Chapter 82 — The Freedom We Misunderstand

Narrator

The road beyond Death Forest was quiet.

For the first time in many hours...

the trees no longer stood like walls around the royal procession.

The darkness of Death Forest had slowly disappeared behind them.

Sunlight touched the road.

The wind felt warmer.

Birds had returned to the branches.

And far ahead...

beyond the rolling hills...

something stood beneath the golden sky.

The Kingdom of Spades.

Its distant towers were barely visible.

But with every passing mile...

they grew clearer.

Higher.

Larger.

Closer.

V sat quietly inside the carriage.

His eyes remained fixed on the horizon.

He had heard stories about the Kingdom of Spades.

But seeing it from this distance felt different.

The towers looked enormous.

The walls stretched across the horizon.

Flags moved gently above them.

V leaned slightly forward.

His eyes carried quiet curiosity.

Not greed.

Not ambition.

Just...

wonder.

Tiami sat beside him.

She followed his gaze.

V looked at her.

"You see it too?"

Tiami nodded.

V smiled.

"It's bigger than I imagined."

Tiami looked at him through their bond.

"You imagined something smaller?"

V thought for a moment.

"Much smaller."

Tiami's expression seemed almost amused.

"You always imagine things strangely."

V smiled.

"You still understand me."

Tiami looked away.

Their communication was invisible to everyone else.

To anyone watching...

it simply looked like a boy and a small dragon sitting quietly beside each other.

But years of living together had made their bond something deeper than words.

They understood each other's silence.

Their emotions.

Their hesitation.

Even the smallest changes in expression.

Outside...

the wheels continued turning.

Slowly.

Steadily.

And with every turn...

the Kingdom of Spades came closer.

Inside the carriage, the Princess sat quietly.

She had been watching V for several minutes.

He looked excited.

She didn't understand why.

She had seen the kingdom countless times.

For her...

those towers were not something beautiful.

They were home.

And sometimes...

home could feel more distant than any foreign land.

The Queen noticed her silence.

Then looked toward V.

A faint smile appeared.

"V."

V looked at her.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

The Queen's eyes carried quiet amusement.

"You are quite brave."

V blinked.

"Me?"

"I saw what happened in Death Forest."

"You handled yourself well."

V became quiet.

The Queen continued.

"You protected the Princess."

The Princess immediately looked at her mother.

Her expression changed.

The Queen continued as though she hadn't noticed.

"You didn't allow her to suffer even a single injury."

The Princess stared.

She hadn't expected her mother to say that.

Not about V.

And certainly not in front of her.

V scratched his cheek.

"I just did what I could."

The Queen smiled.

"That answer is humble."

V looked outside.

"I don't think it was anything special."

The Princess frowned.

He really doesn't understand how impressive that was...

The Queen watched him for a moment.

Then asked,

"What do you want to become when you grow older?"

V thought.

The road continued beneath the carriage.

The distant kingdom seemed slightly larger now.

"I want to become an adventurer."

The Queen raised an eyebrow.

"An adventurer?"

V nodded.

"I want to travel around the world."

"I want to see different places."

"Meet different people."

"Learn things."

He paused.

Then smiled.

"And after that..."

"I want to return to Restart Village."

The Queen listened carefully.

"I want to become the village chief."

The Princess looked at him.

"You?"

V nodded.

"If I can."

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The Queen smiled.

"You want to follow your father's path?"

V nodded.

"Yes."

The Queen looked thoughtful.

"Then perhaps..."

"you should create an identity of your own."

V looked at her.

The Queen continued.

"If you work hard enough..."

"people may simply know you as Sir Brald's son."

"Or the son of the chief of Restart Village."

"You should have a name that belongs only to you."

Outside the carriage...

Brald heard every word.

He didn't turn around.

But a small smile appeared on his face.

V remained quiet for a few seconds.

Then he looked at the Queen.

"Your Majesty..."

"Hm?"

"If my identity comes from my father..."

"what is wrong with that?"

The Queen didn't answer immediately.

V continued.

"He taught me how to walk."

"He showed me the right path."

"He protected me."

"And he gave me a place where I could call home."

