The West Wind's Destination - Chapter 71
Aseph could not chase after Bea. The condition of Homun, cradled in his arms, was too dire.
Already eathly pallid, Homun started to feverishly heat up as soon as they returned to the mansion. There was nothing he could do but to administer fever reducers and wipe off the sweat.
Only after several nights spent awake, when Homun’s breathing finally seemed to settle, did Aseph allow himself a moment of respite.
Days later, the butler and Ruslan, who had been in pursuit of Myron Devesis, returned. They brought with them a report that was unsettling.
The information that came with the admission of their failure was that Myron Devesis was not the same as he once was.
“He seemed like a mage.”
“Not an alchemist?”
When facing a combat alchemist, the correct approach was to neutralize their tools first. However, Myron had no such tools. Those who wield magic with their bodies alone are mages, not alchemists.
“…It’s unlikely we mistook someone else.”
“Yes. It was definitely Myron Devesis. I can vouch for it. But, we were caught off guard. He was everything I knew him to be, yet he could use magic.”
The butler stated the fact of their failure plainly. However, the situation was not of utmost crisis. If Myron Devesis was as he once was, his objective would be singular. Being an adversary of the empire, his destination was predictable, making tracking his movements not overly difficult.
Indeed, the greatest issue was Zephyr.
“…But I truly didn’t expect him to just leave the child behind.”
Ruslan remarked casually. He too looked worn from several days of ordeal, with dark circles under his eyes.
“Well… perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise? Considering the future of Vilkanos, this outcome might be preferable.”
“…”
Ruslan, this guy. He had initially suggested that since Bea was an alchemist, it might be best to simply pay her off and leave the child behind. Then, at times, he argued that Bea was an angel incarnate and must be captured at all costs. And now, he was back to this stance.
Aseph clenched his fist, wanting to punch the man, but refrained because the child was sleeping.
“Ruslan, you could… try to be a bit more consistent.”
“What can I do if Your Highness was rejected? Don’t take your frustration out on me. I’m just looking at it from a potentially positive perspective.”
Ruslan said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Maybe it’s for the best! Maybe Myron Devesis will give those imperial mages a taste of their own medicine, instead of Vilkanos. It’ll be quite the sight to see them bowing their heads to Vilkanos again. I’d find it more satisfying to see them beaten by someone from a place they look down upon.”
“From a place…? Ah, yes.”
Aseph, who had asked without thinking, recalled a report Ruslan had made in the past. It suggested that Bea’s status was likely that of a slave, or at best, a worker in a slave trade, based on the evidence.
Then.
“Ah…”
Aseph momentarily felt a wave of self-loathing for his thoughts and clutched his head.
I wish she were a slave. If you want a slave, you can simply buy one from their owner.
There’s no one crazier than him.
How can one harbor such thoughts towards a savior of life, a rescuer who lifted one’s spirit from the very depths?
“Your Highness.”
But the butler had already guessed what Aseph was thinking. He went a step further, advancing to the next stage of that line of thought.
“If negotiations with Myron fail, killing him and taking her back is also an option.”
“What kind of absurd, nonsensical talk is that!”
Aseph raised his voice, frustrated by the butler’s preemptive leaps, as if strategizing for a surprise attack on the battlefield.
“She told me that she loves that bastard. So you’re telling me to kill and snatch away the love of the person I love with my own hands?”
“Correct.”
“Butler!”
Before Aseph could respond, Ruslan was the first to raise his voice.
“Are you some kind of genius?”
“Stop spouting such nonsense!”
In the end, it was always Aseph who exploded.
“Such vile and filthy actions are not love…”
Aseph Vilkanos had learned to perceive love in its most normal and healthy form.
His father, who had passionately courted his mother to the envy of all nobility. His mother, who would often reminisce about it as a fond memory. Aseph, their fruit, had also grown up enveloped in the warmth of that love.
Thus, Aseph considered love to be a warm, soft light that reaches out even when one is mired in the muck.
Indeed, it was Bea who had shone that light when Aseph lost both his parents to the empire’s magicians and even his will to live.
The person who revived his will when he wanted to give up on everything.
After the war, he couldn’t forget her, nor was it right to do so.
He longed to meet her again, to give this lonely person the best of what he had, to pour out all the love he had learned since his childhood.
But the recipient of one-sided love was under no obligation to accept it.
This was merely obsession. Unwanted advances could only be chilling.
Bea was too cruel. Why did she love such a man more, why did she choose that bastard… Aseph couldn’t understand at all, and this only fueled his resentment.
Yet, hating the reality that he must accept this truth for Bea’s sake was even more detestable.
I thought she liked this place. I thought our hearts had connected…
“Your Highness.”
The butler softly called out to Aseph, who was clutching his forehead in increased torment.
“Love is inherently a dirty and repugnant emotion.”
Aseph quietly looked at the butler, who, as always, wore a calm expression.
“It’s normal for Your Highness to want to kill that other man. It doesn’t matter what kind of person he is. Wanting to kill and take her away is a perfectly natural emotion.”
“What…?”
