Kahu’s life was already in Charlize’s hands.
No, Kahu was as good as dead. Because Charlize was genuinely aiming the sword.
He had a sword, but it was too late. He will be decapitated to death before he can even unsheathe his sword.
It was scary.
‘I’m afraid.’
He heard that people see lanterns right before they die.
Kahu didn’t see a lantern, but all kinds of thoughts just flashed through him in an instant.
Charlize lived as if she had died when she was young. Even if she was suppressed and abused like that, she endured everything before returning.
He couldn’t figure out what her disappearance had to do with ‘Kiera’.
‘The grandmaster was good at swordsmanship, but she didn’t have enough weapons experience to make a sword or provide knowledge.’
He realized it intuitively.
Enough for Charlize to paint Dylan black. That Charlize might have had a painful time, until she reached the extremes.
No, actually, he wanted to believe that Charlize had a reason.
He wanted to defend Charlize even though he was in danger of dying.
‘Why?’
Kahu was confused for the first time.
‘Didn’t I chase Charlize to prevent the fall of the Empire?’
For Kahu now. Charlize was more important than the safety of the empire.
“You don’t need to be so afraid, grandmaster.”
His lips moved freely.
“…The wizard’s conversation, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Charlize’s eyes narrowed at those words.
Is she really going to kill me? Kahu wasn’t Charlize, so he didn’t even know how she felt.
But if Charlize really wanted to. Kahu must have died right away without saying a word.
Although he had a slight wound on his neck, it was not a fatal wound to die from. Charlize looked into Kahu in silence.
Because it’s a life-threatening situation. Kahu’s heart was beating like it was going to explode.
‘Or.’
Even in the sharply forged atmosphere, Charlize was dreamy and captivating at the same time. Charlize from a distance was unrealistically strong and beautiful.
He was an opponent who had already lost even with all his might in the swordsmanship competition. Now, years later, she’s become more monstrous. Charlize, replied slowly.
“Yes, pretend not to know.”
He’s saved.
Shortly after being relieved, Kahu realized his mistake. He tried to dig too deep.
Because he didn’t want to die. Kahu really erased the conversation of the wizards he had just heard from his memory.
The tip of the sword still stuck around his neck was sharp.
Kahu said whatever Charlize wanted.
“They came to study the Alperier, a secret organization that studies Ehyrit… That’s all.”
Charlize, who was quiet, took off her sword as if she knew it.
The whole world jumped.
Ridiculously. Far from developing antipathy to Charlize, it was suffocating.
Charlize stared at the wizards for a moment. Her hair fluttered and her unique lavender scent tickled the tip of his nose.
Even in this urgent situation, Charlize looks beautiful. There must be a problem with his eyes.
Looking into Charlize’s eyes as mysterious as the universe, Kahu suddenly realized.
If he keeps chasing Charlize like this.
‘I may like her sooner or later.’
It’s like, many drops make a flood. The emotions will naturally deepen as well.
But to stop here. It was Kahu who had come too far.
It was strong alcohol.
Akan was in pain.
No matter how much he drank, he rarely got drunk.
‘When Kahu asked about Charlize.’
At least Dante answered well.
But Akan couldn’t answer because he didn’t know anything. How Charlize grew up as a child and what she spent her time doing. He didn’t know completely.
Instead of Dante’s main sword, he showed his talent mainly in magic. Since he was the second child, he sometimes talked to Charlize.
Because Akan was a person who received everyone’s expectations as a knight.
“How…”
Akan’s voice was torn.
Sitting in the memorial room of the Grand Duchess. Akan only looked up at the portrait of the Grand Duchess.
Silver hair, which was her mother’s pride, and blue eyes, who had only kindness. It was in that painting as it was.
“What should I do? Mother.”
There is no answer to the questions asked.
There was always an escorting knight in the memorial room.
When they saw Akan for the first time, the knights kept their mouths shut and looked at each other’s countenance.
There were already 4 bottles of alcohol that Akan emptied.
The better a swordsman is at dealing with mana, the less likely he is to get drunk.
He often boasted that he was a strong drinker. He has never been as cursed as he is now that he is sober.
They say it makes you feel better when you get drunk. If that’s the case, he’d be able to forget his guilty feelings for Charlize for a moment.
‘The moment Charlize changed.’
Akan thought as he poured all the alcohol left in his mouth.
His mind was particularly clear, and his head felt more awakened.
His breath ran hot.
‘Charlize’s 13th birthday.’
After suddenly gathering the maids and firing them without hesitation.
Charlize stopped by the Grand Duchess’s memorial room on her birthday, then in the hallway. She met everyone.
The Grand Duke, her father, and Akan. They were offended to see Charlize trying to pass them by unknowingly.
It’s likely Dante called Charlize then and asked.
“Why don’t you say hello?”
Charlize’s eyes, which had become indifferent for an instant, came to mind.
“Because it’s not worth it.”
Ah.
Already, at that time.
Charlize had abandoned her expectations for the family.