V looked down at his hands.

"If people know me because I am his son..."

"then why should that bother me?"

His voice remained calm.

There was no anger in it.

Only certainty.

"Every father dreams that his child will live peacefully."

"Even if..."

V glanced toward the Princess.

"...not every father is a king."

The Princess froze.

V continued.

"But every child..."

"is a prince in the eyes of his father."

The carriage became silent.

V looked toward the distant kingdom.

"Some people are born as princes because their father sits on a throne."

"But in their father's eyes..."

"every child is a prince."

He smiled faintly.

"So..."

"I don't mind if my identity comes from my father."

"I'd be proud of it."

Outside the carriage...

Brald's smile deepened.

The Queen remained silent.

She hadn't expected that answer.

The Princess lowered her eyes.

Something inside her chest tightened.

She didn't know why.

But those words...

hurt.

Not because they were wrong.

Because they sounded like something she had never felt.

The Queen looked toward V.

Then toward the Princess.

She didn't ask another question immediately.

Instead...

she began telling a story.

"There is something I want to ask both of you."

V looked at her.

The Princess lifted her head.

The Queen continued.

"Imagine a room."

"A completely empty room."

"In that room..."

"there was a lion."

"And beside the lion..."

"was a human."

"The room was not ordinary."

"It was a maze."

"At the end of the maze..."

"there was food."

"Water."

"A comfortable place."

"And a life of peace."

"The lion only needed to reach the end."

V listened.

The Princess did too.

"But every time the lion found a path..."

"the human would appear..."

"and bring the lion back to the beginning."

"Again."

"Again."

"And again."

"One day passed."

"Then three."

"Then a week."

"Then two weeks."

"The lion became hungry."

"Weaker."

"Eventually..."

"it stood on the edge of death."

"But every path it found..."

"was erased."

"The human always returned it to the starting point."

"Finally..."

"the lion became furious."

"It attacked the human."

"And killed him."

V's expression became serious.

The Queen continued.

"The lion ate the human..."

"and survived."

"For the first time..."

"nothing brought it back."

"So it began searching again."

"It went from one side to another."

"Then back again."

"Days passed."

"The lion began forgetting the paths it had already taken."

"Its strength disappeared."

"Its hunger became unbearable."

"And eventually..."

"the lion died."

The Queen became silent.

The carriage continued moving.

Outside...

the wind passed over the grass.

Far in the distance...

the towers of Spades had become clearer.

The Queen looked at the Princess.

"What do you think?"

The Princess thought for a while.

Then answered.

"I don't think the human was actually trying to stop the lion."

The Queen raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because..."

The Princess looked down.

"Maybe the lion was going the wrong way."

"Maybe the human was trying to warn it."

"Maybe he couldn't explain it..."

"or maybe..."

She hesitated.

"...there was some reason he couldn't."

The Queen smiled faintly.

"That is one possibility."

She looked toward V.

"And you?"

V remained silent.

For several seconds...

he watched the road.

Then he looked down.

"I think she's right."

The Princess looked at him.

V continued.

"There must have been a reason."

"If the human really wanted to take away the lion's freedom..."

"then why not simply keep it locked there?"

He paused.

"He kept taking it back to the starting point."

"That means..."

"he wanted it to find the right path."

The Queen listened carefully.

V's eyes became thoughtful.

"The lion probably thought..."

"the human was stealing its freedom."

"But maybe..."

"the human was trying to stop it from losing its life."

V looked toward the Princess.

Then back at the Queen.

"And the biggest mistake..."

"...was the lion attacking him."

The Princess stared at V.

V continued.

"Because the lion didn't understand why."

"Maybe it became angry because it was hungry."

"Maybe it thought the human was its enemy."

"But it never stopped to ask..."

"why."

The Queen's expression became more serious.

V looked at his hands.

Then said quietly,

"You asked me earlier about my identity."

The Queen nodded.

V continued.

"So when I hear this story..."

"I think about something else."

"What?"

V took a breath.

"If we replace the lion with a child..."

"And the human with the child's parents..."

The Princess slowly raised her eyes.

V continued.

