Chapter 224

Schmeizen Imperial Palace, a deep inner chamber.

Yulan stroked the bed with a careful hand.

He had heard that his clone had lived here for 14 years.

It was a strange feeling.

He had been in the Underworld the entire time, yet a clone that looked exactly like him had been lying here, mimicking him.

“Yulan.”

“…Ah, Your Majesty the Queen.”

“I told you to call me Aida, as you are my husband.”

“…Ah, Aida.”

“Take it slow, until you are comfortable.”

Aida chuckled softly and sat on the bed.

She looked at Yulan with a gentle expression she had never shown anyone.

Looking at the husband she had regained after 14 years, the thought suddenly struck her that she would no longer be called by the nickname ‘Widow Queen’.

She noticed Yulan’s face was somewhat stiff.

He had been like that ever since I, Shion, left.

He had seemed to act as innocently as a child, so she wondered what was weighing on his mind.

“What are you worried about?”

“…It is nothing much.”

“Tell me, it’s not a problem that will be solved by keeping it to yourself.”

“……”

Yulan opened and closed his mouth a couple of times.

To speak, or not to speak; during his several moments of hesitation, Aida waited, keeping her eyes on him.

That attitude helped Yulan finally voice his worries.

“……Am I the real one?”

“The flame of Vairocana verified you. I believe you are the real one.”

“…But……”

He did not hide his complex feelings.

His eyes wavered, lacking confidence.

“…Even though we are husband and wife, I do not remember Your Majesty.

No, I couldn’t even remember my own name.

It is a truly apologetic thing to say, but… even saying it feels awkward and baffling.”

“I understand.”

Aida swept back her black hair.

“I spent 14 years as a widow….

I’ve turned thirty-five before I knew it.

Young and beautiful children are everywhere in Schmeizen, so it’s only natural you wouldn’t be pleased with me……”

“D-Don’t say such things!”

Yulan raised his voice.

He waved his hands hastily, and he also seemed somewhat angry.

“I have never seen anyone more beautiful than Your Majesty!

What I am saying is, like Your Majesty……”

“Aida.”

“…That’s right, like you, Aida, to be the husband of such a beautiful and noble woman, I am too lacking….I am so undeserving that I just cannot accept……”

“Oh my.”

You say such delightful things.

Aida laughed, covering her mouth.

She giggled and patted Yulan’s shoulder, and Yulan froze completely.

From the moment he faced the giggling Aida, he had to suppress the urge to hug her tightly.

“Yulan, I am the same.”

The Queen’s lips stirred.

Regardless of harboring two Ancient Weapons, she spoke as a single woman.

“I held onto a fake for 14 years. Without even knowing you were trapped and suffering in the Underworld, I poured all my devotion into a fake. Like a fool… like a madwoman……”

“Why is that?”

Yulan blurted out before he knew it.

“You couldn’t help it, could you?”

“…I should have tried harder. You suffered.”

“What if I say I am alright?”

“…Still, my responsibility does not disappear.

I am the Queen, Schmeizen rests on my shoulders.”

“But Your Majesty is Aida.”

“What does that mean?”

“…Um, uh, how should I put it……”

Yulan scratched his cheek.

He couldn’t easily organize his own thoughts about what he was saying.

He was certain that he hadn’t been very silver-tongued even before he lost his memories.

It was truly embarrassing to stumble over his words in front of such a beautiful woman, but still, there was something he had to say.

“…Before Your Majesty is Your Majesty, you are Aida, aren’t you?

So, sometimes you might be lacking, no, you can’t always be perfect, can you?”

“……”

“That is Aida, you.”

Aida looked at Yulan.

With eyes that had become even darker and more beautiful after absorbing the Moon-Shadow Cranium, she gazed intently into Yulan’s eyes.

Yulan felt like he would go mad, as if he might be sucked into those eyes at any moment.

Regardless of Yulan’s feelings, Aida eventually broke into a shy smile.

“Do you know something, Yulan?”

“…What is it, Your Majesty?”

“14 years ago… on the first day we became husband and wife, your first word was an apology.

You said you were sorry for being a lacking person, that you didn’t suit me……”

“…Did that happen?”

“That did happen.”

Aida reached out her hand.

Her eyes and hair were both jet-black, yet how could this hand be so beautifully white.

The Queen grasped her regained husband’s hand.

It was soft and warm.

Yulan, rather than feeling its beauty, rather than being captivated by its allure, felt his eyes redden.

And then, he gripped Aida’s hand tightly.

As if he would never let go again.

“And, you know, you were like that back then, too. While you put yourself down like that, whenever I blamed myself, you would even get angry at me. Saying things like, isn’t it okay to fail sometimes, that’s just who you are, so what’s the problem……”

“……”

“I remember. You always told me, ‘no matter how lacking, if that is Aida, you, then I am happy’.”

The corners of the Queen’s eyes glistened as if with morning dew.

Because Yulan had whispered such things, Aida was able to live as a Queen.

It was Yulan who made her feel human.

That was why, when Yulan disappeared, she had become the mad Widow Queen.

“You are Yulan, after all.”

Even after 14 years, even having lost all his memories, he was unchanged, so he could not be anyone else.

The Widow Queen, no, Aida, who was no longer a widow, leaned her head on Yulan’s shoulder.

