A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

299 – Final Farewell (3)

Hour. December 31, 99 Imperial Calendar, 11:50 PM.

Location. Inside the golden airship anchored above the Second Gate of Gibraltar Gorge.

And I am sitting with a woman in a separate room inside the golden airship.

“Uhm…”

Astasia, wearing a black dress, sat on the bed, staring at the two glass bottles on her table and waiting for time to pass.

“Are you that excited, Astasia?”

“Of course.”

Astasia stamped her foot and pointed to the clock on the wall inside the special room.

“Now, in just 10 minutes, we too will become ‘adults.'”

“Yes. An adult determined by law and society.”

What is the standard for distinguishing between minors and adults?

It may be different for each person, but in society, there are standards set by concepts and laws.

And this is the same for kingdoms and empires.

Until the age of 19, they are considered ‘minors’, unlike the kingdom, but as soon as they turn 20, they are legally treated as adults.

“What is the first thing you want to do when you grow up, Astasia?”

“…”

Astasia was silent.

She looked at me with her half-closed eyes and smiled, wondering if I had to say it in words.

“Let’s talk about the past for a moment. Why did Nostrum set the age of 20 as the standard for adulthood?”

“I’m not curious.”

“…”

“That’s right, in about 9 minutes we will both become adults.”

Before I knew it, another minute had passed.

I try to take it easy while talking, but time passes at a certain rate, but right now it feels like it’s going particularly slowly.

“A year ago, I would have wondered why it was set that way, but it’s not that important now, right?”

“It’s a pretty important part, Astasia.”

“Why?”

“The fact that we become adults means that Naria also becomes a saint. Because tomorrow is the day that Naria becomes a true queen.”

January 1, Year 100 of the Imperial Calendar.

The monumental event that will be celebrated on the first page of history, even in the empire, will be ‘the ascension of Queen Naria.’

“I will stand tall as a single king, not as a co-king. It is a political issue that even the people of the empire who are interested in the kingdom are paying close attention to.”

“It may be our problem, but my interest lies in this thing right here!”

Astasia pointed to various items on the table.

“It’s alcohol, right?”

“Yes.”

“For the record, we can’t drink now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about after midnight?”

“There is no law, neither in imperial law nor in kingdom law, that adults cannot drink alcohol.”

I approached the table and lightly opened two glasses of wine.

“Wow. You’re really good at it. Have you ever drank it before?”

“I practiced several times for today.”

Before the regression, I often opened it myself, but even after the regression, I often practiced opening wine bottles.

Do you need practice?

It is necessary.

If you show skill in opening a wine bottle, you may be a little disappointed, but if you show a clumsiness in opening a wine bottle, it can cause even more severe side effects.

“My father and mother sometimes enjoy wine. They each drink a glass, so it feels like they literally just ‘savor’ it.”

“Don’t you usually drink the entire bottle of alcohol until it’s empty?”

“Most people drink it to get drunk, but for those who don’t need to get drunk, it’s just another drink.”

I filled each empty glass with wine.

“Why don’t you need to get drunk? Oh, I get it. You’re already drunk with each other, so that’s not what you’re trying to say, right?”

“Did you think I was going to say that?”

“Then, no?”

“It may be romantic, but wine can’t make a Sword Master drunk.”

Astasia pouted her lips, but I just poured the wine into the glass and placed a clean napkin on top of the glass.

“Wine is just a kind of signal. Like other ordinary people, we drink together, talk together, and use a drink to express our desire to have adult time.”

“Adult time…”

“Have I ever suggested that you drink wine, Astacia?”

“There was none.”

Astasia pointed to the teapot placed on one side of the special room.

“I often mixed tea made from somnus flowers with warmed milk and honey and called it milk tea.”

“It was okay, right?”

“Yes. It was okay. It was okay, but it wasn’t alcohol.”

“That’s why we prepared this time.”

I lightly tapped the label on the glass bottle with my finger.

“The first time you stayed here in Gibraltar, the time you worked as a maid named ‘Ellie’. This is the wine I ordered at that time and kept in the warehouse.”

“…When did you buy something like this?”

“Rather than buying it, it was an item that was confiscated against a merchant who was selling stolen goods and using counterfeit currency at the time.”

“Is it okay to drink something like that in a place like this?”

“It is the cleanest and finest wine that Gibraltar has.”

“How do you know that?”

“…”

I lightly shrugged my shoulders.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I have been researching and studying so that I can have a good drink with Astasia?”

“I would rather believe you if you told me that you found out the information after asking Marquis Crimson.”

“Is that so? Then, I should tell you a little story about this wine.”

I tapped two different wines each.

“One is the alcohol my father and mother first drank, and the other is the alcohol that created me.”

