Chapter 7

Chapter 7. Iwan (2)

‘Who is that?’

The man being executed was a familiar face. It was Ethan, who had been Alexei I’s attendant.

‘Why is Ethan being executed? He isn’t someone who would do anything wrong.’

Ethan had been a loyal and honest servant. He was not the kind of man who would fall into corruption or commit crimes just because Alexei I had died.

‘Georg!’

Georg, the enemy commander he had seen in his previous hallucination, appeared. He had lost one eye to the dagger Alexei I had thrown just before he died, and he wore a black eye patch. His hand, pierced by the dagger, must not have healed yet, because it was still wrapped in bandages.

Georg walked over arrogantly and looked down at Ethan.

“How dare you try to poison me.”

It seemed Ethan had been caught trying to poison Georg to avenge Alexei I and was being executed for it.

“Do you think that will bring the dead Alexei I back to life? Foolish bastard.”

Ethan lifted his bruised eyes, bloodied from the beating, and worked his mouth.

“Ptooey!”

The spit he spat struck Georg’s face and trickled down it.

“You vermin. Don’t you dare put my master’s name in your filthy mouth! He is not someone a bastard like you may call so casually.”

“You bastard, I’ll tear you apart!”

Georg’s eyes rolled wildly like a madman’s, and he kicked Ethan.

“You aren’t even worth killing with a sword.”

He struck Ethan, who was tied up, with his fist.

“Ugh!”

Ethan’s head snapped to the side.

Aslaf could not bear to watch. He had never known that Ethan, who had followed him like a shadow and served him, had met such a miserable death while trying to avenge him.

Ethan was beaten until he was a pulp, unable to raise himself. Only then did Georg order the sentence to be carried out.

‘So Ethan died like that.’

Aslaf clutched at his own hair. When he had seen Alexei I’s death, perhaps because it was a fact he had already known, he had remained calm. But Ethan’s death was something he had never expected, so even though it had happened long ago, his heart ached.

“Aslaf! Are you all right, Aslaf?”

He opened his eyes at the sound of someone calling him. A face smeared with black ash was looking down at him. Iwan, who had come to his senses, was shaking him.

“Iwan! You’re alive.”

After awakening from the hallucination of the past, Aslaf embraced him tightly in relief. He had been shocked by Ethan’s death, but fortunately, Iwan, his friend in this life, was alive.

“I’m leaving this place right now. Are you coming too?”

At Aslaf’s words, Iwan smiled faintly and nodded.

“Of course. Let’s go.”

They each went to their quarters and brought back their belongings. While everyone was distracted putting out the fire in the storage room, they secretly entered the kitchen and took plenty of food as well.

“This way.”

Aslaf followed what his mother had taught him and used the stars to find his direction as he walked. The sound of wolves howling came from far away, but dawn would soon break. They kept walking until the sun rose.

His heart was unsettled. Not because he had left home, but because of the hallucination he had seen moments ago.

‘Ethan. I thought you’d live well somewhere, even without me.’

If Ethan was a diligent and capable attendant, he could have entered any noble’s service, earned their trust, and begun a new life. Aslaf had thought he would find a new master and live a comfortable life.

But Ethan had risked danger to poison Georg, the man who killed Alexei I, been caught, and been executed.

‘You lost your life trying to avenge me.’

Ethan’s loyal death filled his heart with solemn emotion.

At the same time, rage toward Georg, who had cruelly killed Ethan, surged up inside him.

‘To think he even killed Ethan so cruelly.’

Even though it had happened fifteen years ago, and even though it had been a matter from his past life, anger writhed inside his heart.

‘Georg. I won’t let you be.’

He had not wanted to drag the ill fate of his past life into this life and seek revenge, but after seeing Ethan’s final moments, that thought vanished completely.

Aslaf was walking silently with a resolute expression when Iwan spoke to him.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Huh?”

“Should we eat something?”

After walking for a long time, he was hungry. Since it was just about time for breakfast, they sat down on the road and opened their packs.

