Side story episode 33
* * *
The dusk of dawn was creeping in beyond the window.
When I turned my head, Charlotte’s face was right next to mine, sleeping soundly, breathing faintly, oblivious to the world.
Dale wordlessly reached out and placed a hand on Charlotte’s pale, slender shoulder.
Her golden hair flowed through her fingers like grains of sand.
“You’re up early, Dale.”
At that sound, Charlotte also came to her senses and smiled at Dale.
“did you sleep well?”
“Well, well, our Dale just won’t let me sleep.”
Charlotte giggled meaningfully at Dale’s words. After giggling, she stretched out her arm.
Likewise, Charlotte’s fingers came down on Dale’s cheek.
“happy.”
“really?”
“Yeah. And you haven’t forgotten yet, have you?”
Charlotte smiled at Dale’s question.
“We decided to have a son and a daughter.”
“Yes, you promised that.”
Dale placed his hand over Charlotte’s and held it, and Charlotte asked, her face slightly red.
“What if I have another son next time?”
“……I know.”
That was a really difficult question.
* * *
The Saxon Imperial Castle. And in that Imperial Castle, the Black-Golden Monarch and his wife Charlotte appeared, and countless nobles of the Empire bowed their heads.
After the so-called ‘Great Purge’ took place, no one dared to doubt the Black Gold Lord or attempt to resist him.
As people once did before the god of nothingness, even if it were not a god but a human being there, it would be the same.
And between the two thrones sat a child.
He was a boy with black-gold hair.
“Look, Alan.”
And in front of him, Dale opened his mouth blandly.
“This is our empire, these are those who are loyal to us, and these are the ones you will one day rule.”
Not like the father who was always so attentive in private, but with a solemnity befitting the name of Emperor.
“Yes, Abamama.”
That is why Alan II also bowed his head with the appropriate formality.
The age of monsters is over. After the goddess falls asleep, an era will come when they can no longer be conquered by sword or magic alone.
In a world ruled by the Lord of Black Gold and the couple with the name of the Divine Sword, no one dares to be their enemy.
But when the monsters fade into history and the ‘age of humans’ truly arrives, the throne that his son, Alan II, will sit on will not be the same as before.
That’s why I had to tell my son.
How to rule his empire wisely, not by force and violence as the mighty men of old did.
To cultivate the power to see the truth without having to see the truth in the shadows.
It won’t be easy. Even Dale eventually took over his empire with his power as a monster.
It was common sense back then. It was a world ruled by the law of the jungle.
But the new era’s strongman will not be the one who crushes his enemies with sword or magic. Knowing this, Dale and Charlotte desperately built their empire for Alan.
Even after their time has passed, they want to build an empire that no one dares to look down on.
* * *
As Alan Jr. grew older by the day, Dale and Charlotte smiled happily as they watched him grow.
Sometimes he would solemnly reprimand them, sometimes he would embrace them affectionately, and sometimes he would teach them the proper conduct that a person should have when facing another person, and further, the weight of the emperor that they must bear in order to become the ruler of the empire.
Furthermore, as Charlotte’s belly swelled and new life began to bear fruit, new happiness blossomed between the two.
And after a while, new lives came to fruition.
They were twin siblings.
“Look, Dale.”
“A son and a daughter.”
Charlotte smiled quietly, and the children’s cries echoed through the room.
Father Alan and mother Elena lovingly hugged the two children, and Alan Jr. also smiled at his younger siblings.
It was a home filled with happiness that could be found anywhere.
* * *
As Alan and his brothers grew up day by day, the layers of time piled up with each passing day.
Around that time, Dale’s mother, Elena, was lying in bed.
Because he was neither a strong man nor anything like the old days, and was, above all, just a weak and frail ordinary human being.
The beauty of her youth had faded away in the ravages of time, but still she was a kind and wise mother and grandmother who smiled.
Accepting what lies ahead for her, a fate that no one can escape.
“Elena.”
“Don’t worry.”
Alan of Saxony called his wife’s name anxiously, and he could intuitively tell that the time was approaching.
The birth and death of humans, life and death, and the pain of separation.
Nevertheless, Elena was smiling.
“I remember when you first confessed to me.”
“… … .”
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Elena told the story of how she was so frightened by the advances of the Black Duke of Saxony, whom everyone feared and revered, that she burst into tears.
“And yet, you, who were at a loss in front of me, who was so frightened, felt strangely familiar.”
Dale couldn’t even guess what she was seeing.
“When the elders of the Black Tower showed up at the wedding in pure white attire, honestly, I thought I was going to burst out laughing.”
“I, too, was truly ashamed.”
