GDTEA Chapter 79

I Have Something to Ask

As the three of them remained silent, conscious of each other’s gazes, an awkward standoff ensued for a moment.

In a situation where misunderstandings, misconceptions, and truth were tangled like knotted threads, it was Sharti who first broke the silence.

“If you’ve come to hold someone accountable, please go find the Krofl Mercenary Group.”

Sharti spoke as solemnly as possible.

However, being overly conscious of the Tower Master’s identity made her tense, resulting in a clumsy delivery.

“Mm.”

Instead of answering, the Tower Master openly gauged Ren’s reaction. There were clear signs of contemplation about something.

Sharti’s mouth went completely dry.

‘Is she considering whether or not to take Ren away right now?’

Of course, the Tower Master’s scroll might not be a wanted poster. It could be a missing person notice posted by ‘Ren’s’ family.

Since Sharti had been speculating that Ren might actually be a noble or someone connected to a noble family, it wouldn’t be too strange if the Tower Master was involved. As a concrete example, Virena and the Tower Master also maintained a mutually beneficial relationship, exchanging private communications.

‘If she received a request from Ren’s acquaintances or family, she would have called out his real name and acknowledged him.’

It would be worth testing, but the Tower Master kept checking the scroll’s contents, seeming uncertain yet not calling out Ren’s real name.

Rather, after hesitating while trying to use magic, the Tower Master appeared to be conscious of Ren and acting cautiously.

Of course, from the Tower Master’s perspective, he couldn’t carelessly bring up the name ‘Leodelt Gwendhill’ because of Sharti’s presence.

“Well, alright. I should verify things properly before holding anyone accountable.”

After observing Ren for a while, the Tower Master agreed so readily it was almost anticlimactic.

Just moments ago, the Tower Master had been pouring attention toward Ren, but now he was nodding compliantly, which instead flustered Sharti.

That’s when it happened.

Snap—!

“……!”

As soon as the Tower Master snapped his fingers, Sharti covered her ears.

Her ears suddenly felt stuffy, and she couldn’t hear any sound. When the flustered Sharti raised her head, she saw the Tower Master covering his mouth with his sleeve while smiling with his eyes.

Following the direction of the smile, Sharti tried to turn her body when a large palm she hadn’t noticed extending blocked her view.

“…….”

With Ren holding their hands together with one hand and covering her eyes with the other, Sharti couldn’t move and ended up leaning her back against Ren’s body.

‘A soundproofing spell?’

Sharti realized the Tower Master had cast a soundproofing spell on only her.

And Ren must have noticed this and reached out to calm her.

‘Did he block my ears to talk with Ren?’

But why bother?

‘He’s not planning to threaten Ren, is he?’

The Tower Master might have cast the soundproofing spell thinking she was an unrelated civilian.

Then why did Ren bother to cover her eyes?

‘What reason could there be to cover my eyes? To prevent me from reading lips? Why?’

As her suspicions continued endlessly, she felt suffocated.

Sharti paused her thoughts for a moment and closed her eyes, using Ren’s palm as a shield.

Thump, thump… Her heart, which had been racing rapidly from being on guard against the Tower Master, gradually slowed and returned to its normal pace.

As her mind calmed, she belatedly felt the trembling at her fingertips.

‘So that’s why Ren held my hand.’

Standing in front of the Tower Master wasn’t just any crazy behavior.

Sharti herself was someone living in hiding, someone who shouldn’t be exposed to the world. Especially in front of mages belonging to the Magic Tower that had formed a war alliance with the Neweiton Empire, she should have minimized her presence or avoided them. She wasn’t in a position to step forward claiming to protect Ren.

But Sharti had been so focused on Ren that she didn’t even notice the danger signals her body was sending.

‘I panicked when someone who recognized Ren appeared.’

Seeing the Tower Master’s expression recognizing Ren, Sharti felt her heart sink for a moment. How loudly her heart had pounded at those words about looking for someone.

‘If I hadn’t reached out my hand then, who knows what the Tower Master might have done to Ren.’

Just from casting a soundproofing spell out of the blue, the Tower Master’s personality could be roughly grasped.

As the Tower Master, he could easily have taken Ren away as if kidnapping him with teleportation magic.

“…….”

Suddenly, a corner of her chest felt chilling.

If the Tower Master’s casting had been just a bit faster, if Sharti’s reach had been delayed, by now Sharti would have been left alone.

Like that, without any warning, without any mental preparation, powerlessly, she would have had to let Ren go.

“Sha—.”

Along with a low voice in her ear, the darkness lifted.

Sharti slowly opened her eyes and turned her head. Teal eyes were looking at her.

“That person is gone.”

Sharti lowered her gaze and confirmed the hand clasped with Ren’s. She was holding it properly.

When she put strength into her hand, a firm strength immediately grasped back as if it had been waiting.

Sharti took one deep breath.

“Sha, I have something to ask.”

“Yes.”

Sharti recalled the expected questions.

It would be about the Tower Master, about Ren’s own memories, or about the future.

Either way, Sharti had prepared herself mentally.

‘……Huh?’

In her lowered field of vision, she saw faint water droplets. Following the water droplets floating in mid-air with her gaze, she saw water droplets rippling around them, swaying in the breeze.

The water droplets reflecting the light floating in the sky looked like fireflies, or like hot snow crystals.

The Tower Master had cast magic to commemorate the village’s first festival.

It was magic that contained both splendor and wistfulness.

Suddenly, she thought that if one were to visually express futile hope, it would look similar to the scene before her eyes.

