SOTBW - 42

Najane, with her lips tightly sealed, clenched her fists. Beyond Maximón’s bowed back, Amelia was visible. Amelia apologized and sobbed.

Najane could leave Amelia behind like this. It wouldn’t matter. She hadn’t known Amelia for very long, and their relationship would naturally end once she retrieved Luna.

She didn’t want to be swayed by Maximón’s scheme, so she turned away from Amelia. Then Amelia, who had been anxiously looking at Najane, smiled through her tears and said,

“You did well, Najane. Go quickly….”

Amelia’s voice, shouting into the void, trembled.

“Don’t look back at someone like me and just leave this place. I didn’t follow you because I wanted to be a burden to you. I just wanted to be with you. I wanted to repay you as much as you saved me. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Najane…. So please, please just go….”

Amelia cried out pitifully. Najane looked down at Maximón’s shoulder, which exuded a cold scent, and slowly closed her eyes.

She had lived almost imprisoned in the Powley mansion, and her only conversational partners were Luna and Mikael. She had never made friends. This was because she had no opportunity to go beyond the mansion walls.

She had never made friends and didn’t know how to treat people warmly. So, she rather enjoyed spending time with Amelia.

Although they met through a bad encounter, it wasn’t bad. Amelia always tried for Najane and worked hard. The fight with Cerise was difficult, but those were decent days.

Najane remembers Amelia, who hugged her tightly when she was crying and was sad along with her. Since they started living together, Amelia had never lied to Najane. She was her first friend. Perhaps her last.

She opened her eyes, thinking of Maximón’s sarcastic remark that she was soft.

Maximón was already looking down at Najane.

“Have you decided?”

“……”

“She’s not a woman I like, but since she has a pretty face, she’ll quickly repay the principal and interest if she sells her body.”

When Najane remained silent, Maximón gestured to the soldiers. Amelia, not wanting to disturb Najane’s heart any further, was dragged away very quietly.

Didina covered her mouth and swallowed her sobs. She knew that Amelia often lingered around the knights for a better life.

There wasn’t a single maid here without a story. Living as a maid was like giving up one’s own life. The maids of Romsoa knew this, but they chose this job to survive.

So, Didina tried to treat all the maids fairly and prayed that the children who had passed through her would live ordinary and peaceful days outside the Knights. She wished that Najane and Amelia… and all the girls who would have to endure even more pain and hardship in the future would live loving themselves.

Didina, unable to bear watching Amelia being dragged to the government office, lowered her head. At that moment, Najane’s fingertips grabbed Maximón’s sleeve.

“…Just a moment.”

Najane said in a small voice. Maximón tightly grasped Najane’s hand as if he had been waiting for this moment.

He could feel the trembling through her palm. Maximón cupped Najane’s cheek with one hand. He forced her to look up at him.

“If you retract your statement that you will leave Romsoa, I promise to repay that woman’s debt.”

Maximón’s voice was gentle, but without inflection.

“Say you’ll return to the Knights, Najane.”

“……”

Najane opened her mouth to answer but then closed it. She was angry at the absurd situation, but she couldn’t say anything.

She felt like she would scream if she opened her mouth. She felt like she would rant about why only she had to go through such things. She felt so overwhelmed that she felt like she would throw a tantrum like a child, wishing her body would just disappear.

She forcibly endured all her anger. Knowing that she couldn’t do anything in her current situation, she bit her lower lip until it bled. Then Maximón, rubbing Najane’s lips with his thumb, said softly,

“Even if you hate and despise me, I can’t help it anymore. You will be my knight forever.”

Maximón carefully embraced Najane. Najane didn’t resist and closed her eyes. Tears fell quickly, soaking Maximón’s shirt.

An invisible shackle gripped Najane’s ankles. He kissed Najane’s hair as if he were treating someone precious, then ordered Didina.

“Take Najane to the private residence. Until I give further orders, no one is to enter or leave that place.”

