Chapter 80: CH 80

Chapter 80 (To The West)

Asrahan had just returned from his first battle when he received the letter.

It was not Halstein sending him a telegram in the middle of a war. Sensing that something had happened, he immediately tore the envelope and took out the letter.

One sent by Halstein and one written by Lariette. Halstein began by saying that he hoped Asrahan would not be too shocked, and then explained that Lariette had left a letter and disappeared.

‘Disappeared?’

Asrahan was again gripped with the horrors of her being kidnapped. I was worried that she might get caught up in something dangerous again.

However, Lariette’s letter that he later confirmed shocked him even more.

It wasn’t that she got caught up in an urgent case and disappeared. She had left at her own will.

‘There is no way Lariette wrote it.’

Asrahan thought so. Even though he recognized Lariette’s unique handwriting, which was fluid and elegant, his thoughts were resolute.

The handwriting could easily be faked by someone else. The stationery was also Kandel’s paper, but if you decide to steal it, there’s nothing you can’t do.

You can fake everything in the world, but you can’t fake your heart.

Asrahan believed in what Lariette had shown him until now. There was no doubt that the sweet and tender words and the lovely smile were sincere.

Still, he couldn’t stop the intense anxiety and impatience that drove him away from sleep.

‘It can’t be. It can’t be.’

Over and over again, Asrahan cut off the enemy’s head.

His impatience was soon revealed in his actions. He fought day and night.

Other generals criticized Asrahan’s decision as being too reckless and hasty. They mocked him that it had been a long time since he had left the battlefield and that he had lost his sense of being a war lord.

However, as the battle continued and news of victory spread, they soon shut their mouths. Losing his senses, Asrahan took part in every battle and took hundreds of lives in an instant.

The morale of the Imperial soldiers soared to the sky with his amazing skills, and the Danube soldiers were busy running around. He swings his sword and swings it again and again without any rest, even on the same level as a monster.

“Indeed Duke Kandel! It was a really strange tactic.”

The generals quickly changed their attitude and praised Asrahan. To Asrahan It was just funny.

There was no tactic. He just fought like crazy to go back and see Lariette.

As a result, Asrahan decapitated Jeremy Danube, Crown Prince of the Danube. The war ended so quickly that it was embarrassing to even call it a war, and the soldiers joked that the hard-earned tent was not worth it.

On the way back to the capital.

Asrahan, who stood at the front of the procession, looked at the clock tower of the small capital city in the distance and thought of Lariette again.

I only read it once, but I remembered everything in the letter. The words felt like they were etched into his skin.

Asrahan wanted to throw away the horrible letter right away, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t throw away what she wrote.

Asrahan bit down hard on his lip as the words continued in his head. He muttered, “It can’t be true,” like a spell to dismiss the thought.

In truth, Asrahan knew. With Laliette gone, the letter had to have been written by her. The handwriting was too identical for someone else to have copied it

Still, Asrahan continued to convince himself that Lariette couldn’t do that. Even if what she wrote was true and it was true that she left, he thought that there must be other circumstances.

It was unavoidable. He couldn’t stay sane without such shallow beliefs..

‘I don’t believe this is your true intention.’

Asrahan took something shiny from the pocket of his uniform and gently rubbed it with his thumb as if making a wish. The silver pendant was given by Lariette.

I touched it so often that the work of the pendant was worn out in just two weeks. However, thanks to the careful maintenance during the bloody battle, the surface was shiny and the jewels were clean without any blemishes.

When I looked at the purple jewel that resembled Lariette’s eyes, my heart ached. It was because he remembered the moment we had our last kiss before leaving the mansion.

‘I will only believe what I have seen with my own eyes.’

He gazed at the approaching capital city and kissed the pendant. His piercing blue eyes flashed with a strong will to find her.

Asrahan ignored the Emperor’s welcome and headed straight to the Kandel mansion. I would have been called arrogant, but I didn’t care at all.

“Master, are you here?”

Halstein greeted Asrahan with a subtle expression. He was happy that his young master had returned, but the reality he had to face was terribly sad.

Asrahan slowly climbed the stairs and headed for the room. To the place where he had breakfast with Lariette.

There was nobody in the room. Just like when he cursed himself for being alive every morning before I met Lariette. It was an empty and hard room.

“… There were no signs of her.”

Halstein said in a gloomy voice. Asrahan’s tightly clasped hands were very sad.

“I’m sending my knights to keep looking, but…”

“I will go out.”

He tried to explain the mysterious rumors around the capital, but Asrahan stopped him.

“Yes? Where are you going?”

“I will be late.”

He left the room without answering Halstein’s question. It was also because he didn’t know where he was going.

I just wanted to leave this place. Because the realization that Lariette was gone, in a room full of memories of her, was too much to bear.

* * *

“Kyaa! He-help!”

The capital’s new town, the central square with the most people coming and going.

At the scream of the woman who ripped ears off, people kicked their tongues and duck for cover.

An innocent civilian was forcibly taken away by a man, but there was no one to help her. It was because her hair was red, bordering on pink.

“It’s begun again.”

“It was quiet for a while. Are they going to just grab the red hair now?”

“He’s taking his anger out on innocent people for being dragged into war!”

People lowered their voices, swearing at the monster Duke as madman.

However, they didn’t help the woman who cried out for her life. They were afraid to fly in the eyes of a monster Duke, so they just sympathized with the feeling of pity.

“No, no, no!”

“Come with me now! Will you listen to me if I cut off your legs?”

As the woman’s rebellion grew stronger, the man in the knight’s costume was furious. Despite the horrific threats, the woman didn’t give up and punched the man.

