Pr/editor: Helen, Agneya
Asha reclined on his chair at an angle and curled his lips in a sneer.
Before the golden dust could dissipate completely, a chunk of ice shaped like a spear whizzed through the murky opening. However, the long ice spear failed to pierce Asha’s heart and shattered against the blue water barrier.
The floor shattered into pieces, unable to withstand the sudden, heavy surge of magic.In only a matter of moments, the once majestic hall turned into a complete wreck.
“Such a short temper.”
Amidst the ruins, Asha observed the chilling emotion off the man’s face, as if he was an open book. His face, even though it betrayed a mixture of anger, desperation, and skepticism/confusion, was more sober than he had expected.
“I know you’re in a hurry, but this greeting is a bit too much.”
He was surprised, as he had assumed Erhart would be bereft of all rationality after unleashing his magic at time of his arrival.
Paying a deaf ear to Asha’s provocation, Erhart sent another ice spear flying. This one was even bigger than the last. Each time it shattered against the barrier, but after a while small cracks had begun appearing on the barrier. One such spear managed to slip through the gap and cut deeply into Asha’s cheek.
Splat. Bright red blood trickled from the wounded flesh and pooled down on the marble floor.
“I thought xenomorph blood was slightly blue, but I see that’s not the case now.”
Asha lowered his gaze, hearing the heavy sarcasm in his voice aimed at provoking him. He glanced at the few severed strands of his hair in the puddle of blood on the floor.
“…Yes. Certainly unlike your ancestors buried under the sea.”
Asha stroked his lacerated cheek. When he saw the blood gush out and drench his palm, he whispered through his gritted teeth.
“Next time, I’ll pierce your heart, not your face.”
Erhart warned coldly, raising the ice spear again.
“I’ll ask one more time, where is he?”
He feigned a calm exterior, but he wasn’t at all calm internally. His lips, chapped from biting them all the way here, singed with a metallic bloody taste and burned his throat. His chest heaved, and his nerves felt like they were on fire.
“He?”
“…”
“Ah. Right. You’re looking for that ungrateful child who throws a fit when I offer him help?”
Asha waved his blood-stained hand lightly. Erhart’s eyes widened at the sight.
“…Rayan!”
It was Rayan.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Behind Asha, he was trapped within a water barrier. Seeing Erhart, he desperately pounded on the wall, looking grief-stricken and desperate as if he would break at any moment. He shook his head. Looking at him like this, Erhart clutched at his heart. It throbbed painfully in his chest.
“Xb bc. Cgf sbe ralii ublcu ab yijra la ja ws tfjga?”
“…”
“Po sbe wlrr, sbe wluta tega Ejsjc.”
Sgtjga aklamtfv tlr olcufgr. Ktf wfgf atbeuta bo Ejsjc ufaalcu tega wjvf tlr yibbv gec mbiv. Sgtjga kjnfv tlr tjcv cfgnberis jcv vlrqfgrfv atf jmmeweijafv fcfgus, atf lmf rqfjg vlrjqqfjglcu lcab atf jlg.
“Now, then, let’s talk.”
“As if I can trust the words of a man who speaks nothing but lies.”
Think. He must think. How to get Rayan back safely. How to bring him back unharmed. Erhart frowned at Asha’s words, his eyes fixed on Rayan across him.
The one holding the broken pieces of his memory.
A lover from the past, perhaps.
That’s why it’s been stepping on his toes, bothering him, and finally taking over his mind.
He wanted to smile and reassure him, but it wasn’t easy. Unfortunately, he didn’t have such a luxury.
“Oh my. Looks like that kid finally spilled the beans..”
Asha, realizing the implications of his simple words, glanced at Karel, who was still sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath and struggling to get up.
“That is not what you intended.”
There was no way Karel could have known otherwise. It was possible that Rayan had overheard something during his visit to Asha’s mansion, but he leaned toward Asha deliberately spilling the beans to Karel.
“Why, were you ecstatic to find out that ‘El’ was actually you?”
Asha asked in a languid tone, tilting his head.
“Are you jumping for joy now that you know that the one thing he loves so much, the one thing he can’t forget, the one thing he can’t let go of, has been you all along?”
“…”
“In the end, you didn’t remember anything.”
Asha’s gaze lingered on Erhart’s heart for a moment, then dropped. It was subtle and unnerving.
“You couldn’t remember the end of the time, the emotions that came with it.”
Asha thought he could maybe understand Erhart’s feelings.
