56 – 56. The Sword Emperor (3)

Milly-!

Millyyyyy-!

He was shouting right in front of her, but her voice sounded distant, like a murmur.

In Milly’s crimson eyes, Isaac’s tears sparked a sudden memory.

Of the moonlit nights they’d spent together.

That night, it was late.

Under the moon, he was gripping his greatsword, beads of sweat trickling down his face.

The reasons he toiled alone, unseen by anyone, were many.

Isaac’s case was stark, simple.

He didn’t want to show a pathetic sight.

Not wielding the greatsword, but being *wielded* by it – a shameful thing for his kin to witness.

Thus, he swung his blade alone, late into the night.

Alas, no matter how he grasped and swung, he couldn’t surpass his birth-given limits.

The weight of talent, stemming from the very blood of the Helmunt line, was just that overwhelming.

“Please, have something to eat.”

The cook’s morning starts early.

Milly, who rises before the sun to prepare breakfast, naturally grew close to Isaac.

Why was that?

For her, a commoner, a mere child of the slums, to survive in the Helmunt kitchen, she had to showcase diligence like this.

And so, it seemed, they formed a common understanding.

Together, they strove from dawn, to overcome something they couldn’t conquer.

[Thank you, again, Milly.]

“You were up late again yesterday. Wouldn’t it be better to rest today?”

A casual conversation while gazing at the moonlit night.

Small chitchat between the two, in the dead of night, was a scant moment of ease within the Helmunt estate.

[Rest? I have to keep at it. I’ve no talent for the blade.]

“Talent…”

Milly offered a bitter smile.

She, with a talent for cooking, wondered what it even meant – to have it.

The head chef had seen her potential, taken her in, but that didn’t mean she was acknowledged by everyone in the kitchen.

Just as Isaac suffered under the Helmunt scions, Milly too, struggled within the kitchen’s harshness.

“Sir Isaac, what do you find so good about the sword, that you try so hard?”

The two were now confidants, able to bare their hearts.

At Milly’s question, Isaac hesitated, then laughed it off as if embarrassed.

[I’ve always been drawn to the sword. I want to be like them. But more than that…]

[I want to stand proud at her side. At Rianna’s side. I want to be that person.]

“But you’re her husband.”

[Husband, yes, but without the merit. A Helmunt in-law, who can’t even wield a greatsword properly.]

Isaac, pressing down hard on his blistered palm.

To be cold about it.

After this much effort, if he still can’t properly swing a greatsword, maybe he should just accept he’s got no talent, shouldn’t he?

But when Isaac looked up at the night sky, there was a glimpse of the pureness of a child reaching for a star, even though it was utterly out of reach.

“Aren’t you… scared?”

[Of what?]

Milly, without even realizing it, asked with a somewhat sharp tone.

“Of working so hard just to fail. Of there being an area you can never reach with your own strength.”

[……]

“For me too… I know I have talent, but because of my birth, no one will hire me.”

[To be honest.]

Isaac, after a moment of hesitation, replied sheepishly.

[Sorry, I’ve never been afraid of that. But, I am preparing.]

“Preparing…?”

[If, no matter how hard I try, I’m not good enough to stand beside my wife—]

He answered plainly.

But, there was clearly sadness within.

[I’ll have to leave. That’s, what’s best for Rianna.]

“……!”

Milly was, in many ways, shocked to hear that.

That even with all his effort, it wasn’t even for himself.

“But, Isaac.”

[Yeah?]

Could that be, what Rianna wants, though?

The question lingered on her tongue.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Milly shook her head and swallowed the unnecessary words back into herself.

Isaac and Rianna.

It had been only six months since they married.

* * *

A year had passed since the two were wed.

Lately, rumors spread through the manor, whispered of the couple falling into a rut.

Rihanna’s gaze, it wasn’t the same as before.

Unlike the look that, though silent, held the feeling of cherished affection.

It was cold, collected now.

Often, her eyes didn’t even land on Isaac.

Ridiculous, it was.

‘…You haven’t been injured lately.’

[Hm.]

Thanks to that, Isaac’s body had more days free of wounds.

[Indeed.]

But his expression was worse than ever.

