Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Home Sweet Home
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Somewhere, a familiar scent wafted.
I felt someone hugging me tightly.
That person didn't forcibly support my limp body but collapsed with me.
He carefully sat me down on the floor so as not to strain my body and rested my chin on his shoulder.
The entire process was incredibly deft. From that, I knew who he was, and relief washed over me.
Whoosh—
The water that had filled the room drained away, and I flicked off my numb fingers.
As the transparent barrier—seemingly conjured by Mayches' magic—vanished, he pulled me even closer.
Mayches' body trembled faintly.
His breathing brimmed with emotions I couldn't quite grasp.
He repeated my name endlessly, as if desperate not to lose it. Aiel, Aiel...
It tapped at my mind like droplets falling one by one.
I opened my eyes, which had been fluttering shut. Mayches was really there before me.
"Wow. Calipan, do you have two lives or what?"
A familiar voice drifted from the corner of the classroom. I blinked, focusing on the hazy silhouettes.
The last image of Calipan I'd seen was him clutching the device and shoving me away.
By the time my brain processed what my eyes had witnessed, the swirling spray had already blinded me.
I needed to know what had happened to him—to confirm Calipan was safe.
"Sorry. It was urgent... Whew, and most curses don't affect me anyway. ...Probably?"
The moment I heard Calipan's ragged, out-of-breath voice, my nose stung.
You madman... You're alive...
A blurry figure who looked like Bamper swept back his soaked, tousled hair.
"Right now, I don't even know if I should treat you as the heir of an allied ducal house or as a friend. Can I just praise you outright because things turned out well?"
"Well... I was acting as a Jedkaizer knight, so treat me like one, brothers."
Daluh spoke calmly from where he lay neatly sprawled on the floor.
"Wow, that really tugs at the heartstrings. Right? You're on the verge of tears too?"
I couldn't see clearly, but the one Daluh was addressing seemed to be Jayhan.
Jayhan's red eyes appeared to flick toward me for an instant.
But I couldn't be sure.
Because I squeezed my eyes shut, mangled my mouth pitifully, and began sobbing openly.
"Ugh..."
"...Aiel?"
"Hic. Uhh... uhh..."
Mayches eased me from his embrace and steadied my back and shoulders.
He brushed my cheek, checking for any distress.
I'm sorry. For not even giving you time to process the shock or calm your racing heart.
But right now, I wasn't in any state to think of that.
I was just... so glad to see Mayches and my friends.
I'd really thought I was going to die of fright. Thought I was actually dying.
Not from the curse device—it would've been no surprise if my heart gave out first.
I really, truly thought I was a goner from sheer terror!
"Uhh... uhh..."
Finally nestled in the arms of my one and only family, Mayches, the tension melted away.
Is this what they mean by home sweet home? Hic, hic.
My ghostly sniffling made Mayches gaze at me with quivering eyes.
But seeing his face only made me happier.
So I kept sobbing while staring right at him. His face promptly drained of color.
"Ah, Aiel. I'm sorry. So sorry. Sorry for yelling."
What on earth...
"Hic... Brother didn't yell..."
"Sorry for yelling inside my head... It was just a scream. I wasn't mad at you. Still, I'm truly sorry. You must've been even more frightened—I was so thoughtless."
What in the world...
"If only I'd come back on time... No, if I hadn't gone out at all... No, if I hadn't pushed you to decide on finding a recommender yourself..."
Recommender? Did I mishear that in my daze?
Uhh... hic? As I blinked through tears, Daluh hurried over and clapped a hand over Mayches' mouth.
"Guess we should ask if Aiel has two lives too..."
"Oh, the one who needs to ask her is already crumbling in self-pity."
I'd cried so much I was soon gasping for air.
Mayches hugged me again, insisting we teleport home. I dangled in his arms like sodden laundry.
I'm losing it. With the tension gone, my adrenaline-fueled body now ached with belated pain.
It was too much to pinpoint where—it felt like I was simply submerged in agony.
As I grimaced, my eyes caught Calipan slouched against the toppled sofa.
His shirt was in tatters from the blast's aftermath.
Yet the instant our gazes met, he flashed a grin.
