#540. Please wait.
* * *
Patter.
“…”
She was walking.
no i was running
His feet seemed to be dragging along, and his pace was so slow that he seemed to be walking.
Still, she didn’t stop.
The white breath freezes.
Snow seeps into your feet.
Even if the wind cuts your flesh.
I just quietly and steadily moved my steps.
The way she continued to move forward seemed more like a ghost looking for a place to die than a human being.
But she wasn’t a ghost.
He was definitely a living person.
That’s why people can never avoid it.
That is, the limit has been reached.
dump.
A body collapsed in the snow.
I try to get up again by moving my hands, but my arms do not move.
Hunger for days.
Fatigue from not being able to sleep.
Even half-frozen blood from the cold.
The body, exhausted and suffering from the long run, loses the energy to stand up again and quickly loses body temperature.
Even that was not the only hardship that overtook her.
Kreurreureung.
It was a pity.
Is it because the territory is invaded?
Did you even smell the smell of death?
A pack of wolves appearing from beyond the blizzard and baring their teeth with ferocious cries.
everything was whispering
this is her last
is the moment of death
Even if you struggle, it’s no use.
So let’s face the end comfortably.
The whisper is so strong.
It is both realistic and enchanting.
It makes you dare not feel the need to resist.
But…
“Ha ah.”
with a deep breath.
She forced herself up.
After carelessly groping around, he grabbed a branch that had just been buried in the snow and aimed it at the wolf pack.
It’s as if he won’t die gracefully even if he dies.
Kyareung!
The futile resistance seems laughable.
Wolves that let out low cries like laughter.
She understood the ridicule.
agreed again.
Not an armed man.
A woman holding only a branch.
That’s because the resistance of a prey that has never been trained like her could not be a threat.
That’s why I muttered in my heart.
‘Why?’
I knew it myself.
Your own death is a predetermined outcome.
No matter what I do, nothing will change, so this is nothing more than a useless waste of time.
But even knowing that fact, she couldn’t choose the option of facing death.
Death isn’t scary.
Because it just had to be.
A family that loves you.
The Royal Guard who gave their allegiance.
The lady-in-waiting who took care of her all her life.
Dying on the blades of a mob, throwing herself to block a gun, sacrificing herself as a decoy, the only thing she wanted was this.
Because it was to survive.
‘An absurd request.’
That’s why she didn’t give up even though she knew it was futile.
I just held on to the branch with trembling hands and resisted to maintain my life for a minute or a second longer.
Fu-wook!
It was thanks to that.
whether it’s a coincidence
whether it’s a miracle
The fact that she was able to pierce the eyes of the wolf that had taken the lead with the outstretched tree branch.
Of course, the price was high.
Her delicate wrists were cracked, unable to withstand even the slightest kick from the broken branch.
That was the last resistance she could do.
strength to resist.
Losing the means to fight.
To her who sat down as if collapsing.
The pack of angry wolves rushed in at once, and no matter who came first, they thrust their teeth into the neck and limbs.
Fuck!
But the wolves couldn’t bite her flesh.
A strong wind blows.
The moment when a ray of light flashed.
It was because all the wolves that ran toward her were thrown back with the shock of being hit by a wild boar.
By a man who appeared in front of her and brandished a sword with a scabbard.
“go away.”
Kigging!
Is it because of the pain from being hit by the sheath?
Or maybe it was because he instinctively sensed the man’s fear.
The pack of wolves rolled their tails and ran away, as if their ferocious appearance from before was a lie.
So, in the space where everything was quiet, the man turned around.
And he spoke quietly to the woman who was sitting in the snow and looking up at him blankly.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“….”
“No, you asked a stupid question.”
From the feet that were on the verge of getting frostbite from wandering through the snowy forest, to the arms that were already swollen, to the cheeks with wolf blood.
It’s hard to find a safe corner wherever you look and let out a sigh.
The man took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Then he took out medicine and bandages and gave first aid to the wound as soon as possible, and quietly opened his mouth.
“Sorry for being so late. If I had come a little sooner, I wouldn’t have suffered like this.”
Because everything was sudden.
and in an unrealistic situation.
She absentmindedly entrusted her arm to the man and only opened her mouth when she felt the warmth permeating the coat.
“Please take this.”
“…Why are you giving me a ring out of the blue?”
“Because I got help.”
my sisters were like that
It is natural to be grateful to those who have helped.
Also, gratitude in words is no different from deception, so if you really want to express your gratitude, you should give a worthy example.
So I just expressed my gratitude, but
why are you trembling?
when she tilts her head
he chuckled.
“Well, you are not wrong.”
Why?
I’m obviously laughing
A strangely bitter laugh.
He said while applying the medicine to her who was puzzled by it and tilted her head again.
“But you don’t need a price, so put it in.”
“Why are you talking?”
“My ransom is more expensive than that.”
“I have more jewels.”
“It would be a bit overkill. Even if I rob your country’s entire treasury, my ransom is not enough.”
“That would definitely be impossible.”
she agreed.
I don’t know if it was a few days ago.
Because there was not even a national treasury in her country right now.
…Because the national treasury can exist only when there is a country in the first place.
“Above all, if it is a price, I have already received it.”
