44. and again (1)

letters were exchanged.

What Marion wrote in her letters was mainly about the flower garden she cared for as a hobby. Maxim felt the frustration building up every time he received a letter. Maxim responded to her letters whenever he had free time. I didn’t like it because my writing was not so good, but Maxim replied as carefully as he could.

During the year that Maxim was in Ebel, many letters came and went.

As much as the number of letters piled back and forth, Maxim felt guilty. I could sympathize with you, but I couldn’t give you my heart. As much as Marion opened up to him, so did he. However, the distance between the two could not be shortened.

Even after Maxim returned to the capital, he always kept a certain distance from Marion.

It was a feeling of guilt toward Marion, a feeling of being entangled in Theodora, and anger about something deeply related to him.

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Nevertheless, Maxim did not stop visiting Marion regularly. Every time that happens, the burden piles up in Maxim’s heart like dust. Even though he couldn’t tell her a word about himself, Marion didn’t ask Maxim about the past. That made Maxim’s heart heavy.

Marion’s expression changed every time Maxim found her. From a frightened expression, to an expressionless expression that feels comfortable, from expressionless to a smile with only the corners of the mouth slightly raised, and soon to the same shy girl’s smile as it is now.

“Come in.”

Marion readily led Maxim to her room. Maxim entered the room, following Marion, who entered with weightless steps as always. The sound of a servant closing the door came from behind Maxim.

Marion sat down at a table in the middle of the room. Maxim smiled faintly at her uncharacteristically eager appearance and sat across from her.

“Has it been a month?”

A lot had happened, Maxim thought. Marion did not bother looking for Maxim. In response to Maxim’s letter saying that he will be busy, Marion just waited for Maxim’s work to end quickly.

“It would have been a month… and a week.”

Maxim laughed bitterly. Has so much time already passed?

“Sorry.”

Marion shook her head.

“I’m back healthy, so it’s okay.”

At those words, Maxim became conscious of the scar under his chest. I wish I could say positively and smile that I’m back healthy. Maxim responded with a smile. When Marion’s blue eyes looked at her, it seemed like they were somehow looking deep into herself, so Maxim couldn’t meet them directly.

“What was the no man’s land like?”

Marion changed the subject. Maxim rested his chin on the table and thought of the scenery of the no man’s land.

“It was desolate.”

There was no wind, no trees, no grass. An endless wilderness with only stones and a strangely blue sky. And the monsters that swarmed under the cliff at the end.

“I didn’t think it would be a romantic place in the first place… It turned out to be much more desolate than I thought.”

At Maxim’s words, Marion blinked curiously.

“It was a desert-like land with no grass and no insects to be found.”

“There were no bugs?”

“There were a lot of monsters, but that’s true.”

Maxim said in a playful way. Marion looked at Maxim with curious eyes.

“There were a lot of monsters?”

“yes. there were so many If you look at the fire, there are a lot of them, like worms.”

Concern flickered in Marion’s eyes.

“Where are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing to worry about.”

Maxim shook his head. There were scratches on her cheeks and broken bones in places, but Marion didn’t know that it was really a good thing. Marion did not know the scars and curses that lurked underneath Maxim’s clothes, and the life of Maxim, which was being shaved off even at the moment of casual conversation with a happy expression.

Unlike Theodora’s case, it was a truth that Marion would have to know someday, but Maxim was unable to speak and put it off.

Maxim changed the subject and continued talking about no man’s land. It was when Marion was quietly listening to Maxim’s heroic story, which was not his own.

“…So when I was riding my horse…”

There was a knock on the door. Marion and Maxim both looked puzzled at the same time.

“It’s okay to come in…”

Marion said so and the door opened. Their expressions hardened at the same time when they saw the person entering.

“You look good.”

“father…”

Standing by the door was Marion’s father, Émile Bordain. Emile Bordain threw his hands down as if he didn’t have to get up from his seat, and a fishy smile appeared on his face. Maxim struggled to correct his hardened expression.

“You two were together at a good time. I called you, Maxim, because I had something to say.

Emile Bordain spoke to Marion and Maxim in his slippery voice.

“I know it’s been a while since you guys got engaged, but maybe a little over three years?”

As Marion hung her head and could not answer, Maxim opened his mouth.

“I remember seeing your face on the third year of last spring.”

“As expected, you have a good memory.”

Maxime patiently waited for Emile Bordain’s words, enduring a tingling sensation in his stomach.

