Chapter 52

Rosena, who came out of the store to wash her hands, shook the water off and wiped her hands with a handkerchief.

“It’s noisy.”

She thought it was noisy a while ago, but now voices could be heard outside.

Rosena sighed. The mercenaries’ attitudes were unpleasant, but no action could be taken.

It was more so just in case they hurt Illian.

She still remembered clearly when the big men threw away Illian on the day of reuniting with Yerhan.

“As expected, we have no choice but to eat quickly and go up, right?”

Rosena hurried and went into the store. The store was empty, and she didn’t know where all those people went.

Rosena, who was looking around for a while, narrowed her forehead. She thought something was wrong, but the table where the mercenaries were sitting was empty.

Did they leave already?

Rosena went back to her original place with a puzzled face.

“…..?”

Rosena came to a stop. Only Illian sat alone in the seat, without Yerhan.

Don’t tell me he was taken by the mercenaries.

Rosena asked the sitting Illian.

“Illian, where’s your father?”

“Toilet, he wanted to poop…”

“Is that so…?”

Rosena shrugged and patted his cheek. She seemed to be worried about something.

Rosena sighed in relief and sat down. And not long after, Yerhan entered the store.

Rosena looked down at his somewhat relieved face.

He must be in a hurry to go to the restroom….

“Rosena?”

With an intense look, Yerhan called Rosena.

Rosena hurriedly turned her head and tried to say something.

“If you were in a hurry to go to the toilet, you should have gone first.”

“…Toilet?”

Yerhan slowly shifted his gaze toward the Illian.

Illian stuck out his tongue, doing it very briefly so that only Yerhan could see it.

He seemed to know roughly what he had said to Rosena.

As Yerhan sat across from her, she heard a strange noise from outside.

It was noisy inside the store earlier, but it was now noisy outside.

As Rosena was looking out of the window, Yerhan held out her plate.

“Eat it before it cools down.”

“Ah yes.”

Yerhan let out a sigh of relief as Rosena turned to food.

A quiet meal, only interrupted by clatters.

Slowly, Rosena was full and she laid down the tableware.

Then both men put down their forks and knives.

Rosena alternated between the two with slightly bewildered eyes.

“Why don’t you eat more…”

“I’m full.”

“I’m done.”

Rosena, who had nothing to say, nodded. Now that they had finished eating, she thought they could go upstairs and went to sleep.

“I got rooms on the top floor.”

Rosena, Yerhan and Illian climbed the stairs and headed to the top floor.

The top was a gathering of the best rooms, so it was especially neat and tidy compared to other floors.

Rosena, who was walking down the hall, stopped for a while.

“How many rooms did you book?”

“I booked two.”

Then someone had to sleep alone.

As Rosena pondered, Yerhan and Illian began to explain why they had to sleep together with Rosena.

“One of the rooms has a small bed, so I think two people will have to sleep in a big bed.

“I can’t sleep alone because it’s my first time here…”

Rosena, who was in trouble, clapped her hands. A good idea just came to mind.

“All right. Then let’s do this.”

Yerhan and Illian waited for Rosena’s words as if waiting for a verdict.

At Rosena’s judgment, one would laugh and the other would cry. And finally, Rosena spoke up.

“Tonight, both of you should sleep together.”

Of course, they didn’t know that her verdict would make both of them cry.

“What…”

When Yerhan made a shocked face, Rosena blinked.

“Both of you have never slept together, have you?”

“That’s right, but….”

“It’s a great opportunity for you two to make memories together. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rosena bowed down, kissed Illian on the cheek, and went straight into the room.

Yerhan and Illian watched in vain as the door closed, looked at each other and sighed at the same time.

“I can’t help it.”

Yerhan opened the door to the remaining room.

He booked all the rooms on the top floor, so it was okay to use any room, but it was difficult if they met each other while he was coming out from a different room.

Illian, who had a gloomy face, went into the room. Illian frowned at the fact that there was only one bed.

“Who sleeps in the bed?”

There was no option for Illian to sleep with.

“You sleep there.”

Illian stared at Yerhan when he gave him the bed. But Yerhan walked into the bathroom without saying a word.

