CHAPTER 168…………………………………………..
. Take Care, My Paradise (2)
Kalion cast a cold sidelong glance at the incomprehensible question.
“…What promise?”
“I promised when I made you my retainer.”
“Oh.”
Kalion answered indifferently, lowering his eyes.
On the day the saint made him her retainer, she had said:
“This time, I’ll protect you until the end.”
It was also the day of that monumental Veled explosion incident.
A white hand had reached through the iron bars, but when he refused to grasp it, it quietly fell.
Instead, she pressed her forehead against the bars and whispered:
“Kalion… I didn’t realize you felt that way.”
What he had spat out like a curse to Minte had reached the saint as well.
“From the start, none of you ever treated me like I belonged here.”
“I knew it from the moment you drove me out to the outer mansion.”
Kalion sneered indifferently.
“It’s surprising you didn’t know until now. You must have been that uninterested in me.”
“Kalion.”
“Exactly what I said to Lord Epikus. Honestly, you were happy enough letting me step aside on my own.”
His tongue, like a poisoned arrow, struck sharply.
Kalion waited for the saint’s reaction.
‘How will she respond?’
Would she scold him for thinking that way? Or maybe be overwhelmed with guilt?
But what reached Kalion’s ears was an unexpected response.
“…I’m sorry, Kalion.”
It was a deeply wounded voice, but calm.
“For acting as if your heart could just be pushed aside like that.”
“….”
“I really am sorry.”
The white hand gripped the iron bars tightly.
“I didn’t like you in that way, but… still, Kalion…”
“….”
“I truly love you.”
Kalion closed his eyes.
He didn’t want to hear it—those were the feelings of an older sister toward her youngest sibling.
“Even if it’s not the path you wanted…”
“….”
“So, just because things have gotten worse, letting go completely—that’s not love.”
“….”
“Right?”
Kalion slowly opened his eyes.
The saint’s voice had been trembling uncertainly since earlier.
He thought it was due to being overcome with emotion, but when he opened his eyes…
Drops of blood were spreading across the floor where she stood.
Kalion stared at it, muttering in shock.
“…Lady Sion.”
“Which is why… I will never, ever let you die.”
“Lady Sion, wait—”
Every time his saint forced out words, Kalion’s mind went blank.
Why was this person coughing up blood?
Why wasn’t she using healing on herself?
Why… why…?
“Wait, why are you like this? Why… you…?”
The cold, mocking attitude from before had completely vanished.
Kalion crawled on his knees across the floor, clasping her hands through the bars.
He had thought his vision was clear until now, but suddenly, everything seemed to open up.
Yet this newfound clarity made it hard to breathe.
He gradually felt on his skin what he had done, and realized in a dreadful premonition what she had done for him, causing his voice to tremble uncontrollably.
“Lady Sion… why?”
Thud.
A dark red drop spread in a circle on the floor.
And in that moment, Sion collapsed right there.
“Lady Sion! Lady Sion…!”
Kalion gripped her hands and cried out.
But strangely, she did not wake.
The guards arrived, and chaos erupted, but none of it reached Kalion’s ears.
The only certainty was that she had used excessive power she could not sustain, even with her demon body.
All to save him.
Before winter deepened, the northern reinforcements were set to depart.
Ares also had to return to his family’s estate and prepare.
“….”
Yet Ares could not bring himself to step forward.
He stood at the entrance to Persen Palace.
He had no sense of how many days he had waited like this.
‘This happened before…’
The day he had caused Sion to be hurt during a magical surge at the hunt festival, he had waited like this to apologize.
Back then, Sion had called him inside.
But now, Persen Palace would not open to Ares.
‘Just one glimpse of her face, please…’
Since the argument with Sion at the cabin and running off, he had regretted it constantly.
Ares had expected this year to be the most wonderful year of his life.
And along with that expectation came a growing burden.
The girl he loved held the highest position in the country.
He wanted to be the most dignified, fitting for her.
He wanted everything to be perfect, and he did not want that burden to show.
Such weakness would be too shameful, too pathetic.
But when his hope shattered,
Ares was the first to wound the person he loved most with the broken pieces.
“Haa…”
Ares wiped his face dry and let out a bitter, angry sigh.
‘I didn’t want it to be like this.’
He hadn’t intended a farewell like this.
He wanted to properly explain his feelings…
He never meant to blame Sion…
Yet, even for the sake of his family, he thought it proper to go.
Just then, familiar footsteps approached.
But it wasn’t Sion—it was Lete.
“Master… His Highness—”
“….”
Lete shook her head silently.
Her silence twisted Ares’s face even more.
‘Why did it have to come to this?’
Kalion had been taken to Hydes Palace.
Three years ago, for deliberately provoking monsters at the hunting festival, causing harm to others.
But the bigger issue was that he had used power despite knowing the Veled continent was in danger.
Ares wanted to ask sincerely:
‘Why did you have to go that far?’
Did he do it to survive?
Yet he never had the chance to ask Kalion directly.
People remained silent about what had happened inside.
The Demon King’s wrath had been too fierce for anyone to save Kalion.
Except for one person.
Since that day, Sion had remained asleep at Persen Palace.
Ares looked at Lete with hollow eyes.
“…Then, at least, before I leave, one glimpse of her face…”
“No.”
“Master.”
“The prince, the princess, they didn’t say anything, but I know what happened.”
Lete stared at Ares with stern eyes.
“I care for the prince as if he were my own brother, but this time, I cannot forgive you.”
The princess had been so excited and joyful because of Ares.
Even as Lete warned her not to get carried away, she had felt joy too.
She was glad with a motherly heart to see the princess feel the thrill of first love at her age.
The two who had watched over her for so long quietly let her love blossom.
But that long-standing bond collapsed in an instant.
“And remember, Erebus once warned you too, didn’t he?”
Ares pressed his lips together tightly.
Only someone who can truly make Sion smile happily may enter Persen Palace.
He had heard this when he was fifteen, and now he was eighteen.
There was no room left for excuses.
Even though he had boasted of love, he had caused wounds.
‘Even so…’
He had a subconscious, cowardly calculation that Sion would never completely abandon him.
“…Then… at least this, please.”
Ares clenched his teeth and extended what he held to Lete.
Had he ever used the word “please” in his life?
He couldn’t recall, but now, his trivial pride could not matter.
“Bring it inside so she can see it when she wakes.”
“….”
“Please… that much, I beg you, Master.”
He never imagined it would be completely impossible.
Lete carefully took the bouquet.
Tears glimmered in her eyes too.
“Alright. Please take care, Prince.”
The children that she and her sister had cherished so long were now truly scattered.
Ares, heading north as part of the reinforcement troops.
The princess, unconscious for unknown reasons while trying to save a close friend.
And Kalion, expelled from Tartarus
