good.

“If you’re curious, follow me.”

What would the sight have been like for him?

With the dark and gloomy royal palace basement behind him, a knight with a skeletal appearance gesturing for him to follow.

Would anyone dare to follow?

“No… I-It’s fine.”

The frightened man immediately turned his back and left.

“……”

Now, there was truly no one around me.

Only the gathering soldiers, faintly visible through the open door far away, could be seen.

I left them behind and slowly descended the stairs, stepping down.

Darkness.

And the musty smell of damp dust.

I remembered this strange sensation of my nose stinging.

It was exactly like when I found the hidden basement in my father’s shack.

No, I’d never forget it my whole life.

Because in that dark basement, I gained this incomprehensible ability.

‘Amon’s Blood’.

A miraculous power that allowed me to see people’s memories and the past of objects with a simple touch.

At the same time, a curse that had become a disaster and misfortune for me.

Thump-.

My boot hit the floor.

The palace basement.

It was magnificent.

It was a colossal storage facility.

By now, the sun had almost completely set, and it was enveloped in grayish darkness.

Through the faint sunlight filtering in from the outer courtyard, I could see dust particles floating and countless objects beneath them.

If a library had countless books and scrolls neatly arranged on shelves…

…here, the same number of objects were neatly arranged on the floor.

Wardrobes of unusual styles, seemingly sent from foreign countries. The shape of a swan made from hundreds of intertwined stained-glass pieces. I didn’t know what any of them were. I only knew that each was luxurious, highly valuable, extravagant, and antique.

Occasionally, items that looked humble or showed signs of use appeared to be artifacts that the royal family had possessed since ancient times.

Unusually, these items, all irregular in shape and varying in weight, somehow formed a perfect square when displayed side-by-side, as if measured with a ruler.

Some might ask, ‘Yes, it’s impressive. But what’s the big deal?’

But this perfect arrangement made me feel breathless.

It was almost like an obsession. Or rather—as if their lives depended on it. This was because I had once seen such a compulsive and flawless, alien landscape before.

Specifically, in Breezdon’s warehouse.

“…Everyone, follow me.”

I sharply lifted my head.

Footsteps. Though not visible in my sight yet, the sound of someone walking towards me from behind the wardrobe.

If I wasn’t mistaken. That voice was clearly…

“Leave it here.”

I was speechless.

It was Tia.

Tia was clearly approaching.

She had removed all cumbersome decorations and was walking, dragging her slippers, dressed in the king’s ordinary everyday clothes.

It was so sudden that I couldn’t say anything.

My tongue and lips stiffened, unable to move.

While I stood frozen, dumbfounded like this, Tia didn’t slow her steps at all and continued to walk towards me.

In an instant, the distance became too close.

I was so flustered by the closeness that I reached out my hand—

Tia passed through my hand like a ghost, going through my arm and behind me.

“……”

I looked behind me.

Bright light filled the basement, which had been dim until now.

It was definitely getting dark. But Tia had dazzling sunlight on her back.

Ah.

Was it a memory illusion?

My surprised heart slowly calmed down.

As the illusion deepened, the scene of the palace basement became a little more detailed.

Before I knew it, countless servants around me were diligently moving objects. It seemed I had arrived just before they were neatly arranged like this.

[Place that over there. Carefully, so it doesn’t fall.]

[Yes, Your Majesty.]

The one directing the servants one by one was none other than Tia.

She truly… seems good at everything.

She must have never ordered anyone around before. She isn’t even a knight who can command private soldiers just by learning a bit of swordsmanship.

How long has it been since she sat on that extremely awkward ‘King’s’ throne, and she already knows how to skillfully handle servants?

Outwardly, it just looked like the wife of some low-ranking noble ordering servants around. But if you listened closely, Tia’s voice clearly held dignity.

[To over there.]

[Understood.]

It was awkward.

Even the situation of the Queen personally coming down to the basement to instruct the organization of supplies was awkward to begin with. And her low, solemn voice, which I had never heard in my life, was also very awkward to me.

I still remember that voice, always chattering, clear and bright like raindrops rolling off leaves.

I still remember that happy smile and natural gaze that was kind and friendly to everyone.

I remember you, still a beautiful girl even when wearing short pants like a man and with a large rose sabre hanging from your slender waist.

But… before me stood not Tia, but the monarch of a nation.

She had Tia’s face, but it was expressionless.

The same voice, but solemn.

Her waist was as beautiful as ever, but it was bulging.

Was it Tia?

Honestly, I couldn’t be sure.

It was as if I had suddenly dropped alone into a similar world, but with reversed destinies.

It was definitely Tia, but not the Tia I knew.

To Tia, who had climbed a few steps up the stairs and was looking down at the basement from a distance, a servant brought an object.

[Your Majesty. I have found the item you requested.]

What he placed on the floor was unexpected.

Among the splendid and beautiful royal items, there was one that looked particularly humble.

Surprisingly, it was something I also knew well.

[…Ah.]

Tia approached the object slowly with surprised eyes. Then she knelt down.

[It really was here…. Where was it?]

[We found it in the infirmary. They said it was replaced with new equipment several years ago and is no longer in use.]

It was the distiller I used in the pharmacy.

To be precise, it wasn’t *that* distiller. It was a distiller with the same design, made in the same workshop.

Still, I was stunned as if I’d been hit.

Why would the Queen suddenly appear in a basement storage that a king wouldn’t even glance at, to organize the palace’s supplies herself?

And among all these items, what could Tia have desired so much that she personally had a servant search for it?

It was clear that it wasn’t merely the Queen’s whim.

[Mmm-.]

When Tia lifted the distiller, the servant flinched.

[Your Majesty! I will carry it.]

[No, it’s fine.]

[But Your Majesty is not well…]

[I want to do it myself.]

Although it was said out of concern for her pregnant body, Tia firmly refused.

Shuffle. Shuffle.

Holding the distiller with both hands, she carefully walked to the center of the basement.

Then, she stepped onto a makeshift ladder and carefully placed it on the highest shelf.

[……]

Tia looked up at the distiller and smiled faintly.

Undoubtedly, it was the most visible spot here.

I could confidently say so.

Because all the servants, including myself, were looking up at her.

Dissipating-.

The memory illusion gradually faded.

Tia’s back disappeared, and the basement was once again filled with darkness.

However, like the black mark left after facing intense sunlight, only the old distiller remained in my vision for a long time.

“So… that was it.”

My heart swelled.

Tia hadn’t forgotten. She hadn’t forgotten.

-Me.