Chapter 104
After that, Leasis arrived at the empty Commander’s office. The office without Hizen or Max felt exceptionally small.
She sat quietly on the sofa, looking around the room. She usually stood when waiting, but now she could not.
An unpleasant numb feeling rose from the tips of her toes. Her legs lost strength and her hands began to sweat.
Leasis had been struggling with all her thoughts on her way to the Commander’s office. No matter how stupid Ashley was, she could not tell such a lie when she was about to be executed.
She closed her eyes and felt her heart beating nervously. She murmured with her fists clenched.
“No… it can’t be. Princess Ashley is a liar, a dead person can’t be alive. I can just check with Hizen directly. The records can’t be wrong.”
Her voice was getting weak. She shook her head with a smile. Hizen’s father could not have killed her father. The Dratius family was such a righteous family.
No, she was not the same person in the first place. She could not be his dead fiancee. She was sure of it. Such nonsense could not have happened in the world.
Leasis cleared her mind and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
Creak.
The door opened and someone came in. As she suddenly raised her head, she saw Max. Leasis stood up from the sofa and smiled brightly.
“Vice Commander-nim, you’re here?”
But when he saw Leasis, his face hardened as if he had seen a ghost.
“Vice Commander-nim?”
“Hum… Vice Commander-nim?”
Max’s trembling eyes were different from usual, and his lips were tightly closed with anxiety.
‘No.
Leasis shouted inwardly. Breathing heavily, she forced herself to smile. Then she tried to speak with a light voice.
“Vice Commander-nim, I’ve been waiting. Why are you so late?”
Before Max could answer, Leasis continued.
“Well, I have something to tell you. I just heard something strange from Princess Ashley.”
“She said that I’m the daughter of Baron Berman. That I’m also the Commander-nim’s dead fiancee. How could that be possible?”
Max’s gaze gradually fell toward the floor. The despair of knowing the truth had put a lock on his mouth.
Leasis approached Max by moving her feet as if they were stuck to the floor.
“No, Vice Commander-nim?”
“Please say no.”
“Vice Commander-nim.”
Despite her repeated calls, Max could not answer. He only opened his trembling lips after a long time.
“I’m sorry.”
She just could not give up. Leasis reached out her arm and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
“Vice Commander-nim, don’t mess with me.”
“Leasis-nim. I’m so sorry.”
Shatter
The sound of something breaking in her heart darkened her eyes. Leasis felt this whole situation unrealistic.
It was so painful that it was hard to breathe. His always warm brown eyes were looking at her with sympathy.
“That can’t be… no.”
“Vice Commander-nim?…”
Silence fell in the Commander’s office and made her heart ache. Desperate, Leasis could not bear it anymore and ran out of the room.
All the way to the dormitory, the knights called her and asked her what was going on, but she could not stop. She wanted to run away as soon as possible from the scary reality.
Returning to her lightless room, Leasis plopped down on the bed. Her hands grabbing the sheet trembled slightly.
It still did not feel real. Ashley’s words, Max’s attitude. She wanted all these moments to be a boring dream. She wanted to wake up quickly, have a delicious meal with Hizen, and talk about what happened during the day.
When she closed her eyes, she could see herself meeting Hizen. While grunting, he would watch her with his eyes wide open in case something went wrong.
Hizen-nim.
Leasis slowly called out the name of the man she loved. His words were rough but full of affection, and he cared for her more than anyone else. She loved him as if there were only the two of them in the world.
The sheets of the bed got wet little by little. It was impossible. She sobbed silently and shook her head.
Then, she could hear a man’s voice in her ears.
[ Leasis, do you want a ride?]
As she looked up, a handsome man with red hair was reaching for her.
[Our little rascal. What else did you break today? Haha. You’re so full of energy!]
Her body reacted before her mind. Her heart was broken, and her eyes blurred.
Her trembling lips automatically called out a person’s name.
“Father… Father…”
Beyond her blurry vision, she could see her father hugging her. He was standing in a fire that tore apart his throat and lungs, and was speaking with a smile rather than holding his breath.
[Lea. You can survive.]
[I’ll leave Hizen to you.]
