Chapter 227: Let It Bother Us Together

"Indeed it is." Tristan responded, but his gaze had traveled far into the distance, fixed on something I couldn’t see.

I noticed it and turned my own gaze away for the moment. Calling something like that out would cut his train of thought, and whatever he was processing had to be important.

Instead, I started my own.

’Tristan has changed...’

Unlike me. I had changed once and refused to do it again, had dug my heels into whatever ground I found myself standing on. But Tristan... Lira and Clara’s deaths must have affected him on an unimaginable scale. After all, he had known them far longer than I had. Years, maybe. A lifetime’s worth of trust.

I felt indebted to Lira, and watching her die for nothing had hurt me to the bone. But it was nothing compared to watching my own mother die and how it wrecked my life. Compared to that, I couldn’t pretend my grief for Lira matched the hollow place I’d carried for years.

It would be pretentious of me to claim both were comparable. But that didn’t make it hurt any less, or make me any less of a griever. And compared to Tristan, who was feeling all this pain more deeply, more personally, I had no right to wallow.

’Actually shameless of me...’

When I thought about it, I was the one who’d gone on a killing spree, and Tristan, who had lost everything that mattered to him, was the one trying to rectify the damage I had done. It was truly shameless. Stupid, even.

’Lira would be so disappointed...’

Minutes of silence passed between us. Maybe more than a few, because neither of us noticed when night crept in and swallowed the sky. The stars emerged one by one, indifferent to us both.

And my butt hurt from prolonged sitting. There was no dignified way to think about it.

Eventually, I managed to say something. Something I should have said a long time ago.

"Thank you."

Tristan finally surfaced from wherever his mind had gone. He turned to me, his expression flat, but something flickered beneath it.

"For what?"

"Everything." I let the word sit for a moment before continuing. "You had no obligation to... and yet you did."

Tristan sighed, the sound heavy, weighted with more than just air.

"I’d prefer you not to thank me..." He hesitated, gaze dropping to the ground between his feet. "I’m still conflicted. I don’t know if all of this is the right way. I’m somewhat skeptical about the future."

I had to tilt my head slightly to fully look at him and the expression on his face. He looked rueful. Worn in a way that had nothing to do with physical exhaustion. I turned away, facing front again.

"Future, huh? Isn’t that far away? Can’t we just rest instead?"

I sounded like a genuinely tired man. Because I was. After worrying about the future ever since I stepped into this world, I finally didn’t want to do that anymore. I didn’t want to worry about anything. Just existing seemed like enough of a task.

Tristan sighed heavily.

"You’re right. Let’s not be such worrywarts."

I observed him for a moment, the tension still visible in the set of his shoulders, and then asked.

"But you... what will you do?"

He was silent. When he finally spoke, his voice had hardened into something that sounded almost like a promise.

"Make sure you’re settled in. Then I have to find Brutus."

"The leader of the guild."

Tristan nodded. A dangerous light flickered in his electric blue eyes, there and gone.

"Something tells me he has something to do with the mystery surrounding Lira’s death."

I squinted. "How so?"

Tristan was silent again, longer this time. Then he looked around, scanning the area like a man checking for enemies. He brought out what looked like a locket with a red gem in the center and pressed down on the gem.

His demeanor as he did this was so serious that I didn’t need to be told. He was about to say or do something that might largely change the course of everything going forward.

"I will be telling you something very important about Brutus, which you must never tell anyone."

I wouldn’t deny it. A little bit of fear drummed heavily in my chest, each beat louder than the last.

I swallowed. "Okay."

"I found out about this eight years ago, and I believe not many people know." His jaw tightened. "Brutus... is the elder brother of the Emperor."

A small frown settled on my brows.

"What?"

That was one hell of a revelation.

"Then why isn’t he the Emperor?"

’Don’t they do the firstborn thing here?’

"Because he refused to be. But that is not the problem." Tristan’s voice lowered, as if the words themselves were dangerous. "After his brother ascended the throne, he started trying to kill Brutus."

"That’s... unfortunate."

’I guess Monarchs are the same everywhere.’

"This was simply because Brutus was too strong. He was strong enough to demand the throne. But in order to assure his brother that he wouldn’t, he didn’t marry anyone, had no children. But the Emperor still didn’t believe him and continued to hunt him."

I watched Tristan for a moment. "Is that why he’s not around now?"

"Yes. But Brutus is also investigating a strange group. We know nothing about them aside from the fact that we’ve seen their traces. Levi was also investigating them, but we met a dead end."

I suddenly remembered the conversation between Clara, Lira, and Tristan after that particular duel, when Kassie almost killed him. He had said he was going to help a friend. Levi.

Remembering that detail brought my mind relief. It made me understand how Tristan and Levi had appeared at the same time.

"That’s beside the point." Tristan’s eyes found mine and held them. "The point is, when an imperial blood is roaming around like that, it’s bound to bring conflict with it. Someone is trying to draw Brutus out."

My frown deepened into something closer to a scowl, heavy with disbelief.

"You’re saying all that killing... burning Lira on a pyre... it was all to draw out one man?"

Tristan nodded slowly. "The rightful heir to the throne of the Solaris Empire. Yes, it could be. But all of this is just my suspicion. The fact that Lira went to see the queen leaves a hole I can’t quite fill."

He rubbed his chin, worry carving lines into his face.

"It’s best to say Lira also had an agenda. She was doing something, and Clara knew about it. Brutus was quite fond of Lira, Clara, and me. Anyone that got close to him would certainly know. I wasn’t an easy target, so it was easy for them to give up on me. But Brutus’ guild and those two would have been a perfect lure to bring Brutus out."

"Well, it failed."

"Because they have it all wrong. It’s not that Brutus is around and hiding. He’s not around at all. He’s been in the Northwestern Twilight Frontier all this while."

I frowned, curious. "Where is that?"

"Oh... true, you don’t know." Tristan shifted, settling into the explanation like a man preparing for a long story. "Twilight Frontier is Dul’Umbris, the land of fading light. The continent is facing extinction from the threat of Spirit Beasts. It’s the closest region to the central point of the spirit world, so there’s a massive chain of spirit gate appearances and growth of spirit beasts. For the past four years, the intercontinental government has been trying to evacuate the denizens there, but the forces that entered are stuck inside. Two years ago, Brutus left to go there, and that was the last we heard of him.

"However, his movement was secret. So no one knew. They might be trying to draw him out to kill him. I don’t know. But it bothers me..." His voice dropped, and his eyes met mine with an intensity that pinned me in place. "All of these things bother me. And I want it to bother you too."