________________________________________

The place where Najane was taken, guarded by soldiers, was an abandoned private residence. The residence stood alone, quite far from the Knights’ headquarters, barracks, dining hall, and the maids’ quarters. The ivy clinging to the red bricks, now withered and dead, gave it a desolate air.

The house was originally used by the Knights’ Commander, but Maximón had long used the Knights’ barracks, not wanting to spend money on managing a separate, large residence. As if to prove that no one had entered or left for a long time, the furniture and belongings inside the residence were all covered in white cloths.

Najane entered a random room with an expressionless face. She was so exhausted that she felt like she would collapse at any moment. She was as mentally drained as when she had run away, leaving Luna behind, and wanted to sleep anywhere. She felt like everything would be resolved after a nap.

She carelessly threw off a white cloth and leaned against a dusty sofa. She didn’t want to think about anything. She truly wanted to disappear like this. If everyone could forget about her, if they could rewind all their past relationships…

Najane stared at the empty fireplace with unfocused eyes. The only reason she could barely endure was Luna. She was enduring this situation, unable to let go of herself, because of the single hope that Luna was somewhere in the Noctis Fortress.

She wondered what had happened to Amelia. She hoped she hadn’t been dragged to the government office. She hoped she wasn’t crying because of guilt. This was no one’s fault. It was just her own fault for temporarily entrusting her fate to Maximón.

Najane realized anew how lucky she had been until now. She had never had to see this side of Maximón, and he had at least shown her minimal respect.

She couldn’t easily adapt to the storm-like situation, but she understood now. This was the real Maximón Elgort. The true face of Maximón, whom many in the fortress revered and respected, yet also deeply feared.

When people reach a dead end, they instinctively reveal their true selves. No matter how much they dress it up with social skills and pretend to be good people, they have no choice but to reveal their true nature at crucial moments.

Najane had been completely fed up with Maximón’s selfish attitude and had said she would leave Romsoa in a fit of anger, but she couldn’t be sure whether that was shocking enough to draw out his true nature.

It was true that she had felt some affection for Maximón. If this hadn’t happened, she might have fallen in love with Maximón someday. But now, all those feelings had become meaningless…

Recalling Maximón’s dry, cold eyes, a surge of emotion rose in her chest. Najane clutched her chest and looked outside.

Beyond the window, she saw a garden that had been neglected for a long time, with overgrown bushes withered white. Trees that had become emaciated because of the ivy, a pond where the water flow had stopped long ago and only dry dirt remained, and a bench that was rotting and about to fall apart…

She stared at the desolate scenery and then turned around at the sound of the door opening. Maximón, looking around the residence, which was neither bright nor dark, entered the room where Najane was. Najane had turned her head away because she didn’t want to see Maximón, but realizing that she was alone with him here, she unleashed the anger she had been desperately holding back.

Najane, getting up from the sofa, slapped Maximón’s cheek with all her might. He could have avoided it, but he willingly took the blow. Blood pooled in his mouth. But he didn’t spit it out.

Maximón’s blood was red for only a moment and then quickly turned blue. Maximón, who had swallowed the blood, looked down at Najane, whose eyes were red and swollen.

Najane’s dark red eyes were full of resentment and hatred. He carefully grasped Najane’s palm, which was burning red.

“I promise to slowly repay that woman’s debt with my money. Only if you swear you won’t run away from this place.”

Maximón kissed Najane’s palm. Her palm was hot from the slap. He slid his lips along her slender palm lines and then looked at Najane. Najane was glaring at Maximón with very cold eyes.

“If you meet or talk to anyone without my permission, I will hand that woman over to the government office. Two thousand lirangs is a huge sum for an ordinary person. She will have to toil as a slave for several years to repay the principal. So please, don’t do anything foolish, Najane. I…”

I don’t want you to cry.

Maximón swallowed the rest of his words and slowly let go of her hand. Najane slapped Maximón’s cheek once more. A little blood flowed from his lips, and he licked the wound. A few drops of blood briefly appeared, but she only stared at Maximón’s eyes.

Najane said in a trembling voice.

