Chapter 60. If possible, dreams (3)
are like Bern for Kirie and Hina.
Whitlin. For Freya, Whitlin must have been like that. Of course, Hina doesn’t know the exact meaning of that last name, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important.
So, what kind of person is Whitlin to Freya?
-Wheeeee…!
There is noise outside the window and silence inside the house.
The bitter wind continued to pound on the windows, and the sky was covered with dark clouds, making the house completely dark. Of course, the noise and darkness did not interfere much with inspecting the house.
However, it produced enough results to upset Calian’s mind.
– Sweet.
Calian took a short breath, closed the door, and looked around.
The lifestyle of elves is not much different from that of humans.
The biggest difference is Kalian’s appetite, which he will never understand even if it goes on for the rest of his life. It was almost guaranteed that if Plantz were dropped into any elf village right now, Plantz would be able to live well and enjoy a very satisfactory diet without the slightest inconvenience.
It’s the same here too. A fireplace, a sofa, a low table and a bookshelf. The kitchen and shelves visible from afar. It didn’t look much different from other people’s houses that I had experienced many times during my time wandering around the royal palace in Bern.
– Ja-bak, jap-a-bak.
Kalian’s feet move.
Even though I knew it was an empty house with no one living in it, I made footsteps. It was a courtesy to the owners of this house, who hoped that they would now find a new home safely somewhere else.
Kalian’s eyes move.
A book is spread out on the table, and a dried teacup can be seen next to it, as if they were unable to pack their luggage and just evacuated due to a sudden fight that broke out outside the village.
After confirming that there was no basement and nothing special on the first floor, Kalian slowly walked up the stairs again.
A small empty space on the second floor connected to the stairs.
A rocking chair was placed next to the window, which would receive the most sunlight. As you pass through there, you will see four doors. Calian resisted the desire to open the furthest door first and began opening the nearest door first.
Two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Is there any space where I might have hidden something? Is there any book or document with an eye-catching title? Is there even a smell of blood? I moved quickly, thinking of the people waiting outside, but I looked through everything without missing a single detail.
– Jabak.
And I stood in front of the last room.
Calian took a deep breath and opened the door.
“It’s… different here.”
The air is different.
As if wanting to come in first wasn’t for nothing, the smell of dust I felt when I opened the door and walked in was different.
A room that has been empty for a long time. A room that has been empty for a very long time, longer than the days when the owners of this house had to seek refuge elsewhere. There was a smell of old dust that could only be found in such places.
Calian, who had been contemplating for a moment whether to close the thick curtains that were tightly drawn to block the sun, just looked around.
There is an old bed, an old piano, and an old desk.
On top of that.
– Jabak.
An old picture frame with a small portrait in it.
Calian’s feet stopped quietly.
In the portrait, the person sitting on an old chair looking ahead had red hair.
red light. It is not the red color of the roses blooming in the garden of Chermil Palace, but a bright red light that hurts your eyes if you look at it for a long time. It was bright red, like Laprania, which celebrates birth, or Annelusia, which comforts death.
A person who Kalian either knows well or knows nothing about. A person with light hair that I have only seen on one person so far. A person who was an elf but had short ears. A pretty person who looks a lot like the current Kalian, who is a little younger than the current Kalian.
It was Freya.
“I thought so.”
Calian quietly stretched out his arms.
I put my fingertip on the face in the picture.
“You’ve been pretty since you were young. Really.”
A whisper flows out.
It was probably the first thing I said when I saw that face.
Both as the old Kalian and the current Kalian.
“…… mother.”
Calian moved his fingertips carefully.
I caressed my forehead, eyes, nose, and cheeks with my fingertips.
If she wasn’t wearing a white one-piece dress or if her long bright red hair wasn’t down, she would caress a face that resembled her own for a long time, making her wonder if she was looking in a mirror.
Unlike the portraits left in the royal palace, it was as if he wanted to capture on his skin the face smiling so brightly and the warmth in the painting that could not possibly have been left behind. As if he wanted to inform not only the head but also the heart, but also the body that currently contains Kalyan.
