Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Old Story, Knights and the World Tree (1)
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Kyle whipped his head around.
I quickly crossed my arms to shield my face.
“Please don’t hit me!”
Kyle, who had been about to strike me, froze with an incredulous look on his face.
I lowered my arms, which had perfectly covered my face, and cautiously gauged his reaction.
I knew this would happen.
“I know I crossed the line... Let me start with an apology.”
“You lunatic.”
Kyle didn’t swing his fist, but he didn’t lower it either.
He scowled and spat out his words.
“Feeling sorry for me?”
“Would I? Sometimes I’m jealous of you.”
That was another line that could get me hit.
I braced myself for the incoming punch. But Kyle didn’t swing. Instead, he lowered his clenched fist and shut his mouth.
It seemed my past story, shared over dinner the night I handed the pomegranate stone to Kisis, had gotten under his skin.
He stood there motionless, his face a mask of complexity.
I gave him an apologetic smile.
“Sorry. But really, I have nowhere to spend it.”
“Spend it on yourself. Buy food, clothes, weapons.”
“Meals are provided in the Knights’ Order, I barely have time to wear civilian clothes, and I don’t plan on changing weapons.”
“No one to spend it on?”
“You two?”
My ready answer made Kyle, who had been raising his eyebrows, blink.
He was a man whose dark black hair suited him whether tied back to his waist or loose. When tied in a single ponytail, a few strands always escaped and flowed free.
I rubbed my neck as I watched his black hair flutter in the wind.
“You and Ray are the only ones I’ve grown attached to right now.”
Life was monotonous.
I carried out assigned missions and spent the remaining time training. I hardly ever left the training grounds. Kisis’s skill had given me a long-overdue goal in life. A goal born from a sense of defeat.
Since that day, I had focused solely on improving my skills, free of distractions.
“But Ray’s rich. He doesn’t need my money.”
“Doesn’t he hate his family?”
“Yeah. But they didn’t disown him.”
In fact, the count loved Ray.
I’d heard he bragged everywhere about his clever third son joining the Knights’ Order and volunteering for hardship in the western unit, like a doting father.
But Ray couldn’t form an attachment to the count’s family.
To be precise, he detached at a certain point. Because his beloved older sister, whom he adored, had married against her will and died young.
It was death by spousal abuse.
Even knowing her husband was violent, the marriage went ahead. A political marriage for economic reasons. Ray believed the count’s family had collectively sold off his sister.
Even so, the count and his wife still loved Ray.
“My salary wouldn’t even cover snacks for them.”
Kyle stared at me for a long while as I gave an awkward smile.
He didn’t speak until I was lost in self-reflection, wondering if I’d crossed the line again.
“Let’s go.”
Kyle brushed past me lightly.
“To where my people are.”
I smiled faintly and followed him.
***
Kyle smiled a lot in front of his tribesmen.
He’d always had a refreshing smile, but he was just as quick to flare up in anger. In front of his people, though, he seemed endlessly lenient. I watched him spend time with his own, holding the daily necessities, food ingredients, and clothes he’d bought for them.
They were very welcoming to me. Partly because I’d brought supplies, but mostly because they’d heard I was a comrade Kyle liked, so their attitude was even more positive.
Enviable.
I sat on a rock, spooning stew as I thought.
Enviable that he protected the ones he had to protect.
After finishing the stew, I sat blankly, feeling the cool breeze.
The outskirts of the imperial capital. A district thick with the scent of poverty.
Children who had to worry about their next meal threw themselves at Kyle with bright smiles. Seeing him seemed to make them forget life’s hardships—the endless plains they could no longer roam freely, the loss of their people’s pride.
That’s why he set down the sword he’d once raised to his own throat.
That’s why he hadn’t taken up the blade of revenge.
“Hilde.”
After sitting for a while, Kyle approached me.
I looked up and met his eyes.
“Yeah? Time to go?”
“Have you found what you’d lose?”
His unexpected words made me blink.
The comrade standing before me waited for my answer with an inscrutable expression.
I smiled quietly.
“I told you. You two.”
“Don’t be gross.”
“That’s harsh.”
I laughed in reply, but Kyle’s expression didn’t soften.
He stayed silent for a moment, then crooked a finger for me to stand.
I followed him wordlessly. Kyle led me to a deserted spot. If I hadn’t been evenly matched with him, it would have been terrifying.
No one would find me for ages if I got beaten to death here.
My friend stopped at a dead end in such an alley.
It was so dark that his yellow eyes gleamed especially bright.
“Have you heard anything about what the pomegranate stone is used for?”
“Huh? No?”
Why bring up the pomegranate stone out of nowhere?
I shot him a puzzled look, and Kyle narrowed his eyes. He seemed to scan the surroundings for any signs of life.
“The imperial family is desperately collecting them.”
“Yeah? Is it valuable?”
“No. It’s connected to the World Tree.”
I still couldn’t follow.
Kyle placed a hand on the hilt of his sword—which he never let go of except when sleeping or washing—and fell silent.
It was a moonless night.
“Apparently, the pomegranate stone is useful for researching the Curse of the Divine Tree.”
“Oh, really? Is that the only reason?”
“Those people are obsessed with studying the Curse of the Divine Tree.”
“For more power?”
“That too, but they believe the rumors circulating in secret.”
What rumors?
I knew nothing. Whenever talk of research on the World Tree’s offspring came up, I was too busy suppressing my rising aversion.
Fortunately, Kyle didn’t keep me in suspense.
“The blessing from the World Tree means immortality.”
I blinked several times.
“Never heard that? It’s not just baseless gossip.”
