CH 5

#I will give it to you.

I’m not open! “I don’t see patients during curfew, so hurry up and go back!”

“Why? I heard you’re taking care of sick people! They’re still young. They’re three or five years old at most. “Something might go wrong if you act like this.”

“Well… I can’t do it anyway! “Neither can I, nor others!”

“Why? Why not? “Is it because of the word that Lucerne is going to take you?”

The man’s eyes shook violently. He kept looking behind me, shaking as if he was about to lose his breath.

“No one can break the promise he made.” Except for him!”

Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!

Lightning rumbled through the sound of the rain. The man lay down on the floor, trembling.

“Argh! No! I never went outside! “I didn’t break the curfew!”

“Uh…… hey, doctor. Are you alright? Excuse me!”

“Long live Emperor Lucerne!”

I stood with my back to the pouring rain and lightning and stared blankly at the man kneeling on the floor. The rain flowed down my body and pooled at my feet.

“Long live Emperor Lucerne of the Holy Empire!”

I realized it was like lightning.

The Lucerne who created this damn curfew can save the children.

I ran. I ran with my teeth clenched.

Beyond the closely attached building, the top of the palace and the wall could be seen.

“Lucerne! Lucerne!”

I called out in a hurry, even though I knew it couldn’t be heard.

“You liked red.”

“I’ve been courting you for a very long time, but I realized that I’ve never given you flowers.” So…… I prepared flowers even though I knew you wouldn’t receive them. But surprisingly, you obediently accepted the flowers.

He was a man who couldn’t give up on Astia, who became another man’s wife, and begged for love.

Lucerne will not be able to refuse Astia’s request.

Please, just a little more. Quick.

“Oh, my.”

When I reached the huge gate, where I could barely see the end of it after raising my head endlessly, I was out of breath, and it was hard to stand properly.

Two guards stationed at the entrance thrust a sharp spear point into my neck.

“How dare you run to the palace at this hour?” “You’re trying to die.”

It was an arrogant voice.

I wanted to answer back, but I was out of breath and couldn’t speak properly.

“Lu, Lucerne…”

“How dare you even mention his name?”

“Oh, my.”

While taking a breath and choosing, I shouted from a surge of energy.

“Lucerne! I’m here! Astia is here! Come out!”

“Come here! Hey! Oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh. “I heard an echo.”

Unlike me, the guards had embarrassed faces.

“Hey, is this woman really crazy?”

“How dare you mention his name?”

“Not yet! “I’m not crazy yet, but I’m afraid I will be soon, so please call Lucerne!”

“It’s not enough to have violated the curfew set by His Majesty; how dare you call His Majesty’s name carelessly and casually come to the palace! “I’m going to slit your throat right now!”

One of the guards shouted and swung a spear.

I stepped back in surprise and held out my hands.

“Wait! “I’m Lucerne’s, uh!”

Psh!

The tip of the spear pierced the palm of the hand.

I felt a splitting pain in my palm. Blood gushed out from the wound. I could see another knight stretching a window toward me through the shaky field of vision.

No, I can’t die here and leave the children behind.

“Lu, Lucerne.”

I tried to come up with something, but I couldn’t think of a suitable way.

The walls were high, and the intent to kill was clear. The tip of the spear was sharp, and the body, which ran all night soaked without being able to eat, seemed to be on the floor immediately.

No, I can’t.

You can’t live this helplessly here. You can’t leave the kids like that!

Biting her lips, she shouted, feeling that it was the last time.

“Lucreneee…!”

“Did you call me?”

A low voice was heard.

With relief, my legs relaxed, and I sat down on a puddle of water.

Kugugugugugugu, I heard the sound of a huge gate opening, and a tall young man walked out through the open door.

Lucerne was dressed more comfortably than he had seen during the day and wore a soft cloth on his shoulders. It was disheveled, but it was still a nice and beautiful figure.

The knight, who found his iridescent eyes shining in the dark, pulled out the spear that had been stuck in my palm and hurriedly knelt down to prepare.

I called his name again, tearfully.

“Lucerne…”

“It’s amazing that you came to me first, but it’s strange.” “I really don’t think the you I know today is the same one I used to know.”

Lucerne, who approached slowly, sat on one knee in front of me. He was in a puddle of water, but neither his shoes nor the hem of his clothes were wet. The pouring rain, as if the sky had been pierced, avoided him and me.

The guards were in a panic.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Your Majesty……!”

“Arise, Your Majesty!”

“Shh. It’s noisy.” “I can’t hear Astia’s voice.”

The guards stopped talking at the same time, as if they had sewn their mouths together.

Lucerne’s eyes glistened and stared at me.

“Why did you come to me, Astia?” “At this hour, dress like this.”

The dress I wore was thin and white because it was worn under the outer garment, but now it was wet with rain, torn in places, and dirty with soil and blood.

I bit my lips and looked up at Lucerne.

“Lucerne……help me.”

“I have said I wouldn’t do it if you asked me to kill you.”

Astia, what did you ask him to do?

“It’s not that…”

Lucerne only watched me gently instead of answering.

I coughed a few times and opened my mouth in a desperate voice.

“Help. “The children are sick.”

There was no answer, and I raised my uninjured hand and held him by the hem of his dress and repeated it.

“Please, you’re the only one who can help me and the children right now.”

“I guess so.” “This is a time when only those I allow can go out.”

“Help me……”.”

Even breathing was difficult. I felt like I was about to crash into the ground, so I raised my other hand and grabbed Lucerne’s hem.

Lucerne frowned and clasped my injured hand.

“What’s this?”

