Chapter 42
The Flower That Bears a Sword - Chapter 42
Translation: godsn
"Are you coming in? Huh?"
"If you'll honor the spirit of what you proposed, then yes."
"What about Cadet Alice?"
"I'll join as well."
"Ugh, finally! Thank you, Cadet Echinacea, Cadet Alice! I'll do my best!"
Fatima bounced up and down in excitement before pulling two sheets of paper from her pocket. Club application forms. Swinging her braided hair, she dashed to Eki's nearby desk to fetch a quill and ink, as if rushing to get their signatures before they changed their minds.
"You've been carrying application forms around with you?"
"Basic preparation, basic! Here! Read it carefully and sign quickly!"
Fatima excitedly thrust the quill forward. Eki and Alice each took an application form. The terms of club membership were written there—just as Fatima had said, a simple agreement with no special rules beyond weekly meetings. As they scanned the documents, Fatima suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke up.
"Ah, I was cut off earlier while sharing big news. On May 30th, during the all-cadet ranking matches, there'll be a Cadet Representative election."
"That's only natural, isn't it? The Cadet Representative position has been left vacant."
Alice tilted her head slightly in confusion. Fatima wagged her finger as if to say there was more.
"Well, that part isn't actually the big news. There are some strange rumors attached to it, but that's just passing gossip. The truly earth-shattering news is something else entirely."
"Strange rumors?"
"Mmm, well... they're about the former Cadet Representative. Not exactly pleasant stuff. Some things were discovered while cleaning his room—quite a bit of evidence showing he'd done some pretty bad things. Nasty quality, I hear. Better not to know the details. Nothing's confirmed yet anyway; it's still under investigation."
Alice's eyes widened into perfect circles while Eki clicked her tongue. Considering how Ian Pelletro had foisted someone like Bread onto her, she could easily imagine what kind of "bad things" might be involved. Fatima gave an awkward laugh before clapping her hands to lighten the mood.
"But forget that—now for the real, truly astonishing news!"
"What news is that?"
Alice handed over her signed application as she asked. Fatima answered in a giddy tone:
"Don't be shocked—they say the Captain is getting married soon! His fiancée is arriving at Agenka any day now!"
Eki's hand slipped while signing the form. Ink splattered messily across the paper. She lifted her head in a daze.
"Who... is getting married? Which Captain?"
"Is there another Captain at Agenka? Obviously it's Sir Yurien de Harden Kyrie, Captain of the Azure Sky Knights!"
Her mind went blank. While Eki remained stunned, Alice and Fatima continued their conversation.
"That's incredible news. When will the fiancée be arriving?"
"Tomorrow, apparently. More precisely, she's coming for the engagement ceremony."
"Huh? Then she's not actually his fiancée yet, is she?"
"Pfft, if she's coming to get engaged, then she's the fiancée! I wonder when the wedding will be? It'll be spectacular, won't it?"
"Before being Captain of the Azure Sky, he's an Imperial Prince—it'll be magnificent. So... what kind of person is this fiancée?"
"Um... I definitely heard the name, but Dia... Dia... Dia-something was the family name..."
"Could it be Diassant?"
"Yes! Diassant! They said she's Lady Diassant."
Diassant. The most powerful ducal family in the current Kyrie Empire. And the family that had produced the Crown Princess. Hearing that familiar name finally brought Eki back to her senses. She handed her signed application to Fatima, who gasped at the inkblot-stained form.
"Eek! What's this! It's all smudged! Here, sign this new one."
"Ah, yes."
Eki quickly signed the fresh application and handed it over. Then she looked at Fatima and Alice and spoke.
"Um, Alice, Senior Fatima... I'm feeling a bit tired..."
"Ah, we've been too noisy in front of a patient. Yes, get some proper rest."
"I'll return by evening, so please rest without worry, Eki."
"Thank you, everyone."
They each bid their farewells before leaving. Alice even took the stew tray with her as she exited. The moment their presence completely faded away, Eki abruptly rose from the bed. A wave of dizziness made her stagger momentarily, but she steadied herself with mana. Sitting at the desk, she pulled out a blank parchment and quill.
[Hey, was Yurien married before? In the previous timeline?]
"No, there was nothing like that before."
Eki pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead. Before the reversal of time, Yurien had never been married—hadn't even been engaged. Not until the moment of his death in the original timeline, which would be three years from now.
He was someone who never had so much as a single scandal. It wasn't for nothing that countless noble ladies of the empire spun romantic fantasies about him. The aloof Knight Commander who had never kept anyone by his side—that was precisely why he'd been so popular.
And now, an engagement? Marriage? An involuntary groan escaped her lips. A sharp pain twisted in her gut while her thoughts spun wildly until they tangled into complete disarray. Biting her lower lip, Eki gripped the quill tighter.
[Master, what are you trying to do now? Writing a letter or something?]
"No. I need to organize things a bit."
[Huh? Organize what?]
"Things that happened before the reversal of time, and what's happening now."
Something was changing. She needed to understand what was causing it and how the changes were unfolding.
Changes born from regression. The thought of Rakia-giosa potentially catching up to the alterations caused by Kairos-giosa, and the spatial nodes that might emerge as a result, surfaced in her mind. It felt like the last remaining strength was draining from her already exhausted body.
'First... first, let me write. From the beginning, up to the point when Yurien died.'
