Chapter 446 – I Will Come Back (3)

Sarah went out for a while.

She also hadn’t seen Sears in a long time, but she wanted to give them some time alone now.
Leaning against the door, she gazed at the stars.

The voices of two people talking inside could be heard.

Listening to their conversation, Sarah closed her eyes with a pleasant smile.

She listened to the little details.

“You have gotten so big during the time I haven’t seen you.”

Sears said brightly, holding Jamie’s hand tightly.
She seemed to be fine as if her condition had never been bad.

But she didn’t have the same liveliness as before.
And her face and hands that had become bony made Jamie feel guilty.

“Because I am three years older now.”

“Right.
You are all grown up, my son.
Well, you’re tall like your dad, so you have grown so much.”

“I must have gotten it from Father.”

“If your father could see you now, he would be so proud.”

As they talked about Count Welton, Sears gently touched him.
Sears looked at her son and then slowly raised her hand to touch his hair.

His hair was black and not emerald, but she didn’t ask him why the color changed.

“When did you grow this much?”

“Sorry, Mom.
I should have stayed beside you.”

“I would have liked that, but a mother should never get in the way of what her son is trying to do.”

“I wish I could have visited you at times.”

“It is fine because you are now here.”

“We can go see Father together….”

“We can go now.”

Jamie hung his head down and sobbed.

As Sears wiped the tears of her son with the back of her hand, she said,

“Do not worry about me.”

“You are too skinny.”

“Eating a lot will help me gain weight.”

“Your hands are skinny, and your legs too….”

“Daily exercise should help me with that.
It is because I haven’t been moving much.”

Jamie reached out and clenched Sears’s legs.
She was already thin before, but now she was just all bones, and this made him feel bad.

He missed out on so many things because he was blinded by his revenge.
If his father had seen him like this, he would have been seriously angry.

And he was really regretful for not taking care of her.

What was even more upsetting was the fact that this wasn’t the end yet.

“Mother.”

Jamie called Sears just like he used to, and Sears nodded as she smiled.

How should he say it?

A war would break out soon, and he might not be able to come here again for a while.

He might even die there.
So he wished she could live, thinking that she had no son.

Thousands of words rushed through his mind, but Jamie couldn’t say anything.
It wasn’t something he could say to Sears, who had lived such a lonely life until now.

Seeing Jamie’s worried face, Sears turned her face to the window.

“If you were born a man and have decided what you want to do, come back after seeing the end.”

“Mother?”

“Your mom is all fine now that Jamie has come to visit me.
I don’t know how long I will have to wait to see you again, but my son will surely come back to see me, right?”

Jamie squeezed Sears’s hand.

He clenched his teeth as he thought he would burst out crying at any moment.
He didn’t want to show any weakness to her, so after controlling his emotions, Jamie said,

“Of course.”

“Right.
Then that is good.”

“It might be soon, or it might take a long time too.”

“Waiting here is no longer a hard thing for Mom.”

“I am sorry until the very end.”

“This won’t be the last time, so don’t be sorry.
It is natural for a son to visit his parents.
It is also natural for parents to wait for their sons.
So do not make such a face.”

Sears wiped away Jamie’s tears.

“Did our son cry so much?”

He had never cried when he was young, so there were times she worried that there was something wrong with him.
Looking at it now, his tears were raining down.

And it took her so long to realize that Jamie held such emotions for his family.

“Go see Father.”

“… Let us go together.”

“At first, I wanted to, but you should go alone now.
I need to be with Sarah.
You know where it is, right?”

Jamie wasn’t there when Count Welton died, but he knew where he was laid to rest.
Jamie nodded, and Sears said it was good.

“Your father must be waiting for you too.”

“Yes.”

Sears smiled.

Jamie looked at her legs once again and reached out his hand to Tae Heo.

Warm energy flowed as it began to seep into her legs.
No matter how much Sears tried, her numb legs wouldn’t move, but now she felt a strange sensation.

Sears looked at Jamie with wide eyes, surprised that she could feel something.

And Jamie said,

“You haven’t been able to walk for so long, so you don’t have muscles.
It will be quite difficult the first time, but if you continue to rehabilitate, you will be able to walk and run like before.”

“Jamie.”

“I can only do this much for now, but the next time, I will do better.
I know that what I did cannot even be considered my filial duty, but it is better than not doing anything.”

“This guy.”

Sears looked at her son with a face that couldn’t be understood, and then she smiled.

Jamie also smiled at her and got up.

“Then, I will leave.”

“Are you going to visit your father?”

“Yes.
I will stop by and probably go back right away.”

“I see.”

Sears said, squeezing her leg.

“My son fixed my legs for me, so next time, I can go visit him.”

“It is fine, but please wait.
After all, the children should go to their parents.”

“I will be back.”

Then Jamie opened the door.

“Huh!”

Sara, who had been leaning against the door, let out a startled noise.

Jamie smiled at his sister, then turned to look at Sears.

Then he bowed respectfully to his parent.

The mother and son stared at each other for a moment, and Jamie turned to the other side.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Go ahead.”

He patted Sarah on the head for no reason and then said,

“Stay by Mother’s side.”

“Brother?”

“I will head to where Father is.
And I will go back to the Black Tower right away.”

“I-I also want to.”

“Now that I’ve been here, there is a good chance they know about this place.
Maybe they will send an assassin here.
So someone needs to protect her.”

After saying that, Sarah was speechless.
With her current strength, she could protect Sears.

She was a much stronger shield than anyone for her mother.

“Take care of Mother until I come back.”

“… Call me if something happens.”

“I will.
Then.”

