Translator: Nox

57 - The Time of the Blind Beast (15+ Revised Edition)

Chapter 57

10. Finally, That Day

The man's face was chillingly cold and detached.

The principal of Milena Girls' School looked at the man before her with a bewildered heart.

The uninvited guest, who had burst into the school without prior notice, exuded a suffocating tension from his gaze to his face, demeanor, and tone of voice. Normally, ordinary girls' schools strictly prohibited male entry unless for special reasons, but the man's extraordinary status and unusual aura, rather than allowing the principal to expel him on grounds of school rules, made the principal rush out to the main gate barefoot.

At first, the man's momentum, as he had kicked open the school gate on horseback, was so alarming that she thought war had broken out again. She had immediately panicked, thinking he had come to inform them that Dabis's army was advancing across the border and civilians needed to evacuate. Given her past experience of being caught in the front lines due to delayed news in the mountains, there was ample reason for such a mistake.

However, as she calmed her mind and observed him more closely, peculiar details began to emerge. For one, the renowned King's Army was nowhere to be seen. Furthermore, the man was not wearing a crisp officer's uniform but a simple coat over trousers and a shirt.

So, it wasn't war. Yet, despite how many days and nights he must have ridden without rest, his horse showed clear signs of exhaustion, while the man's eyes burned with an uncanny intensity. Only the wrinkled and disheveled appearance from head to toe indirectly proved his arduous journey.

The motive for his intrusion was utterly unfathomable. And his opponent was none other than the famous Ezekiel Valdemara. As she fumbled, unable to quickly devise a way to handle the situation, her eyes met the man's deep, dark gaze.

A sudden chill ran down her spine, and the principal flinched. The rumors she had momentarily forgotten due to his overwhelming presence suddenly resurfaced.

She instinctively took a step back.

Come to think of it, how did he find his way here?

Major Ezekiel Valdemara was supposedly... blind. And hadn't they said he had become terribly fierce and violent because of it?

Cielsa, being a rural area, was always slow to receive news, often remaining ignorant of things everyone else knew. However, the ill tidings about Ezekiel Valdemara were an exception; though delayed, they had spread quite widely, even more detailed than they had reached Claris, who had tried to control the rumors from his family's estate.

The source of the rumors was the doctors summoned to Derosa. Even though Valdemara's mansion in Derosa had locked its gates to avoid gawkers, they couldn't silence the doctors' eyes and mouths. The doctors spread news of Ezekiel's condition, which they had witnessed firsthand. It felt like having one's head thrust into the jaws of a raging beast. They said it was a beast's mansion.

Yet, the man who had been holed up in the Derosa mansion for so long, refusing to see anyone, was in no way distant from being a blind man. He had ridden his horse to Milena Girls' School on his own accord. Upon noticing the appearance of 'that Major from the 37th Regiment,' he had even carefully counted the faces of the female students hanging from the windows, looking down outside, to confirm them.

As if he were searching for someone.

And with great urgency and anxiety.

Confused about whether she should protect the students from Ezekiel's gaze or isolate Ezekiel from the students' curiosity, the principal first guided him to her office.

It was only when they reached a quiet place to talk that the man revealed a purpose that completely defied expectations.

"So... you've come to pick up a student? One with red hair and green eyes, named Rose..."

What in the world was this all about?

It was utterly incomprehensible. He had burst in demanding the student be handed over, but the principal, unaware of the circumstances of how and when a student from Milena Girls' School became involved with Major Valdemara, was simply dumbfounded.

"Where is Rose? I want to take her with me right now."

But there was something else that was most difficult to understand.

The principal mentally reviewed the faces of the current students. It wasn't difficult to remember the appearances of the students, as it was a small school.

However, the man's demeanor was unsettling. He seemed to be barely suppressing an urge to storm out of the principal's office and search the classrooms and dormitories himself.

She felt lost about how to explain the situation to such a man.

The principal, glancing at the man, spoke with difficulty.

"Excuse me, but perhaps you have the wrong school... We do not have such a student here."