“So that’s why those things went mad when they saw me back then?”
“What?”
“Nothing, just mumbling.”
Don’t dwell on the past.
Kyle watched me rub my neck as I exhaled deeply to calm my ragged breathing.
“I sometimes envy you for succeeding in your revenge.”
I lifted my downcast eyes at my comrade’s mumble.
I looked into Kyle’s eyes. Golden eyes that shone even in the moonless darkness, brighter than mine, giving him an even more leonine feel.
They said he was the pride of his tribe.
“Now that revenge is done, start over. That mad prince has his eyes on you, so running isn’t an option. Might as well climb higher now that it’s come to this.”
I really don’t want to.
My feelings must have shown on my face. For the first time, Kyle flashed a refreshing smile.
“I hate that mad bastard too. But he has a point about finding something to lose.”
“Easier said than done... I don’t know if it’ll work...”
“It will. You’re full of affection.”
The black-haired knight declared.
“As long as you don’t let go of reality, it’s plenty possible.”
Ray had said something similar a few days ago.
We stood in silence in the dark alley for a moment.
The imperial capital was vast and hard to grow fond of. The emperor I’d briefly met upon receiving my knighthood, the stifling air without freedom, the imperial citizens who ignored such stark poverty.
But maybe I should try attaching myself to it.
As I thought that, I gripped the sword containing the Divine Tree’s ashes.
The holy sword forged from my master’s hand, taken from the pit full of the desiccated corpses of priests, where he had burned to death.
***
Time flew by.
Soon, even the Knights’ Order’s bland meals became familiar. Sitting on the bone-jarringly hard saddle, dodging Kisis’s sudden visits, and accepting the count’s family’s occasional carriage visits—all felt natural now.
And I realized Kyle was right.
Now I had things to lose.
“You insolent brat.”
The prime minister fiddled with his snow-white beard like mountain ash blossoms and grumbled.
“I tell you to drop by when you have time, but you never listen.”
“Aren’t you busy?”
I grinned at the duke gracefully sipping black tea.
The meeting had just ended.
I’d been assigned to guard outside the conference room where all the high officials gathered. It was usually a job for knights from the southern or eastern units. Not dangerous, but prestigious. Today, the prime minister had specifically named me, letting me enjoy this luxury.
It was because I’d caught his eye during that series of incidents a few years ago.
I was grateful he often assigned me such easy tasks.
“But this building isn’t a place I can just visit first.”
“Just say my name and come in.”
I just smiled at the duke as he set down a cup more expensive than three months of my salary.
The duke leaned back lazily in his chair and waved his hand dismissively.
“Sit.”
“It doesn’t look good if others see, Grand Duke.”
“Where are the ‘others’ right now?”
The duke scowled as if to say he wouldn’t repeat himself.
Breaking this man’s stubbornness was nearly impossible.
Especially in situations like this. With a small sigh of resignation, I sat across from him.
If anyone saw, my head would roll.
But this stubborn old man never heeded my protests.
The prime minister, trusted by the emperor, chin-pointed at the lowly knight sitting across from him.
“Have some tea before you go.”
“No... work?”
He ignored me.
If I refused the tea, this geezer who hadn’t even dried the blood on his head would surely chew me out for defiance. So, with yet another resignation, I drank the tea.
The tea leaves alone cost about a month’s salary.
Please, no one witness this and make an issue of it.
I offered yet another prayer and savored the tea’s aroma when the duke suddenly said,
“Accept immortality.”
Hot tea burned my throat.
I nearly shattered the trembling cup as I set it down, clutching my throat and coughing. He looked at me with utter pity.
Who drops a bombshell like that while someone’s drinking tea?
I wiped away physiological tears.
“Pardon?”
“You’ve heard from Sir Kisis already, right? That the imperial family succeeded in receiving the World Tree’s blessing.”
“Grand Duke.”
“He told you to receive immortality too, didn’t he?”
Duke Zack grinned at my speechless state.
It was a smile that let me imagine just how much of a thug he’d been in his youth.
“You know that witch who won’t leave Kisis’s side received immortality. You already know Lady Hecate will receive it tomorrow too.”
“Did you assign me here to persuade me to accept the blessing?”
“Persuade?”
The man echoed in a tone as if I’d said something utterly bizarre.
“Do I need to persuade you?”
...Nobles.
Their arrogance never ceased to amaze me. I lowered my eyes and let out a long breath.
It wasn’t new. The saintess, the marquess’s eldest daughter, the archmage—they’d all made similar offers laced with threats.
They seemed utterly clueless about my aversion.
Well, even I didn’t fully understand myself.
Ray and Kyle, who knew my entire past, were eagerly joining the persuasion efforts too.
I recalled the many faces I’d met in the imperial capital and sighed.
“I heard you refused, Grand Duke...”
“I did. Until that damned emperor issued an imperial edict.”
“Ah. No choice, then.”
“Right. So you should experience it too.”
You old coot.
“At least your body’s still young.”
The duke said as he picked up a cigar from the neat row on the table.
He put one in his mouth and offered me the other.
This’ll leave a smell and get me caught.
I opened my mouth to refuse, but his glare silenced me.
“Light it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Once it’s lit, go to the Knight Commander and say you’re ready for immortality.”
The duke commanded as he puffed on the cigar.
“Say you’ll receive it under Duke Zack’s supervision...”
At that moment, a bell rang through the spacious room.
The duke and I shot up from our seats almost simultaneously.
We couldn’t ignore that clear sound.
It was a signal that set nerves on edge.
The emperor was coming.
A herald that the empire’s sovereign was approaching.