Chapter 20 (2/2)
Elena knew that her son’s life was endangered because of her. So she ended her life herself. And the Emperor , in order not to unleash the lash on his son, just left Elena’s body to rot without even arranging a proper funeral.
Who knows maybe he thought that, Tasel was going to die any way and its not a problem for not informing him about the death of his mother.
“Highness…..”
Zich went near Tasel and lightly put his hands on his shoulders.
Michael who was silently shedding tears all the while cried out aloud with a crackling sound as if he can’t hold on anymore.
“Even though we could find the mother’s body,to hold a funeral here is still impossible. Zich, please get me a small wooden coffin (box). Michael, you must know some good scenic spots in the Back mountain right? Mother should be ….. buried there.”
Towards the end, his voice was almost nasal, but still he held onto the tears and took a deep breath.
“Dame Kasia, you worked hard. At last I was able to meet with my mother only because of you. You must be tired, so just retire and take a good rest. I will give you an appropriate reward later.”
“If you don’t mind, I wish to follow Her Majesty in her last journey.”
After a while, Tasel, Kasia, Zich and Michael went out of the tent towards the back mountains holding a small wooden box and 2 shovels. The mourning was too simple to call it the last journey of a Queen of a nation.
They went up to the rocky top of the mountain (the place where Michael pulled Kasia to see the sun rise) and shoved a deep pit in the land. The box which held the skeleton and her dress was not very big, so it didn’t take much time to dig a pit. Tasel by himself dug the pit , laid his mother in it and covered it.
It was a simple tomb without even a burial mound. So they could only consider the large rocks on there as the tombstone for her, even though it was disappointing.
They stood on the rocks and looked down at the garrison, each engrossed in different thoughts, sadness and regrets of their own.
“Then from now on, what are you planning to do.”
Kasia asked towards Tasel.
“I am planning to go away (move/transfer/migrate) along with the people that want to follow me. The deputy commander Aslan will be responsible for the remaining.”
It was easy to say it, but it was certain that there would be contradictions among the Knights.
Most of the private soldiers might want to follow Tasel because of his Character, but for the noble knights, there will be many, thinking about their families in the empire unable to easily make any movement. Also it was for certain that the old knights of the Emperor’s faction will inform the emperor about Tasel’s betrayal with quick steps as soon as they make any move.
There is also the influence of the 1st prince still lurking among. It might be hard for the Emperor to directly order for Tasel’s death, but by any chance the Emperor and the first prince reached some sort of agreement as per the rumors, it’s unknown how many attacks he will face en route to the outskirts.
The people gathered in that place, thinking about the things gonna happen in the future, took a deep breath. One part of Kasia thought that it was better for Queen Elena to die. Of course, she also pitied for her lost life.
In truth , for her to sympathize about Elena’s circumstance itself was a huge feat compared to Kasia Del Roman. Still Kasia was unable to leave behind the habits of her previous life, so her calculation that it’s better without Elena for Tasel’s action, naturally came into her mind.
‘It seems the process of becoming a human from a machine is very much chaotic.’
Kasia knew that in her previous life, others mentioned her as only a ‘Killing Machine’ , but she thought that there was no wrong in it. She didn’t feel any emotional pain when killing a person, acted according to orders, and always calculated her efficiency. So it became easy to handle her job.
But after waking up from death, she began to feel all sorts of emotions that she never felt in her previous life according to different circumstances. Though it gave her some joy as if she was turning into a human, on the contrary there was also ‘It’s not easy to handle the job’ within her.
Sometimes she will think about the afterlife she experienced before opening her eyes once again. The memories never ending murders and the pain it followed……
Even at that time she couldn’t understand any of those feelings, but after arriving in this world she felt like understanding those emotions bit by bit. So what the god really wants is her penance.
‘I still can’t understand it.’
Even though her previous life was quite abnormal she still mistook it even after living such a life. But it doesn’t seem that the murders she committed in her previous life is the reason why she opened her eyes in this world. If killing is a sin, then it will be impossible to find someone innocent in the battle field.
She thought that there must be a reason for the god to give her a second chance. So she made up her mind to live this life differently from her previous one. Learn emotions as a person, form relationships with others, treat the place where she eats, sleeps and wear as a place of love and life(concept of home), and to determine an aim of life that others call as ‘Dream’.
Maybe because it hadn’t been a long since Kasia changed from a Machine to a human, it was difficult to set her own standards. So she simply thought that she might be able to see her path if she follow Tasel, whom she considers to be the most upright of all.
“I will do my best to follow, if there is anything for me to do.”
Kasia said placidly to Tasel.
Tasel raised his head and measured up the emotionless doll like female knight in front of him. After regaining her health and sturdiness, though it was not, her body looked tough.
Those green eyes, devoid of any grief or hesitation, were asking him his next plan, but seeing that relentless eyes enough to be called pure, Tasel hesitated.
This female Knight without being bothered about the nature of the order, she will follow it as it is. Which was exactly the scariest aspect about her.