---

"Well, there are a few students with the name Rose or similar nicknames, but they don't match the age or appearance you described at all."

It was unbelievable. Rose had clearly stated where she came from. She had even confessed memories that only someone who had witnessed the battle firsthand would know, claiming he had rescued students trapped and surrounded at the school.

Yet, upon coming to find the missing Rose, she was met with the principal's astonishing words.

There was no Rose at this school.

Despite Ezekiel's chilling gaze, the principal steadfastly maintained her claim.

Then who was the woman he had spent the seasons with? Had she become an insubstantial ghost? The low, calm voice, the soft, faint scent, the touch that tickled his heart, and above all, Rose's warmth that had provided the greatest comfort, were still so vivid.

"If you mean a student who left the school last winter... Ah, right. At that time, the chimney collapsed, and we couldn't accommodate the students in the dormitories. Most of the students fell ill, so we decided to suspend school operations until the chimney was repaired and sent the children home."

Even if the appearance was similar, or the age was off by a year or two, or her real name wasn't Rose, she had asked for all students who vaguely resembled her to be brought forth. But the principal adamantly denied Rose's existence to Ezekiel's face.

"If there were any students who bore even a slight resemblance, even with slightly different conditions, I would have known immediately upon hearing about it. As the principal, how could I not know my students? But the 'Rose' Major Valdemara is looking for is truly not here."

The repeated "not here" was driving him to the brink of madness.

Such an answer was not within Ezekiel's expectations. If she had said Rose had left the school, he would have relentlessly questioned her about her home, when she left, and tracked her whereabouts. If he knew the direction she had gone, he could endure riding for days without rest or sleep.

But she claimed Rose had never even enrolled at this school. The principal insisted that she, as the head of the school, could not possibly not know a student with such striking features—red hair and green eyes, hence the name Rose, given her story. She shook her head vehemently.

"As you can see, this is not a large school. The number of new students enrolling each year is negligible, never exceeding ten at most. I am naturally aware of all the students who stay here. If she had such a striking appearance, I would have recognized her instantly. As you said, Major, that student would have stood out, even if her name was common. I am sorry, but the person you are looking for is not our student. Nor is she among the graduated students."

When the founder of the school herself insisted so strongly that it was not the case, he, as an outsider, had no further grounds to argue.

He hadn't come fully prepared in the first place. As soon as he confirmed Rose's disappearance through Madam Serva, Ezekiel had rushed out of the mansion, disregarding the advice of the two doctors who suggested he rest. His destination was Milena Girls' School.

It was Milena Girls' School, the place where Rose, who had shared little about herself, had reminisced about her childhood memories.

Thus, he revealed even the childhood stories he had heard from Rose, but the principal shook her head.

"Students at school pull off all sorts of outrageous stunts every day. Honestly, those are hardly considered major incidents. At best, they remain in one's own memory, and others quickly forget them. We still have one or two children burning pots every week."

In other words, while quiet and calm students like Rose were easy to manage from an adult's perspective, they didn't leave as strong an impression as students who caused disturbances that shook the school. With no student matching her appearance and her personality not being particularly striking, Ezekiel ultimately gained nothing.

His steps as he left the school felt as heavy as if he were sinking into a swamp.

Ezekiel cast one last look back at Milena Girls' School. While being guided to the principal's office, while sitting in the office, and in the moments he slipped out of the school, he had paid close attention to the students of Milena Girls' School he glimpsed. However, not a single student had the same appearance as Rose.

If she were nearby, there was no way he wouldn't recognize her at a glance, no matter the distance.

His imprinted memory would send a signal.

His instincts would sense her presence just by hearing her voice or her footsteps.

"...Rose."

Overnight, Rose had erased her tracks like smoke. As if he and all the mansion's staff had collectively seen a hallucination, she vanished without leaving a single discernible footprint.

When he first realized her absence, he thought it was absurd. He denied reality.

There was no reason for it.

No reason for Rose to leave his side.