HTMSAE - Chapter 39 < The End of the World, Fisterra >

 “Can I see the railroad plan?”

If it was Landhill, Ines could remember the railroad that would be laid in Lesonia to some extent. She wanted to be of some help to him. He tilted his head again. Usually, in these cases, women did not ask to see the railroad plan.

“Do you know the geography of Lesonia well?”

“Oh, no.”

“Then, it wouldn’t be easy to understand even if you looked at it.”

“Can I take a quick look?”

“There’s no reason not to.”

Carson smiled faintly at her unusually passionate eyes.

“I just don’t want you to have to do hard work.”

Ines didn’t show much expression in her subsequent words, just thinking about something.

The more this happened, the more Carson wanted to reveal his true feelings to this woman. It was the same when she wanted to meet Lena Mariere. Even when he didn’t know this woman well, he just vaguely disliked her.

The fact that a pure white woman who would turn black if even a little dirty water splashed on her was going to meet such a murderer.

“Let’s go, then. Noah will have it.”

But even then, Carson couldn’t stop Ines. And the blueprint wasn’t a murderer.

***

Ines went straight home and met Noah. Just as Carson had said, Noah had the railroad route plan for Dropinua. It was packed in a thick folder, much thicker than ordinary paper. He said that the paths selected for the railroad were marked with rare blue ink.

Just as Carson had said, it was hard to read at a glance. And it was on separate sheets. Ines hadn’t learned how to read maps, and this wasn’t a friendly map either.

“May I take this to my room and spread it out?”

“Your room?”

“Yes, I want to spread it out on the floor like a map.”

When Carson looked at Noah, he quickly took the folder from Ines, thinking that he should prepare it.

“Let’s go.”

When Noah tried to take the lead, Carson stopped him.

“Where are you going?”

“To the Lady’s room...”

“You wait here.”

“Yes? Oh, yes.”

Even as they talked, Ines tried to recall her memories, recalling the names she had just seen. It was definitely a moment with Charlotte, but he couldn’t ask her. She had been mobilized to remove a long, faulty railroad line for quite some time. The removal work that started at Landhill continued to Lesonia. The work that started in the summer didn’t end until the fall.

Because of that, the tunnel through the mountain that had been dug was also useless.

If only she could remember the name of that mountain, that mountain...

Ines’s room had an atmosphere that didn’t suit her.

It was exactly like the room of a noble lady of her age. So the woman sitting on the floor of the room, unfolding the blueprint, didn’t suit the room either. Ines refused his help and continued to unfold the blueprint in order.

In the meantime, Carson looked around her room.

There was a bed where she could lie down in just three long strides. Carson squinted his eyes slightly as he looked at the pink-tinted sheets.

It was because he felt a little strange thinking that a woman would sleep there barefoot. To the right of the bed was a window that let in plenty of sunlight. The balcony was impressively large for the size of the room.

'Is this her taste?'

He thought he should refer to it when decorating her room in his castle.

Since her bedroom did not have a living room, there was a table and a long sofa to the left of where Ines was sitting.

He approached the sofa. And there, he saw something different from the room. When he lifted it, a creaking sound echoed in the quiet room. Ines, who was frantically arranging papers, reacted loudly in surprise at the sound, so Carson quickly examined the iron wire.

"Please, please."

"My name is engraved here?"

Of course, it wasn't exactly his name. He could only confirm Carson, Van and Ray.

"It doesn't seem like something that Young Lady needs. Did you make it for me?"

Ines couldn’t say no now. As he said, she had engraved his name on the chain she was going to give him last night and fell asleep.

“I just made it because you said you were going far away.”

He looked at the item again.

“It’s something to put on a chainmail.”

“Chainmail?”

“It means chainmail. It’s probably armor that was used more than 500 years ago.”

“...”

“I heard that they used the pauldron a hundred years ago when there was a great war with the kingdom across the sea.”

Ines had heard of the pauldron. The pauldron was a shoulder armor that protected a wider area, including the armpits and the heart.

“And this... It wasn’t actually something that connected the sword to the armor. It was a gusset that was used like a chain to cover only the parts that were difficult to hide.”

“Is that so?”

