Love Letter From The Future

The manor became lively with the news that I had regained consciousness.

Because of this, I had to receive numerous visitors.

The reunions with the women, especially, were particularly dramatic.

First, Senior Elsie, who refused to leave my arms and then the Saintess, who burst into tears and collapsed as soon as she saw me.

She had always been so confident and dignified.

Seeing her react so vulnerably, I couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

Celine and Seria had similarly intense reactions.

Celine, when she saw me, stumbled towards me and placed her palm on my chest.

Then she burrowed into my arms and silently wept.

I had to pat her back for a while.

Just as I had done with Senior Elsie.

Seria couldn’t even approach me.

Her legs gave out and she collapsed on the spot.

As soon as she saw me, she covered her mouth with both hands and lay there, showing only her tears.

It was inevitably bewildering reunions for me.

I suffered such severe injuries many times before.

If anything, the fact I was still alive was more surprising.

Neither the Hunting Festival nor the Orphanage nor the Homecoming Festival had been simple trials.

They were battles where I had to risk my life and barely snatched victory from the jaws of death.

Naturally, I ended up bedridden many times in the process.

It was an inevitable consequence after narrowly escaping death.

My acquaintances always reacted strongly in such situations but the reactions of the women today seemed somewhat different.

They didn’t seem to be facing someone who merely recovered from severe injuries.

It was more like they were meeting someone who had come back from the dead.

And soon, my intuition was proved to be true.

“How did you survive?”

That was Leto’s greeting.

Quite a great thing to say to a friend who just woke up after a month.

Of course, I wasn’t angry.

That’s just how Leto was.

If anything, I felt somewhat relieved.

I had been busy wiping the women’s tears. Comforting someone without knowing the reason was nearly torturous.

On the contrary, Leto’s straightforward reaction was much easier to handle.

I stroked my chin in thought for a moment, then asked just in case.

“…Did I almost die?”

“Then, did you really think you were going to survive?”

It was a blunt retort.

At the same time, it was a point I couldn’t argue with.

In the end, I had to let out a low sigh.

Only now did I realize how insanely reckless I had been.

A sigh-laden voice escaped my lips.

“Wow, I really almost died.”

“Thanks to that, the past month has been hell.”

Leto said, leaning back against his chair.

Leto’s face looked as if his soul had left him. This showed just how much he suffered over the past month.

His body slid down the chair.

“You have no idea how terrifying a woman can get when she’s about to lose something precious… I got a taste of that abyss.”

“…Was it really that bad?”

“Don’t even talk about it.”

Leto’s body shuddered as he spoke.

It seemed like even recalling it felt like a nightmare to him.

He continued his words with a bitter tone.

“Your condition when we finally rescued you was too terrible. We immediately started gathering everything we could from the Holy Relic to Sacrifices, but we were still told you could die at any moment.”

“…Wouldn’t it have been alright if you procured more Holy Relics?”

At my brazen response, Leto let out a laugh in disbelief.

He looked like he was about to scold me but then sighed and shook his head.

He couldn’t help it.

Though my words seemed brazen, they were partly true.

It wasn’t like I was handling my body recklessly without any insurance.

I was the holder of the Dragonblood Script and had a history of saving the Imperial Princess, who had the blood of the Imperial family.

Moreover, my injuries were sustained while battling the Underling of the Evil God.

As much as it might be embarrassing to say it myself, that day’s battle could be considered a heroic struggle. Naturally, both the Empire and the Holy Nation would be obliged to reward me appropriately.

In other words, I was entitled to receive at least one or two Holy Relics.

Also, the priest responsible for me was not just any ordinary individual either.

The Saintess was a top-tier medical personnel, with specialized knowledge and skills capable of healing any injured person as long as she had enough Holy Relics.

In essence, all I needed to do was stay alive.

That was the mindset I had been fighting with.

However, a non-expert’s conviction sometimes led to terrible results.

“There is always a right time for treatment… If this were your first time getting injured, it might have been different but you’ve pushed yourself too hard all this time. Your condition worsened before we could even procure any more Holy Relics.”

How could that be?

The benchmark for severe injuries in my mind was Emma.

Despite spilling her intestines back then, Emma managed to stay alive for quite a while. I also heard that a skilled priest could indefinitely keep someone alive.

So, without even realizing it, I also ended up thinking that way.

That any injury could be healed as long as we had enough Holy Relics.

This misunderstanding was also partly due to the Saintess being an exceedingly competent healer. Despite her frequent warnings, I always ended up waking up.

But it seems that was just my one-sided belief.