It was as comfortable as if she had returned to her girlhood.

“Welcome back, Yulan Etgendorher. This is your home.”

“Is it?”

It was the same for Yulan.

Even without memories, he felt déjà vu.

He carefully stroked Aida’s hair.

14 years, the time spent in the darkness of the Underworld, was like a nightmare, but because a nightmare is a nightmare, it eventually scatters and disappears like mist when the day breaks.

Even if the scars of the nightmare remain as tears, tears, too, are forgotten once they are shed.

“I’m finally home……”

“For now, sleep, Yulan.”

There was much to talk about.

Things they wanted to do together, dreams they wanted to have together, feelings they wanted to share together.

They had accumulated 14 years’ worth, so they could not share it all in one night.

It was bound to be regretful to finish it in just one day.

“Tomorrow will come, and we must greet tomorrow.”

The Queen whispered.

“So close your eyes. As sweetly, and as comfortingly, as to forget all the dreams of the past……”

***

Serena de Verchello is the lord of the Verchello family and my, Shion Pollinglight’s, wife.

She was a gallant woman, as befitting the lord of a family.

She was so broad-minded that she didn’t even get angry when her newlywed husband left her alone for months to wander around.

However, not getting angry and not being angry are different things.

She clearly felt hurt, but her faith in my grand plan, her will to believe, was even greater.

That was why, when I returned, she didn’t show the slightest sign of being upset and instead smiled brightly at me.

“Shion!”

“Serena!”

I, Shion Pollinglight, also smiled brightly.

Serena’s face, which had been waving, stiffened.

It was because I was wrapped tightly in bandages.

“…Wait, are you hurt?”

“It will heal soon.”

“Still!”

Serena was upset.

If you’re going to wander around leaving your newlywed wife, at least don’t get hurt!

She rushed at me to see the wound, but I raised a hand to stop her.

The first reason was that beneath the bandages were not wounds but black scales; the second reason was that I still had much to wrap up.

“…What’s with that hand? Are you telling me not to come closer?”

“…Mm, I’m really sorry, but that’s what it means.”

“I’m disappointed, really! You’re going to leave me alone again as soon as you arrive?”

“…I’ll wrap it up quickly and come back.”

“I’m kidding. I don’t intend to bother you.”

Serena waved her hand.

Her raspberry-colored eyes were beautiful.

“Because I know what time it is.”

“……”

She knew, too.

No, anyone in the West knew.

War with the Cordis Empire is imminent.

All the nations of the West were abuzz with war preparations, and at the center of it was I, Shion Pollinglight.

Serena de Verchello knew that an era so serious had arrived that she had to treat her own feelings of love as trivial.

“Instead, I’ll just ask one more thing.”

“Ask away.”

“If I protect Merion well, that helps you, Shion, right?”

“…Of course, Serena.”

“Then that’s all, Shion.”

Serena de Verchello laughed out loud.

She tried to act magnanimous, as if she were a great general, but she looked more like a playful girl.

“I’ll prepare a meal with Cornelius. Go take care of your work.”

Her smile seemed to carry the scent of raspberries.

“But don’t be too late. The freshly baked bread will get cold.”

***

Amethus and I headed for Art Gallery Lamponé.

It was the shop we had used as our headquarters until we took control of Merion.

Even though we had been gone for several months, no dust had settled.

Rather, it looked even cleaner than when we were managing it.

It was clearly thanks to Serena not neglecting to clean.

There is a secret space in the basement of the Art Gallery Lamponé.

Amethus and I spent 7 years formulating the plan to bring down Cordis.

Most of our secrets were waiting for us in the basement of the Art Gallery Lamponé.

After passing the gallery’s secret stairs, the secret way of descending them, the secret passwords, and the secret magical devices, we were in the basement before we knew it.

Deep in the basement, there were several rooms.

One room was full of gold and treasure.

The wealth we had amassed was enough to buy several cities and still have more left over.

Since I owned the Herteu Mine, as well as several other mines and dozens of businesses, it wasn’t strange.

One room was larger than it looked from the outside.

It was the space we used as a training room.

I was beaten black and blue by Amethus in here.

There were several other rooms, and one of them was terribly quiet.

It was a room I rarely set foot in, one only Amethus frequented.

A faint smell of medicine always wafted from that room.

“Amethus, take this.”

I held out a small bottle.

“It’s an item I obtained from Aida.”

“Understood, Shion.”

Amethus tried to store the item I gave him as he usually did.

However, I shook my head.

“No, that is a personal item.”

“…In that case?”

“It’s a gift for you.”

The jade-eyed man tilted his head.

A gift, with the war against Cordis right around the corner.

He didn’t understand easily.

“That is the Hundred-Year Dew.”

“…The treasure of the Forest-keeper tribe?”

“That’s right.

A kind of panacea, said to drive away all ailments except death.

It holds a mystery incomparable to the Golden Medicine.”

“……!!!”

The hand holding the bottle trembled.

A man named Horem had created a miraculous elixir and named it Horem Amrita.

It was named after the legendary elixir, Amrita.

And the Hundred-Year Dew was precisely that, the legendary Amrita.

Amethus had a woman he wished to awaken, and that was why he knew the value of the Hundred-Year Dew.

“Tell Shadi Shandor.”

“……”

“That it is now time to wake up.”

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