Why smile looking like that... Calipan has no idea he just smashed the first button toward his own downfall with his own hands. Shouldn't I be the one smiling here?
But my questions didn't linger.
"Cough!"
"Aiel!"
I ended up vomiting a mouthful of blood onto Mayches' clothes after all.
It had been ages.
Back then, Mayches would swiftly hold a bucket under my mouth...
This time, I surrendered to my fading consciousness. I'd done my part.
Still, to reassure everyone as best I could, I mustered a serene expression. Experience had taught me well.
"B-brother! Why's she closing her eyes like it's all over?! Is she always like this?!"
Through my half-shut lids, I glimpsed Mayches' friends wearing looks of utter dread, as if their hearts had plummeted to their soles—undoing all my efforts.
Seeing Calipan's pitch-black eyes frozen solid brought a sly smile I hadn't managed earlier.
Hey, loosen up. Know how massive a crisis you just overcame?
...Not that he'll ever know.
The Jedkaizer Duke stood firm as a mountain.
Calipan sat on the floor, gazing up at his father's unyielding form.
The Duke sheathed the wooden sword he'd aimed at his son.
His stern voice resonated softly through the training grounds.
"Calipan. You know nothing of powerlessness."
"I just lost..."
"Do you think I can't read your thoughts while we spar? You believe that even losing to me now means you'll naturally surpass me later with growth. You know neither limits nor fear—nor what it takes to rise above them."
"The Jedkaizer resolve, right? I know it."
"You don't grasp it just by reciting it. ...I'm still worried about you."
The twenty-year-old Calipan narrowed his eyes coldly.
The Jedkaizer Duke remained rooted like a mountain.
"At the very least, there should have been someone to teach you that. Knowing your flaw, I left you adrift."
The Duke's grave, wrathful tone vibrated the earth in quiet fury.
The Duke leveled his sword at Calipan. Its keen edge mirrored his pure, resolute spirit.
Calipan countered, pointing his own sword. It was blunt and parched red.
"If you understood the hearts of the Jedkaizer allied knights, you wouldn't have let rage blind you. You wouldn't have butchered the very people they staked their lives to protect..."
"I know, Father. Their unclosing eyes in death, their grudge and hatred. Even now, I hear their blood-curdling voices."
"You... I'll ensure you never sully their honor again."
Why say such things? Why look at me that way?
Calipan glared at the Duke, black darkness seeping from his eyes.
The Duke frowned at the killing intent surging in Calipan's gaze.
Calipan strode forward step by step; the Duke steadied his stance.
Calipan's lips parted languidly.
"You got one thing right. As a boy, every loss to you—I knew it'd come to this someday. So I was never anxious."
Calipan seized the Duke's slashing sword with one hand.
The blade, aglow with blue aura, shattered to pieces in his grip.
He swung the shards toward the Duke's eyes.
"...What are you doing? Thrust. That's your way, isn't it?"
The Duke met Calipan's eyes without flinching.
Calipan's lips twisted upward. It wasn't amusing in the least, but he laughed.
His own body reeked. Fishy. A red, repulsive stench.
...From afar came unsteady footsteps.
Calipan's shoulders twitched.
His heart seized. Slowly, he turned.
Smoke erupted like a blizzard. The gray-haired girl clutching the device kicked off the floor in rapid bounds.
Like fleeting sparks. Yet a vivid blaze, burning undaunted.
"......"
Light trickled into Calipan's blackened eyes.
The white flame devouring darkness, kindling illumination.
"Gasp!"
Calipan jolted awake, gasping for breath.
Reflexively, he reached for the sword propped by his bed.
But he flinched away, trembling.
"Ugh... Hic..."
Only after some time did Calipan realize he was crying.
The twelve-year-old boy, wiping clueless tears, drew back the curtains with shaking hands. Soft moonlight flooded the Jedkaizer mansion's window.
Gazing at the pristine moon, Calipan recalled someone.
A pale, ethereal gray-haired girl—with a heart as steadfast as the dream-Duke's.
Once composure returned enough for self-reflection, Calipan spoke in disbelief.
"What kind of nightmare has perfect plot structure like this? Wow, wide awake now."