Chapter 189: Funeral [1]

The funeral was silent.

Alden walked into the hall in black, and the moment he stepped through the doors the heavy air pressed down on him. People from both kingdoms filled the room in their mourning clothes. Nobles stood beside soldiers and academy students stood beside veteran warriors, and every head was lowered. Nobody had come to celebrate a victory. They had come to mourn the loss of a Spire.

An open coffin stood at the center of the hall, and Leon Evercrest lay inside it.

His eyes were closed and his face looked peaceful, almost like he was only sleeping. His body had been cleaned and dressed in formal black clothes that hid the terrible wound that had killed him.

Alden stopped a short distance away and let his eyes move slowly across the people gathered around the coffin.

Drelan stood beside Althea with one arm around her shoulders. Both of them had been crying. Althea’s eyes were red and swollen, and Drelan’s firm face had fallen apart under his grief. Neither of them could look away from their son.

Emilia stood next to them. She wasn’t crying as loudly as she had on the battlefield. Maybe she had run out of strength, or maybe the pain had grown too big for her to understand.

A few steps away, Isabella, Theodore and Luna stood together without moving.

Nearby, Roselle was crying in Nicholas’s arms. He held her close with one hand against the back of her head. His own eyes were red, but he was trying to stay strong for her. Roselle gripped the front of his black coat and pressed her face into his chest. She had tried to stop crying. She really had. But every time she looked at the coffin she remembered Leon’s laugh and his ridiculous jokes and the way he had always treated her like family, and then the tears started all over again.

Nicholas held her tighter and said nothing. No words could make this better. All he could do was stay beside her.

A little way off, Darius Thorne stood with his head down. The Headmaster looked older than he had just a few days ago. His face was troubled, and his eyes kept drifting to the coffin and then back to the floor.

"How did this even happen...?" His voice was barely a breath. "Where did my calculations go wrong? Were my tactics all wrong?"

His decisions had not been enough to save one of his own. Darius looked up at Leon and his lips parted, but nothing came out.

All around the hall, soft murmurs passed between the soldiers and students.

"Sir Leon protected everyone..."

"I heard not a single soldier under his command died in the battle."

"Even when it looked hopeless, he kept fighting."

One soldier lowered his head. "He saved all of us."

Another nodded with wet eyes. "Some of us got hurt, yes, but he made sure every one of us had a chance to live." His voice shook. "But..."

He couldn’t finish, and nobody needed him to.

Then the murmurs near the entrance grew louder.

"The Calyndor royal family has arrived."

Heads turned. Several members of the royal family came in with their attendants and guards. People bowed politely as they passed, but nobody paid them much attention. No one was in the mood for ceremony. They had come to honor a fallen Spire, and the grief in that room was bigger than any crown.

Aurelia was among them.

The moment she walked in, her eyes searched the hall. She found the coffin almost right away, and when she saw Leon lying inside it her steps faltered. She stood completely still for a moment. Then she walked forward without stopping to greet anyone, and her eyes never left him.

When she reached the coffin she stopped beside it. The young man she remembered was lying right in front of her.

Slowly she reached out and laid her hand on Leon’s chest. It was a small, careful touch, as if some part of her still expected to feel a heartbeat under her palm.

There was nothing.

Her face softened. A tear rolled down her cheek, and then another, and her lower lip trembled as she tried to hold herself together.

"...Leon."

His name came out as a whisper. She looked at his face, searching for some trace of the boy she used to know.

"I’m here..." Her voice shook. "I came to see you."

She swallowed, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t go away.

"But why..." Another tear fell. "Why did you—?"

Her fingers curled against his chest. She hardly said it out loud, and she knew he couldn’t answer.

Then a hand touched her arm.

"I’m afraid you shouldn’t touch the coffin, Lady Aurelia."

Aurelia turned. Arvendis stood next to her in the formal uniform of a Spire. His face was calm and his voice was careful.

"It might be seen as disrespectful to the deceased."

He gently guided her hand away from the coffin. Aurelia stared at him for a moment, then lowered her eyes and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"...You’re right."

She stepped back, but her eyes never left Leon.

Arvendis watched her for a moment before he spoke again. "You should rest for the day. We can go back to the Calyndor Kingdom tomorrow."

Aurelia gave a faint nod. "Alright."

But she just stood there, looking at Leon as if she was trying to memorize every part of his face before she was made to leave. Arvendis stayed beside her. From far away it looked like kindness.

Alden had been watching them, and his eyes narrowed.

’Really?’

His gaze settled on Arvendis.

’Now you suddenly care about respect and proper manners for Leon?’

He remembered how Leon used to act around that man. Uneasy. Never relaxed. Alden couldn’t remember a single time Leon had looked comfortable near him. And now Arvendis was standing next to Aurelia, guiding her away from the coffin like he was the kindest person alive.

Alden’s face didn’t change.

’I won’t buy it.’

He turned back toward the coffin.

A soft voice spoke beside him.

"Alden."

He looked over. Seris stood there with a small bouquet of flowers in her hands. She had been searching for him among the mourners, and when she found him she came over quietly and held out one flower.

"I was waiting for you." Her crimson eyes met his for a second. "Shall we go together?"