We Were Each Other's Witnesses
Even this time, Karl was right. The world. The world! Selena, locked in her room, clutched her head.
“Those words are dangerous, Selena. It feels like military women are going to become rivals.”
At first, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a playful remark to comfort myself for choosing graduate school.
But it wasn’t. After Eloise, now it’s Lavrenti too. Really, all these military women are suddenly flocking to Karl’s side!
‘As expected of Karl. He even anticipates this kind of thing. What a great boyfriend of mine… No, wait! What am I going to do now?!’
Choosing graduate school was, after all, to be in the same space as Karl. That was the reason.
Of course, there were also the juniors who approached Karl too much, and I wanted to gently scold them to keep them in check.
But these two were different. They were women who had served in the military.
One was a student abroad, and the other was a war hero. Either way, it was tricky for Selena to just push them away.
Moreover, because they were military, there might definitely be something they could communicate with Karl about that I didn’t know!
‘Just when I confessed my feelings to Karl, and he accepted them. Now, the only thing left was to spend three years with Karl! Even if he’s busy, being in the same space and building memories together!!’
Naturally, graduate students have much less time than regular academy students. They’re much busier.
That means, inevitably, they might spend more time with them than with me.
I had barely approached him. I had barely been given a place. What if I get snatched away?
No. Karl isn’t that kind of person. He’s a hundred, a thousand times better than me. There’s no way.
Dori dori—!
Selena shook her head and lightly tapped her own cheeks. Then she clenched her fists.
‘It’s okay. I have to do better. As Karl said and I said, the first one is always this side. Don’t lose confidence. Don’t get anxious. If I do that, the more I do it, the more troubled I’ll only make myself.’
As if she had made a decision, Selena jumped up from her seat and hurriedly went somewhere.
In her mind right now, there was only one thought: to go on an onsen trip and make sure Karl’s face, which always looks at her, is flushed red.
‘Let’s do this, juniors! Let’s try it!’
*
“Um.”
Damn it. It’s suffocating. Is this the kind of thing that chokes the throat? I really want to unbutton this collar.
Without realizing, I kept fidgeting with the uniform I was wearing. The stiff fabric, the medals dangling on my chest, but the most uncomfortable part was separate.
‘Imperial New Year Greeting Ceremony.’
The day when nobles gather to pray for the peace of the Empire and the Imperial Family and welcome the new year.
It was an event that was a bit distant for me, even among the nobles. Up until now, since I wasn’t a successor to the family but a regular noble child, I didn’t have to attend the Imperial New Year Greeting Ceremony.
Moreover, for the past few years, since I was rolling around on the battlefield, it was impossible to participate in such events.
Just being at such a place for the first time made me nervous, and especially since this New Year Greeting was an event that was properly held for the first time in several years, it made me even more anxious.
Since the southern front was still ongoing, the New Year Greetings until then were held very simply. Then, this time, after the war ended, they planned it big and grand again.
But what made me most nervous was that this New Year Greeting wasn’t just a simple ‘New Year Greeting.’
“Are you nervous?”
“If you’re not nervous, that would be strange.”
“Kid. You seem to be trembling more here than on the battlefield.”
To be honest, would you believe it, Father? I’m really more nervous here than on the battlefield.
While drinking a glass of water, I looked down. Behind me, a line of carriages continued, and people who attended the Imperial New Year Greeting Ceremony kept getting off the carriages.
By the way, these are not nobles. They are ordinary citizens of the Empire. And among them, many are elderly. People who rely on canes and find it difficult to take even one step.
But no one gives cold eyes to those elderly. I can clearly see people standing around, ready to support them in case they fall or get hurt.
‘Senior-nims.’
Yes. All of them are Medal of Honor recipients like me. Survivors who have been worn down on the battlefield.
Heroes who, when the Empire was in crisis, when their comrades were in crisis, advanced without any hesitation. Even if it meant their own death, they fought against the Empire’s enemies, saved their comrades, and boldly took on the task to achieve great victory for the Empire.
Up until now, they had been quietly living. They were living the peaceful life they had all longed for.
Then, according to the Emperor’s will, the Medal of Honor recipients scattered across the Empire came to the Imperial Palace.
It wasn’t forced. If they could attend, we hoped they would come. We want to remember you again because it seems like the Empire’s heroes are being forgotten. That was the message sent to them.
And the remaining recipients who could attend, excluding those who couldn’t due to circumstances.
‘Including those who got off the carriage just now, that’s eleven.’
In the long history of the Empire, fewer than a hundred Medal of Honor recipients.
And now, including me, the remaining ones don’t even reach twenty.
