Leticia, who exited through the back door, quickly crossed the garden.
Passing a trail surrounded by dense green bushes, a small clearing revealed itself.
In the center of the clearing, a statue of a goddess faintly glowed under the light.
‘He said he would wait around here.’
Had Ahwin arrived? While Leticia was nervously looking around,
Rustle. The sound of leaves being stepped on came from behind.
Leticia called out Ahwin’s name almost like a cry.
“Ahwin!”
Ahwin stood not far away, cloaked in black. His expression was hard to see due to the shadows. Leticia hurried over to him.
“Ahwin, how are you feeling? Are you okay now?”
If Ahwin had become her Wing, he might have been freed from the pain of the covenant, but she was still worried.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Are you completely free from the pain?”
Ahwin said nothing, only slightly twisting his lips as he listened to her concerns. Leticia, surprised, asked,
“Why do you look like that? Are you in pain? Are you still suffering because of mother’s orders?”
Hesitating, Leticia asked, not knowing what to do.
“Weren’t you supposed to be my Wing? Yet you’re still in pain… Can you stand okay? Is there anything I can do to help? Let me have a look. Just sit down for a moment…”
Leticia couldn’t finish her sentence. Suddenly, Ahwin took a step back and knelt on one knee.
Then, he prostrated himself, pressing his forehead to the dirt floor.
His beautiful silver hair scattered messily on the ground.
Following that, Ahwin spoke in a voice filled with suppressed pain.
“I congratulate you on your awakening, Lady Leticia.”
“Ahwin! What are you doing! Get up!”
Leticia, startled, tried to help him up, but Ahwin didn’t budge.
“Your face will get dirty. You might get hurt! Hurry!”
“You should not give such orders.”
“Orders? What are you talking about!”
“You shouldn’t forgive me so easily.”
Leticia paused.
“I betrayed you, Lady Leticia. For years, I failed to recognize my master and neglected your suffering…”
His voice was laden with clear pain. His shoulders trembled slightly.
“For years, I lived as the enemy’s pawn. Even a thousand deaths would not suffice to atone for my sins. Yet, why do you forgive me so easily?”
After realizing Leticia was his master, he had imagined and reimagined their reunion.
What would her reaction be? In his imagination, she never smiled even once.
There were even times when she ordered his death to get a proper Wing.
Ahwin thought it was only natural. He was prepared for whatever it was, as long as it fulfilled his master’s wishes.
It would slightly lighten the sins he had committed.
He only hoped to ask her to take good care of Noel, who would be left alone.
Thus, he had never imagined such a scenario. Leticia welcoming him warmly, calling him her wing without hesitation, worrying about him…
He had never dared to dream of it.
* * *
“Have you forgotten that horrific past? Have you forgotten the life you’ve lived, how the impostor tortured you, locked you in a room without windows, beat you, and drove you out into the cold winter…”
He couldn’t continue. Recalling her past in front of Leticia was too painful.
“All that time, what was I doing?”
He hadn’t saved her or stopped Josephina. The realization tormented him. His eyes grew hot with tears.
“Please, give me a chance to atone for my sins. Instead of forgiveness, I should be punished. I will accept any punishment. Please, impose a punishment on me.”
“Stop it, Ahwin. I won’t impose any punishment on you.”
“Lady Leticia!”
“Get up, Ahwin.”
“You shouldn’t do this. You need to punish me. To kill Tenua and dispose of me as the next wing…”
“Get up. It’s an order.”
Ahwin flinched.
“Hurry.”
Her voice was gentle yet firm. Ahwin breathed shakily.
“Hurry up. This is my first order as the owner of the elixir, to my wing.”
“…”
“Are you going to refuse my first order?”
Slowly, Ahwin raised his head. Then he swallowed.
Under the moonlight, she was smiling at him so tenderly. Playfulness sparkled in her clear green eyes.
“My second wing is quite stubborn.”
Leticia’s smile faded slightly.
“Oh dear… there’s a wound on your forehead after all. Just stay like this for a moment. I need to clean off the dirt.”
Carefully, Leticia wiped the dirt from Ahwin’s forehead. While her hand touched him, Ahwin remained as still as a well-trained beast.
To soothe Ahwin, Leticia spoke softly.
