Ch#169
He could have simply left her be, but he had already stepped into the muddy water, ruining his clothes. He didn’t want to let his efforts go to waste.
Amidst the drizzling rain, he walked toward a large, spreading tree.
All the while, the girl prattled on, her small lips pouting. It was so ridiculous to see her acting so haughtily while soaked to the bone that he gave her a light scolding, which brought a hint of color to her face, which had been pale enough to make one’s eyes ache.
He observed her closely from beneath his deeply pulled-down hood.
Was she around Aila’s age? She was similar in height, but her frame seemed even smaller. Through the wet fabric, he could feel a bone structure as delicate as a bird’s.
Despite her boasting about being the daughter of someone great, it wasn’t hard to guess that she was in a position where she wasn’t being properly cared for.
‘…It’s none of my business.’
Wondering why he felt so bothered, he bent down to set her on the ground.
At that moment, he heard something like a faint whistle.
He froze, his gaze dropping to her hands, which were clasped tightly against her chest.
“What are you holding?”
Looking up at him with hesitant eyes, the girl slowly opened her hands. Between them, a bundle of muddy, grayish-brown fur was revealed.
He furrowed his brow.
“A bird?”
As he muttered skeptically, the girl’s cheeks flushed even deeper.
“It’s only because it fell into the mud. Originally, it was…”
The girl started to retort with a defiant face, but then fell silent with a dejected expression.
He couldn’t understand why a dying bird made her so sad, or why she had stayed out in the rain just to shield it in her hands.
However, this shabby bird that the girl couldn’t bring herself to discard reminded him of something he had lost long ago.
Caught in a strange sense of nostalgia, he shifted her to one arm and pulled her small hands inside his hood.
The skin that brushed against his neck was so cold he wondered if blood was even circulating through it.
“Your fingers are like ice. How long were you standing out there?”
He looked down at her with a look of disapproval, only to meet her wide eyes staring straight into his.
What was she looking at so intently? As he wore a puzzled expression, the girl whispered in a hushed voice, as if she had discovered a rare treasure.
“You know… there’s a silver crown in your eyes.”
He stared back at her, speechless.
It was this girl who possessed truly strange eyes.
They were of a color so deep that the boundary between the pupil and the iris seemed blurred, yet strangely, they didn’t look black. Rather, they seemed to shine with a terrifying transparency.
He suddenly remembered having seen this clear light somewhere before.
A long time ago, it was the light that had poured down over his head as he ran across the endless plains.
The moment he realized that, his vision cleared as if a veil covering his retinas had been stripped away.
The change happened so suddenly that he couldn’t properly grasp what was happening to him.
While he stared without blinking at the sudden influx of vivid light, a feast of colors beginning from her eyes began to spread to his surroundings.
In the next moment, he realized that the girl’s hair was a brilliant gold, like a field in mid-autumn.
Just as he instinctively reached out toward it, her head whipped around. He had to clench his fist to stop himself from grabbing that small face back toward him.
The girl muttered with a troubled expression.
“I… I have to go now.”
Her tone was reluctant.
If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.
The words almost escaped his lips before he bit them back.
She was a child he had only just met. There was no reason to go out of his way to hold her back when she said she was leaving.
He slowly bent down and set her on the ground.
Standing on the floor, the girl held her hands out toward him.
“Will you take it with you?”
He stared at the small bird in her palms before carefully reaching out. As he cupped the rain-soaked young starling in his hands, he felt its tiny, rapidly beating heart.
He brought the cooling bird to his cheek and pulled his hood forward.
The girl, watching him intently, asked in a voice filled with a strange yearning.
“That bird… will it live?”
“…Yes.”
Aware of the lack of certainty in his own voice, Barkas added firmly.
“It will live.”
A faint smile spread across the girl’s anxious face. It was a smile that was incredibly bright, yet somehow looked sad.
She soon turned and began to run away.
As she moved further away, vibrant colors expanded like paint bleeding across a canvas. As he stood there staring at the sight, Bernadette’s voice echoed in his mind.
“One day, the day will come when you find something that makes you feel alive.”
That can’t be.
It was a meeting that lasted only a moment. His life couldn’t possibly change just by crossing paths briefly with a nameless girl.
Letting out a hollow laugh, he soon turned and began to walk.
The bird she had given him let out a faint cry. He pulled his collar open, tucking the bird close to the warmth of his neck, and lengthened his stride.
The path he had walked hundreds of times looked like a completely different place.
For a moment, a strange dizziness washed over him. He looked up at the few streaks of light filtering through the ashen clouds before closing his eyes.
Heavy footsteps broke through his hazy consciousness.
Barkas, who had been catching up on sleep in his chair, slowly lifted his eyelids.
Just as he thought he heard a commotion from across the rainy barracks, a black-haired young man in golden armor pushed through the screen and appeared.
“Is it true that you pushed for the peace talks?”
The Crown Prince, having slammed his orichalcum helmet onto the floor, shouted in an angry voice.
Barkas picked up the goblet on the side table and replied in a detached tone.
“I merely made a suggestion. It was His Majesty the Emperor who actually pushed for the talks.”
“It’s the same thing!”
Stepping toward him, the Crown Prince growled, his bright green eyes flashing.
“Negotiating with rebels… are you in your right mind? Those who raised a hand against the Imperial Family should all be hanged!”
“Do you think it is realistically possible to execute all the nobles of the North?”
Barkas took a sip of wine and let out a heavy sigh.
“Let’s say we execute all the Balto nobles as you wish, Your Highness. How do you intend to manage that vast northern territory?”
“I can grant it to my aides as spoils of war! Or divide it among the conservative nobles! There are plenty of nobles drooling at the chance to gain even an inch of land…”
“The people of Balto would never accept a lord from another race.”
As he replied with some irritation, rubbing his forehead, the Crown Prince’s face turned cold with rage.
Exercising his patience, Barkas added a step-by-step explanation.
“The North is also imperial territory. If we do not stop the war here, the damage will return to the Roem Imperial Family. Above all, an excessive response could provoke resentment from the feudal lords.”
“Including you, I suppose?”
The Crown Prince sneered, his eyes flashing.
He did not respond. He looked quietly at his younger cousin, whose maturity never seemed to grow, with eyes full of fatigue, before slowly standing up.
He was about to walk out of the barracks when Gares blocked his path.
“You act like it’s for the sake of the Roem Imperial Family, but in truth, you just want to end the war. Do you think I don’t know why you refused the position of Commander-in-Chief and only stay near the eastern border?”
His huffing breath brushed unpleasantly against Barkas’s chin.
Gares, bringing his face close to his, spat out through gritted teeth.
“It’s so you can slip in and out of Kalmor whenever you have the chance.”
“…”
“You probably think only you know me well. But I know you too. I’ve watched you for nearly twenty years.”
The Crown Prince’s green eyes darkened to an almost deep forest green.
Though their temperaments were nothing alike, Gares always reminded him of the late Empress when he had that look in his eyes. He continued, speaking as if spitting out the words.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice that your heart is entirely elsewhere? Even these talks, you only pushed for them for your own convenience!”
