Chapter 206 – Chapter 5: Skeleton Knight – 4
The door of nature was wide open.
This passage, which directly connects to the main gate, could not be entered because it was a gate for only the royal family and high-ranking nobles.
Soldiers and armed knights had to use an arched passageway that was opened a short distance away.
I slowly entered the shadow of the castle.
In all my life, the only time I entered the ‘castle’ was when I went to meet the lord of Taildon.
My first impression of seeing the castle in Taildon was that it was definitely uncomfortable.
It was entirely made of stone, so it was hard and cold, and there were steep stone steps in front of the entrance. There were traces of a deep moat dug along the outskirts of the castle, so that the surrounding soil was hollowed out to the height of a child. I heard that in the past, wars were frequent and the lord’s house gradually became a fortress.
But Deseo’s castle was not like that.
Is it because the vast sea itself acts as a natural fortress in the first place? There is no risk of invasion, and only the grand majesty of the ‘castle’ remains.
Without a single narrow or steep stone staircase, the passageway of the corridor is large and wide, and even the size of each door leading inside is overwhelmingly large.
On the wall, an artist’s painting hangs in a golden frame. The floor of the hallway is covered with beautiful tiles of various colors. Even ordinary pillars that you might pass by without paying attention are carved with amber with patterns symbolizing the royal family.
It is so gorgeous that it automatically catches your eye. It is a world of nobility and solemnity, completely different from the world I have lived in.
Eating snacks with a gentle mountain breeze in quiet Brisden.
It seems like just yesterday that we were walking together through the lush green forests of Dragonez.
Everything is artificially created, processed and hardened -.
Now Tia lives in a place like this.
However, all these disparate landscapes quickly flow by my side.
My feet, wearing clanking plate boots, didn’t even give these things time to grab hold of me for even a moment.
I walked along the corridor. It is the central hall.
A chandelier hanging at the end of the sky-high ceiling. A red carpet with golden embroidery runs up the stairs and into the reception room.
I looked up into the reception room where the door was closed. There was nothing hanging on the wall where the king’s portrait should have been.
It will probably take a lot of time to draw Tia’s portrait.
Dang- Dang- Dang-.
From another spire, a clear bell rings at short intervals. It was different from the quiet bell ringing that usually announced the hour.
It probably sounded like a call to the castle guard.
We cross a gloomy space where there are no servants, soldiers, or nobles in sight. Beyond the central hall was a dark, downward staircase. It was the moment I was about to go down there.
“Hey!”
Someone shouted behind me.
It didn’t seem like he had called out that loudly, but the man’s voice rang like a cave.
“Her Majesty the Queen has given an order to gather immediately. Where are you going alone?”
I looked back.
A sturdy man was standing. Looking at the weapons he was wearing, he was probably a low-level knight receiving tribute from a high-ranking family.
“… There is work to be done.”
“What to do?”
He saw my armor. And as soon as he saw the Piolo family emblem engraved on his chest, his face distorted.
It seems that he wisely realized that nothing good would come of being associated with this family.
“If you’re curious, follow me.”
What was the sight he saw?
Leaving the dark and gloomy basement of the royal palace behind, a knight with a skeleton-like face beckons you to follow him.
Would there be anyone who would dare to do that?
“No… It’s okay, it’s okay.”
The frightened man immediately turned his back and left.
“…”
There was really no one around me now.
In the distance, only the soldiers gathering between the open doors could be seen vaguely.
I left them behind and slowly walked down the stairs.
Darkness.
And the musty smell of water-soaked dust.
I remember this strange sensation of my nose stinging.
It was the same as when I found the hidden basement in my father’s cabin.
No, I will never forget it for the rest of my life.
Because I gained this mysterious ability in that dark basement.
‘Blood of Amon’.
The miraculous power of being able to see people’s memories and the past of objects with just a simple touch.
At the same time, it was a curse that became disaster and misfortune for me.
Percussion-.
The boots touched the floor.
Basement of the royal palace.
Magnificent.
It was a very large storage area.
Now that the sun has almost set, we are immersed in gray darkness.
Through the thin sunlight streaming in from the outside yard, I could see floating dust and numerous objects beneath it.
In a library, there are countless books and scrolls neatly placed on the shelves.
Here, a lot of items were neatly arranged on the floor.
A uniquely styled wardrobe that looks like it was sent from another country. A swan shape made from hundreds of pieces of colored glass intertwined. I don’t know what is what. All I could tell was that they were all luxurious, valuable, extravagant, and old-fashioned.
Occasionally, items that looked simple or showed signs of use appeared to be relics that had been owned by the royal family since ancient times.
Unusually, these items were all jagged and had different weights, but somehow, when they were displayed side by side, they formed an exact square as if they had been measured with a ruler.
