The grand castle of Estria, built majestically on a hewn mountain, was famous for its beauty.
A sturdy citadel, preserved in medieval Gothic style, with a river flowing around it. A view overlooking the brick streets, houses with colorful roofs, and squares. Yellow spring sunlight streamed in through the open windows. The once-empty streets came alive. The bustling sounds of people and children's laughter filtered in.
- ...Thus, justice triumphed, and the evil that had plagued the world was defeated. The Allied Forces repeatedly invited surrender, offering opportunities for defection and asylum, but ultimately, those who remained unrepentant were forced to face the rigors of military force. The Allied Forces punished evil, liberated the nations conquered by it, and restored world order and peace.
The voice of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces was emanating from the radio. After a lengthy speech, it was announced that the Frogen Empire had signed the surrender document.
Ironically, overwhelming force brought about an end to war and peace. No one could oppose the peace pursued by the nation with such power.
As the Allied forces repeatedly retreated, commanders remaining in the islands and central battlefields surrendered one after another, and approximately one million conquered troops were taken prisoner and interned in Allied territory. Prime Minister Konrad of Belford was captured and executed while attempting to flee to the Kappel Federation. Leaders of the defeated nations also hastily signed the peace treaty offered by the Allied powers.
The Allied Supreme Command and Supreme Council decided to disband the Frogen government. Government ministers were arrested as political prisoners, and war criminals were tried and executed. Subsequently, various agreements, military and industrial treaties, reparations agreements, and territorial annexations were implemented to eradicate the possibility of Frogen war.
Some media outlets have likened the work to hunting large beasts, removing their teeth and claws, and training them as circus animals.
- This is the beginning of a glorious era. A beautiful era has returned.
After these words, a powerful military song flowed out.
It was a historic moment, bringing World War to a close with the victory of the Allied Forces and the defeat of the Frogen Empire, the center of the Conquering Alliance.
And Noah returned to Diana's side.
In the quiet room, Noah's blue eyes were fixed on the needle stuck in Diana's slender arm. Sitting quietly, Noah took her hand and intertwined their hands.
“It’s a beautiful time.”
It was a warm, affectionate voice filled with longing.
“Diana, the beautiful times have returned.”
There was no answer. The war ended, and peace arrived, but Diana never returned.
Noah waited for Diana.
Every day, waiting for her to return, he went to the dessert shop to buy pudding and went to the flower shop on the next block to buy new flowers.
“The Princess will like it.”
A middle-aged woman, the owner of a flower shop, smiled as she prettily wrapped a purple statis. The shop owners knew who he was, as he visited every day. Even passing citizens recognized him and took off their hats in tribute. Once driven to the battlefield because he was a Frogen officer and nobleman, he began to be revered as a war hero for killing the Frogen Emperor and contributing to the end of the war. Even the Allied Supreme Command recognized his abilities and contributions, and he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the Medea Operations Headquarters, a commander-level position.
A celebration of victory unfolded, with flower petals scattered across the streets. Returning soldiers and an equestrian band marched through the streets, playing instruments. Citizens welcomed their victorious return with tears and joy.
Returning to the castle, he sat on a chair and fiddled with the victory coins.
His blue eyes were turned towards the noisy outside the window.
In the middle of a square where flower petals were falling, soldiers and women in uniforms were dancing in pairs around a fountain.
“You can sleep well even though it’s so noisy.”
Noah stroked her cheek and smiled faintly. Once Diana fell asleep, she was usually not awakened by even the slightest noise. What was she dreaming of now? Was she enduring her own struggles? He studied her sleeping face with a worried gaze. Suddenly, Jeffrey's question about why he had fallen in love with her came to mind.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find the reason or trigger.
Because she's pretty? That's natural, since he likes her. Because I feel good and my body aches every time I see her? That's also natural, since he likes her. Even if be try to break it down into partial reasons, he just ends up following her around out of naturalness.
"Just."
It was just great. From the moment they first met.
It felt like meeting someone he missed again. She loved him and cherished him. She was so resilient that she held back her resentment and anger at seeing him return six months after leaving for the war without a word.
“Don’t leave me alone.”
