Rene couldn't understand what Rudger had just said.

"What do you mean...?"

"I know that even if you learned the truth, your heart won't be eased. I have no intention of justifying what I did, even if there were circumstances. So I'm giving you a chance to avenge your mother."

Rene bit her lip.

That choice was exactly the same as what her mother had done in the memories Rudger had shown her.

"However, I have things I must do now. I don't even know if they will end successfully. But if that journey comes to an end...then..."

"Do you think I would forgive you with such words?"

"I'm not asking for forgiveness. This is simply something that needs to be done."

Rudger's words were sincere.

Rene's lips trembled, but she couldn't say anything more.

"What exactly are you planning to do, brother?"

"I might end up fighting the entire world."

Rudger knows that he has now reached a point of no return.

When did it start? Perhaps from the moment he chose to walk this path.

So all that remained was to keep moving forward toward the end that was slowly coming into view.

"I told you my name."

"You said your name was Heathcliff..."

"Yes. But that's only part of my name."

Rudger told Rene his real name.

"My real name is Heathcliff van Bretus. I am of the blood of the Holy Emperor of the Bretus Holy Nation, another bloodline that he cast aside."

Rene's mouth fell open at this unexpected truth.

She had vaguely thought Rudger might be a high nobleman somewhere, but she never dreamed he would be royalty.

And not just any royalty, but a prince of the Bretus Holy Nation, the headquarters of the Lumensis Order that once ruled the world.

"And my goal is to bring down that Bretus Holy Nation."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I wonder. Perhaps I wanted someone to know this."

Rudger headed outside the cabin with a faint smile tinged with bitterness.

As Rene was about to reach out and ask where he was going, Rudger said:

"I'll go ahead. You should stay here, gather your thoughts and rest. A lot has happened in the past few days."

Why don't you rest too?

Rene couldn't bring herself to ask that.

Before she knew it, Rudger's body was enveloped in a black shadow, and he disappeared from the spot as if contracting into a point.

Left alone in the cabin, Rene looked around.

Now that her memories had returned, she felt nostalgic in this cabin that preserved the scenery of the past.

The kitchen and dining table where she ate with her family.

The bed where she fell asleep reading fairy tales with her mother.

Through the window, she could see the meadow where she had played with Rudger, along with the forest.

Everything was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.

And at the same time, it felt so distant, as if she couldn't reach it even if she stretched out her hand.

Having recovered the memories of her past that she had forgotten all along, she felt confused rather than relieved.

To organize her thoughts, Rene went into her room.

Finding the room unchanged from her childhood, Rene sat on the bed, feeling familiar.

Somehow, a warm feeling made her sleepy.

Thinking of her childhood self, Rene lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Rene opened her eyes.

It felt like she had gotten a good sleep for once.

A sleep so deep she didn't even dream.

Rene got up at the breeze blowing in.

The wind came through the slightly open window.

It was cool yet warm, and also a wind that carried some kind of will.

Rene opened the cabin door and went outside.

And seeing the person standing there, she smiled faintly.

"Hello, senior."

"Rene."

Freuden Ulburg had come to visit.

She didn't know how he had come. But judging by the blowing wind, it seemed Freuden had ridden on this wind.

"You're really alive."

"Yes. I'm fine now."

"The fact that you came here, does that mean all your memories have returned?"

"Yes. I remember everything now. About my mother, and about playing with you, senior."

Freuden was genuinely happy about this fact, but then his expression darkened.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I knew everything. I knew, but when I saw you, I couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth."

Freuden had criticized Rudger for hiding the truth from Rene, but he thought he was no different since he did the same thing.

"I also played a part in deceiving you."

For that atonement, Freuden had fought to save Rene.

"But you tried. You came all the way to that distant island and fought to protect me."

"...You knew?"

"I was almost unconscious, but I could vaguely sense that several people were fighting to save me."

Rene felt grateful for that.

It was thanks to that she had endured and not lost hope for life despite the terrible pain her mother once experienced.

Because there were people in this world who wanted her to live.

Freuden was about to say something but instead let out a small laugh.

So much had happened.

Visiting his family and having a sincere conversation with his father, meeting Yeongsu, and going with that Yeongsu to Isla Machina.

Getting caught up in an unbelievable battle there, and after the battle ended, coming here with the Spirit Wolf help to find Rene who had disappeared.

The final destination was the past, the time when he was a clueless, arrogant little kid.

When he came to know people.

Came to know joy.

Came to know love.

"Yes. That's right. I've been through so much hardship that I wonder if I've ever worked this hard before."

"Thank you."

"I just did what I had to do."

For a moment, words disappeared between them.

As if to fill that void, a wind from the distant field swept between them, brushing past the grass.

Freuden felt as if that wind was telling him to be brave so he decided to be brave.

"Rene. I..."

"I'm sorry, senior."

Just as he was about to speak what he had been holding in, Rene shook her head, expressing her refusal.

Seeing that gesture, that expression, Freuden couldn't help but realize.

I see.

You knew.

"I know how well you've treated me, and why. I now understand everything. So I'm grateful, but at the same time, I feel sorry. Because I..."

"...I see. So that's how it is."

