Chapter 28

Aethlyn continued, sounding a little embarrassed.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. What I said only applies to famous noble houses—and mostly just the main family. Times have changed these days. Plenty of mages fall in love and marry without ever consulting a genealogist. And while it’s very rare, some even marry ordinary humans.”

Gennadi nodded.

“I’ve seen stories about that in the newspapers.”

“Right.”

Marriages between mages and non-mages.

They were the favorite topic of every Estan tabloid.

Aethlyn replied flatly.

“Whenever it happens, all of Esta goes wild over it, like some fairy tale has come true. But only mages who don’t have the responsibility of leading their family can afford that kind of freedom. If you’re the head of the main house—or the next heir—then that kind of marriage…”

It simply couldn’t happen.

It would be a selfish act that severed the family’s bloodline and its magic.

That was exactly why Lightning and Blood made no sense.

The future head of a great mage house legally marrying a non-mage—not as a lover or a mistress, but as an actual spouse?

It wasn’t remotely believable.

Well… people are free to imagine whatever they want.

Just as Aethlyn smiled bitterly to herself, Sergeant Gennadi Vilev asked another question.

“Are you going to become the head of your house, Second Lieutenant?”

“…”

For a moment, she was speechless.

Seeing the look on her face, the sergeant added quietly,

“It’s just… you seem to know a lot about it.”

Hmm… It’s not exactly a secret.

Aethlyn raised her chin slightly.

“You’re right. I’m going to become the head of House Wintercrown.”

“…”

“It’s my dream. My goal.”

The next head who would one day lead the great House Wintercrown.

It had always been the brightest goal she’d ever pursued—one she’d never once questioned.

Gennadi slowly nodded as if he understood.

Aethlyn straightened her back even further before continuing.

“Becoming the head of House Wintercrown takes more than exceptional magical talent. Values like devotion, sacrifice, and a spirit of service are just as important.”

“…”

“That’s one of the reasons I became an officer in the Magic Army. I wanted to learn those things through experience.”

“…I see.”

Then it happened.

The corner of Gennadi’s mouth twisted ever so slightly.

There was no mistaking it.

It was a faint, unmistakable sneer.

One of Aethlyn’s eyebrows rose as she asked defensively,

“What is it, Sergeant? Do you have a problem with my answer?”

“No. Maybe it’s just because I never had much of an education.”

“…”

“Sacrifice. Devotion. I don’t really understand what any of that has to do with being a soldier.”

“…”

“In the end, isn’t it just digging trenches and killing people? I do it because I don’t have any other way to make a living, but you…”

…You had other choices.

He stopped before finishing the sentence.

Even so, Aethlyn could easily guess the rest.

An awkward silence settled between them, tense enough to make her skin prickle.

The man apologized in his rough voice.

“I’m sorry, Second Lieutenant. I spoke out of turn.”

“No. It’s fine. I can understand why you’d think that.”

And she truly meant it.

She had never expected the sergeant to simply accept her words at face value.

There’s no way someone like him would understand ideals like sacrifice and devotion.

Once again, she became keenly aware of the line separating them.

Neither of them was necessarily wrong.

They simply stood in different places.

Calmly, Aethlyn explained her own view.

“Of course I know ideals and reality are different. I know war isn’t heroic the way books make it sound. If anything, it’s filthy and ugly. But if one war can prevent countless more in the future… then isn’t that a cause worth fighting for?”

“…I suppose.”

Even as he answered, it was obvious he wasn’t convinced.

Looking downward, he muttered,

“If that really happened… it’d be a problem.”

“What would?”

“War’s my profession. If things turned out the way you hope, I’d be out of a job.”

Aethlyn’s ears turned bright red.

Looking away, she mumbled,

“That was just… a figure of speech…”

“…”

Gennadi smiled at her grumbling.

It was the same awkward smile he always wore, looking more like a frown than a grin.

On the train back to Kran Trench.

Gennadi found himself thinking back to sitting across from Aethlyn in the hotel restaurant two days earlier.

The atmosphere that evening had been wonderful.

The city of Parieri bathed in the colors of sunset.

A pleasant evening breeze drifting through the air.

Sitting there, Aethlyn had smiled gently at him.

Her pale pink lips curved softly, and beneath the dim lights, her navy-blue eyes narrowed into crescent moons.

