Rine did not understand what Ludger had just said for a moment.
“What do you mean by that...”
“I know that even if you’ve learned the truth, it won’t ease your heart. No matter what the circumstances are, I have no intention of justifying what I’ve done. That is why I’m giving you a chance—to take revenge for your mother.”
Rine bit her lip.
That choice was exactly the same as what her mother had done in the memory Ludger had shown her.
“However, I have something I must do now. I don’t even know if it will end in success. But if, by any chance, this entire journey comes to an end... then...”
“Do you think I’ll forgive you just because you say something like that?”
“I don’t seek forgiveness. This is merely something that must be done.”
Ludger’s words were sincere.
Rine parted her lips but could not utter anything more.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I may end up fighting against the entire world.”
Ludger knew it.
He had already gone too far to ever turn back.
When had it started? Perhaps from the moment he chose to walk this path.
So now, the only thing left was to keep moving forward toward the end that was gradually coming into view.
“I told you my name.”
“You said your name was Heathcliff...”
“Yes. But that, too, is only part of my name.”
Ludger looked at Rine and told her his full name.
“My real name is Heathcliff van Bretus. Blood of the Holy Sovereign of Bretus Theocracy—another child he abandoned.”
Rine’s mouth fell open at the shocking revelation.
She had faintly assumed that Ludger might be a high-ranking noble of some sort, but never, not even in her dreams, had she imagined he was royalty.
Not just any royalty—but a prince of Bretus Theocracy, the Holy Nation that once °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° ruled the world through the Lumenis Church itself.
“And my goal is to bring down that very Bretus Theocracy.”
“Why... are you telling me this?”
“Well. Maybe... I simply wanted someone to know.”
With a faint, bitter smile, Ludger turned and walked toward the door of the cabin.
As Rine reached out instinctively, asking where he was going, Ludger spoke without looking back.
“I’ll go on ahead. You should stay here, rest, and gather your thoughts. A lot has happened over the past few days.”
Why aren’t you resting, then—
Rine couldn’t bring herself to ask that.
Because at that moment, Ludger’s entire body was engulfed by black shadow, and then he shrank to a single dot and vanished.
Left alone inside the cabin, Rine slowly looked around.
Now that she had recovered her memories, she felt a wave of nostalgia in this cabin that had preserved the scenery of her past.
The kitchen and table where she had once eaten meals with her family.
The bed where she had fallen asleep reading fairy tales with her mother.
Outside the window stretched the same meadow and forest where she used to run and play with Ludger.
Everything was vivid, as if it had all happened just yesterday.
And at the same time, unreachable—too far away to ever touch again.
She had finally regained the memories she had long forgotten, but instead of feeling relieved, she only felt more confused.
To clear her mind, Rine went into her room.
The room hadn’t changed from her childhood days. Familiarity welled up inside her as she sat on the edge of the bed.
For some reason, a warm drowsiness washed over her.
Thinking of her younger self, Rine lay down and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
* * *
Rustle.
Rine opened her eyes.
It had been a long time since she had slept so deeply.
A sleep so sound she hadn’t even dreamed.
Feeling the gentle breeze brushing against her skin, Rine slowly sat up.
A faint breeze entered through the slightly open window.
It was cool yet warm, carrying with it a quiet will.
Rine opened the cabin door and stepped outside.
And upon seeing the person standing there, she smiled faintly.
“Hello, senior.”
“Rine.”
Freuden Ulburk.
He had come.
She didn’t know how he had arrived, but judging from the way the wind blew, it seemed as though Freuden had ridden on that very breeze.
“You’re really alive.”
“Yes. I’m fine now.”
“If you made it all the way here... does that mean you’ve regained all your memories?”
“Yes. I remember everything now. What happened to my mother... and the times I spent playing with you, senior.”
Freuden smiled genuinely, but then his expression darkened.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“I knew. I knew everything. Yet even though I knew, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth when I saw you.”
Freuden had condemned Ludger for hiding the truth from Rine, but in the end, he had done the same thing.
“I, too, was part of deceiving you.”
To atone for that, he had fought with all his might to save her.
“But you tried your best. You fought to protect me, traveling all the way to that distant island.”
“...You knew?”
“I was barely conscious, but I could still feel it somehow. That there were many people fighting to save me.”
Rine felt grateful from the bottom of her heart.
Even amid the horrific pain her mother had once endured, she had never lost her will to live—because there were people who wanted her to survive in this world.
Freuden opened his mouth as if to say something, then let out a small laugh instead.
So much had happened.
He had visited his family estate to speak honestly with his father, met Yeongsu, traveled with him to Isla Machia.
There, they had been caught up in an unbelievable battle. And after that battle ended, he had searched for Rine, disappearing with Yeongsu’s help until he finally reached this place.
The final destination of that long journey was the past.
The time when they were nothing but ignorant, boastful children.
When they first learned what it meant to know people.
To know joy.
And to know love.
“Yeah. That’s right. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through so much trouble in my life.”
“Thank you—for everything.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
For a moment, silence fell between them.
Then a breeze brushed through, sweeping across the fields, as if to fill the space between their words.
Freuden felt as though that wind were telling him to be brave.
So he decided to be.
“Rine. I...”
“I’m sorry, senior.”
Just as he was about to speak the words he had kept in his heart for so long, Rine shook her head firmly, rejecting them.
At that sight—at that expression—Freuden understood at once.
I see.
So you already knew.
