Chapter 15
"...I know less about him than I do about you, senior."
"Haha, I suppose that's true."
He shrugged and walked towards the dormitory. Eki stood still in the training ground, where no one remained, for a while. The bored Demon Sword whined.
[Hey, what are you doing standing still?]
"I thought he looked familiar. Seeing that smiling face reminds me."
[What? Who?]
"Ian Pelletro."
[El, I don't know him? Was it when I was being controlled? Before I woke up?]
"Yeah, back then."
Eki twisted her lips. That man was also there when she massacred Ajenka.
She had killed so many people that Eki couldn't remember them all. She only remembered those who were precious to her, like her family or Nicole, and those who left unforgettable memories, like Yuriene.
Ian Pelletro was the latter. In a bad way.
"When I saw him, he wasn't a Military Cadet, but a knight. Since I made Ajenka like that... three years from now, he must become a Master within three years."
[Did something impressive happen?]
"He told the fleeing people the opposite direction."
[What direction?]
"The direction I was in."
[......Wait, so you're saying he sent the people fleeing towards you? On purpose?]
"Yeah. And he tried to run away while I was killing those helpless people, from children to the elderly."
[Wow, he's pragmatic. I like him?]
The Demon Sword, which loved human malice, chuckled. Eki stopped talking and walked away.
Ian Pelletro smiled very kindly at the child who was begging the knight for help, telling them to flee in the wrong direction. That smile was the same as the one he had given Eki a little while ago.
Even in the midst of the mind-numbing massacre, she clearly remembered that scene. She thought it was strange that civilians kept flocking to her, but the moment she saw that scene, she realized it was his doing.
Ian Pelletro's affectionate smile twisted hideously the moment he discovered Ekinesia, who had arrived sooner than he had expected. He pushed the child in front of him towards her and ran away.
People reveal their true nature when faced with death. Ian Pelletro was such a person.
Ekinesia killed him. Of course, before killing him, she also killed the innocent child who had been pushed towards her. A memory that came back vividly even after a long time.
"Damn it."
Eki spat out a curse and rubbed her face roughly. If she fell asleep like this, she would have a nightmare. She walked not towards the dormitory, but in the other direction. She headed outside the military academy.
[Where are you going?]
"To check."
[What?]
Ajenka, where no one died. Eki muttered the answer only to herself.
Ajenka after sunset was not quiet. People were finishing work and going home, people were taking walks, children were returning home. People came and went under the twilight and streetlights.
Since Ajenka did not belong to any country, it paid taxes to the Azure Knights, not to a lord or King. And the current captain of the royal guard, the ruler of Ajenka, was a reasonable Monarch.
The tax rate was not high, and citizens were not conscripted or oppressed. Since the strongest royal guard on the continent had established itself there, Monsters rarely invaded, and there was little crime.
A good city to live in. Most of the faces of the people passing by were smiling.
Eki walked quietly among them. She watched the people laughing, talking, walking, and running. Everyone was alive. There was no blood anywhere. Ajenka was not a ruin. Because the things she had done had now become things that had not happened.
Her heart gradually felt at ease. Eki walked slowly. She passed through alleys, passed through markets, and crossed bridges over canals.
‘I should look at that place one last time, and then go back.’
In the center of the central square was a fairly large fountain. At the center of the fountain was a sculpture of an angel holding the Divine Sword Kairos Giosa.
In the erased past, Ekinesia had greeted Yuriene in front of this fountain, which was covered in corpses and flowing with red blood.
Eki pushed through the crowd in the square and approached the fountain. She saw the clean fountain with clear water flowing.
Seeing the undamaged present was a heart-wrenchingly good feeling. She stared blankly at the fountain for a while.
Then, at some point, she felt a gaze. It was a gaze that her senses should have picked up on long ago, but she had been so engrossed in the fountain that she had only noticed it belatedly.
Eki turned around.
A man in a hood was standing there. His face was not clearly visible because of the shadow of the hood he was wearing. People passed between the man and her. He slowly moved towards her. The streetlight briefly illuminated the inside of the hood.
Silver hair holding the light, clear sky-blue eyes. It had been a very long time since she had last seen that face, but it was engraved in her memory as unforgettable, so she recognized him at a glance.
Yurien de Harden Kirie was standing there.
Eki couldn't move as if she was nailed to the spot. She forgot to breathe. Thoughts disappeared from her mind and her vision turned white. Only the figure of Yuriene wearing a hood was clear.
In the autumn of 1632, she had last seen him in this very place. She killed him in front of this fountain. After that, more than two years to overcome the Demon Sword, and nine more years to collect the Giosa. It had been almost 12 years, from Ekinesia's perspective.
Because becoming a Master slowed down aging extremely, he looked no different now than he did in the past.
