WAYDTN? 87

One day, as I lay on the beach, the sea came to me in dazzling blue, in white whispers, and spoke.

“Won’t you go beyond that horizon with me?”

But do you know this?

We were already fragments of a ship that had been wrecked.

__________𓍯𓂃𓏧♡𓇢𓆸_________

<Spring, Year 84 of the Westmis Federation>

“Ladies and gentlemen, this train will arrive at its final stop on the upbound line, Walsingham Station, in five minutes. Please prepare to disembark.”

As the attendant walked through the carriage announcing the stop, passengers who had dozed off from the long journey began to stir, waking one by one and turning their gazes to the windows.

In the pitch-black darkness outside, the distant glow of the city lights was slowly drawing nearer.

A middle-aged gentleman who had been staring out the window lifted his head. Across from him sat a young man who was not part of his group.

The dignified man, dressed in the gray cadet uniform of the Waterford Military Academy, had spent the entire ride up from New Olivern either reading a book or, as now, scanning a newspaper.

He was a handsome young man. His broad shoulders matched his solid build, and even under the dim lantern light, his striking features stood out unmistakably.

In more than fifty years of life, the gentleman had never seen a face so memorable.

The young man, who had been reading the troubling news of the deteriorating situation between the North and South with a grave expression, folded his newspaper at the attendant’s announcement.

Meanwhile, the gentleman—who had been reminded of his own son by the cadet’s uniform and had been waiting for a chance to strike up a conversation—finally spoke, a smile forming on his face.

“You must be a cadet from Waterford Military Academy.”

The young man turned to look at him. Beneath neatly combed golden hair, his sharply defined features gave off a stern impression.

Yet when a smile touched his face, it felt as though the surroundings brightened in an instant.

He replied,

“I graduated yesterday. I suppose that makes me a Waterford alumnus now.”

Seeing how polite and courteous the young man was, the gentleman’s face brightened as well.

“Ho ho, congratulations. My son is also a Waterford graduate, so I felt compelled to say hello.”

Soon after, the train pulled into Walsingham Station. The young man gathered his robe and black military cap and rose from his seat. The gentleman extended his hand first.

“It was a pleasure meeting you. I wish you a pleasant journey.”

“And to you as well, sir.”

After exchanging farewells, the young man donned his cap and robe and strode confidently down the aisle.

The platform, swept by a cold night wind, was crowded and noisy.

The stationmaster rang a bell to announce the stop, its ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling echoing through the air, while voices calling out farewells and greetings overlapped everywhere. On top of that, the shouts of shoe shiners and newspaper boys blended together into a cacophony.

Stepping off the train, the young man lifted his large suitcase and scanned the packed platform.

Then he spotted an elderly gentleman standing near the edge with a tall Calorin servant and smiled.

The elderly man, with gray hair and glasses and a gentle demeanor, recognized him at once and beamed. The young man pushed through the crowd and walked straight toward him.

“I didn’t expect you to come in person, Counselor.”

Lawrence Calhoun, who had been looking at the young man with eyes full of emotion, replied with a smile.

“It’s been a long time. I wanted to welcome you myself. Congratulations on your graduation, Mr. Shore.”

__________𓍯𓂃𓏧♡𓇢𓆸_________

The carriage left the station and entered Portnum, the central district of Walsingham.

Inside the carriage, lit intermittently by passing streetlamps, Edmund’s expression was clouded with worry.

“How is my father?”

Lawrence Calhoun wiped the fog from his glasses with a handkerchief before answering.

“According to Dr. Simpson, it’s just a common cold. But as you know, Mr. Shore’s immunity has weakened considerably of late. It’s hard to say whether he’ll recover fully before leaving for Sutherland.”

When Edmund was young, Chairman Carl Shore had suffered greatly from a severe bronchial illness while living in the heavily polluted capital of Queensland.

Though his health had improved significantly after moving to Islesford, that serious bout left him with weaker immunity than most.