“I never gave it to you?”
“Not to you, but to your parents.”
“Are you talking about Obama and Mama?”
“okay. I was indebted to your ancestors when I defeated the silver dragon clan before.”
“…?”
What does the magic religion have to do with it?
Why does the ancestor’s debt become the price for saving himself?
Another incomprehensible word.
“That makes me even more sorry.”
and.
incomprehensible behavior.
“What do you mean sorry?”
“Because I couldn’t save your family.”
“…”
“Sorry, but your parents and other sisters are already late.”
If only the letter had come a little earlier.
Or if the execution had been delayed by a few more days.
He could have saved his parents and sister, but it was too late and he could only save her.
Seeing him calmly apologize.
She tilted her head again.
“Does that give you a reason to apologize?”
“…Aren’t you angry?”
“There is no reason to be angry.”
This man came to help his family and was a benefactor who saved her.
Although she was taught by her parents that she should be grateful to her benefactor, she was never taught to be angry.
And…
“Then why aren’t you sad?”
“Why should I be sad?”
Likewise.
Because my family died.
Because no one ever taught me to be sad.
After hearing the deaths of her parents and sisters a little while ago, she remained silent as she only tilted her head.
he murmured.
“…indeed. I’ve heard rumors that your family cares for you, but it seems it wasn’t just because you were the youngest.”
“…?”
“Really… Human karma is scary.”
Why is the man lamenting?
she couldn’t know
One thing I could know.
Only the bitterness contained in the touch of her silver hair.
But he did not explain the reason for his lamentation to her.
I just asked softly as I saw the wolf lying on the ground with its eyes pierced by a tree branch.
“You must have caught this wolf, right?”
“yes.”
“Then you have changed your own destiny.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you have the qualities.”
if you didn’t fight
He would have died before he came.
Fighting to the end and buying a little bit of time.
And her talent for catching a wolf miraculously without seeing properly saved her from her destiny to die.
At the end of the lowly explanation.
said the man.
“Originally, I was going to entrust it to a proper noble, but… Seeing your qualities, let me make one suggestion instead.”
“A suggestion?”
“okay.”
With gray hair as white as snow.
A man with deep golden eyes.
Limon Asfelder got down on one knee.
That’s how I met her at eye level and looked straight into her lustless eyes and asked quietly.
“Would you like to learn swordsmanship from me?”
That’s…
the moment she met him.
And it was the moment when Anastasia, the last survivor of the Russian imperial family collapsed by the revolution, entered the Sword Tower.
* * *
She opened her eyes.
Then, slowly, he reached out his hand and wrapped the bandage he had placed next to his eye.
All dark vision.
Just deafening silence.
Even when everything seemed to have disappeared, she did not waver.
Relying on the sword master’s super senses, he erased the traces with his familiar hands and tidied up the place.
“I had a longing dream.”
The forest where his grave was.
But now, recalling the memories of the place where only the tombstone would remain after being devastated, she murmured.
A family, an identity, a country.
The memory of losing everything and wandering alone in a snowy forest.
For others, it may be a nightmare that will become the trauma of a lifetime.
But it was a memory for her.
because that happened
Because I was able to meet him.
“Please wait a little longer.”
The loneliness felt more clearly once again.
A longing that can’t be erased though.
Longing deeper and deeper.
With faint hope.
After a short break, she moved slowly.
“It will be soon.”
A respected teacher.
dear lover.
In order to meet a man who is like all of himself…
* * *
Who did that?
They say that when you get older, you lose sleep.
At least to Limon, that was irrelevant.
It was no joke that a sword master who would never grow old and who had the most perfect body couldn’t sleep.
“…I’m going to die.”
In that sense, this moment.
It’s like staying up all night.
It was truly unusual to see him lying on the bed with a face still full of fatigue.
Of course, I couldn’t sleep for days.
It was nothing to him.
Even so, there were many reasons why Limon couldn’t help but make a sound of pain like this.
Two of them are representative.
“Hmm, please take good care of me in the future.”
“If there is anything I can help with, just tell me. I come from a farming family, so I can do anything.”
“It is nice to see you again.”
“…Nice to meet you too. Brothers and sisters.”
One is joining the peacekeeping force.
To be precise, it was the week of May with the three sword masters.
Did this happen at all and decided to look into it?
Their existence, appearing here and there, following the Egyptian army, almost abandoning even peacekeeping, was a nuisance to everyone.
However, I couldn’t just throw it out.
Thanks to their inaction, the Egyptians were able to stop their advance and reorganize their troops.
To avoid the disintegration of the Expeditionary Force, we should wait for at least a few weeks.
Considering Nadia’s teary-skinned words, it was fortunate that I was able to buy time like this.
The problem is that this close confrontation will be destroyed the moment Limon’s identity is revealed.
And…
‘Pharaoh’s runaway is getting worse.’
Limon sighed.
After the sword masters joined.
Hasneti’s teasing was becoming more and more blatant.
It’s as if now, when he can’t resist recklessly because he’s paying attention to his disciples, is an opportunity to capture him.
In particular, the problem was Joan of Arc.
‘No, why the hell am I punishing my pupil even if I just make eye contact…?’
