Misfortune ss1

Side story 1

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*Read the previous chapters here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/108bQqoZtg5xjJfsh01j2vl0GUnkbhxMo

[The sea god returned the hero of Brunois to the land.]

News of Roan Barthez’s return swept across the Brunois front, engulfing it in a joy distinct from mere victory.

Ladies cast aside their somber dresses, and streets once bare of white chrysanthemums were now vibrantly strewn with colorful petals. The path before Roan, marching all the way to the Imperial Palace, was filled with handkerchiefs tossed by women and the whistles of men overcome with excitement.

The banquet held at the Imperial Palace was no different. Unlike the solemn atmosphere of the previous victory banquet, the air in the hall was heated with fervent joy.

"Colonel Barthez! How fortunate we are to see you again in such good health!"

"You should have seen the endless stream of women carried out after collapsing in tears at your funeral."

Gentlemen, setting aside decorum for this day, welcomed the guest of honor with playful banter.

The crowd naturally gathered around Roan. Consequently, attention also fell upon his partner.

"Count Eperne. It's been an age since we last met."

"Yes, it has."

Delnia, wearing a sea-blue dress matching Roan's irises, greeted the crowd with a gentle smile.

Delnia was dazzlingly beautiful today, so much so that people's gazes kept drifting away from Roan. Which was somewhat regrettable for him.

"It would be lovely if you graced the social scene more often."

"Even if we wanted to send invitations, you're often absent from the capital."

The ladies gathered around Delnia chattered regretfully. Likely, they longed to see Roan escorting her more than Delnia herself.

"I've only recently received my title and still have much to attend to. Once things settle, I'll come to the capital more often."

The transient Count, who hadn't even visited her own estate yet, smoothly uttered words she didn't truly mean.

Of course, she had no intention of leading an extremely secluded life like the previous Count and Countess. But neither did she plan to flit in and out of the capital every social season.

Delnia, who had once been stripped of her status, knew all too well the life at the bottom, where pretense was nothing but a luxury. She knew how raw and unfiltered life could be, how cruel and unforgiving it could turn on a person.

But precisely because of that, she had also come to know genuine kindness.

People who showed her kindness regardless of her status. People who welcomed her warmly, simply because they were there for her, no matter who she was.

Having tasted that boundless warmth, this smooth, beautiful world of pretense could only feel tedious and exhausting.

The one silver lining was that, thanks to habits ingrained since childhood, this position didn't feel particularly difficult.

"Are you alright? Not struggling or anything?"

Moreover, Roan constantly checked her complexion whenever he had a chance, asking just that. Adding the ironic fact that he himself looked more exhausted, there was truly no time left to feel tired.

"I'm fine."

Delnia answered with feigned cheerfulness. Even so, she was still pondering how to reassure the man who remained visibly restless.

"Hey, Colonel. Tell us your escape story from that deserted island. How did you manage to survive?"

A gentleman suddenly fired the question. The man, stroking his dainty mustache, had eyes sparkling with excitement like a child who'd found a new toy.

Delnia's face grew cold and stiff at the attitude, which showed little respect for someone who had barely survived and returned.

Back then, Roan had fallen from Dalos's ship into the sea and drifted onto a deserted island. It was a small island at the edge of the Brunois and Schwab maritime zones, devoid of resources and so poorly defined that it wasn't even clearly anyone's territorial waters.

Because of this, even after regaining consciousness, Roan had to struggle alone for survival for a long time. Had it not been for an illegal fishing vessel, neither from Brunois nor Schwab, crossing the waters and discovering him by chance, who knew how much longer he might have been left there alone.

No, perhaps he might never have returned at all.

"It wasn't so bad."

Yet Roan replied calmly, unlike someone who had barely survived the brink of death. Unaware of the rot spreading through her body beside him.

"I heard it was an island with hardly any edible plants to scrape by on."

"Literally hardly any, but not completely nonexistent."

Roan seemed unconcerned, but Delnia had already heard the details from a few loose-lipped sailors.

How miraculous it was to be found alive on that barren island. And how corpse-like Roan Barthez had looked when first discovered.

"Oh, come on, tell us something interesting…."

"Count Richen."

Unable to stand the persistent pestering any longer, Delnia stepped forward.

Count Richen turned to her at the seemingly gentle call. His irritation at being interrupted was plain on his face, but Delnia paid it no mind.

"Speaking of which, I hear you acquired a newspaper this time. My congratulations are late."

"Well, it's hardly something worthy of congratulations."

Count Richen shifted his gaze and replied casually.

It was called a newspaper, but in truth, it was a tabloid dealing in society gossip. Suppressing his own voyeuristic tendencies proved impossible, and he ended up personally spreading the stories—a taste bordering on the distasteful.

But Delnia didn't feel the need to point out that truth so bluntly. There was no point in doing so.

"How modest of you. So the newspaper's name is... was it... Light and Shadow?"

"You know it well."

"Well, it's just... it sounds familiar somehow..."

Delnia tilted her head in puzzlement, then covered her mouth with her gloved hand and whispered sharply.

"Ah, surely not the one that ran that illustration mocking Master Haide before..."

Haide was a rising star opera singer with the Imperial Theater troupe. It wasn't particularly surprising, given that gossip papers often depicted opera singers in ridiculous ways.

The problem, however, was that he was currently the recipient of the new Emperor's utmost favor.

"Th-that is......."

As expected, Count Richen's thin mustache quivered violently. The fact that his mockery of the Emperor's lover had been blurted out right in the middle of the imperial banquet hall... It might seriously offend the Emperor, who already disliked the gossip columns.

"How incredibly coincidental. Of course, I don't think the Count had any particular intention, but..."

"I-Intention?!"

The Count jumped up in protest at Delnia's words, which seemed concerned yet oddly evasive. This only drew even more attention, compounding the embarrassment.

"Ah, speaking of which, I had business with Marquis Noah. He happens to be over there!"

Finally unable to endure it any longer, Count Richen loudly clapped his hands and made a show of turning away.

"I shall take my leave now. Have a pleasant evening."

Without pausing for breath, Count Richen delivered his final farewell and slipped away from the table as if making a hasty retreat.

It was the very moment Delnia, who had been watching his retreating figure without lowering her guard, finally exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Did you just save me?"

At the quiet question that fell from above, Delnia shot a glance at Roan. For some reason, he looked a little dazed.

"Being the talk of the town isn't exactly something to be happy about."

The remark slipped out, tinged with a deflating feeling. Yet it was undeniably true.

He wasn't some trivial figure to be casually discussed for amusement. Nor was he fodder to adorn gossip columns.

Of course, if people knew the truth, they'd hail it as a heroic epic.

But Delnia thought differently.

It had never been a time of glory. She didn't need that kind of glory.

Especially not when she remembered the scars that time had left on Roan.

"I'm fine."

"I know."

It was a phrase she'd heard so often it made her sick, so Delnia replied as if in response.

"It's just that I'm not fine."

Her voice came out far colder than she'd intended. She regretted it slightly, but there was no taking back the words once they'd left her mouth.

Then, the gentle melody that had been perfect for conversation shifted tone completely.

The lively rhythm of the waltz drew everyone's attention to the center of the dance floor. But Roan's gaze was fixed solely on Delnia. Just as it always had been.

Her hair, woven like gold and silver threads, shimmered ceaselessly. Unlike her dress, studded with sapphires like cool waves, her moist, sunset-hued eyes brimmed with soft warmth.

But today, her dazzling radiance wasn't merely skin deep.

No, truthfully, in Roan's memory, she had always shone like a star rising in the night sky.

And he had always been there that night.

He recalled a moment long ago, gazing at her enveloped in light at the far end of a darkened hallway. A moment when he wanted to strangle himself for yearning for a woman trapped in a world he could never reach.

But those days were already gone.

His reality existed here, now.

"Would you grant me the honor of dancing the first dance with you?"

Roan extended one hand like a nobleman, elegantly requesting the dance. Then, in a voice soft enough for only her to hear, he added.

"Then it really should be fine."

Delnia swallowed a hollow laugh, like a sigh, at his remark that seemed to say it didn't matter if he was being played by a dandy's empty words, as long as he could dance with her.

And Roan smiled at her, watching her like that.

Now they stood in the same place. Under the same light and the same darkness.

So now he could reach out to her anytime. And now she could take his hand anytime.

Just like now.

"All right."

With a willing consent, the two clasped hands and stepped toward the center of the ballroom. It was the most dazzling seat of glory today.