Chapter 197 – Recovery (2)

Before knocking on Heretia’s door, Haild took a deep breath and made sure that his clothes were neat and the bandages were neatly wrapped around his face.

A man who was known to be Heretia’s guard looked at Haild suspiciously from beside him.

As far as Haild knew, the guard was the man who had a broken leg when he first met Heretia when the carriage was overturned. Haild thought that he knew the guard’s name, but he forgot—not that it was important anyway.

“Please feel free to go inside.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Haild cleared his throat and nervously prepared to knock on the door. He had encountered Heretia several times in the Imperial Palace, but it was the first time that he was invited to Heretia’s room.

Whenever he ran into Heretia in the Imperial Palace, Haild had tried to hold a conversation with her as he recalled his memories from the Magic Tower, but she didn’t seem to care much—it was as if it wasn’t a big deal. Heretia had too much work to do and did not have time to have a good laugh while reminiscing about the past.

Although Haild was considered one of the closest acquaintances of the emperor, no specific job was assigned to him. This was only natural, since Haild was taken to the island to be taught about the Crack and train his swordsmanship even before he had a chance to receive proper education. While he did not have the knowledge needed for administration or tactics, he wasn’t even used to having a conversation with women.

Haild eventually failed to find a common interest between him and Heretia. Thus, Heretia’s invitation this time was quite meaningful to him.

At last Haild knocked on the door.

“Miss Heretia, this is Haild. May I come in?”

“Yes. Come on in.”

Haild placed his hand over his beating heart and walked into the room. His face brightened up upon seeing Heretia sitting at the tea table. However, his heart stopped beating the moment he saw the person sitting on the opposite side of the tea table.

Hela Henna was sitting in front of Heretia.

“Welcome, my son,” Hela said.

Haild was about to turn around and leave the room, but the door suddenly slammed shut behind him, almost as if Hela already expected his next move.

As he contemplated whether or not he should run out the window, Hela grabbed him and quickly sat him down next to her at the tea table. He could have easily resisted if he wanted to, but for some reason, he couldn’t move a muscle.

Heretia smiled and stood up using her crutches.

“I’ll get going then. Enjoy your conversation.”

“Miss Heretia! Your legs!?”

Haild was surprised to see Heretia standing up. Although she was relying on crutches, it was impossible for Heretia to ‘stand up,’ since both of her legs had been cut off.

Heretia slightly lifted up her skirt as if she already knew how Haild would respond. At that moment, the carved prosthetic leg was exposed through her skirt.

“It’s a prosthetic leg made of ivory that was brought in from the south. I requested it from a skilled craftsman and it was only completed recently. Using a wheelchair was comfortable enough, but it was difficult to use it to climb the stairs.”

Haild blushed at the sight of Heretia lifting up her skirt despite it only being prosthetic legs beneath it.

Then, Heretia smiled at Hela and left the room.

Soon, there was only silence in the room where only Hela and Haild were left.

“I didn’t think it would be so hard to just have a one-on-one conversation with you, son.”

“...I’m sorry.”

Unlike how Haild tried his best to run into Heretia, he had been trying his best to actively avoid Hela as much as he could. He had been avoiding Hela without even knowing why he was avoiding her.

He could give dozens of excuses—Hela had already seen his funeral; he felt awkward talking to her when he had been hiding the fact that he was still alive for decades; or that he lost his chance to tell her the truth after failing to talk to her several times.

Yet he had no excuse about him avoiding Hela, even though she had tried to talk to him several times.

Hela slowly scanned Haild and then opened her mouth.

“What was that corpse I saw?”

“Father was…”

“It was that asshole, Gerard’s work, huh? I assumed it was him when I found out that you were alive. Then tell me what you’ve been up to. Make it short.”

Haild already knew that his first proper conversation with Hela would not be so heartwarming as to be filled with hugs and tears. Yet he didn’t expect it to happen in such an interrogative atmosphere.

Then, Haild carefully summarized what had happened to him in a polite manner. He omitted the parts that would make Hela angry, but the summary was enough to make her feel dizzy.

