Chapter 118
What I saw in the world “ten seconds later” was darkness.
What I heard was a sharp, ear-piercing “beeeeeep.” Even that was brief and then cut off.
I felt it instinctively.
This was the end.
So I did the only thing I could do for the one person I could make eye contact with at that moment, the last thing I could do.
“Don’t come.”
Maybe they couldn’t hear, but they must have seen my lips move.
Why won’t you stop?
I will never know the reason.
Before me there was dust. My escape was blocked by fallen stones.
And then—
The world ten seconds later swallowed me.
…but why.
What filled my vision now wasn’t darkness, but—
A voice sounded.
An elegant female voice filled my chest with joy. Anyone who heard it would have called it the voice of a god.
Well, except for the content.
“I didn’t call you to make you suffer. And anyway, that one isn’t even my favorite.”
…So it was you, Lord. I’ll sleep again.
“Anyway, congratulations. You’ve passed the hurdle you’d face at sixteen. Live however you like. Reluctantly…”
I’m going back to sleep.
But I couldn’t. My body was burning. My mouth felt dry and sticky.
“Huh…”
And yet I felt cold.
Is a desert night like this?
“Is heaven… a desert?”
Please don’t say I fell into hell. The moments in my life I’d call heaven were…
“Sol, don’t say that.”
For the first time, a voice that wasn’t the god’s and wasn’t mine spoke.
Maybe this is heaven.
Right now someone was pouring something cool at the corner of my mouth.
It’s sweet. And bitter.
“Ugh…”
“Oh, sorry. Did you find out? I put in a lot of sugar.”
Find out what?
No matter how hard I tried to open my eyes, they wouldn’t open fully. Through the crusted sleep in my eyes the world was dazzling.
Beyond that, someone was there.
Even without seeing the face, the rough fingers wiping my mouth and the gentle touch—
I knew who it was.
“El—”
“Sleep more. You took medicine so your fever will go down fast.”
A cool hand touched my forehead.
Maybe it was the medicine. A heavy sleep slowly crashed over me. Before being pulled into dreamland, I recalled the last memory of Haji Day.
What I foresaw with the “ten seconds later” ability was a darkness like the end of the world and a noise that pierced my skull.
But when the real ten seconds came, what I experienced was…
The darkness that had been crashing down on me splitting into two—
It’s hell.
I remembered the day in the logistics warehouse that never had air conditioning and the fan was broken…
No, there are a million hells in the world, but I hate that one!
“Too hoooot!”
I screamed and bolted upright. And I screamed with true terror.
“Kyaaah!”
“Oh my, the young lady is awake? Lie down for now!”
“My—my legs, ow ow.”
“You’re badly hurt in many places. Don’t overdo it.”
I lay drenched in sweat on the bed. The ceiling was familiar. My room at the duke’s townhouse.
“…You’re alive?”
“Don’t say such unlucky words! Of course you’re alive. Your injuries aren’t that bad.”
Her voice carried both laughter and worry. What expression would Linda have on her face if she couldn’t meet my eyes?
“Um, Linda.”
“Yes?”
“What time is it…? No.” My eyes fell on the bandages wrapped on my arms and legs. They looked freshly changed—spotless.
Linda wouldn’t wrap healthy skin in bandages for no reason. Someone must have changed them at least once.
“What happened while I was out?”
“…Miss.”
Linda sat on the edge of the bed.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“I imagined the worst. I heard the temple was in chaos, Lord Elber came carrying you and your legs were covered in blood and you were unconscious, and also—”
“….”
“…Are you uncomfortable anywhere right now?”
Linda brushed my sweat-damp hair aside. It was a kind, pleasant touch.
“Linda, are you hiding something?”
“Huh?”
“You were about to say something more just now and then changed the subject.”
Her flustered reaction proved my suspicion. Oh my God! My mind went straight to the worst case!
I clung to Linda in a panic.
“Did something happen to Father?”
Damn it, did the duke shove me and take the injury instead? No, right? Would Father be that kind of man?
But—
Maybe that would have been better.
Soon Linda opened her mouth.
The priests remembered that moment like this.
“The people at the temple didn’t believe that the bell would ring. It was just a small amusement for the children gathered at the festival during the holiday.”
“If the saint truly appeared the archbishop would be frightened. The temple records say the saint is an incarnation who conveys the god’s will and acts as a shield in calamity, but that’s not a fixed post. From the temple’s viewpoint it’s just another ambiguous supervisor.”
“Honestly… when the bell rang, priests, if not the devotees, were all startled. That bell tower is so old it seemed like it would collapse any day now. Even if that sounds blasphemous, we can’t help it.”
“…Eventually that prediction came true.”
…For an instant, when the people gathered in the nave thought Sol Shleiger was the saint—
The girl coldly understood the reality and shouted. She said someone had been seen shaking the bell.
