End and Beginning (1)
There is nothing that does not bow before time.
No matter how beautiful a flower is, it will eventually wither, and even a strong sword will eventually rust.
And the same goes for the sun that rose in the sky.
The increasingly red glow of the sunset was casting long shadows over Brigantes, the capital of the empire.
The shadow, which continued to sway as the sun gradually set, finally reached the most glorious building in Brigantes.
center of the empire. Even to the imperial palace.
Dang- Daeng- Dang-.
The sudden ringing of the bell made everyone in the city stop what they were doing and turn their heads.
A bell that starts ringing even though it is not the time to ring.
People who were wondering what was going on could soon see a black flag slowly starting to rise above the imperial palace.
The sun was setting.
The sun rose at the highest point of the empire.
A pitch black night was beginning from the end of the sunset that had finally fallen.
※※※※
When I opened my eyes, it was an unfamiliar ceiling.
“It looks like they changed the wallpaper.”
Vlad opened his eyes to the sound of a tired voice and absentmindedly began counting the numbers on the patterns on the ceiling.
But the more I counted, the more blurred my vision became.
It seemed that just one night of rest could not relieve the fatigue.
“……Let’s sleep a little longer.”
Vlad said he was going to sleep, but Vlad, who was already thinking about sleeping better, began to wriggle like a slug and burrow into the blanket.
It had been almost a year since the expulsion from Shoara.
Vlad, who had had a place to rest but no place to toss and turn comfortably, decided to stay up late for the first time in a long time.
“Good.”
I really need to sleep with my nose crooked for today.
The fatigue that had accumulated over the years was too sticky, and the house I returned to after a long time was warm.
It had been autumn for a while, but the cold air was already circling the tip of his nose, wrapping Vlad’s blanket tightly.
“hey.”
“…….”
“Hey. hey.”
“…Don’t touch it.”
However, despite Vlad’s resolute determination, there was a hand that shook him without hesitation.
Small but unstoppable hands.
The hand that had been carefully shaking his shoulder had suddenly gone up boldly and was tangling Vlad’s hair.
“I told you not to touch my head.”
“I told you not to worry.”
“……hey.”
It was a street that didn’t get much sunlight, but the red hair visible through the lifted blanket was enough to brighten Vlad’s eyes.
“Let’s sleep a little longer. “Just until lunch.”
“It’s lunch now.”
Jemina’s rounded eyes were suddenly pointing towards the window.
Afternoon sunlight shining through the curtains.
It was an unfamiliar sight to Vlad, who always woke up in the dim light of dawn.
“If you want to sleep better, eat lunch and sleep. “Marcella prepared the ingredients early in the morning just because you were coming.”
Jemina’s hand, which had been messing with his hair, grabbed Vlad’s collar and began to pull it slowly.
Jemina’s face, which was getting closer as the upper body stood up, was fresh.
“You. “Did you put on makeup?”
“flaw.”
I asked this question because I couldn’t see the freckles on the bridge of my nose, but Jemina started laughing triumphantly as if she had finally found out about it.
“how is it? “Is it worth watching?”
“It’s a crime at this level.”
It’s probably because I haven’t woken up yet.
Maybe it’s because the room is dark.
To that extent, the Jemina in front of me now looked quite different from the version of her that Vlad had seen before.
“Come out quickly. “Lunch is almost ready.”
“…….”
The door slowly closes with a squeak.
Vlad looked at Jemina’s back through the gap for a long time.
“I got cocky.”
The freckled Jemina that Vlad had expected was not there.
Even the poor girl who was wringing out a mop with her skinny hands.
The woman in front of Vlad now was just Gemina, with a rose smile who had suddenly stood up on her own.
“Do you really change that much just because you put on some makeup?”
An unidentifiable scent began to float from the spot where Gemina left.
Vlad vaguely thought that the scent was the smell of powder, but in reality, the makeup that Gemina had applied was only faint.
※※※※
“Did you sleep well? “Vlad.”
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“yes. “Did you sleep well, Marcela?”
“I couldn’t sleep at all. “Thanks to you.”
Hearing Marcela’s playful words, Vlad looked at her.
Two puffy eyes that do not suit a thin face.
It was Marcella, rather than Gemina, who hugged Vlad when he returned yesterday and cried loudly.
“As I get older, I have a hard time controlling my emotions. “I think it’s time for me to retire.”
“You’re still in full swing.”
Former Chopal’s senses were shouting.
Now is the time to say no.
“okay?”
As if that was indeed the correct answer, the plate was full of meat.
It would probably have been great if Alicia had shown the same tact now.
“…….”
Vlad began to quietly look around while eating the food that Marcella gave him.
Yesterday, when I just returned, was very busy, crowded, and hectic.
That’s why I couldn’t give her what I should have.
“Marcella.”
“huh?”
“Here you go.”
After confirming that no one was on the fourth floor, Vlad carefully handed Marcella a small pouch.
“What is this?”
“…I don’t know if that will work.”
Vlad probably wasn’t the only one captivated by the blue moonlight that day.
In some ways, the person who lost the most that night was Marcela, so this level of evidence was needed for her.
“What is this? ring?”
“It’s Godin.”
A very loud name was heard beyond the indifferently moving spoon.
“Godin?”
Marcela’s fingertips began to tremble as she opened her pocket, perhaps embarrassed by Vlad’s words.
No, maybe it’s scary.
The blue moonlight that still seeped into every corner of Rose’s smile was nothing short of a nightmare to Marcella.
“I couldn’t kill it, but it died anyway.”
What was in the pocket that Vlad handed over was a ring.
