EIITAB - Chapter 20 < I, You >
Even If It Is Trampled And Broken
Cool arsenic, as if it were ice, formed sharply at the corners of her mouth. Hestia's eyes became a little more wet.
"Aslan, that's not what I meant..."
"What about the High Priest and the other high priests? Are you confident that you can persuade them?"
He cornered Hestia.
"... Aslan."
The purple eyes couldn't bear to face him and fell down. At the same time, transparent tears flowed down her cheeks.
Seeing Hestia's hurt face, Aslan felt his heart sink, but he could not stop her lips from moving uncontrollably.
"That's not what I need... I don't want to persuade the King and ministers."
That's too cumbersome and time-consuming.
Meanwhile, the northern land his father loved. It will be swallowed up by winter and demonic waters and become irreversibly desolate. Aslan gritted his teeth and spoke strongly, vomiting blood.
"I need the power to move them. Look at me, Hestia.,"
Asian whispered, he forced Hestia, who was not looking at him, to raise her head. While making direct eye contact, he quietly but firmly continued his next words.
"You have that, Hestia."
Hestia asked, curling her lower lip. The lovely purple eyes had suddenly darkened and were pulling him into the abyss like a deep whirlpool. Aslan knew why she had such a sad expression.
Just like Yorgos and Boswa, Aslan also looked hurt at the thought that he had been viewed only as a 'purpose'.
'No. It's not like that.'
He wants her... But Aslan did not dare to deny it. He couldn't do it. Because now it was all just a cowardly excuse. As a result, Aslan wanted to use Hestia. There is no turning back. Short fingernails dug into his hard palms.
"Help me just this once. All you has to do is say that you have been given an oracle to help the North. Then His Majesty the King will also support the North. That was the way to save everyone. Just one word, please..."
Aslan's pleas became more and more wavering and smaller, like a dying candle.
"God bless the North, my father ... God told you to help Duke Kalathi...Say so... Please... Please..."
At what point did it start? Aslan's head, his gaze... He fell and was looking at the ground. His large hands were unable to reach Hestia, so they were gripping and twisting the dried weeds,
"Please, Hestia. Save the North, save my Kalathi. If you do that, I will become your servant for the rest of my life and live to repay your favor. Because I will give you my whole life... No, it's already yours...So, please..."
Aslan held his breath, thinking with all his heart and earnestly. Meanwhile, everything was unfamiliar to Hestia. The sight of Aslan, who seemed as if he would never kneel even if heaven and earth were to disappear into the abyss, bowing his head on her toes seemed so unrealistic. She got scared. So Hestia unconsciously hesitated and distanced herself from Aslan, who was lying on the ground. She tried to hold her trembling hand tightly with her other hand, but the trembling did not go away.
Hestia tried to speak out by touching her lips several times. But no words came out.
'What should I say?'
She couldn't say yes to making a false oracle for him, or say no, saying she couldn't do that. The purple eyes wavered endlessly and dangerously.
Although she wanted to see Aslan's face, she didn't want to face his golden eyes that were staring at her. Her great fear consumed her.
'I don't know!'.
She just wanted to avoid this place.
"... Sorry."
She turned around and walked away from Aslan.
"Hestia!"
In her boiling, earnest voice, she heard Aslan's voice calling her, but Hestia did not turn around.
***
A few days have passed since then. Hestia seemed to have returned to the temple and never came to see Aslan again after that. Even though the day came when he was supposed to leave for the North with Dean and Martin, Aslan could not let go of his lingering attachment to her, so he stayed in her palace, biding her time until the end of his life.
"You must leave now. Or is there anyone waiting for you?""
"It's not Something like that."
Aslan gritted his teeth, making a fool of himself. Until the day of his departure, Yorgos and the Temple had not decided on the details of Northern support. This was because opinions were sharply divided at the conference on whether support should be given to the North or that no more support could be given, and no conclusion was reached.
Therefore, Aslan decided to return to the north first. It was when the three men were about to leave the palace.
"Wait!"
