Lesche opened his eyes after being immersed in deep water for a long time.
He was walking.
He didn’t know where he was. The space, which was completely different from any place he had seen since he was born, was just like the space of Tuban that he had seen before.
A space as dark as the night sky, where the stars gently float.
The maze-like structure was still there.
In this unknown place, the reason Lesche continued to walk without stopping was simple. Because Seria was walking by his side and holding his own hand.
Her hair, like the green of a midsummer day, fluttered in front of his eyes.
Suddenly, Seria’s shoulders trembled.
She slowly looked behind her. Lesche’s eyes stopped. Seria was crying. He wanted to wipe the tears running down her cheeks, but his hand didn’t move. Seria smiled with a wet face and looked forward again.
In the meantime, her steps never stopped.
Only then did Lesche realize where she was taking him.
“I promised to marry you back in the day.”
“It’s said that I don’t have time anymore, but when I think about it, I don’t feel very good.”
She didn’t know how she found out right away. Just like an animal that instinctively learns how to breathe at birth, it was a fact that came to mind naturally.
“Lesche.”
It was a voice that crushed his chest painfully.
“Can you die without me?”
Lesche couldn’t answer. His hands had not moved. Seria raised her other hand and rubbed the corners of her eyes.
“You always say that I am cruel to you. Who is really cruel?”
“…”
“Why are you whispering all kinds of good things and getting so far away?”
“…”
“I hurt my ankle and I couldn’t run straight to you.”
“….”
“Because I couldn’t leave you either…”
How far she had walked. The time that Seria wanted to live flows like a meteor over the black sky. There was one thing that she learned thanks to him.
Seria burst into laughter with her wet eyes.
“I thought Lina was married to you in the past, but did you know she wasn’t?”
“….”
“When Mies pretended to be you. When I believed that it was the original story, I couldn’t remember anything about you as a child.”
“…”
It was the memory of Mies, so it was not necessary to keep it.
Lesche did not return any reply, but Seria laughed.
The fact that this man had never been married to any other woman was somewhat pleasing to her.
At one point they were standing in a place like an exit. As Seria, who had been to the world of Tuban many times, it was the first exit she had ever seen in her life.
If she went out here…
If only traces of the lost time were real…
Then she would be able to bring back Lesche’s heart at that time.
But if time has already completely evaporated.
“Lesche.”
Seria turned back. The fact that she cried the entire time she walked through this space, but still had something to pour, was a miracle in the midst of it.
“I’ll tell you in case it’s the last time.”
Tear-soaked cheeks rubbed against Lesche’s face. Seria lightly kissed him.
“It was nice to meet you.”
The exit was open. It was a place full of warm divine power, and there was also a place where the light was too strong to see anything.
The smile on Seria’s face was painfully distorted.
“Whether we live or die, we’re going to see our old days. We both died early, so it won’t be a big deal, but… it’ll be fun to see you proposing to me while bewildered.”
Squeezing Lesche’s hand once more, Seria turned her back. That image clearly remained in Lesche’s eyes.
It was painful as if someone was pressing his heart tightly, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. Soon after, Seria stepped forward.
****
14. A long time ago
***
(*First timeline)
Seria was the illegitimate daughter of Marquis Kellyden.
She was also the only Stern of the vast continent.
With strong divine power, her whole body was full of yellow and black bruises, and she had never taken her bandages off except when she was bathing.
Stern, who alone bore the power of the stars, spent her whole life in solitude. Seria, in particular, had strong star power and lived alone in her deepest lavish villa. Everyone froze when they saw Seria. They couldn’t even speak. Thanks to this, Seria worked hard to learn how to read other people’s facial expressions.
A crack came to that quiet life on one spring day.
Her starting point was that Seria, who was taking a walk, almost tripped over a stone beak.
“….!”
A hand gripping Seria as she was about to fall. She couldn’t help but panic. The power of the stars in her body was at a level that humans could not handle.The weak ones could be seriously burned even if they touched her for a short time.
She hurriedly shook the opponent’s hand off and looked at him.
A man big enough to break her neck was a very great looking man. Red eyes were staring down at her.
Seria asked, flinching.
“…Doesn’t it hurt?”
“…”
“It would be normal if it hurts…”
“Why?” (Lesche)
A voice dripping down to the confused Seria.
“I think there must have been only weaklings around Stern.” (Lesche)
“…What?”
“So why are you alone like this?” (Lesche)
“No, why are you so rude…?”
It was later that Seria learned from the priests that the man was the headmaster of Berg. He was always wearing a helmet that completely covered his face, so Seria didn’t recognize him.
And why did that young Grand Duke come all the way here?
Seria held the jewel called Berg’s Circlet tightly in her hand. It was hard to control it, and she could feel the power of stars, which had always tormented her, slowly flowing.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen something like this.”
She called it the heirloom of Berg.
Can he just present such a precious relic… ?
It was true that Seria helped a lot in Berg’s subjugation. She was hurt a little bit, but she used to get hurt everywhere that much.
But it was not enough to receive the heirloom of the Grand Duke.
With that thought, Seria had trouble sleeping for several days. In the Great Temple, they were incredibly aware of Seria’s lovesickness and proposed marriage to Berg.
She was embarrassed by the speed of their work. Seria almost fainted when she heard that Lesche Berg had accepted the marriage proposal.
“Are you crazy? Get away right now! If you stay close to me, you will die!” (Seria)
However, it seemed that Lesche had no intention of leaving. He groaned and raised his eyebrows.
“I thought I told you I wasn’t a weakling.”
“…What?”
Lesche continued with a more gentle attitude, like a gentleman, who had come to promise his marriage.
“Besides, the precious Stern chose me, so is there a reason to refuse?”
Chose?
