Chapter 92
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92
It was a very, very distant place—the village of Haiden. Even the name Haiden was fading from people's memories.
It was a place where the locals grazed sheep and planted barley or buckwheat. Though the land was barren, few people lived there, allowing them to scrape by.
Looking at the tragic ruins overgrown with clumps of grass, Rickert felt the transience of time.
I didn't need to be so deeply hurt. Even if not out of love, I should have forgiven them, if only through my hatred. Didn't I grant mercy to Vesprim the Meat Cleaver?
Only now could Rickert begin to understand the Lord's words, if only a little. The one who had cursed him and burned him at the stake was not the world, but himself.
The wind felt cold. For some reason, his chest tightened, and a somber gloom settled over him.
Rickert wandered through the ruins. He surveyed the temple where the villagers had been trapped and burned alive. Not even bleached bones remained.
Eventually, he arrived at the marital home where a boy who had never known happiness first learned what it meant. It was the starting point of his tragedy.
Rickert could not bring himself to step inside immediately. He lingered nearby, pacing aimlessly. Memories of fleeting happiness intersected with memories of swelling hatred and explosive rage.
Looking back now, after living a new life, there were things he could finally see. I was the only one in love.
The wife the village chief had introduced to him was a widow. They hadn't married out of love in the first place. She had simply needed a man to take responsibility for her; the village community had merely foisted a woman with nowhere else to go onto Rickert.
She must not have trusted him. Because I was clumsy at everything.
Rickert calmly recalled the past he had preferred not to drag up. Unbound by it, like scattering cremated ashes into the sea, he sent his old memories away handful by handful into the wind.
Rather than making any grand resolve, he simply stepped into the abandoned house with quiet composure. But unexpectedly, a pale girl was curled up in a corner. What the...?
It was so out of left field that Rickert blurted out without thinking, "Huh? There's someone here."
At that exact moment, the girl snapped her head up. Frowning slightly at the sunlight, she stared intently at Rickert.
In that split second, Rickert felt as though he had seen her somewhere before. Daisy had been so filthy and unkempt in the past that she was hard to recognize at first glance.
"Huh?"
"There's a person? A spy?"
Marie, who had been looking around the ruins, walked over. Just then, the girl lunged at Rickert.
"Darling!"
Memories flashed through Rickert's mind like lightning. She was the girl he had saved when he left home and crossed the mountain pass following Arno. Daisy.
Because he had just recalled who she was, even Rickert—whose reflexes were monstrous—couldn't react in time. Thus, he ended up catching her squarely in his arms.
"Daisy?"
"Right! It's me! Ricky! You came for me! You came to save me! I'm so happy!"
"Huh? Uh, no, that's not it, I was just looking around here... But what are you doing here? Ah, right, I met your mother once. She said you became a nun?"
"That's right. Michaela, Prophet's Nun of the Order of Condemnation—that is my monastic name."
"So what are you doing here?"
"Well, because I had to meet my darling?"
Daisy wrapped her arms tight around Rickert's waist, refusing to let go. And just like before, she casually called him "darling" without his consent.
Rickert was bewildered, glad, and dazed all at once, when suddenly a chill crept up the back of his neck. Looking back, he almost choked on his own breath.
Perhaps due to Marie's unique Mana Drive, her hair was wildly disheveled, standing on end as if charged with intense static electricity. Her strangely unfocused eyes glared at the two of them.
"M-Marie? Hold on, let go for a second, Daisy."
"Who is that woman? She looks like a witch. I'm scared, Ricky."
Daisy buried her face against Rickert's cloth-wrapped breastplate, staring straight back at Marie. Contrary to her words, she showed no sign of actual fear. The only one terrified here was Rickert.
Surprisingly, however, Marie did not scream or explode in rage. She spoke in an eerie, incredibly calm tone—which made it all the more horrifying.
"You'd better answer carefully from now on. Otherwise, everyone dies. Who is she?"
"Ah, w-well, back then..."
"Hey, we're already married. We even exchanged rings. Right, Ricky?"
"What are you talking about? When did I ever?!"
At such dangerous words, Rickert's eyes widened in alarm. Truth be told, his memory was hazy. What might be a precious, lifelong memory to one person could be just a fleeting moment to another.
In any case, to Marie right now, those words were unbearable. Without even unsheathing her sword, she lashed out into the air. Light burst forth from within the scabbard, slicing right through the wood and leather to reveal the bare blade.
Holding a radiant violet flash under the midday sun, Marie said, "Fine. Everyone can just die. Don't worry, Ricky. I'll follow you soon."
"Wait! Waaait! Calm down! Calm down! No such thing happened! No, wait! It did! But it was just a flower ring, a flower ring! I was ten years old! How could we be married when I wasn't even an adult?!"
Terrified out of his mind, Rickert squeezed his eyes shut and screamed desperately, frantically waving his hands. As fragments of memory flooded back, he babbled in total confusion.
Though Rickert was usually indifferent and emotionally even-keeled, in all his past and present lives combined, he had never been this nerve-wracked and flustered.
"What do you mean, Ricky? You said thank you. And when I said that meant we were married, you said okay."
"I never said okay! Never! We were both just kids back then! Don't make her mad!"
Rickert pried off Daisy's arms wrapped around his waist and shoved her away. The frail girl banged into the wall of the ruined house and slumped down.
"Ouch!"
Seeing him go this far eased Marie's rage a fraction, but Rickert felt a sudden pang of guilt for pushing Daisy so hard.
