DKFTI 59

Surely, among the throng of people, Sibel was nothing more than one bean sprout in a bean sprout bucket. So Sibel waited for the long procession to pass.

Around the procession, children in white robes wandered around carrying baskets of flowers. They were handing out flowers to people.

“Please take a flower!”

“Give me one too!”

He didn’t know why, but it seemed like a tradition. The children, with excited faces, handed out flowers to people and offered words of blessing.

“May the blessing of Seleaum be with you.”

Everyone was delighted. Seeing the Apostle, seeing the paladins, receiving the blessings of the young priests, all of it was a rare experience.

As Sibel was watching those people, a young priest stepped in front of him.

“Would you like a flower?”

“Huh? Yeah, thanks.”

Sibel unconsciously held out his hand. A single flower stem was placed in his hand. Pale blue, small, delicate blossoms clustered on it.

“May the blessing of Seleaum be with you.”

That kind of blessing didn’t really sound like something good to have….

The young priest smiled brightly and moved on to the next people.

Sibel rolled the stem in his fingers. The flowers shook softly.

Forget-me-nots?

The young priests’ baskets were full of flowers of many colors.

“People sometimes use the flower language of the flowers they receive to divine the fortune that will come to them.”

What was the flower meaning of forget-me-nots again. He was thinking it was quite an entertaining event when something happened.

“Why did they suddenly stop?”

“Who knows. Is something happening?”

“Thanks to it, I get to see the Apostle’s face closely for longer.”

“He looks so dignified!”

The procession that had been moving smoothly suddenly stopped, and murmurs spread. Naturally, Sibel’s gaze, which had been fixed on the flower, also rose.

He looked at the procession.

There, Sibel met a very familiar pair of black eyes.

A thin breeze blowing through the dense crowd ruffled Sibel’s robe.

“……”

The noise around him gradually faded. As if he was sinking underwater, all of his senses slowed down.

He was right there in front of him.

Among the countless people, the one who drew his gaze completely. The colors of the surroundings faded as if it were covered by fog.

‘Aizen…?’

His stomach lurched. Why was that person here?

An Apostle.

Yes, since he was an Apostle, he could be participating in an official event.

It was just as he had vaguely imagined. His back straight, his eyes unwavering, his gaze strong.

His brows that always had one or two creases as if cracked whenever he stood before Sibel was smooth. The expressionless face made him look like a stranger.

But in those black eyes Sibel felt the familiar warmth of the Aizen he knew.

His gaze was always intense, and once he fixed on something, he never let it go easily.

In this moment, Sibel thought that Aizen had surely recognized him.

Because it made no sense to exchange such persistent gazes and pretend not to know each other.

For some reason, his lips parted.

In that moment, he almost called out Aizen’s name without realizing it.

Then Aizen turned his head, and the procession began to move again.

“……”

The white horse moved forward smoothly once more.

“Th-that just now….”

The first to speak was Ruru. Ruru had recognized Aizen too.

“Right?”

At Ruru’s question, Sibel nodded.

Right. Or, was it not?

Was he so shocked that his memory got confused? He suddenly wasn’t sure.

“Why would the Hero suddenly return… Ah! Could it be?!”

“C-Could it be what?”

Ruru’s eyes shook, his mouth opening wide.

“He came for revenge! Mmph…!”

As Ruru’s voice grew louder, Sibel hurriedly covered his mouth. The gazes of the people around them were drawn toward them.

“Haha. It’s nothing.”

Sibel gave an awkward laugh and quickly lifted Ruru up, moving him to a quiet spot in the back where there were no people.

“Ugh, ptooey ptooey. Why is your hand so salty? Didn’t you wash your hands?!”

Ruru spat as he spoke.

“But what did you just say?”

Ruru, who had been sticking out his tongue to spit more, pulled it back in and said,

“He came for revenge!”

“Revenge? Why? On who?”

“Who else. Of course on Demon King.”

“Me…?”

Suddenly, he was reminded of the time he parted with Aizen. Aizen, who had taken the antidote and vomited blood. The Apostle captain of the Holy Kingdom who had taken him away.

“Hm.”

Honestly speaking, it’s him who should be feeling resentful, since he gave him the antidote, almost died from it, and even had his castle destroyed.

But in that situation, anyone could see the villain had already been decided.

“Revenge, huh.”