Jamie waved to her and then bowed his head to Sears again before disappearing.

Sarah looked at the place where her brother had disappeared and ran to her mother.

“Mom!”

“My daughter!”

“Well, you have Brother now, too~”

Unlike the son, the daughter spoke so kindly to her mother.
And the mother also began to listen to her daughter’s words and talk with her.

Jamie was standing on Heiss.

The vast land and greenery, which Heiss was proud of, were reduced to mere piles of dirt, and the city, which was used for an estate, was now in ruins as if there had been an explosion.

The fountain, which used to spout water non-stop, was now half destroyed and dried up.
And the temple built for Pyro was now all scorched up.

It looked like someone had set it on fire.

Three years ago, the Sun God declared Jamie the enemy of mankind, and the first thing they did was attack Seldam.

At that time, when the Northern Alliance was not yet strong, the Sun Church didn’t allow any other nations to intervene in their justification to kill the Demon King.

Taking down the Demon King was an event that the Sun Church celebrated, and they were the only force whose power remained intact, so no one could stop them.

And it all happened in an instant.

The Seldam Kingdom was surely strong, but the opponent was the Sun God.
Not only was he able to unify the South, but he had also absorbed the 12 Gods’ powers.

It was a power that terrified the entire continent at the time.

Most of them survived, and no one knew where the princess was until now.

Jamie walked through what was once his home.

It had been years since the land was in ruins, so there were now grass and flowers growing everywhere.

How long was it?

On a distant hill, he could see part of a large collapsed mansion.

He headed there at once, and he witnessed a familiar yet unfamiliar landscape there.

“It’s a mess here too.”

The place where he used to play as a child turned into a haunted place.
Jamie looked at the demolished mansion.

In the secret garden where he used to enjoy tea with his mother and sister, all the tables and chairs were broken.

The library he used to go to was a mess, with burned books and bookshelves everywhere.
Not to mention his own room, and so was the place where their family gathered to eat.

Jamie passed through the mansion and entered the woods, which only the Welton family members were allowed to enter.

Fortunately, the forest was intact and maintained its old appearance as if no one had come here.

After going all the way along such a narrow road, a wide tomb site appeared.

It was the Welton family grave site where all the former heads rested.

Jamie approached the tomb on the far end.
It looked new compared to the other tombs, and it belonged to Count Welton and was made three years ago.

There was a flower in front of it.

“Who could it be?”

Judging by how the flower looked fresh, it hadn’t been long since someone had come.

He looked around, but he couldn’t feel anything.
Well, if the flower was still intact, it must mean a couple of hours had passed.

He didn’t know who it was, but he felt grateful that someone had come to pay respects to his father.

“I didn’t bring flowers either.”

He didn’t think of all that, as he was in a hurry.
Jamie had this bitter smile as he ran his hand over the tomb.

“Sorry.
I will make sure to get it the next time.”

He clasped his hands as if to remember the moment.
After that, Jamie sat in front of the tomb and read the words engraved on it.

They could have made it a bit fancier.

But due to the situation at the time, there wasn’t enough time to do that.

On the other hand, he thought that his father would be quite pleased with this line.

He was a simple man, unlike his noble title, so he would have thought that words like ‘Great’ were burdensome.

“I am back.
Sorry for being this late.”

There would be no answer, and yet Jamie continued.

“I was such a fool.
I lived with my mind stuck on avenging Father.
I left Mother and Sarah and lived all alone like an insane man.
I regret what I did, but a lot of time has already passed.
I will do my best in the future.”

Jamie rubbed the dirt with his finger.

He continued talking as if he were openly talking to his father about the past.

“But I don’t know if I can do well in the future.
War will break out soon.
It is so big that it cannot even compare to the war three years ago, and it will be dangerous.
Maybe I will end up dying.”

“Still, I need to go.
If it’s not me, that monster cannot be stopped.
My dream is to live in harmony with our family, but I have to risk my life to achieve that.
These days, I realize that peace is a difficult thing to achieve.”

“What does Father think? Is it maybe a little comfortable there? I should have come and visited you more often.
I am sorry.
I didn’t even think about coming to you.
But I cannot say that I can come again.
I lied to Mother.
I cannot do anything once I die, but I told her that I would visit her often.”

“I intend to stop Ra’s purpose somehow, but I am not really confident.
Because that bastard is insanely strong.
I have become incredibly strong, but I cannot guarantee the outcome.
I wish I could survive it, but…”

Jamie laughed bitterly.

It was painful to be in a situation where one wasn’t sure about everything.

“I want to visit Mother.
I want to let Sarah do what she wants, and I want her to meet a good person and live a happy life later.
I want to create such a future.”

When such a future would happen, would he still be there?

He didn’t know.

However, if the remaining people could be happy even if he died after the fight…

“Can it be done?”

He held the dirt.

Jamie spoke about a lot of things he couldn’t tell anyone, and the words that he had kept in his heart came out.
There was no way he would receive an answer now, and yet the son spoke to his father.

Jamie looked at the sky in self-pity.
And the wind blew.

-Ahem, you can do it.

Jamie jumped up from his seat and looked around in shock.

An emerald ponytail fluttered in the wind.

The corner of his mouth formed an arc.

-My son can do anything.
Right.
Because he is my son.

Jamie ran to where Count Welton was.

The wind blew again, and he stopped to look at where Count Welton was.

No one was there, as if he had vanished.

Jamie stared blankly into the space, then covered his eyes with his hands.

Feeling the emotion of hope that bloomed in him, he spoke to the one who couldn’t be heard.

“I will come back.”