“Why are you doing this to me? I can’t understand you at all. What are you going to do by locking me up in a place like this? Am I supposed to spin a waterwheel? Weave cloth with my hair? Or do you want me to wash myself every day and serve you every time you return from the field? Tell me…. Anything is fine, just tell me what’s on your mind. Please, please, please! Please explain!”

Najane hit Maximón’s chest repeatedly, making thudding sounds. Her sorrowful cries echoed emptily in the house.

Maximón watched Najane, who was punching him until her hand was red and swollen, and carefully grasped her slender wrist. She was crying and couldn’t look at Maximón.

“It’s natural that you don’t understand me. I don’t even know myself well.”

Maximón slowly released Najane’s wrist.

Maximón was telling the truth. He was obsessed with Najane as if he had known her for a long time. It was irritating and absurd that he had changed his heart because of just Najane, but at the same time, he constantly felt that it had to be that way.

Maximón couldn’t understand his own feelings either. Why was he resentful that Najane was close to Amelia? What did it matter to him whether she had sex with someone else or not?

If Najane said she wouldn’t fight as a knight after resolving the curse, he could simply threaten her with other means.

No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t understand. Maximón felt like he was wandering in a maze. It was as if he had been cursed. He couldn’t maintain his identity as the Maximón Elgort everyone knew, at least in front of Najane.

He felt like he had skipped through time. It felt like he had spent a long, distant time with someone named Najane Schnicks in the distant past, and then, trapped in an inexplicable trap, only Maximón retained affectionate and desperate feelings, crossing thousands of years to stand here. It was a ridiculous thought, but Maximón’s emotions were in such a disorganized state that he even created such foolish hypotheses to rationalize himself.

“I thought everything would be okay if I let you go from my heart. I thought I could go back to how I was before, without caring about you…”

He spoke softly with confused eyes. Maximón’s voice trembled faintly. Najane finally looked up at Maximón.

Maximón didn’t seem to know what he was saying. His expression clearly showed that. He looked just like a child who had accidentally kicked a ball over the fence.

“But I was wrong. I was wrong, Najane. Now, every time I think of you, I can’t even breathe, I can’t make proper judgments, and I keep cowering like a coward… I was so afraid of that that I put back into my body what I wanted to let go of the most, but nothing changed. It’s the same. I keep thinking and thinking about you…”

Najane slowly stopped crying at Maximón’s rambling words that drifted in the air. His face was distorted terribly. Like someone who had accidentally gotten hurt but was wandering around not knowing where they were injured…

She had never seen anyone in such pain, so she didn’t know what to say.

Maximón leaned his forehead against Najane’s shoulder. Maximón’s hand, which was around her shoulder, trembled slightly.

“…I can’t go back to the old days when I didn’t know you anymore. I can’t do that. I can’t, I can’t, I absolutely can’t… But you’ve come to hate me. You’re disappointed in my attitude. Tell me, what can I do? Kneel before you? Beg you not to leave?”

Najane didn’t understand Maximón’s words for a moment. From the beginning, Maximón had the upper hand in their relationship. She had no power or authority to do anything to Maximón.

Yet, Maximón was extremely anxious that Najane would abandon him. As if only Najane was the one who could determine the fate of their relationship.

It was strange.

It was as if Maximón… loved Najane….

“Do you love me?”

The trembling of Maximón, who was holding Najane, stopped at that moment. He slowly raised his head. His dark green eyes were frozen, as if they had fallen into a frozen river. Najane thought that couldn’t be.

All of that was love? No. It couldn’t be. It was just preferential treatment because she knew how to use sword energy. He would abandon her when she was no longer needed…

She had thought that he was just being unusually considerate because of the troublesome curse…

“No.”

Maximón denied firmly with a stiff face. Najane was briefly flustered by the very resolute answer. He wore a cold, stiff expression as if telling her not to say such ridiculous things.

“I don’t love you. I just…”

“……”

“……”

“…Commander?”

Maximón, who had been stepping back, left the private residence as if running away. Najane, left alone in the large room, heard the receding footsteps. She heard the heavy door outside being firmly locked.

She was left isolated. Without even properly knowing why she had to go through this.