Boom! A roar passed by my ear once again. I raised my trembling hand to cover my face.
It wasn’t me. I wasn’t the one in the car. My soul just entered a small body that lost its life after wandering around.
Even so, why is the ghost persistently chasing me all the way here?
“No, it wasn’t me…..”
I shook my head violently with my face buried in my hands.
It was as if the terrible smell of a dead body together with the musty smell was lingering on the tip of my nose. That terrible smell of death emanating from my grandmother’s body that I found after school.
I didn’t feel anything from seeing my grandmother’s body, but I couldn’t forget it’s smell.
“Don’t come, I don’t like it…! I said I don’t like it—!!!”
Something hard grabbed my shoulder and I resisted like crazy with my eyes closed.
I raised my nails and struggled strongly with my feet. The feeling of something touching my hands and feet was vivid.
“—ne!! Rosiane!!!”
“I don’t…..! …Dad?”
At that moment, as if I had been taken out of a deep and dark pit, I came to my senses.
The moment my dad’s heavily drenched face filled my view, the tremor subsided in an instant. The sound of dad whispering affectionately was clearly heard in the rain.
“Yes, dad’s here. It’s alright now, Rosiane.”
“Dad—!”
When I put my arms around my dad’s neck, he hugged me firmly.
I didn’t hear the thunder anymore. Instead of the cold rain, I could feel the warm heat, and only the sound of thump thump—, my pounding heart was constantly heard.
“Dad, Leav is, Leav disappeared.”
“Eryte found him, so don’t worry.”
For some reason, I cried. When I buried my face on his shoulder, my father hugged me steadily, walked towards his palace, and continuously stroked my head with a friendly touch.
As soon as we arrived at ArkePalace, numerous employees rushed in. When I came out after soaking and washing in hot water, my father was sitting on the sofa with a dry and soft look after changing his clothes as well.
“Rosiane, have you been well?”
My dad, who jumped up and approached me, asked while kneeling on one knee. I nodded and looked at my dad.
At that moment, I lost my words and closed my mouth, then opened it carefully.
“Dad, your face…….”
I raised my trembling hand and touched the long scratch on his right cheek. The wound that still hadn’t faded must have been caused by me struggling like crazy earlier.
“I’m sorry…….”
The red line was very clear on the white face. Of course, it was a wound that would quickly disappear with holy water, but just because the wound disappeared, it did not mean that my fault disappeared.
“It’s okay.”
My dad kissed my forehead briefly and, taking me with him, walked out of the door. Our destination was the room right next to my dad’s bedroom.
“Huh?”
It was definitely dark outside due to the pouring rain even until I was in the bedroom, but when I came in here, it was sunny outside the window. Without any noise.
He laughed briefly at my reaction.
“It’s a room with sound-blocking magic and illusion magic.”
Wow. So this kind of thing is possible too.
“Stay here during the rainy season.”
“Thank you, dad.”
After hugging my dad a little strongly, I lifted my leaning upper body to meet his eyes.
Warm eyes turned to me. Only then was I able to say a late greeting.
“Did you have a good trip? That you’re back safely…… I’m really glad.”
“I’m back, Rosiane.”
Dad smiled softly and replied. He asked, looking at my body which was trembling weakly.
“Shall we rest a bit?”
“It would be better to call a doctor before that.”
While the doctor was on his way to treat my dad’s wound, coffee was placed in front of him and cocoa with marshmallows on top in front of me.
Just in case, I was wrapped in a thick blanket, and as I sipped the cocoa, I looked at my dad.
“How are you here already……?”
It had only been a day since I received a letter saying he would come back from Karkun.
It took a while for the letter to arrive here, so it was at a very fast pace, even if he had departed a few days ago.
“The magic circles for teleporting are all over the Empire. I used that.”
[tn— can also be ‘transfer’ but since it’s magic, I used teleport.]
“Magic circles for teleporting?”
“It’s a relic of the ancient Magic period. Because of that, it cannot be made now, but it can be used, so nobles often use it.”
