Chapter 19
I could feel the air in the cabin grow colder.
Amin’s face also hardened.
Just as the frigid tension seemed on the verge of exploding into something more, Leon finally opened his mouth.
“I’m not referring to the Grand Duchess.”
The moment I heard that, I wanted to stop him from speaking.
Because I knew exactly who the “Diana” he was talking about was.
Standing there, I felt like a murderer hiding at the crime scene.
“Then is there another Diana with the same name?”
Amin asked.
“Yes. She’s like family to me.”
At those words, Amin’s golden eyes gleamed.
“So, not real family.”
“……”
Leon’s gaze turned cold.
The tension in his jaw was visibly building.
“Did you love her? Enough to wander from the South to the North under a different name?”
“……”
Leon didn’t answer.
He stared into Amin’s lazy eyes for a long time before slowly opening his mouth.
“Someone like you, Lord, wouldn’t understand. That child… was my master’s daughter.”
At those words, I unconsciously let out the breath I had been holding.
Master.
That’s right. My father had been Leon’s teacher. And also—
[Kowalski. That’s this child’s name.]
He had been Kowalski’s father too.
“I just hope to recover at least my late master’s body.”
“And why did your master die?”
“……”
“Is that a secret?”
“If you help me find Diana, I’ll assist with the repairs you mentioned.”
Leon looked at me and Amin, his voice resolute.
I couldn’t bring myself to respond. Amin, looking at Leon with disbelief, finally said,
“You’re proposing a deal? With a lord?”
“You’ve seen it yourself. How fine my sword is. You know how skilled I am as a blacksmith.”
Leon’s gaze turned toward his blade with pride gleaming in his brown eyes.
It was the kind of pride no swordsmith could suppress.
Especially one as skilled as Leon.
We blacksmiths were, by nature, arrogant creatures.
“Or is the rumor of you being a Sword Master just a lie?”
At Leon’s provocation, Amin looked at me.
And I could do nothing but stand there, frozen, staring at Leon.
Damn it.
My chest ached, as if a hole had been punched in it.
Leon Kowalski remembered me.
That fact alone was dragging me into an emotional abyss I couldn’t explain.
It was strange.
For the past five years, I had wandered the empire with only my sword, having abandoned family, neighbors, and friends.
I thought it didn’t matter if no one remembered me.
As long as I had my sword, that was enough.
But now—
Was I wrong about that…?
“You won’t find her with just a name.”
At Amin’s comment, Leon hesitated before replying.
“……Are you saying you’ll help?”
“Well…”
Amin glanced at me again—still standing like a nailed-down post—before speaking.
“Seems my wife has taken a liking to you, so I’ll consider it.”
I barely forced out a cracked voice.
“Then… tell me.”
I could feel my lips drying.
“What kind of person is Diana?”
Leon looked at me.
“She was a girl obsessed with swords. Both my master’s daughter and his disciple.”
“A woman made a sword?”
Amin asked.
Leon nodded.
A thoughtful glimmer passed through Amin’s golden eyes.
He looked as if he were calculating something.
“After my master’s death, while I was disoriented, I went to work at a local forge and heard rumors that Diana was still alive. Tales of a young woman traveling across the empire searching for quality iron to craft swords.”
I spoke in a low voice.
“So that means you also traveled to every forge across the empire.”
“…Almost.”
He replied.
“The last place I lost track of her was near the North. I searched every forge in the region, but—”
“You didn’t find her.”
I bit my lip.
Of course he hadn’t.
I had died near the northern battlefields after meeting Valther.
Though I had come to the North to investigate Wilhelm’s iron, I had never worked in a northern forge.
No wonder my trail had gone cold.
“How did the merchant who sold you that dagger confirm she was dead?”
Leon asked me. Just as I was about to reply—
Amin cut in.
“Do you really want to find her? Even if it’s just her corpse?”
“……”
Leon’s eyes darkened.
He didn’t seem to want to admit it, but soon he raised his head with resolve.
“If I can at least recover her remains, I’ll accept that.”
A shadow passed over Leon’s face.
Through the cabin window, we could see snow falling heavily.
Snow also fell on the grave I had long kept alone.
A grave without even a tombstone.
A name no one would remember.
For the first time today, I lay beneath the snowy blanket of that dark forest.
Amin gave his answer.
“Then let’s look for her. That Diana—who isn’t your family, and whom you claim not to love.”
“Get out.”
Amin suddenly opened the carriage door and said to Diana.
Diana nodded, thinking: Here we go.
The snow that had once blanketed the plains had turned into hail, and then rain.
The weather was incomprehensible, but people said it was common in Wilhelm’s territory.
The fickle northern god of the Bjorn Mountains was said to be playing tricks on humans.
Whatever the case, it was a world Diana, who had only ever worked in front of scorching fire, could not comprehend.
A world overflowing with ice and water, gods and divine pranks.
“We’ll have to walk to the inn. If the snow turns to ice, the carriage could be dangerous.”
Amin draped his coat over Diana’s shoulders as she stepped out.
Leon glanced at the scene and turned away, walking toward the inn with a cold expression.
Diana felt her face flush like someone caught doing something strange in front of family.
Of course, no one would think that—but still.
“So gentle, aren’t you? You treat her so differently from us. Guess the honeymoon’s still going strong.”
One of the knights snickered beside her.
It was Sir Soren.
Diana remembered him from the memories of Diana Isla.
He’d always clashed with her.
Because the Isla family always looked down on knights…
[I can’t eat with those sweaty knights! I’ll throw up!]
And Diana Isla had treated them poorly too.
Standing nearby without expression was an older man named Carl.
The one scolding Soren was Amin’s adjutant, Fares.
They must all be dead now.
In Diana Isla’s memories, they had stayed in the castle and perished with the lord.
That thought stirred a strange sense of familiarity.
“Shut it, Soren. Do you even realize who’s standing here—”
“It’s fine. This crappy personality of his isn’t going anywhere.”
Diana said, walking with Amin’s coat in hand.
Soren and Fares blinked in surprise.
Then Soren let out a wheezing laugh.
“Crappy personality… khuk… The Grand Duchess already has our lord all figured out after such a short time. As expected of the great Isla family’s daughter!”
The great Isla family.
At that, Fares’s brow furrowed.
It was a sensitive phrase for Diana.
Soren clearly said it on purpose.
That damn bastard.
Fares was crushing Soren’s foot under his boot when—
Diana calmly replied without blinking.
“Of course. My father used to wipe the Emperor’s ass for him. That kind of skill doesn’t just disappear.”
“……!”
Caught off guard by her words, Fares and Soren stared blankly.
Diana just smiled and walked past them to the inn.
As they watched her go—
Amin pulled out a flask from his coat, took a swig, then smacked Soren on the head with it.
“Argh!”
“That’s one hit for you, Sir Soren.”
Amin chuckled and said,
“If you’re going to tease women with shitty jokes, you’d better choose your targets more wisely.”
He drank again and pointed his flask toward Diana’s back.
“That woman—”
He said,
“Is a terrifying sword.”
