760 – 9. There is not a single day where this does not happen (9)
Every time dawn breaks, Sanya repeats birth and death.
As the early morning sunlight poured down, the scenery hidden behind the pale black curtain began to reveal itself one by one. Mountain peaks covered in clouds and leaves covered with dew.
It was the first morning at Cheongeomsan Mountain. Although it was the second time in terms of days.
I was out on the floor early in the morning, engraving unfamiliar scenes on my retinas. The practitioners at Cheongeomsan Mountain who looked after us were surprisingly kind, and before I knew it, there was a steaming teacup sitting next to me.
A daily routine of drinking tea and looking at a wet forest in the morning.
As is the case everywhere, romance seemed to exist even in Cheongeomsan Mountain. While thinking that, I tilted my teacup a couple of times.
“Sir Ian… “No, Brother Ian!”
A familiar figure burst into a clear voice.
He had already reached ‘master’ status. At least, it was possible to determine in real time what and where in this building. Therefore, the girl’s greeting was not sudden at all.
I secretly yawned and decided to protect the pride of the girl who quickly dressed up.
So, a low thank you.
“Are you awake, Shien?”
“Yes, somehow…” hehehehe.”
With a charming smile, Shien quietly sat down next to me.
The practitioner who took care of us was still far away. In other words, it means that you can enjoy time alone with Shien for a while.
The only regret is that there is only one teacup.
Of course, Shien looked good. I also didn’t need to say anything. The faint warmth coming from next to me was too cozy for that.
How much is that?
As I was looking at the scenery in silence, a cautious question fell into my ear.
“Hey, are you Ian?”
I responded by briefly shifting my gaze. Sien was secretly looking at me and seemed to be curious about something.
“Do you have any concerns?”
As I sip the tea, the delicate scent spreads in my mouth. A fragrant smell, memories of the previous day blooming in the air.
In the end, I had to keep an awkward smile on my face.
“Why?”
“Since yesterday, there have been a lot of times when you’ve been in a daze… Even when I went to see the nearby Geography, I was thinking about something else.”
Is that so?
Because I was literally ‘in a daze’, no clear record remained in my mind. However, if Shien said that, she seemed quite lost.
Shien slightly narrowed her eyes and was staring at me. Then it was as if she could see right through me.
It was a futile effort.
Even if I used the ‘dragon’s eye’, I couldn’t read my emotions upon becoming a ‘master’. I don’t know if I want to intentionally show my true feelings to Shien.
However, there was one fact that I had overlooked.
“…… “You’re Seria, right?”
Tap.
The hand that was tilting the teacup stiffened. At this point, the answer was meaningless, but still, like an instinct, I ended up laughing and making excuses.
This is probably because Shien’s voice seemed very disapproving when he asked that question.
“Me? Ceria is just her junior, and we don’t have any special relationship… “Why would you care so much?”
“But she cares.”
A comment made by the girl with a sullen expression.
When viewed objectively, it looked very cute, but I somehow found it difficult to agree with that claim.
“On what basis?”
“What other headache could there be for the Iron Blood Prince of the Empire? If he puts his mind to it, he can do anything… “At best, it’s just a women’s issue.”
Hmph, the rebuttal I made while snorting was extremely reasonable. Actually, those words hit me right in the face.
I can’t believe that that tactless Shien is this confident.
I once heard a popular saying that a woman in love becomes particularly sensitive to traces of other women. Of course, even Shien couldn’t have imagined that it would be like that.
I attempted a final resistance.
“No, I’m just talking about ‘Cheongeomjiro (天劍之路)’… ….”
“Lie.”
There was no need for any more evidence. In the end, I had no choice but to sigh and declare surrender after Shien’s sharp, confident words.
“Yes, that’s right…” “Actually, I’m a little worried.”
“Hmph, I think you’re just messing around with your ex-lover.”
“…… “Is that metaphor popular these days?”
It was a metaphor I had already heard from Delphine. I asked back in bewilderment, but there was no answer. Instead, all I saw was a girl who said, “Hmph,” And looked even more upset.
In the past, they said they would never say ‘jealousy’.
Realizing once again that there was no one in the world I could trust, I confessed my true feelings.
“Well, should I say ‘lover’… Rather, I think it’s a feeling closer to ‘responsibility.'”
“What do you mean responsibility?”
“I did something terrible.”
It was a few months where I chose to be indifferent under the excuse that even my own priorities were burdensome.
After running with all my might, the place I reached was not heaven. Well, it has to be that way. Because there was no paradise where I ran away.
So I couldn’t figure it out because I was just out of breath.
How difficult it must have been for Seria.
