Chapter 256 : Chapter 256
Chapter 256
The sun was setting.an and woman walked in step without one lagging behind or going ahead.
It was the way back to the Empire from the encampment.
Secundus had already packed light luggage.
He did not inform the soldiers.
It was because he worried that confusion would arise since many followed him.
Nana could not understand what she was doing.
Nana and Secundus walked along the evening forest path.
Nana had a small frame, while Secundus was three heads taller than others.
Exaggerating a bit, Secundus looked twice as big as Nana.
However, the m
She had no intention of returning to the capital Lutilium, yet she had no way of knowing why she was blindly following Secundus, why she just wanted to walk endlessly like this, or why she even wanted to grab onto his pant leg.
Being of a hasty nature, Nana eventually had to open her mouth first.
“General Secundus.”
“Mm.”
Secundus answered with a sound of ‘mm’ as always.
Nana felt both reliability and frustration at the same time.
“Is it really okay for you to leave like this?”
She glanced behind her.
“Seeing Your Highness Marina just one more time would be....”
“I saw Grandfather, so it is enough.”
“...It will remain as a great wound to Your Highness Marina. And it will last a very long time....”
“I know.”
Even for Secundus, his heart was uncomfortable.
If he didn't feel guilt while walking to his death leaving behind a mother trying to hold him back, he would be a broken human being somewhere.
At least Secundus thought so.
“But Mother says she doesn't want to see me, so what can I do?”
“...Because if she saw you, she would probably try to hold onto you.”
“I know that too. She is a truly magnificent person. I learned so much from her.”
“.......”
Nana shut her mouth at Secundus's profile as he spoke calmly.
His nose bridge was straight.
Unlike his bulk which seemed simple at a glance, his gaze was also deep.
Also, the scars are densely engraved all over his body.
Traces of a hard and intense life.
This man, who had lived a life like a single piece of art, would soon disappear.
Disappearance cannot be undone.
She suddenly felt pity.
And she was startled by the fact that she felt pity.
When pity is added to affection, it eventually becomes a romantic feeling that cannot be turned back.
Nana Nereyades realized that she had eventually fallen in love with Secundus, the man going to die.
“.......”
However, Nana Nereyades is a soldier.
She lived holding weapons for a long time.
Because of that, she loathed more than anyone the act of disturbing a man's resolve with romantic feelings.
Her heart shouts. To hold onto Secundus even now, that he would also be waiting, that he would listen to her words even if not others'.
An impulse arose but she suppressed it obstinately. While biting her lip until it bled.
Blood flowed on Nana's lip.
Secundus knew it.
He tore a small piece of his sleeve and offered it.
Nana ended up feeling unparalleled sorrow.
Before long, it was a hill. It meant the crossroads where they would part had approached.
“...Do you remember our promise?”
“I remember.”
“We were supposed to have a meal just the two of us, at Hobel Bay. I was looking forward to it.”
“I was looking forward to it too.”
“Don't lie.”
Nana ground her teeth.
The wind swept back her hair.
Half of her face, wounded from the battle with Shion, was revealed.
Secundus felt even that scar was beautiful but did not voice it.
“Then how can you be so calm?”
It was merely a complaint.
It was harsh to say to a man leaving to die.
But Nana had no choice but to say it, and Secundus just listened silently.
“Rather, disappear from here. Let's go to Hobel Bay together like this, General. Or further down, how about the Hanchamus Islands? Just by not turning the army around, the General has....”
“Nana.”
Secundus called her by her name without attaching any title.
It was the first time.
“I was merely invited to a banquet.”
“...It's not just a banquet.”
“His Majesty is my half-brother, surely he wouldn't really kill me.”
“No. If you go, you die. Definitely!”
Nana raised her voice.
“I spent my school days with His Majesty Ferbias. I know him. He has changed! Since the day Senior Amethus disappeared...!”