“Yes, you understand the reason for asking whether you have been engaged for a long time?”

Emile Bordain went on with his eyebrows twitching when neither of them answered.

“It means that the time has come for you two to have a practical discussion about marriage.”

Emile Bordain said as if dropping a bomb. Marion’s expression fluctuated between surprise and bewilderment, and Maxim’s expression hardened. Emile Bordain maintained a fishy smile while looking at the expressions of the two.

—

A chariot passed by on the streets of the royal capital. At a speed that was neither fast nor slow, the carriage carrying the guests was running toward its destination. Her platinum hair was blowing in the wind. Gray, dull eyes lost their light and looked around the street.

“Did you say you wanted to go to the academy?”

The coachman asked in a rattling voice along the bumpy road.

“Yeah.”

The coachman smiled like a friendly person and spoke to Theodora more.

“What are you going to the academy for? Looking at the uniform, it doesn’t look like a student’s uniform… Are you a professor by any chance?”

Theodora was in no mood to answer. Seeing the cold response, the coachman whistled and groaned and turned his head away.

The image of the street reflected in his eyes was familiar. The busily passing merchants, the towering buildings unique to the royal road, and the two-wheeled and four-wheeled carriages passing in the opposite direction. As the carriage got closer and closer to the academy, Theodora’s memory started like a winding clock.

Maxim was sitting next to him, and they must have been having a conversation. I must have talked with the people walking by about the store I used to visit often.

The boulevard lined with buildings continued, and then the buildings were reduced one by one. The road has been widened by absorbing buildings and alleys as if guiding people into one. Theodora thought about what had happened three years ago on the way to the academy, which she had sworn to never visit again.

There was a meeting with him, and a place where there was also a parting.

And Theodora thought of the fallen Maxim. I thought of that pale, scarred figure that had spilled blood.

‘You don’t deserve that.’

Words that pierce Christine’s chest,

‘curse.’

‘It’s literally, curse. An aura…no, a curse that threatens your life if you use mana.’

And only one clue left.

The carriage ran. I picked up Theodora and ran towards the academy.

If you go down the main street, you will see the main gate of the Knight Academy. And beyond the front gate, he could see the campus of the academy. Theodora took a deep breath.

“I see the front door over there, what should I do?”

The coachman asked, turning to Theodora in a slightly curt voice. Theodora was staring blankly at the academy, not paying attention to whether the tone had become brusque or friendly.

“Please drop me off near the front door.”

The coachman answered yes, yes, yes, as if talking to himself, and drove on. Guards were roaming around the front door. Theodora got out of the carriage, dragging her crippled foot.

“Thanks for your efforts.”

The coachman takes the money again and cringes. Theodora walked the well-paved road to the academy. It was hot on the day of the royal road, which entered full-scale midsummer. The guards walked around the main gate, sweating profusely in their armor, and when they saw Theodora, they slung their spears over their shoulders and moved with heavy strides.

“I’m going to do a quick check…”

Then, after looking at Theodora’s outfit and face, she nodded.

“You were a member of the Knights. Can you give me your exact affiliation, title, and name?”

Theodora sighed.

“…I am Theodora Benning, leader of the Jackdaw Knights under the direct command of the royal family.”

The two guards looked surprised and chatted among themselves. Theodora could see that their gaze was directed at the injured leg. Theodora straightened her broken crutches.

“That Kips’ Theodora Benning… is that right?”

Theodora nodded.

“I heard that you came to the capital a while ago for the reorganization of the Jackdaw Knights… What’s going on?”

“I have a moment to find out. There are things I need to meet with the professor and ask.”

When Theodora presented her ID and said, the guards nodded. As if the inspection was just a formality anyway, they kindly escorted Theodora to the front door.

“You are working hard to protect the kingdom.”

“…no.”

Leaving Theodora alone, the guards returned to guard the gates. Theodora stepped forward. With a click, the crutch moves forward.

oh

The correction with painful memories was getting closer and closer. Theodora narrowed her eyes. The campus, with trees planted everywhere, was a familiar summer semester. It must have been the time when classes had already ended, and not many students wandered around the campus. Theodora struggled uphill and approached the main building.

Theodora was glad that the gymnasium was behind the campus. And Theodora entered the deserted campus. Theodora stood still within the campus.

Curse of Maxim.

A curse that made it impossible to use auras.