It had been a while since he came back, so it seemed he was heartbroken because he couldn’t sleep with Rosena.

So the two lay down in their respective places without saying much.

They fought whenever they could, but they didn’t have the usual sharpness because they hadn’t seen each other in a long time.

A long time after the lights in the room went out, Illian rose from the bed.

A rustling sound was faintly heard and soon opened the door and went out.

Yerhan opened his eyes at the sound of the door closing.

Yerhan, who got up from the sofa, looked at the door, wondering if Illian had gone to Rosena with the excuse of sleeping habits.

However, considering that he even wore a coat, he seemed to have gone outside.

Going out alone late at night.

Of course Yerhan did not see Illian as a child, but his body was a child.

Yerhan immediately put on a thin coat and went out with only a sword.

The whole inn was quiet, even the sound of stepping on the wooden floor echoed vividly.

Yerhan walked silently and came out of the inn completely.

Then a sound came from the vacant lot behind the inn.

Yerhan leaned against the building and turned to where the sound came from.

There stood Illian, holding a wooden sword and fighting with someone.

“I’m going to attack your side. Defend…”

The familiar voice was Isaac’s. Yerhan stepped forward and watched the two with his arms crossed.

They didn’t seem to know Yerhan was standing behind them, perhaps because they were preoccupied with the fight.

Yerhan, with a serious look on his face, captured every move of Illian.

Illian was still a child, but he had a talent for swordsmanship. If he practiced steadily, he could become a swordmaster in the empire.

He’d like to deny it, but Illian looked more like Yerhan than Rosena.

“Your shoulders are skewed to the right.”

The voice of Yerhan stopped Illian and Isaac.

Yerhan slowly walked in front of the two bearing surprised expressions.

“What are you doing at this time of the night?”

“It’s not for you to care?”

Illian responded bluntly and hid the wooden sword behind him. Yerhan smiled inwardly and said,

“Well, it will be worthwhile if you practice consistently.”

“Enough to protect mom?”

Yerhan also had a smile when seeing Illian’s serious face.

“Sure.”

Illian wriggled and held out his wooden sword.

“Show me your swordsmanship.”

Yerhan, who looked down at Illian’s hand, accepted the wooden sword.

Probably because it was used by Illian, it looked ridiculously small in Yerhan’s hand.

Yerhan, holding the wooden sword in his hand, moved his wrist lightly. And…

Illian blinked. For a very brief moment, the wooden sword looked like a real sword.

After that, a leaf that was falling to the floor was finely cut as if it had been sliced with a sword.

“I’ll show you officially when we get back.”

Yerhan held out the wooden sword to Illian again.

Illian, holding the wooden sword tightly, looked down at the floor and raised his head.

“I’ll surely be like that too.”

As his deep red eyes turned to him, Yerhan paused for a moment. Those eyes were similar to Rosena.

Yerhan was silent for a moment, then pointed towards the building.

“We’re leaving early tomorrow, so go back in.”

Illian turned his back without saying a word. Normally, he would have talked back, saying he didn’t want to, but he was obedient for some reason.

Illian bowed his head lightly to Isaac, his swordsmanship teacher, and went inside the building.

Yerhan, who was watching Illian enter the building, muttered to himself.

“Are you not going to call me dad?”

“Do you want to hear it?”

At Isaac’s question, Yerhan narrowed his brows.

“Who knows.”

In the past, for Yerhan, Illian was no more than a hostage to hold Rosena, but nowadays he regarded him as Rosena and his child.

It was hard to describe, but he wanted to hear the word ‘dad’ from Illian at least once. But from that look, there was still a long way to go.

“By the way, since when did you teach him swordsmanship?”

“It’s been less than three weeks. Sometimes I’m surprised because he’s so quick at learning.”

Yerhan closed his mouth when Isaac said so. As expected Illian is like him.

A cool evening breeze blew, Isaac spoke quietly.

“You’ve gotten a lot softer.”

“Me?”

Isaac smiled lightly. Yerhan, who had been acting as if he had no feelings over the years, had changed a lot in the past few months.

The most noticeable change was his sharpness, as if the blade had been dulled.

It was good for the knights anyway.

