The End, and the Beginning (8)
There were countless doors, and Ian stood in front of one of them.
Far from being decorated with colorful patterns, even the colors are dull. Nevertheless, he liked it.
"It's the most similar to Millenia's eye color."
He opened the door without hesitation. Brilliant lights poured in.
Reflexively, he raised his hand and covered his eyes. When he lowered his hand again, he was standing in a familiar place.
"What is it?"
The body moves. He didn't understand what to do, so he blinked his eyes and looked around.
"Barracks, is it?"
Even though it was clearly his own barracks, something was strangely different. Ian lifted a towel that was randomly strewn on the floor.
He scattered a few items to identify possible intruders. The towel was one of them.
However, since Millenia came, she had never dropped a towel on the floor. But why is it at the bottom?
Things have also changed slightly. He even saw a book on one side of the desk that he hadn't brought from home.
"I was thinking about whether to bring it or not, but I gave up because I had a lot of luggage..."
As Ian flipped through the book, a document on his desk came in. To be precise, it was the signature at the bottom of the document.
Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, Oslo Royal Antite.
"What is this?"
Oslo, why is that bastard's name here?
Just as he was about to reach for the papers, someone came into the barracks.
"Commander, I brought you a tea."
A woman in a maid's suit dropped the tea on the desk.
Who are you? Where is Millenia? However, the words that came out of his mouth were completely different from what he expected.
"I would have told you not to do this."
"Ra, Mr. Rahon told me to tell you about it. Hey, yes, it's a good tea for inflammation..."
"Leave it behind."
"Oh, you asked me to come and see what you were eating... I'm sorry."
The woman was trembling pitifully.
Even though he had no desire to drink tea, his hands stretched out on their own. He doesn't know why they are doing this. Ian clicked his tongue in his mouth and drank the tea.
"...!"
It is poison.
He felt the warm tea water on his tongue. Ian immediately threw the teacup and grabbed the woman.
"Hey! Sa, please save me!"
"Who is it? Who dares to do this..."
Before he could finish speaking, his stomach twisted. The faint smell of blood rose up his throat.
Even though he spat it out the moment it touched his tongue, he was addicted. It was not ordinary poison.
Ian bent down and forced his stomach to go.
"Cough! Ugh..."
The woman who was freed by this wind scrambled back. Her face was covered with tears, and she begged for help.
"Oh, forgive me... I didn't want to do this either..."
"Ra... Rahon..."
At that moment, the knight guarding the entrance to the barracks collapsed into the screen, bleeding from his chest.
His eyes were wide open, as if he didn't even know death.
"Dennis..."
The Eldern Knights, who were just twenty years old, stepped on the corpse of the youngest, who was the prettiest of them, and entered Oslo.
Ian's eyes were bloody as he looked at him.
"What are you going to do... Cough!"
Oslo crouched in front of Ian, who fell to the ground and vomited blood. His staring eyes were filled with joy.
"It's as effective as a poison for the top monsters. Why did you become a "Protector"? Otherwise, I would have spared you."
"Hah... hah... What about the war..."
"I will win the war anyway. I signed a contract to do that."
He doesn't know what he means. Ian shook his cloudy head violently to regain his senses.
"Don't be too upset, but I'll tell your family that you're missing. Wouldn't that be better than being left behind?"
Ian gnashed his teeth and reached out to Oslo.
Oslo grinned at the power that shimmered like a haze.
"Kill me? Then the Allies will lose?"
"..."
Ian's trembling hands fell helplessly.
Oslo winked triumphantly as if he had expected it. The knight who followed him hit him on the back of the neck and knocked him out.
"Deal with it."
The knights put the stunned Ian in a sack and shoved him over their shoulder.
"Bury. Make sure he's dead before throwing him away. You understand?"
"Yes..."
However, the knights could not end Ian's life in the end.
Oslo was the only one who could casually commit this colossal sin of murdering a Guardian.
In the dark of dawn, two knights who had launched a ferry boat on the river without anyone noticing trembled.
