To The Eternal Knight (2 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
I wished that child hadn’t died so nobly.
Dying in war as a sacrifice for the nation was far too noble an end for Nerea. That child should have vanished, buried in the mud.
Remembering the sight of her trembling uncontrollably, unable even to hold a glass—how thrilling it had been.
Yet now, looking back, I regret it. If only I’d killed her then, she wouldn’t be causing such upheaval in the world now.
“Your Majesty, what does he think? Is he really going to summon that child officially?”
“I’m not sure. He still seems undecided. Since all eyes are already on her, it seems he’s put off eliminating her for now.”
Helen interrupted her words and poured the decocted medicine into a bowl. Though the steaming brew gave off a foul odor, Brienna accepted it without protest.
The bitterness was intense, yet she drank it down in one smooth gulp without pause.
As soon as Brienna set the bowl aside, Helen promptly popped a piece of candy into her mouth as if she’d been waiting for just that moment. The sweet taste of honey and candied fruit slowly smoothed the furrow between Brienna’s brows.
“But why is Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess only now seeking restorative herbs? If only you’d taken even a sip back when this old woman first brought them, the palace would already be echoing with a baby’s cries.”
Hearing complaints so reminiscent of the Empress, Brienna chuckled softly. Helen, still regretful, whispered discreetly,
“By the way, up until now, you always asked for medicine to prevent conception. Why the sudden change of heart? Is this the perfect time to bear a son?”
“Mother, really—it doesn’t matter whether it’s a boy or a girl. What matters is whose child it is.”
Helen wore a bewildered expression. Watching her face, Brienna smiled faintly and turned her gaze toward the window. Reflected on the glass were the distant domed roof of the Empress’s quarters and her mother standing beside her.
Bloodline, gender, birth order—none of it mattered.
Just look at Grand Duke Edward: though the Emperor’s firstborn son, he wasn’t the Empress’s child.
Or even closer—just look at Nerea herself.
A bastard daughter, her face streaked with grime, dressed in tiny, worn-out dresses, standing alone amid malicious rumors of greed and extravagance.
What mattered to a child was her mother.
Either a daughter from a powerful family like the current Empress—so formidable that even the Emperor dared not act against her—
or
a child born of a woman cherished as dearly as one’s own life, just like my mother.
Nerea herself had proven that. She’d had a strong mother, yet in the end, the former Count stripped her of everything.
Pitiful, tarnished Nerea Esteban.
The candy rolling around in my mouth was unbearably sweet—just like the candy my mother once took from Nerea and gave to me in childhood.
Ah… I wish I could see her once more.
Brienna slowly savored the sweetness. Her eyes—once praised as gems of the blue sea—sparkled with childlike innocence.
How ridiculous I must look. Could I possibly be clinging to an unreachable hope?
Or perhaps I’m still broken.
“…I should go see her myself.”
Brienna gently smiled and swept back her hair.
“No one else understands that child the way I do. After seeing her, I’ll speak with His Majesty again.”
Feeling her golden locks slip like waves through her fingers, Brienna added sweetly,
“After all, we’re sisters.”
That I stand so far above her,
and that she will forever remain in the mud.
[This is the timeline separator]The cabin’s storeroom.
Heather groaned as she heaved out a large barrel of liquor. Johnny quickly took it from her, and Heather began thanking him, but immediately flushed as dust swirled whitely around her face.
“I thought you’d given up drinking altogether—I must’ve shoved it too far into the corner. It’s been five years since Miss last had a drink.”
“Didn’t you say you came here five years ago?”
“Exactly! When I first arrived, Miss drank a little out of happiness, but hasn’t touched alcohol since. Not knowing you’d need to look after your health, I bought a whole cask—but I’m glad I never got rid of it.”
Ever since you started taking the restorative medicine, you’ve truly abstained. Heather shot a quick glance at Alejandro and pouted, saying,
“I suppose it really was a good thing that Lord Alejandro came.”
Seeing the jealousy on Heather’s face, Johnny snorted with laughter and nudged Alejandro.
“Lucky you, huh?”
But Alejandro couldn’t smile. Instead, he felt despair.
Finishing meals perfectly, drinking afterward, then sleeping deeply for a long time—
that had always been his knight’s most effective way to hide helplessness.
The same method that had comforted the younger him, just like Heather and Johnny now—yet also tore open his insides the most.
His feet felt like they were sinking into emptiness.
After ten long years, I finally came back. Why…?
Silently, Alejandro lifted the barrel.
[This is the timeline separator]It was late night.
Heather entered Nerea’s room after a knock and set down a bottle of well-aged cider, giving her a gentle reproachful look.
