Rough stone path.
People dressed in black are walking, carrying a wooden coffin.
“They’re coming.”
Those who survived the storm of war.
Their faces are haggard, pressed by the heavy wind.
In the coffin they carry lies a great swordsman who stood against the demon invasion.
Yet, despite this glorious return, no one came to greet them except me.
Originally, I would have been the same.
But this time, I couldn’t.
Because the woman in that coffin.
Was my wife.
“……”
I silently welcome them.
They, too, bow their heads slightly in greeting.
“We meet again, Silent Blade.”
Silent Blade.
A nickname given to me for wielding the sword through words.
“Thanks to you, I learned a lot.”
“The books you wrote were a great help to the soldiers on the front lines.”
“Hearing that from knights like you is embarrassing.”
A bitter smile flows.
The only thing I could do, unable to wield a sword, was to theorize and put it into writing.
“Leave her here.”
Behind me.
To those trying to enter the small castle, I said with a bitter smile.
“Since no one is welcoming, you won’t see anything good even if you go inside.”
At my words, they nod with choked expressions and carefully lower the coffin.
“Do you have a place to go?”
“……”
No answer.
But that wasn’t strange.
“Indeed, who among us has a place to reach?”
“Stay safe.”
They bowed to me and left.
I probably won’t see them again.
I could only be grateful for their last act of loyalty in bringing the coffin here.
The prepared resting place was a small clearing near the castle.
It wasn’t far in distance, but it took so long that the sun set and rose again.
“Sorry, as you know, I can’t use one of my legs.”
Leaning on a cane, moving the coffin took longer than expected.
I moved the coffin right next to the pre-dug hole.
Beads of sweat flowing down my cheeks shine like pearls in the sunrise.
As they fall from my chin onto the coffin, I smile bitterly and brush the coffin once.
“The most precious gem I can give.”
Creak.
Slowly, I open the coffin.
Artificially arranged roses decorate it.
A beautiful woman lies embraced by the flowers, her hands folded, eyes closed.
Riana Helmunth.
The eldest daughter of the great Helmunth family.
An outstanding swordsman who executed countless villains and slaughtered the Transcendental Tribe.
Truly loved.
My wife.
“After a mere 10 years, you’re still beautiful.”
A hollow laugh escapes.
I heard she had been on the battlefield for quite some time, yet she looks as if she just returned from a ball.
The strong scent of roses suggests they used magic to preserve her body.
“I thought there would be much to say upon meeting, but seeing you, there’s not much to say.”
Even with her body before me, I awkwardly look up at the rising sun.
“Were you curious why I ran away?”
Five years of marriage.
At the end, I chose to run away.
The reason was simple.
The Helmunth family, born of nobility, oppressed me, a commoner.
And Riana, perhaps disappointed in me, chose to stand by.
“I resented you a lot, did you resent me too?”
Even after 10 years, meeting like this.
“Or did you laugh in relief?”
In the end, we faced an awkward conclusion, not quite a reunion.
“Nothing is as meaningless as unanswered questions.”
Still.
If I had to pick one thing I was most curious about.
“Were you-.”
Until the very end.
Swinging a giant sword.
Even in the moment of exhaling your last breath.
“Was it the great Helmunth?”
A woman who lived solely for Helmunth.
And thus, a cruel woman who abandoned her husband.
“Hehe, hahaha.”
A bitter laugh escaped.
Everything was already over.
It felt like finally putting a definitive end to it all.
“Even you must have smiled at this moment, right?”
A farewell to the woman who smiled as beautifully as a rose.
She had already let go of all lingering attachments, but I wanted to make it clear for her sake.
“Farewell, then.”
The moment I gently took her hand, which had been clasped together.
A strange sensation on her fingers.
Between the calluses hardened from years of wielding a sword.
A shabby ring.
It was on her left ring finger.
Even though I, a commoner, had spent all my wealth, it was still called shabby.
The only dowry.
Our wedding ring.
The moment I saw it still on Rianna’s left ring finger.
“……”
For a moment, I was speechless, just staring blankly at it.
“You,”
I let out a sigh mixed with a bitter laugh.
“You keep troubling me till the very end.”
* * *
“Huh?”
My right leg, which used to ache every morning, felt perfectly fine.
The cane I kept by my bedside was nowhere to be found, no matter how much I waved my hand.
My body, which had started creaking in my late 30s, felt as smooth as if it had been oiled.
“Where… is this?”
It was my room.
To be precise, the room I used in Helmunth ten years ago.
Of course, my wife and I had separate rooms, and I used the guest room.
Back then, it felt a bit disappointing, as if they were drawing a line, saying I wasn’t family.
I looked at the mirror in the room.
It was Isaac.
Myself from ten years ago.
Smooth skin and neatly combed black hair.
A face that often received compliments for being handsome.
And a perfectly fine leg.
The disability that had plagued me for ten years was gone.
“A dream?”
It felt exactly like a dream.
But even harder to believe was that I had returned to the past, to Helmunth.
*Click, creak.*
“Brother-in-law!?”
At that moment, the door opened, and someone entered.
Red hair and sharp features, symbols of Helmunth.
A tall man with a striking presence, the third son of Helmunth.
It was Alois Helmunth.
“Alois?”
Just as I remembered him.
He was almost the only man in Helmunth who was kind to me.
“What are you doing!? Sister has been waiting for you!”
“Sister? You mean Rianna?”
“Why are you acting like this today? It’s your wedding anniversary! You worked so hard preparing with me yesterday!”
Wedding anniversary?
Prepared with Alois?
Familiar words lined up, forming a natural sentence.
‘Our 4th wedding anniversary?’
It was one year before Isaac fled Helmunth.
“I helped you out, so she’s definitely going to love it this time. You worked so hard too, brother-in-law.”
Yeah, that’s right.
Isaac let out a hollow laugh as he looked at Alois.
The last effort to mend the broken relationship between husband and wife.
And also.
‘The trap that sent me further into despair.’
From this day on, no one in Helmunth, including my wife Rianna, had any expectations of Isaac.
‘The day my leg was ruined in an accident.’
Because of that, I became a body unable to wield a sword, earning the nickname “Mukgeom” (Silent Sword).
And.
The person who took my leg is now.
“Ha! Brother-in-law! Seriously! Hurry up! Sister is going to get really mad!”
Urging me on.
