I Received The Holy Sword By Dawn Delivery - Chapter 63

Lately, I’ve been frequently dreaming of my childhood. As if this body’s memories are flowing into me.

‘If only it would show me some good memories.’

Right now, Rukna was riding in a carriage with her family.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped, and her father peered out the window at the screams coming from outside.

Whoosh. As her mother pulled Rukna into an embrace, she once again missed seeing her mother’s face.

Mother? With those words, she suddenly felt suffocated. The warmth that had enveloped her disappeared.

She was trapped in a small space again. A musty wood smell. Was she in a box?

‘I can’t breathe, Mother. Where are you? I’m scared!’

She was frightened. A dark energy crept in, trying to tear her body and soul in half.

‘Save me, save me, Mother!’

She wanted to scream, but her small body couldn’t even properly exhale, swallowing the pain.

As if she shouldn’t be discovered.

‘Another dream like this!’

Despite the unbearable pain, the small body silently opened and closed its mouth.

Just as she thought she’d rather die, her cheek stung and a clear, commanding voice flowed into her ear.

“Open your eyes, Rukna!”

And her eyes flew open against her will.

As her pure white vision slowly returned, she saw jet-black spectacle lenses like dragonfly eyes.

“Ahhh!”

Rukna screamed at Lady Gail, who was quietly looking down at her.

The voice that had just shouted at her to open her eyes was clearly male, but had she heard wrong?

“My, what a fright. But you woke up quickly.”

“…Lady Gail?!”

“Yes, I missed you too, Rukna.”

Lady Gail touched Rukna’s forehead with her palm and murmured that her fever had gone down.
The black dress visible beneath her white coat was mourning attire worn to grieve her deceased husband.

“How did I get here?”

“You made your entrance with the student council’s devoted escort.”

Matian and Bolton had brought the collapsed Rukna on a stretcher to the infirmary.
Even Chad, who usually dawdled, and Aaron, the miser who cared about nothing but money, had come to watch.
They argued back and forth about whether to take her to a doctor or not.

“You asked to be brought to the infirmary just before you fainted, they said?”

“I did?”

“Oh my, why such an expression? Isn’t it natural to come find this Gail when you’re hurt?”

Lady Gail, who claimed to be blind, perfectly read her expression again today.
It was truly a remarkable ability.

“By the way, you’ve become quite close with Matian?”

“What? No. How could that be?”

Rukna shook both hands in denial. Cl-close? What nonsense. We just happened to get entangled because of this cursed holy sword.

‘We met at an all-boys school thinking I was a boy, what more could there be?’

Thinking that, Rukna felt strangely embarrassed and scratched her cheek, then furrowed her brow.
Had someone hit her while she was out of it? Her cheek seemed a bit swollen.

“Did I hurt my face?”

“Ah, is your cheek a bit swollen? When you arrived but still couldn’t come to your senses, Matian grabbed your face and… Sigh, never mind. Anyway, it was the first time I’ve seen that Matian Wiegratz care so much about someone else?”

Gail recalled how Matian had urged treatment, saying, “A bullet grazed her side, please look at that first.”
When she picked up a vial of diluted golden elixir, what had he said while suddenly exuding negative emotions?

He had spewed harsh words in a gentle tone, thoroughly scratching at the pride of the school nurse.
That incident had irritated her, and she had kicked the ill-mannered student council out of the infirmary.

Unaware of Gail’s feelings, Rukna defended Matian.

“Matian is kind to everyone, so he must have just looked after me too.”

“Oh my, our Rukna has an eye for men similar to mine.”

Thinking of the late school nurse’s husband, it somehow didn’t seem like a compliment, so Rukna asked, “Pardon?”

“It means your eyes are on the soles of your feet.”

As expected, I knew it would be like this.

“Listen well, Rukna. Men like Matian are troublesome. They thoroughly hide their dark insides with a handsome exterior while obsessing madly over just one woman, you know? Such men have no interest in their overflowing money and power.”

“Is… that so?”

It sounded like she had rattled off keywords for a popular male protagonist, but Rukna changed the subject, feeling she would only get a lecture if she continued.

“But why did I collapse, Lady?”

“You inhaled a lot of toxic gas in the engine room, but your soul was also tired from exposure to black magic.”

Rukna found the expression of a tired soul unfamiliar as she sat up.
Looking at her reflection in the infirmary wall mirror, she saw bandages wrapped around her side and red medicine applied to her forehead.