It was a word that could only be used by nobles under the title of Duke. Wasn’t Grand Duke Berg on a different level? Seria hesitated and asked.
“Don’t make fun of me and give me an honest answer as to the real reason why you want to marry me, Grand Duke…”
“Well….”
He looked at her and said,
“The purpose of Berg is to protect you.”
Lesche smiled faintly.
“You look so lonely.”
Seria didn’t understand his words.
Being a noble who protected Stern, he was arrogant.
Lesche tilted his chin and added.
“Again, the priests pleaded that you have love sick.”
“What?!”
“We’re at the marriageable age, so why not get married?”
Whether Seria screamed inwardly or not, Lesche took a booklet out of his pocket. Seria took the booklet from his hand and read. The more she turned the pages, the more strange she felt.
“What is this??”
“This is Berg’s memorandum.”
“Read it all and return it to me when we get married.”
Then Lesche drank all of his tea and left. Seria was stunned. Does the Grand Duke of Berg change like this once his marriage is confirmed? She felt like she was standing in the middle of a storm.
The funny thing was that she didn’t hate it at all.
After Lesche Berg became Seria’s fiancé, there has been a noticeable decline in solicitation to rely solely on her favors.
Seria was the only Stern on the continent, and she was always called around to purify the lands where the demons thrived.
“…Still, you must have called me because you needed me, but it’s a little too much to say no.”
“It’s because you are so kind.”
“Then next time…”
Seria became embarrassed for no reason.
“Next time, I’ll try to be a very mean person.”
Lesche chuckled.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
One day not long before the wedding.
Lesche, who always visited Seria, took out two small, luxurious boxes from his pocket. When he opened it, there were two blue jewels. One was a unique jewel in the form of a flower, and the other was just a blue diamond.
In the Glick Empire, it was customary to give blue flowers to brides, so he understood the flower jewelry had that meaning, but what about the other one?
Lesche said with a rare hesitancy.
“…I think it’s the same color as your eyes.”
Instantly, Seria’s cheeks flushed. Her face turned so red that she quickly turned her head away.
…In this man’s eyes, her eyes looked like that.
Her heart pounded wildly.
The genuine relics in Berg were really unique. Thanks to this, Lesche also learned how to control the power of the stars himself. Seria poured the power of the stars into the two blue jewels that Lesche gave her.
Since she received the heirloom, she wanted to return the favor. He came every week, and she wanted to relieve the burden of the power of the stars on Lesche.
But…He looked really strong.
It was the day before the wedding that there was a problem with the boundary against the demons.
The scale of the invaded beasts was much larger than expected. The news that the Knights Templar had been annihilated was reported three times. The escape route was blocked, and reinforcements were dispatched in a hurry, but the beasts were too crowded that they could not easily join.
At that time, Seria saw Lesche vomit blood. She didn’t know in what spirit she ran.
“Lesche!”
He said he was okay. He said he wasn’t weak. It was only then that she realized that there was a bandage wrapped around Lesche’s wrist. She wanted to scream, but no voice came out. The burn marks in the bandage were all too familiar.
It was caused by not being able to handle Stern’s power…
Her heart shattered with a pounding sound.
Even in the midst of crying, Stern’s power was gradually built into the body of the dead fiancé. At some point, Seria found out that she had survived alone.
She didn’t feel any presence anywhere. It was just a gloomy beast’s energy. On the cliff where Seria was, the demons struggled nonstop to climb up.
Seria held Berg’s relic in her hand. Her blood, which had burst from her hand, was endlessly smeared on the red jewel.
Despite having overcome so much of Stern’s power, she killed her fiancé. She still had bruises on her body from divine powers.
No one could stay with her for long.
“Why…?”
It was said that everything would be detached before death, but it wasn’t. Everything that was empty began to become clear. Everything gradually turned into excruciating pain.
Seria couldn’t handle this world. She was disgusted with her fate, where she had no place to run or hide.
Unless she allowed Stern’s powers to make her suffer.
“Just give me a normal life just once.”
She wished she didn’t have this kind of power. She wished she didn’t have a family. So she wouldn’t expect anything from the start…
There was something she wanted to say when she met that person (Lesche) again.
Tears streamed down Seria’s cheeks.
“I miss you, Lesche.”
When they meet again, she wants to give him a bunch of red jewels. These jewels remind her of his eyes.
As Stern was bitten to death by demons, divine power exploded like a bomb. A 5km radius completely exploded, and the corpses of the knights began to disappear at the same time as the beasts burned to death like dust.
Even while everything was being erased and Stern was dying, the divine power did not destroy Lesche Berg’s body, and it gently descended with all its might.
Because she had the desire to leave only the body of her fiancé’s intact.
It might mean nothing now…
“…I’m glad it meant something.”
Seria, who had been walking for a long time, lowered her head as her tears were dripping down. There were no bruises or bandages on her exposed arms and neck. A body where her loved ones could stay close. Even if she grabbed Lesche’s hand and kissed him, he wouldn’t die.
Tuban’s hair, which had been extended all the way to Lesche’s heart, shone white. It was reminiscent of the silver chain drawn on Lesche’s neck. A mark that was said to be engraved only on Stern’s spouse.
“If it’s a beating heart, I was worried about how to carry it.”
Seria laughed a little.
Lesche’s heart was wrapped in Tuban’s divine power, like a mass of light. Holding his heart dearly, Seria immediately turned back and started running.
Lesche was already dead, so he couldn’t walk as long as Seria. So they couldn’t come together anymore, and he was scattered all alone.
She ran as hard as she could to Lesche. She didn’t stop or look back.
The time that had already disappeared became white pieces and began to crumble. Exactly like that, she saw Lesche on the verge of disappearing completely.
She finally caught him.
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