When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a tent. The smell of medicine stung my nose, and I could hear soldiers breathing around me.
I pushed myself up. A medic with a red cross on his arm came over.
"You're awake, Major Basileus."
"Where am I?"
"In a field hospital. The soldiers found you collapsed in the fortress."
"How long was I out?"
"About a day."
"What about the girl who was with me?"
"She's right beside you."
I turned my head. There, Violet lay sleeping soundly, bandages wrapped around her.
Just seeing her made it hard to breathe. Sleep vanished at once.
Calm down, heart. We have to leave now.
"Ioannis!"
Hajins came bursting into the tent, throwing the flap wide open. I gave him a gesture to be quiet.
When Hajins saw Violet, he winced and quietly came to my side.
"You're awake. Looking at your condition, I really thought you were going to die...!"
"I thought so too, but I'm still alive. What about Gilbert and the others?"
"Ah. There are still some remnants left. Gilbert's been rounding them up. The northern bastards threw everything they had into this battle. The estimated enemy force was over 700,000."
"...That many?"
I was a little surprised. In this era, 700,000 soldiers being mobilized for a single battle, not even a war, meant they had truly poured their national strength into it.
"What were our losses?"
"...200,000. Even that's the good news. If it hadn't been for the signal flare you fired, we would have collapsed in the trenches."
Southland had suffered heavy losses too, though not as many as the enemy. Many of the dead were commanders, so a major reorganization was still underway.
"The airmen say the enemy's movements are minimal... So, maybe. I think it's over."
"...."
It wasn't confirmed yet, but the chances were high.
Even in the original story, the war ended with Intense, so it was safe to say this was the end.
Haa...
I leaned back and let out a breath. It felt like I had finally set down a burden I'd been carrying for far too long.
I checked my condition. My right arm, right eye, and right ear were all ruined, but the rest of me could still move.
"Hey, what are you doing? Lie back down. You're a patient!"
Hajins pressed me down when I tried to get up. I ignored him and stood anyway. He wasn't pressing very hard, so it was easy.
"I'm going to head out now."
"...Ah, right."
Hajins looked over at Violet, still asleep.
"Do you really have to? She's only thirteen. If someone took good care of her, I'm sure..."
"My mind hasn't changed, Hajins. This is the best choice."
"Sigh. If that's what you want, then I don't have anything to say. We'll still see each other often, right?"
"We should be able to."
Once Violet grew up and started going out on assignments, I would have time to see Hajins.
Until then, well... we'd have to make do with the occasional visit.
Hajins stretched.
"Well, the war's over. What are you going to do? I'm thinking of starting a company. Gilbert says he's staying in the military."
"I'm thinking of traveling."
"Traveling?"
He repeated it, sounding intrigued.
"Just because. There are places I want to see, people I want to meet."
The people of the Violet Evergarden world. I had wondered ever since I reincarnated whether they were all doing well.
"By the way, did you find my broken sword?"
"That? Yeah. I've got it."
"Why do you have it?"
"It was awkward to leave it lying around, so I picked it up. Why?"
"A dead man should have at least one keepsake."
"Ah..."
Violet was still asleep. I gently smoothed the disheveled platinum hair around her face. Violet smiled faintly, as if she were having a happy dream.
I said,
"Sorry for making such a difficult request. But... you were the only one who was right for it."
"No. It's a little... heavy, but someone has to do it, right? I'll tell her. About your death."
"Thank you."
"And you'll keep in touch, right? Send letters."
"Yeah."
I buttoned up my military coat and left the field hospital.
*
The Basileus family.
Leidenschaftlich had been a prestigious house that produced many kings during the monarchy. It had been worn down through many turns of history, but its status remained formidable.
"Welcome back, young master."
"Bernaf. It's been a while."
Bernaf was the Basileus family butler. He looked me over through his monocle and wore a heavy expression.
My body was in terrible shape. My eye, ear, and arm were all wrapped tightly in bandages.
"...I'm glad you returned safely."
"Just surviving is a miracle."
As expected, the leader of the northern alliance, the Garadric Empire, had requested a peace treaty. True peace had finally come.
With peace came a reduced need for soldiers. I applied for the leave I had already prepared. Since I had worked things out with the high command in advance, the leave was processed in no time.
The leave was for a year and a half.
