Chapter 03
Once, Giles had been a little master surrounded by the love and happiness of his family.
The Hessen family had gained great wealth in his grandfather’s generation through diamond mine development. To put it bluntly, they were nouveau riche. Even so, the family enjoyed abundant days and were treated on par with other nobles.
Giles’s father took the family to Ipswin in pursuit of business expansion. He wanted his children to spread their wings in a new land. The possibilities in that foreign country seemed endless. Everyone said Ipswin would open a second golden age for Beldam.
Giles’s sister, Celeste, decided to become a writer. She had always loved daydreaming and was passionate about writing.
Celeste wanted to meet a variety of people and listen to their stories. She believed that good stories came from the experiences and thoughts of real people.
The people she most actively sought out were none other than those of Ipswin.
Her family tried to stop her. Though Ipswin lived in Beldam’s shadow, resentment against Beldamites was not something they could easily overcome. A Beldam woman traveling alone could become a target.
“The very fact that you’re worried I’ll get hurt is proof that something is wrong.”
Celeste, unlike Giles, had beautiful blonde hair. She tied her golden hair back and was reviewing a manuscript she had written herself.
“If the reason they might hurt me is not personal resentment but simply my bloodline, then how safe can anyone else really be? This isn’t just my problem.”
“Mother and Father are worried. And they have reason to be. Look at the way you dress—anyone would think you’re a young lady from a wealthy family.”
“You mean I’d be harmed because of the way I dress?”
“I mean you could get robbed.”
“Doesn’t seem like that’s what everyone else is worried about. They all think I might get killed.”
Giles watched his sister from nearby as she worked on her manuscript under the lamplight. What was it about? Come to think of it, he had never actually read any of Celeste’s writing.
“You’re saying that because I’m Beldam, someone might want to kill me.”
“You think that’s a ridiculous claim?”
“No, I agree completely.”
Celeste set her fountain pen down. The scratching sound stopped, and a warm silence filled the room.
“These people hate us. If they could, they would kill us without hesitation. I know that because I’ve met them. And honestly, we’re not unaware of it either—that their hatred is being barely suppressed by force. Look at us. We’ve barged into someone else’s land and live here as though we belong, while treating them like slaves.”
“You really are serious about hearing their stories.”
“I have to be. At first it was for my novel, but gradually I couldn’t ignore that this was a grave issue.”
At the time, Giles thought Celeste was just being her eccentric self, but part of him also listened to her words. What she said wasn’t nonsense. She was speaking about the future.
“Giles, what will you do when you enter the military academy?”
“What soldiers usually do, I suppose. Follow the state’s orders and defend Beldam’s security.”
“I wish all you had to do was protect Beldam. But you might be recalled to the homeland right after graduation. You saw the newspapers, didn’t you? A huge war is about to break out. Much bigger than anything we’ve ever experienced.”
Giles also remembered the headline that dominated the front page:
“World War” — The Future Named by Chancellor Dosselberg
Underneath was a small subtitle: “Exaggerated Bluster? Or a Foretelling of Things to Come?”
“If we lose… everything will change. We may come to regret having provoked so much hatred. I mean it.”
Giles still remembered Celeste’s gaze as she looked straight at him. She looked as if she had witnessed something invisible to others, filled with conviction but also… sorrow.
“When that time comes, you’ll have to make a choice. To flee—or to die.”
Someone else might have told Celeste to stop spouting nonsense and go to bed.
But her grim prophecy became reality before Giles even graduated from the academy.
The aftermath of defeat in a world-scale war was immense. For Ipswin, it was an opportunity. Beldam’s control over Ipswin was now woefully insufficient.
It was nothing less than a revolution.
Just as Celeste had said, Giles found himself at a crossroads. His father had long since gone missing. All roads back to the homeland were blocked. And the rightful inhabitants of the land were determined to execute everyone like Giles.
There was no future left for him as a Beldam.
Giles wanted to live. He also did not want his thoughtful sister to die.
So, for survival, he betrayed his country and sided with the Ipswin revolution. He shared his vast wealth with the revolutionary leadership and supplied them with weapons.
