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n2. White Rose Waltz (2)

n“Ah, I have to greet those who are in the same situation. I greet you. Are you a eunuch or did you have a foul smell? Because of that rumor, didn’t the beautiful ladies who courted you disappear?”

nFrancia shrugged his shoulders.

n“But I’m not the one who spread the rumor you just said.”

nLenag raised his eyebrows slightly.

n“Are you pretending not to be?”

n“Oh my goodness. Look at this face. Is it a lying face? Huh?”

nLenag didn’t even budge. Francia clicked her tongue.

nFrancia sometimes envied and hated that rose that had endured the years as if nothing had happened.

nShe doesn’t know what this man is hiding in that shell. But who cares?

nFrancia took the posture as if ‘I did well right’. So what was there to do now? Her attitude clearly reveals her will.

nLenag was already familiar with it as well.

n“Did you come to pick up a fight? if you want a fight Callisto will deal with you.”

nThen the baby bear looked puzzled. However, Callisto soon faced Lenag too with its small fists and a determined look.

nLenag only responded with a slightly pathetic face.

n“That provocation is not funny. I won’t be able to compete with your guardian deity.”

n“Oh, look at that? Are you ignoring me now? How strong is my guardian deity?”

n“Are you the only one with a guardian deity?”

n“What’s wrong with you.”

nFrancia grinned, resting her chin with her hand on the handle of the throne.

n“The bear tore the snake.”

n“…… Sometimes you say things like an unintelligible joke, but do you know that, let alone looking dignified, you are looking down on dignity?”

nLenag raised his gaze with cold eyes.

n“Huh, only people are funny.”

n“I heard you hit some administrative officials with that tongue? They just gnashed their teeth saying they had to put you in Kambrakam”

nFrancia raised her palm. Lenag stopped at a reasonably close distance.

nThe distance between the two remaining roses has always been maintained this way for 7 years. They weren’t friends, but they weren’t enemies either.

nHe was a comrade. A comrade to endure the unknown time.

n“So why are you here?”

nLenag made a really strange look.

n“Are you asking because you really don’t know?”

nExcept for another person, it was the maximum change that a man without an expression could make.

n“Isn’t today the day to send the ‘letter’?”

n“Ah really?”

nFrancia jumped up from her seat. Mysteriously, her expression, which had withered from boredom, blossomed like a newly blooming blade of grass.

nLenag accepted this without much surprise.

n“Why are you pretending to be surprised?”

n“It should be like this, more dramatic.”

nOf course, Francia couldn’t forget this day. It was a day she would never forget, even if she pretended to forget it.

nA letter, the only connection to Iana’s world.

nOccasionally Francia wanted to stick her head through the hole that opened every time. It would be the same for the man in front of her.

nIf the hole hadn’t been small enough for a cat’s head to barely fit, she might have tried with courage.

nIf she could see Iana, it would be worth risking her life at least 10 times.

nIn fact, it was only at first that the order of whose letter would be sent first was decided, but over the course of 7 years, the order has long since faded.

nSoon the cracks in space will be torn apart. And they’ll only see a small hole like a mailbox.

nFrancia’s expression, which quietly waited for the time, gradually blurred. This was the first time in 7 years, which is not short.

n“You know, Yellow Rose.”

nLenag calmly moved his cold gaze.

n“Are you…… Are you really okay?”

nWhy? It’s okay if she perseveres today. Oddly enough, Francia found it unbearably hard.

nIt’s just a day no different than any other day.

n“The days of waiting for countless long days with these letters without promise like this again…….”

nAre you really okay? She asked a comrade walking the same road.

nLenag’s expression didn’t collapse like Francia’s.

nFrancia, who had seen him for a long time, was not fooled by his outward appearance. She already knows that it is not a short time.

nThat man had collapsed from within.

nLike the last day when he didn’t show a single pain in front of his love, even though his insides would rot.

n“…… It’s useless to look back. There is no need to dwell on it.”

n“Is this feeling captured by reason? Can it be captured?”

n“…….”

n“I don’t think so.”

n“Nevertheless. You have to capture it.”

nDon’t you think so too? The man’s voice seemed to be telling Francia why she was thinking stupid things.

n“No, Yellow Rose. I…….”

nThe young pope, who had taken the throne, collapsed in longing.

n“…… As for today…… I can’t stand it.”

nIt was the tears she had been holding back. It was too wasteful to shed it here, and it hurt her pride.

nHowever, the longing that was finally filled up to the brim dripped down her cheeks like a shower.

n“Do you think I am stupid?”

n“…….”

n“Is my longing foolish?”

nLenag let out a deep breath.

n“Whether you collapse outside or inside, it’s the same collapse. Why are you asking something useless?”

nLenag’s voice became ferocious. No matter how quietly it hid its existence like a shadow, the nature of the snake was that of a beast.

n“Francia Orr Rosenia. You know everything, don’t ask.”

nLenag’s golden eyes were sharper than ever.

n“If you or I lose our temper and wield power, this empire will quickly become a crucible of chaos.”

nWhat they built for 7 years was a huge tower of power.

n“So? Do you want to mess with the land on which our king will one day return?”

nFrancia smiled brightly, holding back her tears.

n“Ah, that’s good.”

