Even if the Dawn Abandons You - Chapter 41

“How was it?”

Ha. Andrew Layton asked back with a laugh.

Ariane Champleign nodded her head with a smile as if she already knew what would come out of his mouth. Andrew, who had become a little closer, answered in Wisterian with exaggerated trembling.

“It was utterly dreadful.”

In reality, it wasn’t an exaggeration at all. The scene was truly horrific. They had chosen an executioner from within the revolutionary ranks, and after numbering them according to the depth of resentment towards the royal family, only the top-ranking ones were selected for execution. The room where the execution took place didn’t retain a trace of human scent after the deed was done. It was a gruesome scene devoid of any shred of respect for human life, any hint of mercy that one human being should hold for another.

He had just turned twenty this year. By that time, Wisteria had already been under the Republican government’s rule, and Wisterians took pride in the bloodless revolution they had achieved. To Andrew Layton, who had grown up in a country that taught that the bloodshed and flesh sacrificed by the suppressed republicans back in the days were ultimately for the sake of peace, the fervor of the Léans Great Revolution seemed unfamiliar and eerie.

In response to Andrew’s honest answer in Westerian, tinged with a hint of patriotism, Ariane burst into laughter.

“What’s so enjoyable?”

“If it seems like I’m laughing because I find it enjoyable, then let’s just say that’s the case. But more than that, Mr. Layton.”

Still holding that characteristic smile, Ariane Champleign posed another question to Andrew Layton.

“As a third party, how do you feel about the reality that there are only two people opposing such a dreadful event?”

? ? ?

Time in Saint-Cordet passed slowly, but late autumn passed quickly and the beginning of winter approached.

“Marie, do you want to go shopping with me?”

“Shopping?”

After finishing breakfast, Anais asked Marie. Her voice was unusually cheerful, considering Anais usually spoke in a calm and gentle tone. Leonard’s expression turned odd as he skimmed through the newspaper. He got the feeling that Anais is trying to look particularly bright these days. If it were true, it was probably because she was conscious of her conversation with him, but he had no intention of passing on her confidence to the extent of a bright and cheerful demeanor. Leonard listened to the conversation between Anais and Marie pretending to read the newspaper for a while.

“Yes, shopping. It’s going to get colder and colder now, so I’ll have to get some winter clothes.”

For Leonard, who had readied himself to face the impending winter with just the clothes on his back, the upcoming season of cold was a reminder of the same predicament Marie had faced. Despite the many closed shops due to the influx of refugees, Saint-Cordet wasn’t yet directly affected by the ongoing civil war. Hence, there should still be a few clothing stores open if one looked around.

“Would Mr. Sardieu like to come along too?”

His hand, which had been lazily flipping through the newspaper, came to an abrupt halt. Leonard lifted his head, and his ashen eyes met Anais’s crescent-shaped gaze, which twinkled like a fleeting moon. Leonard felt deflated. Was she going about it like this? As if nothing had happened, as if the conversation from a few days ago was false?

“It’s fine.”

“But what about Mr. Sardieu…”

“I’m truly grateful for your concern, but I’ll manage to get what I need on my own, Miss Belmartier.”

It was true that he left the place where he lived with nothing, but unlike Marie, Leonard had his strength and ability to work. Since arriving in Saint-Cordet, he had been helping those in need while seeking day labor in various parts of the city. Many cities had a fair number of one-day job opportunities for those fleeing the civil war or frightened by its repercussions, and it wasn’t unusual to see young, able-bodied individuals seeking such work.

Of course, the money he earned paled in comparison to the emergency funds he had set aside by selling a few clothes and trinkets when he had settled in Dunang. The concept of working for pay wasn’t something he easily became accustomed to. However, accumulating money like that allowed him to have the means to buy winter clothing on his own, without Anais’s assistance. So, his words carried conviction that he could handle his own clothes, and Anais didn’t insist further.

If he were to say he’d go out with her now, Leonard would have to spend the whole day in her company, acting as if everything was normal, as if he was wholeheartedly smiling at her like a person trying to prove his stories false from a few days ago. Every time Anais put on a bright façade since that night, Leonard felt twisted inside.

