Farewell to the Hero

“Congratulations on your marriage, Kaindel.” Isaac, who had been Kaindel’s lover—the hero who saved the world from the Great Calamity—learned one day that Kaindel was engaged to a princess. Exhausted by their already strained relationship, Isaac eventually decided to leave Kaindel, who had betrayed him. However, Kaindel wouldn’t let him go. In the end, Isaac fled, unable to endure Kaindel’s refusal to give up either the marriage to the princess or his relationship with Isaac. Not long after, rumors began to spread throughout the kingdom: the hero had gone mad. *** [From Isaac Winter, who once loved you] “…….” Kaindel read and reread the last line of the letter, but the words didn’t change. ‘Once loved.’ Isaac really wrote his feelings in past tense. “Ah.” He never thought Isaac would leave him. No, he never believed he could be abandoned. Even if they parted ways, he was sure it would be on his terms. Because Isaac loved him. Because being loved by Isaac was, for Kaindel, something so natural. “Why…….” But it had all been an illusion. “Why didn’t I see it?” Now, the one left behind like a forgotten relic was Kaindel, him. The one clinging to the past, too blind to see the present, was none other than himself. He only realized it now, after he left him. Suddenly, Isaac’s voice, long buried in his memory, resurfaced. Isaac’s smiling face filled his vision, his silver eyes, like clear glass marbles, gleaming with a thousand bright stars, painfully vivid. The sound of Isaac’s innocent laughter echoed in his mind. “I love you,” Isaac had once whispered. When Kaindel’s mind wondered around, did Isaac’s laughter disappeared? No matter how much he tried to remember, the moment escaped him. He searched his memory in vain. As Kaindel traced the days gone by, thick tears began to fall. Like melting ice dripping onto the budding new leaves of spring, his tears left indelible marks on Isaac’s letter. “Where is he?” “…….” “Find him.” “Immediately.” Kaindel finally crumbled. In the place where his arrogance shattered, a deep regret settled in. It was a perfect despair.