nThat looks good. She whispered in a graceful voice.

n“I didn’t want to be the only one broken.”

nShe has a bad character. She was mean and selfish. However, even she had sympathy and compassion to pass on to her comrade who was rotting away inside just like her.

nIn Francia’s eyes, Lenag was more dangerous than herself.

n“I heard that the hand that is catching criminals is getting more and more brutal. Just admit it now. I’m not the only one who is broken.”

n“…… to admit that. Why would it matter?”

nLenag showed calm anger through his eyeglasses. He was a man with a quiet light even in his anger.

n“I mean, at least express it.”

nFoolish Yellow Rose. Francia smiled elegantly.

n“An active volcano erupts up and rests. A mountain that blocks the entrance will only destroy itself.”

nMismatched eyes met tightly. They were comrades, but that doesn’t mean they could be friends for the rest of their lives.

nIf they had to express it, they were more like bad friends who will not be on good terms for the rest of their lives.

nAt the same time, the space shook. This was a familiar vibration to both Francia and Lenag.

nSoon the space will be torn apart and a small hole will be pierced. And if they put a letter prepared in advance there, the small communication will end with that.

nSeparate with that man, and they won’t see each other again for a while.

nIn fact, years ago, the two were unintentionally embroiled in the scandal of the century, but they cleverly exposed their relationship to everyone by not knowingly handling the rumors.

nSo they wouldn’t be able to see each other until the gap opened again.

n‘How long will it take next time?’

nFrancia grabbed her face. If only she could see that person’s face just once.

n“…… If I live like this, I might die of thirst.”

nFrancia thought those words were the same as her feelings. After saying this, Lenag’s face was also full of sorrow.

nA very long journey, when he sees the journey they will walk in the future.

nThat man used to make a face like that only when he thought of one person.

nFrancia let out a small sigh. In the midst of the silent silence, only Lenag murmured softly.

n“Iana.”

nLenag muttered into the air. Occasionally he would be lost in his own world and show this.

n“…… This is the day I especially miss you.”

nMiss Iana, the longing voice seemed to have been branded in his heart. For he clung to his chest like a man who had vomited blood.

nFrancia didn’t want to see the open hole again.

nThat’s when she lowered her eyes and held out only her hand with the letter towards the opening.

n‘…… Why isn’t it swallowed?’

nPat. A strange sound came. It was the sound of the letter leaving Francia’s hand falling to the floor.

nThere was no way this would happen. When the hole opens, of course it would swallow the letter.

n“Oh, what is it? Are you giving it to me without looking at me?”

nIt was a voice she had missed. Francia froze with her head turned.

nShe thought it was just an illusion. No. This must be an illusion.

nWhen she looked up, she could see Lenag’s face staring at one spot.

n“I came to receive the letter myself this time.”

nA voice that she really misses and long for, a figure she drew even in her dreams but never appeared.

nFrancia’s face turned slowly.

n“Actually, I wanted to see my roses rather than the letter.”

nThere was a face that didn’t change at all from when they parted. Wearing clothes she had never seen before.

nThe nonchalantly kind smile awakened the child Francia when she first met her.

n“…… sister?”

n“Miss Iana…….”

nIana affectionately gazed at her two roses that were in tears.

n“Yes. I’m sorry.”

nWith a broad smile, as if marking the end of a long and sharp longing.

n“Did it take too long?”

nShe greeted them as if they had met yesterday.

nLenag was one step ahead of Francia. His arms trembled as he ran and he wrapped Iana in one arm.

nThere were streams of tears running across his cold, relentless face.

nFrancia understood those feelings well. Even if she was a lost parent who had spent years searching for her child, these feelings could not compare. Because even at this moment with her eyes open, she couldn’t believe it.

nNo, her body didn’t move.

n“Francia.”

nHowever, at one call, Francia moved automatically.

nShe ran. For this moment, she didn’t need the power she’d been building all her life, her throne, or her spot. She could throw it away, she thought.

n“Sister? Sister……. Sister! Really really. Sister?”

n“…… yes.”

nFrancia finally fell into the arms of the king she had finally reclaimed and cried like a child. For a long, long time.

n“Sorry. I’m really sorry…… I can’t even take you.”

nIana’s voice became small, tinged with pain and pity.

n“I wanted to see your face. ……I didn’t know that making a deal with God would take this long.”

nAs if she had found her place, her entire heart was directed toward one thing.

nIf this is the fate, it was the fate that Francia chose herself.

n“Francia, Lenag.”

nThe friendly voice.

n“Do you want to go to my house?”

nAnd then, without hesitation, Francia took the outstretched hand.

nThe passing season was spring.

nAh, spring with pink leaves flowing down one by one, as if the petals were dancing a waltz with joy and happiness.

nWhat about Francia? She had an idea a long time ago that she wanted to dance her clumsy feet with her sister.

nShe wonders if she was now in this spring landscape where the pink flowers are playing, the whole world will be dyed in Iana’s color.

n“Francia, this way!”

n“Yes!”

nShe thought as she ran.

nSister probably doesn’t know how much I like Sister.

nMy one and only God.

nThe thing that the pure white rose embraces with reverence. A reverence that only looks up at the sky.

nThis blind affection, tightly bound like a pure white pillar, would last till death.

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