Chapter 7: 7

Chapter 7 | I Will Live

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Cryer’s words came out a bit strange because of the pressure against his mouth. Olivia bit her lip as she pressed her finger up to Cryer’s lips.

[Olivia] “Don’t make that face.”

[Cryer] “What?”

[Olivia] “You are the most important piece of this puzzle! You are the one who started and ended the war! Slave, ancient gods—whatever! It was you! It was always you!”

The finger that was up against his mouth was trembling, dragging down his lower lip until it eventually fell away entirely. As Olivia held her breath, Cryer stared at her for a second.

[Cryer] “It’s all my fault…”

[Olivia] “No, that’s not what I meant!”

Olivia roughly shook her head, and her bright red hair fluttered so brilliantly, it made it look like a flash of fire. She closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and made direct eye contact with him.

[Olivia] “There has to be a reason why he made a slave contract with you. If he just wanted to borrow the power of the ancients, then that old mage could’ve just signed the contract on his own, right? But he didn’t. Why would he choose you as the person to make the contract with? You said you died and then came back to life, right?”

[Cryer] “Before my resurrection, I was just a regular knight.”

[Olivia] “What else can you remember?”

Cryer did not answer Olivia’s question.

Truthfully, he….didn’t know.

[Olivia] “You don’t remember, do you?”

[Cryer] “That…..that’s right. My memories….”

[Olivia] “They could contain the key to breaking the slave contract. We have to find it somehow. We have to find your past. Even if it turns out not to be the clue we need, it might be something else!”

Cryer traced his hand across the mark on his chest. The only memories that still came to him were of when he was branded.

It was the mage who put the seal on him, but it was his daughter who made it.

[???] ‘…….Follow…….Chosen one……..together…….’

Again, Olivia’s hand rested over the back of his own.

Even now, she didn’t know why she felt the need to touch him. It was just that whenever he reached for his chest like that, there was this strange emptiness in his eyes, so she always ended up reaching out without realizing it.

Holding his hand with so much force that her knuckles turned white, Olivia stared straight at Cryer.

[Olivia] “I will live. So I won’t let you start a war. And I won’t let you hold the blood of this whole world in your hands.”

His eyes were filled with such darkness in comparison to Olivia’s, which burned brightly like blue flames lighting up the night. But as he stared into her eyes, there were now fragments of something—something he himself did not recognize.

Though he could not put this into words, these were the small fragments of something called hope.

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On a night like this, where the clouds cover the sky, even the moonlight was dim.

There was someone sitting on the ground, frantically digging underneath a large tree, his eyes gleaming like those of an owl trying to escape the dawn.

Dig, dig, dig—

He did not work with a shovel or any other kind of tool, but rather with his bare hands, pushing aside large amounts of dirt at random. He dug and dug with no end in sight like a madman.

Just beyond the Imperial capital, where it was seemingly deserted it was so empty…..

[???] “Hah, ha. Hmph, ugh.”

It was a strange sight, someone digging so panicked while breathing heavily—his eyes hardly blinking. If anyone were to catch a glimpse of him, surely they would go running off, urgently calling for the guards.

He spent some time like this, though one cannot know for certain exactly how long. By the time his hands began to slow, there was a deep hole dug within the earth. 

Just the right size to bury a body.

The man sat completely still. He looked down at the blackened soil, then arched his head and stared up at the even darker sky. His hands were covered with dirt, his nails chipped and missing as blood seeped out from them, and his clothes were entirely ragged.

Time passed as he stared up at the sky, ignoring the ground beneath him.

Crawl—

Fwip—

There was the sound of an insect crawling, but that sound was ceased, covered by the movement of an owl taking flight. And then there was silence.

The man’s fingers twitched.

He turned his stiff neck, creaking as if he were not human, to watch the sight of an insect being torn apart, even if he could not view it from this distance.

The muscles of his face contorted, the sides of his mouth pulled to the corners of his ears. He looked to be smiling, but he was crying. His face was covered with dark red stains, but even the tears that were flowing down his cheeks could not lessen the crimson color.

And then suddenly, a mournful voice like a sob left his cracked lips.

[???] “Oh God. Have mercy on thine self.”

The man murmured to himself repeatedly, sincerely seeking mercy from the god he worshiped. But this god was not one of the many recognized across the continent. No, he was searching for something else.

His god was an ancient one—one that existed on the continent so very long ago. A god whose name, much less their form, was no longer properly remembered. But, what could be remembered was that they were far more powerful than any of the gods currently worshiped.

And this man needed that strength. Earnestly.

[???] “Oh God.”

As the man called for this nameless god, it is unknown if he received the response he desired.

Thwip—

The owl took flight once more, soaring into the sky as the once hidden moon appeared from behind the clouds for just a moment. That moonlight shone upon the man who prayed with every ounce of his heart as he sat next to a suspicious hole in the earth with his mouth gape.

And beside him was a human.

No, a corpse.

The darkness was oppressive, and he could not see for even a moment, but with the bright moonlight, the man’s face was illuminated.

[???] “Oh, God.”

He pounded his forehead against the ground, crying out to his god again and again. An innumerable amount of times, he cried out.

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And the second the moon was once more covered by the clouds, the eyes of the man flashed and twitched. His whole body contorted like that of a spider as he climbed over the hole and reached for the corpse.

Wielding his hand like it was a hook, he grabbed onto the corpse’s clothing, pulling it into the hole. And as he looked down at the body, the man’s voice was a little anxious.

