SIDE STORY 26
SIDE STORY – ICE AND WIND (3)
“Alex.”
“Oh, Arthur. Yuna, this is Arthur Chase, my best friend.”
As Arthur stepped closer, Alex reflexively turned to Yuna and said.
Then Yuna shrunk back and hid her face, perhaps from being frightened of Arthur who was approaching with a scary face, and said in a low voice.
“H-Hello. I’m Yuna.”
Her appearance with her head bowed down was like that of a small herbivore.
Therefore, Arthur unconsciously relaxed his expression, but did not forget the important thing.
After politely introducing himself in an unfriendly tone, he roughly grabbed the wrist of Alex.
“Arthur?”
“I’ll borrow Alex for a moment.”
With a stern expression, Arthur spoke as if declaring to Yuna and dragged Alex as they moved more than ten steps away. On the other hand, Yuna who was suddenly alone shrank back again with a frightened face.
“Alex.”
“Arthur, what are you doing?”
Alex angrily spoke, but Arthur was also furious, though he was not a wizard for no reason.
He suppressed his emotions with the power of his reason and spoke in a low and calm voice.
“Alex, she’s not a human- no, she’s not of a humanoid race.”
Alex flinched at the resolute tone.
But it was only for a moment.
“So what?”
“Again, I’m saying that she’s not a human. She’s neither an elf nor a dwarf.”
“I know.”
“You know? Do you really understand what I’m saying? Do you understand what I mean when I say that she’s not human?”
The face of Arthur turned hideous.
Alex was tall, but Arthur was taller than him.
Moreover, Arthur was not only tall as he had a muscular body that was comparable to a knight.
So when he raised his mana and spoke in an angry voice, he was seriously intimidating.
But Alex was also a formidable and skilled person.
He told Arthur as he stared straight at the blue eyes of the other.
“I know.”
That she was neither a human nor an elf.
That she was a being that did not belong to the races commonly called as humanoids.
Alex was not bewitched. He was not confused either.
He was as firm as a sword.
Arthur regained his composure at the firmness of Alex. Instead of raising his mana again, he spoke in a slightly softened voice.
“Alex. She might be a monster.”
“She’s not a monster. I’m sure you know best that I’m good at checking.”
“Perhaps she didn’t harm you on purpose to deceive you.”
“For what reason? She wouldn’t have come this far to ‘eat’ me like those in old stories. She had so many opportunities to do so.”
“But Alex…”
“Arthur, I’m sure you know too. That she’s very unlikely to be a monster.”
Alex cut off Arthur as he spoke.
And at those words, Arthur could not refute it.
It was just as Alex had said.
It would be an absurd conspiracy for a non-human to infiltrate the snowy mountain to deceive Alex Bayer who was wandering around the empire, meet Alex under the guise of coincidence, and continue to meet him for nearly a month.
Even if such a thing was possible, it was honestly not worth doing it because of Alex Bayer or the Bayer family.
The Bayer family was no longer the margrave of the north.
They were just one of the many families in the north.
If it was not the empire, then it could be the northern region of the kingdom.
“Are you coming up with some theory now?”
Alex smiled and playfully asked, and Arthur turned stiff. In order to suppress his face that was about to involuntarily turn red, he snorted and said anything he could.
“Anyway, it’s clear that she’s a non-human.”
“Yes, she might even be an angel.”
Arthur frowned at the casual reply of Alex.
But Alex continued to speak with a shameless face.
“But Arthur. Look at her. Isn’t she really like an angel?”
Even if he was in love with her, he was too in love.
Sighing inside, Arthur looked back at Yuna and frowned again as he saw Yuna cautiously looking at them with a gaze full of fear and curiosity.
“Oh, did your heart just race? Don’t fall for her, okay?”
“Crazy b*stard.”
Arthur reflexively cursed, perhaps because he let his guard down, but he did admit.
It was just as Alex had said.
She was clearly a non-human, but not dangerous.
“I don’t know anymore.”
In the end, Arthur Chase was still only a teenager.
When Arthur spoke in annoyance as though he gave up, Alex had a pleased smile.
“I see, you admit it. That’s good.”
“Look here, you crazy b*stard.”
“Okay, okay. Ah, Arthur. There’s one thing I want to ask you.”
Alex suddenly became serious, and Arthur frowned and sighed before straightening his posture.
“What is it?”
“That is… fufu, my Yuna is beautiful, right?”
Those were the words he spoke with a serious face.
“Crazy b*stard.”
Arthur cursed again but had a faint smile.
Alex was satisfied with that, and this time, it was him who grabbed the wrist of Arthur.
“Let’s go. Miss Yuna is waiting. She really wanted to meet you.”
