Chapter 314
Chapter 314
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 314
Chapter Title: Dawn's Mistake (1)
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“They say time flies when you're having fun. And it really does.”
“Pardon?”
The Sage spoke up as the three of them prepared to leave.
“It felt good to finally get a sense of what it means to live among people again. I spend every day here in Eden, and aside from Sephiroth, I hardly ever get to see anyone.”
“Doesn't the Sage venture out into the world often?”
“I'm surprisingly prone to loneliness.”
Marronier gaped in surprise.
The Sage was someone who had transcended ordinary emotions. For her to express regret at parting ways like this.
To outsiders, the Sage was seen as the embodiment of pure reason, never swayed by feelings.
There was some truth to that.
But even a Sage couldn't completely shed the sorrow of farewell.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?”
The Sage blinked under their gazes.
“Do I need to shed some tears for you to believe me?”
“N-no, that's not it.”
“Hehe, just think of it as how much I cherish you all.”
“You're sending people you cherish straight into the jaws of death. Is this really okay?”
After Marronier's denial, Lee Siheon grumbled. He had been silently packing his things.
“Because I trust you.”
The Sage brushed it off with a smile, her lips tightening bitterly.
Preparations to leave were complete.
The guest rooms, now emptied of their belongings, felt hollow in an instant.
Clothes, items, and in Lee Siheon's case, his mistletoe mask and outfit.
These three had no more business in Eden.
Having heard the Sage's plan over the past few days, they now had to head back to the Cradle.
No need to go to the entrance—the Sage raised mana over her palm right there.
Sephiroth, who had been silently clinging to the hem of the Sage's robe, finally spoke.
“Blanche! Tree King!”
Sephiroth pointed at Marronier and Lee Siheon in turn.
Her finger then swung toward Sansu-yu.
“Chest Grabber!”
“...?”
“Sephiroth! Enough!”
Chided by the Sage, Sephiroth drooped her head sullenly. Sansu-yu looked baffled, while Lee Siheon stifled a laugh.
Marronier shot Sansu-yu a defeated glare.
The three of them had trained here in Eden.
The rift in their emotions had deepened, but so had its imperfections.
They treated each other casually now, but who knew when the next crack might form.
For Marronier especially, who had brushed off those feelings from the night they shared drinks.
But human relationships were always like that. Conflicts between peers had always been that way. In time, they might laugh it off as if it never happened.
Despite everything, they were all good people. Otherwise, they never would have set foot in Eden.
Sephiroth's eyes scanned the three.
Her enigmatic gaze, holding all the wisdom and knowledge of the world, pierced straight to their essence.
“It'll be fine!”
Sephiroth shouted in her childlike, mushy pronunciation.
Smiles formed on the lips of the four watching her.
“Alright then. Let's keep in touch. Get some good rest today—you've got work starting tomorrow.”
-Flash!
The magic from the Sage's hand activated in an instant.
They were leaving Eden, but to fend off the Cradle's assaults, these four would meet again many times.
After a few parting words, the three vanished. In the now-empty room, the Sage stroked Sephiroth's head, her smile stiff.
“Sephiroth. Have you eaten?”
“Nope.”
“What would you like for breakfast today?”
“Sauuuce!”
“Got it. I'll make a delicious breakfast, so go get ready first.”
“Pukapuka?”
“Yes, pukapuka.”
Washing her face and brushing her teeth. Sephiroth toddled toward the bathroom like a chick chasing its mother hen.
Before leaving the room, the Sage glanced back at the three neatly made beds.
I'm surprisingly prone to loneliness.
Why had she said something so unnecessary? The question flitted through her mind.
Eden was their nest, the two of them.
It had lasted over a century.
Letting people into Eden was a rare event. Staying for weeks like Lee Siheon, Marronier, and Sansu-yu was almost unheard of.
It was a first even for her as the Sage of this era.
The Sage pondered why she had said it.
And her sharp mind quickly realized the reason.
Because it was true.
She was prone to loneliness and fond of people.
The Sage was honest with herself.
But as the Sage, she had to maintain appearances. She rarely showed such emotions to others.
So why had she voiced her regret this time?
Probably because...
-...To be honest, I didn't want to do this either.
It was because of what happened that night.
The Sage cupped her face with her hands.
“I have no idea why I did that.”
Her face burned—whether from shame at her mistake or something else.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Two flushed faces gulped down drink after drink.
Lee Siheon had exceeded his limit, his face slack and vacant.
She herself was pleasantly tipsy, her senses dulled.
An inexplicable wall had stood between these two until now.
The Sage, bearer of immense honor and reverence. Lee Siheon had been overly wary of her.
Her intentions were unknowable.
Everyone who had witnessed the Sage's actions said as much.
Yet in the end, her goals had long been achieved.
She toyed with the board, earning awe and fear from all.
For the Wood Spirit King, Lee Siheon, distrusting the Sage was only natural.
Even without showing it, an insurmountable wall naturally rose between them.
Two who could never entwine privately.
Their fates forbade it.
A fact both the Sage and Lee Siheon recognized.
-Clink!