Calian soon straightened his back and looked around and muttered to himself.
“I don’t want to leave it in an empty house.”
He recalled that it was an empty house.
Since the situation was urgent enough to run away without looking at the book, I had no intention of blaming myself for leaving behind the only picture of the queen when she was young. However, I was wondering whether I should leave it behind or take it with me. If he came back, it would be like stealing.
Calian, who hesitated with his fingers in front of the picture frame for a moment and thought about it, opened the desk drawer. This is why I decided to take the portrait with me and leave a note in case the owner returns.
– Geek!
A drawer that had not been used much was opened for the first time in a long time and made an annoying sound. Calian frowned for a moment and lowered his head. I looked into the drawer.
I focused my eyes on what was inside.
“What… is this…”
enough to make my eyes stop blinking for a moment. So much so that my breathing stopped for a moment. I was so surprised that my heart, which had been moving on its own, seemed to drop.
The white fingertips moved slowly.
After that, he lifted up another larger picture from the drawer that was not a portrait on the desk. As a result, something that was inside the drawer came tumbling out the end of the drawer.
The sound of paper fluttering. and.
– A rattle.
doing.
The sound of bells continued.
* * *
I have seen the world inside a large glass bead.
A pure white world created with fine ceramics.
When I turned over the glass beads containing trees smaller than a fingernail and houses the size of a finger, pure white snow fell down.
– It’s a mockery.
I liked the silence, and as I looked into it several times, I remember the voice I heard and the deep blue eyes that seemed to look down deep into my heart. Until then, we had just had a short conversation.
-Why is this a mockery?
– As you look into the world held in the palm of your hand, is there any difference between you and your mother?
Windows made of bricks smaller than a mustard seed. A small world where it is clear that each leaf and every grain of the tree trunk has been carefully crafted and carefully baked.
The sincerity of the person who created it has disappeared, and only the intention of the person who conveyed it remains. The beauty of the glass beads with snow falling even in the middle of summer was gone, and only the mockery of the prince, whose eyes were covered by his mother’s hand, remained.
“Wizard.”
“Yes, Vice Commander”
“Shield. Take it away.”
Because of the snow accumulating on the shield.
The round shield Arsene made looks just like a glass bead.
“Why are you doing that? It’s very windy outside.”
“…I’m suffocating.”
I’m out of breath today.
Arsene, seeing Planz like that, moved his magic. If it were like usual, I would have made it clear that air was flowing well inside the shield, but I lifted the shield without a second thought. However, rather than completely removing it, only half of it was removed to block the direction from which the snowstorm was blowing.
We didn’t even talk about going inside the house.
If it’s a place related to Freya, there wouldn’t be any help if you go there now.
Arsene, who had kept his mouth shut for a while as he looked at the Crown Prince, who had come to Secretia to escape the winter and was alone in remembering the winter, spoke up.
“The first day I met my teacher, I didn’t say hello to him. I don’t know if he felt unfair, but I showed off my pride like that.”
Plantz turned his head at the sound that was brought up as suddenly as Calian. Arsene continued speaking to a pale face who seemed to be tired of the cold or memories.
“Then Master made me stand against the wall with my hands up for three hours. He asked me if the person in front of me was an adult, a teacher, a dog, or a horse. If I met him, I should have said hello, so why didn’t I say hello? So I was punished, and I couldn’t use my arms properly for three days. I wrote it. After going through those four months, whenever I meet someone for the first time, my arms start to tingle vaguely. It’s already been more than 20 years, but I can’t forget it.”
As if he remembered that time, Arsene massaged his forearm a few times and then opened his mouth again.
“Then I just think that it occurred to me again. I don’t know what the thought occurred to me, but it would be good to shake it off, and it would be even better if I could shake it off, but it’s okay if you can’t. It’s not because the Crown Prince is different from others, it’s because he’s the same as everyone else.”
Soon Arsene tapped the shield a few times. The snow that had been gently accumulating in the blowing wind fell to the ground.
