Chapter 6
“There are six types of spirits in nature: fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness.”
Spirits, the purest embodiments of nature itself, and one day, the first human to form a contract with them.
From that person, the four Spirit Towers of today came to be, and gradually, the number of people able to perceive spirits began to increase.
As centuries passed, those individuals came to be known as Spirit Masters.
Though she had denied being one, the man named Ledin persistently visited the ducal estate.
At first, it had been somewhat burdensome.
Yet his words felt less like formal explanations and more like old stories from long ago, and before she realized it, she began to take interest in them.
The way he spoke, indifferent yet somehow gentle, as if recounting tales to a child, had, little by little, chipped away at the walls she had built around herself.
[We’re Earth spirits!]
[Earth spirits!]
[Nymphs!]
Each time he visited, spirits accompanied him, scattering soft, warm light around them.
The spirits, fluttering about the garden and bursting into bright laughter, managed to thaw the frozen recesses of her heart, if only a little.
On days they left, the bleak and withering reality of life within the ducal estate seemed, for a fleeting moment, to blur at the edges.
Especially when she met Ledin’s blue gaze, for reasons she could not name, it brought her a sense of peace.
They had quietly worked their way into her daily life, and before long, she found herself waiting for the days when Ledin and the spirits would visit.
Once a week, or at most every two weeks, he would appear, and on the tenth such meeting, always in the same garden, he spoke.
“I won’t be able to come for a while.”
At the sudden words, she blinked.
A sudden, explosive surge in the number of monsters in the eastern territories of the continent had caused a massive deployment order for the Spirit Masters of the northern tower.
And Ledin, as one of them, was no exception.
“If it were just an ordinary extermination, it’d be one thing, but with numbers like this, there’s no telling when it’ll be over.”
He explained, with a rare expression of mild irritation, that they would have to completely wipe out the monster habitats and even handle the reconstruction of the devastated land afterward.
At least three months, he estimated.
She quietly lowered her gaze.
Those meetings with Ledin and the spirits had been one of her only means of escape from the suffocating life inside the estate.
In those moments, she could lose herself in the stories of spirits, in the antics of the nymphs, and forget about the man she loved holding another woman in his arms.
She could, just for a while, stop thinking about how the servants’ attitudes toward her had changed.
She could stop the restless, pathetic anticipation of wondering when, if ever, the man she loved would turn his gaze to her.
For that short while, she could exist surrounded only by peaceful sounds.
“Asila.”
After a long silence, Ledin called her name.
When she lifted her gaze, she saw his blue eyes flickering like waves, and his silver hair shining in the sunlight as it danced in the wind.
Neither of them spoke for a long time, merely staring at one another, until finally Ledin broke the silence.
“Would you not come with me?”
[That’s right, Asila! Come with us!]
[Let’s leave this dreadful place behind!]
[Come with us! Together!]
His words, followed by the cheerful clamor of the spirits, made her eyes widen.
Before she could fully grasp what he meant, Ledin continued.
“The Tower Master wishes to meet you. Rather than wasting your life here, overlooked by people too blind to see your worth, come to a place where you can truly live freely and use your gift. You know what kind of treatment Spirit Masters receive.”
To live freely. To use her abilities.
For a brief moment, an irresistible impulse to follow Ledin and the spirits surged within her, and her lips parted slightly.
A temptation, as sweet as honey, hung before her eyes.
She lifted her head to see the man standing in the sunlight, hand extended toward her.
Her fingertips twitched.
“But I…”
“I’d rather you not finish that sentence by claiming you’re not a Spirit Master. Even without a contract, you can see spirits and they adore you, that alone makes you one of us.”
Before she could even complete her thought, Ledin cut in.
[Come, Asila!]
[We want to be with you, Asila!]
When she dropped her gaze, she saw the spirits clinging to her fingers, tugging and pleading, their eyes bright and sparkling, and for a moment, her heart quivered.
But
Asila.
Even if it had been a lie, that voice, the first gentle voice she had ever received, echoed inside her head.
She bit down hard on her lip.
“I… I can’t go.”
Though the spirits spun in circles around her in protest, she did not waver in her decision. No, she couldn’t.
Even now.
Even as she stood here, facing Ledin’s gaze.
She could not cast off the Grand Duke.
She couldn’t free herself from anything that reminded her of him.
Yes, it was agony.
In this estate, in this empire, not a single person spared her a second thought.
Within these walls, she was nothing more than a hollow title, a Grand Duchess in name alone.