But one glass of wine permitted it.
Alcohol clouded the mind.
And Lee Siheon allowed her approach.
'If I play this right.'
Even in her hazy state, the Sage made a judgment.
She needed to gauge his character, after all.
'I might glimpse his true feelings.'
But the Sage had forgotten one thing.
-Wobble.
Her vision blurred, her head swaying.
She was drunk too.
And every thought she had now would be wiped clean by morning.
Even so, the Sage pressed on.
“Siheon.”
“Yesh.”
Lee Siheon answered in a somewhat dazed voice.
His drunken face was serious, but his speech completely altered.
If he was this far gone, she could just ask outright.
“No troubles weighing on you?”
“Troubles? Like what. Troubles. Uh. So sudden?”
“You must have a lot.”
“Nah... you've given me one more thing to worry about. If that's a trouble, then yeah.”
His speech flipped between formal and casual.
But his slurred, limp tone and dazed expression were endearing enough to stir maternal instincts—or something like them.
“Because of me?”
“......I still can't figure out what you're thinking. You're not on the World Tree's side, but not Flower's either.”
“True enough.”
“So why'd you call us here?”
“You know why.”
To fulfill Sephiroth's thirst for knowledge.
Lee Siheon scowled fiercely.
“Nah.”
“......”
“You're after a lot. Behind the World Tree's back.”
Drunk, he crossed lines effortlessly.
Digging into each other's hidden truths without restraint.
The Sage's eyes widened round.
“What makes you think that?”
“My gut.”
Instinct.
If true, a terrifying ability.
Outmatched in experience, power, knowledge—even rhetoric—yet piercing the Sage.
His extraordinary talent was undeniable.
He had the qualities to one day stand atop the world.
But Siheon asked no further.
Too drunk, rambling incoherently, he moved to the next topic.
“And troubles. Fucking tons.”
“...Like what?”
The Sage's heart pounded as she asked Siheon.
Tension from him glimpsing her true intentions, however briefly.
For the Sage herself.
For the first time since becoming the Sage.
Lee Siheon, who had unwittingly stirred the Sage's heart, clicked his tongue as if it were nothing.
“No matter how I think about it, all my recent troubles are because of you.”
“That's not...”
The Sage's lips trembled.
She couldn't dismiss his blunt blame outright.
It stemmed from their first meeting.
But now, drunk and heart racing, she felt a long-forgotten pang of hurt.
“Siheon, do you not trust me?”
She blurted it out in her drunken haze.
“...Fuck, of course not.”
He shot back the same way.
The Sage sipped her drink and bowed her head deeply.
Watching her sullen expression, Siheon muttered over another gulp.
“Still.”
They say alcohol reveals the heart.
True or not, she couldn't tell.
Suppressed truths might spill, but alcohol muddles the mind, letting unspoken words tumble out.
“......Ugh. I hope you're a good person. I want to believe that.”
So she didn't know if it was Lee Siheon's true heart.
“......”
“Someone like the Sage... how many lives could you save?”
Siheon muttered like a soliloquy.
“I always think about it. Honor, power, knowledge, money. How many paupers could you aid, how many from floods?”
To Lee Siheon, enemy of all, it was enviably distant.
Once, he had dreamed of politics.
An emotion he could embrace, a truth he hadn't realized.
He poured it out with a sip.
“Personally, I'm really jealous of you.”
“Really?”
“Ah, my head...”
Siheon closed his eyes.
Dozing off with nods, then lifting his head to look at the Sage.
A faint smile crept onto her face.
The Sage replayed his words over and over.
Jealous.
Not petty envy, but of her ability to help so many.
Had anyone ever said something similar to her?
Such people existed.
Saints who lived for others, loved humanity, became suns themselves—there had been many.
But the Wood Spirit King. Born into prejudice, reviled for unknown reasons.
Lee Siheon's existence was special.
From such a special person, those words—she couldn't help but be moved.
'......'
So affection bloomed, human warmth.
Touching emotions cooled over a century-plus.
Shamelessly, with alcohol's aid.
Neither intended it. Near-miraculous.
Intrigue.
Curiosity about this man.
Not as Wood Spirit King, otherworlder, World Tree suitor, disciple of this era's Heavenly Demon, pinnacle of potential among peers.
Just Lee Siheon.
“Isn't the table a bit far? Mind if I sit closer?”
Before the Sage, she was human too.
A few more questions.
Pure curiosity, no ulterior motive.
Leaning on drink, she spoke words she normally wouldn't. And Siheon answered freely.
With walls crumbling, closeness came swiftly.
Quiet room. Just the two.
But having crossed their limits, they soon fell silent.
Hobbies, tastes. Favorite drinks.
What foods, daily routines.
Slurring through drunkenness, they kept talking.
Sober, they could chat endlessly on trivial topics. But drunk, thoughts stalled.
And silence led to a subtle mood.
“......”
Lee Siheon clung to fading consciousness.
As if he'd drop off any second.
The Sage realized her own words weren't connecting properly.
Time for bed.
But before that judgment settled...
Soon enough, she committed the mistake.