Chapter 76
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Memories Become Thorns (4)
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Erzena spoke in a cold voice.
"Elaine is a princess of one nation."
"That's right."
Who didn't know that?
"And by royal decree, her safety was entrusted to you."
"Correct."
"Then you must stay close to protect the princess while being careful not to let anything unseemly happen."
"That's sound advice, but..."
Why was she telling me this now?
Erzena's recitation of such obvious facts only made me feel a strange unease.
"Were the two of you fighting, by any chance?"
The immediate reply came back.
"No?"
"Elaine?"
No my foot.
Holy power and psychokinesis were leaking out all the way beyond the meeting room.
If you two went at it for real, this building would collapse.
"Huaaaang..."
Only the Gustatory Officer, who had witnessed the whole affair, sniffled as proof of their lie.
'Neither one seems willing to talk about it.'
I could tell from their expressions.
Erzena looked extremely irritated by something.
Or rather... she seemed guarded.
And Elaine was showing surprise, fluster, and defensiveness all at once.
'What the hell happened?'
How did things escalate like this in less than an hour?
I quickly scanned the surroundings.
In moments like this, you need to find clues.
Right away, the word cards on the desk caught my eye.
"Friend... and man."
Ah.
I could roughly guess how things had unfolded.
"You were talking about me."
- Twitch.
Both women reacted at once.
"No, Nathan. It's not like that, this is..."
"I know, Erzena. It must be disconcerting since I suddenly entrusted the princess to you. And it was only your first meeting yesterday."
I gave a wry smile as I spoke.
"But you were the only one I could think of. The situation was so urgent, you were the only person I could rely on."
At my final words, Erzena's expression softened.
"The only one I could rely on..."
At the same time, the holy power slowly faded.
Then I turned my head.
"And Elaine."
"...Yes."
"As I said earlier, Erzena is no longer with the Church. There's no need to be so guarded. It was probably just a minor misunderstanding. Right?"
They were still awkward with each other.
Inevitably, they'd talked about me—the one thing they both knew.
And something must have gone wrong there.
"...Yes. It was my misunderstanding."
Erzena finally agreed.
"A friend and a man. That's all it is. Right, Elaine?"
She asked again for confirmation.
At that, Elaine quietly withdrew her psychokinesis and nodded.
"...Yes."
The situation finally calmed down, barely.
'I'll have to talk to them separately later.'
But that wasn't important right now.
"Elaine, Erzena."
I called the two women.
"Would you come with me for a moment?"
As we climbed to the top of the ramparts, a vast plain stretched out, and beyond the horizon, a red sunset was sinking.
The western sky was dyed red as if the sun were spewing its final flames, while the eastern sky slowly slipped into deep purple night.
The statues lining the ramparts stood motionless, their indifferent gazes fixed beyond the border, backs to the two contrasting skies.
"Wow..."
Erzena, following behind, let out a gasp of admiration at the majestic sight.
The princess's eyes sparkled in silence.
"Elaine."
At my call, the princess tore her gaze from the sunset.
"That rock embedded in the middle of the plain. Do you see it?"
I pointed to a protruding rock near the horizon.
"During the Great Holy War fifteen years ago, that was one of the projectiles the Holy Church loaded onto catapults to force passage through the border. They said they'd smash the ramparts if we didn't clear a path."
In response, King Rio awakened the golems contracted by his ancestors from their eternal slumber to serve as border guards.
It was now just a faded tale from the past, but its remnant remained like that, slowly burying into the earth.
Only a tiny portion protruded above the surface.
Gazing at that deeply rooted rock of history, I said,
"Pull it out. Without a single scratch."
A sudden request.
[That one?]
"Yes."
It was an odd demand, but Elaine silently extended both hands toward the rock.
- Grrrrrrind.
As she applied force, the rock above the surface shook.
But soon,
- Crack!
The top shattered like a bursting tofu.
Ragged breaths burst out at the same time.
"Haa, haa..."
I spoke without changing expression.
"Without a scratch, pull it out intact."
[I... can't do that.]
A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.
[I can break it... but I've never pulled one out intact...]
She looked at me with an expression of incomprehension.
[Why make me do something like this all of a sudden?]
"..."
I stayed silent for a long while before speaking.
"What does it feel like when you use that power?"
She hesitated briefly.
[It hurts.]
Like stabbed by an invisible blade, Elaine clutched her chest and grimaced.
[Every time I reach out... it throbs here.]
That's right.
The princess's power was based on emotion. The more intense the emotion, the stronger the manifestation.
'That's why the queen suppressed her.'
She tried to erase her emotions as much as possible, even using holy power to push her psyche to the brink.
Because of that misguided method, the only emotions Elaine learned over fifteen years were pain and sorrow.
That was her sole way of connecting with the world.
"Elaine, you've lived a terribly hard life. That's why, when using your power, only sad memories come to mind."
If the root wasn't fixed, no amount of looking at the world would feel bright.
'We started wrong.'
This should have come first.
Not hating her own power.
- Emotions usually come from memories and expectations. They're a mix of what you've felt in the past and thoughts of what will happen in the future.
The answer lay in the academy director's words.
Elaine was trapped in the past. A tragic past.
Even freed from the queen, those memories remained like thorns embedded in her, unyielding.
'They probably won't ever come out.'
Then, she had to find it within them.
The happiness amid the tragedy.
She needed to unearth other emotions she hadn't yet awakened to.
Having reached that conclusion, I said,
"This time... try it while recalling a happy memory."
Happy memory.
At the unfamiliar term, Elaine blinked and looked at the Central Officer.
Did such a thing exist?
But Nathan said no more after that.
"..."
An attempt she'd never made before.
She extended both hands again toward the rock whose top had shattered.
- Crack.
A fissure appeared the moment she applied force.
Elaine quickly withdrew her hands.
'How should I...'
Simply breaking and destroying was easy.
No matter how deep the rock was embedded or how large, it didn't matter.
She just had to channel the pain she felt into her grip.
She knew she could pulverize it without a trace.
But to extract it without a single scratch, intact.
She'd never done it before.
'Was there ever a happy memory for me?'
She rummaged through her thoughts.
There were none from her palace days.
She hated even recalling them.
But the contradictory link that inevitably surfaced whenever she used this power.
'Then...'
She thought of a relatively recent past.
'Hannah.'
Her handmaiden, friend, and the precious one who stayed with her to the end.
She recalled the bright smile of that red-haired girl.
What was that feeling when she returned despite her mother's persecution?
The only warmth preserved amid winter-like days.
- Grriiind.
The rock moved ever so slightly.
Elaine's memory shifted to an even more recent past.
'Central Officer...'
My friend and sole understanding soul.
The first to pity her after losing equally precious people.
She recalled the relief from the letters exchanged and seeing this man rush to the palace.
A softness that dazzled like intense sunlight yet drew her in mysteriously.
- Rumble rumble rumble...
The rock began to vibrate.
"Ah...!"
Elaine let out an exclamation.
'It's working!'
But that was the end.
It only shook with heavy sounds, refusing to come out.
"Ah..."
Just a little, ever so slightly short.
Gathering courage, Elaine delved deeper into her memories.
The happiest days.
When were they?
'Did I even have such days?'
Before meeting these two, she had only painful memories.
For her, memories were screams.
- If only you didn't have that power...!
- No, don't. Razen. Razen!!
- Look over there. The one who killed her own brother...
- Shh, she'll hear. Be quiet.
Resentful wails full of blame and whispers dripping with fear.
In the palace, that was all there was. For fifteen whole years.
No matter how she dug, nothing else.
'This isn't it.'
In that moment, a faint voice brushed through her mind.
- Elaine, look at this! A flower crown! It'd suit you perfectly.
- It's okay. With or without that power, you're my little sister. That won't change.
At the same time, a boy's face flickered before her eyes.
'...Oppa.'
Razen Castor.
The days when he was alive.
Those days finally pierced through the painful memories and surfaced.
'Remember the hand he offered in the palace inner courtyard.'
His warm, gentle, strongly leading hand.
The clumsy voice reading fairy tales every night instead of Mother.
The flower crown placed on her head and its scent.
Just a boy, yet the one who protected her more than anyone.
Yes.
There were.
The happiest days.
"Ahh..."
Her vision slowly blurred.
Something hot trailed down her cheek.
Elaine closed her eyes.