The Grand Duke ignored her. No matter where he went, he paraded that woman, Sasha, openly at his side. And within the estate, the three of them, the Grand Duke, Sasha, and the infant child not yet old enough to walk, strolled through the halls as if they were the rightful family.
The giggling infant, the man who owned the estate, and the lovely woman adored by all as his beloved.
Everyone but herself, they looked like a perfectly peaceful, beautiful family.
The image overlapped with the sight she once watched from afar: the Emperor, the Empress, and the Crown Prince.
It was the same then, and it was the same now.
She could do nothing but stand behind them, staring blankly.
Every single day, without fail, the warm, cheerful conversations that passed so effortlessly between them tore mercilessly at her heart.
There was no place for her. Not even a sliver.
Being treated as if she didn’t exist despite being surrounded by people was far more horrific than enduring her isolation in the imperial palace.
Yes, it was.
And yet, the emotion called love, which had long since taken root deep within her heart, remained steadfast.
Even now, whenever she saw the Grand Duke, her heart would pound wildly, as if it might burst from her chest. And whenever something reminded her of him, it would trigger a painful ache accompanied by a trembling in her body.
Though she knew how foolish it was, her heart refused to stop.
She knew all too well from watching her mother and the Emperor what kind of end such a longing for love would bring.
And yet, even now.
Ledin’s blue eyes, silently gazing at her, seemed to overlap with the Grand Duke’s.
Even though the gaze itself and the emotions contained within them clearly belonged to different people, the mere fact that both pairs of eyes were blue was enough to bring him to mind.
“……I’m sorry. I truly can’t go.”
She forced out each word with difficulty, her voice heavy with strain.
Somehow, she felt as though tears might fall, and so she could only twist the corners of her lips upward in a faint smile.
No one ever looked at her. No one even made the effort to see her. No one, save for the man standing before her now.
And yet, still.
Her heart belonged to someone else, someone who made it race without mercy. The thought of not seeing him, even for a single day, felt as though it would wither her away to nothing.
Even his cold, indifferent gaze, she longed to receive even that much attention, and so her feet would not move.
Every single day was agonizing. Like walking barefoot through a field of thorns, leaving her bloodied with each step.
She despised the reality she was living.
Once an abandoned imperial princess. Now a Grand Duchess in name only. Being subject to the whims of others was not a life of happiness.
Yet she did not wish to escape.
Even if Ledin, with his usual sharp tongue, called her foolish and pathetic, she had no rebuttal. She already knew.
From the start, he had approached her under a false guise of kindness, driven by his hatred for the imperial family, as part of his meticulously laid plan.
She knew, even if by some miracle, that man would never turn his gaze to her.
It was truly foolish.
She wanted to see the face of the very man who had caused this misery, even as she didn’t.
If only he would say now that he was sorry, that it had all been a cruel, stupid joke, she would gladly close her eyes, whisper that she understood, and confess her love.
It was pitiful.
Clinging to such contradictory emotions, knowing full well she would only suffer for it, yet still refusing to run.
Turning away a hand willingly extended to her, a chance to break free from all of it.
And yet still, she could not bring herself to change her mind, believing she had to remain in this place.
Because if she truly left, if she no longer saw the Grand Duke’s face, it felt as though this heart that stubbornly continued to beat would finally stop for good.
And the nameless force that had barely kept her enduring this wretched life would disappear alongside it.
A quiet breeze passed between her and Ledin.
The spirits, who had been chattering moments ago, seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere and fell silent, perching gently upon her shoulder.
She had expected him to retort with one of his usual sharp remarks, but surprisingly, not a single word left his lips.
He merely continued to look at her with those blue eyes.
“Take this.”
How much time had passed?
He handed her a small necklace, a pendant of emerald green.
“….This is…”
“An artifact. If you change your mind, contact me anytime. I’ll send letters whenever I can spare the time.”
Ledin turned his back to her with a faint spin, leaving the garden.
[Hey, Ledin, wait for us!!]
[What kind of farewell is that to Asila!!]
[Asila, stay healthy!]
[See you again!]
The spirits, flitting about in confusion, lightly grasped and released her fingers before hastily following after Ledin.
“……Thank you.”
Perhaps he caught the faint whisper she spoke to the air, for his footsteps faltered, just for a moment.
He lowered his head slightly, then continued walking. His figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance.
Without asking a thing, without saying another word, he had merely left her a way to reach him.
For that, she was deeply grateful.
And at the same time, the Grand Duke’s estate around her felt endlessly dark and suffocating.
So she could only look after Ledin’s retreating figure and muster a frail, helpless smile.
