SYMDF 36

Chapter 36

 

Soon, two figures appeared alone before him in the court. They were Vernian and Camillus. Camillus seemed to be dragged along almost against his will, while Vernian wore a triumphant expression.

Of the two, Vernian was the first to approach the Emperor. Kneeling lightly, he greeted with formal manners before speaking his first words.

〈I bring the answer Your Majesty desired.〉

The Emperor slowly turned, his gaze settling not on Vernian but on Camillus. When their eyes met, Camillus stepped forward to a spot just behind Vernian and spoke with a weary voice.

〈Your Majesty has prevailed.〉

〈And so?〉

Before the faint smile on the Emperor’s lips, Camillus lowered his body slowly, then knelt fully and bowed his head deeply, beginning to plead.

〈Please spare Ion. That child… will surely die otherwise, Father.〉

Not only his voice but the bloodied hand trembling from his injured shoulder betrayed his anguish. Yet the Emperor’s expression, watching his struggling son, was utterly indifferent. His spoken words bore a similar coldness.

〈I did not make that child, nor do I know how to save him. Why do you come to me with such futile pleas?〉

Camillus bit his lips hard, whitening them as if swallowing humiliation or rage.

〈No, Your Majesty knows. Please call him forth.〉

〈…〉

〈Damn it, I would give all the mana in this body if you would only come! But instead, instead…〉

Camillus raised his eyes to the Emperor. His blue eyes, inherited from his father, held an immense longing.

〈Allow just one thing… just one—to save Ion Craiger, the heir of House Craiger.〉

The Emperor watched without response, deliberately withholding his answer to buy time and pressure Camillus psychologically.

As expected, when suffocated by frustration, Camillus began to breathe heavily. His chin trembled. Yet knowing his father would somehow coax the words out, Camillus eventually relented.

〈I will depart to Iodin and never return to the capital.〉

The Emperor leisurely stepped forward. With all the grace of royalty, he crossed the red carpet and gently stepped down to stand before Camillus, passing Vernian.

A rustle accompanied the creasing of his robes as he placed both hands upon Camillus’s shoulders. Camillus flinched from the pain in his injured shoulder, but the Emperor paid no mind to his hands stained with blood.

With a voice seemingly gentle, he spoke a tender term of address.

〈Child.〉

But Camillus felt like his breath was caught, his eyelids fluttering like a butterfly’s clumsy wings. As expected, the Emperor’s next words came with an even lighter cruelty than usual.

〈You shall never leave that place for all your life.〉

It was an edict of captivity. To go to Iodin—a desolate land shrouded in perpetual snowstorms, filled with monsters to prey upon. The most forsaken place in the O’Brien Empire, where almost no humans live.

〈If you do not, the child you cherish shall suffer too much.〉

The Emperor thus achieved two things: dismissing an unwanted son, and silencing those who might cry betrayal because of abandoning the northern lands.

Though Camillus knew all too well the consequences of going there—that his life would be controlled forever—he could not refuse.

Ion’s life, the life he had risked, was bound in that choice. Though it would bring him pain again, he believed this was the right path. The only way to keep Ion alive.

〈Yes.〉

〈Right, good boy. I grant you the lands of Iodin and the title of Marcher Lord. The knights of O’Brien shall honor you as you guard those desolate lands, leaving the capital behind.〉

〈…〉

A tear welled in Camillus’s eyes and in Vernian’s faint smile.

The Emperor stroked Camillus’s small cheek with his hand. His gaze swept over the boy’s face—so unlike his own in many ways—filled with deep sorrow, as though thinking of a dearly loved woman.

〈You resemble your mother greatly.〉

Even his faint sigh was sincere.

But Camillus knew it was a deception.

〈Please save Ion.〉

〈Fear not. With your strength, that child will rise again.〉

〈…〉

〈That is your power, is it not?〉

Camillus’s shoulder ached where his father’s hand gripped tightly, but he gritted his teeth and endured. The thought of declaring his weakness choked him, blood rising in his throat.

〈…Yes.〉

Camillus lowered his head and the vision faded.

Silent throughout, Ion watched. After the orb stopped glowing entirely, he remained motionless for a time.

Yomnyong, sensing this strangeness, swallowed the orb again and tugged Ion’s clothes.

“Kku.”

At last, Ion lowered his eyes to meet Yomnyong’s gaze. His following words were cold.

“Why show me this? Did Camillus send it?”

Yomnyong writhed helplessly, blinking tearfully.

Ion’s anger surged and his face twisted with pain.

“So he left for the cold North and—won’t return?”

“Kku… kku.”

Yomnyong looked up anxiously. Ion clenched his lips tightly. The gleam in his companion’s gem seemed to stir his long-hidden guilt behind a veil called cowardice, a reality he had tried to deny.

He gripped Yomnyong tightly and poured out his resentment.

“You wanted me to know this? That your master left me for that cold North? You blame me too?”

“Kuu!”

The rapid questions shocked Yomnyong, tears brimming as he shook his head.

He knew. Knew all choices had been for Ion’s sake, that Camillus had not abandoned him.

Yet Ion’s fury was uncontrollable.

“You didn’t even say goodbye before you left!”

That anger was self-directed; the blame should have been his own.

Ion felt as if he might lose his mind over helplessness.

Protector. Miracle.

Camillus had said so. Yet the fragile savior bound himself again in chains.

Then why did you leave?

Knowing what would happen.

[Reunion with Camillus Valderas Clodel (2/3)]
[Continue to meet Camillus Valderas Clodel one more time.
Must exchange at least ten sentences within one meter to complete meeting.]
[Quest completion affects player’s survival.]

Looking at the quest window, Ion couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. His smile was hollow, tears flowing unbidden.

I cannot find you.

With this weak body, I’d never see a strand of your hair before I died.

Relying on others for survival, I cannot hope to chase down a vanished you.

“Huk, huk… huk…”

His laughter ended, tears overtaking. His body twitched; mouth opened gasping for air. His face flushed fiercely from hyperventilation.

“Ah, aah… ah, huk…”

Reaching blindly beside the bed, Ion searched with trembling fingers for a small bell.

It jingled at the slightest touch but soon slipped from his grasp, clattering to the floor.

Peering down, Ion saw Yomnyong rush to retrieve it before anyone else could.

“Young master!”

The butler burst in, rushing to Ion’s collapsed form. Ion gasped within his broken world.

He thought, if fate lets us meet again—when that day comes—I will have found a way to live without your sacrifice or kindness.

I promise. I will.

Footnotes

• Iodin: The harsh northern borderlands of the Empire, a place of exile surrounded by mountains and monsters. 

Marcher Lord: A noble title granting frontier land to defend.