“Right, it was around that time. Still, Brother Ferbias, who used to cherish his few people terribly, stopped giving his heart to any human being....”
“His Majesty fears the General.”
Nana Nereyades did not know what she was saying.
She couldn't distinguish between what she could say and what she shouldn't, and started pouring it all out.
“At first, he feared Her Highness Princess Leniar... who has now become the Grand Duchess, more. But now he considers General Secundus a greater threat than anyone.”
“Actually, I don't understand.”
Mm. Secundus crossed his arms.
“I offered such loyalty, yet why does he suspect me so? He told me to organize the Eastern Wilderness, so I did. He told me to conquer Horm, so I conquered it too. He told me to go straight to the West, so I even came all the way here....”
“...He was trying to fragment the Empire by dragging out the war, wasn't he?”
“It was a trivial defiance. I had no intention of aiming for Brother's position. And ever since before that, he has suspected this Secundus all along.”
“......”
Nana touched her lips.
“...I think I only realize it now. His Majesty Ferbias didn't know how to trust people. He himself seems to think he is a person who knows how to trust, though....”
“Why is he like that, the one called my brother?”
“Because he doesn't believe in himself.”
She spoke in a low voice.
“He distrusts himself more than anyone, so how could he trust others?”
“That is a bit sad. He must be quite lonely.”
“That's why I guess I couldn't leave his side.”
I thought it was loyalty, but was it a pity.
Nana chuckled small.
Before long, it was the crossroads.
Nana had to go back, and Secundus had to leave.
Nana wore a sad smile.
“You are going, right, General Secundus?”
“Mm. I must go, Nana.”
They smiled broadly at each other.
“Would you know one thing?”
“What is it?”
“Since I was on the battlefield for too long, there were often things everyone else experienced that I experienced late.... Mm, this is embarrassing to say more....”
“Go on, General.”
“......Inviting a woman for a meal, you were the first.”
“Oh my.”
Nana covered her mouth and pretended to be surprised.
“Would it be hurtful if I said it was obvious?”
“...Was it very obvious?”
“No. Actually, I had no time to think such thoughts.”
She suddenly felt like grabbing her skirt hem and spinning around.
So she did so.
Before long, under the faint moonlight, in the time of just the two of them, grinning shyly, freely as if dancing, spinning, whirling.
“It was also my first time receiving a meal invitation.”
Nana was beautiful.
Enough for Secundus to feel deep regret.
“...Mm. I am sorry for giving you useless sadness, Nana.”
“Thank you for inviting me, Secundus.”
“Are you dropping honorifics?”
“We are the same age anyway, right?”
Both are twenty-nine years old.
Even if Secundus's bulk is twice Nana's, the fact that they lived the same length of time does not change.
“I will remember you, Secundus.”
Light beaded in Nana's eyes.
Then it was beautiful as if the Milky Way was sprinkled.
“Until the day my freedom ends, continuously....”
Sprinkling the beaded light, Nana turned her back.
She didn't want to show her crying appearance.
But she didn't want to get far too quickly either.
So slowly, step step, she walked back the way she came.
Secundus could not take a step until Nana became invisible.
***
Before long, it was night.
Deep night, Drako Great Mountain Range, dangerous magical beasts.
However, a man incomparably more dangerous than things like magical beasts, Cordis Three-Mi Grand General, Secundus Debius.
Secundus walked alone.
Since he was alone, there was no partner to share stories with.
He didn't even make sounds like ‘mm, mm’, and just moved his steps silently.
Yet his momentum was heavy and fearful, so all sorts of beasts trembled and fled.
He just didn't say it in words, but all sorts of thoughts swept past him.
Naturally, there was regret and fear too.
It was because he didn't know what he would experience in the capital Lutilium.
No matter how others saw him, Secundus was ultimately just a single human being.
He lived giving birth to many rumors.
At nine, he tore a lion's maw.
At eleven, mm, did he wrestle a magi-soldier and win.
