Chapter 119
Kalian and Angela would walk the golden carpet after completing all the wedding rites, but the one who stepped on it first and shouted sharply was Mary.
With her fist-clenched hand on her hip, Mary was fuming with anger, huffing indignantly. Soon, she rushed over to Kalian’s side almost at a run, snatching his hand that was touching Angela’s. Then she dragged him haphazardly down from the dais.
There was no way he couldn’t shake off this tiny child’s strength, yet for some reason, Kalian found himself being pulled along by Mary.
“Mary, where are you going? Angela is right there…”
Kalian spoke in a gentle tone. He was trying to soothe the thoroughly enraged Mary and get her to stop. But in the next moment, Mary shouted even more fiercely than before.
“No!”
While yanking Kalian with an immense strength that seemed to come from nowhere, Mary scolded him harshly.
“Are you an idiot, Your Excellency? If you’re going to be mistaken, at least mistake properly! Our miss is far prettier than that woman!”
Your… Excellency?
At Mary’s rebuke, Kalian turned his head to look back. There stood Angela, dazed, having lost the man who was to be her husband. Her face, growing distant, was tinged with sorrow. And yet, this was a mistake…?
Kalian’s eyes clouded with confusion. Then, suddenly, a faint realization dawned in his pitch-black pupils.
Ah… Ah, yes.
Kalian bit his lip in self-mockery. He realized that Angela wasn’t the type of woman to just stand there passively after letting him go.
If she were the real Angela, she would have already rushed to his side. She would have snatched him from Mary’s hand immediately. Then, insisting he couldn’t go anywhere without her, she would have clung tenaciously to keep him by her side.
As Mary said, it was indeed his mistake. This place, the Angela back there—it was all an illusion. His beloved was the foolish woman who carried wounds like tattoos and said it was fine.
Gritting his teeth, Kalian soon overtook Mary. The steps that had been dragged now led her forward. Urging that they must return quickly.
He walked aimlessly down a path leading who knows where. If he kept going this way, a road back to Angela would appear.
Was she crying? Only now did Kalian clearly recall that he had left Angela—who had witnessed the moment a blade pierced his heart right before her eyes—alone in the midst of the battlefield.
What had he been indulging in? Forgetting the sorrow of the woman he loved. Kalian inwardly condemned himself for trying to enjoy even a moment of peace.
At that moment.
“You.”
A title that couldn’t possibly come from Mary’s lips was directed at Kalian.
“You’re still only thinking of her.”
Kalian’s steps gradually slowed at the natural use of informal speech, coming to a halt.
“You’ve always been like that.”
His eyes turned toward Mary. A faint smile creased her face, wrinkling the freckled bridge of her nose. It was an expression Kalian had never seen on her. It revealed that she wasn’t the young maid he knew.
“Who are you?”
Kalian asked, peering into the most common hazel eyes in Phaelon. The hand he had been gripping tightly to return to Angela was already released.
“Who… If I say I’m the god you arbitrarily indebted, would that make sense?”
The being, stroking its chin with a mysterious expression ill-suited to Mary’s face, pondered before countering with a question.
The god he had indebted? As Kalian frowned at the incomprehensible words, whether due to his ability or not, a certain moment vividly resurfaced in his mind.
Kalian was ordering the soldiers—who were plundering the treasures of the foreign temple they had just conquered, smashing large and small statues, and about to behead the priests—to stop.
‘Cease. We withdraw now.’
With that single command, the soldiers—eyes clouded with greed—reluctantly set down the treasures they had shoveled into sacks and withdrew the swords they had thrust at the statues and priests.
The priests, whose lives were spared, stared blankly at the retreating soldiers’ backs before deeply bowing to Kalian in gratitude.
‘Thank you, truly thank you.’
‘May the god’s grace follow you. We will pray for it.’
‘It would only be troublesome for an enemy general to have your god’s grace.’
‘To us, you are simply a benefactor.’
Then they immediately knelt before the largest statue in the temple and began to pray. Kalian, scrutinizing their clasped hands, closed eyes, and murmuring lips one by one, looked up at the statue whose neck would have been severed by now if not for his order.
Is that your god?
The statue with enormous wings spread overwhelmingly. Kalian gazed endlessly at what was merely a lump of stone to him. Then, as if drawn by something, he bowed his head toward it. And he wished.
Please grant my precious woman unending peace. Give her unquenchable warmth. Repay thus for not beheading you today, for not coveting your wealth, for sparing your faithful servants. If you are truly a god.
Thinking of Angela, always on edge, Kalian wished this before swirling his blue cloak and leaving the temple.
He had never imagined a response would come like this.
“You chose the right one. I’m the kind of god who can’t rest until I repay debts, good or bad.”
Kalian stared down speechlessly at the being claiming to be a god in Mary’s form. Noticing the doubt in his eyes, it wrinkled the bridge of its nose again and spoke.
“How do you think this child could scale the walls of that grand estate without a recommendation?”
