Chapter 45: Crossed Paths

 

A group of warhorses galloped across the snowy path.

 

Though they were visibly exhausted, their riders showed no intention of stopping, relentlessly urging them on.

 

Leading the charge at the very front were Rihanna Helmut and Silverna Caldias.

 

They even rode ahead of Uldiran, the Supreme Commander. Ignoring the formation altogether, they pressed their horses forward—evidence enough of their urgency.

 

“Why’d you have to let it get away?!”

 

Silverna snapped irritably.

 

Because the lord of the Great Den chose to flee from the outset, the battle ended sooner than expected, and their encirclement was breached.

 

Boom! Boommm!

 

Thunder rumbled in the distance. The closer they got to the Malidan Barrier, the more they felt its ruinous mana pricking their skin like sparks.

 

‘Isaac.’

 

Rihanna tightened her grip on the reins.

 

‘Please… I beg you.’

 

She wholeheartedly hoped he had run away. The Lord of the Great Den wasn’t someone Isaac could handle—not with the forces currently stationed at the barrier, anyway.

 

“Hah! Hah!”

 

After riding hard, they finally caught sight of the Malidan Barrier.

 

But the barrier looked nothing like its usual self. Thick white mist swirled around it like clouds, while the ramparts were frozen over with large patches of hoarfrost.

 

Uldiran explained the phenomenon:

 

“It’s the defensive magic of the Barrier. It’s designed to activate automatically when danger arises.”

 

No one heard Uldiran add that it would shut off on its own in a few hours. Regardless, its current appearance alone was proof enough that the Malidan Barrier was in a critical state.

 

–-Boom!

 

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

 

A roar consumed by rage, and the crackling sound of lightning striking everywhere like flames.

 

High atop the wall, Bricalla showered lightning down. They were too far to see the figure standing there clearly—

 

All except for one person.

 

“Isaac!”

 

Rihanna’s eyes flew wide. The beast’s electric discharge shot toward Isaac without a moment’s hesitation. It could have engulfed him instantly, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.

 

Above the Malidan Barrier, a silver line cut through the air.

 

It was unwavering—beautiful like ice crystals, as delicate as a master painter’s brushstroke, advancing as though testing its very limit.

 

“Wow.”

 

Silverna couldn’t help but exclaim, forgetting the crisis at hand. Uldiran also watched, eyes wide.

 

It wasn’t aura, but a brilliant flash conjured by the sword alone. Those who witnessed it stood frozen, mouths agape in awe.

 

Closest to the scene, Bricalla never even realized it had been cut. Its head hit the ground and, at the same moment, it collapsed to its knees.

 

****

 

“Ughhhhh!”

 

Waking with a start, the first sound from Isaac was a scream of pain.

 

It felt as though his arm was twisting itself apart.

 

He frantically checked his right hand and saw his arm strapped to a splint.

 

“Hah… Hah…”

 

Despite the limb still being attached, it felt as though his muscles and bones were churning in chaos. Only when he bit down hard did he notice a thick cloth in his mouth—probably placed there so he wouldn’t bite his tongue in his sleep.

 

“Ptooey.”

 

He spat out the cloth and looked around. The surroundings were familiar.

 

He was in the infirmary.

 

“Is… is anyone there?”

 

Though he barely managed to call out, he heard hurried footsteps outside.

 

“Isaac?”

 

The door swung open to reveal Rihanna. The moment Isaac saw her, he felt an unconscious wave of relief. If Rihanna was here, unhurt, it meant the situation had somewhat stabilized.

 

“Are you all right? How’s your body?”

 

“I’m—ugh, I’m fine. More importantly… what about that thing?”

 

He forced out the words through the throbbing in his right arm. Even in his hazy memory, one image stood out clearly—he had to confirm if it was real.

 

At Isaac’s question, Rihanna gave a small nod.

 

“It’s dead. You did it.”

 

“…Right.”

 

He hadn’t thought he’d accomplished anything so monumental, but hearing it from Rihanna, who looked on the verge of tears, caused something to swell in his chest.

 

“I really did it.”

 

Relief and emptiness coexisted within him. Since returning, he’d fought countless powerful foes in the North, but this was the first time he had faced something so far beyond his level—and won.

 

“I really… did it.”

 

Isaac covered his face with his left hand. The surge of emotion was too complex to put into words. Yet hundreds of hours spent making the impossible possible had finally earned him this moment.

 

“I saw your sword.”

 

Rihanna, speaking hesitantly, looked at Isaac. With complicated feelings swirling in her eyes, she carefully placed her hand on the right arm that had delivered that miraculous strike.

 

“To be honest… until yesterday, I wished you wouldn’t swing a sword at all.”

