The West Wind's Destination - Chapter 93
“I simply do not understand why I must learn swordsmanship when I am perfectly capable of using magic.”
“You need physical strength to use magic as much as you want. Your body must be healthy to contain more magic power.”
“Father, please stop. It takes time to redo it.”
Homun grimaced and tried to pull away, but Aseph just laughed, messing up Homun’s hair into a bird’s nest before finally putting him down.
While watching absentmindedly, Bea finished everything Aseph had brought in the bowl. Aseph took the now-empty bowl, smiling brightly.
“You finished it all.”
“…That child calls you ‘Father’?”
“A-Aaah, yes, he does.”
Bea glanced back and forth between Aseph and Homun and, surprisingly, nodded slightly.
“…He’s stubborn, just like you.”
“You think he’s stubborn like me?”
Aseph spoke with a face trying to suppress a laugh.
“If he’s like me, you know how to handle him, how to get the child to study hard…”
“You could put a gold collar around his neck…”
“No, no. Stop there.”
Aseph whispered only into Bea’s ear so Homun couldn’t hear.
“Just give him a hug and tell him he’s doing well.”
Bea’s eyes narrowed, clearly showing disbelief. However, without complaint, she reached out as Aseph suggested.
Homun stiffened but quietly let himself be hugged. Feeling his significant weight, Bea lifted him and stroked his hair, as she would with Aseph clinging to her at night, and said as instructed.
“You’re doing well.”
“…”
Homun became docile while Bea continued to stroke his hair with a blank expression.
“If you’re taking swordsmanship lessons, you’ll need a lot of calories. You should also be fed chocolate.”
“…I’ll do my best.”
A soft laughter was heard. Turning towards it, Bea saw Aseph smiling brighter than the sunlight coming in through the window.
“Bea, I have something I want to ask.”
“Hm?”
“You said you disliked the food I made for you. Why did it make you feel that way?”
“It hurts.”
“How does it hurt?”
Having treated her almost as if he was her personal nurse, now he’s acting like a doctor too? But accustomed to listening to Aseph, Bea tried to explain her feelings slowly.
“It throbs here. Then, it feels like air fills from this side to here, making it hard to breathe.”
“Ah, I see.”
Aseph watched slowly as Bea touched the center of her chest and then pointed up towards the bottom of her throat while explaining.
“When I wasn’t around, did you feel the same when you thought of me and Homun?”
“Yes…”
“What about now?”
“…”
Bea didn’t answer. She just looked confused, as if she didn’t understand the situation. Yet, she continued to hug and stroke Homun as Aseph had instructed.
‘Bea, it’s not that you’re inexperienced with emotions.’
You were just filled with sadness.
Aseph decided not to tell Bea that what she was feeling wasn’t actually pain.
Emotions are expressed by people because they are advantageous for survival. While alchemists were known to show nothing but coldness and cruelty, it was perhaps because of one thing—even if they expressed any emotions, there was no one to acknowledge them.
As Bea was accustomed to only very little emotion, how could he help her say that she was happy and content? Aseph still didn’t know the exact way to do it, however this only made his determination stronger.
“Bea, I love you.”
“…Yes.”
Running out of things to say, Aseph confessed his love as he always did. He didn’t yet realize that this particular stubbornness was actually already melting Bea’s heart.
❖
A few days after being able to get out of bed, Bea was escorted by Aseph towards the west.
Why they were heading west was beyond her, but Aseph seemed somewhat excited inside the carriage.
“It’s just sand there.”
“Would that be a memory from years ago for you?”
Maybe. It’s definitely been more than ten years, perhaps even over twenty. She hadn’t bothered to count the years she wandered in the desert as a child, the years she spent under her master, or the years she lived in seclusion afterward.
But from Aseph’s words, it was inferred that the west had changed a lot from the old days.
Well, as much as it could have changed, Bea surmised. It was just a place of sand and stone.
But contrary to her cynical thoughts, the closer they got to the west, the more they saw landscapes utterly different from the past.
It was undeniable.
Those were the windmills she had designed long ago.
Windmills were spinning round and round in the unique westerly winds of the region. Enough of them were built to fill the vast desert landscape, visible even from a distance. Despite the barren desert without hills or mountains, those large structures made the scene look almost pastoral at a glance.
Aseph spoke softly to Bea, who was staring blankly out the carriage window.
“The western alchemists who worked under Myron Devesis wanted to see you.”
“They weren’t looking for Master?”
“Well, they didn’t seem to care much about Myron Devesis.”
“I could understand. They were too busy surviving.”
The carriage stopped in front of a building. Aseph got out first, and as he helped Bea down, someone approached them quickly.
“Your Highnesses.”
Ruslan greeted them formally but briefly.
Bea didn’t even realize that the respectful term of address included her as well as she looked behind her.
Following her, a line of alchemists from the west came forward, each greeting informally yet evidently very nervous.