“I know how much you’ve cared for me, and why. I’m truly grateful, but at the same time, I can only feel sorry. Because I...”
“...I see. I understand.”
Freuden smiled bitterly.
He had finally managed to be honest with himself.
Only for it to end like this.
He felt something in his chest tighten painfully.
So this is what heartbreak feels like.
But Freuden did not cry, nor grieve, nor fall into despair.
Instead, he smiled softly—one he rarely showed anyone—and wished her well.
“I hope you find someone who can return your heart.”
“Thank you. Talking with you, senior... cleared my mind.”
Rine finally understood.
What her feelings were.
And what she must do from here on.
“I should go.”
Rine bowed her head slightly to him, then ran across the open field.
The cabin on the hill grew smaller and smaller behind her, but she never looked back.
The past was the past.
It had been so painful she wanted to forget it, yet so precious she never could.
But it was all over now.
So she chose to let it go.
Because she was living in the present—and her footsteps were moving toward the future.
She could no longer be bound by the past.
“Haa...”
Watching Rine’s figure grow distant, Freuden let out a long sigh.
Then beside him, a massive wolf appeared out of thin air, lowering its head as if to comfort him.
“You’re trying to cheer me up? Thanks.”
Freuden stroked Yeongsu’s head and turned his gaze toward the cabin.
A place he had stayed for about a month.
At first, he had thought, what kind of shabby place is this? But before he knew it, he had grown more attached to it than to his own home.
As he started to walk toward the cabin, his eyes narrowed at the sight of a new figure approaching from afar.
“How did you know to come here?”
“You suddenly disappeared, so I figured you might be here. There’s nowhere else you’d go.”
His friend with half-closed eyes and tied orange hair at the back of his neck—
Henry Presto.
The eldest son of House Presto, a vassal family that had served the Ulburk Dukedom for generations.
“Did you forget? When you went missing as a kid, who do you think found you first?”
“You didn’t find me. I called you.”
“I was the closest one at the time, remember?”
“Fine. You saved me. Happy now?”
“Heh. Tough getting acknowledgment from you, friend.”
Henry grinned and asked,
“So? How’d it go?”
“What do you mean?”
“The great Freuden Ulburk got rejected by a girl. That’s front-page material for the Seorn student paper, you know. Considering how many girls have confessed to you and ended up in tears, they could’ve filled a whole lake by now. Is this what they call karma?”
“Touching. You came all this way just to mock me?”
“If you really start crying, I could at least offer some comfort.”
Seeing the lighter look on Freuden’s face, Henry shrugged his shoulders.
“Though it seems you don’t need it. Guess you’ve grown up—as a man.”
“Wasn’t exactly the kind of growth I wanted.”
“That’s what becoming an adult is like. You never planned for it, never asked for it, but one day you wake up and realize you’ve already become one.”
“You’re not really one to talk.”
They were the same age.
At Freuden’s remark, Henry chuckled.
“Unlike you, I’m actually responsible. I’m already a full-fledged adult.”
“Yeah, yeah. Good for you.”
“So, you heading back?”
“Of course. To Seorn.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
“How did you even get here?”
“I drove. Didn’t you know? I can drive now. Don’t ask me whose fault that is.”
“The proper phrase would be thanks to.”
As the two continued their banter—
Rine, who they thought had already left, came running toward them from afar, panting hard.
Both Henry and Freuden stared in surprise.
They had parted so neatly—why had she suddenly come back?
Her face flushed from the run, Rine smiled awkwardly.
“I don’t really know the way back to Seorn... would you mind taking me with you?”
“......”
* * *
“You’re here?”
After parting with Rine, Ludger met Hans in a quiet clearing far from the forest.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“You actually made it here, huh.”
“Money really is a wonderful thing. I can ride something this expensive whenever I want now.”
Hans glanced back at the airship behind him as he spoke.
It was a latest-model vessel—something he couldn’t even have dreamed of using before—yet now he was flying it for a private meeting. The fact alone moved him deeply.
But this was no time for pleasure.
“What’s the situation?”
“I’ll explain on the way.”
Ludger followed Hans aboard the airship.
Their destination—Rederbelk.
As they flew, Hans briefed him on what had happened during his absence.
“After you suddenly disappeared to Isla Machia, a lot happened.”
The most notable event was the incident caused by Nirva, which led Bretus Theocracy to dispatch a large number of people into the Empire.
Bretus, determined to wipe away its long years of silence, was openly expanding its influence.
Since they were no longer acting as aggressively as before, public resentment toward them had also lessened.
But what concerned Ludger most—what truly mattered—was none of those trivial political developments.
“My teacher.”
Hans fell silent mid-sentence.
“What happened to my teacher?”
“He... well...”
Hans swallowed hard.
“After you disappeared, and after the Lumenis Church’s people entered the city, your teacher went outside for the first time. He met with someone from the Lumenis Church.”
“He met someone? My teacher did?”
“It was Cardinal Patricio Romelo—from Bretus itself. One of the few who hold the right to elect the Holy Sovereign.”
Hans recalled the memory in as much detail as he could.
“One night, a crimson light shot up into the sky above Rederbelk. I knew then—it was your teacher’s magic. But after that... he vanished. Completely. As if he’d never existed.”
“Have you found where he went?”
“Not yet. But... I did find something strange.”
“What is it?”
“Most of the elite Holy Knights sent from the Theocracy have moved somewhere. Together with Cardinal Patricio.”