Misfortune 137

Chapter 137

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The carriage set off again, heading toward the seaside where Delnia took her daily walks. A shower of pure white blossoms fell like snow onto the road, where almond trees bloomed profusely.

A cool breeze, no longer stinging the skin, carried the scent of the sea and the sweet fragrance of flowers.

Then, just as the saltiness in the air grew thicker, the carriage came to a stop.

"I'll wait at the usual spot, then."

"Yes, thank you."

After exchanging familiar words with the coachman, Delnia walked alone toward the beach. The quiet sea, devoid of any sign of people, welcomed her.

This area was originally a restricted military zone, off-limits to civilians. Yet, by Admiral Lasser’s discretion, she alone was granted special passage.

The Admiral treated her with surprising kindness, despite having little connection to her. It went beyond mere courtesy to a lady, as if he were tenderly caring for the sole legacy left by Roan.

"...."

As the sun dipped lower, the sky gradually turned crimson, staining the sea a pale pink. Gentle waves lapped at the shoreline like they were seeping in.

The sea breeze softly caressed her hair. Delnia walked slowly, not resisting the wind.

Then suddenly, a black outline, abandoned on the distant sandy shore, flickered into her vision. As if something had been carried in by the waves………………

Her heart sank.

Delnia sprang from her spot and ran. There was no room left for reason to gauge its identity. She moved her legs again and again until her breath hitched in her throat.

Then, just as she drew close enough to make out what it was, her feet stopped.

"Haah, haah………………”

Delnia gasped for breath, glaring resentfully at the large piece of driftwood rolling at her feet.

Its protruding branches, limp like drooping limbs, and the water-stained, blackened grain might have briefly caused a momentary illusion, but it was far too unsightly to be truly mistaken for anything else.

Delnia exhaled a breath still unrefined, laced with scorn. It felt like she'd fallen victim to some spiteful god's prank.

Regaining her senses, she first removed her seawater-soaked shoes and held them in one hand. Running frantically had left her feet soaked up to her ankles.

With her free hand, she lifted the hem of her dress. Waves lapped softly at her bare feet, carrying white foam.

Delnia watched the waves gently wet her ankles before retreating.

It was precisely because of this sea that she hadn't left Blois.

The sea was vast and boundless, and above all, it had no boundaries.

Then perhaps even his body might drift here.

Suddenly, she felt like bursting into laughter.

She had stubbornly insisted he couldn't be dead, worrying everyone around her. Yet in the end, had she too been imagining his final moments?

Delnia suddenly turned her head and looked back at the path she had walked. Only her footprints were neatly imprinted on the deserted sandy shore.

For some reason, that lonely scene, which shouldn't have felt new, drained her strength. Delnia curled up and sank to the ground.

Wet sand squelched between her toes. Her gaze remained fixed on the endless sea.

The sun, gradually sinking, traced a golden path across the sea. Delnia's gaze met the sky where that path ended.

It felt as though stepping onto the waves would allow her to walk all the way to the sky beyond the horizon.

Drawn by that light, Delnia slowly rose again. But instead of heading toward the sea, she raised her hand to shield her eyes.

The path leading to the sky was so dazzling it was hard to look directly at. Perhaps it was a passage closed to the living.

If he had already crossed this path, then just once, she wished he would return.

It was in that instant, as she turned her head back toward the sandy shore, clinging to this futile hope.

Had she stared at the light for too long? Her vision was completely white. Amidst the landscape sparkling with countless fragments of light, a dark afterimage flickered.

Delnia closed her eyes tightly, then opened them again. The world still rippled with golden light. And the black shadow lying alone in the midst of it grew even sharper.

Only after blinking a few more times did she realize it wasn't a temporary hallucination or afterimage.

The shadow never vanished, steadily growing in volume. Until a single large mass gradually took on the shape of a human form.

From that moment, Delnia couldn't even blink anymore.

The gradually sharpening outline was painfully familiar. It was the face she had once desperately wanted to forget, yet could never truly forget.

Soon, a man—whether real or illusion, she couldn't tell—stopped walking before her.

"Roan...?"

Delnia called out to him in a pitifully trembling voice. Her own eyes, equally unsteady, searched the man before her.

Sunken cheeks and a gaunt complexion. Shaggy black hair, beneath which eyes shone bluer than the sea. Even his plain clothing.

Compared to his usual neat and tidy appearance, this was an unfamiliar look.

But it was definitely him. Undoubtedly, it was the Roan she knew.

"Really, it's you…………….?"

She asked again. Even though she was looking at him with her own eyes, she still couldn't believe it.

But she couldn't close her eyes and open them again either. She feared he might vanish when she opened them again.

If all this was a delusion, she wanted to live within it forever.

But he spoke in a firm voice, shattering her doubt.

"It's been a long time, Countess Eperne."

The man who uttered the name she had given him bowed elegantly, smiling like a boy.

Delnia no longer doubted reality.

He had returned. Roan Barthez, to her side.

"How...?"

Delnia muttered, covering her mouth with both hands.

Facing her, Roan suddenly confessed as if confessing a crime.

"I didn't see the letter you sent."

"What?"

Delnia looked momentarily bewildered at the unexpected words. Meeting her gaze, Roan calmly continued his explanation.

"I saw the pressed flower you sent just as I was about to die. But I never actually saw the letter itself."

"..."

"So I came back."

Judging by the tone alone, it seemed he had come back alive just to check the letter's contents.

"That measly letter, what does it say………………."

Delnia momentarily forgot the joy of reunion and stammered. But Roan showed no sign of fluster.

"Even if it's nothing special, I just wanted to listen to everything you had to say. Anything at all.”

“…..”

“But since I don’t know, I can’t give it to you even if I try. Well, if you were telling me to die well……………….”

Roan, who had calmly uttered words too horrible to repeat, reached a conclusion.

"I can always come back alive and die again later."

There was no trace of falsehood in the man calmly declaring his resolve. If she nodded, he’d dive into the sea without a second thought.

That’s why Delnia couldn’t tolerate him any longer. This man, who’d barely survived only to spout such infuriating nonsense.

“How, how could you say such things…!”

Delnia charged at him, leaving deep footprints in the wet sand. She pounded his shoulders and chest indiscriminately.

She never held back with him. All the anguish she'd endured fueled the force behind her small fists.

Roan didn't dodge her blows, enduring silently. The fact he didn't seem to be in much pain was infuriating.

But that resentment didn't last long either.

Delnia's fists gradually weakened. Just as her strength faded to the point where it no longer even tickled, she suddenly embraced him with the hands that had been hitting him.

As if he'd been waiting for it, Roan lifted her up. In the world suddenly made taller, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

"This is it. What I wrote in my letter. What I... hoped for from you."

Her choked voice clung to his ear like dewdrops.

Roan tightened his arms around her. Feeling the sobbing woman in his embrace—her skin, her sound, her dampness—he drew a deep breath.

Only now did it truly sink in that he had returned.

Perhaps it was the realization that he was finally alive.

The reason he had crawled back to life, defying the crushing pain that weighed him down against the raging waves.

The will to live that persisted even when endless suffering urged him to die.

For this very moment.

To see her once more.

Perhaps that had been his entire life.

Even if it meant wandering the endless, boundless sea. Even if it meant pushing himself into peril time and again. Even if it meant mocking himself for thinking death would be preferable.

Even if loving you brought me misery.

Still, I wanted to be by your side.

Even if it meant being wounded, willingly embracing that misery.

That was why he had returned.

***

Past

Delnia opened the frame and carefully removed the Belfort Anemone, placing it on the desk.

Soon after, she picked up a pen. To write a letter to accompany this flower.

But she hesitated for a moment, not immediately dipping the nib.

What should she say?

Roan Barthez was another name for her pain.

Would the day ever come when she could embrace that wound? Or even love it?

Delnia stared blankly at the parched petals. At the time they had spent, preserved for so long within that frame.

This Belfort Anemone would likely not return intact. Perhaps by the time he saw it, it would have lost all shape and form.

And the same was true for them.

She could never love him as she did when she received this flower. Not with such purity, such fragility.

They had had endured too much, suffered too deeply.

Those cherished days had left them forever. No matter what they did, they could not return to them.

But this was not just their story.

No beautiful, glorious past can be reclaimed. They could only step over that glory and move forward.

The same was true of the wounds.

So even if they could never love like that again, it didn’t mean they could never love again at all.

So if time permits.

Then.

[If you don't come back safely, this time I won't forgive you. So you must come back to me.

Come back and pick me a Belfort Anemone again.]

***

Main story ended. ❤️❤️