Chapter 207: Lingering Affection

It was too conspicuous to simply overlook. Rememver, who meticulously maintained the lawn, certainly wouldn’t have missed it.

As expected, Rememver replied promptly, as if he had been aware all along.

“It’s not that I haven’t maintained it, but rather I couldn’t. No matter how many times I pulled them out, they kept growing back. They even bloomed throughout all four seasons. It seems they aren’t ordinary flowers.”

“……”

They were blooming on Cruel’s grave. If they defied the laws of nature and Rememver’s efforts, there must be a reason.

Deon somehow felt it was related to him. It was just a baseless hunch, but that was enough.

He felt the coarse yet soft texture of the grass under his palm. When he came to his senses, he was kneeling, his left hand resting on the grave, reaching out towards the flowers.

“……!”

The moment his fingertips touched them, the flowers crumbled like an illusion. Deon froze. To Rememver, he seemed stunned by the bizarre phenomenon, but that wasn’t it.

The flower, Cruel, was speaking.

I died without regrets.

I’ll be waiting for you patiently, so I hope you too will live without regrets.

“……What.”

It wasn’t a word urging him to live. As if knowing Deon Hart’s current situation, he merely wished him to ‘live without regrets.’

Deon stared blankly at the spot where the flowers had been. The fact that no trace remained was so strange that he wondered if he had hallucinated it….

Slap!

‘No way.’

He slapped himself on the cheek and brushed the spot where the flowers had been.

The same phenomenon wouldn’t occur here again. Deon sensed it instinctively.

So, this flower… had been blooming through all four seasons, growing back even when pulled, just to deliver those words.

Just for me.

‘Saying he died without regrets must have been to stop me from blaming myself.’

Not saying it directly was truly the right choice.

I still haven’t forgiven myself. If he had conveyed his meaning directly instead of putting it indirectly like that, a situation where I turned my sword on myself might have unfolded.

More importantly, there was something to address. As if emotional turmoil had never existed, Deon stroked the grass with a languid hand and spoke in a whisper.

“The flower in the vase by my room window, that was also sent by hyung, wasn’t it?”

Hien had said he plucked the flower blooming on the grave near the border.

If Hien, who was only interested in man-eating plants, had intended to pluck a flower from the Human Realm for me, he wouldn’t have brought just a plain flower but would have created a flamboyant bouquet with as many different kinds of flowers as possible. So, it couldn’t have been solely Hien’s idea.

He said that single flower had caught his eye. Surely, some scientifically unexplainable phenomenon must have been at play.

“Strangely, I didn’t have nightmares when I slept in that room.”

Even when I had nightmares in the beginning, a white light chased them away before they reached the worst point.

And above all, there were the last words of the previous Hero, Cassius.

[The day you were chased away from your nightmare, I was asked by someone to deliver a message.]

[A black-haired, green-eyed man asked me to send his regards.]

Ah, really.

His head lowered, and finally, his forehead touched the tombstone. Kneeling with his head leaned against the grave, Deon murmured.

“You were still protecting me.”

Even though I begged you not to.

What am I supposed to do with you, protecting me even in death?

Unexpectedly, the hatred towards himself didn’t surge. Deon, rubbing his forehead against the coarse grass, spoke jokingly in a slightly choked voice.

A softened atmosphere, like basking in the spring sunlight, spread around them.

“You should be resting in peace now that you’re dead, hyung.”

When he was young, he had secretly visited his hyung, who was busy receiving heir education. He was quickly discovered, lifted up, and moved to a chair in the corner.

It was a late night when he couldn’t fall asleep. He remembered tossing and turning before eventually going out into the hallway for a nighttime stroll. That’s when he discovered the light was still on in hyung’s room and went in.

At that time, he was studying. Even during the day he was busy with various tasks, and seeing him not sleeping even at this late hour, he asked when hyung ever rested. Deon still remembers what he replied back then.

“You said sleep is for when you’re dead.”

What are you doing still not sleeping?

Just as children are always children in their parents’ eyes, he expected that in his hyung’s eyes, who sacrificed his life to save his brother, he would still look like a child who couldn’t be left alone.

But even looking like this, he had been an adult for quite a while. Before he knew it, he was approaching his late twenties, yet here he was.

“……Rememver.”

He called out to the man who had been standing behind him all along.

“I’ve decided on the epitaph.”

“If you would tell me, I will carve it as soon as possible….”

“No. There’s no need for that.”

Deon picked up a wooden stick nearby.

After becoming a Hero and learning to control power while fighting the Emperor, breaking a boulder with an egg became possible. Whether this was possible because of power control or because he was a ‘Hero,’ he didn’t know, but anyway. So, carving stone with a wooden stick wouldn’t be difficult either.

He lightly wrote words on the ground as a test and continued speaking.

“I will carve the words myself, so Rememver, could you take care of my hyung’s body… please?”

So that my hyung’s body can be whole again.

He gently pushed the wooden box that had been placed beside him towards him.

“……So, the box contained his head. Is it not decayed?”

“It’s fine. I should be asking if my hyung’s body is alright.”

“Do you see the charm attached to the lower part of the wooden pillar? It has the function of slowing down decay. It was attached in preparation for when the rest of the body might return, and it seems it was a good idea.”

As if he had been preparing for this moment to come, Rememver picked up a shovel that was leaning against a nearby tree.

Hmm, this should be enough. Deon adjusted his grip on the wooden stick and erased the words on the ground with a few strokes, then placed a hand on the tombstone. The hand holding the stick began to move more carefully.

In the silence, a voice as smooth as flowing water spread through the air.

“Was the reason you made the grave in the southern style also in preparation for this time?”

“We couldn’t just leave the body unattended indefinitely for the rest of the body that might return someday. That would be disrespectful to the deceased.”

Not a northern style grave where the coffin is placed deep underground, and soil is piled on top to make it flat before erecting a tombstone, but a southern style grave where soil is piled up in a rounded, semi-circular shape.

Originally, southern style graves also place the coffin underground, but this time, it was placed above ground for easy retrieval, and soil was piled on top of it. Later, when the body is made whole again, it can be changed to a northern style grave.

The mound was dismantled at a rapid pace by the old man’s uncharacteristic strength and stamina, and the coffin was revealed. Deon stopped his hand and lifted his head at the sound of the lid opening.

“……Ah.”

A groan involuntarily escaped his lips.

Hyung’s mangled body, seemingly preserving the time of that moment, was visible. Torn clothes and traces of various weapons piercing through the body. And on top of that…….

Before the cross-section of the neck entered his vision, he tightly shut his eyes.

Rememver, as if trying to divert Deon’s consciousness elsewhere, opened the lid of the wooden box as well, and asked while taking out light-colored thread and a needle from a sewing kit.

“What words are you carving on the tombstone?”

“……There’s a phrase I saw in hyung’s book when I was young.”

Back then, a phrase he saw in hyung’s book while he was studying.

It was called a book of general knowledge. When he tilted his head at the unfamiliar language, hyung pointed to the phrase and recited the meanings one by one. To be precise, he glanced at me and read the sentences in the book line by line as if self-studying aloud, but now he knew.

That was also consideration for me.

“……I’m going to carve that.”

It was a word that came out after a long silence.

Even to the belated words, Rememver only glanced at him, and without saying anything else, he cut off the knotted thread and put down the needle.

A seemingly indifferent yet gentle reply flowed out quietly.

“I see.”

A rustling sound, as if he was busily doing something, could be heard.

Although he wasn’t looking directly, he knew what he was doing just by the sound. Deon, who carved a few letters and stopped again, asked.

“……Rememver, what exactly are you?”

Before departing, he had packed a sewing kit and bandages. Even though the identity of what was in the wooden box wasn’t revealed, his actions were natural as if it was obvious.

He had many questions for him. As if sensing these questions, Rememver replied while holding a bandage in his hand.

“I am a mercenary broker dispatched from the Kingdom of Esperance.”

“……That’s already something we’ve figured out to some extent on this side, isn’t it?”

“A unique point would be that I come from a high-ranking noble family, perhaps?”

“If you’re from a high-ranking noble family….”

“I was the second son of a Duke’s family. It’s meaningless now, though.”

“There’s no way it’s meaningless.”

Deon didn’t miss the given clue and picked it up.

“If you’re from a high-ranking noble family, your influence among brokers must be quite strong.”

“…….”

“Especially if it’s a Duke’s family, your connections must be considerable too. Simply describing it as having strong influence seems insufficient….”

“……I can’t win against you. How much are you going to torment an old man? For now, I am indeed playing a central role among the brokers dispatched to the Empire.”

“In that case….”

“The retrieval of the complete body is finally finished, but would you like to see it?”

“…….”

He’s changing the subject.

However, even this time, Deon had no choice but to be led by it. Because his head reflexively turned without even thinking.

There, Cruel Hart in his complete state lay embracing the time of his last day.

‘……Finally.’

Whether it was due to tension or stiffness from kneeling in front of the tombstone for a long time, he forced his stiff body to rise and approached the coffin. The closer he got, the clearer Cruel’s appearance became.

Except for the bandage around his neck, his outward appearance was no different from when he was alive.

It had really taken a long time. Deon’s face contorted as if he was about to cry.

“Cruel.”

Rememver quietly stepped back. Whether he did or not, Deon, who had already pushed his existence out of his awareness, opened his mouth again.

“Hyung.”

It seemed that seeing it directly was different from what he had prepared for. Unexpectedly overwhelmed, he slowly closed his eyes. Familiar darkness came.

With just one eyelid, he cut himself off from the world, and after a short silence, words he hadn’t planned to say burst out like a cough, as if possessed by something.

“……I’m sorry.”

He did it last time too, and again this time. His apologies towards him always carried a tinge of impulsiveness.

‘This wasn’t what I intended to say.’

He just intended to check if he was truly whole and then close the lid and bury him again.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Deon, foolishly repeating the same words, finally bit his tongue to stop himself.

Suppressing the emotions that surged up, he reached out his hand towards Cruel’s face. His face, touched for the first time since death, was cold without any warmth.

It was more sorrowful than eerie.

“……Hyung said he died without regrets, so I shouldn’t be sorry, but….”

Oh well.

“I’m already hopeless trash anyway.”

But I won’t ask why you saved me.

I won’t ask why you didn’t just let a useless human being who was a burden to the family and killed the entire family just die.

Because that would be denying your entire life and death.

“Still… I will live a life without regrets, just like you said.”

I express my gratitude to you for not forcing life upon me.

You, who willingly gave your life for my survival, had every right to force life upon me. Even so, you didn’t, and I feel a sense of suffocation from gratitude and at the same time from your kindness that is conveyed even after leaving this world.

‘Why didn’t I recognize this when you were here?'”