Two young men and a woman sat at a round table inside a room, observing each other without speaking a word. The woman served two cups of water to her guests, with hands slightly trembling. Her dark hair, tied up in a bun, was disheveled due to the conflict from before and her clothes were slightly dusty, but no one paid any mind to them.
The woman kept peeking at the two young faces, her expression frowning and confused, tangled with tense sorrow, making it complicated to discern her true feelings.
"It's nice to meet you again, Miss Wood."
Realizing that neither of the two could break the heavy silence, Ian accepted it as his responsibility. He raised his cup of water and wet his lips with it after giving his greetings, feeling refreshed. The woman watched him in a daze, unable to answer immediately.
"Are you really..." Her delayed response wasn't to Ian's greeting but an inquiry for answers, "Are you really the deceased prince."
Ian let out a chuckle, "Not deceased anymore."
Although, that wouldn't be incorrect either to call him deceased, because he has indeed deceased already, many times, at that. Nonetheless, he wasn't dead right now, was he? He was sitting there sipping water.
'Why water, though? Give me some coffee!'
As if reading his mind, the tiny wolf beside him tapped Ian's leg with a paw.
-You'll get palpitation again if you drink coffee!
-I don't care?
-No, you should care! Palpitations are annoying, aren't they?
-Not drinking coffee out of fear of it is even more annoying. It's harmless though, so why care?
He'd get palpitations if he drank coffee, and he'd get it if he didn't. It'd attack him when he was low on Aether or when he was stressed. Palpitation was everywhere. It followed Ian to the end of the world, to his last breath of life, to the afterlife, to the next life. It didn't let go of him. It would grab Ian by the shoulder, order him to surrender, kneel down, and cry in anxiety. It was a ghost possessing Ian, no, it was the host already, and Ian was a guest at its house. Ian had to either bear with it or pay rent for staying at Palpatition's place. It would never cease, palpation was a part of him. So why avoid drinking his favorite drink when the outcome was the same anyway? Ian sipped his water feeling sorrow deep down in his heart.
-Grrr!
The child growled before suddenly biting down on Ian's hand.
-Ey, what are you doing?
No response from the kid. Ian sighed and let him be, not understanding the thought process of the unusual Aether creature.
"...." It took the woman a little bit of time to manage to finally shift her gaze away from Ian and look at Kieran. "And you... a-are you captain's son?"
"Yes."
"Ah..." Her lips curled up slightly, "You look so much like him, I almost mistook you."
The swordsman rolled his eyes without responding. The woman closed her mouth and the room became silent once again.
"Ahem!" Ian cleared his throat with a fake cough. "Now that the situation is settled,"
'I don't think it's settled yet, but anyway!'
"Let's talk about the important things."
Two pairs of eyes shifted his way.
"Do you... want to go against the emperor?"
The young woman, who seemed to be in her mid-thirties, stated her guess with doubt.
"Ah, Miss. Wood, you too say dangerous things so fearlessly. How can I dare to go against that man? I haven't survived till now to get myself killed so meaninglessly."
Whatever position he had in the past, Ian was just a mere servant at the moment. He couldn't even enter the Imperial Castle, how was he to go against its owner?
"You should know how powerful The Emperor and his people are, right? Isn't Miss Wood the captain of the Royal Guards? You must've seen everything up close."
"...."
The woman, Ms. Wood, frowned gradually as she nodded, her gaze shifting between the due.
"Aren't you scared?"
"Scared?"
She slapped the table with a hand, suddenly recovering from her stupor.
"As you said, I'm the captain of The Royal Guards. I'm one of the most powerful people in the castle, both physically and politically. It's not hard for me to reveal your identity to The Emperor and get the two of you captured and killed. I'm loyal to my job and honest with my superiors. What gives you the courage to show up here like this and strike up a conversation as if we are close friends? How did you even find my address?"
"Hmm..."
Ian tilted his head from side to side. Across from him, Kieran was glaring at him with a sharp gaze, also demanding answers.
'Well, I've already seen your loyalty before, Miss Wood.'
Of course, she was an honest and hard-working woman, someone who never betrayed the oath she'd undertaken when being assigned as a knight, but the problem was who that loyalty was directed at and in front of whom she recited her oath.
'Who was the one who came to my rescue when I was captured here, in the capital, in my first life? Wasn't it this miss captain? Who helped me sneak away from The Empire in my third life? The person who hid me in her house multiple times when I was scared and powerless? I wonder who was the person who led her knights to the battlefield knowing that they, as well as herself, would face death upon clashing with The Emperor's men.'