It meant Mary was a gift sent by him. Kalian’s eyes widened and froze in shock. Leaving the astonished Kalian behind, the god drew up the corners of its mouth broadly.
“She was utterly adorable, your precious woman.”
His expression was one of rapture, as if his mouth were filled with sweet chocolate.
“Kind yet vicious, tainted yet foolishly pure, making her far more entertaining to watch than any ordinary human.”
With both arms, the god embraced the empty air, mimicking a gentle stroke through Angela’s hair as if she were right there.
In that instant, massive wings sprouted behind Mary’s small body. With a light flap, a single snow-white feather brushed Kalian’s cheek before falling to the ground.
Kalian, who had been staring in a daze, suddenly dropped to his knees at the god’s feet. Bowing his head desperately, he pleaded.
“If you found such pleasure in her… then you must grant my wish now. Please fulfill what I’ve desired. Help her spend her days in warm serenity.”
The god, borrowing Mary’s body, stroked the back of Kalian’s head with a small hand.
“You’re quite an amusing human yourself. There aren’t many in the world who think only of others like this.”
How could his mind hold only that child? Chuckling inwardly as if in wonder, the god folded his wings and squatted down before Kalian. Soon, a benevolent whisper reached Kalian’s ear.
“When you return, make one wish. Just one. Use it to make your precious woman happy.”
It was the moment Kalian whipped his head toward the god. Like the sun exploding, his vision flooded with blinding white in an instant.
Kalian squeezed his eyes shut against the terrible glare. How long had he stayed like that? The gradual clamor of the battlefield urged him to open them.
* * *
“G-get out of the way! Stay away from the young lady, right now!”
When Kalian opened his eyes, Yvonne was wildly swinging a sword she’d probably never wielded in her life, desperately protecting Angela.
Dominic, completely consumed by Grace, watched the scene with amusement. All the while, he savagely twisted the sword he’d plunged into Angela, as if showing off.
“Aaah! Stop it!”
Yvonne screamed. Angela, on the other hand, seemed broken. As if she felt no pain at all, she simply clung to Kalian. She looked like someone whose will to live had vanished.
Where could he have gone, leaving her like this?
“I’m sorry for being late.”
Apologizing for the brief moment he’d stood in the midst of a peaceful wedding, Kalian charged straight at Grace without hesitation.
Angela, startled by Kalian slipping from her embrace, stared at the two entangled figures in the distance, her mouth agape. It was an unbelievable sight.
“Hah… you damn tenacious bastard…!”
“Look who’s talking.”
Grace, pushed back by Kalian’s force, yanked the sword free from Angela’s back and attacked him with it. Kalian swiftly dodged backward, easily evading the blade aimed to slice him.
But he couldn’t stop the blood trailing along the edge from splattering across his chest.
Kalian’s eyes rolled back in fury, knowing whose blood had soaked him. Abandoning all the training he’d mastered, he swung a barbaric punch.
Grace staggered with a groan, clutching her nose—perhaps the bridge had collapsed from that single blow. Blood gushed between her fingers.
“Kalian, move!”
Angela’s command came from behind. Without a moment’s thought, Kalian obeyed.
By the time he regained his senses and looked at Grace, a sword was embedded dead center in her chest. Angela had snatched the blade from Yvonne’s hand and hurled it.
Panting heavily, Angela approached and shoved the sword deeper. Dominic’s already wounded body collapsed pathetically.
Grace, kneeling before Angela, coughed harshly, then let out a strange, choking sob.
“You… you finally… kill your own mother… twice…?”
“I told you I could kill you as many times as needed.”
“Haha… ha… yes… yes… But you… didn’t just kill your mother… You… haa, you killed your father too…”
“…”
“Go on… try to live well… After killing… haa, haak, both your parents… with your own hands… and be happy… Uwaaaah! Kk, kk! Keuk…”
Kalian could no longer stand by as Grace tormented Angela to the end. He yanked out the sword lodged in her and thrust it back in with full force.
Unable to withstand the successive impacts, Dominic’s body slumped sideways. The silence that followed the faint convulsions signaled that this form had met its end.
Angela stared quietly at her mother’s second death and her father’s first. But soon, her gaze shifted to her own hands.
“I…”
“I killed them.”
Kalian cut her off firmly, as if he knew exactly what words her lips were about to form.
“I did it. You saw me.”
“You, ah…”
Angela opened her mouth to face Kalian but couldn’t continue, collapsing right there. Kalian caught her exhausted body in his arms and recalled the wish he needed to make.
Are you listening?
Seeking the god, Kalian whispered his wish as if receiving an answer.
Please, when she opens her eyes again, leave her only with happy memories. Erase all the unhappiness, the painful memories… from within her.
He knew he would be part of those painful memories. But it didn’t matter. If he could see Angela smiling, embracing only joy, nothing else was important. Kalian pressed his lips to Angela’s cheek.
It was after that when the ground-shaking thunder of hooves approached on the battlefield where the fight had not yet ended. Leading them were Anette and Tristan.
