My Students Regret It After I Retired

77 – Endlessly Flowing Tears

Enas’s arm trembled. She lifted the sword Leos had thrown, bringing it towards her own throat. And as she thrust it in sharply, she cried out.

“Leos-nim. Just know one thing. I truly, really liked you.”

-Swoosh!

Just before Enas’s sword pierced her neck.

“…?”

As if blocked by something, the sword Enas held didn’t move. The sword in Enas’s hand was one of Leos’s five swords, allowing Leos to control it freely. Therefore, Leos had forcibly stopped the sword in mid-air.

Not understanding, Enas, fearing even a misunderstanding from Leos, forcefully began to pull the sword towards her neck. Leos, seeing this, bit his lip and approached Enas. He snatched the sword away, and without a word, headed outside.

“Leos-nim! It’s a misunderstanding… I really, really tried to stab myself. The sword wouldn’t move, please, please believe me, please…”

Leos, hearing Enas’s desperate cries from behind, clueless as to why, felt his head start to throb, as if breaking.

-Bang!

After slamming the door, Leos stepped outside. He stared blankly at his sword. If he hadn’t stopped it by force, it would have pierced Enas’s throat directly. Enas’s life would have been cut short, and Leos would have had to witness the corpse of his former disciple before his very eyes.

Leos slumped to the ground, looking up at the sky. He couldn’t bear the rising dizziness, and remained lying there for a long while.

Looking at the sky makes him feel like the Heavenly Lord is watching. If someone speaks to him from the side, he starts suspecting that they are a member of the Heavenly Assembly sent by the Heavenly Lord.

Bendict, Enas, Rakart, Pharon, Heresia, Hemina, who are truly on his side, and who are members of the Heavenly Assembly, he can’t tell them apart.

“Damn it…”

He killed all the Dark Shadows, and this war yielded a lot of information and progress, but rather, that progress has messed with Leos’s head.

“Heavenly Lord. What the hell are you hoping for by doing this to me?”

Of course, there was no reply.

“Lord Leos…”

Heresia started approaching, looking worried as she gazed at Leos sprawled on the ground. But without realizing it, Leos shouted,

“Don’t come!”

“…”

Heresia flinched, trembling, and extended something she held in her hand towards Leos. It was a potion.

“Lately… you seem to be pushing yourself too hard… This… it’ll make you feel a little better if you drink it… Please make sure you take it…”

After saying that, Heresia quickly hurried backward. Leos, disgusted with himself for shouting, tore at his face with his hands.

‘I need to trust those I should trust. At least my people, I need to trust them.’

Leos repeated that thought, slowly getting to his feet. And he headed straight to the room where Benedict was imprisoned.

*

“Brother, you’ve come…”

Benedict, who always acted foolish and made goofy expressions, was now just standing there with a face full of guilt, and it felt like a dagger piercing Leos’ heart. This behavior of his made the fact that he was truly a traitor feel all too real.

“Benedict, don’t act all morose and brooding, just be your normal self. It’s not true, is it? You’re not a member of the Cheonsang Group, right? You didn’t approach me with some agenda, right? You’re not smart enough to think like that, right? I’m right, aren’t I!”

Leos yelled, but Benedict just hung his head without a word. Then, he whispered,

“Approaching you, becoming close to you, it was all planned.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit!”

Leos walked right up to Benedict, glaring at him like he wanted to kill him, and shouted.

“You said you’d avenge your father? That you were driven to suicide by those scam artists and then came to prison after killing them? That’s a lie too? You said you were weak and always came back beaten, asking me to avenge you? Was that all an act too?”

“…Beat me until your anger is gone, brother. No, you can even kill me. I won’t resist in any way.”

Leo instantly sent the Five Blades soaring into the air, then launched them at Benedict.

-Whoosh!

The blades, hurtling at tremendous speed, all stopped right before Benedict’s throat. But even this time, Leo couldn’t bring himself to stab.

Conversely, Benedict just stood there, motionless.

“You’re doing that because you know I can’t stab you, right? Is that an act too?”

-Squish…

Benedict immediately leaned into the blades, and blood began to flow from his neck. Startled, Leo immediately retracted the blades.

Benedict’s neck was sliced open, blood streaming down, and he spoke in that state.

“Brother. I’m not acting right now. It’s true that our father was swindled, and it’s true that I killed the swindler. The story I told you was a real event. But there’s a difference in timing. It happened quite a while ago, and I already paid the price for it a long time ago.”

“Then why did you come to prison?”

