IATAOTHKG | CHAPTER 124

[CHAPTER 124]

“Yes.”

Meyna answered.

“I was with His Highness.”

The added explanation came out easily.

There was no reason to hide it.

She had only gone outside because her chest felt stifled, and Biterion had followed after catching sight of her.

There was no need to act as if she had been caught in a secret midnight rendezvous.

“But why?”

Even knowing that, Meyna found herself watching Caliph’s mood.

So much that she could feel her anxious heartbeat.

Perhaps because of his packed schedule over the past days, he looked clearly exhausted.

He stood there without answering, wearing an unreadable expression.

After hesitating, Meyna added,

“I came out first, and then His Highness came here later.”

“You don’t need to make excuses.”

The cold reply came back at once.

Despite his harsh voice, his handsome features showed no emotion.

“I’m sorry for coming out without permission.”

Before she even finished, Caliph lightly shook his head.

As if nothing mattered at all.

Neither her relationship with Biterion, nor her apology.

The damp night breeze ruffled his dark brown hair.

From beneath the overgrown strands, his blue eyes shone sharply in the pale moonlight.

Still expressionless, he set one of the two large bundles down and began unwrapping the other.

Inside were a set of training clothes and a suit of armor.

“They’re mine.”

She knew at a glance.

A uniform similar to Guild 928’s, but with added functions.

Sturdy and expensive-looking armor.

They were clothes he had personally commissioned at the shop they had visited together.

“Thank you.”

Meyna stepped closer, holding out both hands to receive them.

But for some reason, he passed by her without a word.

Without hesitation, he walked toward the deep, dark lakeside.

Before she could stop him, Caliph threw the clothes and armor into the lake.

……!

Shocked, Meyna could not even scream.

She reached out desperately, but her hand grasped only empty air.

Ripples spread across the previously calm surface.

Amazingly, the clothes and armor vanished without a trace.

Caliph, who had been standing with his back turned, faced her.

“It’s the Lake of Oblivion.”

……

“From lifeless objects to living beings. Everything that exists is erased from this world.”

……

“In simple terms, it destroys everything.”

His eyes were calm as he spoke such chilling words.

Only then did Meyna realize.

His earlier scolding.

About her acting out because she was removed from training.

About wandering alone.

Those had been the lightest, most playful expressions he could manage.

This was the real him.

Like a storm beneath a calm sea, his unfathomable emotions surged toward her.

“You’ve already heard from the Crown Prince.”

……

“Go back as soon as morning comes. Your training is over.”

Yes. She already knew.

She had prepared herself somewhat.

But seeing him erase the clothes and armor forever made her realize it went beyond that.

That something worse awaited her.

“Go back to your life.”

She did not understand at once.

“I don’t quite understand…”

“To your life before awakening.”

His short words fell clearly.

Her mind could process them, but her heart could not.

“No.”

The answer came instinctively.

After watching gifted people fight all her life, she had finally become one herself.

Why?

Why must she go back?

By what right could he decide that?

“I just came back from seeing Banze.”

Before she could ask, he explained and pulled out a document.

A contract with Ocean Agency.

The new contract she had signed with Biterion was in his hand.

The proof of her resolve to start over.

He looked ready to tear it apart.

“Don’t.”

Holding back tears, Meyna reached out desperately.

“Why.”

But Caliph easily withdrew it.

“Are you afraid I’ll tear it?”

His cold words pierced her.

Her breathing grew ragged.

It felt as if he were gripping her throat instead of the paper.

“I’m not going to play Banze’s childish games.”

She remembered him tearing up their old contract at Renox Castle.

Back then, she thought life could not get worse.

Compared to now, it was nothing.

“Banze entrusted me with the authority to decide your future.”

“…No.”

“Your contract ends today. You’ll never join another agency or guild.”

“No, no… That’s impossible!”

She shook her head wildly, screaming.

“He would never agree to something so cruel!”

Unable to endure it, Caliph scoffed.

“Meyna.”

……

“Don’t misunderstand. You’ve lived as a gifted person for less than six months.”

His merciless words poured out.

“Ending your life? No. You’re just going back to the life that suits you.”

“Why do you get to decide my life?!”

Her tears finally burst forth.

Her clenched fists trembled.

“Why don’t I get to choose? You, the Motensons, His Highness… Why do you all tear my life apart?”

How long must she live like this?

Since the day her father was executed unjustly.

Being bound by others.

Being sold, burdened with debt, forced to serve Caliph.

Trying to start over, yet trapped by Banze’s influence.

Awakening as a top-tier gifted, only to be bound again.

It all began that day her father died.

“Master Motenson told me to find my life.”

She did not even think to wipe her tears.

Her blurred vision hid his face.

“He told me to leave you and work with His Highness… to find what truly fulfilled me…”

And then…

Meyna suddenly stopped speaking.