Ian had seen the woman's loyalty in full display.
"You are loyal to The Emperor? Then why are you here in your house, alone, at your emperor's birthday?"
"...."
Thin lips pressed into each other as faint creases appeared on the captain's forehead.
"Who did you swear to protect? Have you changed that oath after a new ruler sat on the throne? I don't need a checkup to make sure about your intentions. I know you will never do anything that might harm your Emperor, but you aren't the kind to forget the favor you've received, even if it was more than ten years ago."
"....."
"....."
Once again, the whole room became silent. Satisfied with his answer, Ian drank more water, trying to imagine it as something delicious, while the woman clenched her fists, staring at the tiles of the floor.
Kieran, who was silent the whole time, suddenly spoke, "Weren't you my father's disciple?"
"....."
Ripples formed inside the woman's pupils, her face shrouded in pain and guilt. She lowered her head even more as if ashamed, muttering in a soft voice.
"Yes... He was a great man."
"You survived that night and became a captain after he was killed."
"...."
The woman's back bent, shoulders slumping.
"Easy Kieran, easy!"
Ian intervened in their conversation, inviting them to relax with an easy-going expression.
"It's not her fault that she was assigned as the captain of the Royal Guards after the previous captain's passing. Don't be so harsh on Miss Wood."
"....Hmph."
After another brief silence, Ian placed down his cup and glanced at the captain of the Royal guards.
"I have a request from you."
"...What is it?"
The woman's ashen face turned serious in an instant.
"You are still in contact with that man, right?"
"...That man?"
"The previous commander of the army."
"...."
Eyes widened and mouth agape, the woman pulled herself back a little bit due to surprise.
"H-how do you-"
"Ask him."
Ian cut her sentence midway through.
"Ask him if he still wants to protect this land."
"...."
"...."
Both Kieran and Ms. Wood looked strangely at Ian, waiting for more explanations. However, Ian didn't plan on giving them the thing they wanted right now.
"Give his answers to me as soon as you can."
As if his job was done, the blue-haired boy stood up and turned around, leaving the other two flustered.
"He isn't in the capital so it'll take time for me to get in contact with him. How am I to relay his answer to you? Where do you stay?" Captain Wood was quick to focus on the main point of their conversation.
"Hid it under the cats' house in the yard, Kieran will come to fetch it."
"...."
Not even asking the swordsman if he agreed to the plan or not, Ian left the house like some kind of grand actor.
Clack
The door slammed closed after the swordsman followed the other boy out, leaving a single person alone in the hose. The woman stared at the closed door for a long time until she finally heaved a sigh, brushing her face with her palms.
"My goodness..."
What has she just witnessed? Even after everything was over, she still couldn't believe it. She wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly snapped awake and found herself napping at her office.
'To think that those kids are still alive...'
The image of their childhood was vivid in her memories, it has always been, since that night. She sometimes saw them in her dreams, surrounded by armed assassins, unable to resist, while her guilt haunted her, screaming in her ears how useless she was, telling her that she should've died too, alongside the others, that she would always remain weak and scared, unable to fight for the ones she cared. The last order of her teacher would echo in her senses, matched with the man's bloody corpse, the last picture of him in her mind.
She would sometimes dream of the blue-haired child, how he'd hide behind the bushes to watch them train, and how he'd always hug a pile of books all the time. The little swordsman would always tag along with the prince, trying to act up like a knight but looking more like a black duckling in the others' eyes. Her conscience would act up, reminding her that the due was too young to face death, that she could've changed their outcome if she had been brave enough that night if she was more intelligent.
"Hah!"
A smile gradually found its way to her face, her damp eyes lighting up with a newfound emotion.
'Such a relief...'
She'd been grieving for nothing and suffering for no reason all these years, as the subjects of her guilt were both safe and sound, well grown up, however, she didn't feel disappointed nor regretted all the time she'd wasted in distress. She was only happy, relieved from the depth of her heart.
"And the first thing they did was to order me around. How arrogant!"
The chair moved back as the woman stood up. Taking off her dusty uniform and tossing it aside, she put on a dark attire and checked herself in the mirror.
"I should come back by morning, so I have to hurry~"
Humming under her breath, she ran out of her house through the window and disappeared into the night, with footsteps that were lighter than ever before.
. . . . . . .
"Where are we going now?"
"Hmm..." Ian gazed at the buildings along the path they walked and contemplated for a little while. "What do you think of going back to Miss Eleen first? I feel pretty bad about leaving her alone..."
