The Words I’ve Lived By

FOLLOWING HIS TACTICAL WITHDRAWAL from the Raucous Rascal — and the demigod wouldn’t have anyone call it otherwise — Galardos retreated to a nondescript inn, tucked away in the city’s shadows. He rented a room for the night, his identity hidden by an obfuscation spell… and he waited.

He’d already done everything in his power to aid Gizelle in the quest of healing Angeline and taking Milla under her wing. The entire operation had been successfully kept hidden from prying eyes for the time being.

However, it hadn’t been flawless.

From the very start, Galardos committed several blunders.

Getting attacked by Milla in the first place was what landed the group into this mess. Then he got tricked with the Balor’s simulacrum, let Milla get abducted, failed to capture any survivors from the abduction team… and most crucially, he utterly botched the Seraph’s resurrection.

It had been one misstep after another, and for a man once hailed among the Empire’s finest, that truth was hard to stomach. This all culminated in a crisis where the very survival of the Empire was at stake.

And now, its resolution was entirely out of Galardos’ hands. The only thing he could do anymore was to wait for the results and hope for the best.

So wait he did, fiddling with the feather Archangel Urielle had given him.

It was a radiant gift unlike any other he’d ever received, yet as he stared at the angel’s keepsake, something kept gnawing at the back of his mind.

Throughout the conversation with her, Angeline hadn’t been mentioned even once.

It seemed strange back then, but now that the demigod had time to think and internalize everything, the Archangel’s behavior completely baffled him.

She was far too friendly.

Just two decades ago, they had fought to a stalemate during the angelic invasion of the Empire, but now there she was cheerfully having a drink with him in the most infamous tavern in town.

It didn’t make any sense.

Wasn’t the Zarian Order taking a Seraph’s death too lightly?

The more he thought about it, the more the feeling of dread grew in his heart.

Something was amiss in this whole fiasco. Terribly, dangerously so.

Alas, before the demigod could piece anything together, his train of thought was interrupted by the familiar sensation of Alaiel’s magic. His guardian wolf, it seemed, was looking to open a dimensional portal over from the Irilithan.

Galardos let the spell finish, and a teleportation gate soon opened inside his room.

To his surprise, however, the person who crossed over wasn’t Alaiel.

It was Princess Olivia.

The demigod blinked as he looked at her.

She had grown up so much since the last time they met — she was no longer a little girl, but a proper young lady. And judging by the exhausted, scared look on her face… she didn’t come to give him any good news.

“Your Highness,” Galardos addressed her, rising to his feet.

“Master…” she eked out a reply, lost for words.

Throughout the past several years, she had rehearsed the things she wanted to tell him over and over again. But now that she finally reunited with her mentor, she didn’t know how to face him.

How could she?

What right did she have?

After seeing the state of the Irilithan on the way to the teleportation circle… how could Olivia even begin to apologize for everything she had cost him?

“Did Alaiel bring you here?” the demigod asked the obvious.

As the Princess nodded quietly, Galardos sighed in anger.

“I apologize for the sight. She shouldn’t have shown you that.”

“N- No, Master. It wasn’t her fault. I insisted to come here, and I’m… I’m the one responsible for…”

“You’re not,” the demigod cut her off. “The one who destroyed the Irilithan was me, by my own hand. You are not to blame for it.”

“That’s not true. You know that’s not true, Master! I made those horrible accusations against you, and because of that you—”

“I paid the price for losing my temper. That’s all there is to it.”

“You’re wrong! I’m the one who caused all of this! The war, my father… everything!”

“With all due respect, your Highness…” Galardos took a moment to choose the right words, “You were eight years old. Keeping you in line was my responsibility, and I failed at that. As for everything else, that was on your parents. You were too young to know any better.”

“But I…” she hesitated to admit it. “But I knew it was wrong. Back then, deep down… I knew I was lying, and I knew others had been hurt because of me. People died because of me. You can’t absolve me like that.”

“It’s true, some of your sins aren’t for me to forgive. But I’m the one who allowed you to commit them. Back then, during the visit to that village… I left you alone because I was tired of you. Even though I knew you’d do something unreasonable, I let the guards handle you. So the root cause of that mess was me.”

“You’re wrong! You’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong!”

Is she back to throwing a tantrum, Galardos wondered.

Did she not change after all?

“Why are you like this, Master? Why do you take the blame for everything, even for the things you didn’t actually do?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“You know the answer yourself. They’re the first words I taught you,” he replied.

The princess clenched her fists.

Of course she remembered.

“We are the pillars of the Empire,” she recited. “We are the ones who bear its burdens, who keep it standing through the tempest, who keep it safe in darkest times.”

The demigod smiled as she answered.

“You did pay attention.”

“Of course I did!” she cried, her voice quivering. “Ever since that day, I have lived by these words! Every morning and every night, I always say them!”

“Then you know what it means to hold power — to be responsible for our homeland, our people. I bear those burdens because I can, Princess. Because I want to. And in doing so, I can look at myself and say I am playing my part.”

Olivia looked down in exasperation, digesting the meaning of his words.

“So you’re covering for me because you think I need you to,” she concluded.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I’m a demigod too. I’m an Imperial Princess.”

“I know that.”

“Then let me own up to my mistakes! Let me stand by you and help you! I know I don’t amount to much… I know I’m weak and pathetic, but even I can…”

Try as she may, she couldn’t continue. Her voice wouldn’t come out.

Galardos’ eyes softened as the princess wept in front of him.

Did he look like that a while ago with Gizelle?

“These past few years,” the demigod started. “I’ve heard a lot about you, you know?”

Olivia didn’t answer.

“They say you’re the top student at the academy. That you have a full company of knights at your command, and the people sing praises of you wherever you go. Truth be told, I was doubtful at first… but now that I’ve met you in person, I see that you live up to your name.”

As the tears kept flowing, Galardos placed his hand gently atop her head.

“The Lady of the Golden Bloom,” he savored the title with a smile. “You’ve blossomed beautifully, Princess. I’m proud of you.”

“M- MASTER!!” Olivia’s resistance shattered.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

Ten years of guilt and regret boiled over, gushing out of her eyes as she pressed her face into Galardos’ chest.

And just as Gizelle had done for him, the demigod quietly consoled his former pupil.