“Uh… Ugh…”
Leasis squeezed her head like she was having a seizure on the bed. Her father found Lenny, who had failed to escape, and even hugged her.
“Oh… no, no… Father…”
[Stay alive.]
“Father… Father…”
Leasis sobbed and punched the bed. Her powerless fists rang the bed, and her heart was full of bruises.
It was her first time crying like a child. She had not been this desperate when she was living in misery being assaulted by the director of the orphanage, or when she rolled down on the floor working as a maid.
The knights who were resting in the dormitory gathered in front of her room restlessly. Her sad cries shocked them.
“Setchen, what happened to Leasis?”
“I don’t know either.”
Setchen’s golden eyes were full of anxiety. The knights sighed nervously at the closed door.
Then, the door opened and a messed up Leasis came out. Her eyes, cheeks, chin and neck were all stained with tears.
Her red eyes, which used to always be very lively, were blurred. Leasis ran somewhere, ignoring the knights who were worried about her.
Setchen followed her. Although she had a better stamina than anyone else, her legs were weak and he soon caught up with her.
“Noona!”
Setchen gripped her wrist tightly. He took a deep breath and looked at her, as their eye level had become similar.
Her beautiful smile that made everyone smile as well could not be found. Her emotionless face looked like a corpse.
“Noona… where are you going?”
“Huh? Noona, don’t go. Everyone is worried.”
The happy days with the knights unfolded in front of her eyes. She had been happy. Happy enough to turn a blind eye to the painful past.
Her red eyes got wet little by little. She raised her hand and stroked Setchen’s head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Noona…”
“I can’t… stay here anymore.”
Leasis spoke coldly and shook off Setchen’s hand. She took a secret passage and prepared a horse.
Riding on the horse, Leasis grabbed the reins and bit her lips.
‘I need the truth. What caused the fire on that day.’
Leasis first started by visiting Ramashter’s mansion. Interestingly, the shortcut she had taken in the old carriage came to her mind.
As she got closer to the Oles mansion, her heart started to pound uneasily. The mansion where she arrived suddenly overlapped with her childhood memories.
Strangely, it was clearer than when she had been on a mission not too long ago. Leasis shivered at the feeling.
[Leasis, are you here?]
“Ah…”
The woman with the white roses in her hands, the wife of her teacher. Leasis stared blankly at her. Even now, she seemed like she was going to welcome her if she crossed the iron gate. A charming smile, a sweet scent of white roses.
Leasis, who got lost in contemplation, took a hold of herself.
‘I don’t have time for this.’
Leasis slowly got off the horse. When she grabbed the iron gate, the gilatans on the roof silently let her enter the mansion.
Even though it was late, Ramashter welcomed her gladly. He sat in front of her at the table with a cup of warm tea.
A wrinkled face and gray hair. Leasis looked carefully at Ramashter and shivered.
In front of her, the images of a young Ramashter and a beautiful lady next to him overlapped. She was always wearing a beautiful flower crown made of white roses.
[Leasis, take this.]
[Thanks!)
She was so nice that her warmth remained in the gifted flowers. No, she liked her teacher’s wife more than the flowers. When she smiled, her heart felt pure.
Leasis’ eyes turned red. She could not stand the longing and shed tears.
The heavy silence gave Ramashter a strange hint. He asked cautiously.
“What’s the matter?”
Teacher
Leasis covered her mouth with her hands. An unfamiliar word that she had never said to him was about to come out.
She took a trembling breath and asked.
“Ramashter-nim, how is Baron Berman’s mansion now?”
When asked an unexpected question, Ramashter raised his gray eyebrows. It was the expression that she used to see whenever she did something bad.
Leasis repressed the strange familiarity and said.
“I have something to check. Please.”
“You don’t even have to go. It’s all burned out. If you go, there will be nothing to see.”
Leasis was devastated by the words, but she did not give up. There was a possibility that she could regain her lost memory if she went back to the mansion. If there was a small clue, she had to find it.
She rose from her seat and thanked him. At that time, Ramashter spoke low.
“Take the capitain of the gilatan. He knows the way.”
Even without saying anything, it seemed that Ramashter had read her mind.
Leasis bowed to him.