Bab 273: [Chapter 273] Neris Tryud woke up with tears in her eyes
"…Ryd, Tryud!"
The voice calling her name grew increasingly agitated. Realizing she was lying face down, Neris quickly straightened up. What had happened to the assassins? What about her mother?
"Neris Tryud, how dare you fall asleep so brazenly during class! Shame on you!"
Laughter erupted around her. Neris was bewildered. Neris Tryud? When did she get married? And class?
Come to think of it, she was in a classroom. A very familiar one, the classroom of Noble Academy. Neris was sitting in the back row, surrounded by the mocking faces of her classmates.
'Is this a dream?'
Yes, she had definitely had this nightmare before. Seeing Neris's dazed expression, her teacher, Mrs. Alix, sighed in disbelief.
"Did you have a nightmare? Sleep at night, what kind of rude behavior is this during class! Go stand at the back of the classroom!"
It sounded like a reasonable request. Neris wiped her tears with her hand. And she habitually turned her eyes to the seat next to her. Diane would definitely be making a face that said, "It's too much, you can sleep a little," so she would nod in agreement.
But there was no one in the seat next to her. Neris took a deep breath and looked around again.
The familiar classroom, the familiar laughter of the children, the familiar hostility…
'Ah.'
Neris Tryud slowly stood up, her lips trembling. She finally realized the truth.
She had no friends.
Why did she say it like someone needed to be with her?
Moreover, the name she recalled was even stranger. Diane McKinnon?
There was definitely a girl with that name in the class. But she and Neris had never spoken. They had few classes together.
Neris's steps, as she walked to the back of the classroom, were as listless as ever.
****
Cledwin had never realized that dragons could be such convenient transportation.
Even if Dragon Kian actually woke up, there was no guarantee that she would be friendly to him. But luckily, she seemed to have the same personality as the one he had seen in the ruins in his dream, and she said she remembered the dream.
"Don't you sometimes remember your dreams? It's similar."
Cledwin wasn't in the mood to chat with her idly. But he didn't feel any hostility towards her because she had appeared, circled Hwangdo once with her body as the center, and then taken him with her. He had wanted to ask her how long it would take to get to Meindlandt by dragon, but there was no need.
Kian teleported Cledwin. The scenery changed with just a few simple words.
He had managed to leave Hwangdo affairs to Aidan and Joyce, and to pick up the Pope from the Papal States, all in the midst of chaos. He didn't know the coordinates of White Swan Castle because he wasn't there when he was active, and despite his casual attitude of just going in that general direction, the dragon was amazing.
Cledwin arrived at the entrance of White Swan Castle with Ren, who looked like he had no idea what was going on. He gave Ren a brief explanation of the situation and ran into the castle.
"Your Highness!"
"My goodness, Your Highness!"
"You're not a ghost, are you?"
People passing by stopped in their tracks, terrified when someone who should have been in Hwangdo appeared suddenly. But there was no time to linger here. Cledwin grabbed Ren by the collar, his pace slower than his own, and ran towards the West Palace.
He had originally planned to find Mrs. Tryud or Ellen and ask about Neris's whereabouts, but that was no longer necessary. The door to the West Palace Grand Duchess's bedroom, the place where his mother had breathed her last and stayed for a short while, was wide open.
Driven by instinct alone, the two men burst into the Grand Duchess's bedroom. And they froze, seeing Neris asleep on the bed.
"Your Highness…!"
Ellen, startled, stood up. She was in the middle of rubbing Neris's hand, her face wet with tears. She looked back and forth between the two men, her face full of disbelief.
"How did you…."
"El, Ren. Ex, plain."
Cledwin couldn't catch his breath, his words coming out in a hollow, gasping whisper. He couldn't understand.
Palos's Gemstone Eye had been freed, and the evil dragon had awakened. The magician was dead. So why was Neris still asleep?
"What happened, you little bastard!"
Ren grabbed Cledwin by the collar, having only heard that "Neris was caught in Princess Camille's scheme and might be hurt. You might need to heal her." Cledwin could have pushed him away with a finger, but he swayed helplessly.
His unfocused gray eyes blurred as they looked at Neris.
Neris.
His breaths were shallow, like he was being pierced by needles. He couldn't breathe. The sky and the earth were indistinguishable. Just like that.
He felt like he was starting to fall into an abyss.
Ren roughly shoved Cledwin aside and approached Neris. He began to pour divine power into her with a serious expression. At first, it was a light the size of a lamp, then a light the size of the moon… finally, a light the size of the sun illuminated the bedroom.
But even after the light receded, Neris remained pale and asleep.
"It's a curse."
Ren, a possessor of exceptional divine power, sensed that Neris's sleep was vaguely connected to some sinister magic. But the magic had entangled her so deeply that it seemed like he would need to understand the structure of the magic, not the size of his divine power, to solve the problem.
"Who cast this curse? Bring him here!"
"He's dead."
Cledwin said again, as if squeezing the words out. He couldn't even stand up, he crawled towards Neris's bed. He took her hand and pressed his forehead against hers.
He could smell her scent from the bed. That scent would be his last breath. He knew. This terrible grief would make him unable to live any longer.
"Ah… Ah…"
A convulsive moan, neither a voice nor a breath, escaped his lips. The world was black. He felt like he was going to die. No, wasn't he already dead?
