When That Door Opens - Chapter 60
He buried his face in my shoulder and held me tightly. I stroked his bent back and said,
“I will always be by your side. I will never let you go again.”
As if to change the subject, he spoke in a deliberately bright voice.
“Did you hear about Schultz? They still miss you. Don’t you want to go back?”
“They want Astel, not me.”
I chuckled, waving my scarred hand.
“Besides, going back like this wouldn’t be well received. They might call me a witch who abandoned Schultz and neglected the duties of a great god for my selfishness.”
“A witch, huh. Then I suppose I’d be the demon who loved a witch.”
He kissed the back of my hand playfully. I smiled back and whispered.
“Whether a witch or a demon, let’s live an ordinary life now. As a normal couple, as husband and wife. In a world that doesn’t know us, let’s live happily and freely.”
* * *
Alex, a sailor from Schultz, had an unusual visitor today. It was a guest he had met a few months ago, but their gender had changed.
“I had my reasons for dressing as a man back then.”
The guest who surprised Alex, Adela, said with a gentle smile. Alex, bewildered, looked at Adela’s smiling face and her swollen belly.
“Hmm. Ahem. I see. When is your due date?”
“In three months. I’m on my way to my parents’ home with my husband. I plan to give birth there.”
“Is your parents’ home near Zeppelin?”
“Yes. Do you know about Zeppelin?”
“I just know the name. It’s on the opposite side of Schultz, isn’t it?”
As a true Schultz native, Alex, like other Schultz people, had no interest in Zeppelin.
“Ah, come to think of it, I heard good news from Schultz. Congratulations. You must feel a bit more at ease now.”
“Ha ha ha! Yes, indeed! I can sleep with my eyes open, it’s so peaceful! God has protected our Schultz!”
Two months ago, joyful news came from Schultz. A new Astel was born. This time, it was a baby boy.
The Elder Council immediately announced Astel’s birth and honored Astel’s family as nobles of Schultz.
As the new Astel became the center of Schultz, the evaluation of the previous Astel naturally changed.
People whispered that the reason a new Astel was born so quickly was because she angered the god by taking her own life.
Some even criticized that it made no sense for the Astel, who should have been responsible for Schultz, to abandon the people by making such a weak choice.
They went as far as to destroy or burn the portraits and statues of her that had been collected, claiming they wanted to erase the traces of the sinister Astel.
“A new era of Astel. That’s truly great news. It’s a big blessing for me as well.”
Adela smiled gently.
“Well, I’ll be on my way now.”
“Yes, please do.”
Adela slowly walked away, holding her belly. A young man who had come out from the cabin headed towards Adela. Seeing the look of adoration in his eyes, it was clear he was Adela’s husband. Watching Adela smile at her husband, Alex tilted his head.
He felt it before, but it was definitely a familiar face.
As he pondered, something came to his mind, and he quickly searched his pocket.
It was a pendant with a portrait of the previous Astel, which he had bought long ago as a talisman against storms.
Alex furrowed his brows as he looked back and forth between the small portrait and Adela.
“Does she… resemble her?”
The features seemed somewhat similar, but the hair color was different, so she didn’t look like the same person.
On closer inspection, even the features didn’t seem that similar.
Adela, laughing in her husband’s arms, looked much more comfortable and happy.
Realizing this, Alex felt a pang of guilt towards Adela.
Comparing a sinner who took her own life, incurring the wrath of the gods, leaving even her corpse undiscovered, to a woman carrying a child.
“Now that I think of it, I should get rid of this.”
After silently apologizing to Adela, Alex wrapped up the pendant.
Following the recent trend among other Schultz people, he threw the pendant containing the portrait of the sinner into the sea.
It was time to erase the past and welcome the new era of Astel.
