Zyczenia

Chapter 1: A Silver-haired Woman

"How dare you, a lowly commoner raise your head in front of a noble!"

"I'm very sorry... it's my mistake."

Carsein left the Castina Empire and is now in the Kingdom of Lisa. When he was looking around, there seems to be a commotion. He looked around, trying to find the source of the commotion, and there he saw a noble woman arguing with someone.

Then he saw the noble slapping the person in front of her. The slap caused the person's face to be revealed, and her silver hair can be seen in a distance.

'Wait... that person has silver hair?'

Carsein ran towards the two, and then pulled the silver-haired woman behind him.

"That's enough." He said in a cold tone. "Didn't this woman apologize already?"

"Well, why is an Imperial Knight interfering with my business?" The lady said in an annoyed tone, but then she realized something. "Are you perhaps... Sir Rass?"

"Well, they usually called my brother that." Carsein sneered. "I'm Carsein de Rass. The second son of the Rass family."

In a split second, a shocked expression can be seen in the noble woman's eyes. Followed by a huge embarrassment.

"Please forgive the discourtesy I've showed you." The lady bowed, apologizing. "I'm very honored to meet a member of the Rass family, the 'Sword of the Empire'. I am the third daughter of Count Bevon."

Carsein ignored the lady's greeting and turned towards the silver-haired lady.

"Are you okay?"

Just then, his eyes widened. The woman he saw looked exactly the same as a person he once knew in the past, except for her silver-hair, every feature of her looks entirely the same.

'This woman... isn't she Lady Zena?'

The silver-haired woman bowed her head, looking down.

"I am fine, Your Grace. Thank you."

Even her voice sounded similar. The woman tried to leave, but Carsein gripped her hand tighter.

"Are you perhaps... related to the Monique family? You have silver hair." He asked carefully.

"Oh, no. How can a commoner like me be related to a prestigious family such as the Monique?" The woman answered. "Can you please let me go now?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, okay. You can go now."

"Thank you, Sir."

Carsein let go of her hand, and the silver-haired woman disappeared through the crowd.

'I heard that Lady Zena committed suicide, but that woman, she looks exactly the same as her! Even her voice sounded similar. Could it be? No, it couldn't be right? There's no way that the Emperor would let her live. Yeah, she just looked similar.'

The red-haired man tried convincing himself that who he saw wasn't Jieun Graspe de Zena. But he can't help but feel bothered of the silver-haired she had.

***

"Marquis, do you perhaps have any family member who is staying in the Lisa Kingdom right now?"

Carsein asked Keirean la Monique, the commander of the 2nd Squadron, the Head of the Monique family and Aristia's father.

"A family member, no I don't have any. Why do you ask?" The silver-haired man replied.

The flame-haired knight hesitated yo answer for a moment, but then he thought he should at least let the Marquis know about the existence of the silver-haired woman.

"Well, just now I saw a woman with silver hair at the capital, but it wasn't metallic silver like you or the Empress. So I was just wondering."

"I see, thank you for informing me. I'll look into it later." Keirean replied with a reassuring tone.

"Well, then. I'll be leaving now."

***

Time keeps on flowing, it has been a few days since he met that strange silver-haired woman in the capital. He had some free time at the moment, so Carsein decided to write a letter to Aristia, informing about his condition, and cracking some serious jokes. Just then, he remembered about the silver-haired woman who looked like Lady Zena. So he decided to bring it up.

'By the way, Your Majesty, did you perhaps have a relative living in the Lisa Kingdom? A few days ago I encountered a woman with silver hair similar to yours and the Marquis.

As you know, only those of the Monique family has silver hair right? So i was just wondering if she was your relative. But that's not important, since the Marquis didn't say anything about it.'

Suddenly, someone knocked the door to his room. A knight opened the door.

"Sir Carsein, Marquis Monique is looking for you."

"Alright, I'll be there soon."

'Geez, your father is looking for me. I guess the conference is starting. I hope you're doing well, Your Majesty. Your best friend, Carsein de Rass.'

Carsein wrapped the letter in a red envelope, stamped his family seal and wrote the recipient's name on it. Then he went out to go to the conference.

On his way, he encountered a person who usually delivered letters, so he gave the letter to him.

"Can you send this to the Empress?"

"I will, Sir."

***

"Please be careful on your way back." A duke bid farewell.

"We will, thank you."

After a few days of discussion, the delegation led by Marquis Monique came up with satisfying results. Now, they will be going back to the Empire.

Carsein closed his eyes, reminiscing the moments and memories he spent with her.

'Can I treat her as a friend now?'

'Can I really go back to normal and joke around with her?'

He doubt that, his heart is still refusing to accept her as a friend, when he imagined the images of Aristia and Ruveliss being lovey-dovey, he still can't accept it.

'Should I stay a bit longer? No, she'll get worried if I do.'

So he decided to just go with the flow, and went back with the others.

***

The delegation arrived at an inn, where they would stay for the night. Carsein left his things on his room and took a walk at the golden field beside the inn.

The sunset shone brightly, causing the golden field to glimmer even more. Beautiful, like the golden field he saw with Aristia on their way back from the Monique Estate when he was 16.

"How nostalgic..." Carsein whispered. He can still clearly remember that moment. Where he wanted to confess to the silver-haired girl, and was captivated at her silver hair that was shining like the reflection of a sword.

Just when he was about to walk back to the inn, he stepped on a stone and fell down due to the uneven ground.

"Ow? What the hell?" He squinted. Then he noticed something weird from the stone. "Huh? What is this? How do you read this?Zyc....ze...nia?"