I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 200
“What nonsense.”
The old man scoffed at him.
“A young man speaking such ominous words. Even if, by some slim chance, the Crown Prince were to pass, Princess Sordid is still alive. And the Crown Prince already has a daughter.”
“But the Crown Prince’s daughter is only five years old. How could a child that young safeguard and exercise the royal authority? And if Princess Sordid were to become the queen of Hevania, she’d likely be at the mercy of her betrothed, the Imperial Prince.”
The young man sighed with resignation, and several servants nodded in agreement with his concerns.
The young man’s name was Nad.
Nad wasn’t originally a cemetery worker. He had only been reassigned to the cemetery a few days earlier.
Initially, the old caretaker hadn’t been too impressed with Nad. Beyond his frail appearance, he had been a desk clerk somewhere in the palace, handling paperwork rather than physical labor.
He didn’t seem suited to cemetery work. However, he’d been strongly recommended by higher-ups, so the caretaker couldn’t just send him away. Over the few days they had worked together, the caretaker’s opinion of Nad had changed.
Nad turned out to be surprisingly resourceful.
While his thin frame meant he couldn’t do much heavy lifting, he wasn’t as fragile as he seemed. He followed orders without complaint, nodding obediently, and even managed long night shifts without a word of protest.
Most impressive, though, was Nad’s knack for storytelling.
When Nad first arrived at the cemetery, he had a long scar running down his forehead. Curious servants asked him how he had gotten it, and Nad, puffing out his chest with pride, replied,
“I fought and took down thirty demons by myself during the demon subjugation.”
A soldier returning from the demon subjugation? The cemetery workers’ eyes lit up, and they pestered him to share stories of the campaign.
During their night shifts, Nad frequently entertained them with his tales.
“Those demons came at us, baring their sharp fangs. While some of my fellow squad members screamed and ran, I didn’t blink. At that moment, I thought, ‘Even if my heart bursts, I’ll die gloriously, taking their heads with me!’ So, I drew my sword. With a thunderous boom, the earth trembled. The next moment, my sword flashed, slicing through their arms, and their blood gushed out like a waterfall, while the demons shrieked and fled…”
Listening to Nad’s tales, the servants would chime in with exclamations and applause. For people who had never left the capital, let alone ventured to the borderlands, Nad’s battlefield stories were a rare source of entertainment.
Emboldened by their interest, Nad continued, practically spitting with enthusiasm.
“And that’s not all. Do you all know Lord Rufus?”
“Lord Rufus? You mean Rufus Inferna, the war hero?”
“Exactly. I fought back-to-back with Lord Rufus.”
Nad declared proudly, spreading his shoulders wide. Then, he added in a quieter voice,
‘Well, actually, I just hid behind him… but we were physically close, so that counts as “back-to-back,” right?’
He justified his claim with a bit of self-serving logic.
“Wow, you must have been pretty remarkable back in the day. You know Lord Rufus?”
Excited by Nad’s claim to know Rufus, the servants eagerly crowded around, their voices buzzing with interest.
“Lord Rufus is truly incredible. I’d love to meet him someday.”
“Isn’t he the hero among heroes who took down the Demon King Audixus?”
For the past few nights, the servants had sat in hushed silence, eagerly listening to Nad’s tales.
How he’d fought alone yet somehow crossed paths with Rufus remained a mystery, but given his vivid accounts, it seemed likely that Nad had indeed fought in the demon subjugation.
“Still, with the two princes passing away at once, it’s bound to shake the kingdom’s stability,” another servant added to Nad’s commentary. “Especially since each prince held their own power and left it leaderless in an instant.”
“If the king himself were to pass from the shock…” another began, worry creeping into their voice.
“Enough!” the old man barked, raising his voice. “You young folk keep talking about such unlucky things in the dead of night. Woman, put something in their mouths to keep them quiet.”
With that, the old woman took the bubbling pot off the fireplace.
“Yes, let’s all eat something. Tending to the dead could kill us living folk as well.”
She stirred the pot with a rusty ladle, lifting up steaming chunks of potato. The rich aroma wafted through the room, causing the servants’ shrunken stomachs to rumble with hunger. They eagerly devoured the partially peeled potato chunks.
As they were enjoying their modest meal, a knock sounded on the door.
“Who is it?”
The old man, who was soaking a hardened piece of bread in the potato broth, nodded toward Nad.
“Nad, go see who’s at the door.”
“Yes, sir.”
Stuffing a piece of potato into his mouth, Nad stood up and walked over to the door, opening it without checking outside first.
“Who’s th—”
“It’s me.”
“—ere… O… oh.”
Nad mumbled, the half-chewed potato in his mouth stopping him mid-sentence.
“…L-Lord Rufus?”
“It’s been a while.”
Standing outside the hut was none other than Rufus, the man who had led Nad’s squad.
And he wasn’t alone.
“Pardon us for intruding,” said a small figure cloaked in a thick robe, standing beside Rufus. The robe’s sleeves were so wide that a cat could easily hide in them.
For a moment, Nad’s gaze lingered on the enormous sleeves, then shifted to the glint of ivory-colored hair, fine and silky like spun silk, peeking out from beneath the hood.
“A… woman?”
As Nad lifted his head, a pair of golden eyes met his.
He didn’t need long to figure out who stood before him.
“The Saintess… Lady Sarubia?”
The very Saintess he’d only ever heard rumors about.
Thunk.
A chunk of potato dropped from Nad’s mouth to the floor.
Oh heavens…
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