Unable to even stand up, Daisy stared at Rickert with a shocked expression before bursting into tears.
"Every single day, I only thought about Ricky... I don't care about any god... I don't..."
Without having done anything physically strenuous, the sudden rush of intense emotion left Rickert slightly breathless, making his chest throb.
"W-what do you want from me...? I never said that..."
If in his past life he had been driven mad by hatred and rage, now he felt like he was going crazy from embarrassment, helplessness, injustice, and guilt.
A tangled mess of conflicting emotions left him completely at a loss for what to do.
Thank goodness, Marie seemed to have calmed down slightly. The light subsided from her blade. But with her scabbard ruined, the cold edge gleamed out in the open with nowhere to return.
"So... you 'married' when you were kids? When you were ten?"
"Exactly! That's it! But I never agreed! And she was even younger! How old were you anyway?! I shouldn't have been nice to her like Arno warned me!"
Flustered, Rickert spoke somewhat harshly.
"Without the permission of the heads of both houses, a marriage between minors is invalid. Good enough then."
"No, forget invalid or not, it was just when we were kids..."
"Then I should just die. Understood."
Daisy spoke from where she slumped on the ground. Tears streamed continuously down her face, yet her expression was dazed. She was clearly in deep shock.
"W-why are you being so extreme?! Just leave memories as memories, please!"
"Stop shouting. Everyone can hear you."
"..."
Marie quelled the agitated Rickert with a single word. Then she quietly observed Daisy.
Seeing her endless tears, Marie felt an odd sense of sympathy. She, too, had spent many nights weeping because of Rickert. Thus, her blazing anger cooled even further.
"Hey, is your name Daisy?"
"...Yes, you witch. You must have threatened Ricky with that sword, didn't you?"
It sounded like absurd slander, but it was actually true. Once, Marie had indeed confessed her feelings to Rickert with the tip of a blade pointed right at him.
"You'd better save your resentment for me. It's not going to make Ricky take pity on you. He's not that kind of man."
At the words "he's not that kind of man," Daisy flinched. But immediately, she pressed her petite lips together and glared at Marie through tear-filled eyes. She felt resentful and aggrieved—that this woman seemed to know Ricky better than she did.
"I met him first. And we're husband and wife. Even if you deny it, it's the truth."
Marie scoffed. If being stubborn like that actually worked, she herself would have been together with Rickert long ago without having suffered so much heartache.
"There are plenty of ways I could make you angry, but I won't bother. First of all, aren't you a member of the Order? So are you an enemy or what? Let's get that clear first. If you're an enemy, I'll have to kill you. I'm telling you in advance, there won't be an ounce of personal feeling in it."
"Wait, that's a bit..."
Rickert, who had been standing with his head hung low like a sinner, stepped in. But Marie ignored him, keeping her piercing gaze locked solely on Daisy.
Daisy didn't back down, glaring right back.
"I'm not a believer. I've never believed in any god. I only believe in Ricky. And we are one. In that sense, you and I are enemies, witch."
At Daisy's bold answer, Marie offered a chilling smirk. Whether it was mockery or a show of confidence was hard to tell. Perhaps it was both.
She simply spun around on her heel and started walking toward the campsite.
Rickert hesitated, unsure whether he should follow her or stay. Seeing Daisy sitting there pitifully brought another pang of sympathy.
"Sorry for shoving you. But I hope you don't misunderstand. It might be a bit late to say, but anyway, it's good to see you."
"Ricky..."
"Anyway, it's dangerous here. I don't know how things will turn out, but take care of yourself."
"Can't I come with you?"
"..."
It was thoroughly awkward. Since they were currently on an expedition to subdue the Order, he couldn't tell her to return to the Order, nor could he tell her to go elsewhere—she had nowhere else to go.
Rickert had no idea with what feelings he should treat Daisy, or if he should coldly turn a blind eye to her.
His decisiveness, which shone so razor-sharp on the battlefield, was utterly useless in a situation like this.
Seeing Rickert caught in his dilemma, Daisy's eyes glinted briefly before she adopted the most forlorn expression possible and stood up weakly.
"Alright... I'll go... Take care..."
She limped away toward the Order. It looked as though she had sprained her ankle—though in truth, she hadn't. She was feigning it.
But Rickert, believing Daisy had been hurt because he pushed her, couldn't just stand by. Dammit!
"Wait. Let's go together for now. I'll carry you on my back."
At that, as if she had been waiting for those exact words, Daisy promptly hopped onto Rickert's back. Grinning brightly behind him, she buried her face deeply into his neck.
"Am I heavy?"
"No."
"After we parted, I thought about Ricky every single day. What about you? Did you think about me?"
"Sometimes."
"That's mean."
"I can't lie to you."
"Then starting now, can't you think only of me?"
"Daisy, you can't stay a child forever."
"But I can't lie either. I like Ricky so, so much. You're my prince, my savior."
"...Who am I to save anyone..."
Rickert was at a loss for words. A woman's obsession was truly terrifying. Now he felt he could finally understand a bit of what Ice often talked about.
The northern plains were vast and endless. The once-verdant fields were slowly turning yellow, drying out from the tips of the leaves. The wind blew cold, though not enough to make one shrink back.
Far ahead, a young female swordswoman walked in front, followed by a man carrying another girl on his back. Far, far away from the ruins. Like the present pushing away the past.
Rickert's gloomy mood vanished so completely he couldn't even remember feeling down. Not that he had wished for a situation like this, of course.