"Parents don't always want to take away their child's freedom."

"Sometimes..."

"they stop them from doing something because they can see something the child cannot."

"They may say no."

"They may stop them."

"They may make mistakes too."

"But..."

"that doesn't always mean they want to control the child."

V's voice became softer.

"Maybe they just want the child to stay on the right road."

He paused.

"That's why..."

"I'll take this story as a lesson."

The Princess stopped breathing for a moment.

The words struck somewhere deep inside her.

Her eyes lowered.

A memory returned.

Her father's face.

Her mother's silence.

The arguments.

The restrictions.

The moments when she had felt trapped.

The words she had once spoken in anger.

The cruel things she had said.

And then...

the silence that came afterward.

She had always believed...

They stopped talking to me because they didn't care.

But what if...

she had misunderstood?

What if their silence wasn't hatred?

What if...

it was pain?

The Princess's eyes slowly filled with tears.

One tear escaped.

Then another.

She quickly looked away.

The Queen noticed.

But said nothing.

V wasn't looking at her.

He was staring at the road.

His voice remained quiet.

"And..."

V paused.

He lowered his gaze.

"Don't look at me like I'm some strange child because of that."

The Queen smiled faintly.

V continued,

"Mom Liza and Lily have told me many stories since I was little."

"A lot of the things I think about..."

"came from those stories."

He paused.

Then added with complete seriousness,

"So if I think too much about these things..."

"Mom Liza and Lily are probably the reason."

The Princess looked at him through her tears.

For some reason...

a tiny smile almost appeared on her face.

V didn't notice.

He simply continued looking outside.

The Queen looked at him for a long moment.

Then said,

"Then perhaps..."

"you are not as young as you appear."

V immediately looked at her.

"I am still a child."

The Queen laughed softly.

"Perhaps."

V nodded seriously.

"Definitely."

The Princess looked at him.

For a moment...

she thought he might say something clever.

Instead...

V suddenly looked through the carriage window again.

The towers of Spades were now much closer.

His eyes widened.

He leaned forward.

Then, unable to contain himself—

he began bouncing slightly in his seat.

The Princess watched him.

She expected him to say something.

He didn't.

He simply stared at the approaching kingdom with open excitement.

The Princess remained silent.

She didn't tell him to stop.

She didn't tease him.

She simply watched.

V noticed.

He slowly turned his head toward her.

He studied her face.

She wasn't angry.

She wasn't arguing.

She wasn't saying anything.

V tilted his head.

His eyes carried a strange, curious expression.

It was almost as if he was thinking—

She's looking like she wants to say something.

He waited.

Nothing.

V blinked.

The Princess continued looking at him.

Still nothing.

V slowly turned back toward the window.

He didn't understand it.

But somehow...

he had begun noticing her silence.

Neither of them realized it.

But somewhere between arguments...

and apologies...

and misunderstandings...

V had started learning how to read the Princess without asking.

And the Princess...

had started becoming comfortable enough to remain silent around him.

A few moments later...

the Princess finally spoke.

"You are strange."

V looked at her.

"Why?"

"You become excited over everything."

V thought.

"That's not true."

"It is."

"No."

"You were practically jumping."

V looked at her.

Then calmly said,

"I was sitting."

The Princess stared.

"You were bouncing."

"I was sitting while bouncing."

She almost laughed.

Almost.

Then she stopped herself.

V watched her.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Not arguing."

The Princess looked away.

"I don't always have to argue with you."

V nodded.

"That's true."

A short silence followed.

Then V added,

"But you're less interesting this way."

The Princess turned toward him.

"What did you say?"

V immediately looked outside.

"Nothing."

The Princess narrowed her eyes.

V remained perfectly calm.

She stared at him for a few seconds.

Then...

she looked away again.

Neither noticed the strange familiarity forming between them.

Neither understood it.

It wasn't friendship yet.

It wasn't anything they could name.

It was simply...

comfort.

The Queen watched them quietly.

Then her expression became thoughtful.

"Life does not always give us what we want."

V and the Princess looked toward her.

"Sometimes happiness comes."

"Sometimes sorrow follows."

