Chapter 62 - The Goodbye and Reunion

It was a long sleep. Azriel opened and rubbed her eyes. Her tears smeared all over her hand. Gazing at her hands that were wet with tears, she murmured.

“You surely abandoned me, Rhema.”

She remembered everything. As if she had never forgotten, it clearly settled down within her.

“…I didn’t know that you’d be this miserable. I was mistaken to think that it would be enough since I prepared you guardians and wealth although that wasn’t enough.” 

She heard Rhema’s voice nearby. She was not so surprised. With her head still on the pillow, she turned her head toward him.

“I remember everything.”

“Do you have a headache?”

“I’m okay. I’m a little absent-minded though.”

“You’ve been asleep almost all day. Would you like to eat first?”

“I’ll eat a little later.”

Azriel sat up. Rhema approached her and laid a pillow behind her back. Leaning against it, she looked up at him who came close to her. The beautiful and cruel wizard who did not change a bit since six years ago. After remembering all the childhood memories, it felt like destroying Colte Castle was not a huge deal.

“Rhema.”

“Yes.”

“You said you almost didn’t recognize me when you saw me again for the first time.”

He wavered. Looking at her with strange eyes, he slowly nodded.

“It was only for a moment, but yes.”

“You didn’t change a bit, but I changed a lot, didn’t I? I’m not a mere child anymore.”

There were a lot of differences between the ten-year-old Azriel ruminating about what she had gone through and the current Azriel recalling what happened that time.

Six years of childhood was incomparably long when compared to the same time of an adult. She was now no longer the child who wailed bagging not to abandon her.

To Azriel back then, being abandoned by Rhema was a shock equivalent to the end of the world, but it was not the same to Azriel now. So she could be comparably calm.

Now that she remembers everything, her feelings toward Rhema were quite complex. She just could not organize her thoughts clearly. One thing that was sure was that even though Rhema was the one who ruined Hanora Village and erased her memory at his will, she could not hate him.

Moreover, even though it was Rhema who chose such a method, his intention itself was all for her good. She knew it. Worried about her being kidnapped, he rooted around the village, because the village chief overlooked her being kidnapped, he became furious, and because she cried and was saddened by his actions, he decided to say goodbye to her.

She could not trust him and rely on him completely as she did when she was young. However, she could not blame him completely either. Azriel went on, organizing her thoughts with difficulty.

“I am old enough to understand your words. So please tell me the truth. Why did you erase my memory and leave me?”

“Don’t you remember what happened that time?”

“I’m asking because I remember.”

“The village you liked was damaged because of me. In order to avoid the same thing repeating, I had to…”

“You just don’t have to repeat it. Why do you say like the same thing will happen again?”

Rhema flinched his mouth. To define it, his look was closer to a bitter smile.

“Azriel, it’s hard for me to judge the range of your sadness.”

She thought he would be that way. Something was strange about him. Azriel now was certain of what she felt vaguely when she was young. The Wizard of the Horizon did not seem to look at humans as humans, everyone except for her. She was the only exception.

She realized how special she was to him. To begin with, she was the first person to show up in a thousand years, who had the same eyes as him. How was his reaction when he found out that she could see mana? Azriel was bound to be special to him.

‘To Rhema, others are meaningless beings.’

Rhema Reshith was an abnormal and dangerous wizard. However, to Azriel, he was a person who cared about her the most. She had feelings that could not be described. It was creepy and relieving at the same time and also bitter and sweet. Azriel asked in a low voice.

“Rhema, would you behave the same even if I said I don’t like it and stop you from doing it?”

“…I probably won’t.”

“Right, you wouldn’t do so just like how you saved Charles and helped Maylie. You did everything If I wanted.”

The grey eyes vacantly gazed at her. Azriel lowered her eyes as if to avoid his eyes.

“But why would you, who was like that, erase my memory even though I resisted that much?”

“…”

“I don’t want to hear excuses like you did it to protect me from you or that you were afraid that I would get miserable. I want you to tell me the truth.”

“That’s not an excuse, Azriel.”

“No, it’s an excuse. At least that can’t be the whole reason. You have another reason.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Rhema, you changed my life and made who I am now. You were my savior, teacher, and family.”

Azriel lifted her head and looked at him.

“But that doesn’t mean you can decide my life freely. You always treated me keeping that in mind.” 

“…Did I?”

“There are not many people who ask a child’s opinion so seriously. Rhema, you never forced me or ignored my word.”

The greatest wizard in the world respected her more than anyone else. So, Azriel became a person who was used to being respected and who could respect others. Regardless of what other people said, whether she was enslaved or not, she respected herself. She did not devalue herself. That was how she grew up.

Rhema was expressionless. Azriel could not tell what he was thinking but she was not afraid of him. She continued.

“Rhema, I told you clearly back then. I don’t like the fact that you are abandoning me more than the fact that the village was damaged. But why did you think that I’ll surely be miserable and pull me apart?