Yorgos' messenger approached quickly and stopped Aslan and his group.
"It is said that the Saintess has received a new oracle."
Aslan took a deep breath and stopped breathing. What an oracle! Hestia decided to listen to his story!
His breathing quickened and anticipation quickly filled every corner of his mind. His large palms, which were constantly sweating, tried to grasp something.
"From now on, I will tell you the contents of the trust."
The messenger cleared his voice and continued. Aslan exchanged glances with Dean and Martin and held his breath.
"The South should build the existing walls higher and longer so that they cannot overcome the Northern winter. Everything in the North is the enemy of the South, so do your best to stop it. Otherwise, all that will remain after winter i bruins, and you will all perish."
This... What is he talking about?
Aslan felt as if he had fallen into a vacuum. A deep silence surrounded him. He couldn't breathe properly. He felt as if all the words he had just heard were floating around in his head, disintegrating piece by piece from sentence to word and then to spelling. Aslan rationally knew that he had asked Hestia for an unreasonable request. She gave no confirmation to his own request, but she had wild expectations.
His low-lying hopes were not extinguished, and she ate away at him. Moreover, emotions did not fit together so neatly. In the end, he got caught up in a strong storm.
"Haha."
Breaking the silence, a laugh escaped his lips. He touched his forehead with his big hand and smiled hollowly for a long time.
'What on earth were you waiting for?'
His head felt blank. Then his fist gained strength. Uncontrollable, directionless anger poured out all at once. His heart broke because he felt like he was the only one who thought Hestia and himself had a special relationship.
"Of course... I shouldn't have done it."
Unless she's going to do her own favor. At the very least, this oracle should never have come out of her mouth.
New Year's greetings delivered with white breath, pink petals falling from the sky, the late sunset of a summer day, and even the colorful autumn leaves. All the memories of the past three years he had shared with Hestia were shattered, sharply cutting and stabbing Aslan's chest.
'I can't forgive her. Even if she was my own first love. She, following the will of her God, had Kalathi, who was my everything, eaten into the jaws of the monster called winter.'
Meanwhile, the messenger sent by Yorgos folded the paper on which the contents of the oracle were written. Since the business was already over, it would have been right for him to go back, but he looked at Aslan with a more stern expression than before.
"And from now on, this is a personal message from His Majesty the King."
Aslan's straight, dark eyebrows slightly lifted upward. The messenger hesitated for a moment, took his time, lowered his head in front of Aslan, and then raised it again.
"Aslan Kalathi, condolences to your father. May he rest in peace"
"...?"
Aslan's eyes narrow. He now could not easily understand what he had heard.
Then, a beat later, his breathing stopped and his pupils dilated. The fists that were clenched naturally gained strength.
'My father...... '
He should have gone right back. Instead of clinging to Hestia, she should have watched his father die. The regret of not being able to do so rushed in quickly like a tide, plunging Aslan into deep regret and despair. Yorgos' messenger continued.
"Also, since I appoint you as the new Duke of Kalati, please return to your hometown Immediately and stop 'Winter'."
The messenger left, and Aslan and his two lieutenants mounted their horses with sad hearts. This was not an appropriate place to share grief.
"Let's go back as quickly as possible."
"Yes."
The moment Aslan left the palace, Hestia was seen standing in front of him. One of Aslan's eyebrows lifted up.
There were no other events at the palace today other than the departure of him and his two lieutenants to Kalathi. Judging by that, it seemed like she had come here on purpose after hearing that Aslan was leaving.
Aslan twisted his lips. The fact that she was here at this time meant that she could have come to see her any time before. Whether it's an explanation, an Excuse, or an apology. If Hestia had wanted to, she would have already come earlier.
Nevertheless, now... She's coming. The emotions that he had barely calmed down began to boil like lava again. As he was consumed with anger, he did not notice that Hestia seemed to have come in a hurry, that her hair was thin, her cheeks were red, and that no carriage or attendant followed her.
"Aslan...!"
Hestia took a deep breath and said his name in a soft voice.
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