He recalled Diana, clutching his sleeve and biting her lip in the palace. Her turquoise eyes flickered precariously with each blink. She didn't cry easily. She never showed any signs of distress or pain. The fact that she was desperately holding onto him with a look he'd never seen before meant that the situation was truly unbearable.
After that, Diana's maids of honor, her attendants, and her friend Barbara were killed in the Blitz. Reluctant to meet new people, she may have become increasingly isolated in the unfamiliar palace.
"Don't ever come back. It's as if I've abandoned you. Now let's go our separate ways and survive. Don't worry about me; just do what you want. We'll have a chance to meet again after the war."
It was part of a letter sent through Johanna after the air raid. At one point, she desperately wanted to escape with him. After witnessing countless deaths in the air raid, Diana had abandoned companionship, choosing solitude and loneliness. Noah knew this well. Diana's hand remained motionless on the sheet. Noah empathized deeply with the loneliness Diana must have endured.
“I didn’t know your suffering.”
The more he compared her feelings of being left alone to his own experiences, the more distressed he became. He covered his eyes with one hand and lowered his head. Then he shared his honest feelings.
“I’m sorry. This is how I feel.”
He lowered his head and rested his forehead against her cold hand. He felt as if she would say, "It's so soft, it feels good," and stroke his hair. He missed her. The way she stared at him intently and smiled faintly, the way her expressionless face occasionally blushed.
A knock was heard in the silence.
Noah, who had buried his face in Diana's hand, slowly raised his head. The person who opened the door and came in was Henry Marx. He smiled kindly.
“Captain, no, Commander. Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting soon.”
"Yes."
"Frogen's early defeat has turned a lot of money into scraps of paper. Has the Rembrandt River gotten much warmer these days?"
Henry sighed, rubbing his forehead. Noah tilted his head and asked.
“What happened to the rest of the family?”
"I've diligently worked through everything you asked. Please help me recover my wedding funds. You promised you would take responsibility, didn't you?"
“It was your choice.”
Noah chuckled and took out a pen and notebook. The sound of someone scribbling something down on the paper could be heard.
Noah said, tearing up a piece of notebook paper and handing it to Henry.
“Follow your father’s will.”
Henry strode over and took it, then looked down at the paper with a serious expression. His eyes slowly moved from right to left.
"Please write it in plain English, not Idith. Actually, the Princess's handwriting was harder to decipher."
“If you don’t like it, give it back. I’ll burn it.”
Henry shook his head quickly in disapproval as he saw Noah getting up from his chair with the intention of taking it back.
“Anyway... In the end, you chose mediocrity for the Princess.”
"In the end. It was the hardest thing for me."
It was a voice without any regret. Henry's eyes narrowed and curved.
"If everything had gone according to plan, you would have taken control of the massive arms market and become the master of the world. You demonstrated lethality and explosive power to customers around the world, didn't you? You just used that to end the war."
"If you want to do it, do it. If you can survive until the next world war. Diana is more important to me."
Henry looked back and forth between the unawakened Princess and Noah, contemplating the unchanging values of life. He reflected on the truth that everything visible and tangible is subject to change.
A desperate longing felt more desperately than material greed. Even as our horizons broaden and we look further and further, we are bound to return and peer into our own inner selves. The human heart is both the most easily changed, like soft clay, and the most unchanging, like a diamond. Henry remained expressionless, his mouth shut. Noah smiled.
“If you know what you want, go ahead, Henri.”
“It’s Henry.”
“I asked around for competent doctors, but...”
It was the Queen's lamented voice as she arrived at the Grand Palace. Watching her daughter not awaken, she burned, tormented, and withered day after day. Her pale face and the shadows under her eyes hinted at the emotional torment she had endured.
“I really don’t know what to do.”
Noah sat silently, staring down at Diana's face. The Queen's voice continued in a perilous tone.
“I don’t think I can stand it if she doesn’t wake up.”
“Because she is the only heir to the throne?”
The Queen shook her head at Noah's indifferent question.
"Unless you're a dictator, it's difficult to change long-standing customs and laws overnight. That's why I was so strict."
“Yeah, I didn’t believe in people and love.”
“I know. I saw you cry while eating strawberry cake when you were a Princess.”
“Did you see it? It’s so pathetic.”
The Queen rubbed her cheek and narrowed her eyes.