“...You learned the magic of the Crack? The only thing that Gerard taught you while holding on to you for such a long time was swordsmanship and magic? You attacked His Majesty? You almost died trying to pull out the power residing within His Majesty?”

“No, I mean… Father was just trying to…”

“Do not call that asshole your father. I cannot and will not forgive him. That bastard who didn’t even show up when I gave birth to you decided to show up out of nowhere to abduct my son and make him suffer?”

“Oh, um… Then I’ll call him Mr. Gerard Gain, mother. Anyway, all of what happened had a reason for happening and it was all inevitable. Thanks to that, aunt Nienna learned how to escape from being encroached upon by the Crack. And His Majesty has regained his true strength to…”

“Don’t even think about getting away with this by convincing me that the results were good.”

Haild could only close his mouth.

Hela contemplated something in silence.

Haild swallowed a gulp and nervously waited for her next words everytime she took a glance at him. Hela had been a strict mother ever since Haild was young. It was only natural that she had gotten worse since she went through so many hardships on numerous battlefields.

However, Hela didn’t question him anymore. She sighed deeply and opened her mouth to say something that Haild had never expected.

“How long has it been since you were interested in Miss Helwin?”

“Huh? I’m sorry? Well, I mean… I wouldn’t say that I’m interested. But I just…”

“Come to think of it, what happened to your face? Did you get a scar or something? I think that my son is pretty good-looking, but I only say that because you are my son. I bet Miss Helwin thinks otherwise. Don’t tell me that you’ve bandaged your face because you got ugly.”

“It’s not that I got ugly. This is…”

“Besides, you’re all grown up now. Don’t you think it’s about time you throw away those gloomy clothes that make you look like you’ve had a sad past and wear something brighter? Miss Helwin is a smart lady from a prestigious family. You need to dress up and try your best to get on her level if you really want to…”

“No… stop! Mother!”

Haild lifted both of his hands and raised his voice.

Seeing this, Hela finally closed her mouth and looked at him.

“I don’t have any special feelings for Miss Heretia like you think. It’s just that Miss Heretia is… damn it. She just happens to be the first young woman I’ve ever met since I left the island. The only ‘woman’ I’ve met since I was taken away by Father… I mean, by Mr. Gerard Gain was Entalucia. Not only is Miss Heretia a different race from Entalucia, but she also is much younger. The way she talks is also very different and… shit. Mother, you will understand me once you have a conversation with Entalucia. Look, I can’t take these bandages off of my face, and I don’t even know how to properly talk to women. Do you really think I could have feelings for someone when I am so clueless about everything? Don’t you think that it’s fair for me to want to have conversations with Miss Heretia as friends when she’s the only woman I’ve ever met?”

Hela flinched when Haild poured out his words nonstop. She couldn’t close her mouth for a long time; she had no idea that he had been feeling so complicated.

Seeing Hela’s reaction, Haild blushed and closed his mouth upon realizing that he talked too much.

There was a moment of silence between Haild and Hela. Finally, Hela was the one who broke the silence again.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“You’re not the only one who felt awkward about this conversation. The same is true for me as well. It’s been decades since I last talked to my son and I thought that I’d never be able to see you again. I guess I ended up nagging you too much as a result.”

Just as Haild had difficulty talking to women, Hela had difficulty talking to her own child. She slowly reached her hand out toward Haild, who flinched and shivered when Hela’s hand touched the bandages on his face.

“Take off your bandages.”

Haild hesitated, but he thought that he would never be able to show his face unless it was now. He slowly brought his hand to the bandages and started removing them.

Under the bandages that were slowly falling off, Haild’s face was revealed. A large slash that began from his one eye that was encroached upon by the Crack split his face disproportionately. He gave off an ominous impression even when his face was covered with bandages, but the dark slash and the hole in his eyes gave off an impression that was beyond ominous.

Hela slowly touched Haild’s face along the slash.

“You do have a little scar on your face, but you still look good. Thanks to me, of course.”

“...Everyone told me that I look like my father…”

“You resemble your father in terms of personality.”

Hela laughed and began a proper conversation with Haild. Most of their conversation consisted of cursing Haild, followed by how to talk to Heretia.

