SOTBW - 79

The soldiers guarding the private residence huddled around the campfire. They drank the hot water to thaw their frozen hands and feet.

Joshua offered them a sip of alcohol to ease their suffering. It was only because of Najane that the innocent soldiers had to endure hardship. Fortunately, the soldiers were simple-minded, and it seemed they were content with the bacon brought by the maids, despite the cold.

The guard duty at the private residence felt like a completely pointless task. Najane spent most of her time there outside of training, but she frequently went out to meet Amelia or, on the days she woke up early, would take walks because she felt stifled.

Each time, Joshua grew anxious, fearing something might happen, and discreetly assigned a few swift soldiers to follow her. However, nothing had happened, making the previous kidnapping seem all the more pointless.

The guard duty was starting to feel like a waste of time. Of course, for Joshua, it didn’t really matter. After getting an injury during a battle with the Serith knights, he had been assigned to guard duty at the private residence, which, while easy, left him slightly dissatisfied with having to go this far for just Najane.

Other knights seemed to have no special feelings for Najane yet, but Joshua saw it as clear discrimination.

A mere knight being fed and housed in the knight commander’s private residence? Every day, the maids brought in food that would make anyone’s eyes widen. Joshua, who had only seen stew full of rotten carrots and potatoes, was understandably irritated.

Drinking cheap alcohol with his face red from the cold, Joshua glanced at the road. Someone was coming. Could it be Maximón?

Joshua quickly jumped up, shouting at the soldiers to return to their positions. Though it was unlikely to be Maximón, it was better to be cautious. Maximón had been extremely busy lately. After entering the private residence, he would stay for an hour or two before returning to his office.

After briefly finishing paperwork with Jacob in the office, he would go down to the training grounds to personally teach the mercenaries, and then train the knights in the practice yard.

Maximón was a machine. In all of Romsoa, only Belshua’s physical strength could match his. So, when Joshua saw Belshua approaching the private residence, he was puzzled. Belshua was holding a bottle, presumably filled with holy water.

“B-Belshua, what are you doing here?” Joshua asked, hurriedly rubbing his hand over his mouth to hide the alcohol smell.

Belshua, who stopped in front of the main gate, gave Joshua a cold look. The sharp stench of alcohol hit him as the kettle hanging on a wooden stick was clearly full of liquor. Belshua’s face twisted in disapproval. How lax were the guards at the knight commander’s residence?

“If the commander finds out, it’s execution.”

Belshua calmly advised. Joshua awkwardly laughed.

“I only had a little because it’s so cold. Really. The soldiers kept asking me to drink…”

Joshua cowardly brought up the soldiers as an excuse, glancing nervously at Belshua.

“…Are you going to report this to the commander? We’ve fought together for years, surely you wouldn’t do that?”

Joshua said meekly, as if afraid. Belshua didn’t respond, letting out a sigh. It seemed like he was willing to overlook this once.

“Open the gate.”

Relieved, Joshua quickly opened the main gate. While no one was allowed inside when Maximón wasn’t there, Joshua hoped to avoid trouble and gestured for Belshua to enter.

Belshua quietly entered the private residence. There was no sign of anyone inside. When he reached the central living room, he stared at the firewood burning alone in the fireplace. On the table was an untouched breakfast that had gone cold. It was still early, too early for the knights who had just returned from the field to be awake. Najane had probably collapsed into bed as soon as she returned.

Belshua, fiddling with the wine bottle, glanced at the several closed doors. If he listened carefully, he could tell where Najane was.

Belshua politely knocked on the bedroom door. He only planned to check if her injury had healed and then leave. If the wound was severe, he intended to use Selene’s magic to treat it.

Belshua, holding the bottle of holy water, carefully pushed the door open. Inside, he saw Najane, wrapped in a blanket like clothing, sleeping on the excessively large bed. She appeared to be naked, her white back exposed. Belshua, startled, glanced outside before slowly stepping inside.

There was a faint scent in the bedroom. Belshua knew exactly what it was. It was the sticky scent left behind after a man and a woman had joined physically. There was no reason to be shocked. In fact, Belshua’s face remained calm, as if he had expected it.

Belshua didn’t place much significance on human mating. While humans often used sex to confirm affection, to Belshua, it seemed like nothing more than an act of reproduction for the species. He had no desire to engage in such acts, and in fact, found them meaningless.

