Chapter 34
Chapter 034. People Whose War Has Not Ended (7)
“……”
Sionne waited until the man’s figure completely disappeared from view.
Then, after a moment had passed, he shattered the glass door to the balcony with his sword.
Crash!
After several swings, the balcony door lay in ruins.
Whoosh. Wind slipped in through the broken glass.
Riding the strong breeze, shards of glass flew toward Sionne. One larger piece grazed his cheek as it whipped past.
Bang! Bang!
Just then, someone banged on the door.
“Sionne Feitan, what happened!”
It was Rosalyn from the room next door. Her strained voice called out to him.
“Open this door right now!”
Being the closest, she must’ve been the first to arrive.
Sionne glanced toward the door, then looked down at his chest. His nightclothes were soaked in blood.
With eyes devoid of feeling, he dipped his fingers into the blood and smeared it across his face.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Sionne!!”
Outside the door, Rosalyn was pounding even harder now. The door shook as if it might break down any moment.
“Your Grace, we’ll break it open!”
Other knights must have arrived, judging by the murmurs beyond the door.
“That’s probably for the be—”
Bang.
Before Rosalyn could finish giving the order, Sionne flung the door open.
“……”
His appearance brought a tense silence over the gathered crowd.
“Rosalyn.”
She halted her command and looked at him. The blood-soaked man stood there, staring down at her with hollow eyes.
Scratches across his face. Blood spreading from his chest.
“Bring a physician.”
“Yes, Your Grace!”
Rosalyn gave the order in a lowered voice to the knight beside her.
Then, with just a glance, she signaled the other knights. A tilt of her head toward Sionne’s room conveyed everything.
‘Go in, check the scene, report back.’
The knights caught her meaning and passed Sionne, entering the room.
Once all orders were given, Rosalyn turned back to Sionne.
“What happened, Sionne Fea—”
But she couldn’t finish.
Sionne had pulled her into an embrace.
“!”
Rosalyn tried to push him away in surprise, but stopped when she felt the damp warmth soaking from his chest.
“What happened.”
Her voice lowered as she questioned him.
She could feel something was very wrong. The man who always smiled the moment he saw her now had eyes sunken deep in shadow.
“Was it an intruder?”
“…Yes.”
Sionne finally replied, after a beat.
“Did you kill him?”
Rosalyn asked with cool detachment. From a quick glance, the injury appeared to be confined to his chest.
That meant the intruder was either dead… or had escaped.
‘Is it because he killed someone… that he’s like this?’
Still, she was puzzled.
Sionne had survived years of war. If he was this shaken over killing someone now, it didn’t quite add up—his whole life had been a trail of blood.
“No.”
Sionne shook his head, cutting off her suspicion. He leaned in close, whispering so only she could hear.
“I couldn’t kill him…”
“Why.”
“……”
Even with her question, Sionne gave no answer.
He only held her tighter. As if he couldn’t bear it otherwise.
“Sionne.”
Just as Rosalyn was about to pry his arms away and press him for answers—
She saw a knight emerge from Sionne’s room behind his shoulder. The knight, about to report, faltered slightly when he noticed them embracing.
“Sionne, that’s enough. Let go.”
“……”
“Let him report.”
Rosalyn resisted the urge to shove Sionne away and instead addressed the situation.
“The intruder escaped. It seems he got away through the balcony.”
“Did you find anything that might help identify him?”
“…Nothing for sure, but two Feitan swords were found inside the room.”
“!”
Then she heard a faint voice beside her.
“That’s correct. The attacker was a swordsman from Feitan.”
Sionne confirmed her suspicions.
‘Feitan…’
Caught off guard by the answer, Rosalyn drew in a breath.
“Seems like…”
His whisper fell softly over the scar on her neck.
“Feitan wants me dead.”
“……”
Rosalyn could offer no comfort in the face of Sionne’s calm words.
A man who couldn’t trust anyone.
A life where offering his back only meant having a sword driven into it.
It felt like staring into a mirror—like looking into her own reflection in a lake. A vague and aching empathy bubbled up from within.
“Damn it.”
