episode_0215

A lot of time had passed.

I hadn’t counted the sunrises and sunsets, so I didn’t know how many days had gone by.

All I knew was that the noisy, pouring rainy season had ended, and the summer heat was slowly fading.

Perhaps it had been about two months since I entered this prison.

The chirping of crickets quietly drifted in. My daily life had become as simple as this tranquil atmosphere.

Eating the food that came through the slot in the wooden door, calmly watching the sunlight stream through the small draft holes in the wall, and enjoying the rest of my life in contemplation. This was everything.

Recalling the paths I had walked for the past year, which were no different from a painful thorny patch, these quiet days were truly what I needed.

There was no one to talk to, nor anyone to talk to. I spent most of my time lying on the hard bed. I didn’t feel particularly bored. Nor was I lonely.

One day, along with my meal, a parchment, a quill pen, and a bottle of ink were pushed through the slot. It seemed to be an invitation to write something if I wished. However, I did not pick up the pen.

Because there was nothing I wanted to leave behind.

Memory visions no longer appeared.

Partly because I had no will left to see the past, but also because, as far as I could tell, the ability itself seemed to have vanished.

My hands, which had hesitated every time they touched something for fear of seeing an unwanted past, could now comfortably touch and freely discern the inherent texture of things. If it was a good thing, then it was a good thing.

I didn’t know why the ability had suddenly disappeared.

Perhaps it was because I inherited Amon’s blood from my father not by ‘birth’ but by ‘consumption,’ and then gave some of that blood to Tia, causing it to fade.

Well, it was just a small conjecture I could make in this situation. I didn’t want to think about it any deeper. Nor was I particularly curious.

I felt no regret. No, rather, I felt liberated now that this curse had disappeared.

How should I put it? It felt as if I was utterly free, even though I was imprisoned.

If so… why did my father pass on this ability, which was no different from a curse to me?

Finally able to think extensively, I pondered the reason thoroughly, slowly fitting together the scattered pieces of clues in my mind.

Fosao was my father’s biological son.

Its implication was significant. I knew it from experience. He was to succeed the Village Chief and lead Breezedon. This meant he had to earn the respect of the villagers and become an indispensable person.

But Fosao lacked such a capacity. Considering the villagers’ assessment of Fosao, it seemed his dark and despicable nature had been a problem from long ago.

Moreover, he had an unsightly appearance and even a stuttering disability. Despite being the Village Chief’s son, he likely received no commensurate treatment.

My father knew everything. So, just as he did with me and Tia, he paired Tia’s mother, Helina, with Fosao to keep an eye on him.

However, this measure instead created a strange obsession in Fosao. He felt compassion for Helina, the only person in the world who didn’t reject him and treated him well. Since he danced with Helina at the coming-of-age ceremony, it truly seemed he loved her.

But it was only unrequited love. As soon as Helina met Albert Anshier, who had coincidentally visited Breezedon, she fell in love and left the village with him.

Ignored by his father, disregarded by the villagers, and even losing the only person who cared for him to an outsider—Fosao’s inferiority complex exploded.

He meticulously concealed his murderous intent. First, he moved to Deseo and opened a small trading company. With the ability to see the past—inherited from his father—he easily peeked into others’ memories. He must have learned that Albert was a prince around that time.

After earning enough money for his ‘plan’ and even preparing poisons, he returned to Breezedon and built a general store in a secluded part of the village. And he interacted with the Anshier couple as if he had no ulterior motives whatsoever.

Then one day, Albert disappeared. It was not long after Helina gave birth to Tia. All the villagers searched the Dragon’s Ridge Mountains to find him. However, after a long search, they couldn’t find Albert’s body, and he was ultimately concluded to be missing.

Not long after, Helina gradually fell ill and died three years later. I heard she died from a disease contracted while traveling as an adventurer across various parts of the world, but I suspect the emotional sickness from losing Albert was a greater cause.

The Village Chief seemed to have realized around that time that Fosao possessed the same ability as him. But it was too late a realization. Fosao had intentionally set up his home in a secluded place to avoid his father’s memory-reading and had destroyed the evidence by leaving no trace of Albert’s body.

Even with only circumstantial evidence, Father decided to completely disown Fosao. He informed the villagers that Fosao was no longer his biological son and adopted me, an orphan. ‘Modaless General Store’ was also excluded from Breezedon’s domain.

