Chapter 88: One life

Needless to say, awkward was an understatement for our dinner. The food was actually pretty good, especially the chocolate pudding. If only I could ask for seconds, then no doubt, I would shamelessly ask for three.

Most of the talking was done by Edelweiss, and even then, it wasn't much. Erenduill just replied in short 2-3 word sentences, while Ioriell seemed to be in a bad mood, so much that he wouldn't say more than 2 sentences, even while talking with Edelweiss.

Ack, I felt bad for Edelweiss. She must've had worked so hard to prepare this, and yet we behaved like this. But for some odd reason, she seemed mildly happy. Did it mean that dinnertime was usually worse than this one? Get this family a therapist, man. Hello, god of this world? Did you listen? Go ask truck-kun to transmigrate a therapist here!

'Ting!'

The sound of silverware clattering against a plate made us look up.

"I'm done. Thank you for the meal," Erenduill said as he tapped his lips gently using his white napkin, "Father, I shall take my leave."

After earning a nod from the elf king, Erenduill stood up, placed his arm across his chest and bowed. Ah, he did the same thing when we first met him. So it was the courtesy of the elf kingdom? Neat.

Our eyes followed Erenduill's steps all the way from his seat, through the dining hall door, and until his figure disappeared entirely.

After that, we took another spoonful of the chocolate pudding, which was exquisite by the way, and then I heard it.

One tap.

Two taps.

Three taps.

Why were we tapping our finger? Ioriell, my boy, what were you planning, huh?

I instinctively counted the number of taps until they reached exactly 120, which was pretty easy to keep track of, considering the interval of the taps coincidentally mimicked the interval of seconds. In other words, he was counting up to 2 minutes, in a very much obvious way.

"I am also done. Thank you for the meal, it was delicious, dear sister," Ioriell said as I felt the corners of our lips stretched upwards, "Father, may I have your permission to leave?"

"You may." The elf king answered concisely before taking a sip out of his wine glass. It seemed that he favored sparkling wine, unlike Erenduill who favored red wine.

'Clang!'

After we put our silverwares down with a loud, clanking sound, we stood up and made the same gesture as Erenduill did, before bowing down in the exact same fashion.

"See you later, Edelweiss." Not forgetting to give a head pat and a smile to our sister, we turned around and went to the ornate dining hall door.

'Creak-- Bam!'

Right after we shut the humongous door behind us, our feet took us running through the long hallway, past the guards, through the front door, and to the right past the beautifully trimmed trees, until I lost track of where we were.

This should still be in the Palace's garden, right? But wait, did this Palace even have a wrap-around fence? ... Had we ventured into the forest behind the Palace? Ioriell, dude, what were you trying to do here?

'Rustle!'

We shoved a pile of bushes aside as I finally saw a beautiful clearing decorated with small red and yellow wildflowers. The moon illuminated the ocean beneath the cliff where the clearing ended, and there, stood a tall, elegant figure beneath the moonlight.

"Brother Erenduill." Our lips parted, calling for the figure that was showing his back towards us.

The man in question slowly turned around, showing us his stoic, yet stunning face.

"...Yes?" He replied nonchalantly while his long hair fluttered slightly in the wind.

"Haha, I knew you'd be here," Ioriell said with a grin, "you're always here after dinner, precisely 5 minutes after."

Oh, so that was why he was counting. Did we already spend 3 minutes running through the vegetation? I didn't even notice.

"Yes," Erenduill replied shortly, closing his eyes for a bit, "what business do you have with me?"

"What, can't I just see my brother whenever I want to?" Ioriell pouted as we walked closer towards the older elf.

"Well, it's not like you necessarily can't." Erenduill put his hand on his chin while looking upwards.

"Then, let me have some quality time with my one and only older brother, okay?" Ioriell grinned and put his arm around Erenduill's shoulders.

Although the latter seemed surprised, he didn't seem to mind much. Rather, I could see a tiny smile forming on his face.

"Just tell me what's bothering you." Erenduill stated, now facing us with his smile.

"Aww, is it really obvious?" Ioriell let out a light-hearted laugh.

"You always wear your heart on your face, Ioriell. People could easily tell whatever it is that you're hiding," Erenduill explained, "that might be dangerous someday."

"Do you not like it?"

"Hmm, personally, I don't mind. But it might prove disadvantageous for elves." Erenduill answered.

"So you do like me!" Ioriell laughed happily, as we tightened our embrace.

"That's different from what I said." A sigh came from Erenduill's lips, but he didn't try to deny the statement.

"Anyway, as you said, I do have something that's bothering me." Ioriell suddenly said, and this time without a smile.

Erenduill didn't say anything, but he grabbed our hand that was circled around his shoulders, and took us to sit down on the fluffy, sweet-smelling grass beneath us. As we relaxed our backs, Erenduill stared at us, as if waiting for us to talk.

"You're going to be our King one day, right?" Our lips parted as the words slid by.

"Of course."

"And that's why you've been training all kinds of combat techniques, and studying all sorts of things from languages, political affairs, and even math. Yuck." We frowned.

"Exactly." Erenduill nodded.

"And Edelweiss, she said she's going to be married soon, right? I mean, Father has grown fond of that human." Ioriell continued.

"I think so. If Father agrees to it, then it will happen, whether we like it or not." Erenduill agreed once again.

