Echoes in the Second Ruin
The relief of having safely completed the exploration of the First Ruin lasted barely a moment.
The next ruin lay far beyond the northern mountains, on the eastern borderlands. The eastern region was rocky and the terrain treacherous, rendering the grand carriage they had arrived in unusable. They were forced to switch to a smaller one.
Lisbel had suffered terribly from motion sickness when she first boarded, whether due to the long period of confinement or the uncomfortable condition of the prison-issued carriage. Yet the ride in this new one proved even worse, proving beyond any doubt that the previous journey had been a luxury by comparison.
“Ugh…”
Every jolt from the uneven road sent her skull throbbing. The decrepit carriage, with its wheels and body reduced in size, transmitted every shock from the gravel-strewn ground directly into her frame.
Whenever the carriage turned or came to a sudden halt, Lisbel’s emaciated shoulders slammed roughly against the hard wooden walls.
Amid it all, the very thing that tormented her further was the way the faint traces Hendrick had left behind the night before were being scoured away by the constant friction, resurrecting memories of that embarrassing encounter.
Trapped in this hellish carriage, mentally reliving the mortifying memory, she wondered if walking would have been easier.
Eventually, unable to endure any longer, Lisbel pounded on the carriage wall, signaling for her release. The door opened, and a tense-looking knight appeared.
“What is it?”
“Too much motion sickness. Please let me out so I can walk.”
“While riding in comfort, you’re acting spoiled. Don’t step outside just to trip and sprain your ankle. Just tough it out quietly.”
She had not expected a positive reply. As predicted, a derisive scolding laced with sarcasm followed.
From the knight’s shoulder, the view behind her revealed a barrage of dissatisfied stares pressing down on her.
Contempt and hatred.
With only negative emotions behind her, Lisbel closed the carriage door once more. A small sigh filled the cramped space.
It had become all too natural after being branded a heretic that the malice of others had dulled. Still, Lisbel could not shake her unease at Hendrick’s attitude, which showed no trace of passion or discomfort even as he witnessed her pain and the surrounding contempt.
“Take a short break here. I’ll provide some simple provisions so you can eat and rest.”
Fortunately, the moment she felt she could not hold on any longer, a rest stop was granted.
“Hey, the captain wants you to finish writing the report he started earlier.”
A report? Lisbel was puzzled since she had already completed it long ago, but she followed the knight obediently.
The space inside his tent was comparatively comfortable even in this wretched environment.
“The captain instructed me to finish it all before he returns. Don’t waste time—finish it properly.”
Even though it was only a short break, Hendrick, as captain, had a separate tent prepared.
“Thinking it was half-finished…?”
Upon entering the tent, the report she had finished writing before departure lay unfolded on the table as if awaiting her. Lisbel carefully read through it, added one final mana-infused sentence, and collapsed onto the table.
A wave of nausea began to subside, if only slightly.
***
The brief rest obtained under the pretext of report writing had not completely quelled Lisbel’s motion sickness.
Unable to overcome the horrific nausea, Lisbel eventually vomited everything she had eaten. The knights’ contemptuous remarks rained down on her in response to the spectacle, but she lacked the strength to care.
“This ruin can only be entered after sunset. First, complete the camp preparations and rest.”
“Yes, Captain!”
Hendrick’s low command sounded.
The Second Ruin stood as an imposing cylindrical tower at the heart of the endless reed forest on the eastern border plain.
Lisbel quietly slipped away from the disciplined group of knights. She found a flat, low rock, sat upon it, and watched the distant ruin with a calm gaze.
Scholarly research into imperial ruins had never been permitted. Yet, with sufficient compensation guaranteed for her relocation afterward, it was still considered a successful negotiation.
The dazzling ancient architecture and artifacts encountered in the First Ruin still left a lingering ache as a scholar, but merely seeing them with her own eyes had slightly eased the thirst in her heart.
Watching the commotion behind her, the rustling of the reeds, and the astronomical tower standing alone as if abandoned by the end of the world, her complicated emotions gradually began to settle.
“Captain! I found it!”
Lisbel’s eyes opened at the noisy outburst. She had apparently fallen asleep, still hugging her knees.
While the camp preparations continued, the exploration party that had not paid attention to her whereabouts erupted in chaos. The stone she had been sitting on had been obscured by tall reeds, causing the discovery to be delayed.
“Damn it, how is it that even one day of staying put is so troublesome?”
“If you’re a criminal, act like one. Don’t make work harder by complaining.”
Unfiltered discontent and hatred from the knights poured out. One knight, unable to contain his irritation, suddenly struck Lisbel’s shoulder to wake her from her nap.