Rosalyn could feel the fragments of an old memory stirring in her head. Like shards of glass, the memory scraped along her nerves.
Beeeeeep. Along with a high-pitched ringing, a voice echoed in her ears.
‘Rose.’
Only one person, other than her parents, had ever called her that.
‘That bastard tried to take my head.’
She almost felt like the thick-faced traitor might finally appear in her mind.
‘Who was it?’
But the more she tried to grasp the memory, the more it twisted painfully—like it didn’t want to be remembered.
Just as she gritted her teeth and tried to dig deeper—
“Your Grace.”
The soldiers returned with the physician.
“We brought the doctor as you requested.”
“…Haa, let’s go to my room first.”
Rosalyn let out a deep sigh and said.
Then she took Sionne’s hand and led him toward her chambers.
Maybe because she saw herself in him. Because her heart kept pulling toward him, she just couldn’t push him away.
No.
It might have been her who needed the man’s hand the most.
From the scar to her memories, not a single thing inside her wasn’t burning. And yet, only Sionne’s hand brought cool relief.
If Rosalyn didn’t want to be consumed by the heat she couldn’t explain, she needed him.
“……”
With his head bowed, Sionne followed her lead without resistance, hiding the satisfaction of how things were going exactly according to plan.
While Sionne exposed his wound to the physician, Rosalyn gave an order to Jacob, who had rushed over upon hearing the news.
“It was someone sent from Feitan. Search the area around the castle and investigate whether any vagrants were helping him.”
“Understood.”
That’s when Aaron, who had been listening nearby, spoke up.
“But should we really take Sionne Feitan’s words at face value?”
“What are you getting at?”
“I asked the guards who were on duty on my way here. They said they noticed suspicious movement and were closing in when they heard the sound of glass breaking from Sionne Feitan’s room. They lost sight of the intruder during that moment of distraction.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying… we should consider the possibility that Sionne Feitan staged the whole thing himself.”
Aaron deliberately raised his voice.
“For all we know, he could’ve been stalling to buy time for Feitan’s forces—or his allies.”
His sharp, pointed words made it clear he was aiming to wound someone.
The room fell into silence the moment he finished speaking.
Rosalyn instinctively turned to look at Sionne. While part of her suspected him… another part of her wondered—
‘Did that hurt him?’
She couldn’t help but check his expression.
“……”
But Sionne’s face showed no reaction at all. He didn’t deny anything, simply watching the physician’s busy hands with a hollow gaze.
“!”
And that—reminded Rosalyn of something long forgotten.
In Sionne’s sunken expression, she saw a reflection of her past self.
When even the wound on her neck had felt numb.
When the pain had struck her heart, not her body, leaving her completely lost.
When the only thing she could do was deny everything around her.
That forgotten version of herself resurfaced. And as the dam holding back her memories finally gave way, they came flooding in all at once.
“Huu…”
Rosalyn exhaled, wiping the corners of her eyes.
Regaining her memory didn’t feel like a blessing. It felt like she was reliving pain she had already endured once before.
“Aaron Vanil.”
Rosalyn, having barely reined in her emotions, called his name.
“Yes, my lord.”
Aaron’s suspicion wasn’t entirely baseless. If the sound of glass breaking came after the intruder escaped, that certainly was suspicious.
But it also didn’t mean it was true.
“Can you say for certain there was only one intruder?”
“Well…”
“If you want me to trust your suspicions, then bring me evidence. You know accusations like this only stir unrest.”
Rosalyn was starting to notice a pattern.
Her knight, Aaron, growing increasingly hostile.
Her consort, Sionne, always ending up wounded.
She knew she should stay rational and neutral.
“And frankly, at this point, I’m beginning to question your loyalty instead.”
But when she came to her senses, she always found herself shielding Sionne again.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Go find your proof.”
“If I bring back the evidence…”
Aaron began, but—
“My lady, we’ll take our leave now.”
Jacob cut him off before he could speak further. He decided it was best to take Aaron away before he crossed another line.
“Go on, then.”
Rosalyn let out a small sigh and dismissed them.
-
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