“Do you know? Noel talked a lot about you all this time. She said she could survive in the Divine Palace because of you. She even said you are more precious to her than her own life. But if you, if you treat your body so recklessly, what should we do? Saying you would die with Tenua. How sad would Noel be if she heard that?”
“……”
“You should never even dream of such thoughts. You should think about being happy with Noel. Having the chance to be with the one you love is such a great blessing.”
Leticia said, rolling her eyes softly.
“If you hurt my friend, I will never forgive you. Then, I will really give you a big punishment.”
“……Lady Leticia.”
Ahwin couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes any longer and lowered his head.
In her clear eyes, he could find no resentment, only pure joy and concern for him.
“Ahwin, you don’t know how happy I am that you chose me. I mean it.”
Hearing those tender whispers, Ahwin felt both ecstasy and misery.
The ecstasy that his master had accepted him, and the misery that he had failed to protect such a master for years.
“Actually, I had a dream not long ago.”
To ease Ahwin’s heart a bit, she decided to open up about some of her past.
“In the dream, Noel was on my side. When my mother tried to harm me, Noel saved me with the power of water.”
It was a strange thing.
Though she thought all that was past, the moment she spoke of that day, the memories came flooding back vividly.
The chilling wind that bit at her flesh, the sensation of water droplets splashing on her cheek, the urgent breathing of Noel.
As if she was experiencing it at that very moment so vividly.
“Noel ran away with me very hard. But then, I twisted my ankle.”
It felt like she was meeting the Noel of the past again.
The Noel who seemed to be in agony as if her own ankle was broken at the sight of her swollen ankle.
“I couldn’t run any further. Eventually, we were caught by the pursuit team. Then, Noel said. She would buy time, so I should run away. That I must survive at all costs.”
Before regressing, she thought long and hard about why Noel was so desperate. Why she risked her own life to save her.
Even after regressing, she didn’t know the answer.
But now, she does.
Why she tried to save her.
“She was ready to die in my place. To save me, her master. And I, I knew nothing.”
What must have been going through Noel’s mind then?
Leticia felt her heart ache anew.
Despite giving up everything, even abandoning her beloved lover and risking her life for her.
She never heard a single word of warmth from her master. Until the very last moment, her intentions were doubted. How lonely and sad she must have been.
“But then, an arrow flew.”
Ahwin flinched and raised his head.
“Noel fell into my arms. As I was holding the fallen Noel, you approached. That arrow…”
Tears welled up in Leticia’s eyes. She tried to hold back her tears, but it was hard. Ahwin asked with a trembling voice.
“……I shot that arrow. I killed Noel, didn’t I?”
Leticia barely opened her mouth.
“……I heard that Noel died and you went mad. I was sick for months after that. Noel, who had died, kept appearing in my dreams.”
In her dreams, Noel didn’t say anything. Just looked at Leticia with such sad eyes.
“Noel never blamed me once. Even though she died because of me, lost everything because of me, she never once said she hated me. How can I hate you then?”
Leticia smiled beautifully at him. Tears fell from her green eyes without a chance to pool.
“You have no idea how glad I am that that dream didn’t become reality.”
Then she gently embraced his shoulder.
“Thank you for being my wing, Ahwin.”
Listening to Leticia’s whisper, Ahwin took a trembling breath.
Wings can feel the emotions of their master. The joy of the master is the joy of the wings, and the pain of the master is the sorrow of the wings.
Living as Josephina’s wing, Ahwin thought he was quite responsive to his master’s emotions.
When Josephina was angry, he too felt heavy-hearted, and when Josephina was happy, he too felt relieved.
But facing his true master, he realized that what he had felt before was just a shell.
The moment he saw Leticia’s tears, it felt as if the sky was falling.
At the same time, he felt terribly heartbroken.
Within the whirlwind of mixed emotions, Ahwin barely managed to separate his own feelings from Leticia’s.
‘This is Lady Leticia’s emotion.’
Apart from wanting to help her, he felt terribly sad. Like wanting to cry out loud but barely holding back the tears.
‘Is it because of the dream?’
Instinctively, he realized that the sorrow was due to her dream.
The sorrow she felt when she witnessed Noel’s death, when she heard that Ahwin, who killed Noel, had gone mad.
At the same time, he was puzzled.
‘All this, just because of a dream?’
For it to be just a dream, her emotions were too intense. And he couldn’t help but think.
Leave a Reply