Chapter 238
Chapter 238
Finale (2)
After that, time passed quickly.
Kairus stood together with Irena inside the mansion’s underground storage room.
While looking at the dust-covered bookshelf, Kairus slowly slid a single book into place.
“Is that everything now?”
“You could say we’ve gathered almost all of it.”
At Irena’s words, Kairus nodded and crossed his arms.
The legacy that had scattered in all directions after House Featherwing collapsed had finally been fully gathered with the single book he had just placed on the shelf.
“It took five whole years to gather everything.”
“Only five years. My husband worries me sometimes because he’s too negative.”
Irena rested her head on Kairus’s shoulder as she spoke. Kairus hadn’t gathered everything alone; he had done it together with Irena.
“The supplies should arrive before today’s over.”
At Kairus’s words, Irena let out an ah and met his eyes as she spoke.
“You didn’t forget what I asked for, right?”
“Camellia oil and clove oil. I didn’t forget.”
They were oils used for maintaining swords. Irena still trained with the sword. Unlike its previous owner, Dana Watson, she paid tremendous attention to sword maintenance.
“I hope the weather stays nice. Everything here is good, but that’s the one problem.”
The mansion where Kairus and Irena stayed was located on an island roughly 3 million pyeong in size that the two of them had purchased.
After buying the island, they built all kinds of infrastructure like docks and telegraph machines before constructing the mansion and turning it into their home. They invested a huge amount of the wealth they had accumulated while serving as Bennett’s Operations Committee members.
“How are the new disciples?”
“There weren’t any that caught my eye.”
Kairus smirked slightly at Irena’s words. After establishing themselves on the island to some degree, Kairus and Irena inherited the work previously carried out by House Featherwing.
Anyone who wished to learn the Featherwing swordsmanship could come find them on this island.
“Who could possibly satisfy your standards?”
“There’s one person beside me.”
At Irena’s words, Kairus smiled faintly before absentmindedly playing with her hair as he spoke.
“A letter came. It was from Nora.”
“The inauguration ceremony?”
Kairus nodded at Irena’s question. Younia, who had been the Agency Director of Lunaseeker Agency, had stepped down from the front lines, and it had been decided that Nora would take her place.
“That’s not surprising. She’s strong.”
“She’s strong, sure. Her connections probably played a part too.”
Nora Galatea was someone who could contact the Featherwing couple whenever she pleased and even exert influence over troublesome Bennett City.
Her exceptional abilities had certainly been considered in making her the Agency Director of Lunaseeker, but her network of connections had been considered just as heavily.
“Guess there’ll be chances to loosen up once in a while.”
Irena spoke with an amused smile.
“Beating up your disciples isn’t enough for you?”
At Kairus’s words, Irena poked his side before replying.
“If my husband would properly spar with me, I wouldn’t bully the disciples.”
“You want me to hit my wife? I could never do that.”
At Kairus’s words, Irena snickered before answering.
“Really? Then what was that whip you swung around last night?”
“A spice for a happy married life. You liked it too.”
Continuing those silly jokes, Kairus and Irena left the storage room together and sat down on the sofa in the living room.
“How’s the work going?”
“It just makes me feel a little more at ease.”
Irena laughed quietly at Kairus’s answer.
“Don’t you think there are more people grateful to you now than people who resent you?”
Even after buying the island and building the mansion, they still had an enormous amount of money left. Kairus’s wallet, after serving as Bennett’s Operations Committee member, was never thin enough to be emptied just from purchasing and developing a single island.
Kairus used the remaining funds to establish a foundation. Its name was Home, and it currently operated five orphanages.
“That’s probably true. Most of the people who resented me are dead anyway.”
There were many people who had reason to hold grudges. Someone had lost their parents because of Kairus, lost their child, lost their friend, or lost their lover.
And just like Kairus had once done, they sharpened the blade of revenge and came after him.
The difference was that unlike Kairus, they failed.
“You felt guilty, but you still didn’t want to die.”
At Kairus’s words, Irena pressed down on his nose with her index finger.
“Where do you think you’re going while leaving behind such a beautiful wife?”
He couldn’t simply let himself die. Everything Kairus had obtained now, and everyone who remained by his side.
His life was no longer something he could leave behind without regret.
“What was the first question again? Ah, right. You asked how work was going.”
“That’s right.”
“There’s no problem. It’s something we started ourselves.”
The wealth Kairus originally possessed had already been enormous, but on top of that, there were people who wanted to earn favor with the Featherwing couple, as well as people who had personal ties with them, all generously providing donations.
‘If things really become impossible, I can always summon the current Emperor.’
Of course, that was truly only a last resort. Besides, the disciples who came to this island to learn the Featherwing swordsmanship paid tuition every month anyway. They would probably never need to touch the Valorn Empire’s national taxes.
“What about you? Teaching’s hard work too, isn’t it?”
Irena, resting her head against him with her eyes closed, answered.
“I think being a student suits me more than being a teacher. The days when I learned from you were nice.”
“You know that can’t happen anymore.”
Kairus could no longer teach Irena. It wasn’t because she had caught up to him or because her skills had surpassed his for some rational reason.
“You’re really too soft.”