[???] “I should have done more.”

Perhaps just a little more would have been better. Just a few more ceremonial sacrifices for his god!

Just past him was a strong, but not rough wind, but wind was just wind. This man knew better than anyone else whether or not the sacrifices had reached their limit. By now, the number of people sacrificed by him had reached ten.

Because of that, in this area, there were rumors going around that he was searching and capturing those he called sacrifices, and those rumors were getting worse. Now it would be difficult for him to find more unless he bought people.

[???] “This isn’t enough.”

The man anxiously scratched at the body, his hands chipping away the blood that had caked upon the body.

[???] “But God will always light the way.”

Then, the man started to let out a low hum as he continued to scrape away the blood.

[???] “Hmm, hmmm, hm, hmmmm.”

This situation was beyond sick and would make most people vomit, but instead, echoing out in the crisp night air was a hum, as if he were out for a spring walk.

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A decent amount of time had already passed since the sudden Continental Congress.

But even as time passed, the rumors surrounding the only Princess of Empire falling in love with a knight at first sight in the middle of the meeting did not show any sign of slowing down.

Instead….

[—] “I might be able to find someone with a similar face.”

[—] “Find one. Find someone who looks similar to him and put him somewhere the Princess can see him!”

In order to gain the attention and favor of the Princess for even a moment, they were desperately clamoring to a man who looked similar to Cryer.

[—] “What’s your name? No, your name doesn’t matter. Go find out everything you can about that knight. Especially everything about him that’s favorable!”

There was also some hustle and bustle to understand Cryer, who had somehow managed to catch Olivia’s eye. And in line with that, the ‘Knights’ from the various other countries were all moving to try and catch that same attention.

[‘Knight’] “Mind telling me a little bit about the route where the Princess usually takes her walk?”

An extremely handsome man by anyone’s standards smiled brightly with pure white teeth. His smile was arrogant beyond all belief, and yet he made such flimsy excuses, covering his true intentions.

[‘Knight’] “The path the Princess enjoys walking must be the most beautiful and pleasant of them all, so if I must walk, then I most certainly would wish to go there.”

As the blond haired knight spoke, he flashed a smile brimming with confidence towards the young maid. She looked up at him with confused eyes, blinking as he leaned closer to her.

[‘Knight’] “I swear I have no ill intentions. I only wish to take a walk—that’s all.”

The maid’s cheeks immediately reddened as that sweet and cool voice rang in her eyes. Seeing that, the knight was very confident that he would receive a favorable answer soon.

But the only thing that came back was something unexpected.

[Maid] “Come with me.”

He heard her clearly, but he was very confused, so all he could do was convey his confusion with a dazed blink.

[Maid] “I said come with me! Walk!”

This maid of the Imperial Palace shouted again, exerting her words with even more clarity this time. No, she wasn’t just shouting. She was grabbing at the hem of the knight’s clothing, roughly pulling him along with her.

[‘Knight’] “Wh, what’s wrong with you….”

The knight was so shocked that he instinctively took a step back, but the maid wasn’t deterred. Even as he retreated with hesitant steps backwards, the maid smiled brightly and boldly approached him.

[Maid] “You said you wished to go for a walk, right? Why would I tell you when I can show you personally? I can take you down the path the Princess likes to walk.”

The maid dragged the knight, who had no idea how to respond to all of this. Honestly, this wasn’t the first time those of the Imperial Palace had to deal with this.

These ‘knights’ were desperate to find out things about Olivia. Whether it was her walking times, her favorite foods, music, art—anything they could get their hands on. Anything they could use to earn even a fraction of her attention.

Not a single one of these men wielded a blade, and yet this battle was certain to be a fierce one.

Just a different kind of fierce battle than one might expect.

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Around the time that the blond knight was caught by the maid as he wandered around—

[Olivia] “Hm, I see.”

[Aide] “It’s as you thought, Your Highness.”

[Olivia] “Good job. Should this continue in the future, keep up the work.”

As Olivia nodded, the aide bowed deeply and disappeared through the door. 

Looking down, she continued sorting through the documents, each of them a detailed report of the current situation. It wasn’t just about the happenings within the Empire, but also the interactions of the other nations, so the amount of things she needed to sort through were innumerable.

But as she scanned through the documents one by one with great speed, there wasn’t a single sign of displeasure on Olivia’s expression.

She was caught up in the Continental War and died four times as a result, and one of the many valuable lessons she learned during that time was the importance of ‘knowledge’.

Knowledge was power.

That was another of the many lessons passed down through the generations of Bolsheks, but it wasn’t until after her first death that she could feel them reverberating deep through her bones.

[Cryer] “This is the first time I’ve seen someone look so happy while working.”

Olivia’s hand paused from flipping through the pages, stopping at the sound of a low voice that felt like it was resonating within her chest, even from a few steps away.

Within Olivia’s eyes was an emotion one could not describe as she watched Cryer, sitting leisurely on the other side of the room, his hand fiddling with his sword hilt.

Honestly, normally she wouldn’t be so pleased about her work.

Before her return, like any ordinary person, Olivia loathed her work. And even now, it wasn’t any kind of particular enjoyment that drove her. Rather, it was closer to her doing what she had to—gathering and extracting information.

Driven by remembering her four deaths. Not once, not twice, but four deaths. All at the hands of this man now standing in front of her. When she reminded herself that all this hard work was for the sake of her survival, that alone was enough to bring about some pleasure in working.

[Cryer] “………ncess. Princess?”

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