"Please, Hilise. Please die in place of Gabrielle."
My always dignified brother begged me for the first time.
He wants me to die for our stepsister, whom we don't even share a single drop of blood with.
"For the first and last time, I ask you this."...
As Axion guessed, Hilise was experimenting in Inoaden's archives.
(We have identified all the places where the flow of power stands out here. But just that, by no means could we find a secret place in the archives.)
Hilise's face frowned. Time went on despite them not knowing anything useful, and Hilise was getting nervous little by little. But she soon closed her eyes deeply and opened them and calmed down. It also occurred to her that the easiest way was to ask Axion Berzete, who is now nearby.
Hilisr stood in the sun, peering over his head and agonizing a little. She took out the watch and checked, and it was still a little early. Eventually, Hilise left the door with the need to meet Axion.
* * *
Hilise, who came out of Inoaden's archives, looked towards the public archives. When Axion accompanied her to the four seasons of the forest, he said he would not be in Berzet's archives, but in the public archives of the four great families. When Hilis came out, it seemed that they did not cross paths.
Usually, Axion used to feel the door open and come out first, but today, the public record room was quiet. It seemed to be because Hilise came out earlier than usual.
Nevertheless, this level of silence was bizarre, so Hilise tilted her head and turned away. In the lounge of the public record room where and sipped in her curiosity.
Axion was sleeping soundly.
Hilise was surprised. She thought she might have seen something by mistake, but it was Axion who was lying on the sofa, with his eyes closed without moving.
(I can't believe he's sleeping without noticing me even though the distance is so close. I guess he was very tired. This place does make you feel drowsy.)
Hilise's gaze remained silent on Axion's face, who's still asleep. It was the first time she had entered the public archives so deep. The lounge here was more cozy than she thought.
The delicate smell of paper in the air seemed to stabilize the mind and body, and the sofa on which he was lying looked very soft. The windows on the ceiling were making Axion drowsy in the afternoon sunshine. Perhaps that's why he had his arm lightly placed around his eyes to block the light. Obviously, in this atmosphere, he deserved to fall asleep.
Hilise hesitated to wake him up because he seemed to be sleeping deeper than she thought. Eventually, Hilise quietly backed out of the lounge.
Hilise felt compelled to spend more time there. She paid attention to the documents in the public archives and decided to take a look at them. Not long before, the painting she saw at Amelie's mansion was still a little on her mind.
First of all, the documents here seemed no different from those in Inoaden's private archive. As soon as he took out any documents that he could reach, a story of the founding myth, which is the origin of the first king and four generations of families, emerged.
"...so God blessed the earth by sending the wisest third of the three children who created water, wind, fire and soil, light and darkness."
That is the first king on earth to be the ruler of this land, the father of all things. In fact, it was more of a creation myth than a founding myth. Since even a three-year-old knows the story if he lives in this land, of course Hilise has known it since she was young.
When she took out some other documents nearby and checked them, the introduction was also almost the same.
The documents in Inoaden's archives, except for the records of past heads, contained similar content without exceptions.
It could have been because it was an indispensable story to record the history of the four major families. It was like the origin of the first king and four assistants.
The king sprinkled light and darkness, his source, on this earth, and breathed breath into the world with four guardians. This created a balance between morning and night on the ground, and the cycle in which everything was revived, changed, dissipated, and maintained.
Still, the public record room here contained the myth of the great founding in great detail.
Some of them were slightly sweet, such as what Hilise knew and it's title. That's how the four assistants the guardians of the king was described, even though it was a minor difference. Of course, most of it was boring, so Hilise didn't read it carefully and just skimmed through the pages.
Then her hand stopped.
"...so how can I not grieve? The four guardians split the heart into four pieces and took it as part of their ritual to worship the last king of the earth forever. So the king melted into the bodies of the four guardians who worshiped him and lived in this land forever."