“To monitor you from nearby, brother.”

Benedict began to speak without a filter, as things were.

“The Celestial Matriarch took quite an interest when she saw you single-handedly capturing the Mutants. The fact that you could seal the Red Gate alone was also enough to capture her attention. I don’t know why she was so obsessed with you, but I was the first one to receive a mission related to you. Her order was simple: Monitor Leo’s every move, right by his side. That was it.”

“…Were any other Celestial Society b*stards involved? Are the others also members of the Celestial Society?”

“At that time, the Celestial Matriarch didn’t go around talking about your existence to others. She only told a select few. It seems she’s been talking about it a lot more lately, but back then she was definitely operating with a small, elite group. That’s why, at the time, I’m sure that I was the only Celestial Society member in prison. Even the core forces didn’t know much about the Matriarch’s interest in you.”

“Why didn’t you follow me right after I was released? If you were following the Matriarch’s orders, as you said, you shouldn’t have been away from me for a single moment.”

“The Matriarch told me to keep some distance for a while, as it might raise suspicion. She said she would naturally guide the situation, and then I could be with you again.”

Leo couldn’t even guess from where the Celestial Matriarch had begun to play him. Okay, he had to admit it. He had suspected there was a traitor nearby. Otherwise, there was no way the Celestial Matriarch could have grasped all the sensitive information without missing anything.

It was pointless to ask where, exactly, the Matriarch had started controlling him. Knowing the important stuff was enough.

“Was it the Celestial Lord who had me thrown in prison?”

“Yes. The Celestial Society intervened. It was the Celestial Lord who moved the Shadow Order, who manipulated the Emperor, it was all his doing.”

Leos’s hands trembled violently, then he seized Benedict by the collar and shouted.

“Was it fun? Watching me dance like a puppet, grinning in my face while reporting behind my back, was it fun?”

“At first, I didn’t feel anything. Following orders was second nature. But as time passed, as I grew closer to you, brother, it became more and more painful. The fact that I was hiding something was agony. The thought that these relationships we built would one day end was terrifying. I was terrified that someone who cared so much for me would be disappointed in me.”

Benedict looked at Leos, his face contorted, and added,

“Every single day was hell.”

Leos raised his head and stared at the ceiling. Benedict was someone he had trusted so completely. His silly antics, his steadfast and honest heart, even his occasional mindless jokes. All of it was precious and joyful to Leos. But to think that it had all been an act. A feeling of despair began to flood him, rather than anger.

All those countless moments, they were all lies.

Leos pointed his sword at Benedict and asked,

“Just two questions. Why did you betray the Celestial Society now and come to rescue me?”

“Because my time with you, my relationship with you, was more important than the Celestial Society.”

“Don’t give me that crap. What about when you were acting? Fooling around and laughing at me like an idiot?”

“I was ordered to monitor you, not to form any emotional bonds. My desire to be close to you was purely my own. At least the intimacy we built from the time we spent together, that wasn’t a lie.”

Leos didn’t respond, and just stood there for tens of minutes. After endless silence, Leos seemed to have made a decision, and poured mana into his sword, asking his final question.

“Then I’ll ask one last thing. Do you want to kill the Celestial Lord with me?”

“…”

Benedict, expecting a question blaming him, was stunned by Leos’s question, and just stared blankly at Leos. Leos shouted.

“Did you not hear my question?”

“Of course… I want to kill the Celestial Lord.”

“That wasn’t my question. I asked, do you want to kill the Heavenly Assembly Master *with me*?”

Bending down, Bendix, understanding the question’s intent, kneeled on the floor and wept, muttering for a long while.

“Brother… with you… I want to kill the Heavenly Assembly Master.”

Leos, having recovered all five swords, turned to leave, saying,

“Don’t cry. Didn’t you say you wanted to open a restaurant later? If you open a crappy one and fail miserably, you’ll cry even more blood then.”

“Won’t you ask…? Won’t you ask about more specific circumstances…? Is this really enough…? Just this…?”

“What’s the point of asking a thick-head with more complex questions? Stop being serious, it doesn’t suit you.”

Bendix, still kneeling, endlessly wept. The guilt of betraying such a person, and the self-loathing at his own relief for being forgiven.

*

Leos now had two places to go. One was the solitary cell where Syrna, one of his former disciples, was being held. The other was the solitary cell where Keltazar was kept.

-Thud… thud…

The sound of Leos’s footsteps echoed rhythmically.

-Creak…

The solitary cell door slowly began to open.