Winter Field Chapter 24

“Ah, you don’t believe me, do you? Many people think I’m exaggerating when they hear this story, but I swear on my honor, it’s true. You should have seen how shocked everyone was—me and the people there. I was young at the time, too, and I was so terrified that I suffered from sleep paralysis for days and nights on end. I truly thought I was going to die back then. And yet, do you know that bastard got off with nothing more than a few scoldings from the etiquette instructor? The only reason I was unharmed after being struck by lightning was purely because of my luck!”

Instead of pressing further on the veracity of the story, Gisel raised his eyebrows slightly, as if finding it incomprehensible.

“He certainly is a strange individual. That sort of act could not possibly constitute meaningful punishment.”

“Of course it wasn’t punishment! It wasn’t for any wrongdoing—he did it simply because he wanted to torment me. And I wasn’t the only one who suffered. He would frequently vent his spite on Yvette as well.”

“Why would he torment someone without reason?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying! That’s why he’s not normal—he’s a madman.”

Only then did Gisel nod, as if he now understood to some degree. When he raised his finger and drew a simple line in the air, the curtains suddenly swept aside and the wooden shutter inside the window flew open.

Like a stage when the play is over, the rainy night sky that had been tightly concealed revealed itself before the two of them. White light flashed in the distant sky, momentarily brightening the world. Rensley’s voice, which had been chattering excitedly, rapidly diminished, and the energy drained from his tone.

“Your Highness… do you perhaps also wish to torment me…?”

“It won’t be frightening if we watch it together.”

Gisel moved his body a little closer. Lying down, Rensley felt Gisel’s chest touch his shoulder.

Immediately after, the booming sound followed. This time, instead of pulling the blanket over himself, Rensley merely flinched. He still disliked the thunder and lightning just the same, but now he was slightly more preoccupied by Gisel’s inexplicable actions. Yet the man who had drawn close to him continued speaking serenely, as if not minding it in the least.

“Look. The light flashes first, and then the sound is heard. So it is rather better when you can see it, as you can avoid being startled by the noise.”

“…Th-that is true, I suppose…”

“The people of Oldenland like lightning. Now that My Lord has also come to stay here, I hope you will come to understand it.”

There were plenty of people who weren’t afraid of thunder and lightning, but what reason was there to actively like it? Especially thunder that struck at night, like tonight, only disturbed one’s sleep.

Rensley looked out the window with a puzzled expression. The sky, now quiet, was pitch-black as ink. A low voice settled softly by his ear.

“It is said that the first king who founded Oldenland was a person born from lightning.”

“…A person was born from lightning?”

“This is a story from the old days, when there was neither the barrier wall nor Loudkhen Castle. Back then, it is said that the monsters living in the northern forests and sea invaded human lands far more frequently than now, killing and tormenting people. Before Oldenland existed, this place had no nation and was a land where exiled people and fugitives gathered to live.”

Before he knew it, Rensley was listening intently to his story. If he momentarily forgot who the speaker was, the low, clear voice had a quality that put one’s mind at ease. His manner of speaking, with its restrained intonation, was elegant, as befitting royalty.

Even so, a dry chill unique to the north, like the wind that had struck him before arriving at the castle, lingered throughout his voice, yet now, buried under the warm blanket, it did not feel cold.

“Among the people who gathered was a renowned general who had been framed and driven out of his homeland. He realized that monsters did not invade the land where people lived together on days when thunder and lightning struck, and he came to believe that lightning possessed a mysterious power.”

“…Is it true that monsters don’t attack on days when lightning strikes?”

“Yes. Though rain is not frequent, there has never been an incident until now where beings from beyond the barrier wall have invaded in such weather.”

Upon hearing that, the lightning that had only been frightening until just moments ago began to feel slightly like an ally. When Rensley closed his mouth, Gisel, having waited a brief interval, continued his story.

“Ultimately, on a night when lightning was striking, the general set out in search of the place where lightning bolts fell. After a grueling journey, he finally found his destination. At the place he arrived, the lightning that had fallen to the ground had gathered in one spot, forming a spring that shone with a silver light.”

Rensley, who had been listening earnestly to the story, whipped his head around to look at the speaker.

“That’s absurd. Lightning became a spring?”

“It is a story from the old days.”

Ah, right. This wasn’t something that actually happened; it was a myth of Oldenland. Immediately accepting this, Rensley nodded again.

“He thought that if he could scoop up the spring water, he would be able to protect the people from danger. However, the spring created from lightning was different from water, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not contain it in a bottle. As he repeated his futile efforts, he eventually fell into the spring.”

“Oh dear… And so, did he die?”

“No. Chosen by the spring, he was reborn. Though he retained a human form, he became a being half like a god, gaining the power to freely wield lightning to protect the land and its people. He returned to where the people lived, founded Oldenland, and became its first king, caring for the people. He shook the earth so that the spring of lightning could flow far into the distance, creating a river, and it is said that this river became the Vals River, the largest river in Oldenland.”

A river, was it. Rensley, having just arrived in the north, had not yet been able to go outside of Loudkhen. He had not even seen the outside of the Grand Duke’s castle, let alone outside of Loudkhen.

The night he had crossed the cold, barren fields, sobbing with tears streaming down, it had felt like a desolate land where no living creature could survive, but come to think of it, being close to the sea, there must naturally be rivers and streams here too.

Rensley loved swimming in the sea or rivers on clear days and in the hot summer more than anyone. The dazzlingly sparkling surface of the water under the sunlight and the clear view of the sandy bottom below were vivid in his mind’s eye.

When would he be able to take off his clothes again and bathe while basking in the sun? At the thought that he might never again return to the beautiful waterside he had loved since childhood, his heart grew heavy, as if he had lost something precious.

“You, My Lord, have not yet seen it, but from afar, the water of the Vals River appears silver in color. Some say it is because membril, a type of silver, is distributed across the riverbed, and others call it a phenomenon created by the climate of this place. However, the people of Oldenland are fond of the story that the river began from lightning.”

“He who rules the black forest and the silver river, obeying the sacred duty of dominion…”

The appellation he had overheard on the day of the wedding ceremony still lingered in a corner of Rensley’s memory. When he directed his gaze out the window, the sky flickered just then.

The long light split into fragments, like the gaps between houses clustered closely together, like the narrow paths created by those gaps and more gaps. It repeated a cycle of revealing itself fleetingly and then hiding, and each time, the sky growled like a predator before letting out a roar.

It wasn’t long before the finely fractured light became a massive bolt and struck down to the earth. A thunderous roar erupted, and the bedroom was bleached white once more. But this time, Rensley neither averted his eyes nor hid under the blanket in alarm.

The bolt of lightning looked like a cascading waterfall. Now Rensley, too, could imagine the scene: the white, cold light dyeing the split earth silver and beginning to flow leisurely, like the Milky Way.

“This story is the reason the people of Oldenland like lightning. Having been struck by lightning and emerged unscathed—let us call today’s weather a greeting from the northern land, welcoming Lord Malosen.”

“…”

“Are you still frightened?”

At Gisel’s question, Rensley met his eyes instead of answering. After hesitating and wavering over his reply, he suddenly blurted out.

“No.”

To have shaken off something he had feared for so long, this quickly. At this rate, the terror he had confessed earlier seemed like feigned fussing or a lie. Rensley felt slightly embarrassed by how swiftly his heart had changed because of his story.