Chapter 58

***

*The past continues*

Usphere wanted to take Kwanach under her command as well, but she couldn’t. This was because her meeting with Kwanach was kept secret.

If it became known that Kwanach had exposed the wrongs of his superior officer, Benan, he might be in trouble. Usphere explained the situation to Kwanach and brought him some food and clothes for a few days, as she had done before.

This time, however, it wasn’t because of Diaquit’s surveillance; there was too much to do and she couldn’t stay long in the stable. Still, unlike her previous life, she wanted to know him.

“What is your name?”

Usphere asked, staring at Kwanach as he ate the bread.

Kwanach was silent for a moment. Then he made up a false name.

“Marcus.”

There was only one reason for not revealing his real name: he didn’t want to be remembered in Usphere’s mind like this.

Usphere was now more beautiful and valuable than in her previous life, but Kwanach was still a slave.

‘Not yet. I have to wait…..’

He only wanted to show her the perfect figure. Even if he did, it was uncertain if he would be able to stand by her side.

“Marcus, I see. Marcus.”

Usphere ruminated on the name she only learned in her second life. Although it was a fake name.

She said in a sad, wistful tone.

“I hope this unfair world will change soon.”

It wasn’t the end just because she helped one Roseanne. This kind of problem was still happening everywhere.

Usphere was thinking about the revolution that would take place in a few years. She couldn’t even imagine that the master who would lead that revolution would be the boy in front of her.

She couldn’t have known that she herself was deeply involved in triggering that revolution.

* * *

*Present time. Usphere’s Pov*

——

“That boy was me.” (Kwanach)

As Kwanach’s story ended, I vividly recalled a scene that had long been submerged beneath the surface of my memory.

“It was you who saved my life. It was the first time in my life that I had seen someone so beautiful and loving. It was then that I fell in love with you….”  (Kwanach)

“…….”

“Why do you think the name of the empire is Radon?” (Usphere)

“Because I met you there.” (Kwanach)

Kwanach’s confession puzzled me.

I couldn’t imagine it at all. I thought it was just named after the Radonia Mountains because it was a representative terrain across the continent.

“But I…..I didn’t know my position, and I had the thought of wanting to have such a beautiful you.” (Kwanach)

“…….”

“But how can a lowly slave marry the princess of a country? They say it’s a crime just to look her straight in the eye.” (Kwanach)

Kwanach’s rough hand came close to me. He caressed and wrapped one of my cheeks.

“The princess’s partner is a prince, they say. But since I was not the son of a king, there was only one way. To be a king myself.” (Kwanach)

Kwanach’s dark eyes looked straight at me. I felt like I was being exposed one by one under his gaze.

The story was unbelievable. I also couldn’t believe this innocence that Kwanach was spewing out to me without the slightest hint of concealment.

“The idea of having you was the one thing that gave me strength. I formed an organization, turned a country upside down, and became the lord of a continent.”

“Kwanach…….”

“That’s how I came to visit you after several years in the name of an alliance. I wanted you, even though it was forced and cowardly.”

I was suffocated. The love that Kwanach had for me was so enormous and heavy that it choked me.

“Usphere. I’ve never wanted anything but you in the first place.”

Every word Kwanach spat out shook me to my core. I gazed blankly at him as he knelt at the foot of the bed.

He was almost at eye level with me sitting on the bed. His gaze, piercing in a straight line, was infested with long-standing aspirations.

He really wanted me …… He demanded a marriage alliance.

I slowly remembered Kwanach’s story and looked back over my two lives.

Could it be that Kwanach had loved me in my previous life as well? Could it be that he went crazy after I died?

The past life in which Kwanach continued the war as he was addicted to blood. It suddenly occurred to me that I might be the cause of that madness.

After I was poisoned, Kwanach’s dark appearance overlapped with my previous life.

A revolution that rewrote the history of mankind, a revolution that created a gigantic solar empire.