Dad chuckled lowly at my wide-open eyes.
“What about Nanuk?”
He was silent for a moment. Anxiety surrounded my whole body in an instant.
“….. He’s still on his way.”
“Pardon?”
“The magic circle has a limit on the number of people it can move and a time limit.”
In other words, he left his son behind and very much ran to me.
“Nobody got hurt, right?”
“Yes, they’re safe.”
After that, the doctor arrived to cleanly treat my father’s wound, and after checking my condition under my dad’s orders, he also gave me medicine and went out.
He said I had a weak cold. No wonder my body had been shivering since earlier.
After that, it was time to chat with my dad about what had happened so far.
By the time we had finished talking, quite a bit of time had passed. As I lay down on the bed from the exhaustion, my father lay next to me and gently patted me on the blanket. It was a different kind of reassurance from my older brothers and little brother.
Now that I think about it, I wonder why Leav ran away. I’ll ask as soon as the tiredness goes away.
But I couldn’t ask Leav for a while. This is because I continuously suffered from a high fever for three days because I was rained on.
While I was recuperating, Nanuk, who had arrived, visited me and checked on me, and while Dad, Bernique, and Eryte went in and out of my room, Leav didn’t even show his nose.
In the end, Leav didn’t visit my room even once during the week I rested in my room when the fever went down.
* * *
Erdos held the reins a bit more tightly.
It was concluded that if he went at the same speed as the wagon loaded with loot, he would probably arrive only after the rainy season was over. In the end, he chose to go back with only Deus.
‘Nanuk can take care of the rest.’
Leaving everything to his eldest son, whom he saw his young self in, Erdos quickly drove the horse and then entrusted his body to the magic circle.
Fortunately, there was a magic circle connected to the capital in the south, allowing Erdos to arrive at the capital by the time it started to rain.
“Your Highness, Princess!”
“Princess—!”
“Rosiane!!”
And what he saw was the appearance of the employees and his sons searching through the garden with loud voices to find his daughter.
Erdos read Rosiane’s mana right away and headed to the Lelandi Maze Garden.
[tn— more like sensed her mana? the raws said ‘read’ so i just put it]
And then, flash—, as the sky split, a strong bunch of lights burst out. It was also followed by thunder.
‘D*mn it.’
Erdos quickened his steps.
“No, it wasn’t me……..”
Rosiane was down on the ground, covered in dirt and rainwater, she was trembling and muttering incomprehensible words.
I heard it through Deus, but that didn’t seem to be just a reaction from the fear of thunder.
Something more profound than that. Yes, for example, something like trauma…….
It’s only been over half a year since Rosiane opened her eyes, so there’s no reason for her to have any trauma, but for some reason, Erdos felt a strange feeling as if something was not right.
Yes, the strange feeling I felt when I found out that my daughter drew a line on her wrist when she just opened her eyes. I felt it again.
‘Rosiane, you, just what in the world…….’
Even with that thought, Erdos straight up approached and grabbed Rosiane.
“Don’t come, I don’t like it…..! I said I don’t like it—!!”
It was a voice becoming desperate that I had never heard before. Rosiane struggled fiercely as if to remove her tightly held shoulder.
Even though her sharp fingernails drew a line on his face, Erdos called out her name without avoiding it.
“Rosiane!! Rosiane!!”
“I don’t……! ……Dad?”
The extremely fragile voice and clear eyes that popped out at that moment certainly belonged to my daughter.
The face I hadn’t seen in a long time. The very face that I’ve endlessly been wanting to see.
“Yes, dad’s here. It’s alright now, Rosiane.”
“Dad—!”
Erdos somehow thought it was a good thing because of the slight warmth as she came straight into his arms with a relieved expression on her face.
Because in the end, Rosiane is Rosiane.
* * *
Even though it’s been a week since I haven’t seen Leav, that was just the only difference, I couldn’t take a step out of the Arke Palace because the rain didn’t stop.