“Why though?”
“Because I talked about you a lot? You’re my best friend, after all.”
“Hmph.”
Alex cheerfully smiled at the snort that meant ‘You’re still saying embarrassing things with a shameless face.’ On the other hand, the face of Arthur turned red.
“Let’s go.”
Alex moved forward and waved his hand towards Yuna who was looking at them, while Arthur resigned and let himself be dragged by the hand of Alex as they approached Yuna.
***
The festival was fun.
People gathered and watched an amateur play about the discovery of the hot springs, and all that they did afterwards was to sing and dance, so it was boring festival that was typical of rural festivals, but was still fun.
In the first place, enjoying the festival was more important than its content.
“Arthur, my friend. Please play it.”
Alex urged him with a face red from drunkenness, and Yuna next to him asked with sparkling eyes.
“Can you play?”
Her face was flushed red because she was drunk too. And Arthur turned red and swept up his bangs as he replied with a smile.
“A little guitar.”
“It’s not just a little as he’s very good at it. He practiced a lot to woo women, you see.”
“Hmph, I didn’t.”
But it was always true when Arthur reacted like this.
Arthur was pure as a child.
Even until now at the age of less then twenty, he was still pure.
“Well, I borrowed this from a bard. Choose a song.”
“Hmph, I won’t refuse then.”
Arthur received the guitar without hesitation and touched the strings a few times to tune it before he began to seriously play.
It was a lively and upbeat song that was completely different from the usual image of Arthur.
It naturally caught the attention of everyone, and when Alex encouraged him further, Arthur even started to sing.
The lively love song suited its joyful tune.
“Puahaha.”
Arthur Chase was singing an upbeat love song.
Alex burst out laughing alongside Yuna as they held hands and began to dance.
It was a dance without any technique as they only went round and round, but that was enough in this place where people laughed and chatted.
A night when Arthur played the guitar and sang, and Arthur smiled and danced like a fool.
And when the festival was over and it was midnight.
Yuna did not return to the snowy mountain, and Arthur who was a quick-witted wizard went out for a late-night walk instead of staying in the inn.
From midnight until morning.
Alex was with Yuna.
***
Time passed by.
Five days after the festival, Arthur thought that he should return home alone.
His schedule had already exceeded by a few days.
“Are you going back?”
“I have to go back. And you will have to go back someday.”
In response to the calm reply of Arthur, Alex narrowed his brows but nodded. Because it was just as Arthur had said.
Alex was the only heir to the Count Bayer position, so he had to return to the kingdom and fulfill his responsibility.
“I will no longer dismiss it as playing with fire. If you want to stay with her, formally propose to her. Ask her if she can leave the snowy mountain here and go to the Bayer county.”
Yuna was not human.
Her identity was still not clearly known, but they did not know if she was bound to the snowy mountain.
“I understand.”
“Good.”
“Arthur.”
“What is it?”
“If you’re leaving today… why don’t we go to the snowy mountain together? You have to say goodbye to Yuna.”
“…Okay.”
The place where he always met Yuna was at the beginning of the snowy mountain. So it would not take that long.
Alex and Arthur rode their horses and slowly made their way to the beginning of the snowy mountain.
But when they almost arrived, they had to stop their horses. Because Yuna who often stood quietly at the waiting place was now running towards them today.
“Yuna?”
Alex hurriedly jumped off his horse and caught Yuna in his arms. Because she looked so anxious.
“Yuna, are you okay? Yuna?”
When Alex asked again, Yuna nodded and seemed like she was about to cry, but she bit her lip. Arthur stared at them with a frown before looking back at the huge snowy mountain and taking a deep breath.
After several deep breaths, Yuna finally faced Alex and said.
“Alex.”
“Yes, Yuna.”
“Please kidnap me. I-I mean… Please leave with me.”
Her words all sounded very embarrassing and confusing, but Alex just nodded instead of asking her.
“I understand.”
“Eh?”
His reply was so quick and decisive, so Yuna who brought it up was quite surprised.
But Alex remained the same. He carried Yuna in his arms and got on his horse in an instant.
“Yuna, can we leave right away?”
“Eh? Ah, yes!”
Yuna answered with a face mixed with bewilderment, fear, and joy that could not be expressed in words, and Alex immediately turned to Arthur.
“Arthur, please.”
“Go.”
Arthur gave a brief answer and turned around instead of inquiring about the situation.
Rather than watching Alex and Yuna in the arms of Alex as they hurriedly rode away on the horse, Arthur stared at the snowy mountain and spoke very quietly.
“It’s always my job to clean up.”
The white snowy mountain was like always.
But something definitely changed.
