643 – 8. Testament (17)
It was a night with clouds blocking the moonlight. By the time everything is immersed in darkness, and everything is secretly breathing in and out.
A lantern was burning, crackling. The blurry light source gradually brightened and began to illuminate the interior landscape.
Only then did I set the lamp down on the reception table. Of course, it wasn’t something that worked with kerosene or candles, it was a high-performance magic light that had been newly prepared a while ago.
It was a rare item that was not normally used. Isn’t it me who has lived my whole life as the second son of a rural viscount. Even though I went through a lot of twists and turns in the past year, my essence didn’t go anywhere.
Bright during the day, dark at night.
The principles of the world were applied in my room as well. Even if I just used the cheap magic lamp I used to use, there was no hindrance to my daily life.
It is only after reaching High Expert.
Superhuman eyesight blurs the boundary between light and darkness. To be honest, the reason I lit my lantern at night was nothing more than a habit.
Because there is also the coziness that only dim lighting can provide.
This is how I was not particularly concerned with lanterns. Even so, there was only one reason for me to take out the lantern.
When a guest visits.
Except for the few days the saintess spent in my room, it was a lamp I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Of course, I wasn’t happy.
Because light shines even what you don’t want to see.
“Ian.”
There is a gloomy shadow on his sunken face.
It’s not just because the lanterns are bright. I kept my mouth shut, then handed over a proposal out of the blue.
“Would you like a drink?”
“Ian.”
“How about Her Highness the Princess?”
A question that was spat out without even waiting for an answer.
As soon as the second name was called, Leto sighed and closed his eyes in annoyance. The princess, who brought her uninvited guests to me, was restless, and she was only paying attention to me.
The princess stuttered and opened her mouth.
“Lee, Sir Ian… ….”
My body stood up without a word. And after skillfully rummaging through the cupboard, he sat down again.
Cheap whiskey and three glasses are on the table.
Leto looked at me with gnarled eyes, then clicked his tongue and raised a glass.
Squeeze.
An unpleasant smell of alcohol that has not been processed properly. The princess’ face became more teary-eyed when she smelled her scent.
My hand filled the second glass in quick succession, just before filling the last.
“I, I…… !”
The girl’s urgent voice stopped me.
As my dark eyes turned to the princess, her dark blue hair sat down and formed her curtains.
“Joe, anything sweeter… Is there…… ?”
Well, you can’t eat. Creature.
Indeed, I had no choice but to be immersed in agony for a moment. Was there any wine left that the saintess drank?
No, it can’t be.
She was a saint who lost control whenever she drank. Of course, most of them had to come to an end, or they had to be restrained in a somewhat coercive way.
Every time that happened, oddly enough, excitement would ignite.
My head shook my head as I groped for old memories. In fact, it was impossible to match each girl’s taste now.
The whiskey bottle tilted as it was. Although the princess cried more and more each time the glass filled to a yellowish-brown color.
Are you saying that someone is forcing you to drink?
It was when I raised my glass, thinking, “I’ll take care of it myself.”
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“Who did you tell?”
In lieu of answering, I raised my glass slightly. Leto still didn’t let go of his piercing gaze, but he raised his glass to my tune.
Even the princess who suddenly lost her temper.
As I poured the liquor down his gullet, Leto shook his head and emptied his glass halfway. And the princess, who hesitated until the end, closed her eyes tightly and took a sip.
Although she stuck out her tongue and hated it.
Anyway, since the alcohol was involved, the condition to tell the story was met. I averted my gaze and let out a low voice.
“Not yet, nobody.”
“To the Viscount Percus or the Viscountess? What about Aaron or Leah?”
“I don’t know.”
In lieu of answering, Leto touched his forehead with one hand. Then he gulped down the remaining alcohol in his glass.
“Are you really crazy?”
“What do you say? Don’t worry… Anyway, it’s not even a condition that can be healed by the usual method.”
“Then you are going to die like this? My family couldn’t even prepare their minds?”
Tak.
The sound of the glass being set down resounded. When Leto’s interrogation stopped for a moment, I tipped the bottle again.
I drink alcohol. That’s right, the glass isn’t broken, so it’s natural.
It was the complete opposite of my body.
“Who dies? I just have to find a way… As always.”
“Ian, you are not a god… How many times do you think something so lousy will happen?”
“Because even if it is not God, the path can be found.”
It was at this point that Leto got angry.
So I filled Leto’s empty glass with a drink. Because once there was alcohol left in the glass, Leto chose to drink more instead of getting angry.
As expected, Leto’s next move did not deviate an inch from my expectations.
Pushing alcohol down the gullet in one go, then putting the glass down so violently that it made a noise.
The full whiskey was rapidly declining. The princess caught between the two of us was in the middle of trembling and forced to swallow her drink.
“Good, good… let’s hear it At least you have a clue?”
“When I become a master.”
I did say it once, but it was a possibility that even I was not sure about.
Of course, I couldn’t help but blurt out the end of my words. More than anything else, Leto’s slightly twisted brow tells me how absurd I am.
But it was my friend.
I wished for the spirit of alcohol to continue talking.
“They said that if you become a master, you can heal by integrating images into one.”
“How to become a Master? You said you vomited blood even if you raised the image.”
“That… ….”
Again speechless, tilting the glass.
At some point, more than half of the whiskey was gone.
The sound of sighs, heated breath, and even the unique scent of cheap whiskey that may be unpleasant now.
Mixed, mixed, mixed.
“I have to try something.”
“Ian… ….”
Leto sighed no more. It’s just that he’s pressing his temples with his fingers, as if the headache is unbearable.
“Are you kidding me? After all, that’s the starting point!”
The voice that gradually rose was representing Leto’s feelings.
Actually, I had nothing to say.
Nevertheless, the accumulated fatigue over a long period of time exhausts the mind and body. Nerves are naturally sharpened, and self-control is clouded by drunkenness.
That was the reason why a rather annoyed voice came out of my mouth.
“What do you do, then? Do you think that’s all I have to worry about?”
Is it Yaryao or lamentation?
Leto bit her mouth tightly as his true feelings finally began to flow. In the meantime, he drinks again and again several times.
My drunken tongue slid down on its own.
“I haven’t heard from Seria since she left, what about Emma? Above all, Celine…… !”
Is it because I met a friend with whom I could open up after a long time?
It was only after that that I realized my mistake. I opened my mouth and then closed it.
After that, I slowly closed my eyes and sighed. Leto’s gaze at me at that time, what should I say?
It looked like a piece of metal that had just been quenched. Instead of heat, it spits out steam, and the blade is about to sharpen its energy.
Compared to those eyes, Leto’s sentiment was plain.
“Celine, what?”
I didn’t have the jaw to say anything.
I just took a sip of whiskey, slightly averting my gaze.
Suddenly, I ran out of alcohol.
But her brother’s anger at the loss of her sister wasn’t simple enough to avoid her by simply looking away.
“What did Celine say? Come on, tell me.”
“I, just… ….”
I wanted to say something.
I had no choice but to purse my lips, raise my arms, and finally lower my head with a sigh.
A tiger’s mouth (between thumb and index finger) covers my eyes.
“I just want to save Celine… Because that’s the problem we face. I still have a few weeks to spare in my life.”
“I made Celine look like that.”
Tak, as she put down her drink.
Leto tilted his upper body slightly forward. The shaded eyes were frighteningly cold.
“Do you still say that? Can you do something? So what happened to Celine? Didn’t Celine get included in that brazen ‘somehow’?”
“Leto, I… ….”
“You said you weren’t a god, Ian.”
It was an assertion that contained all kinds of emotions.
I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut and turn my head.
“If it had been ‘somehow’ in the first place, I wouldn’t have come this far. Now is the cumulative result of that ‘somehow’. It’s no longer a matter of arguing.”
Even though he must have been angry, his voice didn’t have the right pitch. So it was even harder for me to open my mouth.
Because it meant that he was persuading me while enduring his anger.
“I did my research before coming to you. At least there is no way to return your image in the usual way… Because there wasn’t even a case similar to yours! Maybe not only me, but the imperial family as well? So stop being stubborn…… !”
“Then what about Celine?”
Leto’s expression crumpled again at the question that finally escaped from his lips.