Silver Lining Yesterday - Chapter 27

The deck was filled with sailors anxiously waiting for their captain.

Finally, when Nix climbed up the rope to the deck, the nervous first officer, who had been biting his nails, rushed over.

“Captain! It seems a fleet has been dispatched from Satin! How should we respond…? Hah! Ca, Captain, you’re hurt…!”

“Stop making a fuss.”

Nix casually wiped the scratch on his cheek with the back of his hand before handing the unconscious Jean to the first officer.

“It looks like a magic overload. Take her to a good doctor and get her checked…”

Jean, who had been cradled in the first officer’s arms, stirred.

With her body limp like wet laundry, she fumbled to her feet and, suddenly, lunged at Nix as if to tackle him.

“What… What are you…?”

Jean grabbed Nix by the collar with shaking hands and lifted her anxious eyes to him.

“What are you?”

Nix looked down at her with an endlessly calm gaze.

Jean, gritting her teeth, fought back a surge of bitter emotion and asked almost pleadingly.

“It’s not true, right…? I saw it wrong, didn’t I…? I’m going crazy, right?”

“Just hearing the answer you want doesn’t change reality.”

“—Why?!”

Jean, as if vomiting blood, desperately grabbed Nix’s collar and shook him.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why! Why didn’t you warn me about Miranda and Gemma…! Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?!”

“If I had told you, would you have believed me?”

Nix, whose collar was willingly grabbed, let out a cold chuckle.

“Jean Rohrbach, I know you well. You couldn’t resist that devilish woman. Look at you now. You hate me more than Gemma Heidegger, who betrayed you.”

Her wide, blue eyes seemed on the verge of shifting out of focus. A twitch at her fingertips quickly spread through her whole body.

Gradually, Jean loosened her grip on his collar and covered her mouth with trembling hands.

Her pale complexion was visible through her shaking knuckles. Her blue eyes, beneath her fluttering lashes, darted aimlessly.

“That… That can’t be. Why would Gemma…? And there’s Riholm. My hometown, Professor Amelroi would never have let Gemma stray so far. No, that can’t be true.”

Jean mumbled frantically, then suddenly looked up. Her eyes, desperate and filled with a faint hope, clung to Nix as if grasping at straws.

Nix, who had been watching her with a troubled expression, let out a brief sigh and turned his head.

“Riholm, huh… Well, it’s right over there.”

Jean hurriedly followed Nix’s gaze.

In the distant night sky, where even starlight seemed faint, dark storm clouds loomed ominously.

Within the vast, untouchable expanse of the black clouds, flashes of lightning sparked relentlessly.

Every time the ominous flash of lightning streaked across the sky, the shape within the dark clouds emerged as a blurred outline.

Just then, a glimmer of starlight pierced through, and the form inside the clouds began to become clearer.

It was a rocky island floating into the sky.

Waterfalls cascaded down the jagged cliffs at its edges, and the dew-covered forest, which welcomed the dawn first, lay to the east.

The half-destroyed structure in the center was a clock tower, which at dusk glowed with the most beautiful colors in the world, and beneath it, the land was the place she had longed to call home. The land of freedom where she had always wished to stay for the rest of her life.

That was the hometown that had sheltered and raised the girl with nowhere else to go.

The cradle of wisdom, Riholm.

As Jean gazed at the distant, familiar scenery of her homeland, she found herself stumbling toward the railing.

The cold sensation of the railing against her palm seeped into her bones, yet the image imprinted in her retina remained. As if it was an undeniable reality that could not be erased… no matter how much she denied it.

Blue veins stood out on the back of her hand as she gripped the railing, scratching it like a desperate claw.

With clenched teeth, Jean looked up at her homeland with bloodshot eyes.

Soon, fine snowflakes began to swirl, fiercely battering the deck. The snow settled on her hot, teary eyes, gathering like tears.

Then, through the dark clouds surrounding Riholm, the massive shadow of a dragon briefly appeared.

The enormous dragon writhed, its heavy body constricting the ruined nest as it opened its mouth in a ferocious snarl. Every time a flash of lightning lit up the sky, the dragon’s bright yellow, crazed pupils gleamed.

Its monstrous roar echoed, sounding like thunder across the land.

* * *

The Satin music troupe Jean had persuaded to come over the course of half a day chased away the gloomy shadows of the fortress.

Where only decades-old silence had once swirled, the sounds of violins, pianos, and bagpipes now filled the air with joyful music.

At first, the companions exchanged awkward glances, but one by one, they began to hold hands and move to the lively rhythm.

It was a pleasant time.

The mind, which had been slowly worn down by the daily bloody battles, finally found some respite.

Laughter rang out without pause, and they interacted freely with each other, just as they had back in Riholm. Glasses were filled and emptied in a whirlwind.

Before long, it was close to midnight.

The music troupe, having played for three straight hours, collected their promised payment and left.

With the music ceased, only the crackling of firewood in the fireplace echoed faintly through the banquet hall.

Surrounded by the peaceful atmosphere, Jean looked around the room with a relaxed gaze.

Half-melted candles bathed the room in warm, crimson light. Shadows of laughing companions, who had once seemed distant on the cold white walls, now gently danced in the flickering candlelight.