He wished he could grasp her fragile shoulders and plead for her not to do that anymore. At times, he was even tempted to force the issue, to press on with their conversation from that night, locking her in the room and not letting her leave. But as much as he had been driven by worry, it wasn’t his place.

Leonard gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to stick around and keep an eye on her. He couldn’t believe she would do something stupid when she took Marie out. Anais he knows has a temper that is extremely reluctant to cause trouble to others. In fact, that’s why Leonard was more afraid of Anais sitting quietly in her room by herself than when she went out alone.

Of course, her most fearful day was the day she headed to Verduis to face the uncertainty of bullets possibly aimed at her. But Leonard had no right to prevent that. His life was in danger too, and he couldn’t abandon the idea of going to Verduis just as she couldn’t.

At least on this point, they had silently agreed. They couldn’t give up helping the most innocent and vulnerable, even if it meant putting themselves in the most dangerous places. So, they had agreed not to hinder each other in this regard. So, now, if he backed down from that agreement, he’d have to offer his own reasons for living, which were few enough already.

Leonard stared blankly at the ‘excited’ face of Anais as she prepared to go out with Marie, then turned his head away.

? ? ?

“Just two people?”

Andrew Layton asked back in a very surprised voice, although from a conversational standpoint it wouldn’t sound like he was surprised at all. Ariane Champleign nodded her head with no other answer. Andrew was taken aback as he recalled the shocking sight of the execution that he wished had never appeared in his dreams. Of course, not all the officers of the Revolutionary Army would have agreed to the execution of the royal family in such a horrific way. But even though he knew it in his head, he still couldn’t understand it.

So, he became curious. He wanted to know who the two people were who opposed the execution.

“May I ask who those two people are?”

“Didn’t you think that I brought up this topic to tell you in the first place?”

Ah, he’s still quite naïve. With a gaze that seemed to be looking at a very innocent child, a woman who had captured the horrifying execution scene on film with laughter and whispers met Andrew’s bewildered eyes. Annoyed at his slightly wounded pride, Andrew took out a pen and notebook from his pocket.

“For the record, I wasn’t against it.”

“Then you were in favor…”

“I wasn’t in favor either.”

Without even looking at Andrew, Ariane swiftly put on her slightly crooked gloves. Andrew, with a puzzled expression, asked, unable to understand her behavior.

“Are you saying you abstained? Why?”

“Am I not allowed to abstain?”

Ariane blinked her clear golden eyes and shrugged her shoulders. Treating him like a fool, huh? Andrew thought, discarding his previous intention of taking charge of the conversation with her.

Ariane Champleign was nothing like the image he had vaguely held of a ‘Revolutionary’. Growing up in the Republic, Andrew Layton had associated various idealistic notions with the words “republican” and “revolutionaries”, and as he began to tally how many times these ideals had disappointed him, he stopped himself. Ariane Champleign, it seemed, didn’t fit the image he had of these revolutionaries in any way. Observing her, Andrew understood that she was far from it. Yet again, Ariane continued her speech.

“Isn’t it interesting? Faced with the horrifying choice where a single word from me could sway a person’s life between life and death, the fact that someone abstained from voting, saying they could abstain, speaks volumes in itself.”

“Hatred is truly frightening.”

“Even interpreting that as hatred is quite interesting.”

“That’s all I see in my eyes.”

The scenery over there. With these words, Andrew gazed at the top of the eastern tower, where he had descended with a limp. A shiver ran down his spine again. He’d been better off not watching the execution scene, but thanks to Ariane’s tearful consideration that he might want to watch it, she had set up a privacy barrier and entered the execution site.

There, he had seen madness-filled hatred. Andrew was convinced that they might as well bet this month’s rent that they had pointed their guns at the royals with that same hatred, even if they didn’t even comprehend that they were killing ‘humans’. In that moment, he had an inkling that today’s individuals who had pulled the triggers with burning rage would eventually come to regret this day and be tormented by guilt.

The only one who hadn’t given him such a premonition was Edmond Lambert, who had overseen the execution. With his consistently cold, unchanging gaze, he was silently looking down at the seven royals who were dying in a pitiful manner, motionless.

Yes. Seven people.

There were seven members of the royal family who died up there today.