Noah had fully anticipated the trials the queen would bring.
The pregnant Princess, who arrived at the Duke of Rotsilt's mansion, wept and despaired every day. Betrayed and shocked by the murder of her family by the one she loved, she distrusted humanity. Fearing she would lose the will to live, she clung solely to her duties as Queen. Noah didn't understand her grief emotionally; he simply knew how a person experiencing despair typically behaved.
The Queen made a bitter face towards Noah.
"I was the monster consumed by despair. Living as a ruler, I became numb to death, had no qualms about taking countless lives, and rationalized it with the hypocrisy of justice. This atomic bombing is no exception. As a hypocritical monarch, I shoulder the burden of the past, present, and future."
A gusting spring breeze caressed Diana's sleeping cheek. It was a gentle breeze, mixed with warm air and the scent of flowers. She straightened Diana's disheveled hair and spoke.
"I intend to live as long as possible. Until time passes, until the times change, social norms and ideologies shift. Until the royal family becomes worn and worn, until only a facade remains. I will be there at the end."
Noah's eyelashes, which had been looking down, slowly rose.
Her eyes, once as cloudy as the sky, seemed to have cleared. The Queen smiled, her eyes widening like a mischievous little girl.
"This is a greedy Queen who won't step down from the throne for at least 60 years. I have no intention of leaving the countless problems and hypocrisies that will have to be resolved for Diana."
Noah, who realized her intentions, smirked and ran his hand through his silver-white hair.
“What are you going to do about the aftermath?”
At Noah's words, the Queen raised her nose in a haughty manner. Then, with a hint of a snort, she answered leisurely.
"Those with power can do anything. Who would defy the will of the leader of a nuclear power? I will become a strong mother with power. My mother, too, was stubborn as iron. She protected her granddaughter, Diana."
"This isn't a child whose father I don't know; it's my daughter's. If something happens to Grace and the child, I'll divorce you."
The Queen's mother, the former Queen, fiercely opposed the King, her father, and tried to protect the child in her daughter's womb.
The Queen remembered her mother's calm and resolute expression.
"I'm on my way back from announcing your divorce. While you'll nominally be stripped of your right to inherit for now, I'll make sure you can pass it on to your grandchildren later. I'm sure at least one of your children will want to be King. If not, don't worry about it."
Noah, who had been listening to the Queen, turned his eyes to the right and stroked his chin.
A powerful mother-in-law. If there was even a fight between the couple, wouldn't they be summoned straight to the palace, where they would stand there in a subdued posture and be scolded?
“How many royal families will remain on the continent at that time?”
The Queen's cheerful muttering was heard.
Janet stood in a dark room, her face covered. She had heard the news that the Frogen capital had been reduced to ruins overnight in a flash of light. She had also heard the belated rumor of Princess Diana's death.
She had been confined to her room after Celine's death, oblivious to the misfortune of those left behind, and for a long time she stood motionless, lost in countless regrets, pity, and sorrow.
"I had a bad idea. I was so foolish. What did I do? It wasn't that kid's fault..."
Wasn't this world wrong? And, she, too, belonged to it. She felt terrible.
She had been narrow-minded, consumed by the tragedy of the death of someone she cherished. Tears of regret streamed down Janet's cheeks. Diana had lived an even longer, more unhappy life than Celine. A remarkably small baby, a child whose tiny body had been forced to do dirty work until her hands were swollen. A girl who, from afar, held a mop and a bucket of water, enviously watched her sister's lavish birthday party. Janet constantly ruminates on the mistake of tearing open her unhealed heart and causing her pain by invoking family love just because she had found happiness.
Janet, frozen like a statue, trudged toward the fireplace and picked up a matchbox.
She lit a match and threw it into the fireplace along with the manuscript she was writing. She sat down on a rough willow chair and stared blankly at the burning paper, emitting black smoke.
“Father, I didn’t sell my sister!”
The flames on the paper were eating away at the corners of the page where someone's lines were written.
The foolish thought of trying to write about other people's deaths easily, hoping that they would be happy even in a book, was also burned away.
She picked up her pen again.
While living in the country where the Provisional Government of Francia was established, Janet Evergreen began writing two books: a children's book and a romance novel. She longed for the happiness of the two girls who led the stories.
