Episode 30. Where Are You Going?
Kelita buried her head in her bed and sobbed.
This was truly unbelievable.
For ten years, she had waited for Lacrahan to propose, to marry her.
She had thought that if she just smiled and waited, she would be happily married to the Prince she had always dreamed of.
"This is a tragedy. This is ridiculous. Sob."
What happened today completely shattered the happy life Kelita had dreamed of her entire life.
She had always considered her life itself a blessing. She had been born a Princess, the only one who survived when her siblings died. She was confident that it would continue to be so. She didn't even need to think about why.
It was because she was such a lovable person.
Pretty and kind, Kelita.
Kelita, who smiled so much.
As long as she smiled, everyone would automatically support her, and even if she didn't do anything special, everyone would bow down and try to impress her.
She should have lived that way until the very end.
Her life had to be perfect, from comma to period.
“Sob sob.”
Kelita, who had been burying her face in bed and crying, suddenly jumped up and started packing.
Rosie, who had been dozing off beside her, came to her senses at the bustle and came over to her.
“Princess, what are you doing?”
“I’m going.”
Rosie checked outside the window.
It was still the middle of the night, not even dawn yet.
“Right now?”
“Uh.”
Kelita continued stuffing clothes into her suitcase.
“Then just wait a moment. I’ll take care of the servants and the coachman...”
“No. I don’t need that.”
Kelita stood up, holding her suitcase.
Rosie’s always-perfect master looked completely different now.
With the smile that had always radiated from her, she seemed no different from any ordinary, grumpy woman in her twenties.
“Do you remember the woman I met before we came here?”
“...Are you referring to the noblewoman in that expensive carriage?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Kelita took a deep breath, puffing out her chest.
“Do you remember that woman telling me to come to her whenever I need her? Somewhere near the Northern Portal?”
“Yes, I remember. But are you going there now?”
“Uh.”
She tightened her grip on her bag.
“I need someone right now.”
“Princess. Then if you go, you can go when it’s daylight.”
“No. I’m not safe anymore, having been rejected by Grand Duke Lacrahan.”
“Huh?”
“Rosie.”
Kelita shook her head, as if she were pathetic.
“Do you think Leone will leave me alone?”
“Uh, Princess.”
“I’ll just stick by my idiot brother’s side and do whatever I want.”
Kelita frowned at Rosier’s surprised expression.
“Why are you making that face? Did you think I was an idiot who didn’t know that?”
“Bercheria? Did the woman say Bercheria?”
Wyatt was half-conscious.
The fact that the blonde woman was Bercheria was maddening enough, but Lacrahan had said he would marry her.
For Wyatt, who was short-tempered and shallow, it was a daunting prospect.
“Don’t you remember what we did in the war, Grand Duke?”
Wyatt shouted.
Lacrahan seemed to have already forgotten who had started that war.
“Every day, burying our comrades’ bodies in the ground, beheading strangers! How we lived there! Have you forgotten!”
Lacrahan pressed his aching temples.
After the war, they had settled in the north with Lacrahan partly because the Knights followed him, but also because most had lost their families and had nowhere to return.
They had to bury what they held most dear on the battlefield.
“It was Bercheria who started that war, Grand Duke!”
Wyatt shouted, and Timothy, standing nearby, shook his head.
"That's not true, Commander. The one who started the war was the barbaric Kingdom of Contana, and the one who interfered was the Derancy Empire. To be precise, it wasn't Bercheria who started the war."
“Butler. Honestly, that’s the point! If Bercheria’s protection hadn’t disappeared, would there have been war?”
Lacrahan ran a hand through his dry face.
Wyatt needed to explain at his level.
“Wyatt.”
“Why?”
“How old does Bercheria look to you?”
“I don’t know. Eighteen? Nineteen?”
He pondered, then asked Timothy.
“She looks very young, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, indeed. Around twenty at most.”
Gods born through Awakenings inevitably live out the rest of their lives like humans.
After that, they take a sabbatical year and are reborn through a new Awakening.
“So, at most, it’s been ten years. Do you think Bercheria, as a child, would have withdrawn her protection to torment humans?”
Wyatt was speechless.