Rihanna’s expressions of affection had always been scarce, but with their recent disappearance, he seemed displeased.

[Well, I guess I’ll just have to try harder.]

Milly thought, in her observations.

Isaac had grown quite a lot during this year.

Before, he’d struggled, clumsy, even wielding the greatsword used only by the direct line.

Now, he could at least swing the thing.

But like a man wearing ill-fitting clothes.

From some point, Isaac had ceased to progress, stuck in place.

The oarsman who only rowed in the river had found his limit.

‘I’ll go get some snacks.’

Milly went inside to fetch the potatoes she had steamed specially for him.

As she packed the hot potatoes into a towel in the kitchen, tragedy drew near.

‘My Lady?!’

Galenia Helmont, slyly, pressed a small pouch into Milly’s hand.

[Put this in Isaac’s breakfast tomorrow.]

‘This is…?’

The look she received asked, Was there even a need to ask?

Milly, stiff, could only tremble, wordless.

Gently stroking Milli’s shoulder, Galenia whispered, a balm of comfort in her voice.

[No need for worry, child. Think of it as medicine. Medicine to make Helmunt healthy.]

‘……!’

[He won’t lose his life. That would be troublesome for me, too. So, trust me.]

Her eyes squeezed shut.

Milli summons a courage, the first of its kind in her life.

‘B-but—!’

[Milli Marceau, born in the grimy, wretched alleyways of Volten.]

‘……!’

[Did you truly believe that just because a cook caught your eye, you could work at Helmunt?]

Pressing down.

Her birth.

Her blood.

Her station.

The society.

An absolute being, overwhelmingly superior in all things.

It moves to crush the one who eked out a living like a mouse in the back alleys.

[The reason I took you in, a Volten stray, is for times like this.]

‘Ah…….’

[This isn’t just a matter of conscience, you see. I’ve placed your life, the lives of your family, and Isaac on the scales.]

Family?

[In Volten, I hear they’d draw a blade for just a few coins, wouldn’t they?]

‘Why, why my family—!’

[Because you know my secret. Just now, you heard.]

‘Ah.’

The mistress of Helmunt had plotted to harm her own son-in-law.

From the moment Milli heard, her life was no longer truly hers.

And just like that.

Milli accepted the purple pouch.

And nodded her head.

* * *

Two weeks gone.

Isaac, a bit better, swung his sword again, relentless.

But the time bedridden had taken its toll. He was struggling even to lift the greatsword.

[Hah! Hah!]

Finally, dropping the heavy thing, Isaac gasped, looking about.

[Milly?]

Milly, usually around by now, was nowhere to be seen.

[Milly? Hmm? A day off, maybe?]

Isaac went to the kitchen, but Milly wasn’t there either.

He went back outside.

‘Hic.’

Hidden under the kitchen shelf, Milly choked back sobs.

She couldn’t forget the screams of Rianna she’d heard when Isaac had been so sick, unconscious.

She couldn’t bear to look at Isaac, who hadn’t even once looked at her as a reason for his sudden illness.

So she’d been avoiding him.

Time passed. The guilt in her chest hadn’t eased, not one bit, but time enough had gone by that she could hide it, at least.

*Thump.*

Years rolled.

Milly, pretending to be calm, already broken in every way, found another purple pouch placed before her.

She had no choice left.

* * *

“Milly-! Please! Please wake up!”

While the entire banquet hall was rushing to Galenia Helmont, writhing in agony.

Only Isaac remained by her side.

Was it a dying dream?

Milly’s memories, riding and re-riding through the past, had finally reached this very moment.

As always.

Within the opulent mansion, the two were left utterly alone.

“What happened! What, what did you eat! Millie!”

Tears she’d not shed through all the oppression and torment, now fell, thick and fast, onto Millie’s cheeks.

Desperate to save his friend, Isaac yelled out to the surroundings.

“Doctor! Ah, no—! Mage!”

Already, the Galenia side was swarming with mages and physicians.

Isaac, teeth grinding, tried to scramble up, but Millie caught his wrist.

Her touch, so tragically devoid of strength, sent a cold jolt of fear through Isaac.

“Millie, don’t worry. I’ll be right back—!”