Theodora assumed that the time when Maxim did not use the aura was from the end of his academy days. will find out What the hell happened to Maxim after he broke up with him, or was that ‘something’ happened while he was dating him.

Perhaps that final exam was the starting point.

Theodora remembered the bald instructor, Instructor Pierre, who was in charge of final exams at the time.

I should still be holding a professorship.

Since he was an enthusiastic instructor, he must be showing his face at the academy even during the end of the semester. Theodora walked down the empty hallway, searching for old memories. As befits a knight academy, the hallways were all hard and cold stone floors.

The office was on several floors.

The structure of the academy is still vivid in my memory.

Whether there was a wireless building on the first floor of the main building or what the structure of the second and third floors were like, Theodora remembered everything.

Theodora walked through the main building of the academy, pointing to the stream of memories. Occasionally passing instructors or students glanced at Theodora with wide-eyed or suspicious eyes. Theodora ignored those gazes and went upstairs.

2nd floor west side.

Theodora repeated that as soon as she went up to the second floor. She walked, trying not to look around as much as possible. Each scene that passed for a moment stimulated Theodora’s memory. The world seen by Theodora overlapped over the course of three years.

‘Theo.’

‘What’s next class?’

‘I’ll be waiting for you in Dalian.’

Darker cumulonimbus clouds began to gather in Theodora’s dark cloud-colored eyes.

The scars left by painful memories cause pain again before they are completely healed. The wounds that had turned into scars were getting deeper.

At some point, Theodora saw the door to the faculty office in front of her eyes. Theodora put her hand on the door, hesitated, then pulled on the doorknob and entered the office.

“…How can I help you…?”

The faculty member sitting at the desk and doing office work was not an engineer. She was a weak, skinny woman who wore glasses. At least he wasn’t the person Theodora worked with when she was a candidate for a knighthood. The faculty member looked at Theodora and asked with a voice like a rat crawling into a rat hole.

Then, seeing Theodora’s limp leg, he suggested a chair. Theodora accepted the favor and sat down on a hard chair. Her body, which was still stiff from tension, did not think of loosening up.

“…I just want to ask you one question, is it okay?”

“I…maybe your name or affiliation.”

Still, I have to go through the procedures, said the faculty member as if to say. Theodora blamed herself for forgetting to reveal her affiliation because she was not in a hurry.

“…Theodora Benning, leader of the Knights of the Ravens.”

At Theodora’s words, the faculty member took a small breath. Even people who seemed unrelated to the knights seemed to know who Theodora was as long as they worked at the academy.

“What’s going on with the academy, Captain?”

“Is Instructor Pierre still there?”

At Theodora’s question, the faculty member immediately tilted his head, then shook his head.

“Nope. If you’re talking about that bald instructor, you’ve given up. Quite a long time ago.”

“…Not now?”

The famous bald instructor said that it had been a long time since he resigned from the instructor position. In fact, it would be right to see that he had given up his life as a knight. Theodora did not think that the upright instructor would let go of his responsibilities so easily.

“why…”

Theodora bit her lip. There was a question in the eyes of the faculty member who saw Theodora’s impatient appearance.

“We don’t know either. It’s been a few years, so I don’t think many people know what it was like back then.”

The faculty member soon started scribbling again. Whatever her situation was now, it would not be more important than her own work. The faculty member looked down at Theodora and lowered her eyes.

“His whereabouts will be hard to find right now. There was no word on where he was going, he just quit abruptly.”

The faculty member let out a small sigh when he saw Theodora’s bluish face.

“…Medical officer quit around the same time. It wasn’t a personnel transfer railway, but the two instructors suddenly said they were quitting, so I remember it being quite noisy.”

Before Theodora could ask a question, the faculty member quickly answered and covered Theodora’s mouth.

“The medical officer is still in the royal capital. I heard that you work at a medical center established by the royal family.”

The faculty member tore the paper into small pieces and wrote down the address and name of the medical center and gave it to me. Theodora took the note and put on a dumbfounded expression.

“Maybe you can go there.”

It was a euphemistic order to go now. Theodora walked out of the faculty office in good spirits without being more forceful. With only a small piece of paper in his hand.

Royal Infirmary, Professor Matilda Weaving, Chief Healing Mage

Theodora folded a note with only very simple information and carefully tucked it into her bosom.

“…to check the condition of the legs.”

Theodora says so to herself, justifying this journey.

“Let’s go.”

Theodora moved on with her heavy body.