Chapter 8
The second invasion.
An event where monsters invaded in numbers twice as large as the first rift that had burst out of the rift on a massive scale.
In the original work, it was described as a hellish event to the extent that it was written that the hope of the Northern people disappeared and they fell into the abyss.
The story had the North barely surviving, being saved by the protagonist Dale who happened to come by.
Catastrophic damage.
Despair.
Invisible hope.
The words written in the novel were all negative, but funnily enough, what these words meant was one thing:
They survived anyway.
No matter what the condition was, it meant that the North did not perish and could withstand the second rift, which meant that the North could win against the second invasion.
And that meant it would be the opportunity for the hero to build a connection with Elisia.
A festival was held in the North.
Rather than a festival to celebrate survival, it was more to commemorate the dead and to create a driving force for the survivors to continue living.
In other words, it was closer to a funeral than a festival, and closer to a consolation meeting than a funeral.
While the festival for the living, not the dead, was going on, the protagonist Dale, who had made great contributions in this war, came forward and received blessings from many people.
Although Dale was also an outsider, perhaps because he had directly saved them in the war, unlike me, he was receiving everyone's affection.
It was somewhat subtle that he was in the opposite position from me, but since all I cared about was Elisia's recognition, I was about to turn away when someone pointed at me and shouted, "Y-you trash! Because of you, my parents...!"
It was a man drunk on alcohol.
He stomped on the flowers I had bloomed, pointed at me, and then threw the crude bottle of alcohol he was holding at me.
Because he was drunk, the bottle missed me and fell to the side.
Perhaps because the snow had melted and revealed the stone ground,
The bottle shattered into glass shards and began to scatter around.
"..."
Just a few months ago, although crude, glass bottles were a kind of luxury in the North, so they couldn't be thrown away so easily.
Realizing how much better off they had become compared to before, I was looking at this when voices came from all around.
"My mom... my mom died."
"Because of you, my husband... sob. Bring him back! Bring him back!"
"You piece of trash, why are you even here?"
Truth was not necessary for responsibility.
Instead of truth, they only needed someone to bear it.
They seemed to have already fallen for the political machinations of the North's leadership, as they were already treating me as the culprit and throwing food and objects at me.
Like the glass bottles, just a few months ago, most people were starving without such food.
But now it seemed to have become natural to them, as they were using it without hesitation to express their hatred towards me.
...Haa.
My emotions settled.
An intense sense of skepticism washed over me, along with a feeling of meaninglessness.
But it was okay.
After all, I did all of this for Elisia.
Although disgust was welling up, I forcibly calmed my emotions and steadied my heart.
So I ignored them and headed towards Elisia's office, calming my heart.
It's okay. As long as Elisia recognizes me, it's fine.
After all, that was my only goal, so there was no need to waste emotions on useless things.
Enduring the intense skepticism welling up, I opened the door to the office, and Elisia rejected me with an expressionless face.
"I would prefer if you didn't come anymore."
"...Why?"
"Do you want a political explanation or a personal one?"
That wasn’t what was important.
Feeling something gradually breaking in my head, I brought up the pitiful reason.
"...I made the North warm as promised, didn't I?"
I reminded her of the promise she had agreed to—the one where she would look at me properly, but…
"I'm grateful for that, but someone else would have done it even if it wasn't you."
She pushed me away with a frown, as if she didn't know about such a promise.
At that moment, I felt all the lines breaking, and my head became dizzy.
As I stood frozen, looking at Elisia who was staring at me with an expression of disgust, Elisia briefly said, "And I've felt this for a while now. I'd appreciate it if you stopped clinging to your position as my fiancé. It's a nuisance."
"...Haa."
It was so ridiculous that I kept laughing.
Seeing my state, Loraine seemed to think she couldn't leave me like this, so she carefully pulled me and said, "...Young Master. Let's go for now."
When anger crossed the line, it wasn’t as intense as a flame, but as cold as the bitterness of winter.
I nodded to Loraine and turned my body to go outside.
I saw the protagonist standing in front of the office in the corridor.
"..."
How should I react? No, I don't even want to react.
I ignored him and passed by, and the protagonist entered the office as if he had been waiting, closing the door behind him.
Judging by how quickly he closed the door, it seems he heard everything.
That meant he knew I was her fiancé, yet he blatantly went in.
Thinking it was amusing because it was so ridiculous, I was about to move forward when…
“Hehe, thank you. Thanks to you, hope has come to the North.”
“No, no, what did I do? It's thanks to everyone fighting hard…”
Laughter could be heard from inside the office.
“As a token of gratitude, I prepared a small bouquet of flowers. I hope you like it.”
“Oh, thank you! It's really pretty.”
Flowers didn't bloom in the North due to the harsh environment.
In other words, the bouquet of flowers Elisia gave to the protagonist was made using the flowers that had bloomed due to the warmth I had created.
Seeing this, I felt everything breaking and walked forward.
As I walked forward without saying anything, Loraine panicked, "Y-Young Master, don't be too disappointed. Elisia probably had to act like that because if she gets politically entangled with you, she might lose in the struggle for the family head position..."
What difference does that make?
I blatantly ignored her and just moved forward, recalling that expression full of disgust I had seen earlier.
The meeting and trial that had been temporarily suspended due to the second invasion started again.