A sturdy citadel, preserved in medieval Gothic style, with a river flowing around it. A view overlooking the brick streets, houses with colorful roofs, and squares. Yellow spring sunlight streamed in through the open windows. The once-empty streets came alive. The bustling sounds of people and children's laughter filtered in.
- ...Thus, justice triumphed, and the evil that had plagued the world was defeated. The Allied Forces repeatedly invited surrender, offering opportunities for defection and asylum, but ultimately, those who remained unrepentant were forced to face the rigors of military force. The Allied Forces punished evil, liberated the nations conquered by it, and restored world order and peace.
The voice of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces was emanating from the radio. After a lengthy speech, it was announced that the Frogen Empire had signed the surrender document.
Ironically, overwhelming force brought about an end to war and peace. No one could oppose the peace pursued by the nation with such power.
As the Allied forces repeatedly retreated, commanders remaining in the islands and central battlefields surrendered one after another, and approximately one million conquered troops were taken prisoner and interned in Allied territory. Prime Minister Konrad of Belford was captured and executed while attempting to flee to the Kappel Federation. Leaders of the defeated nations also hastily signed the peace treaty offered by the Allied powers.
The Allied Supreme Command and Supreme Council decided to disband the Frogen government. Government ministers were arrested as political prisoners, and war criminals were tried and executed. Subsequently, various agreements, military and industrial treaties, reparations agreements, and territorial annexations were implemented to eradicate the possibility of Frogen war.
Some media outlets have likened the work to hunting large beasts, removing their teeth and claws, and training them as circus animals.
- This is the beginning of a glorious era. A beautiful era has returned.
After these words, a powerful military song flowed out.
It was a historic moment, bringing World War to a close with the victory of the Allied Forces and the defeat of the Frogen Empire, the center of the Conquering Alliance.
And Noah returned to Diana's side.
In the quiet room, Noah's blue eyes were fixed on the needle stuck in Diana's slender arm. Sitting quietly, Noah took her hand and intertwined their hands.
“It’s a beautiful time.”
It was a warm, affectionate voice filled with longing.
“Diana, the beautiful times have returned.”
There was no answer. The war ended, and peace arrived, but Diana never returned.
***
Noah waited for Diana.
Every day, waiting for her to return, he went to the dessert shop to buy pudding and went to the flower shop on the next block to buy new flowers.
“The Princess will like it.”
A middle-aged woman, the owner of a flower shop, smiled as she prettily wrapped a purple statis. The shop owners knew who he was, as he visited every day. Even passing citizens recognized him and took off their hats in tribute. Once driven to the battlefield because he was a Frogen officer and nobleman, he began to be revered as a war hero for killing the Frogen Emperor and contributing to the end of the war. Even the Allied Supreme Command recognized his abilities and contributions, and he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the Medea Operations Headquarters, a commander-level position.
A celebration of victory unfolded, with flower petals scattered across the streets. Returning soldiers and an equestrian band marched through the streets, playing instruments. Citizens welcomed their victorious return with tears and joy.
Returning to the castle, he sat on a chair and fiddled with the victory coins.
His blue eyes were turned towards the noisy outside the window.
In the middle of a square where flower petals were falling, soldiers and women in uniforms were dancing in pairs around a fountain.
“You can sleep well even though it’s so noisy.”
Noah stroked her cheek and smiled faintly. Once Diana fell asleep, she was usually not awakened by even the slightest noise. What was she dreaming of now? Was she enduring her own struggles? He studied her sleeping face with a worried gaze. Suddenly, Jeffrey's question about why he had fallen in love with her came to mind.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find the reason or trigger.
Because she's pretty? That's natural, since he likes her. Because I feel good and my body aches every time I see her? That's also natural, since he likes her. Even if be try to break it down into partial reasons, he just ends up following her around out of naturalness.
"Just."
It was just great. From the moment they first met.
It felt like meeting someone he missed again. She loved him and cherished him. She was so resilient that she held back her resentment and anger at seeing him return six months after leaving for the war without a word.
“Don’t leave me alone.”
He recalled Diana, clutching his sleeve and biting her lip in the palace. Her turquoise eyes flickered precariously with each blink. She didn't cry easily. She never showed any signs of distress or pain. The fact that she was desperately holding onto him with a look he'd never seen before meant that the situation was truly unbearable.