“I’ll leave Illian to you for now.”

“All right.”

Isaac bowed deeply.

“Then shall we hear the report?”

As soon as he returned to the capital, he was busy with work, so he hadn’t heard the report yet.

Isaac began detailing one by one what had happened while Yerhan was away.

“…And there was a day when Her Highness went out of the palace…”

Isaac’s words blurred at the end. He quietly looked into Yerhan’s eyes and continued speaking.

“And she met the crown prince there.”

Upon hearing the words ‘crown prince’, Yerhan’s expression deteriorated sharply.

“Outside?”

“Yes, the two of them talked, but we couldn’t hear anything.”

They wouldn’t have met by chance outside.

The crown prince had always been interested in Rosena, so it was highly likely that he followed her with a purpose.

Yerhan clenched his fists. If he continued to provoke him this way, he had no intention of staying still.

Yerhan, who suppressed the ferocious energy, raised his chin.

“So what about those guys from earlier?”

Isaac quickly realized that he was asking about the mercenaries.

While Rosena went to wash her hands earlier, there was a fight between him and the mercenaries.

The mercenaries did not stand still, but Yerhan hit them one by one with his fists and dragged them out.

Then, after beating the mercenaries until they fainted, he left it to Isaac and Karlan and went in.

“Karlan loaded them into a cart containing fertilizer for livestock. They’ll be disposed of in a fertilizer dump in another city by tomorrow morning.”

“That’s a relief.”

Yerhan smiled menacingly like a villain.

Isaac, who was looking at it, thought. Maybe his gentle behavior was limited only to Rosena and Illian.

***

Rosena got up early in the morning and washed herself with warm water prepared by the inn employee.

After that, she changed into clothes that were comfortable for activities and put her hair up.

When Rosena opened the door after preparation, Yerhan and Illian were standing in the hallway.

“Did you sleep well?”

The two people nodded at Rosena’s greeting.

For some reason, their faces looked a little tired.

It seemed that the two of them slept together last night and made a lot of memories.

They went down the stairs side by side and had a simple breakfast. This meal was also accompanied by Isaac and Karlan.

After breakfast, they packed up and got into the carriage.

While traveling in the carriage, she slept in the languid sunlight, and ate a sandwich in the carriage around lunchtime.

After running half a day like that, they finally arrived at the sea that Rosena had been waiting for.

“Wow…”

Outside the window, the light green sea stretched out endlessly like a roll of fabric. Small waves crashed and created white foam that looked like small flowers.

Rosena couldn’t take her eyes off the window and was busy admiring the passing landscape.

Suddenly the carriage stopped, and Rosena took Yerhan’s hand and got out of the carriage. As soon as she came out, the smell of the sea brushed the tip of her nose.

Rosena walked slowly towards the shore.

The seas of Astania and the empire were distinctly different. If the sea of Astania was as deep blue as sapphire, the sea of the empire was emerald green.

In addition, the color of the sand connecting the land and the sea was different.

Astania’s was nearly golden sand, and the empire’s was white. It was amazing that it could be so different even though it was the same sea.

Rosena took off her shoes and stepped on the sand barefoot. It was as soft as a velvet cloth wrapped around her feet.

“Is this your first time seeing the sea of the empire?”

Rosena nodded silently.

She saw it when she crossed over from Astania to the empire, but she didn’t have a chance to see it like this.

If she had known that the sea of ​​the empire was so pretty, she would have come to see it at least once.

Rosena took Illian’s hand and walked along the sandy beach.

Yerhan followed her.

As they walked along the sandy beach, the waves sometimes swept their ankles.

Perhaps because it was summer, the sun was hot, and the light was broken on the water surface, making it all splendid.

Rosena paused for a moment and stared at the sea.

The sky along the horizon was dimly bounded by the sea, as if it had been painted over with paint.

It was definitely the first time she saw it. But strangely, she didn’t think it was the first time. It was as if she had pulled out a piece of forgotten memory.

Rosena watched the waves crashing from afar.

This sense of déjà vu, Rosena knew it. It was what she felt when she went to play at Imperial Palace lake.

It was definitely a place she had never been to before, so why did she feel nostalgic for it?