Okay. know.
There are definitely times when something unfamiliar is better than something familiar.
The fact that there are such times means that âthere areâ or âthere are notâ. That means that in most cases, unfamiliar things are not pleasant.
âKyrie.â
âyes. âYour Majesty.â
âWhat happens after a person dies? âHave you ever thought about it?â
âa lot.â
âWhat do you think will happen?â
âIâve never come up with an answer.â
âwhy.â
âDoes it have any meaning?â
âIs there no meaning?â
âRaise Cinasta on the grave, or float Annerusia on the river. It is said to be an act of comforting the departed, but we do not know whether they really accept Sinasta and say goodbye, or whether they walk away following the light on Anne Lucia and truly receive comfort. âI donât know anything.â
âyes. âI donât know anything.â
âyes. Isnât it just something the living created to accept separation from the dead? Then, wouldnât thinking about what happens to those who have ended their lives have no more meaning than self-satisfaction for the living?â
I am not happy with unfamiliar things.
In general, not everyone is happy.
âI thought the King was thinking the same thing as me.â
âItâs meaningless to think or mourn after death?â
âyes. Thatâs right.â
âWhy did you think that?â
âThe King has not yet placed Sinasta on the Blue Warblerâs grave. So thatâs what I thought.â
âDid I do that⦠I donât really remember.â
âItâs already been a year. As time passed, whenever he had time, he went there and emptied his liquor bottle. âYou havenât taken Sinasta with you even once.â
âNot for that reason. Thatâs because grandiose flowers like cynasta donât suit Aila. âAila, youâre already pretty even without something so loud on your head.â
âMy lord.â
âhuh.â
âThe blue warbler is dead.â
I am never happy with unfamiliar things.
â⦠Is that so?â
âyes. Dead. âA year ago.â
âYes⦠Aila is dead. Thatâs how it happened.â
âI know how many people the King thinks of when he looks at the grave of one blue warbler. The people the King personally killed and even Devlan. I know that it seems like they are all buried together in that grave. âYou need so many Synastars that you canât even climb all the way up to the grave, but I also know that you canât do it because you think that no matter how many Synastars you raise, it wonât be of any use.â
ââ¦â¦Did I even talk in my sleep? âWhy do you know me so well?â
âMy lord.â
âhuh.â
âThe reason people place Sinasta on the graves of the departed is not because they do not know that it is meaningless. It is not because we have meaningful thoughts about what happens to the dead person. Even though people know everything, they still do such meaningless things. Thatâs because you have to let them go at least that way to survive.â
âBut I want to live.â
âI do it because I want to live.â
âIf I do that, will I survive?â
âIf you do that, you will survive.â
âWill you survive if you do that?â
âSomehow⦠I survive.â
âThen Kirie.â
âyes. âYour Majesty.â
âIf you let me go like that, I will. After that. âWho do you blame and who do you ask for forgiveness?â
Devlan is dead. And the blue warbler died.
The blue warbler died as if it were payment for the many lives that died for no reason. He died so proudly, as if to experience for himself what he had done, as if to realize for himself what it means to never return.
âCanât a king live without someone to blame and ask for forgiveness?â
âI lived to protect my brother. After protecting them, resentment and atonement remainedâ¦â
The world that came after those two died and disappeared was unfamiliar. It was something I had never thought about. There were no more lives to kill for no reason, and there were no more lives to desperately protect. There was no longer anyone to blame or anyone to whom one could receive atonement.
âIf I let go of resentment and atonement as I please. Now then, where should I live?â
Unable to endure that unfamiliar world, he summoned a ghost every night.
Devlan came by every night. Many people came to remember the Blue Warbler without forgetting a single one.
I complained every night. I asked for forgiveness. After waking up, an unfamiliar day with nothing left began again. After surviving that day, a ghost would come to visit me without fail.
âDo you remember the knight of Tensil who was shipwrecked and washed up dead not long ago?â
âI remember.â
âIs there any difference between the King now and him?â
âIs there any difference?â
âIs there any difference between the King who lives holding on to resentment and atonement because he has nothing to live for right now, and the person who drank sea water because he had nothing to drink right now? In the end, you will dry up and die, so what difference does it make? So stop drinking salt water. âWhy do you keep swallowing?â
Kyrie said so.
âAt least spit it out. That way you can breathe. Thatâs how you live. Even if itâs just occasionally, please⦠come out of the water and vomit.â
He told me to spit it out.
He said if you have to swallow it, do it.
But Bern did not do that.
It has dried up. I went crazy.
As if it was falling apart little by little. As if it is being chipped away. As if it was being erased.
* * *
The sky, which had been dyed red, shone blue.
It was beautifully colored, conveying signs of regret at leaving the day just before the dark night or joy at welcoming rest. All the colors that exist between red and blue were mixed together as if they were all in one place.