“Ah……”

Blood was still flowing out.

Lucerne’s voice became a little sharper.

“Speak, Astia. I asked what it was in your hand.

“……Hurt…….”

“I’m asking who hurt you and why.”

I saw the guard who stabbed me surprised when I lifted my blurry eyes.He trembled so much that he could be seen clearly in the heavy rain.

Lucerne turned to face me and discovered a guard standing behind him.

“Is that him?”

“Your Majesty, forgive me!”

The guard stuck his head on the floor. He kept begging for forgiveness without knowing what he had done wrong or why.

Lucerne’s voice as he looked at such a guard was eerily calm.

“He who dared to inflict harm on Astia.”

“Your Majesty, please forgive. Kut.”

The guard’s body floated into the air. The window shattered. He raised his hand and grabbed at his neck and chest like he was choking.

“Cough!”

“I can’t let your life end with just a punishment that is barely enough to amputate your limbs.” You will die slowly, feeling the agony of your entire body being ripped apart while still alive.”

I realized why the children called Lucerne a monster and why people were so afraid of a curfew.

Lucerne was a tyrant.

A sword of blueish light cut through the darkness and appeared.

No, don’t do that.

I rushed to Lucerne, who turned his back on me completely. Hugging him, I appealed in the voice of “Astia completely”. Hugging him, I appealed in the voice of “Astia”.”

“Lucerne. Don’t do that. Don’t do anything cruel.”

Lucerne’s hand, trying to hold the sword, stopped in the air.

The black object that was emitting a bluish light disappeared into the darkness as if it had not been there, and the man became black ash and scattered.

“Oh, no.”

It was so easy and so quiet that it was as if the guard hadn’t been there in the first place.

Lucerne, who froze as if time had stopped until the ashes disappeared without a trace, slowly looked down at me in his arms.

“Astia, what are you doing?”

“Well, it’s done.” The guards…”

“It’s gone.”

“Disappeared?”

“Didn’t you ask me not to do anything cruel?” ……Ah.”

Lucerne, who opened his mouth as if he had realized something, continued.

“Did you mean that you didn’t want to see it in front of your eyes?”

“I meant to not kill anywhere!”

Squeezing out his energy, I shouted. His eyes widened, but I persevered.

“No matter what Emperor you are, what will you do if you end lives so carelessly like this?”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding.” “I did not kill carelessly.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“What did you say?”

“Because he hurt you.”

If you hurt me, can I kill you? Oh, my God. I’ve never had this kind of crazy logic before, so it was ridiculous.

“Don’t do that from now on.” “Because it doesn’t make me happy.”

“It wasn’t something I did to make you happy.” Because you weren’t happy no matter what I did. “I just did what I wanted to do.”

Oh, my god.

What kind of relationship did Astia and Lucerne have? a relationship that he loves so much but can only express like this.

I closed my eyes tightly and shook off my surging curiosity. I felt sorry for the dead guard, and I felt sorry for the twisted relationship between the two, but now I was in a hurry for something else.

“Okay, I won’t talk about it anymore. “So please treat the children.”

“If you answer my question, I’ll think about it.”

I smiled broadly and nodded quickly.

“Okay! I’ll answer anything!”

“I’ve always wanted to ask.” “What do they mean to you?”

My thoughts stopped for a moment when I was asked an unexpected question. I exhaled slowly on purpose so as not to be caught being embarrassed.

“Children are children. “What do you mean, what question is that?”

“I don’t understand motherhood.” I don’t believe such a thing exists. You hated it when I tried to touch them, but sometimes you beat them with your own hands. However, the children approached me with a sickly expression.What the hell is it? Don’t you think it’s weird?

How should I answer that?

Astia, who beat her own children while keeping others from touching them.

Astia, who didn’t hand out a slice of bread or a sip of milk.

I had no idea what she thought of the children.

Lucerne’s eyes, shining like jewels, waited calmly for an answer throughout my hesitation.

All I knew now were my own thoughts and minds. I didn’t know if this would make him realize that I wasn’t Astia, but I had no choice or time.

He sighed and spoke carefully.

“I need to protect…” “They are very precious beings.”

“I don’t understand. “Do you mean we have to keep it until it’s so messed up?”

“That’s how precious it is. I’ll give you as much pain as I want. I’ll give up my life if I have to. “Because I am a mother.”

Lucerne raised his lips crookedly and laughed at them.

“……that’s funny. Yes. “What if I don’t help the children?”

“I’ll hate you.” “I might try to kill you, or I might kill myself for not protecting the children.”

“You originally hated me.” You wanted to kill me; you wanted to kill yourself. “You mean nothing changes after all.”

“It will change if you help me save the children.”

“You’re going to change?”

“I’m going to give you what you want.”

Lucerne’s expression did not change, but his eyes did.

It was clearer and more innocent than the eyes of the children who looked at the milk and bread I was handing out, and at the same time, it flashed with a deeper and deeper desire than anything I had ever seen.

He uttered a short, low-pitched word.

“You are too arrogant to give me what I want.” “I am Lucerne, the Emperor of the Holy Empire, who has everything.”

“You didn’t have the one you wanted the most.”

Something the tyrant Emperor feared and treasured.

The only thing he didn’t have was everything.

She grabbed Lucerne’s wrist with her wet hand and put his big hand on my neck.

Lucerne’s hand held my slender neck as if leading.

“What are you doing?”

“You want it.”

“Astia.”

There was no hesitation in what I said.

“I’ll give it to you.” So help me. Save the children.”

Brilliant eyes resembling rainbow-colored opals swayed and gleamed.