Perhaps this was because Belshua was a dragon. Dragons were born from the magical currents that flowed through the world, and thus, they had no obligation to reproduce their species. While some dragons did indulge in pleasures, such individuals were exceedingly rare.

Mating with humans or other beings is a very troublesome matter for a dragon. First, they must use magic to change their gender and transform into a human, then create their own reproductive organs. Dragons do not have reproductive organs by nature. Even if they manage to create them, the chances of experiencing pleasure are very low.

Of course, Belshua, trapped in the body of a paladin, has the ability to feel human-like pleasure since he possesses the necessary organs. However, in the countless years he has lived, he never once thought about using them.

Belshua placed the holy water on the mantel and approached Najane. It was a relief that she was asleep. If her wound had been serious enough to require magical treatment, it was better for her to be asleep than awake.

Belshua cautiously sat at the edge of the bed and looked down at Najane, who had her face buried in the blanket. She must have been very tired, as she was completely unconscious. Belshua, relieved, was about to remove the blanket wrapped around her waist but hesitated.

If her injury had been severe, would Maximón have touched her? He would have called all the priests from the Church of the Holy Union’s Noctis branch and Gwyneth to treat her. He would have stayed by her side all day, restless.

So, she wasn’t badly hurt after all.

I’m glad it wasn’t something she suffered from while I wasn’t around.

As Belshua was about to leave the room, he glanced at Najane’s sleeping face one last time. Due to the heat from the fireplace, she had kicked off the blanket she had been tightly holding with one foot. Belshua was about to leave the room but couldn’t help but feel uneasy about her exposed waist and lower abdomen. He gently covered her up again.

In doing so, he remembered old thoughts he had long forgotten.

When Selene was young, she hated sleeping with a blanket. If Mahilen or the nursemaid briefly looked away, she would lie down on the cold marble floor to sleep. Even though she would suffer from a stomach ache the next day, she insisted on sleeping in a cool place, and it was so difficult to comfort her. During those times, Mahilen would place the whimpering Selene on her chest and gently pat her to get through the long nights.

Selene loved sleeping in Mahilen’s arms.

Eventually, this became a habit, and whenever something happened, Selene would eagerly hug Mahilen and chatter about her day. The good things, the bad things, the sad things, and the happy things. Because of this, Mahilen thought that when Selene became an old, wrinkled grandmother, she would peacefully close her eyes in Mahilen’s embrace.

She truly believed that.

She never expected Selene would take her own life…

Belshua reached out to touch the cheek of the sleeping Najane, but hesitated and withdrew his hand. Looking at Najane, unaware and peacefully asleep with her small mouth slightly open, Belshua couldn’t help but chuckle. Having watched Najane reincarnate for thousands of years, he had never seen such a calm moment before.

Of course, this is only a brief moment of peace. Far greater tragedies and trials await Najane.

Despite knowing that he must only watch the events unfold, Belshua’s heart sometimes wavered. He knew that no matter what happened to Najane here, no matter how terrible the experiences she endured, she would never die.

Unless Maximón drove a sword through her heart, she would live on until she fulfilled her destiny. Whether Belshua intervened or not, the being called Emaydis was doomed to face the insurmountable challenges ahead, becoming unhappy in the process.

It was no coincidence that Najane had gone through particularly miserable reincarnations. It was her own choice.

She sought to gain the power to change the world at the cost of her own suffering...

Belshua continued to gaze at Najane for a long time, then, after a moment of hesitation, touched a strand of her hair.

“I know you’re no longer the person I knew. You’re only similar in soul, but after hundreds of reincarnations, you’re almost a completely different person. At first, I felt relieved when I saw you. You didn’t resemble that person at all. You were so different from the person I knew...”

Najane had reincarnated long ago as a hideous beggar.

She had severe skin diseases, several lumps on her face, and her twisted eyes, nose, and mouth made her a monster, ridiculed and ostracized by everyone.

No one would marry such a woman, and her poor parents sold her into slavery. As a slave, Najane was forced to cross a mountain pass in the rain, chained alongside other slaves. When they stopped for a break in the middle of the mountain, bandits attacked the slave caravan.

The bandits dragged the women to their hideout and raped them. Najane was the first to die among the women, killed simply because she was too ugly to look at. She begged for her life, but she was thrown off a cliff.

Her body was so disfigured that it was nearly unrecognizable, and wild animals devoured it, leaving behind no trace of her human form. Belshua found the remains and buried her in a hidden place, silently weeping as he did so.

How long until it’s okay? How much longer will it take before I can watch you die and accept it without feeling anything...?