Maybe someone had thrown a hook and tied a rope to the bell’s edge and pulled from below. But the wood, eaten by time and bird droppings, could not withstand the bell’s movement.
When the bell swayed, the first thing to break was the wooden support holding the roof; the rotted rope snapped.
The bell, gaining momentum as it swung, was now closer to a cannonball than a musical instrument. It flew into the nave wall and struck, then it did not stop; it crashed onto the stage.
Everyone thought one thing.
The girl who had remained standing on the stage to the last would die.
…but the bell stopped right there. An ice spear that fell from the air pierced through the bell.
“Ice can’t cut metal.”
That common sense was completely overturned under the ice storm. The sharp ice spear struck down everything that threatened the girl.
Falling wall debris, bricks ricocheting, branches grazing ankles… and on top of that a small snow squall that pressed down the rising dust.
Finally, like a miracle, the girl was still holding on, even if seated, on the ruined ice that had struck the stage.
Some offered prayers of thanks. Some said that the god had protected the child.
But those seated high above realized quickly what was happening.
For example, the king.
“Shu—, Duke Shleiger! What exactly is that power?”
The commonly shared belief that “Duke Shleiger cannot use his ability on Haji Day” was broken in an instant.
The duke did not answer.
An ice bridge reached from the second floor down to the first.
“Ratiigee!” At the king’s shout, a soldier responded with overdone loyalty—he tried to drive his blade into the duke’s nape.
But the moment the blade touched flesh it was blocked by a silvery, scale-like sheet of ice and could not pass.
The duke’s blue eyes cast a look of fury at the soldier. Even the king could not say a word under that stare.
…and in that brief moment, Seraphina returned to save her friend.
“No, Sol!”
A stained-glass window that had lost its frame tilted and was about to fall on Sol.
“The master used his ability late, but glass shards seemed to have fallen on the young lady.”
“Still, thanks to your father it ended with glass. If the bell had hit her she would have died.”
In the original, a true miracle happened and the bell remained intact. Damn it, which brat forcefully shook the bell?
Torn between anger and relief, Linda sighed.
“I have bad news though. After the temple was sorted out, His Majesty summoned the master.”
“Because he used his ability on Haji Day?”
“…Yes.”
Until now everyone had thought, “Duke Shleiger can’t use freezing abilities on Haji Day.” That’s why the cowardly king allowed an audience only on this day each year.
But that was all a misconception, revealed to the whole world on Haji Day.
The duke could use his freezing power whenever. The king must have been flabbergasted.
But still—
“At least Father’s not lying, right? The king was the only one mistaken all this time, then why is he the one to freak out and summon people around, you bastard!” I started ranting.
“Miss, please use kinder words!”
“You look like a dusty fake cotton candy a vendor made for advertisement!”
“Talking about pretty food doesn’t make your words pretty!”
“In any case, Father saved me, he didn’t threaten the king. What nonsense did they summon him for to harass Father?”
“That is…”
Is that something a mere maid like Linda wouldn’t know?
As I clung to Linda, someone knocked at the door.
“Sol, are you awake?”
It was the duke’s voice.
Linda answered quickly.
“Yes, the young lady—”
“Let Sol speak.”
He cut Linda off in one word.
Linda shut her mouth and turned to me.
…I rehearsed many lines in my head: I’m fine thanks to you, sorry for the trouble, what did His Majesty say, is there anything I can do to help?
But outside the door, the heavy breathing in the silence made me able to say only one sentence.
“Is Father… okay?”
At that moment the door flung open.
The duke crossed the room with a face set hard as stone. His silver hair was more disheveled than ever.
“Sol.”
“Fa—ther.”
The last syllable was crushed in his arms. A narrow, warm space that felt wrapped in someone’s hands.
His voice, unusually wet, flowed into my ear.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what are you sorry?”
“I should have protected you.”
“….”
“You didn’t get wounds like this even on the day you were kidnapped. To have you in front of me and see you like this…”
The duke’s trembling hand reached to touch the bandages on my arm but stopped. He could neither come closer nor move away—like looking at a cracked piece of glass.
Honestly, things still ache here and there. I have a fever. The wounds seem infected.
But I remember the “ten seconds later” I saw.
I should have died in the temple.
It was you who kept me in this world.
“You shouldn’t say you’re sorry to me, Father.”
“Sol.”
“I, Father….”
What should I say.
Did you do your best? Would I have died if you hadn’t been there?
…No, forget it. Saying that would sound hollow to the duke.
Luckily I soon found a sentence that was near-perfect.
“Father. I’m really okay.”
“All right, all right.”
“…So, what bastard should we deal with now?”
From behind, Linda pressed her forehead, but—
My proud villain finally dropped that ill-fitting expression and raised one corner of his mouth into a bright grin.