Planz, who was quietly looking up at Arsene, opened his mouth after a while.
“I guess you wouldn’t have said that to me in the past.”
“Why? If someone had said that, do you think you wouldn’t have started a war?”
“no.”
Plantz’s head tilted crookedly. He spoke in a low voice again with his eyes looking down at the person.
“I’m not the type of person who would lose my mind even if I rotted away in my mother’s hands for the rest of my life. If it were a war that could be stopped with just a few words from a crazy wizard, I wouldn’t have even thought about starting it.”
Arsene, who was both mentally and physically tired from talking about something he was not used to saying, shook his head.
And this time, Plantz continued.
“But there wouldn’t have been a war.”
I’m not the kind of person who would stop a war just because of a few words from Arsene, but if I and Arsene had exchanged a few words like that, there wouldn’t have been a war. Plantz told a story that was difficult to understand.
“If I knew how to have a conversation like this with someone, I would have sent a letter that a king with a bad personality would recognize and understand.”
Arsene laughed, having understood Planz’s words only after hearing the words that followed as an explanation.
“Yes, well. Would you like to try it?”
“I just wanted to thank you for your concern.”
Yes, you would say so. Arsene, who was about to answer, closed his mouth without saying a word. It’s because this is the first time I’ve heard words of gratitude come from the crown prince’s mouth.
He may or may not know that he never opened his mouth to say thank you directly to Hina’s strawberries and Needlen’s conch shell, and of course he didn’t say it to Kalian, who had made an implicit promise not to say thank you or sorry.
“How can that mean that?”
“well.”
Arsene, who was not impressed, made a grunting sound, and Plantz gave a short reply.
Thanks to the shield being removed, I was able to endure the blustery winter.
* * *
Calian closed and opened his eyes with force.
My mind, which had been momentarily blurry, finally cleared up.
Calian, holding a new picture he had just lifted in one hand and a rattling bell in the other, took a deep breath and exhaled.
If I don’t do that, I feel like I’ll really be suffocated.
– A rattle.
When I lower my hand, a sound rings out without a trace.
It has to be that way.
Since this is an object made to make sound, this bell was made to make sound, so when it moves, it is bound to make sound.
However, it was not the ordinary bell that surprised Calian. This was because it was a look I already knew very well.
“Why? The same thing… Here.”
A random muttering to himself flowed out.
The Sword Master said that he was looking into the traces of Zeon, who had said he would stay in the capital in place of Calian’s absence. The bell attached to the end of Siona’s sword. It was the same as that bell. Where else in the world can there be a bell like this
? It was definitely Nyaman.
The string that Kalian had broken once. The string that he had tied back together without any intention of getting a new one. The shape of the string attached to this bell was the same as that, and the bell looked and sounded loud. Do. Everything was the same. It was the exact same item.
Of course, if it was just the bell, it wouldn’t be too strange.
Siona had already said that she and Freya spent their childhood together. As a sign of friendship, they could share the toy-like bell equally. The same applies even if you were close friends not with Freya but with someone who stayed in this house. You can share as much as you want. That wasn’t strange. But, but… – Palk. The sound of the paper clattering echoed through
the
empty
room
again
. Instead of the smell of dust, I felt like the smell of cooling blood was flowing from me again.
Another portrait.
Freya, wearing a white dress just like the one on the desk, was smiling brightly with the same face. Next to her, there was light pink hair and golden eyes. Siona was seen looking much younger than she was now.
And there was another person standing next to Siona.
Calian’s eyes could not easily take his eyes off his appearance.
White silver hair,
black eyes.
His ears were longer than the figure Calian knew, and his hair was longer. It’s much shorter. Maybe it’s because the person in the picture is taller. But it’s similar. It’s definitely similar. A
smile as bright as Freya’s.
A smile that seems to light up the world.
“……Hina.”
She looks exactly like Hina, but It was clearly someone else
– Freya Siona Whitlin.
Calian held his breath again
because of the names written under the portrait of that person .