It was exactly a signet ring used to seal letters, and the ring had the symbol of an eagle, Gaidar’s symbol, embossed on it.
“It’s Marcela’s.”
“……okay.”
Since he was a loser and not a winner, he could not bring anything whole.
Even though it could have been a great trophy, Vlad decided to hand over Godin’s ring to Marcela.
Marcella, who received the ring from Vlad, looked at it for a long time.
What passes countless times between her black eyes is probably the memory of someone and the pain of that time.
“Eight!”
“Big!”
But Marcella didn’t want the ring.
Seeing the ring suddenly thrown onto the brazier, Vlad ended up spitting out the water he had been holding.
“Marcella?”
“What is it made of? “Even though it’s a ring, it rides well.”
Godin’s ring begins to melt bright red on the brazier.
However, unlike Vlad who was embarrassed, Marcela’s face was suddenly filled with the same smile as always.
“Sometimes I see men as being more sentimental than women.”
“yes?”
What can heal wounds is time, not revenge.
Marcela knew this very well and that is why she threw Godin’s ring onto the brazier.
This ring wasn’t something that healed the wound, it was just a medium that kept reminding me of it.
“I’m proud that you brought it for me, but I don’t need this anymore.”
Vlad must move forward.
Therefore, Marcella threw away the ring from the past for Vlad and only brought out today’s dish.
“You don’t need it anymore, right?”
“……yes.”
Vlad picked up a fork and began to smile faintly, looking at Marcela, who seemed like nothing had happened.
As expected, Shoara’s rose had not yet withered and there were still things to learn from her life.
“Iknow, right. “I don’t need it anymore.”
On top of the cauldron being heated by the burning ring was Marcela’s dish, which I had not seen in a long time.
Mashed potatoes, grilled sausages, and even black pudding made from cow’s blood.
These were all menu items that Jorge liked.
※※※※
“Did you enjoy your lunch?”
“We should have come and eaten together.”
Haven came next to Vlad, who came down to the first floor to go out.
The captain’s hat on his head has become fashionable, but the cane he is holding is still shabby.
“Since I bought a new hat, I should have changed the cane too.”
“this? “Why should I change this?”
Haven picked up the cane as if wondering what that meant and started wiping it exaggeratedly.
Perhaps because it had been used for so long, the sparkling cane even had a shine to it.
“I already benefited a lot from this. “When I told them that it was you who made it, even the rough sea creatures listened to me.”
“okay?”
Divinity of the North. Vlad of Shoara.
He is the most brilliant of Bayezid’s young knights who had not been able to stand out for a long time, and he is a man who pierced the West, which had been provoking him like a thorn in his eye.
It was the current Vlad who was responsible for both pride in the trend and peace of mind for the next generation.
“And these days, the word elf is added to your name. “Do you really know the elves?”
“Get out of the way. “I have to go to church.”
Vlad, who was embarrassed by Haven’s words, hurriedly started to smile like a rose.
Perhaps because we were late, the sunset was shining through the back alleys of Shoara.
The sunset of Shoara after a long time.
The setting sun may be the end of the day for ordinary people, but for the people in the back alleys, it was like the rising sun of the day.
“How long have you been going to church?”
“From today.”
The reason I didn’t go to church during that time wasn’t an arbitrary decision.
I couldn’t go because they didn’t accept me.
God was a glorious being, but the road to him was too long for the people of the back alleys.
“…He’s so busy.”
Vlad, who had been about to leave for a while, quietly turned his head and looked at the rose’s smile.
The boy’s nest hasn’t changed much, but something seems to have changed.
I could see Gemina moving constantly between the nests.
“After all, kids grow up quickly, right?”
“He’s the same age as me.”
“That’s right.”
When seen from afar, Zemina looked nothing like its previous, scruffy appearance.
Although it was unfamiliar, Vlad saw that he was quite reassured and decided to take a step outside.
“Is your stomach okay?”
“Maybe because it’s small, there’s no problem.”
“No, not Jemina.”
“okay. “Jemina.”
Vlad and Haven start giggling as they say different geminas.
Seeing Vlad, who finally looked a little like himself, Haven immediately put on his captain’s hat.
“By the way, if you’re going to church, I’ll take you with me.”
“How long have you been going to church?”
“Actually, it doesn’t matter if you don’t take me.”
“huh?”
Vlad followed Haven’s nod and moved his gaze towards a small, shabby corner of the back alley.
A street where the sun doesn’t shine.
There were things that carefully illuminated the light from the dark night.
“The last bishop banned pedophilia, but do you know what this bishop has banned?”
“……What?”
Through the slowly setting dusk, darkness began to slowly seep into the back alley.
The things that carefully crawled out from there were looking at Vlad.
“No discrimination.”
They were young children.
The children in the back alleys, who had been hiding from the light until now, were gradually paying attention to Vlad and following him.
“They’re all going to church now. “Now it’s a place anyone can enter.”
Vlad, who was heading to church, could soon recognize the line of children lined up behind him.
Everyone was hungry and exhausted, but the children’s steps toward church were light.
“You say you never know when someone like Vlad of Shoara will pop out here again.”
“…….”
Potential young things can exist anywhere.
Because Vlad of Shoara proved it.
Therefore, Priest Andrew, who watched the scene closest, had no hesitation in lowering the threshold of the church.
“You said you were going to church. Are you not going?”
“…I have to go.”
A new night was beginning in the back alleys where the sun had set.
Tiny stars were rising through the spreading darkness in the back alley.
The place where the stars are heading is the Church of Shoara.
Perhaps today these children will be able to enjoy a warm dinner from a faithful priest, just like Vlad did on a winter’s day.