"After that, they will have children, and build a little happy family," Ioriell said, "and you will, too. You will find your Queen, and have little Princes and Princesses running around the Palace."

"If my people need a Queen, then so be it," Erenduill pondered, "but probably I won't let my kids run around carelessly. They need to study."

"Haha! You're too stiff, brother!" Ioriell laughed and gave him a little elbow jab, which Erenduill didn't bother to block or avoid.

"I won't allow my heir to fool around while our people are suffering." Erenduill sighed.

"Haha! Sure, sure. You two sure got life figured out, eh?" Ioriell laughed, "...But then, what about me?"

"You?"

Erenduill stared into our eyes with a semi-confused look, and we immediately looked away, "I mean, I don't really know what I'll become, you know? Like, what should I do as a Prince? What do I want to do?"

"You're the second Prince. You have a lot of things to do. Like taking part in managing our finances, political affairs, and--"

"Not that! I mean..." He paused, "what is it that only I can do? What do I really want?"

Erenduill stared at us for a while, before turning his focus towards the moon, "I can't answer that for you. You're the soft-hearted one between us, so I think you should know about this more than me."

"Hahaha! That's what I also thought, but apparently, it's hard for me, too," Ioriell scratched the back of his head, "why do you want to be the King, brother?"

"Huh? Isn't that obvious? I want to be the King because I was born as a Prince," Erenduill looked at us with a confused look, "that's my identity. A good Prince. An excellent future King. I'm only preserving my identity."

"Is identity that important to you?" Ioriell cocked his head towards the side.

"Yes. It is what I value most," Erenduill shrugged, "that might not work for you, though. Try to think about what you value most."

"What I value the most..." Ioriell looked down, probably deep in thought as of now, "argh! I can't think of one! A lot of things are precious to me. Like you, Edelweiss, Mom, and then my siblings over at the orphanage..."

As Ioriell went on and on while holding up a few fingers to count, Erenduill suddenly let out a light chuckle.

"Huh? Are you laughing at me?" Ioriell flinched, and I could feel our cheeks getting warmer, probably from embarrassment.

"No," Erenduill said in-between his chuckling, "it's just that, what you said was the exact reason why I said my method might not work for you."

"I don't understand..."

"See, my baby brother, I can be an excellent King because I see my people as a whole. I have no problem doing that, as my identity as an excellent King is what matters the most to me," Erenduill explained, "but you, you see them as individuals."

Ioriell was still stunned as Erenduill took a few strands of our hair into his palm, "you can't see them as a whole unit, rather, you value each of them equally. You love all of them deep enough."

"...I do. I do care about you guys."

"And that's why you can never choose one thing that matters to you the most."

Hearing that, Ioriell bit our lips and looked down, seemingly disappointed. Just as he was opening his mouth again to say something, Erenduill continued his speech.

"But that's not a bad thing. That's what you excel at." Erenduill smiled at us as he let out hair fall out of his palm, strand by strand.

"What do I excel at?" Ioriell asked.

With a soft smile, Erenduill replied,

"... Preserving one life."

'Thump.'

Huh? A thumping sound?

'Thump.'

Wait, this again?

I quickly scanned my surrounding, and found that I couldn't even do that since everything seemed to be frozen still.

Erenduill's lips were paused in a smiling position, and his eyelids didn't even blink once. His soft hair that was fluttering in the wind had also stopped, suspending his golden locks in the air. Our own hair, too, stopped mid-fall from the palm of Erenduill's hands.

'Thump.'

Ah, was it time already? Was the show over?

...Well, it was great while it lasted.

'THUD!'

"YOWCH!" I yelled hard, while grimacing and holding the center of my forehead that was stinging from pain.

Oh, wait, what? Was that my own voice? And my own hands?

"Oi, little cub, what the hell are you doing, zoning out in the middle of surgery? Tsk, tsk. You'd make a lame doctor."

...General Zhang?

I blinked a few times as my surroundings slowly became clearer. The lush green grass beneath me had changed into an ashy ground, full of fire remnants. The moon that shone so beautifully in the night sky was now obstructed by the thick forest fire smoke. Instead of colourful flowery vegetation, my eyes were met with charred trees and bushes, which were mostly grey, but tinted with orange from the ongoing fire around us.

"Am I... Back?" I asked with wide eyes, still a bit shocked from what just happened.

"Back what? You zoned out for like 10 seconds there, so I had to smack you back into existence." General Zhang giggled.

Only 10 seconds? So my consciousness was only gone for 10 seconds? Well, anyway...

"I'm really back!" I quickly inspected my whole body. Limbs? Intact. Clothing? Appropriate, but burnt. How about the heart?

"Ah, by the way, that heart changed colour just before you zoned out." General Zhang explained while pointing at the still, calm heart that was sitting inside my hand.

Then, the Prince--?

I flew my gaze towards the obviously dead elf prince, and saw his smiling, content face.

...I didn't recall him smiling when I stabbed him before? Rather, he was being creepy about something. Let's see, uh...

Oh, yeah, what was he reaching out for when I stabbed him because of that cryptic message?

When I turned around to check on whatever it was that he pointed at during his last moments, I froze.

There it was.

Sitting patiently in the midst of the burning forest.

A small, thin, and fragile tree sapling.

Standing strong despite its chaotic environment, and despite its weak properties.

All because of a single mana shield that chose to keep going even though the owner was long gone.

... So that was what he meant by 'one life'.