“Sha.”

Under the night sky where the beautiful scenery, excited applause, and laughter wouldn’t leave, Sharti looked at Ren.

The moment their eyes met, Ren asked.

“Do you know about ‘Gwendhill’?”

“……!”

Thump.

The color drained completely from Sharti’s face.

[The princess of Krianet.]

“Sha?”

Thump.

Through the surrounding noise, an auditory hallucination forced its way in.

[The Krianet royalty who were so arrogant when declaring war are now begging for their lives at my feet. Quite a different mindset from the Neweiton Empire’s imperial family.]

“……Sha!”

Thump.

A frost-sharp coldness and someone’s shout echoed like a reverberation.

[Let’s make this certain. Hey. Are you really the princess of Krianet?]

“Sha! Let go and breathe, ……breathe! Breathe!”

Thump.

She seemed to faintly hear a choking sound as if her throat was being strangled. Simultaneously, the noise disappeared and only the hallucination echoed.

[Then let’s pay the last respects befitting Krianet royalty. Begin.]

Thump.

Her vision became dizzy as if swaying.

Sharti forcibly moved her stiffly frozen muscles. She stretched out her arm, heavy as if a stone was hanging from it, and grabbed the figure before her eyes.

[Wouldn’t becoming ash along with the royal palace be the best trophy to obtain from a defeated nation, rather than a severed head.]

Thump.

It was strange. All her senses were gradually growing distant. She couldn’t hear, see, or feel anything.

Clearly thinking she was gripping hard enough for her finger joints to turn white…….

Thinking? What was I just thinking about?

……Thump.

…………Thump.

………………Thump.

I couldn’t deny it this time either. Just like back then, I couldn’t even say my own name.

But unlike then, this time my lips moved.

Look, my mouth was even opening belatedly.

‘……Mouth?’

At the edge of consciousness that had been pulled taut and about to snap, Sharti’s senses began to return, albeit faintly. The first sensation she felt was breathing. Her blocked airway was opening.

Sharti breathed frantically and gasped for air. Next was her fingertips.

She was gripping something strongly, as if desperately clinging to the urgency that she might die if she let go.

“……Ha, mmph, ngh……. Haah……!”

After inhaling and clinging desperately like that for a while, her tightly closed eyelids began to tremble. Feeling the throbbing muscle pain and tears flowing down her cheeks, Sharti slowly opened her eyes.

Something was visible beyond her blurred vision.

“……Haah…….”

Her focus began to adjust on Ren’s eyelids visible up close.

At the same time she gasped lightly as if her airway had opened, something soft covering her lips fell away.

Hot breath brushed against Sharti’s nose tip.

The thought process that had stopped for a moment began to creak back into motion.

“……Sha?”

Ren, who let out a rough, completely hoarse voice, was right in front of her nose.

Their eyes met. Whether the hood had slipped down or been removed, her field of vision was wide open.

Ren’s expression, facing the trembling crimson eyes, crumbled.

“Just now, just now Sha, you…….”

Ren couldn’t continue speaking. The large hand cupping her cheek was trembling with fear and anxiety.

Only after confirming that Sharti was blinking did Ren pull her strongly into an embrace.

“…….”

Her face was pressed against his solid chest.

Even in her dazed state, Sharti could regain her senses from Ren’s heartbeat clearly piercing her ears.

Sharti reflexively moved her arms. With stiff hands, she patted Ren’s back.

“……Ren, I’m okay.”

At the first words she managed to extract from Ren’s embrace, strength entered Ren’s hand holding the back of her head.

Overall, Ren’s muscles were tensely strained. The pounding heartbeat fully conveyed how greatly shocked he was.

“……’Gwendhill’—.”

Ren’s muscles flinched. Sharti relaxed her body to signal she was okay.

Still embraced by Ren, Sharti hung limply and weakly, blinking her eyes slowly. Her wet eyelids were heavy.

“That name you asked about, or rather that surname, is one of the names I can’t forget.”

Was it just that she couldn’t forget? Grand Duke Gwendhill—he was the one who made Sharti fear fire.

“The owner of that surname is someone I must never meet for my entire life, until I die. Someone I want to avoid even in my dreams.”

The owner of the military boots she had only seen 5 years ago was, for Sharti, the grim reaper of death. If he knew that the bloodline of the Krianet royal family he had tried to burn to death was still alive, he would surely come to behead her.

“But lately I haven’t been like this…….”

Then why was she suddenly swept up in auditory and visual hallucinations like when she saw fire before her eyes?

Unlike fire, she hadn’t seen Grand Duke Gwendhill’s face, so she had never had such a severe episode just from hearing the name once like today.

‘I merely heard the word “Gwendhill.”‘

It wasn’t even hyperventilation, yet she couldn’t breathe to that extent.

If it had been just a bit later, oxygen wouldn’t have been supplied to her brain and it would have been serious.

‘If it hadn’t been for Ren…….’

The moment Sharti imagined the worst-case scenario without Ren’s help, her pupils quaked.

Sharti quietly pressed her lips tightly inward. Her fingers also curled inward like a shrinking squid.

[……Sha, Sha! ……Damn it!]

A softly uttered curse, hands urgently cupping her cheeks, and the soft lips that had touched hers with his hot breath continuously transmitted…….

Sharti squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

‘It has to be now.’

She had to faint right now, at this very moment.

But regrettably, her heart was clamoring noisily as much as the heat rising to her face, and she absolutely couldn’t lose consciousness.

Sharti wanted to cry for a different reason.