We have to hurry up and meet though. I took a step out of the magically regulated room.
The rain greeted me through the window of the hallway without any filter. And flash— I came back into the room after the flash of lightning.
“Sigh….”
With a sigh that burst out helplessly, I leaned back on the sofa and buried my face in my palm.
I’m scared. What if Leav hates me just like this? If he continuously won’t see me even in the future, what should I do?
It is said that anxiety causes greater anxiety. Melissa quickly made chamomile tea as I was groaning at my tangled mind that didn’t seem to get better.
It’ll be okay. We can talk about it carefully. However, though there are emotions that dilute over time, on the contrary, there are also emotions that become more intense. It was the negative emotions.
At that time, Leav definitely had a very shocked expression. Leav is still young. No matter how smart he looks, he is emotionally immature.
If I think about how such a child would suffer alone again, I have to go run (to him) right away.
I have to go but……. I sighed again as I looked out the window that looked sunny due to magic.
“I wonder, when will the rain stop?”
“Since it rained for a week, it will soon be sunny. They say the meteorologists expect it to be in two days. Well, it will rain again after that though.”
Lora said in a dismissive tone.
The form of the rainy season in Esteria is, it begins at the end of July, rains throughout a week or two then it becomes clear for a while, and after that, it comes and goes for another two weeks.
It is said that the average number of precipitation days out of the 32 days of the total rainy season is 23-24, which means that there is still a long way left.
Morpha Palace, which is Leav’s residence, is located deeper inside than Bernique’s residence, the Nyx Palace.
Still, it is closer to the Arke Palace where I am right now, than the Princess’ Palace, but anyway, it is far away.
No matter how fast I move, it’ll take twenty minutes more with my pace, and there is no guarantee that thunder and lightning will not strike in the middle of that.
As expected, is that the only way? *To take the bull by the horns.
[tn— *to deal with a difficult situation in a very direct way]
Wouldn’t it be possible to wear earplugs, or maybe ask Timofey to make my ears stop hearing for a moment?
While groaning and agonizing, Timofey arrived for my class, and I asked without delay.
“Ho ho ho, the magic of blocking the noise of the space itself is simple, but it’s complicated to apply it to humans. There’s a magic that blocks the five senses of the subject, but it’s a kind of curse, and it’ll take about half a day to use the formula to completely get to the state you want, is that okay?”
Even half a day felt like a long time, so I shook my head.
“Hey, Timofey, this is a story about my friend—.”
After much consideration, I opened my mouth. He listened to my st, no, my friend’s story with a serious look.
“There was probably a misunderstanding. He thought the misunderstanding was a fact and his feelings were hurt.”
“Misunderstanding?” -Timofey
“Yes, so, Your Highness the Princess… No, while your friend was trying to say that she liked her second brother too but she *couldn’t choose one who she likes best or least, the youngest prince… No, her younger brother only heard the first part and ran out, right?”
[tn— *as in she likes everyone equally, no one is superior or inferior]
I said it was about a friend, but as expected it was all obvious. Well, there’s no one who doesn’t know that I don’t have friends.
Timofey continued his words when I nodded.
“Indeed sometimes people can believe and be sure of what they hear. Perhaps the prince—No, the younger brother may be struggling inside, thinking that the misunderstanding is true after hearing the first part only.”
“What should I do…..?”
“You should go and talk to him. Such misunderstandings are bound to be resolved quickly. Especially if you’re family.”
Right. I also know that but……. my gaze turned towards the outside.
“I can’t go outside. There’s continuous thunder and lightning…..”
“Oh, come to think of it, Your Highness is afraid of thunder.”
Although, to be precise, it’s thunder accompanied by an afterimage.
“Your Highness, do you know the way to win against fear?”
If there was such a thing, I would have gone to Leav earlier. When I lightly shook my head, Timofey replied with a smile.
“It’s faith.”
“Huh……?”
At the absurd conclusion, a bewildered voice leaked out.