Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Finally Acknowledged
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A group of warhorses galloped across the snowy field.
They looked utterly exhausted, yet their riders showed no sign of stopping as they relentlessly shook the reins.
Leading the pack were Rianna Helmunt and Silberna Caldias.
They surged ahead even of Commander Uldiran.
The sight of them charging without regard for formation made it clear just how desperate they were.
"Why the hell did you let it get away!"
Silberna spat out her complaint irritably.
The lord of the Great Horde had chosen to flee from the start, so the battle had ended far more quickly than expected, and the encirclement had been broken.
Kwarung! Kwarurung!
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
The closer they got to the Mallidan Wall, the more the creature's destructive mana stung their skin like sparks.
'Isaac.'
Rianna's grip tightened on the reins.
'Please, I beg you.'
Rianna truly hoped he had escaped.
The lord of the Great Horde was no opponent for Isaac.
No, not just Isaac—even the forces still holding the wall couldn't stop it.
"Haa! Haa!"
After that frantic ride, the Mallidan Wall finally came into view.
The wall presented a completely different scene from usual.
Thick white smoke roiled like clouds, and the structure was frozen solid, covered in massive layers of white frost.
Uldiran had explained the phenomenon.
"It's the wall's defensive magic. It's designed to activate automatically in a crisis."
His addendum that it would stop on its own after a few hours went unheard.
Either way, the sight said it all: the Mallidan Wall was in dire straits.
"Kuwaaaaa!"
A roar steeped in fury, accompanied by the crackle of lightning spreading in all directions like flames.
Brakala atop the wall, unleashing bolts of lightning.
Too far away to make out the figure standing there.
Except for one person.
"Isaac-!"
Rianna's eyes flew wide.
The beast's lightning hurtled toward Isaac without a moment's hesitation.
In that instant where it could have engulfed and incinerated him—who had no means of resistance—it would have been no surprise.
Then, in the skies above the Mallidan Wall.
A silver line slashed across.
Unwavering, it was beautiful like an ice crystal, delicate like an artisan's brushstroke.
It pressed forward, testing the limits.
"Wow."
Silberna let out an involuntary exclamation, forgetting the situation entirely.
Uldiran, too, watched it with bulging eyes.
A magnificent flash born not of aura, but of the sword itself.
All who beheld it gaped and cried out in awe.
And closest of all.
Brakala, who hadn't even registered the strike, crumpled to its knees as its head hit the ground.
"Gaaahhh!"
The first thing out of Isaac's mouth as he opened his eyes was a scream laced with agony.
His arm felt like it was being twisted apart.
He hurriedly checked his right hand, and there it was—splinted.
"Hah! Hah!"
His arm was intact, yet it felt like his muscles and bones were churning into a vortex.
He clenched his teeth hard before realizing there was a thick cloth stuffed in his mouth.
Probably to keep him from biting his tongue during the pain while unconscious.
"Ptoo."
He spat out the cloth and looked around.
A familiar place.
The infirmary.
"Anyone... anyone there?"
His voice wouldn't come out properly, so even his soft call brought hurried footsteps from outside.
"Isaac?"
Rianna burst through the door.
The moment he saw her, Isaac felt relief wash over him unbidden.
At least seeing her unharmed and here meant the situation had more or less been resolved.
"You okay? How's your body?"
"F-fine... More importantly, that thing?"
He asked while enduring the pain in his right arm.
He needed to confirm if that one crystal-clear memory amid the haze had been real.
Rianna gave a small nod at his question.
"It's dead. You did it."
"...Yeah."
He hadn't thought of it as some monumental feat.
But hearing it from Rianna, her eyes brimming with tears, something warm welled up in his chest.
"You did it."
Relief and emptiness mingled together.
After his regression, he'd clashed with powerful foes in the North plenty of times.
But this was the first—a battle this fierce against something utterly beyond his level, and he'd emerged victorious.
"You... did it."
Isaac covered his face with his left hand.
The surging emotions were something he couldn't easily put into words.
Hundreds of hours turning the impossible into reality were now telling him he'd earned the right.
"I saw your sword."
Rianna hesitated before speaking, gazing at him as she gently placed her hand on his right arm—the one that had delivered the miracle strike.