Meanwhile, I just watched my brother sitting with his head down.
If you insist that this is all because of you, they will refute it by saying, âWhy is it because of me? Itâs because of Brissen, Sillike, and Lemain.â If you argue and say that itâs all because of me, âWhy is it because of you?â âItâs because of itâ Iâll explain it to you.
Fools canât even say that to each other.
â â¦â¦ Tuk.
I was unable to say my final goodbyes to Silike.
Failure to prepare Annerusia for Silike.
âIâm sorry.â
I just told him what I had been putting off.
â Tuk. Tuk.
There was nothing more to say to the peas, who were only giving salt water to the healthy flowers, so they kept their mouths shut. Now, all I could do was listen to the sound of salt water dripping onto the flower petals that I was barely able to spit out.
I kept seeing only the shadows that continued for a long time in the dazzling sunset light and then disappeared into darkness.
So that the sunset sky turns blue.
So that the longer shadow becomes darker.
He stayed by my side in silence for quite some time.
â Tap⦠tap.
Then, at some point, I noticed that the sound was quieting down. A little later, I realized that the flowers had stopped getting wet and that I could no longer hear the sound of tapping petals to my bright ears.
Just like that, the crying stopped quietly.
The silent vomiting stopped without a sound.
Calian let out a long, silent sigh. Then he turned his head to look at Planz and smiled faintly. This is because I noticed that the pea kept sitting still with its head down.
Brother, you may not have known this because it was your first time crying, but in fact, peopleâs eyes swell after crying. Since I donât have Hina and two circles have been created on my heart, I wonât be able to go to a healer. I decided to have a meal with my fiancé, so Iâm sure Lirie is still there. Brother, if you keep lying down like that, your eyes will only swell more. Itâs really instantaneous for Lucy to look like the frog she was catching. Are you going to eat with Riri with a frog face? Should I at least teach you how to compress your eyes?
I was thinking about saying something like that.
âPlanz.â
ââ¦â¦ why.â
little bit more.
Just a moment more.
Instead of Kalian, he spoke again in Bern. But I couldnât speak for a while. There was a time when I comforted Jan who was letting out all of his inner thoughts, but I was a bit lost on how to deal with a guy who just cried without saying a word.
âI wish I had called.â
If you call me, say something.
The pea that said this raised its head.
Bern, who saw that, forgot to answer and frowned.
ââ¦â¦ and.â
It didnât swell.
Vern was looking at Vern with light green eyes that were not as swollen as the eyelids and had the appearance of having just had cat hair removed from his eyes.
It is unfair. The guy who cried a lot, his eyes are fine. No, I even heard the sound of a toad from my Hina, but why is she so fine?
âwhy.â
âno.â
âWhat.â
âI just felt unfair for a moment.â
âwhat.â
âThere is such a thing.â
What is it? Sispanian knew that the pale guy would be the youngest, so he generously gave me the remaining blessings, so I guess mine were a little lacking. I guess he was wondering if there would be a third child. Sispanian probably didnât expect that one of your descendants would be such a mule-like, cow-like, non-existent guy, and that he would have three sons.
I, who am very understanding, should understand.
âMy younger brother said that. You asked me to talk to you without even saying that it was unfair.â
âThatâs right. Your brother.â
âYou too. Shouldnât you tell me whatâs unfair and letâs talk about it?â
â⦠I feel like Iâve only been talking about myself since a while ago. Iâm here to comfort you, but itâs not your place to be curious about me, right?â
âDoes it matter?â
âDoes it matter?â
Bern, who answered as if repeating the words, looked at Plantz.
Thereâs still some time left until the dinner date, and that guy probably doesnât want to show off in front of Riri by showing a catâs fur in his eyes. It wouldnât be a bad idea to talk a little more. Thatâs why I thought that way.
âThere are many things that are unfair to me, too.â
And then he opened his mouth like this.
However, instead of saying it was unfair because your eyes werenât swollen, I came up with something else. Since he doesnât know how to fully reveal whatâs on his mind and just keeps trying to learn, the only way he can do it is to show it first until he realizes and learns how to let out his true feelings.
âWhen I fell into the sea for the first time, when I picked up a knife without being able to convince myself for the right reason, and when I found out that a blue bird that I thought would be forever beautiful had died. It was unfair.â
ââ¦â¦ okay.â
âWell, itâs not just the big things that are unfair.â
âthen.â
âIt was unfair that my older brother didnât give me the money he had bet on and pretended not to know. I also felt very unfair when my older brother suddenly came to me one day and told me, âI canât watch you anymore, so get out of the palace.ââ
After saying this, Bern raised his finger and pointed it once at the sky and then at his own ship.
âIt was just this time. When I started getting hungry.â
ââ¦Iâm hungry.â
âIt was even more unfair because I was hungry. No matter how much you kick people out, you still have to give them food before sending them out.â
Nod.
