Chapter – 35
“So that’s how it is.”
Biretta humbly accepted reality.
It might have sounded arrogant, but Iola’s words weren’t exaggerated in the slightest.
Biretta had also suspected Iola for exactly the same reason he mentioned.
This wasn’t a marriage for love—it was an arranged marriage.
In a marriage for love, one might be captivated by some aspect of their partner and marry despite a difference in social status, but in an arranged marriage, such a large disparity was rare.
In an arranged marriage, there had to be balance in some way. Families, appearance, abilities, and character were all weighed before a match was made.
But Iola was too strong a card.
He was far too exceptional to be the arranged marriage partner for a neglected second daughter with no role in the Medlidge household.
He was a wizard, an excellent warrior, and a student of the capital’s academy, which was home to the brightest scholars.
So Biretta assumed he must have some fatal flaw.
A man with such family background and ability who would become her fiancé must have been hideously unattractive, had some strange taste, or perhaps was ten years older with children.
Yet Iola’s personality and appearance were flawless.
He was somewhat naive and occasionally impulsive, but those traits weren’t fatal flaws.
There had to be some major problem elsewhere.
“Mr. Iola, you’re preparing a thesis on dragons as an academy student, right? Is your major zoology?”
“Yes. Along with that, I’m pursuing multiple majors: accounting, mathematics, economics, law, physics, and botany.”
Every time he spoke, a new talent revealed itself. He truly was an extraordinary man.
What had he done to end up in a position where he could be arranged to marry someone from a distant country?
Biretta waited for his explanation, her anxiety and curiosity mingling in equal measure.
“When I decided to pursue academia, my family strongly opposed it, but the nobles of Saha did not. In Saha, it’s customary for sons to become mercenaries, but that’s not Saha’s tradition.”
“I see.”
“They eagerly awaited my return after I completed my studies. But I…”
His words broke off strangely, and his expression twisted.
Seeing a crack appear on Iola’s usually smiling face, Biretta tilted her head.
She gently cupped his face, stroking from his forehead to beneath his chin. Iola let out the breath he had been holding.
“…But I couldn’t return to Saha. I can’t go back to my homeland. I’ve been exiled from Saha.”
“Who did you kill?”
Biretta’s eyes widened as she asked, and Iola gave a faint smile, thinking she was joking.
Though it was a serious question, Biretta was content knowing she had brought a smile to him, so she remained silent.
“I wasn’t the only student who studied abroad in Filian from Saha at that time. Among them were very distinguished bloodlines.”
A gleam of light danced in his olive-colored eyes, giving an impression of elegance.
“The ‘Seo’ family is a powerful prime ministerial family that influences Saha’s politics. The sole heir, Minel Seo, traveled with me to study abroad.”
“Impressive! Were you close to them?”
“Yes. We stayed in the same boarding house, so we were close. But he was really a troublesome friend. He deceived me every single day.”
“He deceived you?”
“He was quite the prankster. He’d call me, claiming his stomach hurt terribly, and then set off fireworks as a joke. In Filian, he even gave me false information, like that I had to kneel before someone I was pleased to see.”
Biretta could easily picture Iola falling for such tricks. Hearing that he worried when someone said they were sick or knelt before someone, it painted a vivid picture.
“A troublesome friend. Mr. Iola, you’re so trusting of others.”
“As you know, I tend to believe what others say. It’s in my nature, but it’s also a principle I’ve chosen to uphold. Because in this world, even objective truths can be distorted by subjectivity.”
Iola spoke thoughtfully and gently held Biretta’s cheek. He gazed carefully into her light violet eyes.
“To me, your eyes appear violet like violets, but to someone else, they might look reddish like plums. It’s not a lie; it’s just that our truths differ.”
“Does that really happen?”
“Very often. So in academia, it’s forbidden to call something a lie too hastily.”
For example, color blindness.
Or for rare cases of eye disease or mental disturbance.
Or perhaps in someone’s hometown, a plum might truly glow violet.
In the world of science and scholarship, what occurs is taken as truth.
Thus, Iola has the habit of believing others as they are. Even if objective facts differ, it may be true to him.
“I’ve gotten so used to believing others that… I suffered greatly from that friend’s tricks. I went through many difficulties.”
“I can picture it.”
Biretta smiled softly, and Iola smiled back. Her calm, attentive presence was a comfort to him.
“But in the end, while thinking ‘maybe just this once…,’ I was so often teased that I finally resolved never to believe that friend again.”
“You made such a decision! Did you manage to keep it?”
Even though she already knew the outcome, Biretta’s silent encouragement was one of her strengths.
“That evening, a friend on the first floor shouted up to me on the second floor.”
Iola lowered his eyes, recalling that night.
“‘Intruders are here! They have swords! Help! Iola! You’re home, right? Who knows what they’ll do! Come out, Iola!’ …He shouted at the top of his lungs.”
Iola imitated his friend’s thin, high voice. Even after years, that voice echoed clearly in his memory.
Or perhaps not clearly—the memory might be distorted, but it still weighed heavily on him.
“In the end, I didn’t go out. I’d already been tricked five times by that point. I couldn’t allow a sixth.”
“Of course.”
“The friend’s shouting gradually changed into desperate cries to flee, and I could hear the clash of swords. I had to admire his thoroughness. He even modulated the noise to silence at just the right moments.”
“Oh my.”
“When the door slammed loudly, I finally went down. I thought to tell him to close it gently because it was too noisy. But…”
He swallowed. He needed a moment before continuing.
The memory of that day.
The atmosphere of that day.
Iola’s voice slowed, softening as he reflected.
“…But my friend was dying from a sword wound.”
Biretta’s lips parted silently at the heartbreaking words.
“…It was real?”
“Yes. That day happened to be real.”
Iola’s hands trembled. He folded his arms as if embracing Minel, who was dying.
“I tried to support him… Minel, but it was too late. Minel died cold in my arms. Why that day of all days?”
Just one day.
The only day in his life he decided not to trust someone.
That day, Iola received a scar he could never erase.
“Why? I’ve always trusted people. Never not trusted. Even those who clearly intended to kill me, I trusted. But that day, just once… my failure caused me to lose a friend.”
Iola Jin always trusted people.
He accepted surrender even when he knew the person’s intent was deadly. He once respected a deceitful trick.
He would step in if someone in danger asked for help and worry if someone was sick.
But that one day, that single moment of distrust, cost him a friend who was trying to protect him.
“What must it have felt like… to have your plea for help treated as a joke? To be shouting yourself hoarse so someone could escape safely, only for them to die?”
The cruelest fact was that Minel did not flee. He died while fiercely fighting, trying to ensure Iola on the second floor could escape.
Just a friend too mischievous, yet worrying about his life even in danger.
“I failed to trust just once. But that single moment caused an irreversible tragedy… almost as if it were a punishment for me.”
Iola’s gaze wavered. Though he had witnessed and been involved in countless deaths, the one life lost due to his distrust hurt the most.
A clumsy attacker he could have defeated if he’d gone downstairs was allowed to escape, leaving an enduring scar.
“From that day on, I decided to trust others without fail. It’s better to trust and be betrayed than not trust and regret it.”
When he raised his head again, a flame burned in Iola’s eyes. The vibrant fire that had once dimmed now bloomed brilliantly.
“That’s why I trust you and everyone else.”
