Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Compared to the Aode Empire, which had been plunged completely into the war against the Orcs, the Sunan Empire across the sea had not suffered such fierce flames of war. Among the people coming and going, the smiles Ruiyin saw still held the simple, worldly happiness of ordinary life.

The Sunan Empire’s Golden Rose Castle stood atop a high cliff by the sea. Pure white gulls flew alongside the spray thrown up as waves crashed against black reefs, circling between twelve columns of solid gold and crying out in clear, ringing calls. The entire castle was built from white marble. Only those iconic columns were different, coiled with lifelike roses half-open in gorgeous bloom. Sacred gold and pure white made Golden Rose Castle an existence even more soothing to the soul than the Church’s cathedrals.

It suited the outstanding style of that peacock prince Juvina perfectly.

Ruiyin kept sneezing from the rose fragrance filling the gardens. She glared resentfully at the flowers that Juvina, the so-called Empire’s First Magician, had given special care. A pile of rose heads she had just violently harvested still lay on the ground, yet new blossoms had already opened on the branches. Thank heaven this regeneration technique had not yet been applied back in the Celestial Empire, or the executioners at Caishikou would have worked themselves to death.

“Heehee, John, you can’t catch me~~~”

“Haha, Lilia, don’t run~~~”

“I will run, you jerk~~~”

“…”

Amid the young couples of every variety chasing and flirting and radiating dreamy pink bubbles, Ruiyin, dressed in a dusty gray traveler’s cloak, dodged left and right with a blank face to avoid girls chasing butterflies. Her hand, hidden inside her sleeve, gripped a dagger so tightly it began to tremble, and only then could she desperately suppress the urge to leap up and start killing. The resentment of the Couples Go Die Go Die Brigade had been a holiday gift package for this single young woman ever since she hit puberty. She just had not expected that even after transmigrating to a fictional medieval world, she would still be leading the trend of the times and fail to escape it.

Why, given that peacock Juvina’s personality, was a palace garden of this scale actually open to the public for free?

The dagger spun rapidly between Ruiyin’s fingers. She crouched down and silently began digging a very deep pit in the ground, while happily imagining a certain young girl losing her footing and falling in. It would definitely be a pleasure from head to toe, hehehe…

A sudden clamor of young women’s voices interrupted Ruiyin’s descent into darkness. This sort of sound was much the same across all ages and nations. It usually occurred when some luminous object suddenly appeared in a place where females had gathered. That luminous object could be a glittering gem, or it could be a glittering person. For cries of this magnitude, it was usually the latter.

Ruiyin looked up, wreathed in black aura from head to toe. Beneath a white corridor half-hidden by wisteria, two figures were slowly approaching. Walking in front was a tall, straight-backed youth in knight’s armor, a long scarlet sword slung at his waist. He wore no helmet, and his already long black hair was bound by a metal ring. He was very tall. Wisteria petals hanging from above mischievously tangled in his hair. The youth tilted his head slightly, and the strong fingers gripping his sword gently brushed away the faintly sweet petals. In that instant, his increasingly clear and sharp features took on a somewhat unfamiliar tranquility, and in a daze, there was even a hint of a power that could move the heart.

He said something to the person behind him, then turned his head. The instant he saw Ruiyin, an extremely delighted smile appeared on his face. He shouted, “Ruiyin!” and happily ran toward her in all that clanking armor, then successfully tripped over the cursed pit Ruiyin had dug.

Splat! He landed face-first right in front of Ruiyin.

Lars raised his head with dirt all over his face and cheerfully met Ruiyin’s eyes. Then, without the slightest shame, he gazed at her with starry eyes. “Ruiyin, sorry. Have you been waiting long?”

It made all those young maiden feelings from a moment ago feel like passing clouds in an instant.

“Not long.” Ruiyin helped Lars up. The knight was still grinning stupidly, lost in “Oh no, Ruiyin helped me up, this is amazing” and unable to extricate himself. Ruiyin looked at the armor on him, which was so ornate it had become cumbersome, and frowned in discomfort. “What is this thing? Where are your original clothes?”

Before he went in, he had clearly still been wearing that healthy, lively, energetic Apprentice Knight school uniform. Just what kind of deranged thing had those people done to this child?

“Um, Juvina lent it to me.” Lars drooped his head a little dejectedly. “He said that as the holder of the Sword of Shadow, this was the most basic etiquette. I don’t like it at all. If I get the chance to hug… uh, touch Ruiyin, the armor will hurt you!”

Did he dare tell her what that word that had accidentally popped out before the ellipsis was supposed to mean?!

“Please address me as Prince Juvina.”

This was a voice that came with its own portable crowd-clamor system, because the instant it appeared, the young girls’ murmurs in the flowerbeds rose by three full levels. The handsome young man with blond hair and blue eyes nodded in acknowledgment to the surrounding crowd before turning his gaze back to the dusty, dirt-covered pair. “After all, we are inside Golden Rose Castle. Addressing me directly by name is disrespectful to the royal family.”

