Chapter 228: The Student Who Came Back from the Dead
Chapter 228: The Student Who Came Back from the Dead
"Good evening, Elara."
The moment she heard my voice, Elara’s eyes widened a little more.
The arm holding her baby trembled, while her free hand remained frozen near her waist, reaching for a sword that wasn’t there. She looked at me as if I weren’t the student she had known for years, but a monster wearing his face.
Her gaze moved over me from head to toe.
It lingered on my white hair, my red eyes, and the changes in my features before finally returning to my eyes.
"You..." Her lips moved with difficulty. "Is it really you?"
"Yes."
Elara took a step forward.
Then another...
She raised a hand and touched my cheek. Her fingers were cold. She felt my skin, then my hair, as if trying to determine whether I was an illusion.
"You’re not a spell..." she whispered.
"Not as far as I know."
My answer made the stunned expression on her face falter slightly.
A moment later, she carefully held the baby out to Iris.
"Iris, hold the baby."
Iris placed the boxes of sweets on the small cabinet beside the entrance, then took the baby into her arms.
"Elara...?"
Elara didn’t answer.
She turned fully toward me.
For a moment, she simply stared at my face.
Then—
SLAP!
Her palm struck my left cheek with all her strength.
My head snapped to the side from the impact. The sharp sound of the slap echoed through the quiet street, and a burning pain spread across my cheek.
This was the second time today that a woman had slapped me.
The capital was more dangerous than I had expected.
I slowly turned my head back toward Elara.
Tears were streaming down her face.
"You..." she said in a trembling voice. "How can you stand there so calmly?"
She raised her fist and struck my chest.
"We thought you were dead for years!"
She hit me again.
"We searched for you!"
Again.
"Iris couldn’t recover for months!"
She lifted her arm to strike me once more, but this time, her fist never reached my chest.
Elara suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.
She pressed her head against my chest and held me tightly.
"You stupid boy..." she whispered. "I really thought you were dead."
My arms remained motionless at my sides.
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.
I knew, more or less, what kind of person Elara was.
How she would hit me over the head with a wooden sword whenever I failed to keep my wrist firm, kick my legs into the correct position whenever I took a wrong step, and faintly smile when she saw that I was still standing after hours of training...
She had always been strict.
At least, that was how she had been described in the book...
But only now could I understand the care hidden beneath that strictness.
I slowly raised my arms and returned her embrace.
"I’m sorry," I said.
Elara’s shoulders trembled.
"An apology won’t give us those years back."
"I know."
"If you ever disappear again, I’ll kill you with my own hands."
"That doesn’t make much sense. If you kill me because I disappeared—"
"Be quiet."
"Okay."
After holding me for a few more seconds, she stepped back. She quickly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and tried to compose herself.
Her gaze then returned to the mark on my cheek.
"Did it hurt?"
"No."
That was a lie.
Elara was quite strong.
"Good."
She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house.
"Get inside. I’m not letting you out of my sight this time."
Iris followed us inside, carefully holding the baby in her arms. After closing the door, Elara locked it and slipped the key into her pocket.
As if that could really stop me from leaving...
Unlike the freezing air outside, the house was pleasantly warm.
It wasn’t extravagant. A few landscape paintings and small family portraits hung on the walls, while books lined several shelves. A dark-colored sofa stood in the middle of the living room with a low table in front of it.
A wooden cradle had been placed in one corner. Folded blankets, tiny clothes, and baby toys were arranged around it.
On the opposite wall, completely at odds with the peaceful atmosphere of the room, hung Elara’s longsword.
So Adam had been telling the truth...
Elara’s real weapon was only a few steps away.
"Don’t just stand there. Sit," she ordered.
I sat on the sofa.
Iris settled beside me with the baby still in her arms. Elara didn’t sit in the armchair across from us. Instead, she stood in front of me with her arms crossed, staring like a soldier preparing for an interrogation.
"Now, explain."
"Explain what?"
"Everything."
"That’s a very broad subject."
Elara’s eyebrow twitched.
"You can start with the day we thought you died."
Iris looked at me with concern. She knew I hadn’t wanted to talk about this before.
"Maybe we shouldn’t pressure him," she said gently. "Talking about this might not be easy for Cassian."
"I don’t expect it to be easy," Elara replied. "But if the student I mourned for years suddenly appears at my door one evening, I at least want to know how he survived."
"I didn’t survive," I said.
Silence fell over the room.
Elara’s stern expression froze.
