# Chapter 88
“Can I eat it?”
“No, you can’t!”
“I can’t?”
“Even if you stare at it like that, you can’t. It just started growing, and we don’t even know if it’s edible or not.”
“I won’t die anyway.”
“Well, that’s true, but… um… when it grows more and there are several flowers… then, well…”
“…”
“Yes… just go ahead and eat it…”
Mulling over the young boy’s voice like a habit, Levi brought the flower to his lips. The fragrant scent, matching the flower’s bright color, urged him on.
‘Come to think of it, the flower in the room too…’
He hadn’t seen flowers many times. All he’d seen were flowers in grass patches he happened to glimpse while moving secretly under Kalvern’s orders, or bundles displayed by merchants after being arranged, and even those he hadn’t had the leisure to properly observe.
Nevertheless, he clearly remembered the flowers in the bedroom Ion had prepared. They looked exactly like the yellow flowers before him now, and even had the same scent.
Guessing that the flowers in the room had been brought from here, Levi opened his red lips and took the yellow flower’s head into his mouth. As he did so, he glanced at Ion’s head.
Watching the beautiful golden hair swaying in the gentle breeze, Levi had a foolish thought that perhaps if he put that in his mouth too, it might taste like this flower.
Munch, munch—
The flower wasn’t particularly delicious.
It wasn’t a flower laden with honey, so what flavor could it have? Still, Levi carefully munched on the flower he held in his mouth. With each chew, the young boy’s words kept coming back to him, creating the illusion that he was right beside him.
“Levi.”
—Levi.
Along with Ion’s voice nearby, the vague voice of a young boy tickled his ear.
“I’m sorry for changing everything on my own.”
—It’s grown a lot here, hasn’t it?
“If you want, I can change everything back.”
—What do you think? If things continue this way, this place will become a truly beautiful forest.
It felt like the two voices were gradually merging into one.
Levi quietly looked at Ion and asked.
“Did you do this?”
“I only touched the pond water.”
When he answered with a bitter tone, Levi looked at the sparkling pond.
Levi didn’t say anything for a while. He just quietly stared at the pond.
Ion grew anxious at Levi’s emotionless response.
‘What is he thinking?’
He thought it would have been better if Levi had shown anger or hostility toward him.
When he woke up in the morning, unlike the previous day, he couldn’t sense any hostility from Levi. The emotional fluctuations that had been displayed openly had surprisingly turned into a peaceful calmness, which made him tense.
That was probably because he was still deliberating on whether to help Levi find his memories or not.
Not only was he anxious that Levi might find his recovered memories painful, but he was also afraid that Levi might turn away from him.
After all, he was the root of all troubles.
If he hadn’t followed his mother Claudia’s words and entered the Black Forest, Levi wouldn’t have been in danger.
If he hadn’t done something unnecessary and healed all the Numinel disease patients, Levi wouldn’t have reached a state of starvation, and the slave traders who entered the Black Forest because of him wouldn’t have broken Levi’s core.
As a result, Levi lost part of his memories and had to sleep for 15 years to regenerate.
So how could he not blame himself?
“It’s okay.”
His head shot up at those words, which seemed to respond directly to his thoughts. But Levi’s gaze was fixed not on Ion but on the pond and the flower bed around it.
“It’s pretty.”
Levi’s hand plucked another yellow flower. Holding the green stem with his fingers and twirling it around, Levi’s eyes softened as he looked at the yellow petals glistening with dew.
‘How strange.’
Feeling a new emotion, Levi took the flower’s head into his mouth. He could sense the vivid vitality from the flower in his mouth.
The Black Forest was a place so full of poison that no life form could survive except the thorny trees that ate corpses. The cool yet intense aura of death that permeated the entire forest gave Levi, its source, a sense of warmth and comfort, like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Now there was “life” that didn’t belong in such a place at all.
There were countless tiny flowers, the poisonous black thorny trees had spread their green hands everywhere, and at a distance, one could hear the sounds of insects buzzing, just like in any other forest.
All of it was strange and fascinating.
Following that, his gaze, sparkling like the pond, turned toward Ion Verdit.
A man with abilities opposite to his own.
A man who smiled beautifully just by making eye contact.
A man so kind now that it was hard to believe he had once tried to kill him.
For some reason, he felt pleased that Ion had changed his forest. He couldn’t understand why he felt good about it, but he even thought he wanted Ion to change more of it.
His heart pounded and his core trembled. It responded in detail, as if synchronized with his emotions.
‘I’m strange.’
He didn’t understand what this emotion was pointing to.
Perhaps this emotion was connected to the 15-year-old memories he had forgotten.
