Chapter 57

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“I don’t think everyone lives by acting according to their status just because their status is high.”

“In …… Pernen, you’ll get caught if you talk like that, Princess.”

“Is that so? But you would be by far the most respectable person than Benan. I think so.”

Usphere’s way of thinking shocked Kwanach. It was Kwanach who had never before escaped the Pernen kingdom, where the status system was very strict.

Status did not dictate everything. That notion in Usphere’s words sounded awfully sweet.

A new thought slowly began to sprout somewhere in Kwanach’s mind. A small crack appeared in the wall of status that had confined him until now.

It wasn’t simply because Usphere was a Northerner that he could say that. There are no slaves in the North. But there was a status system.

There was a difference between nobles and commoners. Moreover, it was Usphere who grew up as an imperial princess in a conservative country.

The words she said were revolutionary. They were words that were only possible because she was Usphere. She was just and compassionate by nature.

The fact that her heart stiffened at the accusation of being a weak Awakener was due in part to her strong sense of responsibility. She blamed herself for the fact that she could not protect people.

Her warm nature and love of people allowed her to see people for who they really were, without the prejudices that status created.

Usphere looked at Kwanach and spoke clearly once more.

“You just did what you had to do, what was admirable.”

“But as it turns out …… I couldn’t protect anyone…..”

“It’s not your fault. By the way, if you have to stay here all the time, what about food?”

“Well… Not eating for a few days doesn’t kill you.”

The truth was that Kwanach was very hungry. More than anything, he was thirsty.

“I’m not strong enough to get you out of here. But I can secretly bring you some food.”

“…… What?”

Usphere quickly grabbed the hem of her dress and stood up. The hem of her dress rubbed against the stable floor and got dirty, but that didn’t bother her too much.

Kwanach was startled and tried to get up. Usphere’s eyes widened as she spoke.

“Sit down.”

“You don’t need to do this……. If anyone finds out about this, you’ll be in trouble, too.”

“But if you continue like this, you’ll die.”

“…….”

“I’ll be right back.”

Usphere grabbed her dress and hurried out of the stable. After a while, she secretly returned to the stable with some bread, water bottles, and clean cloth.

Kwanach could no longer refuse and hurriedly drank water.

After gobbling down a loaf of bread in the blink of an eye, he felt a little more energetic.

Usphere crouched down beside Kwanach and stared at him. Kwanach suddenly seemed to choke up.

“Why do you look at me like that?”

Kwanach rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand to wipe off the crumbs. He became aware of his dirty and shabby appearance again.

No, just because. Fortunately, you eat well. I’ll find a way to bring you some food tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll bring something else, not just bread…..”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“But this is the only way I can help you.”

“Why are you trying to help me…”

“Because you are not a bad person, but you were punished. First of all, let’s clean your wound.”

Usphere dipped the cloth in water and handed it to Kwanach. Kwanach quickly grabbed it and bowed his head.

“You’re looking at me. How can I…..”

“Oh….”

Usphere froze for a moment, then nodded.

“I see. I guess I’ll have to say goodbye for today. I’m sure my brother is looking for me.”

Kwanach swiped the thin flesh on the inside of his mouth with the tip of his tongue. Regret swept over him for a moment that he had said something unnecessary.

He wanted to spend a little more time with Usphere. The urge to not let her go like this overcame his mind momentarily.

Until Usphere left the stable, Kwanach only stared at the floor. It was only after she moved completely away, that he breathed out his enduring breath.

He listened intently to the sound of his beating heart. An unknown emotion was boiling up in him.

‘Will she really come back tomorrow? She just said it. But will she really come?’

Kwanach rubbed himself with the cloth Usphere had given him. For a few days, all he felt was disgust and a desire to die, but before he knew it, those thoughts had disappeared into the distance.

The only thing left in his head was Usphere.

It was the first time he tasted kindness. The first drops of water on the dry earth. Kwanach hurriedly drank it, instinctively wanting more and more.

It was a very dangerous feeling that a slave should not have. He knew it in his head, but he couldn’t stop the lust from boiling over.

He wanted to see more of Usphere. He wanted to get to know her.

He even wanted to stand by her side if he could.

* * * *

Usphere came to Kwanach the next day as promised.