When the village was bustling with peddlers due to Deseo’s naval blockade, the Village Chief merely stood by, which was to guard against goods from Fosao’s general store slowly entering the village.

And his opposition to Uncle Joseph’s suggestion to build a bridge and open up the village at that time was also because he had foreknowledge of the impending war in Deseo.

From that point on, my father gradually drew out his blood. He knew his own death was not far off either.

After witnessing the futile deaths of the Anshier couple, he resolved that ‘Amon’s blood’ should no longer remain in the world, but Fosao was already using that power in a wicked and sinister way.

To confront him, my father’s judgment was for me to succeed him.

Despite being old and frail, and with his mind not fully clear from drawing blood, my father still managed to produce enough blood to transfer the ability.

But simply because I was too hasty. I ignored the villagers’ old warnings and went deep into the forest, where I encountered a hungry bear.

And I gave Fosao an opportunity.

In any case, my father’s will was ultimately achieved.

Fosao had his hands cut off by Tia. He could no longer steal others’ memories.

Similarly, I also could no longer see memories.

Now, the only person in this world who possesses that terrible curse is…

Tia.

Only her.

Every time I think about Tia, I feel a deep sense of guilt.

She bore everything. Her mistakes, Fosao’s countless sins, the curse of Amon’s blood, my bitter pain. And as Queen, the fate of this nation and the lives of millions of its people.

These were too heavy for one woman to bear alone.

Yet, instead of trying to bear it with Tia until the end, I only burdened her.

And Tia accepted all those burdens until the very end, and worried about me.

Consistently.

“Tia.”

My tongue touched my upper teeth, then fell away.

There was no one to hear, no one to answer, yet only by repeating Tia’s name like this could I feel that I was alive.

Feeling this guilt spread deep in my chest every time I uttered her longed-for name… that was the only atonement I could offer her.

* * *

Novelty suddenly arrived, breaking the calm of my daily life.

Knock, knock, knock.

The guard, who had never made a sound before, knocked.

At first, I thought it was the light tapping of a bird on the roof. But no matter how much I thought about it, the sound had come from beyond the door, and even now, there was a short cough as if seeking attention.

If he had something to say, he could have just opened the door and come in. I couldn’t help but call out to him outside with a bewildered voice.

“Come in.”

Clunk!

As if on cue, the door opened, and for the first time since entering this prison, I met someone.

The person standing by the door was a giant man. He wore a stiff-collared hat, seemingly a knight holding a high office, and two enormous swords hung at his hips.

Two swords?

A smile almost involuntarily formed on my face.

In fact, even before seeing the two swords, I realized from his comically wide-armed posture that he was someone very familiar to me.

As far as I knew, there was only one person who would greet someone in such an eccentric way.

“Hahaha! Have you been well?”

And there was only one person who would stride vigorously into the prison with such a hearty laugh.

“I’ve been well. And you, Uncle?”

“Haha! Me? I’m always busy, no time to even blink. Oh my! It seems your words about being well are true. Last time you were so thin, but now you’ve put on quite a bit of weight, and it’s good to see!”

Uncle Joseph looked around the prison and, finding no suitable place to sit, ordered the guard outside to bring chairs.

Soon after, the guard, grunting, brought in two chairs and a small table, arranging them somehow in the cramped prison to make space. It was then that I saw the face of the guard who always put food through the slot for me for the first time.

My uncle asked.

“So, you weren’t uncomfortable?”

“Not at all. It was a good time.”

“Heh heh- Look at this? We even put in parchment and a pen in case you were bored, but you haven’t written anything? Was there really nothing to write?”

“Because… I’ve said enough.”

My uncle glanced at my face, blew his nose loudly on the blank parchment, then tossed it behind him.

“My apologies. The weather suddenly turned chilly, and I caught a cold.”

“…”

“But is it just my imagination, or does your way of speaking sound like a condemned man about to be dragged to the execution grounds?”

A condemned man.

I hadn’t spoken with such a feeling, but when it came down to it, it was also true.

Because the time when I could decide my own fate ended the moment I entered this prison.

My uncle stared at me intently, then said, as if tossing a remark.

“Don’t worry. You died ‘yesterday’.”

“…Pardon?”