Certainly, he hadn’t remembered his time with Rayan, and yet it had been unnervingly euphoric to realize that the one ‘El’ he’d ever loved and never forgotten was actually himself. But at the same time, it was also painful, as if something inside of him was being smashed into pieces. He could feel a little bit of Rayan’s pain as he stubbornly pretended not to know his name when he begged him to call it. He made him wait a long time because he couldn’t remember anything… and all the nasty things he’d said and done to him came back to him in sharp stabs.
“If we stay together, you’ll remember, and it’s none of your business.”
But Erhart didn’t share his feelings. Neither joy nor regret were feelings he needed to share with Rayan, alone. Not to him.
“No.”
“…”
“You should have remembered.”
Asha’s words sent a brief, indefinable shiver of unpleasantness down his spine, from head to toe. He frowned, preparing to take a step forward.
Bang!
His shoulder burned like it was on fire. Erhart stumbled, caught off guard. Karel pointed his rifle at Erhart, his throat clearly marked with bruises that looked like handprints.
“…Karel.”
“I- I’m not experienced in shooting yet…”
The stuttering speech, the uncharacteristically blank stare. Erhart knew at once that something was wrong.
“What have you done to Isaac?”
“I may have played with his heart a bit.”
Erhart burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
“You don’t think I can’t handle Karel, do you?”
As if to prove it, Erhart didn’t hesitate a moment, gathering up the magic he’d scattered into the air and concentrating it. If he set his mind to it, Karel would explode once and for all.
He could simply subdue him, but Erhart could not afford such a favour.
“King of humans. Do you not wonder why Rayan collapsed then?”
Erhart, who had been looking at Karel, intent on getting rid of this annoyance pointing a gun at him if he dared, halted in his tracks at the whispered words, his gaze darting to Asha and then to Rayan behind him.
“…”
Rayan shook his head frantically, as if he didn’t want him to hear. As if he shouldn’t.
“Don’t you ever wonder why you’re getting gradually emaciated?”
Looking at Rayan, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her to shut up if she was going to spout bullshit. If it’s so important to him, why didn’t he stab him in the heart and give it to him. Karel’s words echoed in his ears. The desperation in Rayan’s voice troubled him.
“Because he is dying.”
Thud. His heart collapsed. Erhart couldn’t even tell if he was breathing or not. Only his eyes rolled. When he looked at Rayan, he kept shaking his head. There were tears in the corners of his eyes.
They fell to the floor and turned into pearls.
“Why…”
Was it because he was away from his life source, the sea? If that was the reason, he could have let him go. It was enough for him to go and see him once in a while. Even if it was once every ten days, or once every hundred years.
“He was willing to give something that was his life force, to save someone.”
Narrowing her eyes at Erhart’s reaction, Asha patted his chest with a bloodstained hand.
Rayan stopped shaking his head. He looked at Erhart with tender eyes and muttered, his words soft yet clear.
-It’s all my fault, it’s what I wanted, it’s not your fault.
Rayan’s consolation was gentle, but it could not have been more cruel. It was like proving that Asha’s words were true, after all, and that the ‘someone’ was him.
Certainly his survival was strange.
He was supposed to die, he thought. He’d lost too much blood, and he’d thought himself hopeless. When he awoke to Karel’s nursing, Erhart briefly questioned the matter of his fortuitous revival, although he quickly forgot about it as he sought revenge on his father.
“…”
He understood now. That child, Rayan, had saved his life. And now he was going to pay for it with his own life. All those three years that Erhart had no remembrance of.
“Rayan…”
“My dear king, what would you do if I told you there was a way to save him?”
Erhart was agitated. When its master hesitated, the once unyielding and steadfast magic force slightly wavered. “No,” whispered Ryan. Although his voice was faint, it still resounded in the air.
“Your death, for his life?”
“…”
“Then, have you made your choice? King of humans.”
Karel’s words made sense to Erhart now… and the answer, it seemed,had always been predetermined. Erhart gave Rayan an imperceptible smile, nodding firmly, and turned away from him.
He turned to Karel, whose menacing eyes were filled with undisguised amusement.
The muzzle of the gun was balefully pointed at him. His finger flexed over the trigger, as if he could pull it at any moment. Erhart closed his eyes.
A deafening shot rang out.
“…Ah.”
Instead of feeling the intense pain he had anticipated, Erhart heard a soft groan. His eyes instinctively jerked open. The first thing he saw was a flash jet-black hair flying by him.
So much drama o_o
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
I had to create an account to comment. I’ve been following this novel for a long time and I always say that I’m going to let the chapters accumulate, but every week I’m here. 😅 Thanks to the translator. 🥹
And about today’s chapter: My baby Rayan has already suffered enough, 😭 when will I have my happy ending?
(I like Asha, 😔 don’t ask me why).