Above all, he personally helped drag countless Beldam dignitaries—whom he had once greeted at banquets or passed by in corridors—into ruin.
Giles did not regret his choice. Not once. The state had nothing more to offer him. Had he not aided the revolution, he too would have died. Celeste would not have survived either.
Survival alone gave value to every decision he made.
Loyalty to the state. Faith. Pride. And what became of the nobles who clung to those things and resisted to the end?
Beldam lost its power and could not protect them. The nobles Giles captured all shouted at him, calling him a traitor. A traitor who stabbed his own people in the back just to save himself. Such accusations did nothing to harm him.
In the end, the dead have no voice, and only the living can greet the rising sun.
Survival was the highest value.
There was no other path to consider.
He had run in that direction alone—but when the turmoil ended and the revolution stabilized, the leadership that had once promised him a future began to change its attitude.
Though he had helped the revolution, he was still a Beldam of landlord blood. That fact could not be erased. The leadership explained that they could not place a wealthy Beldam in an important post.
Once everything was settled, Giles would be left to his own fate. The leadership decided they would no longer protect him.
Through the upheaval, Giles had learned that hatred spared no one. The life awaiting a Beldam in this land was obvious. And, branded a traitor, he could not return to the homeland either.
After the fierce flames had burned out, only bleak darkness remained.
Perhaps that was when Giles grew slower, more indifferent. Realizing he could not change the future, his heart strangely calmed. He was more at peace than when he had been desperately struggling to survive.
He had spent too much energy searching for an escape. Now, it was time to rest.
Perhaps that was why he hadn’t wanted to arrest Lily.
Instead, Giles felt a kinship with her. Another battered survivor. Someone who, when she finally looked back at herself, had nothing left.
If I can’t survive, then what value should I pursue in the time I have left?
For a moment, he was lost. He needed a guiding star. But when he looked up at the sky, there was no star to shine for him—his eyes had been blinded by the flames.
He could not just sit idly and wait. Having run without pause for so long, stillness only made him restless. His mind would be besieged by stray thoughts.
He had to do something.
And if there was still something he could do… he was ready for anything.
Seated alone in the driver’s seat, he tapped his fingers lightly on the steering wheel, then started the engine. A black sedan rolled down the country road.
Lily’s piano playing seemed to echo faintly in his ears.
That he could now afford a leisurely daytime outing meant things had grown peaceful. At least it wasn’t like the time when there had been mountains of people to arrest.
Giles had written a report suggesting that the Salzburg estate, if properly renovated, could serve various official purposes—an office, perhaps a school. There were plenty of potential uses.
Since it hadn’t been long since he submitted the report, further instructions about the building would soon arrive. Until then, he had a little time.
Even as he entered the mansion, Giles thought Lily might already have fled. After all, he was a revolutionary officer who knew her true identity.
But Lily was still there. Wearing the same white nightdress, her unkempt black hair falling loose. And of course, she was still frail. How could such a body summon the strength to play the piano?
Lily looked a little startled, as if she hadn’t expected him to return. Then she hurriedly tried to tidy her clothes and hair, though the effect was slight.
Her hands were blotched with stains. When Giles’s eyes fell on them, Lily blushed.
“It’s… from picking some wild berries just now.”
She had clearly been surviving like that until now. Giles took a sandwich from his bag. Lily’s eyes widened at the sight of proper food.
“Here, eat.”
“You’re giving this to me?”
“Yes. I brought it for you.”
Lily gave a small word of thanks and accepted the sandwich. As soon as she unwrapped it, the air filled with the scent of fresh food. It was a sandwich with thinly sliced ham, boiled egg, and assorted vegetables.
“If you have any allergies…”
But by the time Giles spoke, half the sandwich was already gone. For a brief moment, Lily looked happy. Seeing life return to her eyes… Giles thought he might have smiled for the first time in a long while.
“It’s so delicious,” Lily said.
“I can’t even remember the last time I had meat.”
“There’s more in the bag. Take as much as you like.”
“Thank you.”
Focused entirely on eating, Lily said no more. One sandwich wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy her hunger. The extra sandwiches Giles had brought quickly vanished without a trace.