“Ah, Isaac… sir…”

At Millie’s pleading call, Isaac fought down the urge to scream for a doctor, and instead held her fast.

“Yes, Millie. I’m here. So—.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for! I’ll be right back, I’ll—.”

“I’m… truly, truly sorry.”

The sight of the heavy tears streaming from Millie’s eyes made Isaac realize something was terribly wrong.

The unsettling, alien feeling of Millie so readily accepting her death hit him hard.

“Hh, ugh! Finally—.”

“Millie, please. Don’t give up. I’ll be right back—.”

“Even apologizing, I’m sorry—.”

“Please! Stop it! Whatever you want to say! I’ll listen to it later! So please, just don’t give up!”

Her vision blurred.

His voice, a sob, was thick with tears.

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s something I wanted to show you. I’m not controlled by Helmund anymore. I wanted to show you, to you, my proud self… the me who was overcoming… I wanted to show you!”

Millie’s hand touched Isaac’s cheek.

Her hand, trembling violently, felt as fragile and fleeting as her own life.

Isaac placed his own hand over hers.

“I forgive you, okay? Millie. Please. Whatever wrong you’ve done doesn’t matter. So—!”

Quietly.

Milly’s eyelids, closing heavy.

Her hand, falling like a fading flower.

“Ah-“

And yet.

Milly, barely, with a small smile held.

“It’s a relief.”

Content at Isaac’s words of forgiveness, she closed her eyes.

“…Milly? Milly-!”

Only Milly’s name echoes through the vast banquet hall.

A grand estate.

At dawn, where only starlight touches.

Their dreams, different, but their striving, the same.

They leaned, comforted, encouraged, scolded, and went forward together.

They wanted just one thing from each other.

In the far future.

When we face each other.

Not crying.

Nor worrying again.

But wanting to be laughing.

Wanting to see that smiling face.

Just that, and nothing more.

* * *

The next day.

When the sun rose, Milly’s room was already empty.

When Isaac went looking, late, there was not even a trace left.

A passage that shows how swiftly they dealt with the scandalous incident that occurred at the Sword Emperor’s Hall.

Galenia is safe.

She was only troubled a little at first.

In the end, unlike Milly, she had no particular problem.

Furthermore, she declared that she would not hold Milly responsible for trying to assassinate her, all to protect the Sword Emperor’s Hall.

Many nobles praise Galenia’s magnanimity.

Many nobles extol Galenia as if she were a saint.

Many nobles call Galenia truly the noblest of nobles.

Only.

What remained in Isaac’s hand.

Was the portrait of Millie he’d drawn long ago.

The portrait stood in Isaac’s room.

It seemed she’d left it before coming to the banquet.

“……”

Behind the frame.

The letter Millie had left was already read.

That Galenia had tried to harm Isaac.

That her family and her own life were held hostage.

That her family was swept away in the Volten Revolution and went missing.

Even the part where she was sorry that this was the only way she could atone.

“……”

A drug Galenia had given her was also enclosed with the letter.

It seemed Millie had tried to kill Galenia by any means possible.

If she used a different drug than the one Galenia gave her.

It also meant she’d always been prepared for such a time, which may or may not ever come.

But Millie’s death, conversely, elevated Galenia.

Thud.

Isaac, who carefully placed the portrait on the desk, smiles softly.

Isaac stepped out of the room.

He went straight to find Claris.

Claris was spending time in a garden full of roses.

Having received a report of how desperately Isaac had cried last night, Claris looks at him with concern and asks.

“Are you alri-“

“Galenia Helmont.”

But, there weren’t any traces of tears around Isaac’s eyes anymore.

“Helmut’s mistress is the traitor—.”

With my friend’s help, I reached the truth.

“I’m certain she’s already become transcendent.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

Only a minute or two remained until Millie’s death.

Even after ingesting such a potent poison, Galenia was fine without special treatment.

And Isaac knew.

Such monstrous beings are only.

Transcendents.

“That does sound… quite plausible.”

“There’s a letter Millie left behind.”

Even if others point their fingers at you.

‘You, you’ve done so much.’

So don’t worry.

If you can, I ask that you watch over us.

My precious friend.