“…Yes?”

“A drink that signals the beginning of a relationship. And this one…”

“Now, wait a minute! I didn’t want to know that much!”

Astasia muttered, covering her red face with her hands.

“If you know that, you’ll be conscious of it every time you drink it from now on…”

“Even if you’re not conscious of it, you’ll know it anyway.”

I pretended to lightly drink a glass of wine.

“From now on, we will travel around the world and drink a variety of alcohol.”

“…I heard that bringing alcohol is a sign that you are going to enjoy your time as an adult.”

“Yes.”

“…”

Astasia lightly scratched her cheek, then closed her eyes and opened her mouth.

“Then I will prepare the imperial drink. Oh, does it only become an adult’s drink when a man prepares it?”

“Is that possible? Rather, it’s an illusion. I’ve even practiced how to make cocktails.”

“Cocktail?”

“It is good to drink alcohol as is, but it is said that a new alcohol is created when two alcohols that harmonize with each other are mixed.”

“…”

Astacia pursed her lips and pondered something.

“Did you know that alcohol also has political intentions?”

“I don’t want to talk about complicated things right now.”

“It’s the same when conducting formal ceremonies, but you can also express your thoughts about the other person through the alcohol you serve.”

“…Like now?”

“Yes.”

One bottle of alcohol that my father and mother drank for the first time.

The other bottle is the alcohol that I am presumed to have made on the day my father and mother drank this alcohol.

‘Not sure. You said you’ve been drinking only this alcohol for almost a month.’

If I had drank other alcohol, it would have been quite difficult to prepare, but fortunately neither my father nor my mother enjoyed drinking.

“I’ll say it again, they didn’t enjoy drinking. It was just a sign to take some adult time.”

“…Hmm. So?”

“Now, there are 3 minutes left until adult time.”

Astasia looks at her drink with eyes full of anticipation.

As if drinking alcohol is a ritual of becoming an adult, she is endlessly waiting for the hour and minute hands to move to ’12’.

“Are you that excited?”

“Of course. She’s been waiting for today.”

“Since when?”

“Uhm…”

Astasia thought for a moment.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I’ve wanted you since the moment I first saw you?”

She stretched out her hand in front of her on the bed and took her share of the glass.

“The skill with which she holds the glass is extraordinary. Have you practiced?”

“Even though I couldn’t drink, I learned how to hold a glass as a culture.”

“Me too.”

I also raised my share of the cup.

“When I was young, I pretended to be an adult by filling this cup with carbonated water and drinking it out of luxury. Since that day, I have been drinking tea with somnus tea in it.”

“That day?”

“The day my father decided to become a traitor.”

“…”

I shook the glass lightly.

“For me, this cup is a kind of trauma. The day my father took up this cup, he decided to kill the spy within the family and betray the kingdom.”

“From then on… You decided to change.”

“No.”

Wrong.

“I haven’t changed. If there was a moment when I changed, I would say it was from the moment I started loving someone.”

“Love each other.”

Astasia followed my words for a moment and bit her lip.

“…Are those the girls in the dream world?”

“…”

“I’m not that stupid either. Rather…”

“He is smarter than anyone else.”

Astasia looks pure, but she is not just a good person.

Even though she inherited Empress Erwin’s goodness from birth, the other half of her blood is in the blood of the Habsburg Emperor.

It may be correct to describe a person’s blood as ‘evil’, but at least Astasia does not have a flowery head like many of the other daughters of her kingdom.

“But you are a fool.”

“Yes?”

“I have said this many times, but I define that dream as a world of ‘false gold.'”

I put down her glass, then took Astasia’s glass and placed it on her table, then made eye contact with Astasia.

“Uh, Gray?”

“There is only one person I love.”

“Uh…So…”

“Shh.”

I grabbed Astasia’s shoulder and prevented her from saying any more.

“…As always, you taste like somnus flowers.”

Astasia blinks her eyes and asks me.

“You say drinking alcohol is a signal?”

“You don’t have to drink alcohol to become an adult. It’s just a signal to have some adult time.”

“…Hmm.”

Astasia turns her gaze to the clock.

“I haven’t even drunk, is it okay for me to have some adult time?”

“Because I will become an adult.”

Three.

“Astacia.”

Two.

“I love you.”

One.

“I waited for this moment.”

100 years of the imperial calendar, 00:00 on January 1.

“Because it’s not just you.”

Wow!!

“…”

The moment Astasia’s eyes closed tightly.

“I’ll be back soon.”

After kissing Astasia on the lips, I immediately ran out of her room.

Head towards the place where the sound came from.

The day we become adults.

The day Naria becomes a saint.

Because we weren’t the only ones waiting for that.