Iwan had brought plenty of bread from the mill.

Aslaf had swept up a great deal of Tyron’s favorite cheese and butter.

“Wow, cheese!”

Seeing the precious food, Iwan’s mouth watered. It was food that servants could only taste once or twice a year, on holidays.

“Oh, it’s sheep’s milk cheese. Perfect with rye bread.”

Iwan was particular about food. Rather than cooking itself, he was more interested in how to eat. He was greatly interested in handed-down recipes and food pairings, and he experimented by combining them. In his own way, he had a philosophy about food and how to eat it.

“There’s jerky too.”

Aslaf tore off a piece of jerky and handed it to him.

“Jerky digests better when you eat it with apples.”

Iwan muttered as he took the jerky. In that instant, Aslaf felt as though he had heard that somewhere many times before.

‘Ethan?’

When Alexei I hurried across battlefields and ate meals of jerky on horseback, Ethan would bring apple juice and say,

‘If you eat jerky in a hurry, it will sit heavy in your stomach. Jerky digests well when eaten with apples. Please drink apple juice with it.’

Aslaf forgot even to eat the jerky and stared at Iwan with his mouth open.

Ethan obeyed Alexei I’s orders without question, but food was an exception. When it came to meals, he had such firm principles that he would not listen no matter what anyone said. He always prepared fresh ingredients for meals, and he would not let Alexei I eat fruit in the evening, saying it burdened the stomach.

It was just like how Iwan had his own philosophy about how food should be eaten.

Ethan, who considered regular meals important, had followed Alexei I like a shadow and made sure he ate on time.

He even carried food after him to the front lines and watchtowers, where arrows might fly at any moment, taking care of his meals. When Alexei I told him it was dangerous and that he should not come but wait in the barracks, Ethan had said,

‘Master is the needle, and I am the thread. How could the thread not go where the needle goes?’

It was something Iwan often said.

‘You’re the needle, and I’m the thread. Where the needle goes, the thread goes.’

The moment he realized that fact, Aslaf felt as if a light had flashed on in his head.

‘Then could Ethan have died and reincarnated as Iwan?’

Come to think of it, Ethan and Iwan had many similarities. Both were meticulous and diligent by nature, cautious, calm, and soft-spoken.

‘Was Iwan’s past life Ethan, my attendant?’

Looking at it that way, meeting Iwan had not been a coincidence. Iwan had been born and lived in the village where Aslaf’s father was lord, so if Aslaf came to find his father, they were destined to meet someday.

Perhaps his bond with Ethan from his past life had continued into this life as well.

Holding the bread, Aslaf forgot to eat and sank into thought.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Iwan asked Aslaf, who seemed to have lost his appetite.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Aslaf unconsciously chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth.

“Who do you think you were in your past life? Have you ever thought about it?”

He asked in case Iwan also had memories of his past life.

“Past life? How would I know? Almost no one has memories of their past life.”

Iwan worked his mouth as though wondering what strange thing Aslaf was suddenly saying in the middle of breakfast.

“So I’m asking if you’ve ever thought about it.”

“Would thinking about it make me remember? Do you remember your past life?”

“N-no. I was just curious.”

Aslaf shook his head and glossed over it.

There was nothing good to gain by revealing that he had been Alexei I.

For now, there was no way to prove it either. It was obvious he would be pointed at and called a madman. Even if people believed him, Alexei I’s reputation was so terrible that he would only be cursed as a villain, so it was better to stay quiet.

Moreover, Georg, who had killed Alexei I, was enjoying power and advancing triumphantly. If Aslaf’s past life happened to be revealed, there was a chance Georg would harm him.

‘Ethan. In this life, you won’t die so horribly. Don’t worry.’

Aslaf made that vow inwardly and chewed his bread firmly.

After finishing their meal, they started walking toward the city again. It took them about three days to reach a small city, and from there, they followed the road leading to the port city of Pordis.

When their food ran out and they grew hungry, they endured by picking unripe green peaches and sour plums from trees and eating them.