So, when Maximón and Najane finally met, Belshua thought that everything was over and felt a sense of relief. He didn’t care how Najane was treated by Maximón. It would be sad and painful, but that was all.

Belshua had lived through tens of thousands of years, forced to live on. There were no more tears to shed. So much time had passed that the tears had run dry. By then, he had watched Najane reincarnate and die in misery time and time again, and witnessing her horrible life and painful death had worn him out, causing his human heart to wither away.

Maximón, Najane, and Mahilen had to meet their end, one way or another.

Either they all disappear, or a new beginning is forged. It didn’t matter which. As long as someone could save him from eternity...

This was the last chance. The first and final opportunity to reverse everything. Belshua watched Maximón and Najane with thorough attention. He knew his role, and thus acted with cold detachment. His task was merely to watch and ensure that fate did not deviate from its preordained path.

Now, no matter what happens to you, I won’t feel sadness.

No matter how much you are tormented or hurt, I will just watch.

I won’t move an inch. No matter what shocking event occurs, I will never, never rush to your side...

But when the carriage Najane was riding in overturned and her small body was flung out, Belshua, knowing full well that he should let her body be crushed and destroyed, used magic. For a brief moment, he lost his composure, thinking that this might be his chance to save Selene’s soul.

Yes.

Selene Bastronia.

No, since you are a sorceress, I should call you Emaydis Bastronia. You said you didn’t want to be called by that name anymore because you had tarnished the name Emaydis, but you will always be Mydis. Even after all this time, you are still Emaydis. The first life I saved with these hands, tainted by sin and punishment. Weak, yet never defeated by anyone, beautiful and noble—my love...

Belshua’s face twisted in sorrow as he slowly withdrew his hand from Najane.

“...Mydis. If I save you again next time, would it be okay? Would you still want that?”

Belshua listened intently for a reply, but upon hearing none, he squeezed his eyes shut.

“You might not know it, but someone has interfered with the destiny you had designed. It’s probably Kieron. The only one who would follow us this far and do something like this is him. I don’t know how he’s still alive without dying...”

At that moment, Najane muttered in her sleep and kicked the blanket off again. Belshua chuckled softly and neatly fixed the tangled blanket, covering her once more. Selene also had bad sleep habits. Whenever they had to camp together, everyone would avoid Selene and spread their sleeping bags far from her.

Only Sainth would endure getting punched by Selene’s tiny fists while stubbornly staying by her side. Mahilen didn’t need sleep, so she kept watch over the two of them, tending the campfire.

Najane was born solely for Maximón.

If there ever comes a day when you call me Mahilen instead of Belshua...

Belshua leaned closer to Najane, as though he might kiss her while she slept, but slowly withdrew and got up from the bed.

When the bell signaling noon rang, Najane, buried under the blanket like a cocoon, slowly opened her eyes. Rubbing her slightly swollen eyes, she got out of bed and saw the holy water placed on the mantel.

Wrapped in the blanket, still groggy, Najane picked up the bottle of holy water. She shook it, thinking it might be an empty bottle, but a faint cool sound came from inside.

Did the priest who visited this morning forget it? Wondering, Najane placed the holy water on the bedside table and, still puzzled, changed her clothes. After wrapping a bandage around her chest and donning a thick coat, she went to grab her sword, when she suddenly smelled a faint refreshing scent.

Standing still, Najane sniffed the air, trying to find the source of the scent. It was coming from the holy water bottle on the table. She removed the cork and sniffed the contents.

“...Lemon? Is this lemon water, not holy water?”

It definitely seemed like holy water.

Najane tilted her head in confusion, then yawned and left the room. The noon bell was unusually loud today. After quickly washing her face and filling her stomach lightly, she left the residence. The soldiers stationed by the wall looked at her expectantly. She smiled and gestured to the residence.

“There’s plenty of food left today, so if anyone wants some, feel free to share. Sorry for always leaving the food half-eaten.”

Of course, most of the food had not been touched, but she didn’t mention that. As soon as she gave her permission, the soldiers rushed inside like they hadn’t eaten for days. Joshua shot a disapproving glance at the soldiers before quickly turning his gaze away as soon as he met Najane’s eyes.

Najane, giving a polite nod to Joshua, carried the water bottle containing the holy water and went down the path. She was headed to see Gwyneth. If anyone could immediately tell whether the liquid inside the bottle was holy water, it would be the Archbishop.