“Actually, a dagger was attached to the end of this gusset to pierce holes in the armor. It was armor that protected weak parts that men couldn’t hide, and it was also a kind of offensive armor that could be used to prepare for surprise attacks.”

Ines was becoming more and more absorbed in the interesting fact she had just learned.

“But its meaning changed a bit over time. There is a theory that the previous Emperor actually wore his armor and sword connected.”

He got up from the sofa and went around the table to approach her.

“The changed meaning is probably... a token given to a husband or lover to pray for their safe return when they go to war.”

Every time Carson approached like this, all the thoughts floating through Ines’ head suddenly stopped. It seemed like he was saying that she shouldn’t move until he gave her permission.

“Isn’t it?”

Then, with a sudden snap, the gusset she had made hung on the waist ornament that Ines was wearing.

“And also, it’s a symbol of my determination to tie myself up.”

Ines had never thought that the iron chain she had bought to make excuses would have such a meaning.

“So, keep this. It’s not finished yet, so please finish it by the time I get back and return it to me.”

Ines nodded and pulled away from him. Every time she moved, there was a ‘clank’ sound of metal clashing.

“Um, but... I don’t have to keep this on, do I?”

Carson laughed loudly at her careful question.

“No, that’s not the case. Just wear it when you go to a place you think is a battlefield. Then I can fill in what you lack, and tie yourself up to make you stronger.”

Ines nodded solemnly at his words. Then she looked at the papers she was organizing.

“Then I will continue what I was doing.”

When he gave her permission, Ines quickly gathered the hem of her dress and gathered it together. Then she moved nimbly as if she had crawled on the floor countless times.

Soon, the entire Lesonia filled her room’s floor.

“It doesn’t look like much when you put it like this.”

“What?”

“Oh, no. I’m talking to myself.”

Carson stared blankly at the place Ines pointed to first.

Romfield, Ines set the infamous prison as her starting point. And her fingers passed through a forest of spruce and aspen trees.

The woman, who closed her eyes and walked alternately between two fingers, gave the impression at first that she was a sorcerer casting some kind of spell.

Ines closed her eyes and recalled the road she had taken on the wagon. Even the voices of the guards chattering beside her.

“We can’t just send those sinners away, why are we having to suffer like this too?”

Someone started, and the other guards snickered. It was a memory that she never pulled it up to the surface, even by mistake.

“At least today is a mountain, so there’s some shade. Why on earth do we have to clean up what the people up high messed up?”

The guard who spat on the floor and talked was named Homer, Homer Harkinson.

Most of the guards were really bad, but Homer was one of the better ones. He didn’t treat the prisoners humanely, but he didn’t beat or harass the women for fun.

“Hey, Homer. Did you know that tunnel has a name?”

“What the f*ck is that son of a bitch trying to say now!”

At that moment, the cart shook violently, causing Ines’s body to shake violently. She actually flinched once at the sensation that surged up along with the memory of that day.

Even though she wanted to stop right then and there, Ines continued to follow the blueprints on the floor and recount the events of the day.

“Your wife’s name is...”

“I told you not to touch my wife.”

The guards’ low laughter hurt Ines’ ears on both sides.

“That tunnel’s called...” 

“That tunnel will be closed soon, and your wife is completely closed to you.”

At that moment, Homer taunted the one who had teased her wife, and Ines’s body was crushed by Homer. Homer reached out, but the other person quickly dodged and babbled again.

“Then why would we name the tunnel after a mountain in the first place? Since the mountain is called the End of the World, the tunnel will just close.”

“The End of the World...”

Ines muttered, but Carson could not understand.

“Have you heard, Homer? Have you ever been to the end of the world? There is only a closed door there.”

“Fi... sterra.”

“Ines?”

The guards’ loud laughter and Carson’s voice calling her name rang out together.

“Fisterra!”

Carson, startled by the sudden shout, put a hand on her shoulder. But she did not look at him and began to search the map to see if the railroad that Dropinua had set passed through Fisterra.

And soon she found the mountain. The end of the world is called Fisterra.

“My lord! Look here. The railroad will never pass through this mountain.”

“Why...?”

The reason the mountain was called Fisterra was because of its location. It was the last mountain near the sea. It was also the second-to-last station that Dropinua had set.

The railroad began at Landhill. And as for the roads that could be used as railroads, there were only two options at the moment.

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