Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: The Identity of Lena Rubel
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Lena Rubel's recklessness made even Rubid, who had seen it all, recoil in horror.
“Ugh……!”
As Lena spurred her mount and leaped up, Rubid found himself clinging to her without thinking. It was clearly the act of a madwoman. With wraiths swarming everywhere, each one clutching blazing fireballs, to leap from a rampaging horse? But what came next was even crazier. With Rubid tucked under her arm, Lena used the charging wraiths as stepping stones, bounding upward several more times. She trampled them to charge back toward the castle. The wraiths flared their flames as if to block her. As the heat stabbed like needles, Lena hoisted Rubid by the scruff of his neck.
“What are you……!”
Rubid cried out in shock, but Lena ignored him and hurled him toward the castle with all her might.
“Now’s the time!”
What was now?! Rubid seethed with frustration but had no choice except to cooperate. He thrust out his arms toward the castle rushing at him, close enough to collide. To enter the wraiths’ castle, you just had to call the lord’s true name, right? Recalling what he’d heard, Rubid bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“Hiems Grasha!”
He’d done it right as far as he knew, but unease made him add one more thing.
“Open the gate!”
And then the world turned upside down.
...
Rubid lost consciousness from the intense shock and awoke in darkness. It was pitch black all around. He couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open or closed. In that profound blackness, Rubid instinctively reached for the ground. Or tried to. Nothing met his touch. Instead of rising, he staggered, and soon realized.
‘What the hell is this?’
Rubid wasn’t lying on the floor. Nor was he standing. He floated in midair, untouched by anything, as if swimming through water.
‘What now…….’
Rubid bit his lip hard. With no other choice, he called out a name.
“Lena Rubel!”
Lena Rubel……! Lena Rubel……! Lena Ru……. He’d swallowed his pride to shout it, but the vast darkness turned his cry into a futile echo.
“Hey! Answer me!”
Hey……! Answer……! Shouting again yielded the same. Rubid floundered through the darkness in bewilderment until he spotted a faint light.
‘An exit?’
He headed straight for it without question. The dim, flickering light suddenly intensified, swallowing him whole.
“Urk!”
Rubid squeezed his eyes shut against the flood of light.
—I, I don’t want to.
He snapped his eyes wide at the following voice.
—Over there……!
A familiar yet unfamiliar voice.
—Rubid.
And a voice both strange and familiar. It was Rubid’s own voice and his brother Yiura’s.
Dumbfounded, Rubid stared at the scene before him. There, spread out, were he and Yiura from four years ago.
“What is this…….”
Stunned, Rubid gazed at his boyish self and the younger Yiura. Was this his memory?
“I can see my own damn face!”
Irritated by his own guess, Rubid refuted it. In a memory, you shouldn’t see your own face. Yet there it was, his own face, pale with terror, clear as day.
‘And this…… was back then?’
Rubid realized the time and scowled deeper. The day he’d learned his father died because of the emperor and confronted Yiura. The day he’d caused a scene due to that damned compulsion.
‘Damn it.’
Rubid watched his past disgrace with displeasure. It was painful to relive, but curiosity about what happened while he blacked out kept him going. As he watched, his past self collapsed in fear. Spotting a decorative sword, his eyes finally rolled back.
—U, uwaaaack……!
His past self swung the sword wildly. Ping! A sharp slash diagonally cleaved Yiura’s desk. Yiura dodged in a hurry, but he was too close. The blade deeply gashed his left shoulder, and blood soon poured from his arm.
‘What?’
While Rubid stared in shock, attendants shouted.
—Your Highness!
The slash flew at the horrified attendants too, sending them tumbling and rolling in panicked flight. Yiura clutched his wounded arm and charged at Rubid. He was unarmed.
‘He got hurt?’
Rubid was baffled. He’d known nothing of Yiura’s injury. It wasn’t a graze—if it was that deep, Yiura couldn’t have stayed silent. Half-doubting, Rubid kept watching. As his past self swung the sword while crying, Yiura threw himself into the frenzy and grabbed the flailing arm. Rubid’s face paled further at being seized. Consumed by terror, the boy couldn’t think straight. To shake off the restraint, he slammed the sword down on his brother’s hand and his own arm.
‘No way……!’
With Rubid’s shocked exclamation, the scene blacked out again. Back in the darkness from the past, Rubid panted in confusion. Was it real? Or some fabricated illusion? Doubting endlessly, he pressed the scar still on his arm. Then another light appeared in his vision.
‘What now.’
Rubid didn’t hesitate and approached it. Light poured again, pulling him into a completely different world. Another room this time. But not one Rubid knew. This was a modest mansion, inferior to the castle he lived in. Hearing violin music, he turned to see a girl practicing alone. Rubid glanced indifferently, then jolted for a different reason.
“Lena Rubel?”
The girl with the violin was none other than Lena. She looked about twelve, playing by a sunlit window. But the smooth melody suddenly glitched, and the playing stopped.
—Ow…….
Lena grimaced and blew on her fingertips that had pressed the string. The young Lena chewed her stinging fingers and glanced at the door. Then, like a scheming child, she crept to a shelf. She pulled out a book hidden under a decoration. Tired of violin practice, Lena hid in a corner and began reading. Flipping pages with sparkling eyes, she looked quite happy. Rubid stared blankly, then tried smacking her head.