“You seem in good spirits after such a long time, so I’ll let you have just a little more. But don’t drink too much. You’ll need to start your medicine again in three months, so your liver needs rest too.”
Three months.
While undergoing the detoxifying treatment, Heather always insisted on three-month breaks between doses, explaining that the liver needed time to recover. After five years, Nerea finally seized this chance to drink.
Nerea nodded happily. Though she knew Nerea hadn’t truly listened, Heather still smiled along with her mistress.
“I’ll bring your snack soon—you must eat all of it!”
“Of course. If the wine tastes this good, I’ll surely finish every bite of the snack too.”
Hearing Nerea’s playful remark, Heather giggled and glanced sideways at the stack of newspapers. They’d merely been moved from where Heather left them to the front of the wardrobe—
as if untouched.
But Heather said nothing, simply smiled faintly and left.
Back in the quiet room, Nerea refilled her empty glass. The clear sound of pouring liquor was pleasant.
It had been nearly five years since her last drink.
Heather had surely chosen a mild brew to spare her liver—but was she getting drunk so quickly because it had been so long, or because she wanted to pretend to be drunk on purpose?
Or perhaps it was simply the relief of being able to stop thinking entirely, to go blissfully numb.
Nerea laughed softly, senselessly.
Right on cue, a knock sounded. Expecting Heather, Nerea tensed when she saw it was Alejandro holding a plate of roasted chicken drumsticks.
“I brought your snack.”
The moment Alejandro’s eyes flickered toward the newspapers, Nerea stiffened.
What if he asked about them? But Alejandro merely drew his usual gentle smile and asked,
“May I sit with you for a while?”
“Go ahead. Where’s your glass?”
“I haven’t learned to drink yet.”
Perhaps due to the alcohol, Nerea snorted.
“A grown child like you still hasn’t learned to drink?”
Alejandro’s eyes crinkled into a smile. Something oddly subtle lingered at the corner of his beautiful grin, and suddenly Nerea became acutely aware of their shared solitude.
An uncomfortably prickling tension. What exactly had he come to say?
.
.
.
“Ah, seriously! Hahaha!”
Nerea burst into loud laughter. It was so funny tears welled in her eyes.
“Don’t laugh so hard! Back then, I truly believed cleaning armor with urine was proper maintenance—I scoured everywhere for dried sand and, well… urine.”
“And in the end, you were the one who got completely drenched in sloshing urine and cried your eyes out between the barracks.”
Nerea added teasingly, and though Alejandro grimaced, he laughed along with her.
Her worries had been unfounded.
She’d thought reminiscing might feel awkward, but instead it was so joyful. Wiping away unexpected tears, Nerea chuckled softly.
As long as we buried the dark memories, Alejandro and I could still share such happiness.
“But you quickly poured water on me back then, remember? And gave me that precious candy to stop me crying?”
“Of course. Who could just watch you stink like that?”
“And that first day, when I was shocked by the barracks, you gave me your mattress too.”
“Well, you were crying at the bare dirt floor, weren’t you?”
“Still… bringing me a hot water bottle at night was truly touching.”
Nostalgia shimmered in Alejandro’s eyes. His gaze, fixed on her, sparkled so brightly that Nerea cleared her throat awkwardly.
She felt bashful. Those were things she should’ve done for him—it was only right.
It wasn’t just gratitude for the Baron and Baroness’s kindness, nor the shimmering star she’d seen when naming him, nor even the guilt that his birth nearly lacked a midwife because of her.
How could anyone not treasure a squire who tried so earnestly?
“There’s something I’ve always wondered.”
“Yes?”
“Back then, how did you manage to get proper bread, soap, and even perfume?”
As the war escalated, supply lines often collapsed.
Black-market peddlers, once discreet, openly hawked goods—but every resource was desperately scarce. She, after all, had been the poorest knight with no family support.
“Sir, it’s jerky! Please eat it secretly—just you! You must!”
Yet despite all that, Alejandro had prepared everything for her—food, clothes, even perfume—when he’d been only twelve or thirteen years old.
He might have had some initial funds from the Baron, but surviving two years would’ve been hard enough. How did he secretly procure soap, bandages, medicine, and dried rations?
Alejandro smiled gently.
“A truly capable squire naturally possesses such skills.”
Though playful, Nerea well knew Alejandro’s exceptional ability.
Perhaps that’s how he rose to become head of a trading company. Watching him now, so clearly the same boy from childhood, Nerea stared at him blankly before chuckling softly.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.”
Just… grown up so well. She murmured inwardly. Even as a child, round-faced with a nose buried between chubby cheeks, she’d thought so.
Now, seeing him as a tall adult with sharp, distinct features, she couldn’t help but feel oddly proud.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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