The newcomer wore a prince’s standard set of white shirt, fitted trousers, cape, and long sword, but the complicated, glittering gold-thread patterns and embedded jewels covering every article of clothing and accessory were enough to make a person ignore the style of the outfit itself. Countless pieces of gold, silver, and gemstone, combined with blond hair and blue eyes, nearly blinded Ruiyin. She frowned. “Who are you?”

The young man’s elegant, noble stride stumbled. His face fell. “I’m Juvina!”
“Oh, so it was you.” Ruiyin looked as if everything had suddenly clicked. “Why did you change clothes again? Friendly reminder: if your face is that forgettable, you really shouldn’t keep wearing such flashy outfits. They steal the spotlight so badly that no one remembers what you look like.”

Juvina nearly ground a tooth to dust before forcing himself to maintain his princely composure. He gave a cold snort and said to Lars, “In any case, I still hope Your Excellency will seriously consider the proposal I just made. In both status and strength, you are currently the most suitable candidate we have. Of course, if you did not have such a regrettable lady at your side, I believe even command of the allied forces would be no obstacle for you.”

The prince, whose looks and fashion sense had always led the era’s screaming trends, shot Ruiyin one last vicious glare. When he discovered that her thick skin truly reflected every bit of damage right back at him, he swept his sleeve in disappointment and left.

Ruiyin turned back around, completely unconcerned. “What took you so long? What exactly did that guy say to you?”

Smiling, Lars brushed the dust from Ruiyin’s shoulder. His tall body, intentionally or otherwise, blocked every unfriendly stare from the women around them before he said lightly, “The same matter he proposed before. Juvina said I am a knight chosen by the God of War. As the sole wielder of the Sword of Shadow, he hopes I will join the alliance resisting the Orc Legion.”

“Alliance?” Ruiyin paused. “Has the war between humans and Orcs really gotten that serious?”

“More serious than we imagined,” Lars said. “After Kandel Castle fell, nearly all of the Aode Empire was overrun. The borders of the other three empires are also doing everything they can to hold back the Orcs’ attacks. And recent news from the front says that Orc King Kandaru has joined the battle. Several small nations have already been swallowed up. At present, only if humanity works together can they withstand this ferocious offensive.”

Ruiyin gave a rather detached “Oh.” “About what we guessed before, then. But I imagine that even if you’re the wielder of the Sword of Shadow, Juvina probably can’t make you commander of the allied forces right away. That’s fine. If there’s one thing war never lacks, it’s opportunities for promotion.”

“I refused him,” Lars said lightly, lowering his head with gentle concern. “Are you hungry? The palace kitchens have excellent ingredients. Would roast spring chicken do?”

Ruiyin stopped walking. “Say that again?”

“Hm? You don’t like that? That’s fine. They also have very tender veal. The salmon and foie gras are fresh too. I can…”

“You. Said. You. Refused. Him?” Ruiyin stared at Lars in disbelief. When he readily nodded, she finally couldn’t help roaring, “Are you insane?!”

“I am not,” Lars said, actually sounding very serious. “Ruiyin, you have never experienced war, so you don’t understand. No matter how strong I am, on a battlefield like that, it would be very difficult for me to protect you completely. I don’t want what happened before to happen again, so I…”

“So you chose to shirk your responsibility?” Ruiyin stared hard at him, her eyes seeming to frost over. “As a knight, you chose to run away. You chose to betray the oath you once swore before the Statue of the God of War. Lars, have you forgotten the dream you once told me about?!”

Yet faced with her anger, the young man only smiled at her, as though all her fury had been cast into the night and received no response at all.

A long time passed before Lars slowly spoke. “Ruiyin, I remember every word you have ever said to me. You told me not to make decisions rashly, because not every decision leaves room for regret. Do you know? Up until now, there is only one decision I regret most.”

“…”

“I regret leaving you behind on my own back then, just so I could play the hero,” Lars said softly. “When I was inside the Orc King’s nightmare, I kept fighting, kept searching, kept praying to the heavens that I could find you. And when I finally saw you for real, that was the moment I regretted most in my life.”

“Ruiyin, you said it yourself, didn’t you? Never believe in the shape of the world as described by someone else’s mouth. And now, the world I see tells me that there is nowhere safer than by my side, and aside from me, there is no power more reliable for protecting you.”

“…Am I that important to you?”

Lars smiled at her and, in the lightest tone, spoke an oath that landed with the weight of iron. “Even your most insignificant wish can become my Oracle.”

Ruiyin forcibly swallowed the charred feeling of having been struck by lightning and gritted her teeth. “Fine. Then right now, my wish is this: go do what a true knight should do. Go be a real man and a hero. Tell me, can you do that?”

Lars stood where he was and looked at her, his emerald eyes deep and calm, a pool of dark green. After a long while, he dropped to one knee and gently kissed the back of Ruiyin’s hand. “If that is your wish, then I will make it come true for you.”

He had agreed, yes…

…But could he not say it like this was all her fault?! He had been perfectly normal before, so why did it now sound as if his sudden case of grandiose delusion was entirely because of her?!

Author’s Note:

Ruiyin, with no way to defend herself: …Am I allowed to swear?