Volume 3 Chapter 35 Chasing The Shadow Of The Past I
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Kian grabbed Sarah’s hand and tugged her toward the bustling street.
”Alright, we’re gonna have a blast today! Let’s go, Sarah!”
”Hey! Wait up, don’t pull so hard!”
”The destination’s a bit random, sorry about that. If we can’t think of anything, we could always read some books in the monastery library. Sound alright?”
”Mhm, that’s fine.”
Sarah said, her white hat held in place as she barely managed to hide a smile.
As they entered the crowd and slowed their pace, she hugged her arms, drawing close to him.
”I’ll go anywhere with you. ──After all, I am Kian’s betrothed.”
* * *
(It’s all coming back to me…)
Entering the Azrael monastery, Kian walked along the academy road toward the training grounds in the northwest area.
Glancing at the aqueduct running at the height of young Kian’s chest, he began to pinpoint the day that served as the origin of this memory.
The day it was decided that Kian would duel Sarah, with his fate at Azrael hanging in the balance.
Though the scenery and people were slightly different from his memory, it mostly matched that day.
Three months from this day, Kian would celebrate his birthday and come of age.
He would duel Sarah in the Grand Arena and lose.
His father, Umar Vahid, would then order his exile.
He realized that after this day, he and Sarah never played together privately.
For Sarah, today would be the last day she’d spend playing with Kian.
”Hey, is this… a date?”
Sarah, who should be 13 years old, asked with a slightly confused expression.
”A date, yet we’re at a monastery, swinging swords in the training grounds?”
”It was the limit of my creativity. Sorry.”
”Well… I guess this is pretty typical of you, Kian. Besides, I just slipped away from training with Rufna myself.”
”Is that alright?”
”It is. The Servants are all busy looking after my sisters.”
”Wasn’t there a baby on the way soon?”
”Yes! Little Natra will be a big sister soon. I sent a letter to Father asking what the name should be. Mother suggested Val for a boy, and Nia for a girl.”
”Natra…”
”Oh, my little sister. She just turned two. Have I never mentioned her before? Do you know Almeisa?”
He might have talked about it, but Kian simply didn’t care about anyone in the Nakash family besides Sarah, so he probably forgot about it right away.
He meant no ill will, he just wasn’t interested.
”Natra and Almeisa, huh?”
”Yes. Nice names, don’t you think? Since she’ll be your sister-in-law eventually, you should at least remember her name.”
”Of course. ──May great fortune befall them both.”
”…? What’s wrong? What was that sudden──”
Sarah raises an eyebrow and chuckles wryly.
Kian laughs it off.
(Fifteen years from now, Almeisa will be cut to pieces and Natra will have her body taken over, her personality overwritten. I wonder what it would be like to meet these innocent girls before they suffer. They must be so adorable.)
’You… you’ve got a disturbingly dark side, don’t you? I knew it, but still…’
(Huh?)
The dirt road ends, and a large gate to the training grounds comes into view in the distance.
Several loud shouts from those training inside can be heard.
Kian and Sarah show their student IDs to the guards and have the training grounds’ gate opened.
Inside, there is a small plaza where everyone gathers as soon as they enter, with paths leading to the roofed changing rooms in all directions.
They pass through the changing rooms to enter the arena.
It is customary that women do not expose their skin to men, so the changing rooms are segregated.
Kian and Sarah decide to part ways in the hall for now.
”Kian”
”What is it?”
Turning around, he sees Sarah with a borrowed training outfit, a wooden sword, and a smile.
”You’re smiling a lot today, Kian. It looks really good on you.”
”Well, I’ve always been charming.”
”Ehhh? Really? What’s gotten into you today?”
”Maybe I’m just happy to be on a date with you.”
”S-so…that’s why…”
Her face turns bright red and she let out a shy sniff, sniffing “Hehehe.”
Sarah said, “See you later,” and with a light stomping, she disappeared towards the changing room.
’So, what will you do now?’
As Kian walked among the students of the monastery toward the men’s dressing chamber, the boy with glasses inquired.
’Are you planning to spend the entire day training like this? Do you think that will fulfill her wishes?’
(Not yet, I need to observe a bit longer. Given Sarah’s words from 15 years ago, it’s likely she was already in a romantic entanglement with Jibril by this point.)
’Is that so?! …She certainly doesn’t seem like it, though.’
(Three months later, she would accompany me to the port, where she would deliver the crushing blow: ‘I belong to Sir Jibril now.’)