Arthur raised his mana and looked straight ahead.
***
In the arms of Alex, Yuna talked about various stories without hesitation.
That she was not originally from this snowy mountain.
That she was born much further west.
That her older brother from afar had noticed that she had spent the night in a place other than the snowy mountain five days ago at the festival.
That he wanted to take her back to the far west.
Listening to the story of Yuna, Alex thought.
It was as Arthur had guessed.
Yuna was clearly not a human.
He found it hard to identify what she was, but she was neither a demon nor an angel. She was a different kind of being.
But that did not matter to him.
The important thing was that Yuna wanted to be with Alex himself.
And Alex felt the same way.
‘Arthur.’
Alex looked in front, but thought of Arthur whom they left behind in the snowy mountain.
The gaze that looked at Yuna from afar when she was in his arms.
He vaguely felt that gaze whenever he met Yuna in the snowy mountain.
It was there this time too.
Moreover, the gaze even harbored outright hostility this time.
‘Arthur.’
Alex whispered the name of his friend in his mind.
He prodded his horse faster as he recalled the face of his friend.
***
It was the next evening that Alex and Arthur met again.
Arthur quietly spoke as he looked at Yuna who had fallen asleep early, perhaps because she had left the snowy mountain or because she had relaxed now.
“It was a white and huge fox.”
The existence that appeared after Yuna and Alex left.
A huge fox that seemed to be five meters high from its shoulder height alone.
He could not understand how such a gigantic being could move without making a sound.
Perhaps it would remain a mystery.
“Did you fight?”
“No, after staring at me for a while, it left the words ‘Please take care of milady’ and then disappeared.”
A huge and mysterious fox who was believed to be the guardian deity of the snowy mountain.
Yuna who was called milady by such a fox.
Her story that she was born further west.
The existence of an older brother who told her to come back.
Although nothing was clear, Arthur did not delve further.
Because the moment he saw the face of Alex who was silent as he held Yuna in his arms, he realized that anything he said would be meaningless.
And a month later.
Alex and Arthur were in the northern region of the Sälen Kingdom.
They returned to their hometown of Bailon.
***
Alex Bayer married Yuna.
The Count Bayer of that time, who was the father of Alex, initially denied the relationship between the two and opposed their marriage, but as the old saying goes, parents always end up giving in to their children, so he gave up in the end.
A child was born to Alex and Yuna.
His name was Gaël.
The child was born at a time when Alex was no longer free like the wind, and had blue hair and a gentle personality resembling Yuna.
Time passed again.
Ten years.
It was not a short time.
But as if Yuna was not affected by the passage of time, she was still cheerful and lovely like a girl in her late teens.
However, at the time when their second child was born.
The moment when Jude, who inherited the black hair of Alex and the mysterious green eyes of Yuna, cried for the first time.
The tranquility of the Bayer family, which seemed to last forever, was shattered.
***
Jude was born with Gueumjulmaek.
Despite being a boy, he was born with extreme Yin energy.
(T/N: Usually, only women have Yin energy, so characters like Jude and Kamael are exceptions.)
But that was not the only problem.
The condition of Yuna, who had been healthy after giving birth to Gaël, began to rapidly deteriorate.
It was not the aftermath of childbirth.
The body of Yuna had already been damaged little by little before that.
Since the wife of Arthur was due to give birth soon, Arthur was staying at his hometown, so he hurriedly examined Yuna and came to a conclusion.
“Alex, she has to go back.”
The extreme Yin energy of Jude came from Yuna.
As they had known for a long time, she was a non-human, and she needed a coldness comparable to the snowy mountain.
At the words of Arthur, Alex shut his eyes.
And he made a decision.
He ignored the servants who dissuaded him, and after carrying Yuna and the newborn Jude in his arms, he rode off towards the north.
Arthur followed behind Alex.
He hesitated for a while because his wife was about to give birth, but Countess Chase pushed his back.
“Go.”
Because if you don’t go, I’m sure you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.
“But don’t be late.”
Arthur smiled and was grateful to the mischievous threat of his wife. He rode his horse towards the north.
They crossed the border and headed to the snowy mountain.
To save Yuna.
[I will accept milady. But not the child. That child is one of the two people of destiny.]
The huge fox appeared at the beginning of the snowy mountain as if it knew that they were coming, and then disappeared with only Yuna after saying that.
Unfortunately for Alex, Yuna was already in a coma, so he could not even properly say goodbye.
“Let’s go back.”
It was a time when war between the kingdom and the empire was imminent.
Alex stared at the snowy mountain, but soon nodded and climbed onto his horse with Jude in his arms.
And a year later.