‘I wonder if it’s a coincidence, but it’s fascinating how this body’s memories surface every time the red medicine is applied.’

She was curious about the identity of this medicine now.
Perhaps it just particularly suited her constitution, even though it hadn’t been very effective for other students.

“Drink this before bed when you return to the dormitory.”

Lady Gail handed over a yellow medicine bottle.

“What is this?”

“It’s a kind of tonic for the soul, you could say? It helps recover a tired soul. Enough to make your soul jump up even while sleeping.”

Lady Gail chuckled and guaranteed the medicine would be incredibly effective.

If only the soul jumps up while the body is sleeping, wouldn’t that mean death, Lady?

Rukna mulled over Lady Gail’s expression before bursting into laughter.

“The elixirs you make seem really amazing, Lady.”

“…Oh my, do they?”

“Yes. It feels like you’re a great alchemist.”

At those words, Lady Gail’s lips, which had been raised high, drooped down like a puppet with cut strings.

“Lady?”

Lady Gail’s lips quivered for a moment before she lowered her eyebrows and smiled as if troubled.

“It’s been a while since someone acknowledged my skills, so I was a bit surprised. Thank you for the compliment, Rukna.”

Lady Gail pushed Rukna’s back, telling her to hurry back. Perhaps because she was familiar with the infirmary, she walked out well without bumping into anything, even without using a cane.

Gail closed the entrance door as soon as Rukna crossed the infirmary’s threshold.
And just before the door fully closed, she poked her face through the gap, saying, “Oh dear, I almost forgot.”

“Rukna, there was one more student brought in injured with you. His name was… Randol?”

The guy exuding an unpleasant aura was dragged away by the imperial guards as soon as emergency treatment was finished, she said.

“Be careful. He didn’t seem to know your secret yet, but he showed special interest in you. It was a bit creepy.”

After the airship incident was resolved.

Randol, released from prison, returned to the military academy.
It was thanks to Professor Todley’s confession that he had used Randol as a sacrifice for black magic, which matched the actual circumstances.

His remaining charge was unauthorized entry into Rukna Golden’s room, but as it wasn’t subject to imperial law, it ended with disciplinary action according to school rules.

‘Now I don’t feel anxious or angry even when I see Matian.’

The anger born from a twisted admiration for Matian, and the terrible self-loathing, gradually disappeared from within Randol.
He regained peace of mind as soon as he broke free from Professor Todley’s influence.

He also dyed his hair back to brown from the black he had colored it, and removed all the possessions and fake medals he had bought to imitate him.

‘Why did I do all that?’

Imitating Matian was no longer fun.
Though he seemed to have been quite obsessed with it in the past, now he couldn’t even remember why.

Unlike before, his mind was at peace. If there was one thing that had changed, it was this:

‘Oh, there’s Rukna Golden. Is she moving to a different college now?’

Whenever he saw Rukna, an undefinable lump of emotion welled up from deep within his chest.

He even joined the club for Rukna, nicknamed Rui-bit-dong, but there they only engaged in useless activities like helping students in trouble or beautifying the environment.

‘Damn it, this is no different from the community service I got as punishment.’

Unlike the rumors, Rukna rarely showed her face at the club, so there were few chances to meet her.
If there was any benefit, it was getting Rukna’s lecture schedule from a guy named Hans.

‘At least thanks to that, I can follow Rukna around during breaks.’

But Rukna Golden still paid no attention to him.
He tried stealing her things and playing aggressive pranks, but each time those damn club members blocked his way.

“Hey, you there! Why do you keep hanging around Lady Rukna? Huh?”

Those pieces of trash. Have they completely forgotten their own past of bullying Rukna Golden? Why are they only picking on me?

“I, I was just playing around because I want to be friends with Rukna.”

While Rukna was away, Randol, who had been rummaging through the unattended bag, hid the red rose he was holding behind his back.
He had intended to put this flower in the bag as a sign of affection, but failed.

“You call going through Lady Rukna’s bag just playing around? Why I oughta!”

Hans raised his burly fist with a fierce expression.
Look at these guys who can’t say a word to Matian barking at people selectively.
But clashing here would only hurt himself.

“I, I won’t play around anymore. Really, haha.”

Randol laughed as he avoided conflict with them.

Getting worked up over a little prank like this.
Of course, he had lightly coated the petals with poison, but not with the intention to kill – he planned to give the antidote while getting closer.

‘It’s so strange. I’m sure I knew an important secret about Rukna Golden, but I can’t, can’t remember.’