Chapter 138
Who could remain calm when a thousand years of time were finally coming to an end?
Arjen nodded and gave a small smile.
“They say the answer lies in the Western Desert.”
Ian bit his lower lip, still showing his unease. Arjen shook her head, signaling him not to, and gently touched his lower lip with her hand.
“You’ve worked hard all this time… I hope this time it really ends together.”
“……”
“I’ll do my best to make that happen too.”
Suddenly, Ian pulled her into his arms.
His heart pounded fiercely against her ear. His trembling hands kept brushing over her shoulders.
The desperation made her choke back tears, yet a lingering doubt in the back of her mind didn’t fully disappear.
If everything could truly be solved like magic once they reached that place, why had Kether wanted her not to go?
What danger could possibly be waiting there?
After a while, Ian finally let go.
Perhaps realizing that holding her silently felt inappropriate, he slowly offered an apology.
“I’m sorry.”
His cheeks were flushed under the light. He quickly pulled up his hood to cover them, though it didn’t quite hide his ears.
“How do you feel?”
At Arjen’s question, Ian forced a smile.
“…Even hearing about it now, it doesn’t feel real. I’ve been to the Western Desert several times, so I wonder what could possibly be different this time… I guess I’ll only know once I see it with my own eyes.”
Just as Arjen couldn’t fully shake her subtle anxiety, Ian seemed similarly unsettled.
She naturally shifted the topic.
“But if Angelina really intends to kill the soldier, isn’t it dangerous to accompany her to the Western Desert? Will it be okay?”
“Angelina must go. Her knowledge is needed to find the temple. She probably wants to locate the Western Temple too, so she won’t act recklessly before arrival. The problem will be on the way back…”
“……”
“By then, the soldier’s usefulness will have run out, so there’s no need to pay him any mind.”
His answer was so cold it could freeze someone.
“I see……”
Had he grown attached to the soldier in that time? She couldn’t simply laugh it off. Ian, perceptive as ever, surely noticed the gap.
After a moment, he adjusted his words, clearly conscious of Arjen.
“It can’t be helped. The soldier has committed too many sins…”
“……”
“Sometimes death is a blessing. For people like her and me.”
It was an even more shocking statement than his previous cold remark.
Arjen opened her mouth, then closed it again. She nervously chewed on her lips under her hood, finally clenching her fist and lightly tapping his shoulder.
“Don’t say things like that.”
Ian feigned pain but laughed exaggeratedly.
“I’m not thinking that way right now. Because you’re here, Arjen.”
As they talked, they arrived in front of her lodging without realizing it.
Ian hesitated as soon as he opened the door.
“Did Shayre guide you here?”
“Yes, it’s pretty nice, isn’t it?”
“I think it got swapped with my room. Maybe there was some misunderstanding.”
Without a word, Ian hoisted her suitcase onto his shoulder and looked around.
Arjen panicked and grabbed him.
“This is your room?”
“Technically, it’s the room newly assigned today. They rotate rooms regularly because of assassination risks.”
“Oh…”
She had nearly panicked, thinking it was her old room. If it were, at least a few of her things would still be there.
“Come this way. I’ll show you the new room.”
Ian walked toward the new lodging at a slightly faster pace than usual.
Arjen hurried after him.
“Wait, let’s check if this is the right room.”
Ian entered first and returned shortly after.
Seeing the room’s interior, Arjen was surprised.
While the previous room wasn’t bad, this one was much larger. There was a single bed instead of a sleeping mat, and a separate area for luggage. Instead of a tiny makeshift bathroom barely big enough for one person, there was a large bathtub.
“This is too nice for a guest.”
“You’re my guest, Arjen. Rest comfortably.”
Ian smiled brightly and turned away without hesitation.
Arjen perched on the bed in her dress, fiddling with the thick blanket.
When he touched the doorknob, Arjen said,
“Does it smell like sand? Does the desert make everything smell the same?”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t notice in the previous room since it was new, but this blanket smells like you.”
Crunch!
At that moment, Ian ripped the doorknob off.
Arjen jumped up in surprise.
“Hey! What are you doing? Why are you breaking a perfectly good door?”
“…Sorry. I’ll fix it.”
When Ian let go, the pitiful doorknob fell limply to the floor.
He picked it up with a strangely miserable expression and placed it against the door.
A faint magic moved it back into place. He tried opening and closing the door several times.
“It’s slightly off, but it’s fine.”
“Ian, you…”
“Good night.”
Ian left the room quickly, pretending to be indifferent.
The cold wind cooled his flushed face. Walking down the long corridor, his expression vanished entirely.
After turning several corners, he knocked on a room’s door. The typical grumbling of someone just asleep could be heard, and soon the door opened.
Shayre’s eyes widened in surprise as she bowed to Ian.
“Don’t do that. Can I come in?”
“Yes… yes?”
“Something came up, and I can’t use my room.”
Shayre’s face darkened, sensing something.
Ian noticed the disheveled bedding and tilted his head.
“Not organized?”
“…Sorry. I’ll fix it.”
“I can’t sleep anywhere but a bed.”
Shayre hurriedly threw the bedding on the floor, took new sheets and a pillow from the closet, and set them up.
“Alright, shall we sleep?”
Ian calmly finished his shower, changed into the pajamas Shayre had prepared, and lay down with his hands on his stomach.
Shayre tidied the bedding and lay down on the floor.
Ian’s calm voice spoke.
“Shayre.”
“Yes?”
“How does a well-raised young lady from a marquis family sleep in a room like this? Huh?”
“…That room was at least carefully arranged…”
Shayre weakly protested, but Ian immediately cut her off.
“Let’s stop with this. Did Mirina plant ideas in your head?”
“No… nothing like that.”
“Right, Mirina isn’t capable of that.”
Ian smiled gently. For Shayre, it was a painful moment.
“Since rooms are limited, we’ll stay here together until someone leaves. Right?”
Shayre’s face turned ashen.
Ian paid no mind and fell asleep. For one person, it was a very long night.
The sand desert wasn’t passable by carriage. Yet the soldier knew how to maintain mobility in the desert—it was part of his profession.
After smoothly evading the imperial entourage, she caught her breath near a residential area converted into barracks.
Any further, and her position would be revealed due to the magical interference field.
She had no intention of walking calmly through the front gate with her hands up.
What could she possibly rely on? Maybe taking a hostage would make things easier.
After a short ambush, she spotted a woman through a telescope, wearing large glasses that covered half her face.
Before the woman’s magical circuit could react, the soldier hid in the sand, quickly threw a tied rope, and ensnared her ankles.
It caught perfectly. The woman struggled but could not resist.
Retreating back, he pressed a knife to her neck. She trembled and glared at him.
“Y-you filthy hound of the emperor…”
“I don’t intend to hurt you. Just state your business.”
The soldier scanned her. Though he’d assumed she was a civilian, she was actually a trained magician. He realized the resistance was larger than reported.
“I’m looking for Arjen Marsedes.”
“Why? Planning to kill me like Lady Meria?”
“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
He had no intention of killing her, but he also had no reason to be honest.
The woman’s face went pale beneath her broken, crooked glasses.
She instinctively adjusted the frame before bowing her head.
“Ah, I see. I’ll take you to her.”
An unexpected response.
‘Do they not get along?’
Even so, there was no reason for her to worry about Arjen’s relationships.
“Let’s move quickly before we’re noticed.”
She pulled her hood over her head and followed the determinedly striding woman.
