Unable to forget the lifeless face that waited for the day to die at a young age, having lost everything.

Hayden intervened abruptly and slightly, trying to offer comfort, but that was all. The deep-rooted depression and lethargy inside her were beyond reach.

Until she regained her strength, no one could heal her.

“Just think of me and take care of your body. Just do what you can for now.”
The Southern Sage coming to the South and performing the role of a sage wasn’t that difficult. Hayden, still holding Ru for a while, strolled around the place. Mana followed her, creating a massive flow as she moved.

“It was quite tangled.”

While proper Southern Sages kept dying or having their power taken away, the land, though seemingly intact, couldn’t fulfill its role, being forced to obey Carlos.

Without forcing it, Carlos’s influence that had been oppressing the entire place began to fade, and the land welcomed the return of the true Southern Sage.

“So this is how it feels. Do you feel better when you go to the North too?”

“Yes. I feel really good. It welcomes you from the sky to the ground.”

“I see… Then later, when we reclaim this place, should we stay apart?”

She didn’t like that. But Dragonrode usually tried not to leave the East, and Ophelia also tried not to go outside of Matop. Now that she knew the reason, it seemed that the Southern Sage and the Northern Sage couldn’t spend their lives together. Perhaps they had to live apart for a few days a week?

“Do you want to stay apart from me?”

If the temperature of the voice suddenly dropped, is it a misunderstanding?

“Not really, but you have to go to the North occasionally. I also have to come to the South sometimes. In the end, we can’t help but be apart.”

“Why not go together? When you come to the South, I’ll follow you like now, and when you go to the North, I’ll do the same. Don’t you want to go to the North?”

“That’s not it. I’m curious about the North. I want to go. But is it okay?”

“Yes, it’s okay. If it’s not okay, I’ll make it okay.”

Ru laughed and hugged him tightly. The stars in the sky shone as if pouring down on them.

“Really. Why did I become an emperor?”

“There was no one else but you to become the emperor.”

“To return the South to you, I had to become an emperor. That’s all.”

Ru thought he was joking, but there was no hint of laughter in Hayden’s voice. She slightly moved away and looked at Hayden. His gray eyes, facing her, held all the years he had passed through.

“If there was a higher position than the emperor, you would have chosen that side. If there was a stronger power, you would have had that power.”

In the quiet confession, Ru could sense traces of an unfamiliar and intense struggle.

Ru looked at Hayden as if she couldn’t understand or couldn’t comprehend.

“You…”

She wasn’t simply moved by those words. In that, she read a relentless determination that ordinary people could never easily possess.

“What happened to you after we parted?”

Surprised, Hayden buried his face in Ru’s hand, which was gently caressing his cheek.
“There was nothing to worry about. It wasn’t easy, but when we parted, Ru taught me well, so I was able to manage on my own.”

“You were alone.”

Black hair brushed against Ru’s fingertips. Hayden didn’t deny it and smiled faintly.

“It seems like the right time. Shall we go?”

Was he reluctant to say it? Since Ru never thought about prying into something he didn’t want to talk about, she nodded.

“Do you remember how we parted?”

“No…”

Ru shook her head weakly. Then she lowered it deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t need an apology because I intentionally wanted to forget. If it comes back to me later, can I ask you again then?”

Ru raised her head again. Hayden still smiled gently. To her, he always faced her with the same expression, unshaken and consistent.

“I’ll answer then. I have no choice but to answer.”

“If you don’t want to…”

“If I remember, I want to tell you.”

When the two of them recalled the memories they shared, Hayden also wanted to talk about that time. Ru nodded.

“Yes, please do. Since the memories are gradually coming back, they will eventually return.”

“Yes, then.”

Hayden, still holding Ru, headed back to the Shalea Palace.

After a few steps, the two completely left the South of Caleta. It was as if the true Southern Sage was leaving the South once again.

For a long time, the suppressed mana of the South, which had been left without proper care, was still following Ru.

“Are you sleepy? Sleep.”

Because there shouldn’t be anything for you. Hayden, while kissing Ru’s forehead as she yawned, looked at her shoulder and then stepped forward. The moment his foot touched the ground, they returned to the Shalea Palace.

In the South of Caleta, the air that had briefly appeared when the caregiver came and then disappeared began to ripple.

The mana, which was expected to be suppressed, raised its head. Time passed, and even the law of nature that had been forcibly rearranged deceived was exposed. The mana twisted as much as the time that had been pressed down forcibly.

No matter how many sages there are, monsters will still appear.

Especially with significant regional differences; the North goes without saying, and the West was also chaotic. As for the East, Dragonrode occasionally looked around and caught as many monsters as possible, and above all, it was a place where monsters rarely appeared naturally, so it could be considered blessed.

But what about the South?

How was the South?

It had been so long that even the memory had been erased from Carlos Aser Ingram’s mind. Such trivial matters had already been set up and stored, so now the important thing was to intricately weave the time bomb planted in Perseta.

Yes, more intricately. Carlos tightened his fist, thinking about Rustica Gennis, who he had briefly made eye contact with.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”
The Kataat Palace he rules was always quiet and solemn. No one dared to call him wildly in awe. However, to act so loudly. Carlos frowned. But no one stopped that person.

Even the guard captain guarding the door let him pass. The man who came in, stumbling and panting, shouted loudly.

“Your Majesty, urgent news! Savages from the South have invaded!”

Carlos’s face wrinkled. Invaded? Already? Well, all wars start without warning. But Perseta’s power shouldn’t be at that level yet?

“Monsters, monsters have overrun the South!”

Monsters were terrifying creatures that sometimes popped out in front of the walls. Why would monsters appear in the South? The Imperial Knights, the power capable of dealing with monsters, were all deployed in front of the walls, so the South was helpless, according to the news.

The only man who realized the cause felt a chill down his spine. The devices he had carefully set up were gradually falling out of alignment.

For the first time in hundreds of years, a monster wave erupted in the South.