Facing that back, so much larger than my own, I still hesitated. I was afraid to make sure of who it was. I was afraid to speak. I was afraid that when we faced each other, Ide would still be the chancellor and still call me the Sovereign Queen Lorde. And if he denied we were siblings now, my heart, weakened by the cold, would break.
It was Ide who spoke first. “Sister. I’m glad. I made it in time this time.”
My fear was swept away by his strong voice as he turned around and called me sister.
I saw the same face as the Chancellor Ide from my memories. Only, his expression was completely different.
“I’m sorry. For such a long time... Yes, truly for an incredibly long time, I kept you waiting. But now I’ve returned to your side, sister. Your brother will never, ever leave you alone again.”
My brother wove clear words of apology. He stood before me, protecting me from the formidable foe, the Sovereign Queen Lorde, as he declared himself my brother.
“Ide!” I had waited for this moment my entire life. For over a thousand years, I’d waited and waited. Deep within the labyrinth, in that false Viaysia, enduring hellish atonement and repeated punishment, despairing over a life that wouldn’t end even after my heart was shattered, crying endlessly at the bottom of the abyss—even then, I had waited for my little brother.
“Yes. I am your little brother, Ide, standing here.”
“Ah, ahh, Ide! You’ve finally come to your senses—” I rose with joy, immediately reaching out to embrace him.
“No, that is not correct. You’re wrong, sister.” But Ide shook his head, stopping me. Then, as if avoiding meeting my gaze, he turned his face away.
No way! Could it be...he still wasn’t sane?! That dreadful thought flashed through my mind. The warm light that had finally kindled in my heart threatened to grow cold and die.
“I have always been sane. In my sanity, I calculated everything, intending to mold you into the Sovereign Queen Lorde and use you. I knew you were suffering, yet out of selfish self-preservation, I continued to look the other way. I am a despicable coward beyond excuse... Truly, I am sorry...”
Ide claimed he had been sane not just for a thousand years, but from the day he was born. The blood dripping from both clenched fists showed how ashamed he was of that fact. Now, unable to face me, he kept his gaze fixed ahead.
“Yes, I was a strong, stubborn, foolish coward! But now—!” he shouted.
Yet even so, he did not break. In this heart-freezing, bitterly cold land, he roared as if to make the flame within his heart blaze fiercely.
“I will never again pretend to be a coward! I will never again call you the Sovereign Queen Lorde! I will never again place burdensome expectations upon you! And of course, I will never again rely on my position as chancellor! I will never again live by exploiting you! That’s why! That’s why, I beg you!!!”
And without hesitation, he cast off the tattered cloak wrapped around his body, baring his entire being—that of a dryad—to the world.
“May I be allowed to be your little brother?! Even though I’m so pitiful, so pathetic, and so unreliable?! From now on, I’ll become stronger! I absolutely, absolutely will become stronger!”
He crushed the glasses he wore in his hand and threw them onto the pure-white ground. Along with that cry, his heat and emotion reached my heart. Now, I could understand the feelings of that little brother who’d once felt so distant.
“Just once more! Let me stay by your side as your little brother!” He truly wished to be my little brother again.
Hearing that wish, I recalled the past. It felt so nostalgic that tears threatened to spill out. Memories of the moment we’d become siblings raced through my mind. Ide was the same as back then. A single tattered rag around his waist, so worn down that he could barely walk. Lacking confidence in his own existence, he’d wandered aimlessly, seeking only a name.
But there was one difference from that day. We were a little more grown-up than we’d been a thousand years ago. So, my answer changed a little too. “You don’t even need to ask! You’re my little brother! Always and forever! From long, long ago, you’ve been my little brother!”
We were no longer young. Having lived far too long, we’d grown taller and become adults. Therefore, it would change. The meaning of our sibling bond would change now!
“I thank you for your generous heart! Dearest sister, leave the rest to me!”
A thousand years ago, I’d always stood in front of Ide. As the elder sister, I’d sworn to guide and protect my younger brother.
