Volume 6 Chapter 38 Love And Hate
Edelstein has a lot of stairs.
It's built like a town that goes up and up, carved into the rocky mountains.
You can't even enter the town without climbing stairs at the entrance, and it stretches from the bottom level all the way up, kind of like a spiral shell.
The town is white. The buildings are made of white stone.
But it's not completely colorless; the white buildings have gems embedded in them, and some big rocks stick out from the ground.
"No one is here..."
I looked around the town and whispered.
Sir Stefan must have been here before; he confidently found the stairs leading up and started walking ahead.
I followed Sir Stefan, with Mr. Lucian walking right behind me.
"It's really quiet. But I can feel eyes on us. They must be hiding inside their homes."
"I thought the Gem's People would attack us if we entered their town."
Mr. Lucian said as he glanced at the white square houses.
"They say the Gem's People have the power to fight but don't have the heart to do it. Unless we attack them first, they probably won't do anything."
"Then why does Sir Galeon...?"
I tilted my head.
The Gem's People don't hurt anyone. Why do they hate them and call them monsters?
"My father said that Lord Galeon really loved his only daughter, Bianca. She was talented, and even though she was a girl, he bragged about making her the heir to the Margrave family. He always took her with him to teach her the family business."
As we climbed the wide stairs to the upper levels, Sir Stefan spoke.
According to Sir Ciel, Lord Galeon brought Bianca back to the Margrave family after she fell in love with Mr. Safiro and locked her up.
But it doesn't seem like he hated Bianca from the start.
"He lost his wife early on. Apparently, she was kidnapped and killed by the radical Kirschtein people. Because of that, he hated the Kirschtein and cherished Bianca, who was a reminder of his wife."
"...That's a story from before I was born. My parents were moderates who didn't want war. But it seems there were Kirschtein people who didn't follow that."
Mr. Lucian replied to Sir Stefan's story.
It was a long time ago, before Mr. Lucian was born, and even before I was born.
Elder Brother Chrisrain said that the past can't be changed. That's true; the tragedies that have already happened can't be undone.
I hugged the Eir-Eirs tightly in my arms.
"If Lucian became king, and I became king too... it would have been nice if we could have helped each other."
"I think the way things are now isn't bad. Besides, without the past, I wouldn't be who I am today. If I had lived peacefully in Kirschtein, I wouldn't have met Lydia."
"Me?"
"Yeah. I got to meet you. A lot has happened, but I think I'm happy now."
"Um, thank you..."
Mr. Lucian smiled gently at me, and I felt shy.
He has a habit of saying sweet things like it's as easy as breathing. If I got shy every time, I wouldn't be able to handle it. Plus, this isn't the time to be shy, so I tried to keep a serious face.
"...Even though Sir Galeon cared for Bianca, why does he hate Sir Ciel?"
"It seems he didn't originally hate the Gem's People. But when he took Bianca to Edelstein, and she fell in love with a Gem's Person... that's probably when it started."
"Love is a wonderful thing. The books and plays that Sir Stefan read to me showed that love is really special."
"Oh, you remember, Lydia? I'm so happy."
Sir Stefan opened his eyes wide and stared at me for a moment, then he started to tear up.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and put on a serious face.
"Lord Galeon probably saw Bianca as a part of himself. He might have had some dislike for other races because of the Kirschtein people, but when he thought he lost Bianca, those feelings exploded."
"...I don't really understand."
"Lord Galeon probably wanted to choose Bianca's husband himself. But she fell in love with Gem's People without his permission, and when he said it was wrong, she ran away with them. Even when he managed to bring her back, Ciel was born. All the love he had for Bianca turned into hatred."
"Love turned into hatred..."
I remembered the stories Eir-Eir and Ms. Famine told me about Sylphina.
Sylphina loved God Theobart. But when Goddess Alexandria appeared, that love turned into deep sadness.
"...Does love hurt someone?"
"...That's a tough question."
"It's not something to think too deeply about. Emotions are things you can't control. Even if you try to hold back, once you love someone, you just fall deeper. Sometimes you love someone so much that you would give up anything for them."
Sir Stefan frowned at my question.
Mr. Lucian gently placed his hand on my back and encouraged me to keep going up the stairs.
I wondered if Mr. Lucian deeply loved someone.
Or maybe he had someone special in his past that I didn't know about.
What would that feel like? Eirnelys's words flashed in my mind.
Sir Ciel loves me, but my heart isn't with him.
──As a friend, Sir Ciel cares for me. I know that well, even without Eirnelys telling me. But──
"...Did you all come to hurt us?"
When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw a small Gem's People girl.
She ran towards us, and a woman who looked like her mother chased after her.
It was the first time I saw Gem's People up close, with their bodies made of sparkling stones.
And it was also the first time I heard their voices.
The Gem's People, with eyes, hair, and skin made of gems, were incredibly beautiful.
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