Ryan was dead.
He was a traitor, and he died with a smile on his face.
Everyone witnessed that scene: Frechen and his knights, and the explorers.
Lean stood up from his bowed position, showing only his back to the others. No one could tell what his expression was like.
Lean remained still, as if trying to erase his emotions.
No one dared to speak to him, until a voice broke the silence.
âHa. What a generous treatment for a traitor.â
The explorers widened their eyes and looked at Frechen.
Frechen didnât care about their gazes. He even challenged them back.
âAre you all out of your minds? He was a traitor. For 32 years, he hid the truth from us and prevented us from escaping this hellish place. And you mourn for his death? Thatâs not even funny.â
âWatch your mouth! What do you know about himâŠâ
âWhat do I know? Sure, I donât know everything. I didnât know that crazy bastard lived only for fighting and risking his life. But does that matter? I know this much. The reason weâve been suffering in this frozen wasteland, the reason weâve been hiding from the frost giantsâ eyesâŠâ
Frechen pointed at Ryanâs corpse.
âItâs all because of that traitor.â
ââŠâ
The explorers who were about to shout at Frechen closed their mouths.
They couldnât completely deny Frechenâs words.
In fact, they wanted to ask Lean too. Why did he let that traitor die peacefully?
He deserved to suffer forever for what he had done.
The survivorsâ discontent was clear to Lean, even without looking at them.
Lean turned around. Countless eyes were fixed on him. They were all waiting for him to say something.
âFirst, take care of the body.â
That was the first thing Lean said.
âWe have to hold the memorial ceremony.â
âNow? In this situationâŠâ
How could they?
How could they hold a memorial ceremony in this situation?
Before anyone could argue, Frechen burst into laughter.
âKahahaha! This is hilarious!â
âY-your Majesty.â
Even his loyal knights were at a loss, not expecting him to act like this.
âFine. A traitor is a traitor, and a dead man is a dead man. The memorial ceremony is the memorial ceremony. We canât miss this festival that happens only once a year because of this.â
ââŠPlease.â
Lean left those words and tried to leave.
As he passed by Frechen, Frechen quietly asked him.
âWhat are you trying to do?â
âThe truth.â
Leanâs eyes were filled with sadness, but also with a clear flame.
âI have to tell them.â
In front of everyone.
Why this world became like this, and what they had to do.
It was time to reveal the truth of this world that had been hidden until now.
âLook forward to it.â
Frechen nodded obediently and left with his men.
The remaining explorers were still stunned and rooted in their places.
Lean didnât bother to explain anything to them. Yu-hyun clenched her fists.
âWhat are you all doing? Letâs go. Arenât we going to join the memorial ceremony?â
âR-right! Letâs move! We can deal with our sadness later, right?â
When Ringug also agreed with Yu-hyunâs words, most of the explorers reluctantly moved.
Everyone left, and Yu-hyun also took Ringug away from the scene of the fight.
âS-sister? What about Lean hyungnim?â
âLeave him alone.â
The others might not know, but Yu-hyun knew.
Lean was crying right now.
Keiraâs body felt Leanâs sorrow and shared it with him.
âHe needs some time for himself too.â
When he realized that he was left alone, he would let out his emotions that he had been holding back with tears.
She didnât have any interest in staying and watching that scene.
All she had to do was wait for him to come back.
The fireworks that should have soared into the sky were extinguished by the cold air emitted by the frozen ceiling.
But the people didnât care.
They had gotten used to it in the past 32 years.
âThe mood is, not so good.â
Looking around, the atmosphere of the explorers was gloomy and heavy. They seemed shocked by what had happened earlier, as if they were lying about being happy that fewer people had died recently.
The mood spread like a plague to the ordinary people who wanted to enjoy the memorial festival.
Then someone stood next to Yu-hyun and said.