He made the wizards of the Black Tower abandon their colors and wear white clothing. Despite this, none of the wizards of the Black Tower dared to go against their pinnacle, the Black Duke.
And for that black ball to decide to do so, Elena’s existence must have been so lovable.
Even if it was a scheme carried out by the Blue Curtain from the beginning.
There is no way that the current Elena would remember that fact.
“I was so scared. Could I really be happy with this man? Could I really believe in this monster, the ‘Black Ball’ that people were talking about?”
“… … .”
“But I still remember the happiness we felt when Dale was born.”
Elena laughed.
“It was the same when Lize was born.”
Likewise, at Dale’s side, Lize quietly bit her lip.
“I am truly blessed to have you as my lifelong partner.”
“Me too.”
Elena said, and Alan nodded. In the form of the ‘black ball’ she remembered from before.
Elena smiled, surrounded by her loving husband, her son and daughter, and her grandsons and granddaughters.
“mother…….”
Lize tried to continue speaking, but soon bit her lip.
Those by Elena’s side are powerful beings who have transcended life, death, and even reason. Just as Lize did in the past, it would not be difficult to postpone Elena’s death.
But I couldn’t do that. No, I didn’t want to.
This is the providence that must be accepted, for the era of monsters is also coming to an end.
Alan took Elena’s hand without saying a word.
Alan also took Elena’s hand without saying a word.
“Dale and Lizzie. My beloved children.”
Even in the midst of all this, Elena called out the names of her beloved sons and daughters. Dale was unable to say anything.
“I’m so happy to be able to be with everyone like this.”
Dale and Lize silently took Elena’s hands.
The son and daughter’s hands overlapped over the hands of their father, Alan.
“Please do not be sad when I die.”
Elena said.
“Whenever I think of myself enjoying life like this and leaving, I hope everyone smiles.”
Elena laughed as she said that.
Alan of Saxony smiled.
Until the very end.
And when Alan, at the end of his smile, sobbed like a baby in his wife’s arms, Elena would never realize it.
* * *
Time has passed again.
As time went by, the man who was at the top of the black magic tower and had the name of ‘Black Ball’ also came when he left.
He didn’t die in bed.
No, rather, like a rock that never breaks even in the storms of time, the man’s existence never crumbled.
The pinnacle of the Black Tower, an ancient monster that could control death itself, and one of the pinnacles of those monsters.
So the man quietly understood that the time had come.
“……father.”
His son called his name, and Alan smiled bitterly.
“Our time has come to an end, and the time has come for me to leave as well.”
“Do you really have to do that?”
Dale asked back. His father smiled bitterly at his words.
“You too will understand in the future.”
As he said this, the man got up. He landed, dancing like a crow’s feathers fluttering.
“Your Excellency the Duke of Saxony!”
And beside him, the Night Raven knights, including Sir Helmuth Blackbear, were all paying homage, just as Dale had done when he was young, to the Black Duke who ruled this castle.
“Sir Helmuth. And knights of the House of Saxony.”
Looking at them, the black ball opened its mouth with a smile.
“I cannot express in words how grateful I am for the sacrifices you have always made for our House of Saxony.”
“… … .”
“I owe an indescribable debt to those of you who believed in me and were loyal to me until the end, despite my countless mistakes and sins.”
“No, Your Majesty!”
Sir Helmut Blackbear knelt down and raised his voice.
The pinnacle of the black magic tower, without a doubt, was where the black ball was.
A monster that rules over death itself, with the wings of a crow rising behind its back, and that has brought even the mighty of the old empire to their knees.
It was only because of him that Dale could exist as it is today.
There was someone there who protected Dale from behind when he was very immature as a child and supported him so that he could achieve his dreams.
“father…….”
Dale tried to continue speaking, but then closed his mouth.
“Thank you.”
Dale bowed his head. So did Lize.
Those who have no choice but to leave. And those who have no choice but to be left behind.
Even if I woke up after an eternity of sleep, nothing would change.
For just a moment, I wanted to claim myself as the god of the world and change all this.
I woke up the sleeping goddess, begged the old dark mother, reversed all this pain and tragedy, and joined forces with my younger sister Lize to dream of a world of ‘happiness that does not awaken’.
But that couldn’t be done.
“Dale, my proud son.”
“Father, no, I… … ”
I could only remain silent and bow my head in response to my father’s words.
“Raise your head.”
Still, the black ball, Alan, smiled. He understood Dale’s pain, and likewise, his daughter Lise’s pain, and he could only bless his sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters.
At the same time, the crow’s wings wrapped around the man.
After wrapping around, the crow’s wings began to flutter and turn into black feathers.
And among the fluttering feathers, there was nothing left.