"And sometimes..."

"we lose something while trying to protect something else."

She paused.

"If we demand happiness every moment..."

"then we may spend our entire lives fighting reality."

"Because happiness and sorrow..."

"are part of the same journey."

Her eyes moved toward the distant sky.

"If you want a life with nothing but happiness..."

"perhaps the only place where such a life exists..."

"is after life itself."

The Princess slowly looked at her mother.

The Queen's voice remained gentle.

"While we are alive..."

"joy and pain will continue to follow one another."

"That..."

"is what we call life."

Silence followed.

The Princess wiped her eyes.

She didn't speak.

But something inside her had changed.

For the first time...

she wondered whether she had been looking at her parents from only one side of the maze.

Outside the carriage...

Brald had heard everything.

He glanced toward the carriage.

His expression carried quiet pride.

Then...

he spoke.

"Your Majesty."

The Queen looked toward him.

"Yes?"

Brald smiled.

"You asked about V."

"I have one question for you."

The Queen raised an eyebrow.

"Ask."

Brald glanced toward the distant kingdom.

Then back at her.

"You are the Queen."

"And I respect your position."

"But..."

He smiled.

"I am older than you."

The Queen's expression changed slightly.

Brald continued.

"So tell me..."

"Which one is greater?"

"Age..."

"or position?"

The Queen became silent.

The question seemed simple.

But it wasn't.

She began thinking.

If the King wore the crown...

then even his father would be beneath him in position.

But was that truly how life worked?

Would a father suddenly become smaller because his son became king?

Perhaps not.

She remembered ancient sages.

Men and women who had lived longer than kings.

Kings who bowed to them.

Scholars whom rulers respected.

Warriors who had never worn crowns...

yet commanded the respect of kingdoms.

The Queen's thoughts became tangled.

She looked toward Brald.

He was smiling.

Not mocking her.

Waiting.

The Princess looked at her mother.

Then at Brald.

V also looked confused.

Tiami tilted her head.

Even she seemed to wonder where the conversation was going.

The Queen finally sighed.

"I..."

She paused.

"I don't know."

Brald smiled.

"That's an honest answer."

The Queen narrowed her eyes.

"You planned that question."

"Perhaps."

The corner of Brald's mouth rose.

"Or perhaps..."

"some questions are more valuable when they don't have an immediate answer."

The Queen looked at him.

For a moment...

neither spoke.

Then—

the sound of horns echoed across the road.

Everyone turned.

The Kingdom of Spades...

was no longer distant.

Its enormous gates stood ahead.

The walls rose like mountains beneath the afternoon sun.

Banners moved above the towers.

The road had become wider.

Soldiers stood along both sides.

Flowers were scattered across the path.

A royal welcome waited beyond the gates.

V's eyes widened.

He leaned forward again.

"We're here."

The Princess looked at him.

This time...

she didn't tease him.

She simply smiled faintly.

The Queen noticed.

Brald noticed.

Even V didn't understand why she wasn't saying anything.

He looked at her.

Then tilted his head.

For some reason...

he felt like she was about to say something.

But she didn't.

V waited.

Nothing.

So he looked back toward the kingdom.

The gates of the Kingdom of Spades opened.

A formation of soldiers stepped forward.

Trumpets sounded.

Flowers filled the air.

The royal guards bowed.

The procession slowly entered the kingdom.

V stared at everything.

The towers.

The streets.

The people.

The banners.

The enormous palace in the distance.

His eyes reflected the entire kingdom.

A new place.

A new chapter.

And perhaps...

new answers.

Narrator

A child entered the Kingdom of Spades carrying nothing but curiosity.

A princess entered carrying questions she had only begun to understand.

A queen entered carrying the weight of a crown.

And Brald...

carried a question that even a queen could not answer.

Because some truths cannot be measured by age...

and some cannot be measured by a crown.

They are measured...

by the life one has lived,

the people one has protected,

and the wisdom one has earned.

And sometimes...

the person who wears the crown...

is not the oldest person in the room.

Nor is the oldest person always the wisest.

The road had brought them to the kingdom.

But the real journey...

had only just begun.