“Then why would she do that? How on earth would she abandon her protection?”
“The Tower of Bercheria.”
Wyatt and Timothy looked at each other.
“She was trapped there. By some human.”
“What do you mean?”
The narrow space, just a few steps away, came to mind again.
Lacrahan raised his eyes to Wyatt, who was grumbling.
“The human trapped young Bercheria in the tower and robbed her of her power. They tormented her so she couldn’t even come down.”
Wyatt and Timothy’s mouths fell open.
“It wasn’t God who took the Empire’s guardianship away. It was started by humans who wanted to manipulate even God as they pleased, Wyatt.”
“But you know that the drought almost killed everyone, don’t you?”
“That too. If they hadn’t trapped her, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“...”
Wyatt finally fell silent.
Timothy let out a long sigh.
“I remember how she looked when she first came here. Her clothes were tattered, and she was barefoot. In this winter.”
Wyatt licked his chapped lips.
“That’s what she is. What will Princess Kelita do? Emperor Gerard will not sit idly by after seeing that scene. Are you going to start a war?”
Lacrahan chuckled and looked at Wyatt.
“It seems like it’s not you who has forgotten the war, but us.”
Wyatt licked his lips.
He was talking about war in front of a monster that had destroyed two continents with the knights in the north.
“This is the best way to reclaim the protection of the north and the empire, Wyatt. Emperor Gerard would never want his power taken away by a goddess. I’m sick of droughts and heavy snow.”
Lacrahan rose from his seat and patted Wyatt on the shoulder.
“Besides, if you hadn’t rusted, I’d be confident I could win any war.”
Watching Lacrahan leave the room, Wyatt forced the corners of his mouth down, trying to avoid being pushed back.
Timothy smiled, finding Wyatt cute, and headed outside.
Bercheria sat on the edge of the bed, her face blank.
So much had happened in such a short time that her mind was already dizzy.
"Bercheria?"
"Are you saying that woman was the weather goddess?"
She buried her face in her hands.
Her greatest fear, until now, was that her true identity would be discovered.
"Mother will come."
Her pale hands trembled.
Bercheria's fear of her mother was etched deep into her bones.
From a very young age, her world had been limited to two things: the tower and her mother.
Then, when her mother, who had visited her daily with dry bread, disappeared for several days, a rope miraculously fell before Bercheria.
She pondered the rope for days.
It could be a trap.
What if it were an opportunity? No matter how much she pondered, the conclusion was the same: even if it was a trap, she couldn't miss this opportunity.
Bercheria climbed the rope and emerged.
She had no mission to save the humans or regain all her strength.
All she had in her mind was a desire to get away from her mother.
"Now everyone knows."
Who she was. Why was she here?
She wiped her face, got out of bed, and walked to the window.
The people gathered below, gazing at Bercheria's window and gossiping, suddenly scurried away when their eyes met hers.
Bercheria gritted her teeth.
A single sentence had been etched in her memory for a very long time.
Rumors travel faster than the wind.
“I have to run.”
Bercheria turned, opened the door, and stepped outside.
That was it.
There was nothing to take with her, no one to greet.
Her heart pounded with fear that her mother might hear the rumor and come looking for her.
Her blood ran cold, as if she had chased her right up to her chin.
Bercheria hurried down the stairs, fearing no one would notice, when a shadow suddenly appeared and blocked her path.
“...Lacrahan.”
“Where are you going?”
Thick, downturned eyelashes and calm, dark eyes nestled within them stared down at Bercheria, as if pressing down on her.
Kelita buried her head in her bed and sobbed.
This was truly unbelievable.
For ten years, she had waited for Lacrahan to propose, to marry her.
She had thought that if she just smiled and waited, she would be happily married to the Prince she had always dreamed of.
"This is a tragedy. This is ridiculous. Sob."
What happened today completely shattered the happy life Kelita had dreamed of her entire life.
She had always considered her life itself a blessing. She had been born a Princess, the only one who survived when her siblings died. She was confident that it would continue to be so. She didn't even need to think about why.
It was because she was such a lovable person.
Pretty and kind, Kelita.
Kelita, who smiled so much.