"Hm..."
Ian told him before, that they had to find that poor woman and take her to a safe place, that Kieran was a fucking mean person for leaving a defenseless girl in the middle of a jungle and not going after her, but who was he to resist? As soon as he mentioned Beatrice Wood, the swordsman jumped atop his horse and, technically, kidnapped Ian to show him the way.
"Alright."
The black horse was tied to a tree on the outskirts of the city. The due walked all the way back to find the horse.
"You seem to have a plan in mind."
"Hmm?"
"Who did you mean by 'That Man', and how do you know about him?"
"Come on!" Ian huffed a breath. "You promised that you won't question me."
"Anyone would question this. You act like someone who's long had a plan of revenge on their mind."
Kieran wasn't wrong. Ian had this plan, and multiple other plans, in his mind, for a long time, longer than this boy could ever imagine. He'd tried most of them already in his previous lives and knew how to prepare for different events, and how to persuade his alleys to help him. It wasn't hard for him to form a plan in a few minutes.
"You are wrong."
However, there was something that Kieran had misunderstood.
"I don't plan on taking revenge."
There was no meaning in revenge for him. He neither enjoyed nor sought it. This wasn't a mindset built over his past lives and due to his regressions, but something he always believed in from deep within.
It was true that his life was turned upside down due to some people's greed, that he lost everything he had and was forced to live a lowly life no one would desire, that he despised the people who'd brought this upon him, but revenge? He never wanted it.
The person he despised, the man who destroyed Ian's life, was not a normal person like the others, but someone with the title of the emperor, a man who ruled upon a country and had influence over a continent. A small scratch on his hand could affect the fates of many people and anything major that happened to him could change the lives of numerous innocents. Ian didn't see the power in himself to bear the burden of so many fates because of his own selfish desires.
Even if The Emperor was viewed as a tyrant and evil by the colonial countries, he was still a great ruler for his own land, and the ones suffering the most from his loss would be those too, the same people whom Ian was thought to love and care for. He'd never dare to do anything that would place him in a situation of being responsible for so many lives. Ian wasn't that brave, never had been in his life.
"What do you mean by that?"
Kieran's voice indicated how surprised and agitated he was, which was understandable for Ian. He waited until they sat on the horseback before giving an answer.
"I've never thought of it, revenge, I mean."
"You've never? How? Then what do you-"
"What I want to do is... even more selfish..."
It was all because of his greed, and so embarrassing that he didn't want to talk about it. This was the goal he had in all his lives, from the first one to the last, and the thing he fought for with his life on the line.
"Explain."
"Hey, I'm the prince here, don't order me!"
Despite his attempt to brush off the subject, he didn't hesitate to give further explanation, as he was still scared of this knight of his.
"Our goals might differ, but they'll have the same outcome, so there is no need to worry. I'll show it to you, what do you say? Let's go somewhere else once we find Miss Eleen."
"....Alright."
The horse galloped down the old road which was lit with the slight light of Aether surrounding Ian. They went back the way they came, in search of a woman who was left behind near the woods.
"There was no need to drag this poor woman all the way to here. Even if I didn't remember you at first, a conversation would solve the problem."
The horse was forced to slow down near the cliff and the two of them searched the area using Ian's light.
"I wasn't sure at first. Thought that you were one of his sons or whatever else."
"Eh? You also mistook me and then you were so pissed because of me not recognizing you?"
"Confusion was inevitable when a former prince was bowing down and heeding the orders of a pesty noble."
"Heeeey!!"
Ian slapped the boy's back.
"Don't be so rude! Alaric is my master."
"No longer."
"He is."
"Not anymore."
"I'll return to be his servant after the banquet is over."
"Not allowed."
"Who are you to allow me or not? Look at this brat!"
"We are the same age, and I'm your guard."
"Yeah, you are my knight so you must obey my will and I wish to live as a servant."
"Are you dumb?"
"Yes, next question?"
"...."
The boy closed his mouth shut. Ian smiled proudly, satisfied. To his side, Lior was giving him a strange kind of look, as if saying that there was nothing here for him to be so proud about, But Ian didn't care.
"...You two... over there..."
At that moment, a woman's voice rose from the distance.
"Ah, Miss Eleen you-"
Ian's words stuck to his throat, unable to come out.
"You motherfucker!!!!!!!!!!!"
The always gentle-faced woman roared angrily, rushing to them with a rock in her hand.