"Well, let's just throw him away. Huh?"
"Are you crazy? If we survive, we will die!"
"Can someone who is already addicted swim across the river?"
"He's the 'Protector', so you don't know..."
"So what? Do you mean to stab him? Me, I can't! If you want to do it, you can do it."
"!"
The knights threw a large sack into the river. The sack that had been floating on the surface for a while slowly sank.
Ian had come to his senses since the knights were stunned. While waiting for the water to be completely submerged, he took out the dagger he had hidden in his ankle, tore the sack, and escaped.
They freeze to death before they are poisoned. However, the ice water was slowing down the poisoning.
Ian poked his head out of the water and swam to the other side of the river.
If he stops here, he will die. He felt like his frozen limbs were numb and his arms were about to fall off, but he couldn't give up.
lan managed to cross the river with strong physical and mental strength, and lay down exhausted.
"Whoops, gasps!"
What happened?
Something was happening that had not happened.
If he were alive, it would have been a nightmare, but he was definitely dead.
'I didn't hear or see the dead dream...'
Could it be hell like this? The moment he spat out blood into the river, he heard footsteps.
"Uh-huh? Did you desert?"
Rahon?
With the question, someone reappeared. At the same time, his body, which had been like a thousand muscles until a while ago, became lighter.
Ian stood up and picked a door.
Light crimson. It was the door that most resembled the color of Millenia's lips.
***
As the light faded, his eyes naturally opened. Ian slowly straightened up.
Is it a bedroom?
The space was spacious, but there was no decoration. There was only a flat wall with no paintings, and a fireplace under it.
Ian quietly stepped out of bed and looked out the window.
He can see it from a high place.
It was winter before he closed his eyes, but it was spring here. He could see green sprouts here and there.
Ian doesn't think it's a white field, but he doesn't know where it is.
"Did you wake up?
Rahon casually entered the room and handed him a teacup.
"Drink."
The smell of medicine rises from the glass. Ian looked into the teacup and asked.
"What happened?"
"What's going on? I told you everything as soon as you regained consciousness."
"I don't remember."
"Huh? It can't be... Is it an aftereffect? Stay there."
Rahon pressed his light-engulfed hand to Ian's forehead. He put his hand away and asked again.
"My body is fine. I just don't remember. What happened? Is the Great Rift over?"
Rahon tilted his head and sat down in a rocking chair. The old chair creaked and swayed.
"It ended with the victory of the Allies. This is my house."
"How long has it been?"
"About a month... Do you know how hard it was for me to get you out?"
Remembering that time, Rahon shook his head.
Rahon found Ian by the river, and with Nicola's help, he secretly healed Ian in his barracks.
He took advantage of the end of the Great Rift to bring Ian home.
There was only one reason why he acted so secretively. Rahon's face became serious.
"Who did you get hurt by?"
"..."
At the time, Ian was showing signs of addiction.
If a person is poisoned and dumped into a river at dawn when no battle has taken place, the culprit is a human, not a monster. There was nothing to think about.
"Oslo, something, is that what he was doing?"
"..."
"Why don't you answer? Is this a knight who is loyal even if he is betrayed?"
Ian was silent, and Rahon snorted.
"Wake up, you bastard. Rumors that the bastard couldn't eat you were heard all the way to the rear. If you die, the culprit will be Oslo, not the monster!"
Ian knew that.
When he was chosen as the 'Protector', Oslo's jealousy reached its peak.
But he didn't care too much. The most important thing to him was to lead the Great Rift to victory.
"So is the Emperor. Does it make sense to hand over the throne to such a bastard? I'm sure you're crazy."
"His Majesty has abdicated?"
"As soon as the Great Rift was over, he handed him over the throne. He had no choice but to besiege the capital with the rest of his troops, but who believed that? The empire is ruined."
Rahon's tongue was clicked, and his expression was distorted.
"Do you know what he did when he became Emperor? He put the woman who dedicated herself to him in prison."
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