He finally understood how his father had followed his mother after she died.
It wasn't something you could do with effort. It was just…
An inevitable order of things.
"The Duke is here?"
Cledwin heard several footsteps approaching behind him, but he didn't acknowledge them. Someone eventually pulled him off the bed.
"Oh my, it's really Your Highness! Why are you here? What about Hwangdo?"
Diane McKinnon and Mrs. Tryud were startled to see Cledwin. Cledwin managed to ask them.
"Com, muni, ca, tion, ev, ery, thing, is, fi, ne…"
The two women looked at each other and sighed, looking embarrassed. Mrs. Tryud soon spoke solemnly.
"Liz said before she collapsed. She said to pretend everything was normal so you wouldn't worry. I thought it would be fine if I brought in a priest after the war… Oh my, Your Holiness."
Ren was in tears. Mrs. Tryud seemed to understand the situation, recognizing his innocent face. Her face turned white.
Diane tried to lighten the mood, raising her voice.
"Her breathing is stable! She'll be back to normal if we keep treating her, right? Or else, Liz wouldn't have let herself be hurt like that, especially since she has a child."
Usually, "keep treating her" meant seeing a higher-level priest. When Ren, the highest-level priest in existence, didn't answer and just stared blankly, Diane also started to cry. Cledwin shivered, dizzy and in pain. His face turned a sickly green.
Finally, Ren stood up and yelled at Cledwin again.
"What do you mean the magician is dead! Damn it, what did you do? This is where the Grand Duchess is, how could you just let her be taken by suspicious people! You useless bastard! It was a problem from the start that you left her here and went off to war!"
"It's not Your Highness's fault!"
Diane retorted instinctively. But neither Ren nor Cledwin paid any attention to her words. Soon, Ren began to berate Cledwin with every word he knew, and Cledwin, without a word in reply, just stared at Neris, his lips trembling.
It was a mess. Seeing this, Diane sighed.
'What am I going to do, Liz?'
Both of these men, who are supposed to be the most important people in this country, are in this state.
I guess men shouldn't be too important. You have to choose a man who will take your needle if you sew and your ladle if you cook, something like that.
I think you definitely left some kind of solution, so I'm worried, but I think it's more important to figure out what that solution is.
These guys can't handle a situation that's out of their control, so they think it's more important to blame someone.
Behind Diane, who was lamenting, a voice that didn't belong to anyone in this castle could be heard. Turning around, thinking it was Talprin, Diane's eyes widened.
Golden hair, like melted gold, and eyes that seemed to be made of poured gold. The unique magician she had briefly seen in the ruins before was there, watching the two men, clicking her tongue, she had arrived at some point.
Cledwin's complexion finally returned when he saw her. He took a deep breath, as if it was very difficult, and asked her.
"Is there a way to help?"
"Say 'Is there a way,' you insolent thing. Palos must have told you, don't you remember?"
Only then did Cledwin remember. The memory he had pushed aside for a moment, overwhelmed by Neris's pale face.
'Next time,' Palos's Eye had said, 'no one but her can help.'
Kian smiled, as if it were nothing, and struck the floor with the staff she was carrying. A dazzling golden magic circle instantly appeared around her, with a whoosh.
You've made the magic quite potent. This child is human, so the seal wouldn't have required much magic. You've poured in all of Palos's power, along with the magic of the sacrifice, and she's already trapped in her own memories. Her connection to the outside world is almost completely severed.
What, what about it? Madam Magician? Will Liz not wake up?
Diane, though not sure, felt that this 'person' was a very important person, so she asked desperately and very politely. Kian chuckled.
You'll be thankful it's still possible to bring her back. The child Elandria's child is holding is fundamentally connected to the child of Palos, isn't she?
Cledwin's eyes lit up. He stood up as if he had regained all his strength and rushed towards Kian.
What do I have to do?
Say 'What do I have to do,' you insolent thing.
Kian clicked her tongue. She struck the floor with her staff again. This time, another, smaller magic circle floated in the air, glowing gold.
Go into the memories of Elandria's child. Find me within her memories and ask for help. If this child realizes that her memories are just memories, she might be able to shake them off, but that path is impossible.
Why? I've already awakened her from a similar curse before.
Whatever curse you awakened her from before, it won't be the same as this one. Once you enter this child's memories, you'll no longer be an independent human being, but one of the characters in her memories. No matter what you say, this child will experience everything she has experienced in her memories, and due to the terrible coercive power of those memories, you will soon forget what happened in reality.
But how do you save her!
Ren yelled, as if he had forgotten he was berating Cledwin just moments ago. Kian sighed.
The world has changed a lot. How dare a human child yell at me… I'll forgive you this time, considering you're still playing.
The people in the room finally realized that she was the dragon they had only heard about. Diane's eyes widened, and Mrs. Tryud covered her mouth.
"I'll give you a guide. Child of Palos, go to where your child leads you. It's perfect, as if it were planned, since there's a priest here."
Kian raised her staff.
"To send the child of Palos to where the child of Elandria is, I must extract her soul once. If you leave the empty body, it will die, so child of the priest, you must protect that body and heal it."
Ren, who had come to heal Neris but was now going to heal Cledwin, seemed very dissatisfied, but he nodded anyway.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone