Chapter 187

Chapter 187

“Young master!”

Screams erupted. Passers-by found Walter collapsed on the ground and they ran towards him. The knights who found me standing in the middle of the garden, not far from him, drew their swords. It was a natural reaction as I looked suspicious standing in front of him, black rose petals fluttering around me.

I felt fatigued. I had only broken a single crystal the size of a fingernail, but I had released so much mana the size of an explosion to destroy it. If it took this much to destroy time magic that spanned for three months, how on earth did Kaichen destroy the magic in Acrab?

“Did you hurt the young master?!”

“Young Master! Young Master…!”

“Huk! Young master!”

Blinking slowly, I looked at Walter, with his pale face and eyes closed comfortably as if he’d fallen asleep.

I couldn’t remember the last time I cried before coming to this place other than when the magic in Acrab was destroyed. My tears now had a completely different meaning from the tears of joy that I had shed at the time.

‘Master, I want to see you.’

When I thought of that, I could suddenly smell a familiar scent. I breathed into the tight arms that wounded around me intensely. He hugged me tightly as I was clad in my shirt.

He said he would come if I called him earnestly. If I had a hard time, I could call him, and he would come at any cost.  If I had known he was going to show up immediately like this, I would’ve called him right away.

I clamped my trembling lips as I shed tears. I suddenly felt like a child. I wanted to tell him that it was hard, that it had been scary and painful, but all I could do was cry in his arms.

*

Kaichen couldn’t take his eyes off the gate where Dalia entered.

He had no choice but to let her go because he knew that she wouldn’t give up even if he insisted. In his mind, he wanted to tie her up tightly so she couldn’t move, but even if he did, that stubborn woman would still find a way to enter those gates. If there was any other way, he would never have sent her in.

It was difficult for Kaichen to accept that there were limits to his abilities. It was difficult to bear the sense of helplessness that his strength, that had never surrendered to anything so far, was useless at this moment.

“Kaichen.”

Julius approached and put his hand on Kaichen’s shoulder. He didn’t say much, but that alone told Kaichen what he wanted to say. If Dalia was as easy to understand as Julius, he wouldn’t have to be worried about her.

“The Countess is strong. She’ll be all right,” Julius said with a hardened gaze.

“I have this thought sometimes.” He couldn’t feel the magic that normally surrounded his body like a solid wall of iron. Kaichen spoke as he clenched and unclenched his numb hands. “I think Dalia isn’t strong, but just pretending to be.”

Julius listened solemnly. Kaichen continued.

“Her spirit is strong enough to endure a hundred years, but time has scarred her to the point where she could easily collapse over the smallest of things,” he said.

“I can’t imagine.. I haven’t seen the Countess like that…”

“Yes… She doesn’t show her weak side.”

She laughed without hesitation, complained about having a hard time, and didn’t hesitate to reach out for help. But what was she like when it was truly difficult?

He thought she was like an alcoholic, who went out of her way to hide the pain until she collapsed. She willingly gave up her body to become the subject of experimentation, but she didn’t talk about her sufferings.

“You think too much. Let’s trust the Countess and wait.”

After tapping him on the shoulder, Julius returned to the temporary shelter. Kaichen was left alone and stared at the gates, exhaling heavily. He believed in Dalia. She was the person he loved, and she was someone with a mind stronger than anyone else.

He was worried about trusting her. Kaichen didn’t know about Dalia’s hundred years, but he peeked at some of the memories that she wanted to forget. Dalia didn’t remember, but on the day that she was kidnapped by Antaresse, Kaichen knew that she wanted to block out her memories.

Yet, he had to be strong for Dalia. He wouldn’t never let her suffer alone again.

‘She… hasn’t changed at all.’

He was helpless without his magic. This current situation, which forced Dalia to be sent back into time magic that had traumatized her, was maddening.

‘Immovable magic… No matter  if it’s forbidden time magic, is it even possible to cast it over a wide area?’

Kaichen pondered. It was like Acrab, where no one could enter or exit. However, magic couldn’t be used ever since passing the northern border. He didn’t even know it was time magic until he came to the city of Hoiore, so naturally he thought it had to be a trick by Momalhaut.

“Momalhaut’s…”

Kaichen thought about what he had done so far in detail. He thought he was missing a key information. He wandered to the thief of relief supplies that should’ve been delivered before winter arrived. The loss of communication and restriction of telekinesis.

No magic in the North. An artificial snowstorm. The manifestation of time magic in Hoiore.

‘D*mn it!’

Kaichen clicked his tongue as the pieces came together in his mind, eerily connecting the dots.