“Ugh…!”
The brutal hand lost her balance, and her body teetered as if about to crash to the ground. In that instant, Hendrick rushed forward and caught her.
“Before being a criminal, you are a fragile woman. Do you have no pride as a knight?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“She is acting as an archaeologist for His Majesty the Emperor. There is no need to support her, but ensuring she experiences no inconvenience while carrying out her duties is our responsibility. Do not forget that.”
“Yes, Captain!”
Despite only having slept for a short time, Lisbel was so utterly exhausted that she failed to regain her senses.
As she gradually recovered from the unfamiliar warmth enveloping her body, Lisbel realized she was in Hendrick’s arms and jolted upright in shock.
“I warn you, do not leave the formation on your own until the exploration is completely finished. You do not want to become a runaway, do you?”
Hendrick turned away with icy detachment after delivering the cold warning to her, still half-asleep and crossing the boundary between reality and unconsciousness. The knights who had been about to unleash a torrent of criticism reluctantly followed him.
“Get up. Your tent is over there.”
Since the knight who had strongly rebuked her for leaving the group spoke in a relatively mild tone, Lisbel stumbled down from the rock.
Each step toward the tent felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
***
After collapsing into the tent and losing consciousness, Lisbel’s memory faded entirely. She fell into a deep sleep as if her consciousness had been severed.
“Hey, wake up! Wake up!”
Her exhausted body, drained by days of horrific motion sickness, did not easily stir even when shaken roughly by strong hands at the shoulders.
“Ugh…”
Pushed by the knight’s relentless shaking, Lisbel let out a groan and barely opened her eyes.
“Even if you lie there and endure it, no one here will pity you. Open your eyes and get out quickly.”
Sometimes the cold, careless reality thrown without malice pierced the bone deeper than any malicious curse.
“I know that… too.”
That was exactly the sentence spoken.
Lisbel answered in a low voice without thinking and forced her weary body upright.
***
The process was identical to entering the First Ruin.
In the suffocating silence, Hendrick and Lisbel reached the entrance of the Second Ruin together. Watching him turn his back to the pouring starlight, she felt the situation of being alone with him even more uncomfortably than before.
“Huff…”
Hendrick unhesitatingly slashed his thumb, drawing blood. Then, using his thumb to rub the inner side of Lisbel’s white wrist, where the pulse beat, he pushed his aura in. The sensation of the man’s hot blood and alien aura merging and seeping into the skin was bizarre.
“Do not move.”
The ritual had unnecessarily agitated her.
Lisbel desperately tried not to tremble, recalling her hatred for the man who had once treated her as a criminal even in front of those who harbored ill will toward her.
“Enter.”
The Red Engraving appeared on her wrist as the ritual concluded. Hendrick casually distanced himself from her and headed toward the entrance first.
Lisbel followed him, rubbing the spot on her wrist with the tips of her fingers as if erasing Hendrick’s faint residual warmth.
“This way.”
This ruin was also one she had visited before, so Hendrick’s steps showed no hesitation.
This ruin was far smaller in scale than the one she had visited first, but the strange tools scattered everywhere suggested it had been used for observing celestial phenomena.
“Hah… ha…”
It was a tower reaching toward the sky, befitting a place for observing stars. Lisbel had to climb the endless circular stairs.
At the summit of the astronomical tower, Lisbel could not close her mouth at the sight before her.
“As you can see, this inscription differs slightly in form from the previous one. Originally, the walls were empty, and these characters were engraved at the moment each ruin was first visited.”
What Lisbel had to interpret in the Second Ruin was not a stone but a writing on the wall. Perhaps for convenience, it had been collectively referred to as an inscription, but unlike the limited space on a stele, the records carved into the wall of the astronomical tower were so vast they could not be compared to the previous one.
“I won’t be able to finish all of this today.”
“I never expected you to. Take as much time as needed to examine everything.”
Lisbel walked to the nearby wall in response to the cold reply and carefully traced the tiny engraved letters.
“This is… a diary.”
The tiny letters filling the entire wall recorded one person’s daily life. Some days had only a single line, while others stretched into long complaints.
Who was this person, and why did they leave their daily record here of all places?
“Ugh…”
Reading the record with pure scholarly curiosity, Lisbel again let out a small cry at the faint heat rising in her lower abdomen.
“Lisbel Belloc, you can’t possibly be… again.”
Unfortunately, Hendrick noticed the change in her as well.
The same obscene sensation that had overwhelmed her in the First Ruin returned, and Lisbel could not resist the rising heat and simply collapsed to the ground.