After that, Diana's maids of honor, her attendants, and her friend Barbara were killed in the Blitz. Reluctant to meet new people, she may have become increasingly isolated in the unfamiliar palace.
"Don't ever come back. It's as if I've abandoned you. Now let's go our separate ways and survive. Don't worry about me; just do what you want. We'll have a chance to meet again after the war."
It was part of a letter sent through Johanna after the air raid. At one point, she desperately wanted to escape with him. After witnessing countless deaths in the air raid, Diana had abandoned companionship, choosing solitude and loneliness. Noah knew this well. Diana's hand remained motionless on the sheet. Noah empathized deeply with the loneliness Diana must have endured.
“I didn’t know your suffering.”
The more he compared her feelings of being left alone to his own experiences, the more distressed he became. He covered his eyes with one hand and lowered his head. Then he shared his honest feelings.
“I’m sorry. This is how I feel.”
He lowered his head and rested his forehead against her cold hand. He felt as if she would say, "It's so soft, it feels good," and stroke his hair. He missed her. The way she stared at him intently and smiled faintly, the way her expressionless face occasionally blushed.
A knock was heard in the silence.
Noah, who had buried his face in Diana's hand, slowly raised his head. The person who opened the door and came in was Henry Marx. He smiled kindly.
“Captain, no, Commander. Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting soon.”
"Yes."
"Frogen's early defeat has turned a lot of money into scraps of paper. Has the Rembrandt River gotten much warmer these days?"
Henry sighed, rubbing his forehead. Noah tilted his head and asked.
“What happened to the rest of the family?”
"I've diligently worked through everything you asked. Please help me recover my wedding funds. You promised you would take responsibility, didn't you?"
“It was your choice.”
Noah chuckled and took out a pen and notebook. The sound of someone scribbling something down on the paper could be heard.
Noah said, tearing up a piece of notebook paper and handing it to Henry.
“Follow your father’s will.”
Henry strode over and took it, then looked down at the paper with a serious expression. His eyes slowly moved from right to left.
"Please write it in plain English, not Idith. Actually, the Princess's handwriting was harder to decipher."
“If you don’t like it, give it back. I’ll burn it.”
Henry shook his head quickly in disapproval as he saw Noah getting up from his chair with the intention of taking it back.
“Anyway... In the end, you chose mediocrity for the Princess.”
"In the end. It was the hardest thing for me."
It was a voice without any regret. Henry's eyes narrowed and curved.
"If everything had gone according to plan, you would have taken control of the massive arms market and become the master of the world. You demonstrated lethality and explosive power to customers around the world, didn't you? You just used that to end the war."
"If you want to do it, do it. If you can survive until the next world war. Diana is more important to me."
Henry looked back and forth between the unawakened Princess and Noah, contemplating the unchanging values of life. He reflected on the truth that everything visible and tangible is subject to change.
A desperate longing felt more desperately than material greed. Even as our horizons broaden and we look further and further, we are bound to return and peer into our own inner selves. The human heart is both the most easily changed, like soft clay, and the most unchanging, like a diamond. Henry remained expressionless, his mouth shut. Noah smiled.
“If you know what you want, go ahead, Henri.”
“It’s Henry.”
***
“I asked around for competent doctors, but...”
It was the Queen's lamented voice as she arrived at the Grand Palace. Watching her daughter not awaken, she burned, tormented, and withered day after day. Her pale face and the shadows under her eyes hinted at the emotional torment she had endured.
“I really don’t know what to do.”
Noah sat silently, staring down at Diana's face. The Queen's voice continued in a perilous tone.
“I don’t think I can stand it if she doesn’t wake up.”
“Because she is the only heir to the throne?”
The Queen shook her head at Noah's indifferent question.
"Unless you're a dictator, it's difficult to change long-standing customs and laws overnight. That's why I was so strict."
"It was a test for me, too, I suppose. To see if I could truly be trusted. After all, Your Majesty had been betrayed by a man before."
“I know. I saw you cry while eating strawberry cake when you were a Princess.”
“Did you see it? It’s so pathetic.”
The Queen rubbed her cheek and narrowed her eyes.