I didn’t know that the motivation for his heroic actions was me. Even though I heard it in person, it wasn’t easy to take to my heart. But inwardly, I knew that Kwanach’s words were pure and serious.

Kwanach’s attitude, which I had been wondering about, began to approach me one or two at a time like a cog in a wheel.

From our first meeting, he was nervous in front of me. The way he had lowered himself and thought I hated him. The way the master of a mighty empire acted like a weakling only in front of me…

All of this was explained with one word: love.

Kwanach said, clutching my forearms tightly with both hands.

“So I am afraid. You are the foundation of my life. Without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. You saved me.”

How can this man’s heart be so deep?

I thought I had fallen in love with him. But compared to his love, mine was shallow and small.

“If I lose you…..”

I could see the fear in Kwanach’s eyes. I was heartbroken. I didn’t think the kindness I gave to Kwanach when I was a child was anything special.

But in those days, he was weak and had a hard life, so he gave up his whole heart to such a small kindness.

“Kwanach….”

During the long conversation, Kwanach knelt down.

“Please come up here and sit next to me.”

Kwanach flinched at my words.

“Can I do that….?”

I nodded, and Kwanach raised his massive body and sat down next to me. Even just sitting close to him, his body temperature was much higher than mine.

I stared at Kwanach and said,

“I remembered. Yes, it was that boy. …… I couldn’t have imagined it.”

At the time, Kwanach was much smaller and thinner than he was now. He had a larger frame than his peers, but had no flesh because he didn’t have food to eat.

“………….you remember me?”

“Of course I do.”

Kwanach wrinkled his brow.

“I’m not happy.”

“Why?”

“You said you didn’t like the image of your miserable days in your memory.”

“That’s true. But what I remember is a little different from what you remember. I never once thought that the boy was dirty or soiled.”

I reached out and held Kwanach’s hand. His throat was shaking violently.

“You were just a victim of the system. You have defeated it, why do you feel ashamed of your birth?”

“I’m not always like this. I feel this way only in front of you. You’re… … out of reach, noble and beautiful.”

There would be no one in the world who valued me more than Kwanach. Even my country’s soldiers did not act as if they were worshiping me.

Kwanach slowly tilted his head toward me. Our lips didn’t touch, but it was close enough to graze my nose. Kwanach looked at me with a shaking gaze. His gushing hot breath seeped into my skin.

“Kwanach. Believe in me. And believe in yourself.”

“…….”

“Did you say that I saved you? No, I didn’t. I didn’t do anything. It was you who led the revolution. It was all your hard work.” (Usphere)

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have thought of starting a revolution.” (Kwanach)

“Just because there was such an opportunity does not mean that everyone can put it into practice and succeed.” (Usphere)

Kwanach’s eyes looked like those of a badly wounded beast. It evoked a feeling of danger, yet pity.

Kwanach opened his mouth slowly.

“It’s the same now as it was when I was a child. You treated me as if I were a great person, as if we were equal… You have no idea how uncommonly kind that was.” (Kwanach)

“That’s… I feel the same way.” (Usphere)

The memory of helping a boy in an old stable.

That moment was unusual even for me. It was one of the few times I remembered being useful.

“Kwanach, I feel like I have become a valuable person when I am with you.”

I felt like there was a strong connection between us.

I felt so lost in my previous life when I died without knowing anything. I did not know my relationship with Kwanach or who he was.

What would have happened if I had known then? Now I felt I knew a little more about what to do with the second life I had defied death to get.

I need to save this man who’s obsessed with me. It’s the way to stabilize the world and prevent war.

Kwanach’s the bravest and strongest of them all, but inside he’s a very unstable man. It’s the love he had accumulated over the years that made him that way.

And so it is. The decisive factor in destroying Kwanach is me, of all people.

If this man at the top of the empire were to collapse, the world would have no choice but to fall into chaos.

That’s why I have to survive and protect Kwanach. I have to surround him with love.

I will make sure that Kwanach will not be anxious anymore.