No, maybe I was aware of it deep down. However, either because I am having a hard time, or because Celine is more urgent. He may have been trying to believe in his own optimism that he would somehow get up on his own.
The result was like this.
When Ceria came here, she decided to throw away all her worldly ties. Even though she didn’t do that, she was a child who was very obsessed with me, so I guess she must have suffered a lot before she developed such a cold attitude.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel sick.
“It’s true that I haven’t cared about Seria all this time… “It must have been difficult in many ways, but I made the excuse that it was difficult to solve the problem in front of me.”
“In fact, there were many cases where the hourly rate was competing.”
“If I had known this would happen, we should have talked about it just the two of us at that time.”
The day the ‘vampire’ was defeated, Seria’s mother also lost her life. After that, my junior stayed in his room and didn’t leave the door.
No matter how much I talked, there was no answer.
At the time, I was complacent and neglected Seria. She had been hurt a lot, so she thought she needed time alone to sort out her feelings.
If I think about it now, it was the opposite.
At that time, I had to force Seria out and share her story. If she hadn’t given in to her will even after that, she would have felt a little more at ease after they were reunited.
It was a late regret. After pouring down what little tea was left, I sighed heavily and tried to shake off her bitter aftertaste.
However, Shien’s thoughts seemed a little different.
“But, this is the path that Seria-senior chose, right?”
“It must have been a difficult and painful road.”
“Just because it is a different path does not guarantee that it is not the case.”
It was a comment that at first glance seemed cold-hearted.
Unable to find a reasonable rebuttal, my eyes turned to the girl. Shien just shrugged her shoulders with an innocent expression on her face.
“I think Brother Ian sometimes thinks of us as children.”
“Me?”
If she had thought of it as a child, would she have had her virginity taken away so cruelly that night?
Such objections rose up to her uvula, but could not be spit out in the end. This was because Shien’s clear voice rang out before that.
“Senior Seria is a full-fledged adult who has had a coming-of-age ceremony. “She doesn’t deserve Brother Ian’s care, and she’s certainly not the kind of person who can pass on responsibility for the choices she made on her own.”
And when she said that, I had nothing to say.
As my lips fell silent as I slowly turned my gaze straight ahead, Shien spoke in an even more triumphant voice.
“Senior Seria, she just made a choice. It may have been a difficult and painful path for her, but she must have decided that if she didn’t, it could be even more difficult and painful. Do we have the right to argue about that?”
“Even if they completely forget us?”
“If that’s what Seria-senpai really wants… “Maybe she has a relationship that we shouldn’t meet again.”
The tone becomes slightly dull towards the end.
Nevertheless, what I wanted to say was clearly communicated. Actually, there was nothing wrong with it, but should I say that it was emotionally difficult to understand for no reason?
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But I couldn’t bring myself to open and close my lips.
To be exact, it was because I noticed it just as I was about to kiss my lips. The fact that there was a light shadow on Shien’s face as she organized her words like that.
There was one piece of information that suddenly came to mind. Shien’s maternal family is located in the western part of the empire.
‘It’s a fate that should never meet again.’
After seeing the piece of sincerity, my lips hesitated for a long time. I wanted to ask you straight out of the blue.
It was a very sensitive family matter. So I couldn’t ask without permission.
Even though the distance between us could not be closer than this.
I suddenly realized this. I didn’t know much about Shien. Even if we spent one night together, unlike the body, the spirit was connected only after a more delicate connection.
It was around this time that I was choosing my language carefully.
“However, we will have to wait and see what Senior Seria truly wants.”
“What do you mean?”
“Please consult with senior Delphine.”
Hmph, Shien looked playful as she snorted.
“Brother Ian, do you know that?”
“What?”
“An unnecessarily cold attitude may actually be a means of hiding one’s true feelings.”
Would it be an illusion to think that Shien’s grinning face while saying that looked like a scheming schemer?
She said she was being cheeky and when I stroked her head, she immediately screamed.
My barely organized hairstyle is ruined.
It was good, so I stroked Shien’s hair for a while. Even though she became a master, she thought that the human mind was very complicated.
And after some time.
“Welcome to the first gateway to Heavenly Geomji, the Pavilion of Kwae (快) of the Three Pavilions. Here, you will be taught the basic training methods inherited from the ‘sword circle’ and the ‘quick sword’.”
We finally took our first step into ‘Cheongeomjiro’.
“I’d like to introduce you again, my name is ‘Gong (空)’.”
With a very familiar person with impressive gray hair and blue eyes.
“I am the instructor who will teach you at the Pavilion of Kwae.”
Until the end, the pupils that resembled the first star did not turn towards me. Nevertheless, a laugh burst out of my mouth as I sensed a strange connection.
You want to teach me?
It was a declaration that looked forward to the future.