It was simply that… Kairus could no longer harshly push Irena around the way he used to.
“Back when you were active in Bennett, I never realized you were this affectionate.”
“It’s not that I’m affectionate. I was starved for affection.”
His entire family had died, he had endured life in the labor correctional facility, and after arriving in Bennett, he became a criminal.
After a life like that, it was only natural that Kairus had become starved for affection. But those personal desires had been suppressed beneath his thirst for revenge against the Emperor.
And once he finally achieved that revenge, the desires he had suppressed all this time finally began demanding their share.
“For someone starved for affection, you really don’t have many close people.”
“What am I, some damn dog? Wagging my tail every time I see a person?”
Laughing, Irena tightly grabbed his mouth with her hand and shook it.
“Rather than a dog, wouldn’t you be a bird?”
“Listen to the nonsense coming out of your mouth.”
They leisurely spent time together on the sofa. Their light kisses gradually grew hotter, crossing over into a deeper kiss.
Right around then, Kairus checked the grandfather clock and spoke.
“It should be arriving now.”
The weather was nice. There was no reason for the ship’s arrival to be delayed. Irena spoke with a slightly disappointed expression.
“You’re unusually focused on the cargo today.”
Kairus nodded. In truth, they were transporting something extremely important.
“We finally gathered all the materials for the procedure.”
Irena’s eyes widened as she abruptly sprang to her feet. Then she suddenly sat back down again and tightly embraced Kairus.
The procedure materials referred to the ingredients required to undergo the Featherwing procedure. Thanks to the Featherwing legacy they had collected all this time, they had already uncovered all the information necessary for the procedure.
The only things remaining were a highly skilled practitioner capable of performing it and the required materials.
The practitioner had not been difficult to arrange thanks to the connections Kairus and Irena possessed.
All that remained was finding the materials, and they had finally succeeded in gathering every last one of them.
“Then finally!”
Kairus and Irena had finally completed the preparations to have a child. Stroking the back of Irena, who was hugging him tightly, Kairus spoke.
“I’m sorry. Because of my greed, I made you wait a long time.”
“Don’t say things like that. I didn’t want my children to become Featherwings who couldn’t fly either.”
Until the preparations for the procedure were complete, they had always maintained contraception even while spending nights together, but now there was no need for that anymore.
Still tightly embracing Kairus, Irena suddenly came to her senses and met his eyes.
“How much is there? Is it the kind where we’d have to gather everything again after one use?”
Kairus shook his head.
“We could probably do it about ten more times.”
“…I’m starting to get a little scared.”
At Irena’s words, Kairus roughly ruffled her hair.
“Our children should get married and have children too. Don’t tell me you were planning to use it all yourself?”
“Ah, right.”
Irena quickly regained her composure and nodded.
“So when’s it arriving?”
“If it’s around now, they should already be at the docks unloading the cargo.”
At Kairus’s words, Irena put on her coat and spoke.
“I want to go see.”
“Let’s go.”
Kairus headed toward the docks together with Irena.
Just as he had expected, all kinds of supplies, including daily necessities, were being unloaded from the ship that had arrived at the docks.
“Which one is it?”
Showing tremendous interest in the cargo, Irena examined each crate one by one as they were moved. Before long, she found the box she had been looking for and personally carried it all the way back to the mansion herself.
“You’re reacting even better than I expected.”
At Kairus’s words, Irena carefully set the box down in the basement before replying.
“And you call that something worth saying?”
Then the next thing Irena did was gather every servant working at the mansion.
“You should all clock out early and rest today.”
For a moment, the servants checked the current time. It had only just passed 2 PM. Yet she was telling them to leave work already.
“No, actually, why don’t all of you take a few days off while you’re at it? The ship’s arrived, so take it back to the mainland, get some proper rest for once, and come back afterward.”
The servants’ quarters were separately located outside the mansion grounds. Since their workplace was on an island, it was only natural.
“Would that really be alright?”
“Of course.”
Kairus stared at Irena with a dumbfounded expression as she handled all of this like a gust of wind.
“What are we supposed to do about meals if all the servants leave the island?”
“Why are you suddenly worrying about meals? A few years ago, you used to pick up and eat anything just fine.”
Irena cast him a sidelong glance.
“What about cleaning?”
“The mansion’s going to end up a complete mess anyway, so wouldn’t it be more efficient to leave it alone and do one huge cleanup at the end?”
Of course, Kairus knew exactly why she was saying the mansion would become a mess.
Anyway, about an hour later, only Kairus and Irena remained inside the mansion.
“You’re prepared for this, right?”
As she said that, Irena locked the mansion doors with a click. Judging only by her eyes, she looked like a beast staring down prey.
“Prepared? What nonsense are you talking about? Have you ever beaten me before?”
Kairus looked at Irena with disbelief before scooping her up in his arms and heading toward the bedroom.
A few months later, the Featherwing couple received good news from the doctor. Not long after, they sent invitations to acquaintances they had not seen in a while, inviting them to the island.
And so tomorrow would continue into the tomorrow after that, as each day steadily moved forward.
It would be a lie to say they were always happy, but still, they hoped their lives would continue on as lives where quite a great many parts were filled with happiness.
《Those Who Live Without the Law》
Complete