Maybe it was because of the mood.

But at that moment, he’d fallen under a strange illusion.

The illusion that they might meet again someday.

Maybe… maybe I could contact her again later.

He had no desire to become close to her.

Still…

Maybe there would be another chance to sit across from her like this.

That illusion, however, was shattered almost immediately.

Still wearing that gentle smile, Aethlyn said,

“If I go back to Esta and tell my friends from the military academy that I met the Fenrir Detachment, none of them will believe me. And if I tell them I even went on leave and had dinner with a werewolf sergeant from the unit… they’ll probably think I’m making the whole thing up.”

The moment he heard those words, reality hit him like a blow.

It was like realizing he’d almost stepped onto a minefield.

His stomach churned, and a chill ran through his body.

I almost let myself think something stupid.

Ever since meeting Aethlyn again at Kran Trench, he’d been trying to forget the enormous gulf between them.

Now it stood before him once more, impossible to ignore.

If Gennadi was destined to spend the rest of his life wandering from one battlefield to another just to survive, then everything here was nothing more than a rare little adventure for Aethlyn.

Even sitting here with him now was simply another part of that “rare experience.”

Nothing had changed since twelve years ago.

“It was fun. Let’s hang out again if we get the chance.”

A thick wave of self-loathing crawled through his entire body.

The meat he was chewing suddenly tasted like synthetic rubber.

“What I’m trying to say is… you and I aren’t the same, Second Lieutenant.”

That was why Gennadi had no choice but to act aggressively.

Did he want to hurt Aethlyn?

To some extent… yes.

No.

He simply wanted to protect both himself and her.

I can’t make the same stupid mistake I made twelve years ago.

In the end, things turned out exactly as he’d wanted.

For the remainder of their leave, Aethlyn never treated him as warmly as she had before.

Whether they were cleaning up the chaos Arthur had caused or riding the train back to Kran Trench, a clear distance remained between them.

It was for the best.

It had to be.

Even so… he regretted it.

Yet now, aboard the train returning to Kran Trench, with nothing but the monotonous rhythm of the wheels striking the rails, an inexplicable restlessness gradually consumed him.

He stole a glance at Aethlyn across from him.

Watching her profile as she absentmindedly gazed out the window, he suddenly felt as though his heart were being squeezed.

Without realizing it, his lips parted.

Should he say something?

Anything at all?

Even pick a pointless argument, just to hear her voice one more time…

Forget it.

Gennadi forced himself to abandon the thought.

That would be pathetic.

Something beneath even a beast.

Summoning every ounce of self-control, he forced his gaze back toward the passing scenery outside.

If he didn’t do it deliberately, he felt certain he’d do something incredibly foolish.

It was while he was staring blankly at scenery he wasn’t even seeing that Aethlyn suddenly spoke to him.

“I’ve already said this several times, but let me apologize once more. My younger brother caused you a great deal of trouble.”

His mind told him to ignore her.

But the instant he heard her voice, his entire body reacted before he could stop it.

Almost against his own will, he found himself being drawn back into the conversation.

He kept asking her question after question.

“So… do mages never marry someone they actually love?”

“Are you the heir to your house, Second Lieutenant?”

No one understood better than Gennadi how pitiful he was acting.

After insisting that they were from different worlds and pretending to stand above it all, here he was peppering her with questions like an annoying fool.

The pride he’d been taught at the mercenary academy—the pride of a werewolf—might as well have been tossed into the mud.

But the closer the moment of parting drew, the less that pride mattered.

Like a starving beast licking the scraps of meat clinging to a bare bone, he clung desperately to every question.

And Aethlyn answered every one of them without hesitation.

She seemed to assume that, just as ordinary people were naturally curious about anything related to mages, Gennadi was simply curious as well, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

For Gennadi, that misunderstanding was a blessing.

As she spoke, he listened carefully to every word.

Every syllable.

Every sound.

On the surface, he looked perfectly calm.

Inside, however, he couldn’t have been more desperate.

He couldn’t afford to miss a single thing.

He had to remember everything.

Every last word.

Only then did it feel as though he’d be able to endure the next ten years.

Then Aethlyn lifted her chin and said,

“Becoming the head of House Wintercrown takes more than exceptional magical talent. Values like devotion, sacrifice, and a spirit of service are just as important.”