But instead of saying anything, Zion just handed the disciple, who had already finished half of the apple, a piece of cheese from the basket.

“Teacher, I have a problem.”

“I’m not interested.”

“There’s someone I want to marry, but there are too many mountains to climb.”

Despite his meanspirited teacher’s refusal, the disciple stubbornly continued, so Zion let out a long sigh.

His disciple, who was about to discuss a lifelong commitment, was only nine years old this year.

It was an open secret that this little one had decided to marry his own teacher.

Zion thought this kid had finally decided to carry out his plan, so he pondered how to effectively crush this vain delusion.

And the little one spoke seriously, oblivious to the teacher’s thoughts.

“How can I marry the Holy Sister?”

This traitor.

Zion looked at his disloyal disciple with a piece of apple still in his mouth.

But the kid, without a trace of nostalgia for an old love, prattled on about how to get to Tienda, that girls can marry each other, and so on.

Then he earnestly explained why he had decided to get married.

The Holy Sister is pretty and nice. She saved our family.

“And she’s honest too!”

Zion, who had been letting his disciple’s praise of Evie Ariate go in one ear and out the other, scoffed at that last word.

Honest, my foot.

Zion wanted to teach his disciple that Evie Ariate was a person filled with hypocrisy.

But then he remembered his conversation with Evie and stopped laughing.

―Do you like our teacher too, sister?

―No, I really hate your teacher.

At the time, he had just brushed it off, but looking back, this was also Evie’s firm conviction.

So Zion felt somehow upset.

Of course, considering the past, it was natural for Evie to hate him.

And unlike Zion, who had been conscious of Evie Ariate for years, to Evie, Zion Laurel was nothing more than an uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared and obstructed her smooth path.

So her adamant expression of dislike was in no way strange, but Zion was secretly displeased.

That’s why he fixed his gaze back on the swaying barley field, as he had done before the child appeared.

The scenery of the village encircled by the barley field was serene. Beyond the barley field was an orchard, and beyond that, a wide meadow where sheep leisurely gathered.

It was a good village on the outskirts of Biss, having everything it needed. Just like a village that the man had chosen for Evie Ariate.

Zion had been here for nearly two years now, following their trail.

He hadn’t thought he’d stay so long when he first arrived, but somehow it had naturally become home.

So now he was thinking about closing up his life here.

Evie Ariate’s intrusion had caused various inconveniences, and more than anything, he wasn’t the type to be patient and tolerant when his weakness was caught.

Unaware or indifferent to his master’s distress, the disciple hanging on the railing shouted towards the village.

“Ah, it’s a whale flag!”

A large flag was fluttering at the entrance of the village the child pointed to. It was the flag of the Bayon army stationed in the village.

That was one of the reasons Zion thought he needed to pack up.

Bayon’s army had dispatched an investigation team after the unusual curse that occurred in this village last full moon.

It wasn’t something that happened yesterday or today, but they rushed in belatedly pretending to work because Tienda’s attention was drawn to Evie Ariate, even though they hadn’t cared about this remote village corner.

“The adults say, maybe we can move our village.”

The child said with a melancholic voice, leaning on the fence.

“This time a big curse came out because our village hid livestock in the mountain. So they’re going to empty the village to make sure there’s no more trouble.”

Zion sighed again at the child’s worried words.

As expected, those incompetent ones had chosen the easy way.

Without the ability to understand the cause of the situation or the will to prepare for the next full moon, they would just empty the village to erase the problem.

It really was time to leave this village.

Zion swallowed his contemptible feelings and firmed up his resolution.

As feared, Evie Ariate had destroyed Zion’s daily life with her mere existence.

But he had no intention of resenting her.

Zion Laurel had the right to prioritize his will, the right not to be grateful for anything, the right not to be equal to others.

In other words, the right to be separate from everything, and the right not to be connected to others.

Zion was someone who wanted such a state, and feeling attached to this village was against his wish.

So he decided to be satisfied with the fact that an opportunity to leave had come up.

Of course, he would have to mock Evie Ariate’s statement that she would protect him first.

“If we move, where do we go? Will all the villagers be separated?”

“We won’t separate.”

Zion responded indifferently to the disciple’s worry. It wasn’t an empty comfort, but sincerity.

Some with money would move to other villages, but the closeknit neighbors of this modest village would all be pushed together to a more barren land.

And they would have to work hard to cultivate the village there, so they wouldn’t at least be separated.

When Zion spoke of others, the child asked as if urging.

“What about the teacher? You’re coming too, right?”

That wasn’t a question but a confirmation.

The child had a face that believed the teacher would definitely come with them.

Caught by those pure eyes, Zion’s words were stuck. He tried to answer without holding back as usual, but somehow it wasn’t easy to open his mouth.

So Zion, biting into the remaining apple in his hand, avoided the disciple’s question for the first time.