 

“…”

 

“Because swordsmanship seemed like it was a wound you kept reopening—like you were clinging to it. Especially seeing you wield a style so different from Helmut’s yet still trying to incorporate Helmut’s techniques.”

 

The reason he had accepted sparring with the direct descendants—little better than outright violence—was for the sake of learning.

 

He wanted, one way or another, to become a son-in-law worthy of Helmut.

 

To become someone who would not fall short of the role as Rihanna’s husband.

 

“Do you remember how you were bedridden for a week after sparring with Lohengrin?”

 

“I could never forget.”

 

A bitter smile formed on Isaac’s face.

 

Lohengrin, who had lost in a spar to Rihanna, deliberately called Isaac out the next day to demand a rematch.

 

Isaac ended up in a terrible state.

 

Afterward, as he lay in bed, Rihanna came to see him with a cold expression. She spoke just one sentence, then left.

 

“Didn’t I tell you to give up the sword?”

 

“…Right.”

 

Rihanna took a moment to steady her breathing. She looked troubled, but knowing she had no right to feel that way, she straightened her expression and continued.

 

“I wanted you to stop pushing yourself. Watching you keep crashing into the rock that is Helmut made me feel like you might shatter at any moment.”

 

But now she knew it had been wrong.

 

That she never should have said it.

 

“It was the opposite.”

 

Tears formed in Rihanna’s eyes but did not fall, as though she felt unworthy of shedding them.

 

“I—”

 

She slowly met Isaac’s gaze, her smile twisting under the sting of regret.

 

“I should have told you… that you could do it.”

 

In truth, on the day Rihanna told him to give up—

 

He cried more than anyone would ever know. The person whose approval he wanted most had given up on him, so the flame of his effort, which had burned so fiercely, snuffed out in a disheartening instant.

 

“I didn’t want you to break—”

 

Trying to hide her tears, Rihanna covered her eyes with her hand.

 

“And yet I—!”

 

Her emotions spilled over, her breath shaking with fiery remorse.

 

“I’m the one who broke you.”

 

Hardship is just part of the journey toward moving forward. But the moment you lose the very reason you strive, there’s nothing left but to collapse.

 

For Isaac, Rihanna was that reason.

 

All the other difficulties were simply obstacles to overcome.

 

“Now, I understand.”

 

Forcing a smile, Rihanna straightened her back. She sniffled, apologizing for her misunderstanding.

 

“You really have overcome everything—long before we who hurt you ever noticed your wounds.”

 

Already—

 

“You’ve conquered it all.”

 

Which is why she realized, so keenly, that there was nothing left she could do for him.

 

“…It wasn’t easy.”

 

It might look as though he cast aside the misunderstandings that had piled up since he returned, but—

 

“To be honest…

 

It was a horrible time.”

 

In his previous life, he hadn’t overcome it so readily.

 

After getting his leg injured by Alois’s machinations, he spent a year refusing to see anyone, holed up in his room.

 

There was only one reason.

 

He absolutely did not want Rihanna to see him, stripped of every last shred of possibility.

 

But now…

 

“I’ve always admired your sword, Rihanna.”

 

In the end, all of that hardship became something he conquered.

 

The Isaac who had blossomed wasn’t doing it for Helmut, the family that cast him aside—

 

“What did you think of it?”

 

He wanted to hear the impressions of the swordswoman who had led him to walk this path.

 

“Truly—”

 

Rihanna, forgetting to wipe away her tears as they slid down her cheeks, offered him a bright smile.

 

She recalled that astonishingly magnificent strike she had witnessed.

 

“It was incredible.”

 

Rihanna, who was never good with fancy words, had no way to embellish it further. But hearing even that concise reply—

 

“At last.”

 

A gentle smile formed on Isaac’s lips.

 

“I’ve finally earned your acknowledgment, Riha.”

 

****

 

“Really… it was incredible.”

 

From beyond the door, the moment Silverna heard Rihanna’s tearful confession, she felt unable to breathe.

 

“At last…”

 

She closed her eyes. She was only listening from outside the infirmary, but in her mind she could see exactly what expression he wore.

 

“I’ve finally earned your acknowledgment, Riha.”

 

That reply carried such a clear, open emotion.

 

“…”

 

Silverna lowered her head. Her falling hair obscured her vision, yet the silver earring resting in her palm remained distinct.

 

She forced back the tears threatening to spill over.

 

Clench.

 

She closed her fist around the earring that Antonio had made, as though trying to hide what she had been about to do only moments earlier.

 

She walked down the corridor, holding her breath under the pretense of not disturbing the two inside.

 

She had something she wanted to say.

 

But she swallowed it—together with her tears.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

 

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