I’d always taken Ide’s hand and run ahead, determined to ward off every approaching hardship. But after a thousand years, our positions had completely reversed. Now, Ide stood before me, and I was the one being protected!
I was so happy. As his sister, I was overjoyed. Here in this future, a thousand years later, Ide was about to surpass me. That little Ide had changed so much. Though his body was still thin and frail, he was bigger than me. Much, much bigger. Above all, he no longer hid the emerald-green leaves that marked him as a dryad. His magic had shifted—from relying on others to grow, to believing in himself to grow.
The heat of that magic repelled the enemy’s cold magic. Within the world of bitter winter, Ide moved forward step by step, shouting. It was neither a voice directed at the enemy nor his allies, but a vow that seemed to pound against the world itself.
“Hear me! I am Ide! The little brother of my beloved sister Titee! There is no longer any trace of weakness in my heart!” What he hurled at this world was the name I’d given him as a child. He showed he really was Ide, protecting me with his broad back as he advanced step by step. “Titee! Please, this time, place your expectations on me! Leave it to me! Rely on me!”
With each of Ide’s shouts, the chill my heart had felt was swept away, and the trembling of my body eased. The warmth of home, felt in childhood, overflowed from within my chest.
“I finally understand my own lingering attachments! It was that I couldn’t stay by your side forever! That I couldn’t drive away a single thing that tormented my dear sister! That I couldn’t fulfill the promise I made to grandfather and grandmother! Ahhh, those were my lingering attachments!”
Ide, pointing a finger at the Sovereign Queen Lorde with raw hostility, was shouting for my sake! Just that alone made my heart burn!
“Sis! I’ll defeat everything tormenting you right now! Not as the Thief of Wood’s Essence or Chancellor of Viaysia, but simply as your younger brother! I will defeat the Sovereign Queen Lorde tormenting you! I will defeat her!”
These were the words I’d longed to hear. Alone, at the bottom of the abyss for a thousand years, crying endlessly, these were the words I’d waited for.
“I finally understand my purpose as a Guardian! The meaning of my birth! I know it now!” Ide declared.
Yes. Now that the conditions had finally been met, Ide shouted to the world the declaration of a true Guardian.
“It is here! This Viaysia a thousand years later is Floor Forty—the floor of the Thief of Wood’s Essence! The battlefield to overcome the weakness of my own heart! A challenger has finally arrived at Floor Forty! It is me! I will face the Trial I prepared, not Master Kanami or even my sister! It was me all along! Ah, I knew it from the start! This Trial alone must not be entrusted to anyone else! For I myself was the challenger destined to overcome it!”
Ide had declared that while being Guardian, he was simultaneously an explorer of the labyrinth. And without entrusting it to anyone else, he threw down the gauntlet to the world, vowing to overcome it himself.
“I will overcome the Sovereign Queen Lorde myself! I will prove myself to myself! No one else can do it but me! It’s natural!”
Facing the strongest enemy of his life, Ide stepped forward without a moment’s hesitation.
“I’m the only one who can undo the Sovereign Queen Lorde that I created!”
He was doing it all to protect me. Ide confronted the Sovereign Queen Lorde—his very ideal avatar.
“Ah, ahh, aaaah! Ide!” My vision blurred with tears as I watched his back draw farther away. The overflowing tears wouldn’t stop. But I knew I couldn’t afford to cry forever. I shook the tears from my eyes. I would never make that same mistake again. I couldn’t. If I just stood there, staring blankly at the back of my dependable brother, I’d be a failure as a sister.
Ide and I were siblings. Because we were siblings, we had to walk together. It had taken me a thousand years to learn that. I’d learned it by risking my life, breaking my heart, and even dragging the Northern people into everything. If I didn’t act now, I’d betray everyone who’d seen me off. I’d betray everyone who’d raised me up until this moment!
I absolutely wouldn’t let Ide fight alone. I wouldn’t leave it all to him. We were together. We weren’t alone anymore, we were together! From now on, until the day we died! No, even after we died, forever and ever!