Episode 59
Ketika ia kembali ke Lembah Roden, kota itu sedang dalam suasana pesta.
Setelah berlari selama tiga hari tiga malam sambil menahan rasa sakit akibat luka-luka di sekujur tubuhnya, dia tak dapat menahan rasa bingungnya dia terhadap suasana pesta yang digelar di Lembah Roden.
Dia tidak tahu apa-apa tentang itu.
Tetapi bukan hanya festival itu yang membuatnya bingung.
Para serigala sibuk menghindari Kyle, yang muncul setelah sebulan, seolah-olah dia orang asing.
Sudah jelas bahwa rumor telah menyebar bahwa ia kalah dari Abel. Jadi tidak ada yang menyambutnya.
Kyle merasa terintimidasi tanpa daya saat melihat orang-orang menghindarinya dan bersikap waspada terhadapnya, tidak seperti saat mereka mendekati dan menyapanya setiap kali mereka bertemu sebelumnya.
Tentu saja, semakin mereka melakukan itu, semakin marah dia dan dia pun berjalan pergi sambil menggertakkan giginya.
Itulah caranya mempertahankan diri dari tekanan yang datang dari sekelilingnya.
“Bagaimana dia bisa kembali? Bukankah dikatakan bahwa dia terluka parah sehingga Anda tidak akan bisa bangun selama beberapa bulan?”
“Apakah dia datang ke sini karena tahu Abel sedang bertunangan?”
Abel bertunangan?
Ini pertama kalinya dia mendengarnya, tetapi Kyle tidak terus mendengarkannya dan langsung pulang.
Saat sudah dekat dengan rumahnya, tampak taman dihias dengan bunga-bunga yang indah, seolah-olah sedang ada pesta, dan semua sanak saudaranya sudah berkumpul di sana.
Itu adalah jenis dekorasi yang biasanya hanya dilakukan untuk perayaan besar, seperti pesta ulang tahun.
Kyle memasuki taman, merasa semakin aneh.
“Kyle, kamu kembali!”
Para kerabat yang melihatnya langsung menghampirinya.
Namun, meski merekalah yang datang dan menyambutnya, suara mereka penuh kehati-hatian.
Hal yang sama berlaku pada cara mereka memandang Kyle.
Terlebih lagi, alih-alih menyambut Kyle, mereka malah berkumpul di depannya seolah-olah menghalangi jalan untuk mencegahnya memasuki taman.
Namun saat Kyle yang mulai kesal hendak berteriak pada mereka agar minggir, terdengar keributan dari taman.
Kyle mengangkat kepalanya ke tempat kerumunan orang sedang menatap.
Mereka sedang melihat ke teras lantai dua rumahnya, menatap lurus ke atas dari taman.
Orang tuanya sedang berjalan-jalan di sana, di sepanjang teras yang dihiasi bunga-bunga.
Ekspresi Kyle mengeras saat dia melihat orangtuanya berjalan keluar dengan senyum di wajah mereka.
“…”
Dia tidak pernah menyangka mereka akan menghabiskan waktu dengan perasaan sedih.
Namun meski begitu, ia tak pernah menyangka mereka akan tersenyum begitu acuh tak acuh sementara ia, sang putra, berada jauh di sana dalam keadaan setengah mati.
Tak lama kemudian, orang tuanya pun menyadari keributan yang disebabkan oleh Kyle dan menunduk.
Kemudian mereka terpaku karena terkejut ketika melihat putra mereka, yang tidak muncul selama sebulan penuh.
‘Mereka mungkin mengira aku tidak akan pernah kembali bahkan jika aku mati karena harga diriku.’
Kyle tried to give them a mocking smile filled with resentment.
But realizing that he was the one holding the information about the downfall of this family and he no longer needed to feel intimidated, he looked toward his parents, intending to smile confidently.
But his smile stopped before the corners of his lips could even rise.
Behind his parents, his younger brother Abel walked out. And then, a woman followed him slowly.
“….Zel…da?”
Next to his fully dressed younger brother, the woman in the dazzling white dress was none other than Zelda.
Zelda’s face, which had been smiling brightly, turned pale as soon as she saw Kyle calling her.
Why is Zelda walking out there with my brother?
And that too with my ***** little brother, who nearly killed me and took my place.
Kyle stood there, momentarily stunned, unable to think of anything.
But that didn’t last long.
As if he had been hit in the back of the head, the current situation began to be pieced together in his eyes again.
The whole village which was in a festival mood, the garden where a festival seemed to be held, and the relatives who gathered together as if celebrating some event.
Lastly, the voice he vaguely heard earlier…
‘How did he get back? Wasn’t it said that he was injured to the point where he wouldn’t be able to get up for several months?’
‘Did he come here knowing that Abel was getting engaged?’
No way.
Then the main characters of that engagement are…
Kyle’s incredulous gaze was directed towards the most radiant and beautifully dressed people in the place right now.
They were a man and a woman.
His body froze and he couldn’t even hear the voices of his relatives telling him to hurry out and get some rest.
He couldn’t hear anything properly. The only sound in his dull ears was his heartbeat.
His gaze turned to Zelda, then to his younger brother Abel, standing next to her.
Ah.
Abel eventually took away everything, from his parents’ love to his position as successor, and even Zelda, who had been his lover while he was away.
Kyle’s heart was pounding like it was going to burst.