His first campaign was at fourteen, and he remembers returning with one hundred and twenty heads including the enemy general's head.
Looking back, he thought he was truly violent and arrogant back then.
Didn't he view human lives as human lives?
‘Rather, is it fortunate that I didn't become Emperor.’
Thinking so, his heart seemed to brighten a little.
Secundus Debius realized that even after 7 years, he had lingering attachments to the Emperor's position.
Even though thoughts like ‘If I were Emperor, would something have been different’ clung to every corner of his heart, he hadn't known.
Looking back, what comes to mind is ultimately people's faces.
It must be because he is a single person.
His mother and grandfather who cherish him, Kateka who thankfully always followed him well, Shion whom he was glad to meet again, and Nana... whom he hadn't even thought of but who suddenly occupies a large place in his heart.......
“...Oh no....”
Secundus raised his head.
Before long, it was day.
He had already passed the Great Mountain Range.
If it went like this, he would arrive at the capital Lutilium in a few days.
“......I should have walked a bit more slowly.”
***
“Director Kentil.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Will Secundus come?”
“No way.”
“I guess so.”
Ferbias smirked psh.
“It's like declaring I'll kill him, so why on earth would that guy, who has not a speck of loyalty for me, come.”
“Therefore it was an excellent stratagem, Your Majesty.”
Director Kentil bowed his head.
“The people's support for General Secundus has reached an unusual level. But if disobedience like this is repeated, he will lose trust. Right now we cannot cut him off immediately, but when he loses trust....”
“Don't bother explaining.”
Ferbias spoke bluntly.
“Still, if we cut him off, we must cut him off as quickly as possible. Even if the three confidants are leading the army now, when they return, power will head towards Secundus.”
“Yes, you are right.”
“You finished the preparations I mentioned, right?”
“Yes. We have already stationed them near the capital.”
“Good. I should scratch Secundus two or three times in the future. So that he returns to the capital....”
The sound of Kaboom occurred.
Ferbias twitched his eyebrows.
Director Kentil raised his voice instead of the Emperor.
Behind his head, a Four-Origin Halo flashed and was preparing to protect the Emperor.
“His Majesty is present! Who on earth are you to cause a disturbance outside the door!”
“...Director Kentil! It's me! Lehotos! I have words to give to His Majesty...!”
“...Lehotos?”
Director Kentil looked back at Ferbias.
The man who barged in making a Kaboom sound called himself Lehotos, and he was the general in charge of the total security of the East Gate of the capital Lutilium.
Indeed, being a high-ranking official of Lehotos's level, he would have come up here without major sanctions.
Ferbias jerked his head to convey the meaning to let Lehotos in.
Director Kentil spoke.
“His Majesty the Emperor permitted it. Let Lehotos in!”
The door opened.
Lehotos entered covered in sweat and saw Ferbias, and soon hurriedly lay flat.
The look of fear was thick.
“...I, I greet the Supreme Emperor.”
“Grand greetings are enough.”
Ferbias asked calmly.
His pupils began to flash golden. Ars, ‘Prince’s Eye’.
Now, even without concentrating to use the Ars, the power would naturally reveal itself.
“For what reason did you come in such a hurry, Lehotos?”
“...He came.”
“He came?”
The Emperor frowned.
He came, he came, who on earth came.
“...Surely...?”
Ferbias Caseptus's face hardened stiffly.
There is only one person who comes to mind.
Embarrassment arose and ominousness followed.
Did he really come? He came back at once even knowing he would die if he came?
If it becomes like this, the one becoming ridiculous is precisely.......
“......This dog-like.......”
Grind.
The Emperor roughly ground his teeth.
He didn't want to hear anymore.
He felt like ignoring who came, but he couldn't.
Lehotos reported the truth with a panting voice.
“......Your Highness Se, Secundus Debius....... The Three-Mi Grand General ......returned alone.......”