The war between the kingdom and the empire prevented Alex from returning to the snowy mountain.
Summer three years later.
Alex returned to the snowy mountain, but it was already too late then.
Or rather, perhaps everything was decided when he left the snowy mountain three years ago.
There were no more non-humans in the snowy mountain.
Yuna and even the fox were gone.
19 years had passed.
Nearly 20 years.
As Alex reached the beginning of the snowy mountain after a long time, he took a deep breath and walked.
The identity of Yuna.
He roughly knew now.
When he met the barbarians – no, the people from the wild lands during the Calamity War.
When he greeted the wild god called Violent Avalanche.
Alex knew then.
That Yuna was a wild god.
The place she referred to as the west was the wild lands that existed beyond the western border of the empire.
Alex asked Violent Avalanche about Yuna, but he did not know Yuna.
To begin with, Yuna was just an alias and not her real name.
What happened to her?
Perhaps she was a victim of the wild god hunting of the demon followers.
Alex struggled to suppress his emotions.
When the Calamity War was over, Jude and Cordelia embarked on a journey to Hell.
He traveled through the wild lands.
He tried to find traces of Yuna.
But during his half-year journey, he did not find anything.
“Yuna.”
Alex uttered while looking at the snowy mountain.
He called her name.
He was desperate for a reply that would definitely not come back, but still said her name again.
“Yuna.”
“Alex.”
Alex widened his eyes at the reply that was carried by the wind. He turned around, unable to control his heart that had began to pound like crazy.
And he saw her.
Although 20 years had passed, she did not change.
As always, a woman with a shy smile looked at him.
It was not a dream.
It was not an illusion either.
Alex ran. He instinctively hugged Yuna tightly, and Yuna hugged him back. Naturally, they coveted the lips of each other.
And after some time passed.
Alex came to his senses when the hand of Yuna struck his chest, and separated his lips with her. Yuna coughed as she caught her breath, and then hit the firm chest of Alex again.
Her slight hits always hurt very much.
So it hurt very much again this time.
But that was why Alex smiled like a fool.
“Beard.”
As Yuna touched the area near his mouth and said, Alex awkwardly smiled and blushed.
Because he began to grow a beard after Yuna disappeared.
“I’m going to shave it now.”
Yuna smiled again at the hasty answer that was unlike Alex, but was very much like Alex at the same time.
As if he did not have to, she kissed Alex once more.
What happened?
How did she escape the attack of the Devil’s Eye?
Why did she only show up now?
There were so many thing he wanted to ask, and he did not know what to say first.
Yuna knew such an Alex well.
That was why she stroked the handsome beard of Alex and began talking one by one.
The story of her deep sleep for the past 20 years.
The story of how her sanctuary where she slept was completely in a mess when she woke up.
“Was it caused by the demon followers?”
“No, I heard later that the Guardians of the Wild Lands caused explosions while they were trying to defend the wild lands. But I’m glad that I woke up a little earlier thanks to that.”
At the bright answer of Yuna, Alex awkwardly smiled.
He wondered if he should thank or blame Jude and Cordelia for destroying the home of his wife.
“I was about to go home after getting healthy, but the Golden Dragon King told me. Go to the snowy mountain.”
Was it a prediction?
Or did he read the flow of fate?
Either way was good.
Alex tightly hugged Yuna again, and felt both joy and embarrassment at the same time since she had not changed in the slightest from 20 years ago, or rather, she was the same as when he first met her 30 years ago.
Alex was the only one who grew old.
Yuna appeared to be in her late teens, but he was old and was nearing fifty.
From the outside, Alex only seemed to be in his mid-thirties, but there was still a huge difference.
And Yuna laughed.
Because she knew.
Because knowing the thoughts of others by just looking at their eyes was not only the talent of Jude.
“You’re still handsome.”
Alex blushed at her words.
No matter how shameless he was, he could not help it.
He felt both joy and embarrassment, and an unbearable love for Yuna.
Eventually, Alex summoned his youthful self that he had sealed a long time ago.
He became the young man of that day who discussed the freedom of the wind, and whispered to his beloved.
“Lady Yuna, would you give me the honor of kissing you?”
Yuna laughed out loud.
Bursting into laughter, she purposely held out both hands and said that she was fine with it, and Alex had a mischievous smile as he did not take her hand. Instead, he kissed her on the lips.
In fact, he wanted to kiss her lips and not the back of her hand when they first met each other.
The wind blew in the snowy mountain.
The wind was so free that it did not blow roughly, and it was the same as always.
It always headed towards the snowy mountain.
A constant wind that would not change even after a thousand or ten thousand years.
Even today, when the sun began to set beyond the west.
The unchanging wind blew freely.
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