I still couldn’t forget the sight of the Saintess when she saw me regain consciousness.

The usually composed woman collapsed immediately, clasping her hands and sobbing.

‘Lo-Lord thank you. Th-Thank you for saving our Ian… hic, heuk…’

I swore it was the first time I’d seen her cry like that.

The most she ever did was grumble at me with tear-filled eyes.

It was only then that I felt a sense of guilt.

I realized I caused too much trouble for so many people.

Eventually I scratched my cheek, feeling awkward.

“S-Sorry about that. For causing unnecessary worry…”

“If you do it again, I’ll kill you myself.”

Of course, Leto just scoffed and added a rebuke.

“Next time, make sure to apologize to everyone individually… Especially spend some quality time with the ladies.”

“…Why?”

“Just do it if I tell you to, you idiot.”

He didn’t even bother answering my question this time.

Though I internally grumbled, I decided to heed his advice.

Because Leto never gave me harmful advice.

And I was also concerned about the Saintess and Senior Elsie.

Celine and Seria always felt like younger sisters, so their tears didn’t surprise me much. I just felt sorry for them.

But the Saintess and Senior Elsie were different.

Those two were like solid pillars of support for me.

I didn’t have much to say about the Saintess, but Senior Elsie was still my ‘senior’ after all.

Seeing their tears made my heart ache unnecessarily.

I would need to spend a lot of time comforting them.

Even if I didn’t, they would likely come to me first anyway.

Especially Senior Elsie, who refused to leave my embrace to the point where the Saintess had to use the Holy Nation’s technique to restrain her.

As I sorted out one question, another one emerged from my mouth.

“Leto, after I collapsed…”

“What happened?”

As if anticipating it,Leto immediately picked up on my unfinished question.

He then began to recount the story he prepared.

To summarize, it went like this,

First, the disposition of the Percus family was deferred. Not only did this matter require consultation between the Empire and the Holy Nation, but the fact that they were deceived was also taken into consideration.

Additionally, I learned the identity of the swordsman I saw just before losing consciousness.

The Empire’s Sword Duke.

The Great Elder of the Imperial Family and the Empire’s only Master had personally intervened.

Of course, without a swordsman of his caliber, that day’s miracle wouldn’t have been possible.

I heard that he even played a significant role in ensuring leniency for the Percus family. The ‘reward’ he mentioned at the end might have been related to this.

He wanted to speak with me but, being a very busy man, had to leave first.

However, he mentioned that there was something he absolutely needed to discuss with me.

He said he would return to see me once I regained consciousness, so it seemed I would soon be able to face that legendary swordsman again.

There was no need to send word.

The Imperial Family had eyes everywhere, and Senior Neris was still staying at the manor.

Surely, as soon as I regained consciousness, he must have been informed of my condition.

Sir Reynold also seemed deeply impressed by me.

Before leaving, he had several meetings with my parents.

“If the Viscount permits it, I would like to proceed with the engagement as soon as possible.”

I heard my father had a hard time dealing with that blatant proposal.

Even the private soldiers of the Yurdina family left me with words of gratitude before they departed.

“Please convey to the Lunatic Young Master that it was an honour to fight in that legendary battle alongside him, and he is welcome to settle in the North if he wishes.”

Those were the words of Sir Alex, the veteran knight who led the thousand soldiers.

It was the highest compliment those prickly Northerners could offer.

It meant, ‘You are a warrior worthy of the North.’

After that, the recounting still continued.

However, there was still an unresolved question.

“…What about the masked assailant?”

At my question, Leto exclaimed, “Ah.”

He reacted as if he had been reminded of a forgotten issue.

He sighed deeply and shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yeah, there’s no trace of them. They haven’t shown any activity since then.”

I couldn’t hide my unease.

It felt like leaving behind a threat in the manor.

But there was nothing I could do to resolve the mystery immediately.

Deciding to investigate it later, I asked the question that had been bothering me the most.

“What happened to Ria?”

At once.

Leto, usually so eloquent, fell silent.

His lips pressed tightly together.

A grim silence settled between us.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of anxiety.

“…Leto? What happened to Ria?”

“Ri..a… Right, about Ria…”

He avoided my gaze, looking troubled.

For the first time in my life, I saw Leto, usually so glib, struggling to face me.

I grew increasingly impatient.

Just as I was about to urge him again,

“What should I say…”

Leto groaned for a while, as if struggling to find the right words.

Then, finally, a helpless answer escaped his lips.

“She’s broken.”

As far as I knew, it wasn’t an expression one would use for a person.

* * *Ria thought.

I am a monster, and I killed my Oppa.