Three years ago, when Aizen had stormed into the Demon King’s castle, it had been a very strange encounter, but they had shared pleasant times together.

No, was that memory tampered with? Was the pleasantness just his own illusion, and had Aizen only been a help in those perilous days?

“I’m absolutely certain. Otherwise, why would he come back here?”

“Probably just to attend the event. That’s all….”

“Ah, you don’t understand!”

“If he held any such feelings, he would’ve drawn his sword the moment our eyes met.”

“Well, that’s true. Did he not recognize you then? Was the Demon King really that lacking in presence?”

Regardless of how rudely Ruru spoke, Sibel recalled the moment their eyes had met again.

That instant when time seemed to stop, when he thought he could smell the familiar soil of the Demon King’s castle. Aizen had definitely seen him.

‘So now he doesn’t even care if he sees me in passing, what the heck?’

To be honest, even if they weren’t on terms to say, “Oh, yeah, have you been well? Let’s grab a meal sometime,” wasn’t it still possible to at least acknowledge each other?

He had wondered, from time to time, how Aizen was doing.

Whether he had recovered his health well, whether he had adapted again to life in the Holy Kingdom, whether he had been scolded or forced to take responsibility… he had imagined many things.

He had even worried, what if Aizen had been emotionally hurt and collapsed into ruin.

But he looked better than when they had last met three years ago. His complexion was good, he was full of energy, and even the wrinkles between his brows that were his trademark were gone.

So, he must be living quite well?

Somehow, that part felt disappointing. He had once said the Demon King’s castle was the best place to live, but in the end, it seemed life in the Holy Kingdom really was better.

“Annoying.”

“What is?”

“Nothing.”

But whatever the case, Sibel felt relieved that he was doing well. Those groundless worries that came uninvited might finally disappear.

“His complexion looked good. The treatment must have worked well.”

“Yeah.”

“And his posture was stiff, so he must have trained more too.”

“You observed him very thoroughly in that short moment.”

“As I’ve always said, my eyes are good. I notice things.”

Sibel let Ruru’s last words pass without response.

“It looks like their paths just happened to overlap.”

Ramiel spoke while watching the procession fade into the distance. Sibel nodded.

“Well, isn’t it a past relationship, whether good or bad?”

“That’s true.”

Ramiel’s words were right. A past relationship, and it was enough to confirm that he was doing well like this. Today’s outing had given him a great return.

Sibel stroked the flower in his hand as he watched the procession recede. Ramiel turned his gaze toward Sibel.

That longing gaze was fixed into a narrow gap in the crowd. Ramiel’s lips curled faintly upward.

“Well… maybe not.”

His words scattered like the wind, swallowed up by the noise around them. Sibel couldn’t take his eyes off the procession for a long time.

As three years passed, he thought many things had changed. But in life, there are sometimes those things: songs, photos, food, objects worn with use.

Things that you have forgotten for a long time, but when suddenly faced with them, they drag you instantly back into that time.

That’s what it was like for Sibel now.

The days of wandering around knowing nothing, the turmoil, the excitement, the agony and the conflict. All of it came back vividly, as if it were yesterday.

“Aizen….”

It was truly a strange thing.

The heightened summer night air rushed in, almost making him feel like he was seasick.

***

Though he had been briefly caught up in memories of the past, once he returned to the Demon King’s castle, Sibel sat at his desk in the office, chin on his hand, nervously shaking his leg.

“Good grief, is the floor going to collapse just from that?”

Shanti, wearing a white frilled pink apron, flicked a feather duster as he spoke near Sibel.

“Grrng.”

Sibel started biting his nails.

“Something feels wrong.”

“Are you sure you really saw that guy? Not just a human who looked similar?”

“Is that appearance common?”

“Hmm… no, it’s not.”

Indeed, that intense aura and that handsome face weren’t common.

Rattle, rattle.

With the rhythm of the moving duster, Sibel’s leg trembled too.

Tap.

Shake.

Tap tap.

Shake shake shake.

“Ahh! It’s distracting!”

Shanti shouted and spun Sibel’s chair around. Sibel, who had been facing the window, was forced to look outside by Shanti.

A calm atmosphere, comfortable temperature and humidity, well-growing plants, summoned beasts running around…. Everything in that moment was peaceful.

“Could this be, the calm before the storm?”

He suddenly felt a chill.