Freuden smiled bitterly.

He had finally been able to be honest with himself and this was the outcome.

Freuden felt as if part of his heart was being torn apart.

He really felt the pain of unrequited love but Freuden did not cry, grieve, or suffer.

Instead, he gave Rene a gentle smile that he rarely showed to others and encouraged her.

"I hope you get a response to your feelings."

"Thank you. Thanks to talking with you, my mind is clear now."

Rene realized what her feelings were and what she should do now based on those feelings.

"I'll be going now."

Rene asked Freuden’s understanding and ran across the field.

The cabin on the hill gradually receded, but Rene didn't look back.

The past is the past.

It was sad enough to not want to remember, yet happy enough to not want to forget but it was all in the past so she decided to let it go because she was living in reality, and the direction of her steps was toward the future.

She couldn't be bound by the past anymore.

"Haa."

Freuden sighed as he watched Rene leave in the distance.

Next to Freuden, a large wolf appeared from the void and stuck out its head as if to cheer him up.

"Are you comforting me? Thanks."

Freuden accepted the wolf's comfort and looked at the cabin, the place where he had stayed for about a month in the past.

At first, he thought, what kind of shabby place is this, but as he stayed there, it became a place he grew more attached to than his own home.

Freuden was about to approach the cabin when he narrowed his eyes at someone newly appearing in the distance.

"How did you know to come here?"

"When they said you disappeared, I had a hunch. I thought this was the only place you would go."

His friend with squinting eyes and orange ponytail tied at the nape, Henry Presto, the eldest son of the Presto family, a vassal family that had served the Ulburg family for a long time.

"Did you forget? When you went missing as a child, who was the first to find you?"

"You didn't find me, I called for you."

"I was the closest one at that time."

"Right. I know. You saved me. Happy now?"

"Hehe. It's really hard to get recognition from a friend."

Henry laughed and asked Freuden.

"So, how is it?"

"What?"

"The high and mighty Freuden Ulburg confessed to a girl and got rejected. It's something that could be on the front page of Theon's school newspaper. Considering the number of tears shed by girls who confessed to you and got rejected, they could form a lake. Would you call this karma?"

"Touchingly grateful. Are you here to make fun of me?"

"I thought I might comfort you if you were really crying."

Seeing Freuden’s somewhat lighter expression, Henry shrugged.

"Doesn't seem necessary. You've grown as a man."

"It was an unwanted growth, but yes."

"That's what becoming an adult is like. You never thought about it, never wanted it, but when you come to your senses, you find that you've become an adult."

"That's rich coming from you."

When we're the same age.

At Freuden’s remark, Henry let out a faint laugh.

"Unlike you, I act responsibly. I'm already enough of an adult."

"Right. Good for you."

"Are you going back now?"

"I have to. To Theon."

"Okay. Let's go."

"By the way, how did you get here?"

"I drove. Didn't you know? I can drive. Thanks to someone, I might add."

"That's when you say 'thanks'."

As the two were chatting like that, Rene, who they thought had already left, came running from afar, panting.

Henry and Freuden looked at Rene with surprised eyes.

They had clearly said their goodbyes, so why did she suddenly come back?

With a face reddened from running too much, Rene smiled awkwardly and said:

"I don't know the way back to Theon, can you take me with you?"

"..."

"You've come?"

Rudger, after parting with Rene, met Hans in a secluded location far from the forest.

"I was waiting."

"You've made it here quite well."

"Money is good indeed. I can ride such expensive things whenever I want."

Hans said so, glancing back at the airship behind him.

The fact that he could now personally use a state-of-the-art airship, something he couldn't have dreamed of before, to meet someone, filled him with emotion.

But the current situation wasn't good enough to feel joy over such things.

"What's the situation now?"

"I'll explain on the way."

Rudger boarded the airship following Hans.

The airship headed toward Leathervelk.

Hans briefly explained to Rudger what had happened during his absence.

"After you suddenly disappeared to Isla Machina, many things happened."

Most notably, because of the incident caused by Nirva this time, the Bretus Holy Nation had dispatched a significant number of people to the Empire.

The Bretus Holy Nation expanded its influence in earnest, as if to wipe away the long hiatus.

The citizens' resentment had decreased partly because they didn't act as aggressively as before.

But what Rudger was most concerned about, and what was most important in the current situation, wasn't such trivial talk.

"What about Master?"

Hans, who had been talking enthusiastically about the political situation, closed his mouth.

"What happened to Master?"

"Your Master..."

Hans swallowed.

"After you disappeared and the people of the Lumensis Order entered the city, your Master went outside for the first time. And made contact with someone from the Lumensis Order."

"Made contact? Master did?"

"It was Cardinal Patricio Romello. A person from the Bretus mainland and one of those who held the right to elect the Holy Emperor."

Hans recalled as much detail as he could remember.

"The other day, a red flash soared high in the sky over Leathervelk. I knew it was magic cast by your Master. And after that, the Master disappeared completely."

"Did you try to find out where Master went?"

"Haven't found out yet. However, I did discover one strange trace."

"What is it?"

"Most of the elite combat holy knights dispatched from the Holy Nation moved somewhere along with Cardinal Patricio."