Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

On the 4th day in the Kingdom of Leaf, just like the day before, I did not go for class. Since I managed to find Rusbella yesterday, it was now time for me to fulfil the emperor’s command. To find the Head Templar of Snow and the Sea and the Templars of Chaos. Before Rusbella finishes making the medicine, I should find some clues. But I didn’t think Rusbella would come to seek me out like this.

“Shall we eat first then?’

“Huh?”

I pointed at her lunchbox before smiling.

“Didn’t you bring it to eat?”

I easily recalled what Rusbella’s cooking skills were like. Though it wouldn’t be too bad to hear about her skills from herself since she was the one who came looking for me.

“Here.”

Rusbella had come running towards me from a spot not too far from the plot of land I had saved her life at yesterday. The still sight of dead leaves fluttering matched the autumn sky well. We sat on a bench in a quiet space before opening the lunchbox that Rusbella brought.

I widened my eyes after I took my first bite. It tasted better than I thought it would be? To call this normal, I wondered what was wrong with the male lead?

“It’s delicious.”

After I murmured, Rusbella’s cheeks were dusted with red in joy. Try this one too and that one–Her chirping voice blessed my ears. She was such an innocent girl. No. The female lead of a harem story should be this lovable and beautiful to feel full just from her looks.

“You mentioned you wanted medicine. What kind do you want?”

The main topic she wanted to bring up was only mentioned halfway through the meal.

“Nectar. A cure for all ailments.”

“… That’s a medicine of legends.”

Rusbella murmured as if troubled. Yeah, I know. But she already knew how to make it, didn’t she? I pretended to be oblivious before flashing an eye smile.

“Is it not possible?”

“… Could you share what you would be using the medicine for?”

Rusbella asked warily. She knew. The medicine, ‘Nectar’ was something only the truly desperate seek. The ones who searched for it reached towards it as if it was some sort of mirage. But Rusbella had materialised it into reality.

“There’s someone I love. And he’s very sick.”

I lowered my eyes slowly. Someone much like a faint breeze flashed across my mind.

“Very sick.”

I suddenly started rubbing my wrist thinking about Amor who was not here. Erasing the instinct to seek his voice when I fiddle with the bracelet, I spoke.

“He’s extremely sick… I’m afraid… that he’ll die somewhere without me beside him.”

This world was of a novel where many died. But now that this novel was my reality and this fear was swallowing me whole.

“It is for someone who has never been healthy his entire life.”

When Rusbella came to Kaltanias, Amor was still alive. But he died shortly afterward. If all went according to the original novel, Amor would die. But I was trying to change what was already set to happen. If the original plot changes and he escapes his fate…

The cleric’s warning about how Amor had exhausted most of its divinity that was the source of his life had left a scar in my heart. Princess. The prince does not have much time left.

Don’t die.

“I wanted to gift him a spring where he can smile comfortably.”

Actually, I thought Amor would fall in love with Rusbella. I wouldn’t blame him if he ends up falling in love with Rusbella when she visits. He had already given me so much. And he had lost so much as a result. He had already given me everything he had, how could I go against his decision? When I opened my eyes, tears flowed.

“I came here chasing something that doesn’t exist in the world.”

I came to a very distant place. And I met the most loved person in this unfamiliar world. One letter and another.

“Even now, I’m desperate not to lose him.”

I continued softly.

“I am in a rush. I can’t stand it anymore.”

As my half-sincere tears finally fell, Rusbella grasped my hand tightly.

“Ashley… Can I call you that?”

I wondered why. Her voice as she called my name sounded shaky. Rusbella looked at me compassionately.

“I wonder… why you’re like no one I’ve met before.”

I nodded with a mysterious feeling creeping up on me.

“I had someone I love too. Someone I love very much.”

Rusbella managed to say with much difficulty. Sentimentality dripped from her face that was as white as porcelain. She was a well-natured female lead. She pitied me. This sight was like a scene from a fairytale. Was she the female lead because she was easily able to place herself in the shoes of those she met for the first time?

“Nectar exists.”

Rusbella uttered.

“I can make it for you.”

It must have been difficult for her, someone who was much kinder and more beautiful than me, to share this piece of information with me. At last she gave me her consent.

“However, the ingredients I need for this medicine are tricky to obtain. One is uhm…”

“I’ll help you.”

“Really?”

Rusbella gave a slightly mischievous smile.

“Will you be alright? You’d have to sneak into the storage where we store the herbs and steal it.”

I blinked before laughing.

“Have you done this often?”

Of course, I had pretended not to know when I asked her but I knew she had already done so.

“That’s a secret.”

Tilting her head, Rusbella grinned.

“It must have been thrilling.”

She seemed to have liked my response very much. She might be naive but that didn’t mean she was meek.

Afterward, she listed all the ingredients she needed one by one. Though I didn’t understand half of them, I nodded. Just like that, time passed before we came back to our senses and packed the lunchbox. We had only chatted for a short while but leaves were already gathering on our skirts. While I was sweeping the leaves off me, Rusbella who had been looking up at the sky, opened her mouth as if she had suddenly recalled something.