To recall it more vividly.
And slowly extended one hand forward.
Her present self grasping her hazy memory of her brother's hand.
- Grip.
The rock's vibration stopped.
As if firmly seized by something.
[Razen...]
She called his name.
The one she loved more than anything, her one and only, first understanding soul.
The being who stayed by her side from the very beginning, always affirming her.
The sun.
Razen meant "sun" in ancient tongue.
'My... sun...'
She recalled its meaning anew.
The chilling memories embedded like thorns gradually turned into a warm blaze.
- Grriiind!!!
The rock began to writhe, unable to resist the force.
But something was different.
- Rumble rumble rumble...
Instead of crumbling under overwhelming power, the rock slowly rose above the ground.
"...!!!"
"My, my god..."
Startled breaths came from around us.
But it didn't stop there.
She opened her gripping hand.
And gently caressed the air, as if stroking a cheek.
Just as Razen had touched her cheek in the final moment.
- Rustle rustle rustle.
Soil and debris poured off the rock like falling tumors.
The massive rock floating in the air eclipsed the sunset.
And it began drifting softly and silently toward the ramparts.
- Whoosh...
The statues watched it.
The Central Officer and Erzena watched it.
The sunset watched it.
[I...]
- You're not a monster, Elaine. You're my precious little sister.
Memories embed in the heart like thorns.
Yet such chilling experiences can also light the path forward.
They support so you never break or crumble again.
- You are not a monster, Elaine. You are my friend.
The small happiness amid tragedy is priceless.
The power itself isn't wrong.
It's how you use it that matters.
Suppress it, and it becomes a bomb that explodes.
Neglect it, and it rages as a storm.
But if you find the path between—in the space between sorrow and joy—
It will become the mightiest power of all.
[I...]
Eyes closed, one hand extended forward, she drew out what hid deep in her heart.
Words from her brother.
Words from Nathan.
The words she'd longed to hear most from her two understanding souls.
[Am not a monster.]
She said it to herself.
- Swipe.
And finally, she felt the cold, rough texture.
Elaine opened her eyes.
An 8-meter rock, rivaling the ramparts in height, floated before her.
The oppressive fragment of ancient history, long buried in the earth, hovered silently, touching her hand.
Utterly unmarred, intact.
"Ha, haha..."
Elaine laughed for the first time.
What was this heavy feeling?
A power always used only to shatter, tear, destroy.
Elaine slowly turned her head.
There stood the Central Officer, smiling faintly as if truly proud.
"The day you smile has finally come."
His smile held no pretense.
Elaine's first smile, bathed in the fading sunset glow, took on an indescribably beautiful hue.
I added a word to it.
"Those mercenaries were planning to use an artifact that was actually an explosive. One powerful enough to blow up the entire Immigration Control Office building."
At my words, both women startled and looked at me.
"...!!"
"Elaine, you protected me. You saved the Gustatory Officer and countless immigrants. Using your power."
Violent though it was, she had used her power.
Not to destroy, but to protect what was precious.
I slowly bowed my head.
"Thank you."
This should have come first.
Affirming her actions instead of saying sorry.
Showing that for the first time, Elaine had done something right.
"Please, for the days we'll share ahead, protect me as well."
And giving her a reason to stay.
Just as I'd protect her from the palace, may she protect me from danger.
I wouldn't make it one-sided.
"As a friend, I ask you."
"..."
The princess gazed at me wordlessly for a long time.
And before anyone could stop her,
- Grab.
She leapt into my arms.
"...!!! E-Elaine!"
"Princess?!?!"
Erzena and I cried out in shock, but she only hugged my waist tighter.
[Thank you.]
A short murmur, yet laden with meaning.
- Squeeze.
[Thank you, Nathan... thank you...]
She called my name.
At the same time, my chest slowly grew wet.
The sun emitted its final, most intense light before sinking below the horizon.
And I felt it.
I heard it.
Elaine's heart pounding thump, thump.
That vigorous pulse proclaiming life's will once more.
Ah.
Something welled up fiercely.
"...Let's start over."
Suppressing the lump in my throat, I gently patted Elaine's back and said,
"So it becomes a comedy, not a tragedy."
Let's restart your life here.
So we can set it right, even now.