Eki moved the quill across the parchment. She began listing the erased past and the altered present side by side.
―1. March 17, 1629, dawn. Magic Sword discovered in Roaz family kitchen.
: Same time. Only an empty bundle found.
―2. Emergence of the Demon of the Magic Sword. Massacres beginning with the Roaz territory and spreading to surrounding fiefs.
: Demon of the Magic Sword did not appear. No casualties.
―3. Spring 1629. Azure Sky Knights' monster subjugation. Specter ambush incident. Multiple casualties including Squire Baraha Islaf.
: Specters dealt with preemptively. Spatial node appeared at camp. Ian Pelletro deceased. Baraha Islaf survived. No other casualties.
After writing up to that point, she took a deep breath. She left the first line of number 4 blank—it was an event that hadn't existed at all in the past. Below it, she wrote today's development: 'Yurien de Harden Kyrie to be engaged to Lady Diassant.' The handwriting wavered, as if reflecting her unsettled state.
For a while, Eki stared down at those trembling letters. Who was Lady Diassant again? She knew the Diassant ducal family had produced the current Crown Princess, but did they have another daughter? She couldn't recall clearly.
The twenty-year-old Echinacea Roaz from before the reversal had been well-informed about social circles as a proper count's daughter. But the current Echinacea had spent fifteen years completely detached from noble society. Information about social circles—things that hadn't mattered much in that life—had long faded from memory.
'...The VIP Nicole is escorting must be Lady Diassant, given the circumstances. Then I can just ask Nicole. Yes, that's what I'll do.'
Eki tapped the quill's tip against the name before finally tearing her gaze away. Staring at it wouldn't make her remember—it was just wasting time. She wrote the number '5' on the line below.
―5. Discovery of Elgiosa (Saintess assassination incident).
From this point onward, these were events that hadn't occurred yet in the present, so they might change differently from before. Just as the previous events had been altered.
Among the three missing Giosas, one was the discovered Elgiosa. Of the remaining two, one was the Divine Sword Rakia-giosa, whose whereabouts were unknown to anyone, and the other was Valdergiosa, which was currently clinging to her right hand.
Elgiosa had been discovered by the Azure Sky Knights around this very time, during the period when Echinacea was being controlled by the magic sword. It was an unfortunate and horrific incident where the sword was found only after its Owner had been murdered. The Owner of Elgiosa had been the weakest among the Giosa Owners, incapable of defending themselves.
Since Echinacea had not been part of the Azure Sky Knights, she didn't know the exact timing of the incident, the location where it was discovered, or the full details of what had transpired. She only knew that such an event had occurred. As a result, she had no idea where Elgiosa might be at this moment.
After the saintess murder incident, the Azure Sky Knights would retrieve Elgiosa and store it in the Giosa Hall. From that point onward, the sword's location would become clear. It was precisely because of this that Echinacea, in her previous life, had been able to track it down.
Had she known where Elgiosa was in the current timeline, she would have gone to retrieve it before coming to Agenka.
'No, wait—Elgiosa is a Giosa I can't wield anyway. Finding it in advance would be meaningless. And since I know nothing about the saintess murder incident, I don't even have a way to prevent it.'
A bitter smile twisted her lips.
Elgiosa, the Healing Sword, forged from human compassion and adorned with human love, chose its master irrespective of swordsmanship. That blade could only be wielded by someone who had never once in their life hated another.
With Elgiosa, no one could be killed or harmed. Even if you stabbed someone through the heart with it, they wouldn't be injured. The only thing Elgiosa could cut was its own Owner. A sword incapable of wounding anyone but itself—a blade of boundless love and healing.
For Echinacea, holding it was impossible.
Her gaze lingered on the saintess murder incident before she shook her head and wrote the next events below it.
―6. Winter of 1631: Formation of the Empire's Demon Subjugation Squad; annihilated by the Demon of the Magic Sword.
―7. Autumn of 1632: Agenka massacre by the Demon of the Magic Sword; all Giosa Owners slain (Yurien's death).
Both were events that had occurred in the past but would not happen in the present—because Echinacea was no longer the Demon of the Magic Sword.
Her pen lingered on the last stroke of the final character: 'death.' Beneath that simple word lay something immeasurably deep. The ink pooled like a drop of blood where the quill had pressed into the parchment.
She set the pen down and exhaled a long sigh. As far as Yurien's time of death was concerned, these were the major events that came to mind. Already, so much had changed. Which of these shifts had triggered the incomprehensible matter of Yurien's engagement? There were too many variables to grasp.
Or perhaps—Yurien's engagement wasn't a butterfly effect caused by altered events at all...
'What if Yurien also remembers the erased past? That could be the reason. For instance... if he had someone he loved but regretted not confessing before dying. So this time, he immediately proposed and got engaged...'
The thought made her dizzy. A sharp pain welled up in her chest before spilling over. It must be the fever. It had to be the fever. Once she recovered—once her body was healthy and her mind clear—she'd think differently.
Echinacea set the pen aside, rolled up the parchment, and tucked it away where it couldn't be seen. Then she returned to bed and lay back down. Her body sank into the soft bedding as if plunging into deep water. She exhaled softly and closed her eyes.
Behind her closed eyelids, his expression from when she emerged from the node resurfaced. The look of someone witnessing a lover they thought dead return to life. A face that seemed to love her.