Finally, he pulled out the sword of the soldier who was guarding the entrance.
All his sense of reason had burned up and disappeared.
Kyle cut down the relatives who were blocking him and ran towards his brother, risking his life just to kill him.
“What are you guys doing! Stop Kyle now!”
As a response to the command, voices burst out from all around and along with these voices, many soldiers rushed in.
Kyle’s body was captured by soldiers before he could even get close to the terrace.
They took down the struggling Kyle and grabbed his arms and legs.
The body that survived the near-death experience had exhausted all its energy from running for three days.
This caused Kyle, who resisted fiercely to be captured by the soldiers before he could use his strength properly.
His head hit the floor and he barely managed to raise his gaze to see his family on the terrace.
They were looking down at Kyle with stern faces.
They looked at his downfall in silence, with indifferent and dry gazes, as if they were looking at a person who had nothing to do with them.
Kyle captured this image of his family through his vision blurred by tears.
That was the last he saw of his family, and the last memory he had of Roden.
***
Kyle woke up from his long-ago thought.
But he was still leaning toward the foggy lake surface, as if he were still stuck in the past, staring blankly at his own appearance.
He remembered vividly that day when he had been abandoned by everyone.
Once again, the faces of the family he saw that day came to mind one by one.
His father who gave his place to his younger brother, his mother who only loved Abel, his younger brother who took everything from him. And…
When he thought of the woman who had been by their side, Kyle’s frozen eyes shook.
That woman was also standing next to his family and looking down at him.
It was strange. The events of that day were so vivid, but strangely, this was the first time the face of the woman in that memory came to mind.
It was a face he didn’t remember before.
Kyle looked shocked and dumbfounded when he remembered her face.
Zelda Arsha.
The moment he was arrested by the soldiers, she was definitely on the terrace where he was trying to jump to.
But why did Zelda just stand there and do nothing when she saw himself being captured?
Kyle closed his eyes and shook his head, thinking that this was a false memory.
But the more he thought about it, the clearer the scene became. Her expression, her eyes.
Zelda just looked at him, with an expression as indifferent as his family, her gaze devoid of warmth.
As if they had no relationship whatsoever.
No, like everyone who had already abandoned him.
Kyle’s eyes trembled with anxiety as he recalled this. Why did he only remember it now?
Kyle had always thought that she had no choice but to become engaged to Abel.
Because he clearly believed that she loved him.
Because he thought that even if no one else believed in him, she would believe in him as much as he believed in her.
But Zelda just stood by his brother’s side even though she saw him being captured by the soldiers.
The moment Kyle recalled her appearance again, he realized something he should have long realized.
He was abandoned not only by his family, but also by the woman he thought he loved.
The only person he thought believed in him ended up abandoning him.
“…”
Perhaps he had been walking this arduous journey, erasing his own memories, because he had never wanted to believe this fact.
He still wanted to believe that at least one person had not abandoned him. He wanted to live by holding on to that.
He wanted to live with the determination to save at least the woman who believed in him.
But it was all his illusion. Kyle’s face turned cold as he realized this.
His face reflected in the water was as pale as a corpse.
His blue eyes no longer had a light to brighten them and was now completely black and dead. Then they spoke to him.
‘You are abandoned by everyone.’
“Lihat, istrimu akhirnya meninggalkanmu dan memilih Abel. Tidak. Mungkin dia tidak pernah mempertimbangkanmu sejak awal. Kaulah yang menghalangi.”
Kabut tebal berkumpul di sekelilingnya, membelenggunya dengan keputusasaan.
“Jika bukan karena kamu, keluargamu akan lebih damai. Jika Abel yang menjadi penerus, orang-orang tidak akan cemas tentang masa depan. Jika bukan karena kamu, semuanya mungkin akan berjalan baik.”
Ditinggalkan semua orang adalah bukti bahwa tidak ada seorang pun yang mencintainya.
Itu berarti bahwa dia adalah makhluk yang tidak layak dicintai dan tidak berguna.
Kyle sangat terpukul saat menyadari fakta ini dan kehancuran ini melemparkannya ke jurang kegelapan.
Di sana, Kyle terjatuh lebih dalam, tak berdaya dan tidak bisa keluar.
Jiwa yang tidak berguna yang tidak pantas dicintai.
Apa gunanya hidup seperti ini?
Keputusasaan membuat hidupnya tidak berarti dan semua keinginannya untuk hidup lenyap seperti debu.
Kyle berdiri dari tempat duduknya, matanya tampak kosong tanpa motivasi apa pun.
Dikuasai oleh keputusasaan dan rasa patah semangat, ia berjalan perlahan ke dalam air seperti jiwa yang tidak memiliki keinginan sendiri.
Seolah ditarik oleh tangan setan yang memegang tali, dia dengan santai menuju ke dalam air.
Menuju tempat yang sangat dalam.
Seperti semua momen ketika dia lari dari segalanya dan tenggelam ke dalam danau.
Dia berjalan ke tempat yang mengerikan itu
kesendirian adalah satu-satunya hal yang menerimanya.
Sekali lagi sebuah suara terdengar menariknya ke arah itu.
‘Tidak seorang pun mencintaimu.’
Namun ketika dia melangkah maju, dituntun oleh suara itu.
“Kyle, cepatlah!”
Suara lain yang memanggilnya terdengar dari suatu tempat.