But she didn’t stay as long as she had yesterday. This was because Diaquit noticed that her dress was dirty and laid out a tremendous warning.

It was difficult to walk freely outside. In the midst of all this, she managed to sneak in some food and came to the stable where Kwanach was located.

Up until now, Usphere had only been criticized for being a meaningless awakener. However, she felt useful only when she moved to help Kwanach.

The second encounter between Usphere and Kwanach was short-lived. Kwanach waited all day for that fleeting moment when she could just give him food and go.

However, the time that was like a fantasy did not last long.

On the third day, Benan ordered that Kwanach could only have so that he would not die, but surprisingly, Kwanach looked fine and Benan was furious.

He turned the battalion completely upside down, saying that there must be someone among the soldiers who helped him.

So after five days of being trapped, Kwanach was released. He had to take the lead in the monster subjugation while his body was barely recovered.

Kwanach had to head to the battle site without being able to say goodbye to Usphere.

The next day, when Usphere brought him food as usual, the only thing she encountered was a deserted stable.

They didn’t even greet each other properly. Kwanach only knew that she was a princess from the north, and Usphere did not know Kwanach’s name.

He was a boy with whom she shared a little time for a few days. She didn’t know his face or his name properly. Usphere kept that brief encounter in her mind in her second life.

* * *

After the regression, the incident passed in much the same way.

The rate of causality was at work, and it was not possible to depart significantly from the course of the previous life. That was, until the point when Usphere died in her previous life.

Both Kwanach and Usphere were sent back to the Radonia Mountains. Again, Kwanach saved a girl whom Benin had tried to take, and after being beaten by soldiers, he was held in the stable.

If there was any difference from his previous life, it was that he had learned how to endure without too much pain. Also, instead of chewing on his misery alone like in his previous life, he waited for the upcoming encounter with Usphere.

While he was struggling in the stable and enduring hunger, Usphere came to the stable earlier than in his previous life.

Usphere was quite different from the previous life. He could not find the girl whose face was full of bitterness.

In this life, she was not forced to come here by Diaquit.

The soldiers had full faith in Usphere. Already, Usphere had been called by the title of “Shield of the Kingdom”.

Although her power was weaker now that she was separated from the Silver Forest, she came with Diaquit to boost the morale of the soldiers sent to other countries.

And when they arrived at the Sterndal Castle, Usphere thought of a boy she had long forgotten.

This time, she would be able to help the boy more than just giving him food. With this expectation, she went to the stable and met Kwanach a day earlier than in her previous life.

The boy’s body, long and disheveled and shaggy. A low, raspy voice that was going through a period of active inflection.

Unable to imagine that the boy in front of her was her future husband, Usphere showed him affection again.

And this time, she didn’t stop there.

“Roseanne, Roseanne, isn’t it? The girl who Benan tried to scare….I’ll find her.

Kwanach gazed blankly at Usphere, more radiant and noble than in the previous life. Along with that, he had a gloomy thought in his mind.

He wanted her.

He held onto that one desire all his life.

He would not let her die like before. He would place her in the most beautiful, sturdy, and solid castle so that no danger in the world could reach her.

This time, he will protect her.

After this brief encounter, he would not see her again for many years before the wedding. Kwanach remembered hard as if trying to keep everything about Usphere in his head.

While Kwanach made up his mind, Usphere moved busily. She brought some food to Kwanach and soon set out to find Benan.

Usphere was able to take advantage of her changed status in this life.

She was an indispensable asset to the strike force. Although her power was not as powerful as that in her homeland, she was able to travel between the sites of recovery and battle, helping in many ways.

Traps were set up with vine plants throughout the path where the monster appeared. In no time at all, she had stacked up wooden fences and reached out to help with the restoration work so that they could proceed quickly.

In the meantime, she asked for additional manpower on the pretext that she needed more workers in addition to the soldiers brought from her country. Several slaves and mercenaries brought from Pernen were briefly under her charge. Roseanne was one of them.

However, once this mission was over, Benan may target Roseanne again. This fact had always bothered Usphere.

She didn’t want to trade for money, but in the end, Usphere decided to buy Roseanne and send her to the servants who traveled to and from the South.

Thus, Roseanne was able to escape Benan’s insidious grasp in this life.