“Did you know? Nectar was first made in Kaltanias.”

When I raised my head at the familiar word, I spotted Rusbella staring right at me.

“Asclepius.”

“Asclepius? The God of Medicine?”

Rusbella smiled before nodding.

“Nectar was created by a cleric that had escaped Kaltanias. Over the years, their recipe had been perfected by the scholars in the Kingdom of Leaf and was used for hundreds of years before the recipe for the medicine suddenly disappeared.”

With tears in my eyes, I looked back at Rusbella.

“You’re well-read.”

When I complimented her, Rusbella smiled shyly before looking up.

“Because I’m from Kaltanias.”

Her golden eyes curled beautifully.

… What?

Something like lightning pierced through my entire body.

“My foster mother was from Walter and had discovered me along the borders between Kaltanias and Walter.”

Unlike the golden eyes I was used to seeing, hers were sweet and warm. Just then, a strange sensation came over me.

“Though I was so young, I was covered in scars after crossing the border.”

With a moment to spare, Rusbella smiled. She looked like she no longer cared about the past.

“I don’t even remember what happened.”

Kaltanias and her golden eyes. Goosebumps dotted my skin.

“I… see.”

What was going on? What was this? What could be going on? Countless possibilities flitted through my mind but I couldn’t put them to words. It was as if a river of words was flooding my brain.

“So, you’re from the same country as I am.”

Rusbella and Kaltanias. In the original novel, why did Rusbella choose Kaltanias to elope to amongst the countless other countries to choose from? I had never thought about it. Because it was never mentioned. The idea had never occurred to me.

“Yes.”

But then, I came to find the answer.

“I think I was born there.”

A gust of wind blew from behind and rustled her hair. It was of a similar colour and yet a completely different one. Her golden hair was so shiny as if it had been created from pure molten gold while mine was made from the ashes that spilled from the mould. While her hair was straight and of a healthy texture, I had curly hair.

She had the blood of Kaltanias flowing through her. The blood of the Imperial Family to be exact. I was sure. No, I was certain. Kaltanias, golden eyes, a child whose life was threatened–How could she have been chased after so fervently if she was not from the Imperial Family? From the bell tower in the distance, the bell chimed.

“Oh dear, it is already…”

Just when Rusbella glanced at the bell tower, troubled.

“Rusbella!”

Before I could say anything, Rusbella turned her head. My gaze shifted alongside her head. From the distance, a man could be seen waving his hand to catch our attention. A huge smile appeared on Rusbella’s face as the man with his brown hair tied in a high ponytail approached.

“Slon!”

Rusbella ran towards him before jumping into his open arms. A spinning skirt hovered in the air before sinking. The image of the lovers brought spring to this autumn. I could see Rusbella whispering something to him as they parted. I couldn’t hear them from this distance but the man who was holding Rusbella looked at me.

But his gaze fell soon afterward.

“… The male lead.”

I murmured to myself. Slorenian. The male lead in the <Light of Rusbella>. Rusbella’s one and only love. He looked like his brother Cjezarnian but was an evidently different person.

While his younger brother could be described to be a gentle medium-sized puppy, he exerted a pressure much like a large dog.

Rusbella waved at me. I forced myself to smile before waving back. Once I made sure she was far enough, my gaze dropped to look at the diary.

The waves lapping in my heart.

Rusbella hailed from Kaltanias. What did that mean? The diary had led me to Rusbella. So what did the diary know? What did it want me to do by acquainting myself with Rusbella?

“Tell me what you want straight.”

Why was I reborn here?

The diary let out a dim glow. As if there was nothing it could do in these distant lands. My gaze lingered on the diary that would offer me nothing even if I were to open it before shifting upwards towards the sky.

What should I do now?

This had been my first goal. To find Rusbella and obtain Amor’s medicine was literally the purpose of my visit so I had no reason to see her until she finished the product. But this feeling that was tickling my heart was one that had bothered me for a long time now.

I closed my eyes.

Why hadn’t I realised all this time?

Rusbella’s eyes were golden. In the Empire, golden eyes were only granted to those who had the Power of the Lords. Why? It was like the truth was just around the corner. And it was almost as if I would never realise it if I missed this opportunity. Why did I receive this diary? I raised my head. Just then, I thought of the answer

“He had dark blue hair and green eyes? And he has a large stature?”

The man who made Dane’s face harden at the mention of him. The man who had curiously spared little words about me.

“Yeah, Ashley. He’s the 3rd Prince of Kaltanias.”

This place held a man who had been expelled from the Empire long ago. The name of the last Templar of the Winds made me think about a lot of things.

Amor and Hernan.

They were also the last templars of their kind. They were also people who had suffered and endured pain just by being around the emperor. What the last templars of their kind had in common was the emperor’s rapt interest in them. Then he must know. About children who were hidden from the emperor or things along those lines.

The 3rd Prince Abel Cloud.

I had to find him.