âTsk. Thereâs no point in having such a big memorial festival if youâre all so depressed.â
ââŠYou seem more relaxed than I thought, Your Majesty.â
âDo I? Youâre right.â
Frechen was alone without his usual escort squad.
âWhere are your guards?â
âMy knights? They deserve a break on this festive day too.â
âIn this atmosphere?â
âIf they canât enjoy themselves, itâs their own fault.â
This man. He was too selfish and arrogant.
I had felt it before, but I understood why he was constantly called the emperor.
He was truly haughty like an emperor. And he had the qualifications, that is, the power to back it up.
âYour MajestyâŠâ
âAh, forget it. Donât call me Your Majesty. Just call me Frechen casually. Itâs too burdensome.â
âAll of a sudden? Youâve been fine with it until now.â
âThatâs because I have my followers around. When weâre alone, you can just call me by my name. I donât care about disrespect or anything like that. I never cared about that stuff from the beginning.â
Yu-hyun suddenly remembered what Ryan had said when he fought with Frechen.
âHe was a low-ranking crown prince, for sureâŠâ
âThatâs old news. I have nothing to hide. Everyone who knows knows it.â
Frechen grabbed someone passing by and snatched their beer mug.
He drank the beer coolly and wiped the foam on his lips with his back of his hand.
âAhh. Beer is the best, I tell you.â
âSo, what do you want?â
âHuh?â
âIf youâre approaching me so blatantly, you must have something in mind, right?â
âWell, Iâd be lying if I said I didnât. Iâm just curious about something.â
âWhat are you curious about?â
âYou went beyond the ice barrier, right?â
Yu-hyun nodded. Anyone who wasnât a fool would know that Ryan had hidden that path and that Yu-hyun and Lean had stepped beyond it.
Especially Frechen.
âIâve always thought that. The curse of this frozen land must have come from beyond that barrier.â
ââŠWhy didnât you say anything then?â
âThere was no need to. Even if I did, what could I do? The only way to call it a road was blocked and to go beyond the ice barrier, you had to go a long way around. And if you ran into a frost giant on the way, it would be a huge blow. So I just kept my mouth shut. I thought I just had to find a way to head beyond the ice barrier somehow.â
But he didnât expect Ryan to have hidden it all this time, Frechen said with a bitter smile.
âDid you know that Ryan was watching and following you?â
âHow could I not? Just as he followed us, we also tailed him.â
âThatâs whyâŠâ
Yu-hyun recalled what had happened today.
âYou didnât come to the entrance on your own, but followed Ryanâs trail.â
âYeah. His trail suddenly disappeared in the middle and we went on and met you guys. I was surprised. It wasnât long after his trail was cut off that we ran into each other. I felt it right away when we crossed weapons. The guy in front of me was Lean.â
âWhy did you run away?â
âWhat do you expect me to do? Stay there and face him shamelessly? If I stayed there, anyone would have been suspicious. Even if I said no, they wouldnât believe me.â
ââŠâ
âAnd, I doubted you guys too. It was Lean who attached Ryan to me in the first place. And you, who looked like Kaira, also seemed to have something to do with Lean.â
âI guess it could have looked that way.â
âIt was a coincidence. After breaking away from Lean, I joined up with my men and heard that you and Lean had returned to Guardian in a hurry. It looked urgent. Thatâs when I felt it for sure. Something was going to happen.â
Frechen shrugged his shoulders.
âBut then, what do you know? Lean had nothing to do with it, and it was all Ryanâs doing. And even worse, Ryan was trying to kill you.â
âI appreciate you saving me.â
âIs that all? Thatâs it?â
âWhat else do you need?â
âHmm. How about a kiss on the cheek?â
âDo you want to get hit again?â
âAlright, alright. I was joking.â
Frechen said with a laugh, but Yu-hyun couldnât take it as a joke.
He was a tyrant emperor who was filthy and lustful. He didnât care if he knew he was a man, as long as he looked pretty.
He probably was a playboy when the empire was still around.
âHow did you know that Ryan was the culprit?â
âTo be honest, I didnât know either. Or rather, I was half-doubting it. I knew he was following us, but I also knew that Lian had ordered him to do so. He was completely obedient to Lianâs words. So I actually suspected Lian more.â
âThatâsâŠâ
âI told you, right? When I met him at the scene, I was almost certain.â
âThatâs the same for us too.â
âI guess so. From your perspective, it was suspicious that we were wandering around that area.â
âThen you mean you didnât move together with Lian while being hostile to him until nowâŠâ
âWhy would I move with him? I donât trust Lian.â
ââŠâ
Distrust.
In the end, it was because none of us fully trusted each other that we came this far.
Ryan skillfully exploited the relationship between the two groups. No one could have suspected him.
For 32 years. He had been working as an explorer with Lian for 32 years, fighting against the frost giants.
Even when he was exploring, Ryan fought sincerely to protect his comrades.
Who could have doubted him?
âWell, I have nothing to say if my attitude aroused their suspicion. But we found the traitor, didnât we?â
He spoke casually, but Yuhyun still couldnât shake off his suspicion of Frechen.
Even considering that Ryan was the traitor, it was still suspicious that Frechen had been roaming around the ice cliff for a long time.
The first thing that came to mind was the imperial capital beyond that cliff.
Did he try to find something there?
âOh. It looks like the hero of today is coming.â
As Frechen spoke, Yuhyun also spotted Lian approaching.
People recognized Lian and greeted him or made way for him to walk easily.
No matter what anyone said, he was the leader and the protagonist of Guardian.
The surprising thing was that Gondulbor was also with Lian.
âLian?â
âIs he feeling unwell?â
As everyone wondered, Lian stood in the center of the square and whispered to Gondulbor.
âPlease.â
âHmm. Canât help it.â
Gondulbor sighed and waved his finger in the air. Runes were engraved in the air with his magic.
âAhh.â
As Lian uttered at the same time, his voice was amplified and spread throughout Guardian.
Everyoneâs eyes turned to Lian.
Some were curious about what he was going to say.
Some others mistakenly thought he was going to give a speech to start the festival.
Among them, Lian uttered the words he had kept in his heart until now.
âI regret to say this while everyone is enjoying the memorial service.â
âHuh?â
âWhat are you trying to say?â
People murmured at his uneasy start.
âBut I decided that I couldnât hide the truth any longer, and I thought this was a good opportunity to tell you when everyone is gathered here. So please, listen carefully to what I have to say.â
As he looked around the silent square, Lian took a breath.
âA few days ago from now. I moved to another area for exploration. In the meantime, with the help of a companion, I discovered a suspicious area that we had not noticed before, and went beyond it. And what awaited us there was our god who we thought had disappeared by now. Georen.â
At his words, shocked sounds erupted from various places.
He didnât care about the noise and continued without stopping.
âGeoren. He became covered with ice and became the frost giant that we feared so much. His breath froze everything around him with cold air. Yes. Georen. The reason why the frozen curse occurred, why the frost giants appeared. Our god Georen was behind all this.â
Our god is trying to kill us.
What could be more terrible than this?
âAnd, the problem didnât stop there. There was one traitor among us. Someone who noticed Georenâs existence first and found a way to get there, but hid it for a long time. It was Ryan.â
âWhat, what?â
âRyan betrayed us?â
âWhat are you talking about!â
âRyan! Where is he now?!â
âRyan is dead. He tried to destroy the evidence when his crime was exposed, and he died by my hand in the process. He is no longer here.â
The appearance of a traitor and the punishment of a god.
It was a series of truths that they couldnât accept as humans.
But they knew it wasnât a simple lie by seeing other explorers who already knew some of the truth and accepted it.
âOur Guardian has to choose now. Whether to stay still or fight back.â
Lian drove a wedge into their expectations with a calm voice.
âThe choice is yours.â