I canât believe I thought about starving that guy.
The purple-eyed king is definitely a terrible guy.
âAnd. On the cliff.â
âWhy the cliff?â
âYour brother once told me that there was a time when I fell off a cliff after drinking.â
âThere was.â
âAfter leaving the palace, I started out on the road without any help. I was walking day after day as if I were going to survive, but a rocky cliff blocked my path. As I was looking at it, I felt a sense of jealousy. Just because I left the palace, I was wondering if something was blocking my way.â
âYou can just go back.â
âIt was after drinking.â
â⦠I understand.â
âOkay. Anyway, so I climbed up, wondering if I could get past that one thing. I felt good after everything went up. Then what would I have done?â
âDrinking.â
âOkay. I happily sat down and had a few drinks.â
âI was drunk.â
âI woke up while climbing the cliff. So I drank more. After drinking half of my drink, I was about to go down to the other side, but I felt a little sad. Then what would I have done?â
âAlcohol.â
âThatâs right.â
Who taught me that?
Heâs really smart.
âSo I thought I should just have one more drink and took out the bottle, but my hand slipped.â âI was drunk
. â
âNo, I said I slipped. I slipped and missed the bottle. So I took a step to catch it and rolled down.â
Bern said this and held up a thumb.
âIt took a long time to go up, but it came down very quickly.â
Plantz let out a long sigh as if he had asked a pointless question.
Bern grinned and continued,
âI lost my mind when we all came down, but I remember that clearly. âI came down really fast.â
â⦠Yes.â
âThen I opened my eyes and there was strange grass all over my body and everyone asked me if I was crazy, why I climbed up there and why I drank alcohol. . Not knowing that I was the king, everyone believed that I was drunk and ran away.â
âItâs true.â
âOh, of course I was crazy. Itâs true that I was a little drunk. But obviously I didnât roll over because I was drunk. I fell while trying to grab the bottle. It would have been less unfair if I had heard those words after I had finished drinking.â
âThat⦠is unfair.â
âThatâs right. Thatâs unfair.â
âAt best.â
âAt best. Thatâs harsh. People are a group of people who feel wronged over everything that is not that big of a deal.â
Bern said this and pointed at Plantz.
âSo, itâs okay for you to feel wronged about anything, too.â
âAnything.â
âExcept for bullying your younger brother and ignoring him. â
ââ¦â¦ I know. âThat is.â
âThen you should also know the opposite. âIf you leave out that, itâs okay to be unfair about everything.â
I told him that not because I didnât know that he wasnât the type of person who would feel unfair about that, but because he was someone who didnât know what in the world to consider unfair. Just as a teacher informs the scope of the final test.
Planz, who had been silent for a while, spoke up.
âCuffs. âIt wasnât stolen, but it was misunderstood as such.â
âIt seems like you think that you changed it without your brotherâs knowledge and that it was an exchange of your own accord. Itâs okay to feel unfair. I made it for my birthday, but instead of something that wouldnât have suited âmeâ, I changed it into something that would look better on âmeâ.â I guess I made a
cuff that would look good on Calian because I wanted to take care of Bernâs birthday. Instead, I gave it to Bern. It would be okay to change it to a more suitable cuff.
âI didnât get to see Anne grow up properly.â
âYou asked to go to Secretia yourself. You can feel unfair about that too.â
âThe reason my younger brother keeps talking down to me isâ¦â
âThatâs because youâre young⦠but. You can feel unfair.â
Plantz chuckled.
There are a lot of words attached to each thing that is considered unfair, but in any case, it is permission for Plantz to consider it unfair in his own way. It is permission that it is okay to feel unfair about anything, really. So.
â⦠Okay.â
âOkay.â
âCalian.â
âWhy⦠Yes.â
My face looked like what would happen if, not only my humanity, which was already torn to pieces, but my personality as well, went crazy when I tried to fix that guy? Calian looked at Planz.
So, what can I do?
If it breaks into pieces, my smart brother will pick it up and put it back together.
âI. Itâs not Brisen.â
I saw light green eyes that were clearly humanâs, and the light purple eyes that were said to not be humanâs. The broken and shattered pieces were shed a little and the dry things that were shaken off a little began to shine again and ripen well again. I looked at his thin pea-like eyes.
âAre you stating the obvious? âSomeone grew peas.â
âSo. Kalian.â
Pea, who turned a blind eye instead of barking, continued.
âI. There is no need for Vriesen.â
Calian looked at Plants.
It wasnât just Plants that left Vriesen behind. Of course, the family needed it for Plantzâs safety, but they couldnât destroy that huge thing right away, so they left it as is. . They did not know Serentiâs arrangement or the reason why Plantz turned the axis of time, so they left
it as is to prepare for it. They said that they did not touch it in order to give it to Plantz intact so that their power would soon become Calianâs.
