NOVEL WEB Chapter 30 - Memory
Scene 030: Memory
The first memory of Blanche was the day she met that boy.
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was her village engulfed in flames.
“It’s… hot…”
Blanche couldn’t discern whether the heat came from the embers or the tears streaming down her face. Under the scorching heat, the girl stumbled to her feet. Her head throbbed with sharp pain as she tried to recall what had happened.
The soldiers arrived in the village carrying torches. Without reason, they burned her village. Her family begged for their lives, but it was in vain; they were burned along with the village.
Ashes drifted down like snowflakes.
Then, through the smoke, the girl could see a figure standing amidst the falling ash.
It was a boy. He stood there, watching as the village burned.
She tried to scream, but no sound came from her throat. It felt as if it had been scorched.
“Plea… se… help…”
At the sound of her weak voice, the boy turned his head. He had long hair neatly tied back, sharp features, and a strange weariness in his eyes.
“…A survivor?” He looked at her.
“That must be painful,” yet, despite saying that, there was no sympathy in his words.
“It might be better to die.”
His black eyes, cold and void like the depths of an abyss, stared straight into hers.
“Even so… do you want to live?” the girl nodded desperately with all her strength.
In the village now consumed by flames, the girl wished to live.
“What’s your name?”
Her name? Blanche tried to remember, but she couldn’t—it was as if her memories had burned along with the village.
The boy extended his hand toward her. “Follow me.”
In the faded memory, the boy’s voice remained vivid. “I am Tristan, eldest son of the Ruelberta family.”
The girl took the hand of the boy called Tristan. His touch was as cold as ice, yet it didn’t feel unpleasant; on the contrary, she could feel the heat that had been consuming her gradually dissipate.