I Grabbed the Tyrant’s Heart - Chapter 20
“Euseniel, a gift.”
Mr. Bugh, who smiled kindly as usual, held out a brown pocket in front of me.
“Teacher, this is strange.”
“Why?”
“This, I mean…….”
What’s in the pocket is a gem of incredible luster. I thought it was ruby because it has a red color, but it looks a bit different.
At first glance, the size is large.
“Strange, I didn’t think the kid who gave it to you was going to harm you.”
When I shifted my gaze from the pocket at the story I hadn’t heard before, Mr. Bugh’s brown eyes twinkled.
“Ah, it’s not really a present I prepared for you.”
Mr. Bugh looked at me with a ‘were you surprised?’ face.
“I went up that mountain a while ago to get some trees for research.”
“In that case, you should go with me.”
Mr. Bugh, who had a history of being buried in snow, laughed.
“Yes, I won’t do that next time. Anyway, I was walking around the mountain and I saw a boy.”
In an instant, my heart sank.
“He was a very lonely child. He was holding this pocket with stiff frozen hands.”
It’s just a boy, so why do I feel weird?
“It wasn’t surprising that people didn’t go to the back mountain at all. But he looked like he was about to cry, so I had to ask.”
‘What are you doing here?’, like that
“Then the boy replied like this. ‘I need to give Euseniel a present, but I can’t find Euseniel.’”
“What is, the child’s appearance?”
“It’s strange, I can’t remember that part.”
Mr. Bugh remembers his age, simple clothes, but not fragmentary things like frozen hands and feet.
“I know he was your age, that’s what I felt when I saw him, that’s all I remember. So I thought I was bewitched at first.”
“I see.”
“He didn’t seem to have much time, so I asked, ‘I know Euseniel, do you want me to pass it on?’”
Then Mr. Bugh said the boy grabbed his hand.
“It was the first time I felt it.”
An unfamiliar feeling ran through his head so he tried to pull his hand out, but he couldn’t.
“After a while the boy said, ‘If it’s you, it’s worth entrusting,’ and he handed me this pocket. How many more times did he ask me to deliver it to you?”
Soon, the boy disappeared, and Mr. Bugh thought he had encountered a ghost, so he thought a lot about whether or not he should hand this gift to me.
“What was that? It’s a strange feeling.”
“I’m not sure since I’ve only heard about it, but…….”
Mr. Bugh patted his chin.
“Maybe I met a memory.”
“What?”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen anyone actually capable of it. Rather than that, Euel, it looks like someone you know based on your reaction?”
“Should I say I know or should I say I don’t know…….”
I thought it was someone I knew, but after hearing the story, it seems like it wasn’t.
“Probably right.”
The one who was close to me and doesn’t call me by my nickname.
There is only one person who walks around in this cold barefoot like a fool, and even tries to give me something at the cost of his body freezing.
“It’s someone I know.”
“I see.”
“Thank you for passing it on.”
“It was nothing. Now, shall we start class?”
There was still a blizzard outside Mr. Bugh’s hut, and I learned magic with a lamp in front of me.
A terribly quiet and lonely city, Varen.
If it wasn’t for the big red jewel held in my hand, the fact that there was an existence of someone who was with me in my childhood, and the fact that I had lived in Allin, gradually faded as if it was a haze.
* * *
One day after a year like that, the year I turned nineteen.
The news came that the Emperor who had expelled Hardland from the Empire had passed away.
“Extra, extra!”
The news of the Emperor’s death thrilled even Varen, although it is a remote area. That’s because, usually, when the Emperor dies, the next Emperor issues a massive amnesty.
Significant things happened to the Empire while I was here in Varen. The biggest thing is that two years after my sister Gael was born, a new descendant was born in the Imperial family.
– Everyone is rejoicing that the child, who was born with blond hair, blue eyes, which is characteristic of the Imperial family, was a precious son.
Ethyl kept his promise to keep in touch, sending me lengthy letters at least once every three or four months. He periodically sent letters, so I used to reply to them all the time, but when I was 16, we lost contact.
– What about Varen? It is said that it is barren, but I heard that it is a border area, so there are exchanges with other countries.
Unlike Ethyl’s rough handwriting, the delicate handwriting was surprisingly that of Aurin Xuen. About a year after I came to Varen, a letter came out of nowhere.
I doubted the intent of the letter at first, as the sender was the unexpected Aurin Xuen.
Maybe this was because our family may be reinstated when the next Emperor rises to the throne?
However, while there was talk of the Crown Prince being dethroned, it seemed that there was no intention of contacting Hardland, who had nothing to lose.
“What the hell happened …….”
There was no hint about the next Emperor from Aurin’s letter.
At first, I resented my childhood friend who gave no contact, but as time passed, I hoped that he would be okay too. I was also worried that the crybaby was squealing and sniffing in his room.
About three months later, the rise of a new Emperor shook Varen again. My parents strictly forbade me to read the newspaper, so as always, I quietly bought it outside.
‘The previous Emperor’s eldest son ascended to the throne.’
The headline caught my eye for a moment, choking me.
Actually, should it be his younger brother who was born after him that becomes the Emperor, not that child? There were times when I had such ominous thoughts. If so, what will happen to him?
I was worried too.
“He’s okay…….”
I exhaled the breath I had been holding back, holding my heart that had risen and sank.
And when I got home, I acted as if nothing had happened. I opened the spell book I had hard-earned and learned the spell, but perhaps because I was too agitated, nothing entered my head.
He will soon call our family the capital.
I looked forward to it, there has been no news for a year.
* * *
“Oh no, all the eggs are gone.”
“I’ll go there, May. I have to stop by Ber too.”
“Then please.”
There were only three people attending the family, including May. At first, there were a little over ten people, but after coming to Varen, they couldn’t stand it and left.
Since there are now simpler employees, each of us has their own work to do.
I’m running errands and Father sweeps the snow. At first, May, who was very sorry for having me running errands, must have gotten used to it now.
Well, I don’t care because no one treats me like a noble here. Even if I walk around in pants, nobody cares.
There are also people living in Varen, so food and household items are necessary here too. An hour and a half of walking will get me to a small downtown that deals with these kinds of things.
There is a carriage with wheels that are enchanted to not get buried in the snow, but I prefer to walk.
As I approached the downtown area, there were more people walking around than anywhere else in Varen. Everyone was busy going their own way because it was cold, but a man seemed in danger.
Perhaps it was his first time in the downtown area, the young man with platinum hair, who had been looking around, did not see a passerby and bumped while walking.
The man fell flat over a pile of snow. So I grabbed the man who could not get up easily.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, thank you.”
The man greeted me, wiping the snow off his face. The man who brushed the snow had blue eyes.
Blond hair and blue eyes.
My chest throbbed at the familiar color. I thought I had forgotten him, but my heart ached as if it had been scorched by an unforgettable existence.
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