Some people might ask. ‘Okay. That’s amazing. But what’s wrong with that?’
But I felt breathless at this perfect alignment.
It’s almost like an obsession. Or – as if he was risking his life. It was because I had seen this obsessive yet thorough, heterogeneous landscape once.
Right in the warehouse in Brisden.
“… Everyone, please follow me.”
I lifted my head up.
It’s the sound of footsteps. Although I can’t see it right now, it was the sound of someone walking towards me from behind the closet.
Unless I misheard. That voice was definitely…
“Put it here.”
I’m at a loss for words.
It was Tia.
Tia was clearly approaching.
All cumbersome decorations are removed, and he walks wearing the king’s ordinary daily clothes, slippers on.
It was so sudden that I couldn’t say anything.
The tongue and lips became stiff and did not move.
I’m frozen like this in a daze. Tia walked towards me without slowing down at all.
In an instant, the distance became too close.
It was so close that I was embarrassed and stretched out my hand…
Tia passed through my hand like a ghost, through her arm and down her back.
“…”
I looked back.
A bright light is coming into the basement, which was dark until now.
It was clearly getting late at night. But Tia had the dazzling sunlight on her back.
Ah.
Is it an illusion of memory?
Her startled heart slowly sinks.
As the illusion became darker, the scenery of the palace basement could be seen in a little more detail.
Before I knew it, many servants were busy moving things around me. I think we’ve probably come to the point where things are neatly aligned like this.
[Put that over there. Be careful not to fall.]
[Yes, Your Majesty.]
The person who commanded the servants one by one was none other than Tia.
He really… He seems to be good at everything.
You’ve probably never asked someone else to do something for you. It’s not like you can become a knight and command a private army just by learning a little bit of swordsmanship.
It’s been a while since he sat in that awkward position called ‘King’, but he already knows how to handle his servants skillfully.
On the outside, it just looks like the wife of a low-ranking noble ordering her servants to do various things. If you listen closely, Tia’s voice had a certain majesty in it.
[Over there.]
[I understand.]
It was awkward.
In the first place, the Queen herself came down to her basement and instructed her to organize her belongings. The low, solemn voice of a man I had never heard before in my life was very awkward for me.
I still remember that voice, which was always chattering, as clear and clear as raindrops rolling on leaves.
I still remember the happy smile and kind eyes that smiled and were kind to everyone.
Even though you wore short pants like men and had a large rose saber hanging from your thin waist, I still remember you as a beautiful girl.
But… In front of me stood the monarch of a country other than Tia.
It has Tia’s face, but expressionless.
Same voice, but solemn.
The waist is as beautiful as ever, but it is convex.
Is it Tia?
Honestly, I wasn’t sure.
It’s as if I’ve fallen alone into a similar world, only the fate has changed.
It was definitely Tia, but it wasn’t the Tia I knew.
A servant brought an item to Tia, who was standing a few steps up the stairs and looking down into her basement.
[Your majesty. I found the item you mentioned.]
What he put down on the floor was unexpected.
Among the splendid and beautiful royal objects, there is one that seems especially insignificant.
Surprisingly, I was also familiar with it.
[… Ah.]
Tia slowly approached the object with startled eyes in her eyes. Then she bent her knees and sat down.
[It really was there… Where were you?]
[I found it at the medical center. It is said that it has already been replaced with a newer mechanism a few years ago and is no longer in use.]
It was the still I used at the pharmacy.
To be exact, it is not the still. These are distillers with matching shapes made in the same workshop.
Still, I was stunned as if I had been hit.
Why did the queen suddenly appear in person in an underground warehouse that a king would not even bother to look at and reorganize the palace’s supplies?
And among these many items, what was it that Tia wanted so much that she personally ordered a servant to find it?
It is a self-evident fact that it is not simply a whim of the queen.
[Uhm-.]
The servant flinched as Tia lifted the still.
[Your majesty! I will take it.]
[No.]
[Well, you’re feeling unwell…]
[I want to do it.]
It was said out of concern for her pregnant body, but Tia resolutely rejected it.
Sabak. Sabak.
The place she carefully walked to, holding the still in both hands, was in the middle of the basement.
Then, he climbed up the makeshift ladder and carefully placed it on the highest shelf.
[…]
Tia looked up at her still and gave a small smile.
By far, it was the most visible spot here.
I dared to say that.
Because all the servants, including me, were looking up at that figure.
Susseu-.
The illusion of memory gradually faded.
Tia’s back disappeared, and her basement became dark again.
However, like a black mark made by facing the strong sunlight, only one old still remained in my sight for a long time.
“I did… “I see.”
My heart is pounding.
Tia did not forget.
She didn’t forget.
-Me.