’────’
(Yet, among the memories she showed, there was an image of her weeping at the port. Hadn’t Sarah grown indifferent to me? Had she truly changed her heart for Jibril? This would be a good opportunity to uncover the truth──just what feelings had driven her to tears in that moment?)
’Hmm.’
(An incident was about to happen, one that would forcibly separate Sarah and me. I should relive that moment first.)
’Did something scandalous happen?’
(Scandalous, or rather, I got entangled in something.)
Kian opened the locker in the dressing chamber and began to shed his clothes.
For a child, he had a remarkably honed physique.
The moderate amount of muscle was kept pleasantly soft.
However, the real issue was that his magic power was almost nonexistent.
(Within the Twelve Divine Generals, there is a family called the Shakerdousts, and their heir──Abbas Shakerdoust.)
* * *
Abbas Shakerdoust.
He was the legitimate son of the Shakerdoust family, located adjacent to the Franz Kingdom’s Margrave Izerland territory, separated by the barren land known as Dacia.
With his striking red hair and sharp features,
he had a righteous and straightforward personality.
As a true member of the privileged class, who had to leave behind an excellent legacy for the future, he was a womanizer, with intense passion and obsession for childbirth.
Up until this day, he had harbored a forbidden affection for Sarah, Kian’s betrothed.
And he had relentlessly pursued her.
While he claimed it was pure love, anyone could see he was utterly infatuated.
(──After this, during training, Abbas will get thoroughly rejected by Sarah. Not only that, but she’ll publicly taunt him, saying that I’m the better man. He’ll be crushed at first and retreat, but by evening, as we’re about to leave, he’ll challenge me to a one-on-one duel—staking his pride on it)
’Hah’
With a firm “Clank,” Kian shut the locker door and continued.
(Without magic power, there’s no way I could stand a chance against Abbas—he’s the heir and a highly skilled warrior. The match would be completely one-sided. But Sarah, furious, declared that if Abbas insisted on fighting, then his attendant could join too—because she was going to fight alongside me in a two-on-two.)
’Did the Shakerdoust side accept that…’
(He probably thought that a genius like him could easily twist a mere 13-year-old girl around his finger. But in the end, Sarah alone crushed both Abbas and his attendant, humiliating them all over again.)
’So that’s why the young master sent a letter of protest to your house, eh?’
(No, he admitted his defeat cleanly then and there, promising never to hassle Sarah again.)
Grabbing a wooden sword, Kian replied with a swift answer.
’Then why?’
(At this time, my father, Umar, was already growing distant from me. He wanted Jibril to succeed him, but there I was, his eldest son with no abilities, still living at home. Seeing it as a good opportunity, he probably thought to create a rift between me and the Shakerdousts and lashed out at me harshly.)
’It’s not nonsense’
(It is nonsense. If you flip the coin, my father was so desperate to get rid of his useless son. The next day, it seems a letter of protest arrived from the Nakash family, but my father pushed it through, blaming it on Vahid’s household affairs.)
’So Shajar withdrew the protest, then?’
(Yes, it’s hard to say what Shajar was thinking when he withdrew the protest. But he must have known I was a hopeless case, so he probably had his doubts about continuing the protest.)
Since Kian knew the future, he considered taking Sarah away for a sudden date at the bazaar instead.
But the thought never truly took root.
If Sarah had chosen to show him this specific day, it meant there was something here she wanted him to know.
If it were unnecessary, then time would likely distort and skip ahead, just like when his vision had glitched earlier.
For now, it was best to follow the flow.
’So, just as it happened, you’ll let Lady Sarah step in and save you after being challenged?’
(That tone sounds dissatisfied.)
’If that’s your choice, I won’t interfere. But to be honest, I have no desire to see my finest Knight get taunted by some arrogant brat—only to then be rescued by a girl. It’s pathetic.’
(Don’t worry, ‘glasses’. I feel the same way.)
A grin crept onto Kian’s face as he left the changing room.
Kian couldn’t stand the thought of his swordsmanship, something he’d poured his heart and soul into, being looked down upon.
Obsession.
Longing.
Jealousy.
He’d lived with all those ugly feelings fueling his blade.
He wouldn’t let some brat from Shakerdoust, who only knew pretty swords, trample all over that.
(Umar will find some excuse to kick me out anyway. A little… twisting of the facts won’t hurt. ── ‘glasses’, my heart’s pounding like a boy’s, even though it shouldn’t be. I need you to play along with my little game.)
Even without his ‘glasses’ on, Kian’s face was twisted with a mixture of joy and… something else entirely.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply