Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Ominous Rain
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Fortunately, even amid the commotion, the carriages kept advancing, and as Mayches moved farther away from me, the tension naturally died down.
I whispered with a stiff expression.
"Calipan, you deliberately delayed getting off, didn't you? You're misunderstanding something. We're all in this together now. If I get caught, we're all caught. You said it would be awkward if we're found out watching the parade from Orelot, right?"
"Yeah, Calipan. Show some restraint. Why can't you read the room?"
"Wow, Yan bro. Why are you the only one acting all rational?! Little sis, it was Yan bro who whispered earlier not to put you down from the wheelchair! Then Daluh bro chimed in agreeing."
I narrowed my eyes and said.
"Oh, so everyone except me and Jayhan are in cahoots?"
Daluh drew a line and said.
"Don't gloss over it like that—look at the root cause, Aiel. Who's really to blame for suggesting the idea? Yan, right?"
"What? You bastard, you laughed your ass off earlier..."
"Then let's hear from someone who didn't laugh. Jayhan, you agree the root cause is Yan, don't you?"
As Daluh pulled Jayhan in, all our gazes turned to him.
We focused intently on what words might spill from Jayhan's lips, visible beneath his robe.
Jayhan opened his mouth.
"Hmm. If we're talking root causes, it seems like Mayches up ahead, the one who shouted Aiel's name."
"...Ah?!"
I had nothing to say.
As Mayches's sister, I instantly found myself in the wrong.
I quickly averted my eyes from my friends.
"...A-anyway, let's watch the parade! It'll be a shame to miss it!"
Ignoring the strange chuckles surrounding me from all sides as best I could, I turned my gaze back to the tree-lined street.
Just then, in the carriage passing right in front of us, a woman with deep purple hair stood with a composed expression, having gathered herself from the earlier embarrassment.
"Huh? That person...?"
Spotting her, I momentarily forgot about the hyena-like guys and stared intently.
Her upright posture and faintly cold face, her concise yet elegantly restrained jewelry and dress, and above all, her captivating blue sapphire eyes...
Even though it was my first time seeing her, I knew instantly.
The woman born as the 'Third Princess of Roxidran' who became the 'Empress of Orelot.'
A woman whose very existence symbolized the alliance treaty between the two empires.
In the novel, she was called 'a woman never once unbecoming of nobility.'
One of Bandahen's two mothers, whom I adored...
"Empress Renevia..."
At that moment, her sapphire eyes locked onto me.
It seemed she'd turned from where Mayches's gaze had lingered and spotted me perfectly amid the moving crowd.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, then widened again.
Her trembling blue eyes stared straight at me.
'Rudelriz...?'
I think that's what Empress Renevia said.
Then—
Plip—plip—
Something cold landed on the tip of my nose.
I wasn't the only one who felt it. Yan had already looked up at the sky before me.
"What's this? Why's it suddenly raining?"
Just as Yan said, raindrops began falling one by one.
There hadn't been any sign of rain moments ago, so it felt utterly abrupt.
Yan pulled the robe's hood over my head and urged me to tie it tight so I wouldn't catch a cold.
From behind us came Calipan's low voice.
"Brothers."
Calipan was looking around at the Amanelia trees lining the street.
His expression was unusual, so we followed his gaze to the dense tree path.
At first, it was hard to see, but soon we understood what he meant.
"They're withering."
He was right.
All the greenery surrounding us from the Amanelia trees...
Shhh—
was drying out brittle in a dead hue.
This was far stranger than the sudden rain—truly abnormal.
"What's happening right now?"
"On such an important day, this ill omen..."
"Mom, I'm scared..."
"Sh-should we go home?"
The rain that started as a few drops quickly turned into a heavy downpour.
The raindrops pouring thickly from a mostly clear night sky felt almost artificial, as if someone had deliberately spilled them.
Calipan, furrowing his brow as he stood, spoke this time with a hint of confusion.
"...Not certain, but this feels like... a spirit. Maybe you, Bamper bro?"
At that, Calipan's hair began to flutter from a single gust of wind coming from afar.
It looked as if some invisible presence was circling around him.
A chill ran through me at the sight, and before my thought could solidify into certainty, I muttered.
"Bamper might be in danger..."
Whoosh—
"..."
My heart dropped, and I reflexively looked up.
My friends were also seeing the wind swirling ominously around my wheelchair, kicking up sand and dead leaves.
"The wind..."
It had latched onto me this time.
As if I had guessed right.
"...For now, Aiel, you go back to the Rudelriz estate."
The bizarre events unfolding one after another had already turned the tree-lined street into chaos.
Amid the slowly crumbling crowd, Daluh spoke to me first.
I hurriedly shook my head.
"You're heading to the imperial palace, right? Me too...!"
What cut off my excited shout was an unexpected person.
"Daluh's right."
Even in the murky rain, his red eyes gleamed faintly.
A calm, low voice contrasting the noisy surroundings rang in my ear once more.
"We'll go to Bamper. Aiel, you head home. Even if you follow, there's nothing you can do."
"But..."
I couldn't retort right away and looked up at Jayhan.
In the meantime, Yan placed something in my hand.
"Here."
It was an unidentified gem with a grayish tint.
Yan offered no explanation, but somehow I knew what it was.
"...No, still, I...!"
Yan gently folded my fingers around it so I couldn't let go, forming a fist.
Then he wrapped my fist tightly in one of his hands.
Yan grinned reassuringly at me.
"Go on, little sis."
White light spread wide, enveloping my vision.
In an instant, it distorted everything before my eyes. I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
When the light finally faded completely...
I was truly in front of the Rudelriz estate's main gate.
Jayhan closed his eyes.
The surrounding noise faded away like something from another dimension, pushed to some distant place, and the cool night air melted and dissipated around him.
When Jayhan opened his eyes, a fractured landscape like a shattered mirror lay before him.
People living out their separate stories, bordered by golden cracks, interlocked like a massive puzzle and unfolded simultaneously in front of Jayhan.
But Jayhan didn't look at them.
"...I'm still a completely useless person."
Jayhan turned around and saw the gray-haired girl crying.
Why was she still crying?
She would live safely from now on, just as she wished, without needing to do that.
Jayhan couldn't understand.
"..."
That was why Jayhan decided to watch her path a little longer.