“Tch.”
As expected, his hand passed through. He could probably win now, though. Regretfully, Rubid observed Lena’s room, her clothes, the title of her book. Soon, a click sounded at the door. Lena hastily hid the book and opened her mouth as if to make excuses.
—Ah, uh……?
But only a faint question came out. A middle-aged man entered. No noble, butler, or servant— a shabby man utterly out of place in the mansion. Fittingly, Lena stiffened like a child facing a stranger.
—Nice to meet you. You must be Lena.
The man greeted her casually upon seeing her. Then added mischievously.
—You’re a ‘Rubel’ too, right?
—Please leave.
Another man appeared, shoving the rude middle-aged one aside. Rubid knew this newcomer well.
“Rubel?”
It was Marquis Rubel. Seeing the young marquis, Rubid’s eyes widened, then his face twisted.
“She was really his daughter?”
Realizing the deception, Rubid ground his teeth.
—Fine, I get it. I’ll go for today. See you again.
Pushed by Marquis Rubel, the man left with feigned reluctance. The young Lena stared in confusion, not understanding. Suddenly, the lights went out. Thinking it was darkness again, the surroundings brightened. There was Lena Rubel again, but slightly different. Still young, she huddled crying in an attic like a storeroom. Before Rubid could fully survey, the world flickered. Next was Lena with short hair. A bit older than before, but still young. Short-haired Lena stood against a blood-red sky.
‘A graveyard?’
No way, already? Rubid watched skeptically, then flinched. Lena’s eyes gleamed fierce as a starving predator.
‘What is this…….’
Rubid couldn’t comprehend Lena’s sudden change. The noble girl secretly reading, the girl locked in a shabby loft weeping, and now Lena Rubel sharpened sharper than a blade. As Rubid stared in confusion, the surroundings flashed again. This time, Lena with long hair tied tight, in a blue uniform.
“……You?”
Rubid tried speaking, half-hoping, but as before, the illusion-Lena didn’t react. Clicking his tongue, Rubid looked around.
“Where’s this?”
The place Lena stood was utterly unfamiliar to Rubid. Not even the Empire. Inside a city ringed by high walls, but buildings plastered in lime, not brick or wood. Like ancient kingdoms in paintings. Before Lena Rubel knelt a man in ancient garb, prostrated.
—I’ve been waiting.
He said to Lena, body low. Lena replied calmly.
—I’ve come for the heart, Celeste.
‘Celeste?’
At the name, Rubid’s eyes widened. Realization hit. This was Lena Rubel from the first expedition. The moment she claimed the heart of the King Who Swallowed His First Cry, whose full story no one knew. Rubid looked again at the prostrated man. Not just ancient clothes—he wore crimson symbolizing a king. That king, Celeste Who Swallowed His First Cry, said.
—So it shall be. How could I defy your will?
His voice was humble, as if he already knew Lena. Celeste slowly rose. Tears streamed down his lifted face. Sobbing sadly, he asked Lena.
—Will you forgive me?
—It’s not me you should beg forgiveness from. It’s your child.
Lena answered the anguished Celeste. He grew more tormented and asked again.
—Is that child inside you too?
—I don’t know. There are too many.
—Please say you forgive me. Otherwise, I can’t shake this regret.
Celeste trembled, placing a hand at Lena’s feet. Then prostrated again, sobbing as he pleaded.
—Please show mercy to me, the one stripped of blessing…….
Then strong hands covered Rubid’s eyes and yanked him backward.
“Eek!?”
Rubid grabbed them in panic. A small voice whispered in his ear.
“Go too deep, and it’s dangerous, Mr. Rubid.”
It was Lena’s voice.
“You!”
Rubid shouted, finally facing Lena. She released him, and as the hand over his eyes vanished, darkness returned. But Lena’s form was clear even in the dark. To the dazed Rubid, Lena said.
“This is the crevice.”
“Crevice?”
“Where past time accumulates. Fall in wrong, and you’ll wander forever. Be careful.”
Rubid stared at her incomprehensibly. Lena remained calm, until Rubid couldn’t hold back.
“What the hell are you?”
“You’ll know soon.”
“What?”
“That’s why I’m asking—keep it secret? What you learned here.”
Rubid frowned at the inexplicable request.
“Why should I?”
“Not just for kicks.”
Lena, expecting his defiance, added a condition. One he couldn’t refuse. Sure enough, Rubid perked up openly, then nodded reluctantly. Lena thought him simple as she beckoned.
“Then let’s go. This way.”
Lena took Rubid’s hand and parted the pitch black. She pushed the darkness aside like a curtain. Light poured through the gap, revealing a new space. An audience chamber with a high throne. Rubid felt strange deja vu gazing at it. Like he’d been there. As he scanned, a soft voice echoed.
“You’ve come all this way.”
“Clavis……?”
Rubid murmured at the man in splendid robes descending the stairs. A holy aura made it seem he stepped on clouds, not stairs—so beautiful. Rubid instantly thought of Clavis. But closer, no. Similar, but this man had blond hair unlike Clavis.
“Hiems Grasha.”
Lena murmured at the blond man. As Rubid’s eyes widened at the name, Hiems Grasha smiled warmly.
“I can’t neglect guests, so welcome anyway.”
Then to Lena, he added.
“King stripped of blessing.”