“Prince Karl Adelheit.”
I turned my head, and a royal knight quietly said that everything was ready.
“I’ll be back, Father.”
“Yeah. See you at the New Year Greeting.”
I moved my feet and followed the royal knight. Soon, we arrived at a place where people like me, wearing neat uniforms and with medals on their chests, were sitting.
“It’s my first time meeting you, seniors. I’m Karl Adelheit, a sergeant who will guide you this time.”
I bowed and greeted them. Then, the middle-aged ones among those sitting stood up.
“Ahigo. No, Prince. It’s fine. Don’t do that.”
“If you do that, we’ll be more uncomfortable. Right?”
The Medal of Honor was something that even a tap dance at the entrance to the afterlife could receive, they said.
Naturally, all the people who would perform such stunts were ordinary imperial soldiers, not nobles.
To them, I, as a noble prince, seemed natural rather than a junior.
“We’re finally meeting the Empire’s heroes.”
“You received it twice, something that was hard to receive even once. You seem much greater than us.”
I shook my head at their words. The number doesn’t matter. Whether you receive one or ten, the mindset to receive this one was enough, wasn’t it?
“You flatter me, seniors. I just did what I had to do, following exactly what you seniors did here. I only did my best to fulfill what I had to do. There’s nothing great about me compared to you seniors.”
Rather, I felt sorry for the heroes here. I was sorry.
They had sacrificed more. They were being forgotten little by little just because they were people from the past. To make them remember again, I had to stand behind someone like me.
“I’m sorry. It should be the people here who are more in front, higher up, shining more. I—
Thud—!
I looked up at the sound of something hitting the floor. There, an old man was struggling to stand up with the help of a cane.
“Young master.”
The old man, who had approached me with difficulty, looked at me with eyes still full of light.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. Rather… thank you. Young master, you are the witness and eyewitness to everything we did. Without you young master, we would have all been forgotten in the end.”
At the old man’s words, I unconsciously included him and the other recipients beyond him in my gaze.
Everyone else was older than me. The youngest was in his mid-40s. Most were elderly in their 60s and above.
It was natural. There hadn’t been such a large war before the Luzens war, so there hadn’t been events worthy of awarding the Medal of Honor, and the line of recipients was becoming precarious.
I don’t want war. Naturally, not having Medal of Honor recipients is good for everyone.
But for those who have already received it. Those who gave everything and sacrificed, if all that becomes hazy, isn’t it a bit sad? Sometimes, that fact isn’t sad at all.
Perhaps, what the Emperor wanted from me was exactly this.
I am one of those people, a person who can understand them to the very end. Even if all others forget, I won’t let go of them in my memory as much as I do. A witness and eyewitness.
So that we don’t forget. Even if we forget, you remember everything and wake us up again. For those who are immersed in peace, testify that there were those who willingly became fertilizer for that peace.
“Young master is very handsome. It’s fortunate. What if this face gets scarred.”
On the old man’s face, there was a scar that looked like a burn. A scar that had been there for decades but couldn’t be erased, a glorious medal that was saddening to call it.
But he didn’t seem ashamed of it. Rather, he seemed proud. The other recipients also had confidence in their eyes. It wasn’t just ‘I am a hero.’
‘Even if that moment comes again. Even if I am placed in that situation again.’
Even if that were the case, I, we. We would always make the same decision, take the same action. That was the conviction.
*
At the end of the year, and the beginning of the new year approaching soon. The Empire’s New Year Greeting began.
For the past few years, due to the war with Luzens, everything was held simply. However, that war is now over, and it was time to reveal the Empire’s solidity again.
“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor has entered.”
The noisy banquet hall fell into silence at that cry. Everyone stood up and offered a bow to this absolute ruler of the Empire and the place where their loyalty was directed.
Behind the Emperor’s figure that finally appeared, unlike usual, unfamiliar faces followed.
Some were older, some had scars all over their faces. Some had arms, some legs missing.
Some young nobles wouldn’t even know their names. They were survivors of old wars that could be seen anywhere in the Empire, now faded past memories.
But today, they would know who they were. They would awaken.
“Karl Adelheit.”
Instead of giving the New Year speech as usual, the Emperor called the young man who was following behind them.
Like the others, no, a bit more, the one with more medals on his chest cautiously stepped forward to the front of the New Year Greeting Hall.
“Don’t forget. My loyal subjects. Citizens of the Empire. Who they fought for, who they spilled blood for, who they died for. Remember. Them, and the nameless heroes of the Empire behind them. This is a duty, an eternal curse. It will be a curse you must willingly bear.”