“By the way. You said you don’t know how to talk to women, but it’s not that different. Just think of them as men and talk comfortably. It all starts there. I heard you had a normal conversation with Miss Helwin at the Magic Tower. Just do exactly what you did then.”

“Exactly what I did then?”

“Yes. Everything becomes a game rather than a conversation if you understand it. Then it only becomes the matter of whether you win or lose, succeed or fail.”

“Is that how father—no. Mr. Gerard Gain treated you, mother?”

Hela smirked.

“No way. I’m the one who seduced him. He came on to me even before he finished a cup of tea.”

***

It was the next day when Juan found Hela.

Hela appeared at the Imperial Palace, smelling like alcohol with dark circles under her eyes. Juan had a dumbfounded look on his face when he encountered Hela sitting in front of the office.

“I was wondering what you were up to after taking the blame for me. I see that you’ve been drinking.”

“It’s the perfect example of a person who’s committed a massacre and feels guilty of her own actions. Don’t you think so?”

Juan grabbed Hela’s hand to help her up and injected mana into her body at the same time. The heat from Juan’s mana quickly drove alcohol out of Hela’s body. The smell of alcohol spread around her, but Hela quickly came back to her senses.

“Ugh, keuk. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I’ve never seen you so messed up like this before. Is it because of Anya?” Juan asked.

“No… I had a drink with my son for the first time. He fell asleep after only one shot, so Miss Helwin and I were the only ones who actually drank, but it was still a good time.”

“You drank at a time when our friend was abducted?”

“That’s all the more reason to drink.”

Hela stared blankly at Juan. Her eyes looked tired from hangover and fatigue, but he could see a certain determination in them.

“Your Majesty, please send me to the west. I will negotiate with Dismas.”

“You want to negotiate with Dismas?”

“Come on, Your Majesty. Your Majesty and the rest of the empire already knows that Dismas was the one behind this treason attempt. It was Dismas who tried to resurrect a god, it was Dismas who abducted Anya, and it was also Dismas who killed Dilmond. There’s only one reason why your Majesty is still here, not taking any action.”

Juan did not answer.

“It’s because Your Majesty is afraid that Anya might die. I mean, Anya would probably say that she doesn’t mind sacrificing her life for the sake of Your Majesty. But we should still try our best if she is still alive. So, I will go and negotiate with Dismas. This kind of work is way too trivial for Your Majesty to take care of. By the way, I’m not being sarcastic. I'm more serious than ever.”

“Do you think that Dismas will be willing to make a compromise?”

“Your Majesty would have run and killed Dismas at once if he was a being like god or a monster. But unfortunately, Dismas is not only a human being, he is also an adopted child of Your Majesty. Yes, I do think he will compromise. I’ve prepared a very attractive bait for him. Oh, of course. It’s not a condition that Your Majesty won’t be able to accept.”

“I’ll be counting on you in that case. Also…”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“The reason why I didn’t take action is not because I’m afraid that Anya might die. I only sent the army first rather than stepping out myself because I was afraid that Dismas would become frightened and lock himself up. Pavan was already moving the Imperial Army westward while you were getting drunk. We are preparing for a war—the war that would have been fought anyway.”

Hela grinned upon hearing Juan’s words.

“As expected, Your Majesty is definitely the perfect emperor.”

“I don’t know if the war will actually begin; it will all depend on your negotiations. I might be able to forgive him if he sends back Anya, my original body and the Pope. He will also have to reflect on himself and be ready to suffer from the consequences of his sins. Dilmond’s funeral will be done after Anya’s return.”

“I think it’s going to be the most difficult negotiation ever. But I guess I have no choice but to try my best,” Hela murmured with a sigh.

But Juan shook his head.

“There have been several opportunities when I could have been quite terrifying.”

Hela remained silent.

“But I think it’s thanks to you guys that I did not turn out that way. Going to the west will be a test of how terrifying I can get. I wish all the problems would be solved by me being terrifying, but you wouldn’t want that.”

“That’s exactly right, Your Majesty.”

Hela answered with a chuckle.

“It is my dream to manipulate Your Majesty to take my test and thus make you be remembered as the greatest emperor ever, to be praised for generations to come. I don’t mind if I have to be painted as a petty traitor for it.”