‘The memories from 15 years ago…’
Levi suddenly checked Ion’s expression. He looked like he was deep in thought, his eyes slightly downcast.
‘Does Ion Verdit know?’
Until now, Ion Verdit had spoken several times as if he knew him well. He had talked about what happened 15 years ago.
But the problem was that it was Ion Verdit who had told these stories.
Since he was clearly someone who had deceived and tried to kill him, Levi couldn’t fully trust him.
Listening to Ion Verdit would only increase his confusion. At least until he could judge for himself whether his words were lies or truth, it was better not to listen.
With that thought, Levi spoke coldly.
“Even if you really met me 15 years ago, I won’t ask you about my memories.”
Ion’s downcast eyes met Levi’s.
“I still can’t fully trust you.”
Though Levi showed no hostility toward Ion, he didn’t show definite trust either. Thinking that what Ion said could be lies meant to deceive him, Levi chose to remember on his own instead of asking Ion about everything.
From Ion’s perspective, he had given Levi freedom to the point of not even putting shackles on him, so Levi’s distrustful attitude must have been disheartening.
Still, Ion didn’t get upset or push back against Levi’s words. Instead, he forced a smile, his face showing that he understood completely.
Looking away from Ion, Levi slowly surveyed the bright flower beds and the thorny trees with their abundant green leaves.
No matter how much he looked around, no new memories emerged among the ones he already had. He tried to recall something more, searching every corner of his mind, but the remaining fragments stayed the same.
‘Just that child… if I could just remember that child.’
If he could just remember that child who was deeply connected to him, it would be enough, but why couldn’t he recall it?
Instead, a woman’s voice mixed among the fragments of his remaining memories lingered. He felt as deep a longing for this woman’s voice as he did for the young boy. Because of that, he had a feeling that the woman and the boy were definitely related.
‘If I could at least remember that woman…’
As frustration welled up and his brows furrowed—
His gaze fell on one thorny tree.
[Don’t forget me.]
[—Iellin—]
Looking at the surface of the thorny tree that gave him a strange sense of déjà vu, he rolled the name “Iellin” around in his mouth. He immediately recalled who that name belonged to.
The man who had spoken to him on the wall of the Iron Fortress.
“When you’re in a high place, you can see many things.”
“Even if those below cannot see, the one looking down can see everything they seek.”
“I know who the woman you mentioned is.”
“I’ll definitely tell you later, but I would appreciate it if you kept our conversation a secret.”
“I’ll come find you again personally later and tell you.”
The man he had met in the dead of night had said the same thing as a woman who was as faint in his vague memories as the young boy.
Wanting to talk to him properly someday, he had abruptly asked for his name. The man had told him his name in a voice tinged with subtle longing.
“It’s Iellin.”
While he could clearly remember the man’s voice and build from that time, the problem was his face. Due to the deep darkness and helmet covering it, it was difficult to make out his face properly, and all he could remember was that he had brown hair.
Recalling the man from that time, Levi gently traced the inscription on the thorny tree with his fingertip. He could clearly feel the uneven carving on the smooth surface.
“I need to find this person.”
The person who left a message asking not to be forgotten.
That message essentially meant they knew he would lose his memories. Which also meant they knew him well.
“I know who the woman you mentioned is.”
Above all, the “woman” the man called Iellin referred to must be the owner of the woman’s voice left in his head. Even if not the memories of the boy, he could at least find out who that woman was.
With his fingertips still on the name “Iellin,” Levi turned to look at Ion. Ion, who seemed somewhat troubled, immediately gave him a kind smile as soon as their eyes met, as if by habit.
“I need to meet Iellin. If it’s that person, they’ll know about the memories I’ve forgotten.”
Ion’s fingertips twitched, and he clenched his fist slightly.
It was exactly as Levi had expected.
The person called “Iellin” definitely knew about his past that he couldn’t remember. Whether it was his mother Iellin who carved the message, or Ion who used her name as his own.
Recalling the Iellin he met at the Iron Fortress, Levi made a troubled face.
“But Iellin might be dead.”
If he was just a common soldier, he could easily have died during the fall of the Iron Fortress. Or perhaps he was taken prisoner.
As Levi pondered, he raised his head at the sound of approaching footsteps. Ion, who had somehow come close, whispered:
“If that person is alive, and I find them and bring them to Levi as you wish…”
Ion’s hand brushed Levi’s cheek. Only then did Levi realize there was a thick thorny tree behind him. He was trapped, his back against the tree between scattered thorns.
With one hand pressed against the solid surface of the thorny tree Levi was leaning against, Ion gently lifted his chin with his finger.
“What can Levi do for me?”