Yurien stopped a little distance away from her. Not close enough to reach out and touch, but an ambiguous distance for someone to pass between them.
He didn't take off his hood. The captain of the royal guard's silver hair was so famous that if he took off his hood in such a crowded square, everyone would recognize him.
He looked down at her without a word.
Eki was barely tall enough to reach his chin. Not that she was short, but he was just so tall. So, from her perspective, she could see his face under the hood completely. Still a poet-like face that was too delicate to be a knight.
His eyes were not calm. A turbulent storm raged like blue waves. But with a few blinks, the storm disappeared as if it were a lie.
Eki didn't even notice it. She had no time to notice. Only one fact was clear in her mind.
‘He’s alive…….’
That was enough. The words she wanted to say to him, the things she wanted to ask him, all felt like luxuries. Even the worry of what to do if he recognized her could not be recalled at this moment. Eki just stared, as if possessed, at his lively eyes. The eyes of a living person were very beautiful.
It was Yurien who broke the long silence first.
"......Cadet Ekinesia Roaz."
A low voice pronounced her name. It felt more like confirming than calling. As if telling himself who the woman standing in front of him was.
"Cadet."
He added the title belatedly. Eki blinked wildly. She didn't know how to react. Yurien opened and closed his mouth as if choosing his words. Then he asked slowly.
"Do you know me?"
It wasn't an accusation. Nor was it a probing tone. It was just a dry question as if confirming the facts.
Eki finally came to her senses at the question. The first thing she did was lower her eyes and cover her mouth with her hand. She had been staring up at him, wondering if he might have memories, she was out of her mind.
Even though she was completely different from that time, with makeup and a veiled hat, she was afraid to face him. She wanted to avoid him recognizing the woman who killed him at all costs. Eki avoided his gaze and replied.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are. Do you know me?"
Whether he had memories or not, she couldn't show that she knew him. Because there was no point of contact between the Azure Knights and an ordinary Count's daughter.
At her answer, Yurien was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly. Slightly curved lips, slightly raised corners of the mouth, beautifully softening eyes.
‘He smiled?’
It was the first time she had seen him smile. There was no reason to. Even though it was a very faint smile, it felt like the surroundings were brightening. Eki was very embarrassed because she felt her face heating up. Even more embarrassing words fell upon her.
"You should know who I am. Haven't you seen me before?"
"Yes?"
The voice that asked back cracked. She felt like her excited heart had dropped and was rolling around at her feet.
Does he remember? Does he have memories? The memory of me betraying him, killing him, right in front of this fountain, doing that? Then what should I do? What should I say to him?
Just as she was about to go crazy, he continued calmly.
"Last summer, at the Emperor's birthday banquet."
"......Ah."
The aftermath was so intense that she had half forgotten, but it was true that Ekinesia had first seen Yurien at the Emperor's birthday banquet. She had only watched from afar, and had never even danced with him.
Since it was last year, it was naturally something that had happened even now that time had been turned back. Since she was all dressed up like now at that time, it was not strange that he recognized her.
What she couldn't understand was that he remembered a mere Count's daughter who had never even had a conversation or made eye contact with him.
Eki pursed her lips. It was not easy to take the words out of her parched mouth. She barely managed to ask a question.
"At the birthday banquet, did you... see me?"
"I didn't know who you were, but I remember seeing you. Didn't you see me?"
No one who attended that banquet would not know Yurien. He, the Third Prince, received much more attention than the Crown Prince.
The biggest reason was that he was the captain of the Azure Knights, but even without that reason, he was a man who attracted attention with his beauty alone.
Eki made an exaggeratedly surprised expression as if she had just remembered.
"Y, you were the captain of the royal guard! I'm sorry for being late to realize it."
"Captain of the royal guard..."
Yurien frowned slightly. He thought about something and shook his head slightly.
"Call me by my name. My name is Yuriene."
He didn't say his last name. Eki, who had been calling him by his name in her mind since before, was surprised and hurriedly refused.
"I'm a Military Cadet, captain of the royal guard. How dare I."
"Military Cadet, I see."
At her refusal, Yurien looked at Eki with ambiguous eyes.
Eki avoided his eyes. Her outfit was not very suitable for a Military Cadet. She thought he found it strange because of her clothes.
But Yurien was not looking at her dress. He fixed his gaze on her white face. He asked quietly.
"Why did you apply to the military academy?"
"Because I want to become a knight."
"Why do you want to become a knight?"
"......Because I like swords."
A cliché question and a cliché answer that could only come out in an interview. Considering the relationship between a Military Cadet and the captain of the royal guard, it was a smooth conversation.
Just as Eki was about to relax a little, Yurien suddenly approached her.