"I'll prepare hot water and some clothes."
"Is the head of the house in?"
"He's in his office."
I nodded and prepared to meet him.
A servant helped me get ready. Since I couldn't use my right arm, he dressed me and fixed my hair for me.
In the mirror, a neat young man wore a grim expression.
Meeting the head of the house was always difficult.
"I'm here."
"Come in."
A heavy, cold voice came from inside the room. I opened the door.
Dark purple hair. Blue eyes like the northern sea.
An old man with a stern face looked at me.
He had a hard expression and a build that reminded one of stone.
Liatris. Legally, he was my father.
He swept his gaze over me from head to toe and spat out,
"And this is the state of the man who will one day become the head of the house..."
He looked me over again and said flatly,
"What a disgraceful sight for the man who will become the head of Basileus."
"I'm sorry."
"And you had yourself treated in another unit and erased the records."
"So you knew."
"Answer my question."
"It was because of a girl."
"What?"
"Do you remember the wild child who killed Colonel Dietfried's marines?"
"I remember. She joined your unit."
"She thinks I'm dead. That's how it has to be."
"...You've caused me trouble. I'll handle the paperwork."
"Thank you."
I bowed lightly.
"And... I hear you're leaving on a trip."
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"I think it will take about a year."
"I see."
The answer was short. There was no light banter between father and son.
He treated me not as his son, but as his heir.
I, too, treated him not as my father, but as the head of the house. He was the first father I had ever had across both lives, but... I didn't really feel any affection for him.
Liatris was probably the same.
I was only an adopted child who had come in to replace his dead son.
Liatris moved his lips as if he had something to say. I didn't leave the office and waited for him to speak.
"Since you've come back after so long, stay a while. There are many who want to see you."
"Very well."
As I was about to leave the room, a photograph caught my eye.
It was a black-and-white photo.
Liatris, his wife, and his son were in it.
The young Liatris was smiling. He looked nothing like the man he was now.
I looked away.
*
The Basileus family had great influence over trade and finance.
It was a relic of the monarchy.
The royal family had directly managed trade from generation to generation, and that legacy had remained to this day.
Five months after returning from Intense, I finished my recovery.
I was planning to take care of things before leaving on my journey.
The sea breeze of Leiden drifted softly through the air. My hair, now grown down to my shoulder blades, swayed lightly.
"Young master Ioannis?"
A middle-aged man approached me.
"Yes."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Duke York, head of the York family."
"I am Ioannis Poblecio Basileus, here as the representative of the head of Basileus. It's a pleasure to meet you."
I looked to the side of the Duke of York.
"And this girl is?"
There was a girl with black hair and amber eyes.
She stiffened. She seemed nervous.
tap
The Duke of York placed a hand on Isabella's shoulder.
"My daughter, Isabella York. What do you think? Isn't she beautiful?"
flinch
Isabella's shoulders trembled.
I was flustered inside. I had come to meet the Duke of York because of the contract, but I never imagined this.
'...I can't believe I'd meet Isabella York here.'
Isabella York, an important character from Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll.
She was much younger than she looked in the film.
In the future, she would attend a girls' school for noble ladies and meet Violet there.
Isabella had been an orphan. The Duke of York adopted her after she struggled to survive in the slums.
In truth, Isabella was the Duke of York's illegitimate daughter.
But the reason the Duke of York had found Isabella was not out of any special affection.
He simply needed a card he could use for a political marriage.
The York family was counted among the great nobles of the Kingdom of Drossel. They had amassed enormous wealth through trade and were tied by blood to the royal family.
In that sense, Isabella was politically valuable.
From the Duke of York's perspective, it must have felt like a pumpkin had suddenly fallen into his lap.
He didn't have much family affection for her either, and a political marriage was usually structured so that as long as she was married into a good house, most of the benefit would be secured.
The fact that he had brought her to this business meeting was probably just to probe whether he could arrange a marriage between me and Isabella.
'What a shame.'
In the end, Isabella would be forced into the political marriage the Duke of York wanted.
After her marriage, she would receive a letter from Taylor, who could be considered her true family... but still.
If anything, it was a bad ending.
She would be married off according to the family's wishes, and there would be no direct reunion with Taylor.
Shaking off my thoughts, I said,
"This way, please. I've reserved a place for us."
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