Sorry 30

 Chapter 30

    ***

    "This tragic, brutal war was caused by me, and if I could go back in time, I would never go to the Lepallon Empire."

    The words seemed to play over and over in his ears.

    "My mother was a spy for the Lepallon, the last surviving member of the imperial family. The reason they kept me alive instead of killing me is because of my bloodline. There are things in Lepallon that only traditional imperial blood can do."

    About twenty years ago, there was a great coup in the Lepallon Empire that changed the balance of power in the imperial family, and some nobles fled to Alton at the time.

    All of their direct lineage was either dead or gone. Perhaps Kylan's mother fled at that time.

    It was hoped that with the new imperial family in power, the friendly relations between Alton and the rest of the world might change, but they did not, making the war all the more unexpected.

    In this life, Chaint would continue to try to find a way. He wanted to solve the problem without involving Kylan, because with him, Euris was bound to be involved.

    It had been a long time since he'd put his work aside and only researched the war. Euris was completely unaware of all this.

    She probably didn't know the whole story either. He didn't want to worry her.

    He looked at the woman sitting next to him. When she was depressed, those green eyes seemed to sink into a deep abyss. When she was happy, they sparkled like a blue-emerald sea.

    Chaint knew all too well.

    That the one surefire key to keeping Kylan from leaving was Euris. That she was the only one who could move him.

    And after all this talk, she would go to him, willingly.

    'But...... I can never let Euris go.'

    Even at the end of his life, when shrapnel was piercing his body, he thought of her. She had been the only thing on his mind since he had been sent back in time and reopened his eyes. When he heard that Euris had also died in the future and returned to the past, an indescribable emotion washed over him.

    Two contradictory emotions: heartbreak at the thought of her death, but joy at the thought of her return, as she had begun to open up to him.

    It was absurd that he should part with Euris to stop the war, and so he had been thinking about it.

    Maybe he could find another way, but if this decision would lead to war........

    'Do you want to be happy with Euris, even if it means going to war and killing tens of thousands of people? Do you think it's okay if it's just the two of you? Do you feel guilty about Alton burning to ashes?’

    He asked himself.

    ‘.......I have nothing but Euris.'

    He was an imperial scribe. He did it for recognition, but at some point it became a love affair. His love for his country was great. But.

    Euris was something he couldn't let go of.

    He touched every inch of Euris's hand. She watched him with concern, then smiled in relief.

    He leaned his head into his wife's arms as she delicately brushed a stray strand of hair from his forehead.

    Then he felt her delicate arms around his shoulders. The touch was so warm it brought tears to his eyes.

    ‘I love you, and I can never lose you.’

    But...... betraying her was something else entirely. In a way, he knew the secret that could stop the war.

    'If I deceive Euris until the end, keep her by my side, and defect to another country,' he thought, his lashes fluttering over his closed eyes.

    'Can she be happy?’ he asked himself again,     'watching Lepallon invade Alton, watching her own country burn?’

    'No. Euris cannot be happy in that life.'

    ***

    Euris had been noticing something strange about her husband lately. She noticed a shade in his usually bright face.

    It started after a night of heavy drinking. The next day, he apologized for what happened last night. But he didn't bring up what had happened that night.

     

    "Should we run away?"

    Why did he say that?

    Even if there's no way to stop the war, it's still years away, and she already had a big enough problem to give up. She couldn’t figure it out, so she tried to talk to Chaint again, but he just shrugged.

    "I'll explain everything when the time comes, but for now, just...... I need you to focus on me."

    And with that, he walked away.

    She felt bad. The information that had already come out of his mouth was swirling around in her head.

    Euris intuited that he was overwhelmed with some kind of grief. The weight of it never seemed to get any lighter, so she decided to wait until he was ready.

    "The South?"

    "We've never traveled far together, and there are many things I want to show you."

    It was a weekend morning. They ate breakfast and strolled through the garden as usual. But after what had happened a few days earlier, there was an awkward undercurrent between them. There was also a hint of unease.

    They had just passed the manor's fountain and were passing under a tree. Chaint suddenly asked Euris to join him on a trip to the South.

    She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at him. Sunlight filtered through the willow leaves, creating sunny patterns on his face.

    But there was something strange about his whole demeanor, including the wistfulness in his eyes and the slight darkening of the corners of his eyes that contrasted with the clear light.

    She thought back to their conversation a few days ago, and superimposed on that face the image of Chaint's inability to answer her question about whether anything bad would happen to them.

    She shook her head vigorously, feeling as if his suggestion was to take one last trip.

    "No. You're busy."

    "I'll take a vacation. We'll go south, see the ocean, walk the white sandy beaches, and go swimming." 

    His blue eyes held an unmistakable sadness. She turned away, unable to meet his gaze. Then he placed a gentle hand on her cheek. Then he slowly brought her gaze back to his. 

    "Come on, Chaint, we have a lot of work to do, and this isn't the time for leisurely play......."

    She was scared.

    "Do you think we should just run away to another country before there's a war and just keep living together?"

    The words he said that night kept ringing in her ears. Her eyes grew hot. Chaint wiped the tears from her cheeks and pulled her into a hug. Then he patted her lightly.

     "Is something going to happen to us? Is something bad going to happen?"

    Sobbing in his arms, the man said neither yes nor no to the question; it had already been answered.

    "Will you travel with me ...... for me? We'll go to the opera house in the south, eat some of the local specialties, oh, and all the lemon sherbet you've always loved, and then I'll tell you all about it, and we'll talk a lot there, us."

    'Lemon sherbet.’

    You could get it anywhere, of course, but she was told it was something else in the South. In her last life, Euris would occasionally go to the capital's dessert shops with Chaint.

    On those occasions, she always chose lemon sherbet, which was what he remembered. She'd cried and then giggled at the word.

    When he heard her laugh, he laughed right along with her.

    "Will you come with me?"

    "Sure. ...... You have to tell me everything there."

    At the insistence in his voice, Euris nodded, not knowing what else to do. She didn't feel good about it, but she wanted to do what he wanted.

    He patted her on the back, saying, "Sure, I'll tell you everything.”

    The warmth of the sun enveloped them both.

    ***

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