Chapter 51
Sophia listened quietly to Peyton’s story, then asked something different this time.
“You want to hear about my childhood? Saying it like that makes me sound like a grandpa…”
“You are a grandpa.”
“That’s so mean!”
He complained in a whining voice, wanting to seem young.
As they strolled through the square, Sophia kept asking Peyton questions. She was curious. Since he had many things in common with her, she wanted to know what kind of life he had lived.
Peyton was puzzled by Sophia’s sudden interest but answered straightforwardly. Talking and laughing was what he liked most.
“My childhood wasn’t much. I was locked in a room without a single ray of light, then I got out…”
Is that not something huge? Hearing him talk about being locked up so casually, like talking about roadside wildflowers, made Sophia think magicians really were different.
“I was stuck in the mansion where that room was, but I couldn’t leave. I had an order to protect someone.”
Protect? An order?
She didn’t know exactly what it was, but it seemed, like Sophia, he was not allowed to go outside freely.
“I was born to heal just one person, so I stayed in that mansion for over a hundred years. Ah, but I was happy? That person was really kind and gentle.”
“Was that person a magician too?”
“No, not a magician… just a pitiful person whose life was forcibly extended by a magician’s power. Back then, there weren’t many magicians. Maybe about five.”
Sophia learned many new things. This was long before she was born, something not recorded or known because it concerned magicians.
“Where is that person now? If their life was extended, are they still alive?”
If a magician forcibly prolonged someone’s life, that person might still be alive as long as the magician’s wish hadn’t disappeared.
It was a pure question, but perhaps it hit a sensitive spot, because Peyton fell silent.
After a long pause, just as she was about to change the subject, his lips moved.
“I heard they died. I don’t know how. I was being punished then. If I could have moved, I could’ve saved them…”
Unconsciously, Peyton touched his neck, recalling the sensation of nothingness, then dropped his hand and smiled faintly.
“Oh, and I ran away from home once too? That was when I was really fresh and young.”
“You’re young, so you can do silly things like that.”
He smiled proudly. Yes, it was a long life, so running away once might not have been a bad experience.
To lighten the dark mood and change the subject, Sophia stopped asking more.
Somehow, Peyton had already bought some well-cooked meatballs, putting them in his mouth one by one as they looked around the prettily decorated street.
“Stop eating so much, you pig.”
“That’s so mean! Growing adults have to eat everything!”
“Kids, maybe.”
Ignoring Peyton’s constant eating, Sophia started walking, then noticed a group gathered under a big tree.
It was the famous old tree that had stood in the capital for a long time. People were doing something fun beneath it.
They wrote something on paper, then hung it on the branches, sharing bright smiles with family or friends.
That was it. During the festival, if you wrote your wish and hung it on the tree, your wish would come true.
It was nonsense, but there was a reason people gathered.
Regardless of the wish coming true, they could cherish the time spent wishing together with those present.
Everyone looked happy.
“They’re hanging something on the tree…”
“If you write a wish and hang it, it’ll come true.”
“…That’s amazing.”
Surprisingly, she didn’t run up excitedly like a child but looked calm.
Watching his quiet eyes as if looking at something other than the wish papers, Sophia thought she couldn’t just leave him be.
“Ha….”
“Sophi? It’s Sophi!”
Just then, Stella called her name from under the tree, waving her hand big.
Stella came running with her usual bright face, gently holding Sophia’s hand and shaking it.
“Glad you came! Let’s write wishes together.”
“…What will you write?”
Sophia glanced at Peyton, who had returned to his usual smiling face.
Stella hesitated a bit, shy, and carefully said one syllable at a time.
“I… I… got lost…”
“Please let me join my group?”
“Yeah…!”
Even today, she got lost again. At this rate, Sophia wondered whether the attendants or guards were deliberately losing Stella, or if Stella was just so fast she kept losing her way.
“Pey, Peyton, you should come write a wish too!”
“Huh? Me too?”
“Come on, Sophi!”
To cover her embarrassment, Stella laughed and led both to the tree.
After receiving the paper Stella gave her, Sophia thought seriously. Until recently, her wish was just for her family to get their act together so she could live. But not anymore.
A new wish. Hmm…
[Noel Boretdi Mel.]
“Be happy.” Perhaps she used the old language Peyton had taught her.
Holding the paper, she gazed blankly up at the tree, where Peyton also was staring.
“Not writing a wish?”
“Uh, yeah, a wish? Not yet.”
He smiled awkwardly, saying he didn’t know what to write.
Watching him closely, Sophia offered him her paper.
“Then can you hang mine first?”
“Hang? Where?”
Pointing to the long string hanging from the branches where you could tie your paper, Sophia explained, but Peyton still hesitated.
Why was he acting like this?
Sophia’s suspicion grew when she noticed someone standing a little farther away, watching everything silently.
A man with black hair tied in a single braid, wearing the black uniform of the central castle, with red eyes.
Now that she thought about it, she’d seen a few others in similar uniforms wandering around.
Because the Olavi Festival was large-scale, many noble families attended, including ones from other territories who came to enjoy the festivities.
So, it seemed the central castle sent people for safety and vigilance.
“Is Eren here too, I wonder.”
He was also from the central castle, recognized for his skill from a young age and sometimes sent on missions.
How old was he now?
Seventeen? Probably. Four years older than Stella, and five years older than herself.
Hoping to see him, she scanned around, but didn’t find anyone resembling him. Of course, glancing around quickly wouldn’t be enough to find him.
Perhaps a bit disappointed, Peyton tapped Sophia’s shoulder.
“Uh, Sophia…”
“What’s wrong?”
“While tying it… I pulled too hard and tore it.”
Peyton made a mistake while she was momentarily distracted.
Looking at the torn paper, Sophia took it and said,
“It’s okay. You can just write it again.”
“Sorry…”
He had never looked so down after causing trouble.
Hearing his faintly trembling voice, Sophia started to worry. It’d be better to finish quickly and leave.
“It’s okay. Stella and I will go get another paper. Wait here.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
Sophia went with Stella to get new paper, while Peyton stood alone staring blankly at the tree.
The big tree, with its hanging strings, touched by countless hands.
“Pey.”
After a long time staring at the tree, a man called Peyton’s name and approached.
The man had long black hair tied high, a cold aura, and wore the central castle uniform.
He was someone Peyton knew well.
“Wheel, you’re here.”
“Yeah, for central castle business. What are you doing here?”
Peyton avoided eye contact and muttered, “Just here.”
Wheel looked down at Peyton, then up at the tree.
The scene Peyton was looking at unfolded before him as well.
The past, cruelly displayed instead of wish papers.
“That… reminds me of that time.”
Wheel spoke of a familiar scene, causing Peyton to flinch sharply.
“A magician was foolishly hanging by the neck on a tree, I think.”
