The Forgotten Field - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 8
After that day, I seized every opportunity to wander through the Garden. Yet I never encountered him again—not until a massive elm tree had been planted where I’d discovered the dying bird, and vibrant flowers in brilliant hues had filled every barren corner of the once-desolate Garden.
I felt the sting of loss, as though I’d misplaced a treasure I’d stumbled upon by chance. How I wished I had ignored the Nursemaid’s summons that day.
My father, who had promised to visit me, never appeared that evening, and my mother made no effort to seek me out either.
Surrounded by cold-hearted attendants, I picked at a tasteless dinner and spent the entire time drowning in regret.
I should have chased after that boy. If I had only been stubborn enough, he would have pretended to be helpless and taken me with him. Lying beneath the frigid blankets, I yearned all the more for those large, warm hands that had enveloped me.
Perhaps he was nothing but a phantom born from my loneliness. Just as I sank deeper into such doubts, the boy appeared before my eyes once more.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that I discovered him.
The seasons had shifted without my notice, and I had aged from eight to nine years old. Instead of raindrops, the sky now poured down scorching summer heat.
As I passed through the long corridor leading to the Emperor’s Private Chamber, a resonant shout drew my attention toward a massive arched window. On the broad training ground, bleached white by summer light, apprentice knights in black surcoats wielded wooden swords.
Despite nearly thirty trainees present, my gaze flew toward him as naturally as a moth drawn to flame.
His faded flaxen-blonde hair caught the intense summer sunlight and shimmered with a faint silvery gleam. Though it was the first time I’d seen him without his hood, I recognized him instantly. He was the boy who had appeared in that unseasonable spring rain.
I leaned my upper body over the windowsill to observe him more closely.
The Blue-Eyed Boy displayed movements so precise and economical that he stood in stark contrast to the other trainees.
Each time his long, supple limbs moved with grace and power, it seemed as though the very air was being cleaved.
“Do you know who that person is?”
The elderly attendant who had followed me to escort me to the Emperor cast an indifferent glance toward the window.
“They are apprentice knights training to enter the Imperial Guard. All of them are children of distinguished noble families.”
He seemed entirely uninterested in whom I was curious about.
The attendant shot me a disapproving look as I lingered.
“His Majesty is waiting. Come now.”
Reluctantly, I tore myself from the window and walked down the corridor, silent as a tomb. Though it had been only a few months since I’d arrived at the Imperial Palace, this would be my first meeting with my biological father, yet I felt no particular emotion.
Even when I’d glimpsed the Emperor from a distance during his visit to the Taren Family Estate in the past, I had never felt that he was my father.
The stern-faced man had shown little interest in me, and I had despised him only for being the one who stole my mother’s affection.
This remained unchanged even after I was formally registered in the Imperial Registry.
As I entered the vast, ornate chamber, I fixed a wary gaze upon the broad-shouldered man silhouetted against the light.
After a silence that stretched on indefinitely, the man sitting motionless beyond the fortress-like desk finally opened his mouth, his eyes still fixed upon the parchment document before him.
“From now on, you must learn the etiquette of the Imperial Family.”
Then he pressed his seal upon the document.
I waited for him to lift his head and look at me. But no matter how long I waited, his gaze never reached me.
I could not understand it. How could a man who loved Senevir so passionately refuse to even look at his own daughter, who bore her likeness?
The man, who had been scrawling something on the table with his quill, continued speaking with indifference.
“I have arranged several excellent tutors for you. From now on, you are to come to the Main Palace before noon to attend your lessons. You must do your utmost to catch up on the studies you have fallen behind in.”
My response seemed unnecessary. The man waved his hand dismissively, signaling me to leave, and thus our reunion after a year came to an end.
I retraced my steps, searching through the window for the boy’s figure. But the training had apparently ended, and the empty training ground held only the pristine white glow of summer sunlight.
After that day, whenever I went to attend my lessons, I would steal glimpses of him training in the courtyard.
I found pleasure in watching the faint beads of perspiration form on his sculptural face, and the delicate flush that rose to his pale cheeks from the intense exertion.
Sometimes I would speak to him silently in my heart.
‘Tell me… what became of that bird? Did it die in the end? Did you bury it somewhere? Or did you release it to fly far, far away once it had recovered?’
I longed to stand close to him as I had on that rain-soaked day, to gaze into his eyes and share words. I wanted to see if that silver crown still dwelt within his gaze.
It was when such an impulse had grown unbearably intense.
I had abandoned my history lessons to languish endlessly, gazing out toward the Training Grounds, when a deep shadow fell across my back.
I flinched and turned. My mother, whom I hadn’t caught even a glimpse of for a fortnight, stood at the boundary between light and shadow.
Once, I had seen that face every single day. Yet in that moment, I felt my heart cease to beat.
Senevir, adorned with meticulous care befitting the dignity of an Empress, appeared as though all the beauty the human imagination could conceive had been gathered into one form. Even the elf mages who frequently visited the Taren Family Estate dared not presume to rival her beauty.
“What were you staring at so intently?”
Senevir asked, looking down at her daughter.
I, who had been gazing up at her with vacant eyes, suddenly snapped to attention and hastily withdrew from the window. For reasons I couldn’t quite name, I was reluctant to speak of that boy.
Yet Senevir seemed to have immediately discerned what lay at the end of my gaze.
The Empress turned her head toward the window and gazed down at the tall, golden-haired boy, her smile laden with meaning.
“Grand Duke Sierkan’s son, then.”
I looked up at her in surprise. I had suspected he might be a nobleman of considerable standing, but I had never anticipated he would be of such an illustrious house.
Senevir’s deep blue eyes gleamed with meaning, as though she could see straight through to the depths of her daughter’s heart.
“Do you wish to have that boy?”
I could offer no response, my face flushed crimson.
Seeing my expression alone, Senevir seemed to have obtained her answer. She laughed with amusement, bent down, and pressed her lips to my cheek.
“If you desire it, I could give him to you as a gift.”
That whisper sounded as eerie as the wind howling through a dark forest on a moonless night. Senevir straightened herself and offered a smile drawn upon her crimson lips.
“But nothing comes without a price. If you wish for a reward, you must first satisfy your parents’ hearts.”
Detecting a faint note of reproach in her voice, I hastily gathered the history book I had carelessly left upon the windowsill and turned to flee. I could feel Senevir’s gaze clinging to the back of my head like a spider’s web.
She was the mother I had yearned for every single night. Yet why was I running from her?
I had intended to throw a tantrum about despising studies the moment I saw her. I had meant to pour out all the resentment and grievance that had accumulated within me, demanding why she would not stay by my side.
But Senevir, now Empress of the Empire, no longer seemed to be my mother. She had transformed into something unfamiliar and terrifying, and I could not bring myself to be petulant before her.
That night, I lay awake until late, tossing and turning.
Even when I was with the Taren Family, I was not particularly happy, yet at least then I had Senevir as my ally. She was less a mother than a closest friend and comrade-in-arms. Even if the entire world pointed fingers at us, we could endure it together.
But now Senevir stood tall as the Empress of the Empire, and I was left alone in a strange place, among strange people.
I felt loneliness bore deep into my very bones. I longed desperately for someone to be by my side. If only someone would hold me in their warm arms and gaze upon me with gentle eyes, I felt I could give them anything.
And so it was. I resolved to meet that boy directly, whom I had only observed from afar.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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