Plantz had already A fact you know well.
A fact that was told to Plantz as a notification without asking for his opinion.
He never said those words again.
âYes.â
âI can make a replacement for Briesen.â
Plantz said of Calian . He pointed to his hand.
Bernâs hand, a large hand full of scars. The hand eventually had a new scar on it. He opened his mouth as he looked at that hand.
âSo close it together. Brisen.â
After a long period of discussion, he came up with an opinion.
âWhether it is force or military force. I will make as much as I can and give it to you.â
Instead of informing, persuading, not resisting, he finally started talking.
âIf that happens, you will have a lot of unfair things to do.â
âI know.â â Itâs not just silique,
itâs even Brysen. Through Evan and Lennon, to Brissen. Not only Gray and Rashid, but all of Brisen were not satisfied with anything and betrayed all of them. They said they destroyed everything. Even that appearance resembles a silique. The resemblance is so striking that they even raise their heads without knowing the end. âI will definitely say that.â
âI let go of my motherâs hand and hide in my brotherâs shadow, saying I will live alone.â Put Brisen on your back again as you feel comfortable. Even if there is one more thing added to it. It doesnât matter.â
âHave you forgotten everything Iâve told you so far?â
âIâm sure your brother will figure it out and keep his mouth shut.â â
No matter what.â âEven if
you keep your mouth shut and your fingers bent, if thereâs something handed to you. Iâm sure you will listen to me even if I say that it is unfair.â
âWho?â
âAre you asking the obvious?â
Plantzâs lips rose.
âEither my brother or not. My friend is such a fucking idiot. Anyone would listen. Isnât it?â
Calian looked at Plantz again. He
stared at Plantz for a long time with sharp starlight that made it impossible to even guess what he had forged.
âIf you think soâ¦â
He answered quietly. â Clack.
Soon
, Calian took off the bracelet that had been used for today. The
long hair that had been lying on the ground gradually became shorter. The wind blew in the snow field of the great desert that was said to not melt no matter how much time passed. Little by little, the same light became darker. As if losing its light and being immersed in darkness, as if walking in the darkness chasing the light. No, rather. It
sparkles with a black light that will no longer be submerged, stained, cut off, or faded.
Little by little, the scarred hand It has changed. Instead of the wounds that left numerous marks, it has been replaced with a long white hand with one wound that will soon heal again and one wound that has already healed. Calian raised his red eyes and
looked at Plantz.
âI will get rid of Brisen⦠⦠Willingly.â
He answered his brother.
* * *
Complete darkness had descended.
Those who finished the day a little late sat around the table and started eating, and those who finished the day early were time to return to their rooms.
âWould you like to go to the study or the bedroom?â
The person who was asked gestured with his chin.
The sharp jaw line pointed toward the bedroom.
âYes, Marquis. Iâve finished tidying up, so please come inside.â
Gray looked down with fearful eyes at the waist bending too deeply and took a step forward. The butler following him opened his mouth again. I know itâs a useless question, but Iâm waiting for a useless answer. He asked in a voice full of formality.
âCan I prepare tea or alcohol for you?â
âNo need.â
After saying a few useless words as if exchanging a set question and answer, Gray entered the bedroom. And followed me. I bit the butler who was trying to come in and closed the door.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Thatâs because I couldnât trust anyone.
In this house, I always prepared a sword that might come at any moment and was always on guard for poison that might be contained somewhere. I couldnât trust anyone.
âHa. â¦â¦â
I let out a long sigh.
It wasnât like this when I was in Margin Baekryeong.
So this is it.
âOh my. It looks like youâre still going through a lot of trouble because of me.â
Thisâ¦
everything.
âGray Brisen. Marquis.â
Gray narrowed his eyes.
The culprit of all of this.
The black cat with red eyes had once again come to Grayâs bedroom.
Gray, who had been bitten with pains to the bone, made a delicate face. And his calm demeanor. He bowed his head and said hello.
Because he knew that Calian would not be able to kill him right away. Because he believed so.
âAnyway. âIâm guessing something.â
The black cat smiled happily, as if he had read my thoughts, and opened his mouth.
âWhat do you mean?â
âYou and your son. One is no longer needed. I was worried about which of the two I should kill later to gain greater benefit for myself.â
Then he said,
âWho should I leave behind? No matter how much you think about it, that guy is that guy. What should I do with this?⦠I couldnât erase those worries, so I came back again. If I become a person who knows how to listen to the opinions of the parties involved, wonât I be a good king in the future?â
With a delicate face as if he was contemplating which of the delicious fruits in both hands to eat first.
âSo, tell me, Marquis. âI will listen carefully⦠willingly.â
He asked a truly useless question.