I stood in front of the Northern people, whose numbers had decreased somewhat but whose expressions had become more vicious.
Unlike before, problems had erupted to an unmanageable degree, and even public opinion was mostly in favor of punishing me.
It seemed that even those who had been just watching had leaned towards pinning it on me.
In other words, although they knew what the truth was, most of them were showing hostility towards me to not go against the flow.
I looked at Elisia sitting expressionlessly in front of them.
Judging by her sitting in the highest seat, Lake Rick Wintreaven, the Northern Grand Duke and family head, seemed to be absent from the meeting.
I quickly assessed how strong the people around were and then closed my eyes.
...I gave up everything to win the heart of just one person.
My pride, my reputation, my worth, even my future.
Yet all I got in return was a hateful reaction and a look that said she could never accept someone like me.
I sneered at that gaze that told me everything had been in vain.
I realized she never had any intention of understanding me in the first place, no matter what I did.
"Then we will begin the trial."
Those who no longer intended to hide anything spewed out heated arguments and picked at my actions.
The fact that they were picking at my actions meant there was no evidence, which meant they were simply repeating the process of tearing me down.
There was no system, let alone logic.
I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes at such words.
If only she had listened to me just once... No, if she had treated me fairly like she did others, could our ending have been different?
Briefly imagining a future that would never come true, I opened my mouth, thinking all of this was meaningless.
"Elisia. Don't you want to hear my story?"
At those words, the surroundings quieted down and focused their attention on me and Elisia.
Elisia looked at me and answered in a subdued voice, "It's pointless."
"It seems you won't even listen to my story, let alone grasp the context of the situation."
"..."
I tried begging her to listen to my story until the very end, but she just stood there silently, looking down at me.
The moment I saw those emotionless eyes, I felt an intense sense of futility.
I uttered harsh words I had never dared speak in front of her before.
"Then fuck off, bitch."
There was no need to hold back anymore.
I raised the small hammer in my pocket and threw it towards Elisia.
Of course, if I killed Elisia right now, the Northern Grand Duke, who was a Sword Master, would try to kill me, so instead of hitting Elisia, I threw it to the side, strongly piercing the wall.
Crack.
Perhaps due to the effect of long, cruel training and continuously drinking elixirs, the hammer strongly penetrated the solid stone wall and got stuck.
I looked at this expressionlessly, dusted off my clothes, and said, "I will formally refer this matter to the central government. The truth will be properly revealed there."
The key figures who had stood up to attack me when I threw the hammer also closed their mouths, seemingly realizing something had gone wrong when they heard these words.
I looked at those gazes, then gripped the mace I was holding tightly and approached the protagonist in the witness stand, striking him down.
Bang!
Thanks to the sudden surprise attack, the protagonist couldn't properly block it, but…
As expected of a protagonist, he avoided a critical hit and fell to the ground.
Seeing this, I wiggled the mace and continued speaking, "You shouldn't mess with another man's fiancée. Besides, aren't you a commoner?"
I never thought I'd say something that a third-rate villain would say.
Thinking it was crude but surprisingly fun, I struck the mace down on the protagonist again.
In fact, the protagonist would have easily avoided an attack of this level, but thanks to Loraine approaching and stepping on the protagonist's body to prevent him from moving, I was able to land a proper hit with the mace.
"Arghhhh!"
Seeing the mace hit the protagonist's groin, I laughed and threw the mace on the ground, saying, "Let's go."
"Yes."
I brushed up my bangs and looked at Elisia one last time.
Seeing her expression mixed with shock and bewilderment, I thought it was more funny than sad.
I could tell that my heart had completely withered.
Then there was nothing more to see here.
I slowly walked out, leaving behind the key figures frozen in a Northern manner.
They probably wouldn't be able to catch me anyway, as it would become a fight between families the moment they tried to catch me.
Especially now that they had lost most of their strength due to the second invasion.
They’ll likely try to cover up what just happened by negotiating with my family.
Thinking that I could pretty much see how things would flow, I came outside.
Seeing a carriage waiting for us, I wondered what it was about, and Loraine patted my back and said, "I called for it."
She was quick-witted in strange ways.
I decided to make Loraine a cup of tea when we returned home and got on the carriage.
“There's no need to keep it warm anymore.”
I withdrew the power of the Sun Spirit that had been continuously gnawing at my mental strength and laid down in the carriage.
Usually, ending things this way should leave anger lingering, but…
A strong sense of skepticism remained, leaving only emptiness.
I don't know what I worked so hard for.
I sacrificed too much just because she had saved my life.
...Of course, I didn't regret it. After all, these were things I did because I wanted to.
But when the results I got back were this disastrous, naturally, I felt so disgusted that I didn't want to be associated with it anymore.
Cold air swirled around my mouth, and pale smoke flowed out.
As if all the emotions I had left for her were faintly seeping out and scattering.
I let go of all the affection, fondness, and even sympathy I had felt for her, and looked out the window.
White snow gradually scattered and piled up everywhere.
It was originally a natural scene in the North, but perhaps because I hadn't seen it in a long time, it felt somewhat unfamiliar.
It's white.
In the city covered in white snow, I looked at the scene of people despairing at the sight of snow, then turned my gaze away expressionlessly.
...Snow began to fall again in the North.