They should have noticed immediately. But Ronan. Two years later, Charlize became the 13th prince’s teacher, and spent another four years there. They didn’t know anything.
They didn’t make any effort.
Never once did they send a message of regards to Charlize, who lives in the imperial family.
Because they always believed that Charlize would like them.
‘What a foolish and negligent thought.’
Akan put the bottle in his hand.
The bottle rolled over the marble floor.
“…Was your family in harmony?”
Kahu asked Akan and Dante.
Actually, he knows the answer.
Biologically, they have the same parents, so you can say they’re a family. However, it sounds like a question of intrinsic ‘family’, which is not meant to be that. At the moment, the pure heart did not answer.
It was indescribably painful.
He wanted to drink more, but he ran out of alcohol.
He’s tired. It was hard to even breathe. Eventually, Akan stood up from his seat.
“Are you all right, young master?”
“Ah.”
His vision was distorted for a moment, but he refused the knight who tried to help him.
The knight stepped back, looking the other way.
Akan slowly left the memorial room. His steps moved.
The Grand Duchy was extensive. The members of the Grand Duke family lived in the same building. Each one used its own floor.
Akan lived on the fourth floor.
As he went up to the fourth floor, his wife, who was knitting, came up to him in surprise.
“Oh my. Honey…!”
“Wife.”
“Why did you drink so much in the early evening?”
Even if he wasn’t so drunk. The smell of alcohol could not be deceiving.
Seeing his wife’s worried face, Akan knelt on the spot.
“Honey?”
He leaned in the arms of his bewildered wife.
Akan closed his eyes.
Of course, as is the case with marriages between high nobles, Akan also had an arranged marriage. Although there was no affection, they kept their duties and respect for each other.
But it’s painful.
It was painful.
“I want to see Freo.”
Akan’s child was Freo.
“The baby is sleeping.”
Even though he seemed embarrassed, his wife said kindly. Akan shut his mouth at the words.
Freo was still a baby. Akan laughed bitterly, because he wasn’t supposed to wake her up once she was barely asleep.
His first child also came into the world with difficult births at birth.
The reason why Akan became close to his wife, who was in an arranged marriage, was because he feared that he might lose his wife for the first time at that time.
Akan raised his head.
The wife who thought of Freo was smiling peacefully. Suddenly, that smile overlapped with a white lily.
‘My mother smiled like that too.’
A broken white smile.
A mother who was no longer alive after Charlize was born.
His heart cools down.
Contradictory, but it was.
Akan asked suddenly.
“You think I’m wrong, too?”
“···What do you mean, honey?”
His wife was concerned about Akan.
“Are you having a hard time because you drank a lot? What should I do? Should I order you to get some honey water?”
Akan shook his head when he saw his wife, who was restless and was trying to call a maid.
That was not what Akan wanted.
“I… I…”
Akan was speechless and stopped.
The wife was bewildered.
It’s the first time she’s seen Akan suffer like this since she got married.
‘Maybe because of the young duke’s visit?’
She heard from the maid that Kahu had visited not long ago, and she knew that something had become strange from that point on.
‘Not only Akan but also brother-in-law Dante.’
She knew it had collapsed.
His wife took Akan to the sofa in front of the fireplace.
The warm fireplace warmed up the body as it was a snowy winter.
His wife soothed Akan by patting the back of his hand.
“Speak slowly.”
Akan looked at his wife.
“Because I’m listening.”
What and where should he start?
It’s just that Akan has a lot on his mind.
He thought there was a justification for being harsh on Charlize.
He thought that if someone listened to the situation, they would be able to get an understanding.
Akan also knew love. He loved his mother, the Grand Duchess, to her death.
Had it not been for Charlize, the Grand Duchess would not have died. Since he lost his mother, he thought he could do that much.
His mother, who used to smile as warm as the sun, is no longer seen forever. She can only make the same expression in the picture. That warmth, tenderness, was lost forever.
Akan swallowed many words.
He just asked bitterly.
“How did you feel when you gave birth to Freo?”
Akan was drunk with his feelings.
His wife could have died at that time. If she had lost a little more blood, she would have lost her life without facing Akan now.
“Wasn’t it painful? Wasn’t it scary? Wasn’t it hateful?”
Questions poured in without hesitation.
His wife looked very surprised and called him.
“Honey?”
Akan said more painfully.
“You almost died.”
“…”
“Freo, don’t you hate her?”
The powerless Akan was not there at that time.
Akan stared at his wife with clear and stern eyes.
The cozy atmosphere of the early evening. The fire in the blazing fireplace. The face of his wife, who had always been polite to Akan, gradually distorted.
Akan did not know what emotions were contained in the eyes of the moment.
The next moment, because Akan’s wife slapped him hard on the cheek, which is rare.
Slap!
Akan was dumbfounded.
Did he just get hit?
He came to his senses.
The feelings in his wife’s eyes were quickly interpreted. There was sadness in her eyes. And a little bit of resentment.
The cheek that was hit by his wife became tingling later.
Akan put his palm on his cheek. It was hot.
“How, can you say that?”
It was a trembling voice.
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