As long as she smiled, everyone would automatically support her, and even if she didn't do anything special, everyone would bow down and try to impress her.
She should have lived that way until the very end.
Her life had to be perfect, from comma to period.
“Sob sob.”
Kelita, who had been burying her face in bed and crying, suddenly jumped up and started packing.
Rosie, who had been dozing off beside her, came to her senses at the bustle and came over to her.
“Princess, what are you doing?”
“I’m going.”
Rosie checked outside the window.
It was still the middle of the night, not even dawn yet.
“Right now?”
“Uh.”
Kelita continued stuffing clothes into her suitcase.
“Then just wait a moment. I’ll take care of the servants and the coachman...”
“No. I don’t need that.”
Kelita stood up, holding her suitcase.
Rosie’s always-perfect master looked completely different now.
With the smile that had always radiated from her, she seemed no different from any ordinary, grumpy woman in her twenties.
“Do you remember the woman I met before we came here?”
“...Are you referring to the noblewoman in that expensive carriage?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Kelita took a deep breath, puffing out her chest.
“Do you remember that woman telling me to come to her whenever I need her? Somewhere near the Northern Portal?”
“Yes, I remember. But are you going there now?”
“Uh.”
She tightened her grip on her bag.
“I need someone right now.”
“Princess. Then if you go, you can go when it’s daylight.”
“No. I’m not safe anymore, having been rejected by Grand Duke Lacrahan.”
“Huh?”
“Rosie.”
Kelita shook her head, as if she were pathetic.
“Do you think Leone will leave me alone?”
“Uh, Princess.”
“I’ll just stick by my idiot brother’s side and do whatever I want.”
Kelita frowned at Rosier’s surprised expression.
“Why are you making that face? Did you think I was an idiot who didn’t know that?”
***
“Bercheria? Did the woman say Bercheria?”
Wyatt was half-conscious.
The fact that the blonde woman was Bercheria was maddening enough, but Lacrahan had said he would marry her.
For Wyatt, who was short-tempered and shallow, it was a daunting prospect.
“Don’t you remember what we did in the war, Grand Duke?”
Wyatt shouted.
Lacrahan seemed to have already forgotten who had started that war.
“Every day, burying our comrades’ bodies in the ground, beheading strangers! How we lived there! Have you forgotten!”
Lacrahan pressed his aching temples.
After the war, they had settled in the north with Lacrahan partly because the Knights followed him, but also because most had lost their families and had nowhere to return.
They had to bury what they held most dear on the battlefield.
“It was Bercheria who started that war, Grand Duke!”
Wyatt shouted, and Timothy, standing nearby, shook his head.
"That's not true, Commander. The one who started the war was the barbaric Kingdom of Contana, and the one who interfered was the Derancy Empire. To be precise, it wasn't Bercheria who started the war."
“Butler. Honestly, that’s the point! If Bercheria’s protection hadn’t disappeared, would there have been war?”
Lacrahan ran a hand through his dry face.
Wyatt needed to explain at his level.
“Wyatt.”
“Why?”
“How old does Bercheria look to you?”
“I don’t know. Eighteen? Nineteen?”
He pondered, then asked Timothy.
“She looks very young, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, indeed. Around twenty at most.”
Gods born through Awakenings inevitably live out the rest of their lives like humans.
After that, they take a sabbatical year and are reborn through a new Awakening.
“So, at most, it’s been ten years. Do you think Bercheria, as a child, would have withdrawn her protection to torment humans?”
Wyatt was speechless.
“Then why would she do that? How on earth would she abandon her protection?”
“The Tower of Bercheria.”
Wyatt and Timothy looked at each other.
“She was trapped there. By some human.”
“What do you mean?”
The narrow space, just a few steps away, came to mind again.
Lacrahan raised his eyes to Wyatt, who was grumbling.
“The human trapped young Bercheria in the tower and robbed her of her power. They tormented her so she couldn’t even come down.”
Wyatt and Timothy’s mouths fell open.
“It wasn’t God who took the Empire’s guardianship away. It was started by humans who wanted to manipulate even God as they pleased, Wyatt.”
“But you know that the drought almost killed everyone, don’t you?”
