One consolation was that Dowager empress Katleyanira’s body could never enter this tomb. Her head was still displayed in the city and her body was given to the wild dogs to be eaten.
And…
I looked for a familiar figure on the coffin lid.
Lucretius asked, “What are you looking for?”
“Oh, I thought the former emperor’s coffin must be around here somewhere.”
Lucretius pointed at the one right next to that of Empress Beatrice.
“It’s this one.”
“…”
This was the former emperor’s coffin?
I asked to make sure, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help but comment. “… I see that the sculptor was very generous.”
Lucretius smirked. “The former emperor had it made in advance and ordered it to look like that. He claimed that he looked that good when he was younger.”
“…”
I had no words.
The position of his coffin made sense. As the husband, he was resting next to his wife Empress Beatrice. The figure on his coffin lid was that of a gorgeous young man, which was ridiculous.
I felt uncomfortable. Would Empress Beatrice want to rest next to her husband even in death? This was the man who executed her.
I patted her marble face gently. “For some reason, she looks sad.”
Lucretius came behind me. “No, I think she looks happy.”
“Really?”
He answered with a coy smile, “Yes. Even a kind and soft-hearted woman like my mother wouldn’t have wanted to be near the former emperor or Katleyanira even in death.”
“What?”
My eyes widened in surprise.
I thought Lucretius said the coffin next to Beatrice’s was that of the former emperor, yet he said she would be happy because she wasn’t with him?
After a brief silence, I asked quietly as I pointed at the former emperor’s coffin, “Is… this an empty coffin?”
Lucretius shook his head. “No, but… his body inside is definitely not that of the former emperor.”
“…”
“After the funeral, his body was removed and burned so his face wouldn’t be recognizable. I then ordered it to be disposed of somewhere far away. I assumed his body was eaten by the wild animals. If he got lucky, perhaps his remains met with those of Katleyanira in a wild dog’s belly.”
“…”
Lucretius sounded pleasant, but his face didn’t show any joy. He continued in a low voice.
“I will end up here as well someday, so I didn’t want him here.”
“I guess.”
He added teasingly. “You too, right?”
“… what?” It took me a while to understand what he meant.
When I looked up at him, Lucretius turned towards me and explained, “This is where you and I will rest together after our deaths.”
“…”
“So I didn’t want this place to be contaminated by that man.”
He was so direct that there was no room for me to misunderstand. I stared at him, which made him smile like a boy.
“I understand if you are angry that I chose this place to do this, but… I picked it because I thought this is a very meaningful spot.”
“…”
Lucretius took both of my hands and said to me in a serious but sweet whisper, “I don’t know the world you were born in. I don’t even think I will be able to return you there, but what I can do is to give you a place to live out your life here and also after death.”
Behind him was a raised area that remained empty. It must have been a place for the next emperor and his wives.
The spot on the left was for Lucretius and I could see he was asking me to be with him even in death.
I felt my eyes tearing up.
My voice trembled as I replied, “This place and your words… aren’t romantic at all.”
Lucretius smiled bitterly. “I know. Sorry.”
He then took out something from his inner pocket. It was a small black box and inside was a seal ring. It wasn’t as big or elaborate as Lucretius’. It was made of silver and the seal itself consisted of a bird returning to its nest. I read the engraved word on it quietly.
“Bi… lenae?”
Lucretius nodded.
“Yes. Bilenae. It is a word from an old language, and it means bird. Tomorrow, I will rename Aeal colony as Bilenae and it will be yours.”
“Mine?”
I stared at him in confusion. “It is a marriage proposal gift from me. The land where you arrived first… I want to give it to you. It is a small land, but I think it is meaningful.”
“…”
When I continued to stare, Lucretius kneeled in front of me and asked, “Will you be my wife?”
***
Under the candlelight, I looked at the seal ring he gave me. I guess proposals were done the same way as on earth, but the ring had bigger significance here.
He renamed an entire land and gave it to me as a gift. Along with it, I was given the title of Duchess Bilenae.
The place where I arrived in my own world.
I told him once I would take everything away from the Aeal family, and he must have taken it seriously. With this ring, he made it a reality. I now had everything the Duke of Aeal once owned.
I wondered why of all things, he gave me this.
And why today?
I put down the ring box as I looked at another box nearby. It was a white weaved box Yulia handed to me when I returned to the castle with Lucretius.
Yulia said simply, “This is from the priestess.”
Lucretius proposed to me today, and I asked him to give me a little bit of time. He accepted my answer calmly.
As soon as we returned, a letter from the priestess was waiting for me.
Of all days…
I had already read the letter, but I opened the box again to re-read it. It was a short letter.
After she returned to her temple, Priestess Izvita kept her promise and searched through the records of this land.
She found it.
Records of people from another world.
There had been five times in the past where a person with a strange appearance appeared out of the blue. I was the sixth.
Of the five, four of them were found dead, which meant including me, there were only two who arrived alive.
The other girl that lived was called Yoonyoung.
Every one of us was found in the Aeal forest. For some, only parts of their bodies were found.
When Yoonyoung arrived, she became the concubine of the Duke of Aeal at the time. After a year, she gave birth to a son. The Duke and the Duchess at the time didn’t have any children, so the duchess adopted Yoonyoung’s son as her own and the young boy became the next heir.
This was why after this generation, the Bonafits started to have unusual black hair. One of their ancestors was from Korea.
After losing her child to the duchess, Yoonyoung suffered from severe depression. The duke genuinely loved her, so one night, he took her out to the Aeal forest for a walk. The full moon was up, and it was about a year and a half after Yoonyoung arrived.
There, they saw it.
A “gate” that opened with the force of the full moon.
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought when I first arrived, it was a full moon as well. I woke up during the day, but at night as I walked through the forest, I remember seeing a giant full moon through the trees.
Yoonyoung apparently pushed the duke away and walked through the gate. She disappeared and was never seen again.
The duke pined for her, so every full moon, he went into the forest and waited for the gate to open. It did open on rare occasions, but no one ever walked through it again. In the end, the duke watched for the gate and recorded what he saw. He couldn’t stand the fact that there would be no proof or record of the woman he loved. Therefore, one day, he left a letter asking to donate all the records he kept to the Aos temple.
Then, he himself disappeared into the forest.