Noah had fully anticipated the trials the queen would bring.
The pregnant Princess, who arrived at the Duke of Rotsilt's mansion, wept and despaired every day. Betrayed and shocked by the murder of her family by the one she loved, she distrusted humanity. Fearing she would lose the will to live, she clung solely to her duties as Queen. Noah didn't understand her grief emotionally; he simply knew how a person experiencing despair typically behaved.
The Queen made a bitter face towards Noah.
"I was the monster consumed by despair. Living as a ruler, I became numb to death, had no qualms about taking countless lives, and rationalized it with the hypocrisy of justice. This atomic bombing is no exception. As a hypocritical monarch, I shoulder the burden of the past, present, and future."
A gusting spring breeze caressed Diana's sleeping cheek. It was a gentle breeze, mixed with warm air and the scent of flowers. She straightened Diana's disheveled hair and spoke.
"I intend to live as long as possible. Until time passes, until the times change, social norms and ideologies shift. Until the royal family becomes worn and worn, until only a facade remains. I will be there at the end."
Noah's eyelashes, which had been looking down, slowly rose.
Her eyes, once as cloudy as the sky, seemed to have cleared. The Queen smiled, her eyes widening like a mischievous little girl.
"This is a greedy Queen who won't step down from the throne for at least 60 years. I have no intention of leaving the countless problems and hypocrisies that will have to be resolved for Diana."
Noah, who realized her intentions, smirked and ran his hand through his silver-white hair.
“What are you going to do about the aftermath?”
At Noah's words, the Queen raised her nose in a haughty manner. Then, with a hint of a snort, she answered leisurely.
"Those with power can do anything. Who would defy the will of the leader of a nuclear power? I will become a strong mother with power. My mother, too, was stubborn as iron. She protected her granddaughter, Diana."
"This isn't a child whose father I don't know; it's my daughter's. If something happens to Grace and the child, I'll divorce you."
The Queen's mother, the former Queen, fiercely opposed the King, her father, and tried to protect the child in her daughter's womb.
The Queen remembered her mother's calm and resolute expression.
"I'm on my way back from announcing your divorce. While you'll nominally be stripped of your right to inherit for now, I'll make sure you can pass it on to your grandchildren later. I'm sure at least one of your children will want to be King. If not, don't worry about it."
Noah, who had been listening to the Queen, turned his eyes to the right and stroked his chin.
A powerful mother-in-law. If there was even a fight between the couple, wouldn't they be summoned straight to the palace, where they would stand there in a subdued posture and be scolded?
“How many royal families will remain on the continent at that time?”
The Queen's cheerful muttering was heard.
***
Janet stood in a dark room, her face covered. She had heard the news that the Frogen capital had been reduced to ruins overnight in a flash of light. She had also heard the belated rumor of Princess Diana's death.
She had been confined to her room after Celine's death, oblivious to the misfortune of those left behind, and for a long time she stood motionless, lost in countless regrets, pity, and sorrow.
"I had a bad idea. I was so foolish. What did I do? It wasn't that kid's fault..."
Wasn't this world wrong? And, she, too, belonged to it. She felt terrible.
She had been narrow-minded, consumed by the tragedy of the death of someone she cherished. Tears of regret streamed down Janet's cheeks. Diana had lived an even longer, more unhappy life than Celine. A remarkably small baby, a child whose tiny body had been forced to do dirty work until her hands were swollen. A girl who, from afar, held a mop and a bucket of water, enviously watched her sister's lavish birthday party. Janet constantly ruminates on the mistake of tearing open her unhealed heart and causing her pain by invoking family love just because she had found happiness.
Janet, frozen like a statue, trudged toward the fireplace and picked up a matchbox.
She lit a match and threw it into the fireplace along with the manuscript she was writing. She sat down on a rough willow chair and stared blankly at the burning paper, emitting black smoke.
“Father, I didn’t sell my sister!”
The flames on the paper were eating away at the corners of the page where someone's lines were written.
The foolish thought of trying to write about other people's deaths easily, hoping that they would be happy even in a book, was also burned away.
She picked up her pen again.
While living in the country where the Provisional Government of Francia was established, Janet Evergreen began writing two books: a children's book and a romance novel. She longed for the happiness of the two girls who led the stories.
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