Puck! A small hand struck the man’s chin. Then his eyes suddenly became colder.

“This…!”

Soon, he couldn’t contain his anger and pulled his sword out of its sheath. With a hiss, the blade glowed, and the woman collapsed in fear.

“A mere commoner rebels against the Kandel knight?

“He-help, me…”

The woman trembled as the sharp sword pointed towards her. She wanted to run away even by crawling, but her limbs had no strength.

People in the square cursed Kandel and felt sorry for the woman, but they did not take their eyes off the scene of the man approaching the woman. It was as if they were expecting a provocative outcome.

Then, under the bright sunlight, the man raised his sword. They closed their eyes tightly because they couldn’t see the woman having her legs cut off.

Kaang-!

However, the moment the man swung his sword with enthusiasm, something suddenly popped out and blocked his path.

It was a longsword.

Excited to set an example, the man’s face contorted in horror as he realized my plan had failed.

How dare you, I’m knight of Kandel! As the pride that had permeated his entire body was scratched, a fire erupted in his chest.

“Do you know who I am…”

The man opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He turned his head to face the knight, and the face he saw was vaguely familiar.

Jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes. He stood a head taller than the average man and had a massive build. The lack of bandages confused him for a moment, but the terrifying aura was unmistakable: it belonged to the Duke of Kandel.

Realizing that, the man’s face turned white in an instant.

“I really want to know who you are.”

Asrahan slowly reached out and gripped the sword.

Crack! With a clear sound, the hard sword broke like a branch.

“Who dares you to borrow Kandel’s name to attack civilians?”

It was such a ferocious voice that it gave him chills. Even the expressionless face had a deep anger.

Judging by the whispers around him, it didn’t seem like it was done once or twice. They would take the pink-haired woman indiscriminately and use force if they didn’t listen.

In other words, it meant that Lariette could have been treated the same way.

“Are you trying to threaten my lover?”

My lover, my family and my savior. No matter what reason she left him, this fact was still there.

So Asrahan immediately reached out and grabbed the man’s neck.

“Ouch! Y, Your Grace, you’re wrong…! Ugh!”

“Tell me. Who did it?”

“Y, Your Grace, ugh, you want me to catch her somehow….”

A deep wrinkle formed between Asrahan’s forehead. It was true that I had ordered them to find her somehow, but I never ordered them to bring her back like a runaway slave.

Is that one word twisted like this? It was absurd. Unless someone intended.

“Gerard.”

“Yes, I will investigate it.”

“What about the one I ordered earlier?”

Asrazan threw the man he was holding in his hands to the floor as if he were trash. Even if he misunderstood the order, he couldn’t forgive the person who recklessly mentioned Kandel and attacked civilians.

Moreover, he was a freshman who had just joined Kandel. Normally, he would have been far below Gerard in the chain of command, but with most of the regular knights mobilized for the war, he had been neglected.

“A few weeks ago, she bought some magical hair dye in town. The color is randomly selected, and if you take good care of it, it will last a month.”

Gerard looked at Asrahan’s eyes and recited the information he had gathered. He knew of every item Lariette had purchased before leaving Kandel mansion.

“Cloak, pants, traveling magic backpack, bandana, dry food….”

It was an item for travel by anyone looking at it. This really meant that Lariette was preparing to leave in advance.

Why?

Why the hell?

Asrahan recalled a question he couldn’t find an answer to.

I felt like my heart was being ripped in pieces. Numerous questions were buzzing around in my head.

If it had been going on for so long, why didn’t she tell me? Was I not good enough?

If not…

Did you really not like me?

Thud. My heart sank with a loud sound. Blood trickled from my bruised lips. It was an assumption he’d never wanted to make, but circumstances kept pushing him toward it.

“Are you okay? Your face….”

“Keep going.”

Gerard looked at Asrahan’s face with a gloomy gaze. His master’s face was paler than that knight who had his head hit the ground and fainted, so even if he didn’t want to worry, he couldn’t help it.

‘That bad woman! How dare you attack our innocent Master…!’

I was crazy thinking she was pretty and kind! Gerard cursed his past for being kind to Lariette, and cursed her as well.

Nothing good ever comes of a man who is abandoned by his lover, and she will pay  the price for abandoning my master! I vowed that if I ever saw her again, I’d rip her head off

“I told you to keep going.”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

After Gerard stood silently for a long time, Asrahan ordered the report with a sharp gaze.

Gerard opened his mouth in embarrassment at the fact that he thought of ‘attacking’ and ‘innocent’ for his master.

“Magic tent, monster repellent spray, magic sleeping bag….”

Buying four magic items would have cost you some money. Gerard was a little exasperated. She could have traveled across the continent if she wanted to.

“Scorpion repellent spray, desert shoes, desert hood.”

Oh Gerard let out an exclamation as if he had realized it. Asrahan and Gerard’s eyes met.

Scorpion and desert. There was only one place in the Empire where such a thing could be.

The desert region of the west, Ashtar.

Asrahan recalled the contents of the letter again.

If the breakup was something Lariette had planned in advance, the letter she left could also be sincere.

She really saw the relationship as a three-month contract, and now she may want to leave him and find new happiness.

If you truly love Lariette, you should respect her will as well.

“… Let’s go.”

“Yes? Ah, would you like to go back to the mansion?”

Gerard shook his head, saying that it was a good idea at Asrahan’s calm voice.

They had just returned from the battlefield. No matter how physically strong a knight of Ranoche is, there is no way he will not be without exhaustion. In his heart, he wanted to go back and rest.

But Asrahan’s next words shattered his hopes.

“To the west.”

It’s not true love, it’s okay to curse.

Now, I just desperately needed Lariette.