Iris’s arms tightened slightly around the baby.
"What do you mean?" Elara asked.
"I died."
"But you’re sitting in front of me right now."
"I came back."
Elara pressed two fingers between her eyebrows.
"Could you try giving me a little more detail?"
"There was an ability within my body that could bring me back to life after I died. It wasn’t something I could control. It activated on its own and revived me."
Elara slowly lowered her hand.
"Why didn’t we know you had an ability like that?"
"I don’t know."
"Then why didn’t you come back to us after you returned?"
I thought for a few seconds before answering.
There wasn’t only one reason.
My memories had been shattered, and my mind had been in ruins. I had enemies pursuing me. I had fought in the North, encountered gods and angels, and seen more death than most people would witness in an entire lifetime.
On some days, I hadn’t even known whether my own name truly belonged to me.
"I didn’t remember," I finally said.
Elara’s gaze changed.
"Us?"
"Myself."
Elara’s lips parted, but no words came out.
"When I returned, my mind... wasn’t right. I couldn’t reach most of my memories. I didn’t know who I was, where I came from, or where I was supposed to return."
"And now?"
"I remember some things."
"Some things?"
I nodded.
"Not everything."
The anger in Elara’s eyes slowly faded, replaced by deep sadness.
At last, she sat in the armchair across from me.
"We searched for you," she said. "For days after that night... We searched everywhere we could. We never even found a body, but after what we had seen, it was impossible to believe you could still be alive."
Her gaze dropped to her hands.
"Iris refused to accept your death for a long time. Every morning, she waited as if news of you might arrive at any moment. The Duchess tried to remain strong in front of her, but I caught her crying in secret several times. Evelyn blamed herself for what happened."
As I listened, an unfamiliar weight formed in my chest.
While I had been struggling to survive, the people I left behind had spent years mourning me.
"I didn’t know," I said.
Elara looked at me again.
"Now you do."
"Yes."
"And you won’t leave us without news for years ever again."
"I can’t guarantee that."
Elara’s expression immediately hardened.
"Cassian."
"There are too many people who want me dead. I don’t know what might happen to me in the future."
"That doesn’t mean you have to disappear without a word. You can send a one-line letter telling us that you’re alive."
That was reasonable.
"I’ll try."
"You won’t try. You’ll do it."
"Okay."
Elara took a deep breath.
"You really haven’t changed at all."
"I’ve gotten taller."
Iris couldn’t hold back a giggle.
Elara stared at me without expression for several seconds. Then she stood and lightly smacked the back of my head.
"I was talking about your behavior."
"I understand."
"No, you don’t."
The baby in Iris’s arms made a small noise and began to move.
All of Elara’s sternness disappeared at once. She quickly approached Iris and checked the baby’s blanket.
"Did the baby wake up?"
"I think so," Iris said.
The baby slowly opened their eyes.
Dark eyes that couldn’t yet fully understand the world settled first on Iris’s face, then on my white hair beside her.
The baby was looking at me.
I looked back.
The baby was quite small.
Their head could almost fit in the palm of my hand. Their breathing was faint, and their heartbeat was fast. The mana within their body had yet to take shape and was spread throughout it in thin streams.
I couldn’t sense any illness or abnormality.
The baby was healthy.
"Why are you examining my baby like that?" Elara asked suspiciously.
"I was checking their health."
"And?"
"They appear healthy."
A relieved expression appeared on Elara’s face.
"Are you a doctor?" Iris asked.
"No."
"Then how could you tell?"
"I can sense all of their internal organs."
The smile disappeared from Iris’s face.
"That sounds terrifying when you say it like that."
"It’s the truth."
The baby suddenly pulled a tiny hand free from the blanket. Their fingers moved through the air as they tried to reach toward me.
Elara smiled when she saw it.
"I think the baby is curious about you."
"Why?"
"Maybe it’s your hair."
Elara took the baby from Iris.
Then, without warning, she held them out toward me.
"Here."
I looked at the baby, then at Elara.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Hold the baby."
"No."
My answer came so quickly that both Elara and Iris stared at me in surprise.
"Why?" Iris asked.
"The baby is too small."
"Babies are usually small," Elara said.
"They could easily get hurt."
"They won’t get hurt as long as you support their head."
"That’s an unnecessary risk."
Elara narrowed her eyes.
"You can fight demigods and return from the dead, but you’re afraid to hold a baby?"
"I’m not afraid."
"Then take the baby."
Before I had a chance to object, she placed the baby in my arms.