As he aged, these symptoms worsened, and despite his condition, he continued traveling frequently on business—to Queensland and beyond—pushing his body to its limits and falling ill more often.

In fact, Edmund had originally planned to return to Islesford after the graduation ceremony to spend time with his family before heading out on a business trip to Queensland.

However, when Carl Shore was unexpectedly forced to rest, Edmund came straight to Walsingham instead, to attend meetings with investors in his place.

Lawrence Calhoun carefully went over the following day’s schedule with him.

“For now, you should rest and recover from the journey until lunchtime tomorrow. After lunch, you’ll meet with representatives from the Ritz Elevator Company and observe the test run of the newly installed elevators at Thermopolis Department Store. And then…”

The meetings with investors continued straight through the evening. Edmund listened attentively, nodding as Lawrence explained each item.

Watching him, Lawrence was suddenly overcome by a strange sense of nostalgia. When he finished speaking, a smile slipped out unconsciously. Edmund looked at him in confusion, and Lawrence spoke without hiding it.

“I was just thinking of the first time I met you, Mr. Shore. Back then, I never imagined that ten years later, I’d be having conversations like this with that little boy. Do you remember when you only came up to my waist?”

“I was taller than that.”

Edmund answered firmly, knitting his brows. But soon, the two of them burst out laughing together.

It was as they reminisced, the carriage carrying them along, that they entered Portnum Square—surrounded by four intersecting streets.

From the financial district, home to the Melsus State Bank and the stock exchange, a torch-bearing procession poured out and marched across the square, shouting.

“The Southern Confederacy are traitors!”

“War against the traitors!”

“Protect the Federation!”

“Abolish slavery in the South!”

Those marching carried placards emblazoned with aggressive slogans and soon began chanting in unison.

‘Do not forget the blood of George the Martyr, until his blood purifies this land.’

After last autumn’s presidential election—when the Hughes Party candidate, who represented Southern interests and the preservation of slavery, was defeated, and the Northern Nelson Party’s candidate, Mason, was elected president—the rift between North and South had crossed a point of no return.

Edmund stared out the window, his expression grim.

“It’s worse than I thought.”

Lawrence Calhoun nodded in agreement.

“It’s only getting worse. More than half of the Southern states have already seceded from the Federation. If war breaks out soon, it wouldn’t be surprising at all.”

As they watched the procession with worried eyes, a woman suddenly hurried past their carriage.

She had wavy, rose-colored hair. She ran to avoid the march, then stopped abruptly, climbed onto a passing carriage, and soon disappeared from view.

She looks familiar…

But red hair was hardly unique to one woman he knew. Convincing himself he must have been mistaken, Edmund withdrew his gaze.

The carriage left Portnum Square and headed toward a residential district lined with elegant townhouses.

__________𓍯𓂃𓏧♡𓇢𓆸_________

Under a moon glaring brightly in the night sky, a lithe shadow vaulted cleanly over the iron gates of Cheswick College.

The figure slipped past the familiar fountain in the courtyard and sprinted toward a two-story building covered in ivy. Instead of heading for an entrance, the shadow went straight to a blank wall and began climbing, gripping the ivy vines.

It was clearly not the first time. With the skill of an intelligence agent, the figure scaled the wall and swung over the railing of a second-floor balcony.

Opening the balcony door revealed a dark, unlit hall.

The intruder carefully closed the door against the cold wind and removed their shoes, then padded silently across the wooden floor into the corridor.

Moving down the hallway lined with doors on both sides, the shadow gently turned the doorknob of the room at the very end.

Inside were three desks, three beds, and small wardrobes fixed against the walls.

The slender figure glanced once at the women sleeping on their beds, each softly snoring, then approached one particular bed—the one where red hair was spread across the pillow.

But just as a hand reached out—

“…What are you doing?”

__________𓍯𓂃𓏧♡𓇢𓆸_________

T/N: Welcome to a new era of Rose and Edmund’s life!!! Is it the last one?

We never know:)