When it rained, they had no choice but to get soaked to the skin.

“It’s so cold.”

As they walked while shivering, the sound of a carriage happened to reach them.

“Please give us a ride to Pordis.”

They waved their hands, but the coachman instead frowned and swung his whip.

“Get lost. If I let gypsy beggars ride, I’ll only get robbed.”

They were not struck by the whip, but they were splattered with mud kicked up by the wheels.

“How miserly.”

Iwan sighed and grumbled.

Aslaf wiped the mud from him and offered a joke to lighten his mood.

“Seeing how mean he is to people he’s just met, he probably didn’t have a very good bond with us in his past life either. Nothing good comes from owing someone like that. Don’t let it bother you.”

They staggered along the muddy road. The heavy rain turned the road more and more into a swamp. Their feet sank deep, making even each step difficult.

“Huh? Look over there.”

Iwan pointed ahead with his hand. The carriage that had overtaken them was stopped.

“Damn it. Damn it all.”

The coachman cursed as he struggled behind the carriage.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Looks like a wheel got stuck.”

The carriage wheel had sunk into the mud and could not move.

“He didn’t get far at all.”

“Serves him right.”

Aslaf and Iwan stuck out their tongues at the coachman wrestling with the heavy wheel in the rain.

Aslaf had been walking ahead, leaving the carriage behind, but then he stopped. Iwan looked back at him as he came to a halt.

“Why?”

“Let’s go help him.”

“You said he was probably an ill-fated connection from your past life.”

“That was a joke. And even if he was, it’s not as if it has to stay that way.”

Aslaf went back to the carriage, grabbed the wheel, and pushed.

“Y-you?”

The coachman recognized Aslaf, and his face turned red. He had never expected to receive help from the gypsy he had treated so coldly.

“Heave-ho!”

The wheel, which had not budged, slipped out of the mud once the three of them pushed and pulled together.

“Th-thank you, boys. I-I’m sorry about earlier.”

The coachman fumbled through an apology.

“It was raining, and I had a long way to go, so I got impatient......”

Now he willingly said he would give them a ride.

“I’m going to Pordis too. Hurry and get on.”

Not only that, he told them they could eat the carrots loaded in the carriage. Because they were hungry, even the fresh carrots tasted as sweet as honey.

Whenever the carriage sank into a muddy pit, Aslaf and Iwan pushed it free, and they safely arrived in Pordis.

Thanks to that, they arrived in five days at a distance that would have taken ten on foot.

“Wow, this is amazing.”

Iwan, who had come to the city for the first time, was so surprised that his eyes nearly popped out. The streets were narrow and crowded with people, so whenever his shoulder bumped into someone, Iwan repeatedly bowed his head and apologized.

By contrast, Aslaf walked forward with long strides, skillfully finding his way through the complicated streets that all looked similar, as if he were used to them.

Searching his memories, he went to the place where Jacques’s shop was located. If he walked while keeping the bell tower on his right until he reached the well, then turned left, there should be a three-story building with a sign painted with a large sword and axe.

“This is it. It’s still here.”

The arms shop Alexei I had visited was still standing there.

Out of joy, Aslaf opened the door and stepped inside without realizing it. The image of Jacques, who had always welcomed him with warm, cheerful jokes, came vividly to mind.

After finishing a transaction, Jacques would personally bring out apple wine he had made at home and serve it to him. Even now, the sharp, fragrant scent of the apple wine seemed to linger at the tip of his nose.

“Who are you?”

When a shabby little boy entered, the clerk inside the shop frowned and asked.

“Is Master Jacques here?”

“Why would a kid like you be looking for Master Jacques? Get out.”

Without even listening, the clerk poked at them with a broom and drove them out.

“You said he was kind.”

Iwan asked Aslaf with an awkward expression.

Aslaf looked down at his own filthy appearance, covered in dust and wearing clothes worn ragged by the long journey.

“We can’t do this looking like this. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

Iwan looked at Aslaf in wonder, as if amazed that Aslaf knew this vast city as well as the inside of his own home.