"Honestly? Until yesterday, I hoped you wouldn't swing your sword."
"......"
"It looked like you were obsessed because swordsmanship had left you scarred. Especially since you were swinging in the complete opposite style of the Helmunt way, yet still trying to incorporate their sword techniques."
During his time in the Helmunt household.
Hadn't he ever tried handling their greatswords?
He'd accepted spars with their violence-prone direct kin for the sake of learning.
To become a son-in-law fitting for the Helmunt family.
To be a husband worthy of Rianna.
"Remember after your spar with Roengreen, when you were bedridden for a week?"
"Couldn't forget it."
A bitter smile crossed Isaac's face.
Roengreen, who had lost to Rianna in a spar.
The next day, he'd intentionally summoned Isaac for a duel.
And gotten utterly wrecked.
While he lay recovering, Rianna had visited curtly and dropped exactly one line before leaving.
"I told you to quit the sword."
"...Yeah."
Rianna took a steadying breath.
She looked pained, but knowing she wasn't the one who should be suffering here, she composed herself and continued.
"I wanted you to stop trying. You looked like you were about to shatter against the Helmunt rock."
But she'd been wrong.
She shouldn't have said it.
Rianna realized that now.
"It was the opposite."
The tears welling in Rianna's eyes didn't fall.
As if she had no right to let them.
"I—"
She slowly met Isaac's gaze.
A smile twisted upward, bitter with regret.
"Should have said... you could do it."
In truth.
That day when she'd told him to give up.
She didn't know how much she'd cried.
Even the one person whose recognition she craved most had given up on her—or so she'd thought.
The blazing spark of her efforts had flickered out, hollow and astonishingly easily.
"I wanted you not to break—"
Rianna covered her eyes with her hand, trying to hide the flowing tears.
"But I—!"
Emotions burst forth.
Hot breaths carrying searing regret.
"Was the one who broke you."
Hardships are merely steps on the path forward.
But the moment the very purpose of advancing is lost.
There was nothing left but to collapse.
Rianna had been Isaac's purpose.
All else were just hardships to overcome.
"Now... I get it."
Forcing a smile, Rianna slowly straightened up.
She sniffled, apologizing for her misunderstanding.
"You... really overcame everything. Before we—the ones who hurt you—even noticed your wounds."
She already had.
"Overcome it all."
And so.
There was nothing she could do.
Rianna realized it with painful clarity.
"...Wasn't easy."
Misunderstandings piled up since his regression.
It might look like he'd brushed them off lightly.
But in truth.
To be brutally honest.
"It was a horrific time."
In his previous life, he hadn't overcome it so easily.
Injured in the leg by Alois's scheme, he'd locked himself in his room for a full year, refusing to see anyone.
There was one reason.
He just didn't want to show Rianna a version of himself who'd truly lost all potential.
But now.
"I admired your swordsmanship, Rianna."
All of it had become nothing more than hardships he'd conquered.
The Isaac who'd blossomed wasn't the one rejected by the Helmunt family.
"How did it look to you?"
He wanted to hear the impressions from the swordswoman who'd set him on this path.
"It was—"
Rianna smiled radiantly, not even bothering to wipe the tears streaming down her cheeks.
Recalling that astonishingly magnificent strike she'd witnessed.
"Amazing."
Rianna wasn't one for words, so she couldn't adorn it with flowery praise even if she wanted to.
But.
That simple answer was enough.
"Finally."
A gentle smile formed on Isaac's lips.
"You're acknowledging me, Ria."
"Really... it was amazing."
From beyond the door.
Hearing Rianna's choked confession, Silberna felt like the breath was knocked out of her.
"Finally."
She closed her eyes gently.
It was just a voice from outside the infirmary, but in her mind, she could picture his expression.
"Acknowledging me, Ria."
The reply carried emotions so pure and transparent.
"......"
Silberna's head drooped.
Her cascading hair obscured her vision, but the silver earring cradled in her palm remained perfectly clear.
She fought back the tears gathering at her eyes.
Kwak.
She clenched her fist around the earring Antonio had made, as if hiding what she'd just been about to do.
She walked down the corridor.
Suppressing her breath under the pretext of not wanting to disturb their time together.
There were words she wanted to say.
She swallowed them down with her tears.