“That too. If they hadn’t trapped her, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“...”
Wyatt finally fell silent.
Timothy let out a long sigh.
“I remember how she looked when she first came here. Her clothes were tattered, and she was barefoot. In this winter.”
Wyatt licked his chapped lips.
“That’s what she is. What will Princess Kelita do? Emperor Gerard will not sit idly by after seeing that scene. Are you going to start a war?”
Lacrahan chuckled and looked at Wyatt.
“It seems like it’s not you who has forgotten the war, but us.”
Wyatt licked his lips.
He was talking about war in front of a monster that had destroyed two continents with the knights in the north.
“This is the best way to reclaim the protection of the north and the empire, Wyatt. Emperor Gerard would never want his power taken away by a goddess. I’m sick of droughts and heavy snow.”
Lacrahan rose from his seat and patted Wyatt on the shoulder.
“Besides, if you hadn’t rusted, I’d be confident I could win any war.”
Watching Lacrahan leave the room, Wyatt forced the corners of his mouth down, trying to avoid being pushed back.
Timothy smiled, finding Wyatt cute, and headed outside.
***
Bercheria sat on the edge of the bed, her face blank.
So much had happened in such a short time that her mind was already dizzy.
"Bercheria?"
"Are you saying that woman was the weather goddess?"
She buried her face in her hands.
Her greatest fear, until now, was that her true identity would be discovered.
"Mother will come."
Her pale hands trembled.
Bercheria's fear of her mother was etched deep into her bones.
From a very young age, her world had been limited to two things: the tower and her mother.
Then, when her mother, who had visited her daily with dry bread, disappeared for several days, a rope miraculously fell before Bercheria.
She pondered the rope for days.
It could be a trap.
What if it were an opportunity? No matter how much she pondered, the conclusion was the same: even if it was a trap, she couldn't miss this opportunity.
Bercheria climbed the rope and emerged.
She had no mission to save the humans or regain all her strength.
All she had in her mind was a desire to get away from her mother.
"Now everyone knows."
Who she was. Why was she here?
She wiped her face, got out of bed, and walked to the window.
The people gathered below, gazing at Bercheria's window and gossiping, suddenly scurried away when their eyes met hers.
Bercheria gritted her teeth.
A single sentence had been etched in her memory for a very long time.
Rumors travel faster than the wind.
“I have to run.”
Bercheria turned, opened the door, and stepped outside.
That was it.
There was nothing to take with her, no one to greet.
Her heart pounded with fear that her mother might hear the rumor and come looking for her.
Her blood ran cold, as if she had chased her right up to her chin.
Bercheria hurried down the stairs, fearing no one would notice, when a shadow suddenly appeared and blocked her path.
“...Lacrahan.”
“Where are you going?”
Thick, downturned eyelashes and calm, dark eyes nestled within them stared down at Bercheria, as if pressing down on her.
“Are you running away from here?”
Bercheria chewed painfully.
He had been standing a few steps below her, so their eye level was level.
She shook her head slightly.
Then she nodded again.
She hadn’t learned how to lie.
She was running now. That was an undeniable fact.
“...Yes.”
Bercheria opened her mouth to say that her mother might chase her, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She was grateful enough that she had been safe thanks to Lacrahan.
Thanks to him, she had regained some of her strength, and if she continued to live in hiding, perhaps she could prevent her powers from overflowing.
"Why are you running away?"
A sharp edge pierced his voice.
"Did you hate the idea of marriage so much that you ran away?"
Lacrahan stared at her with an angry expression.
Bercheria chewed painfully.
He had been standing a few steps below her, so their eye level was level.
She shook her head slightly.
Then she nodded again.
She hadn’t learned how to lie.
She was running now. That was an undeniable fact.
“...Yes.”
Bercheria opened her mouth to say that her mother might chase her, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She was grateful enough that she had been safe thanks to Lacrahan.
Thanks to him, she had regained some of her strength, and if she continued to live in hiding, perhaps she could prevent her powers from overflowing.
"Why are you running away?"
A sharp edge pierced his voice.
"Did you hate the idea of marriage so much that you ran away?"
Lacrahan stared at her with an angry expression.
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