“Khk—ugh......!”
Early dawn.
Unable to leave Ragniel for long, Giselle had come out onto the terrace.
Quietly watching the scenery as dawn slowly brightened, Giselle suddenly clutched his chest and doubled over.
An enormous amount of blood poured out. Giselle’s pupils widened greatly. Unable to move even slightly, he spilled blood across the ground beneath his feet. It was only when his shoes became soaked in the blood he had vomited that he realized he could no longer breathe.
Giselle’s eyes searched southward.
Had something gone wrong?
“Khk.”
Barely forcing out a breath, he tried to straighten his back.
Kuuung!
But instead collapsed forward, crashing onto the hard terrace floor.
Piiiiiiiiii----.
“......!”
Together with a deafening ringing noise, the world distorted. Giselle experienced the sensation of earth and sky overturning. He wanted to cover his ears, yet could not move even a finger, and though his violently churning stomach held nothing inside, he still coughed up blood.
Even then, Giselle still did not realize what had gone wrong.
Rustling sounds came from beyond the terrace doors. Soon afterward came the sounds of sharp objects shattering and heavy things falling one after another. Groans, confused voices, then much later shouting and screams...... after that, silence.
Giselle recognized the sounds reaching him, but only that much. He could not comprehend what they meant.
An unfamiliar sensation crushed him down.
He felt as though he had become an insect. It felt as if a giant hand were grinding apart his entire body. Pain that twisted through his chest and crushed his organs pierced straight through his mind. The sharpened sensation dissected his consciousness as though carving it apart, and pain unlike anything he had ever experienced skewered him from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
Had air always been this heavy? Every breath felt horrifying, as though he were inhaling shards of glass, as if even breathing itself was no longer permitted.
Kwaaaaaang! Kwagwagwagwang—! Kuuuuung!
A tremendous crash rang out. It was the sound of enormous doors being torn down. Thick male voices and masses of light flashed beyond tightly closed curtains.
‘Ah.’
The early blue light of dawn, before morning had fully broken, made Giselle appear even paler.
Sprawled across the terrace floor like a crushed insect, Giselle stared at the light spreading sideways through distant clouds. The eyes reflecting that light gradually blurred.
Darkness slowly retreated, blue spread through the world, and the sun began to rise.
Tears flowed from his dry eyes.
Only then did Giselle notice the communication orb vibrating and shining from inside his clothes.
And reflexively, he spoke the name someone was forcing into his mind.
Ren.
That name he had tried to erase.
The mission had failed.
Yet no trace of despair could be found on Giselle’s face.
Feeling his consciousness burning with fever, he endured a horrific stretch of time.
The sunlight of the brightening morning was beautiful, the midday sun was maddeningly hot, and the humid afternoon showed Giselle no mercy.
Nothing showed Giselle mercy.
The royal palace quietly greeted both morning and night.
And when a new morning arrived.
Shraaaak! Kuuung!
Beneath the terrace doors, half torn away as rough hands violently threw the curtains aside.
Giselle was forced to face those standing before him with devastated expressions.
Luman’s wet face twisted in agony, and Temar’s face, which seemed piled high with eternal fury.
Even Geloman’s hardened gaze as well.
“Giselle.”
Temar opened his mouth. He looked as though he had absolutely no intention of caring for Giselle’s miserable state.
“An explanation is necessary.”
His voice carried deep hatred.
***
The sea at night possessed a fearfulness the sea in the morning did not.
Ren stared at the black waves surging and crashing endlessly.
“Ren.”
“Old man!”
Ren happily waved toward Viburn, who had come out onto the deck. Hair darker than night fluttered softly in the sea breeze.
Leaving his hair as it was, Viburn stepped beside Ren.
“Why are you out here.”
“.......”
“Ren.”
“Ah......! What did you say?”
Ren, who had been blankly staring at Viburn, smiled awkwardly.
‘No, his voice is just way too good. It startled me.’
Ren was not uncomfortable around Viburn, but whenever he looked at him, he often drifted blankly into thought.
It was unavoidable.
Only a single day had passed since he met Viburn.
“I asked why you are out here.”
“I just...... wanted to see the ocean.”
“Do you like the ocean?”
Ren gave a small laugh and nodded.
He could not remember why he liked the sea, but he simply did.
Whenever he looked at the ocean, even the vague worries that refused to surface no longer felt like such a big deal.
He had recovered the name he had nearly lost, but his memories had not fully returned.
‘Even though I think I should organize the good memories first. Even though I think I can’t leave someone crying.......’
It was harder than he had expected.
Ren had recalled every memory related to the old man without much difficulty, and he had no trouble sorting them into warm memories.
But the other memories were different. Whenever he made up his mind to sort through them, it felt as though some lock inside his heart clicked shut.
Fear rose inside him, and Ren could no longer continue trying.
‘I’m seriously such a coward.’
But the frightened feeling would not improve easily.
To Ren, Viburn only said that merely a single day had passed.
Yet there was no helping the impatience he felt.
And another thought came to him.
They wanted to erase Ren’s existence from the world.
So perhaps it was actually better that he could not remember. Perhaps it would help more if things remained this way.
The regret, longing, and desperate desire to remember them all quieted down like lies.
Maybe because they were not completely lost forever, but still remained clearly somewhere deep inside him.
‘Still, I should try pulling out the warmest memory first.’
Though it would probably require resolve.
“......But where exactly are we going?”
Ren blinked blankly. Turning his head to ask about their destination while continuing his thoughts, Ren ended up meeting Viburn’s eyes directly.
“Is there somewhere you want to go?”
Ren tilted his head, then almost shouted.
“I get to decide?!”
“Yes.”
Viburn’s face remained expressionless, yet Ren somehow felt as though he was smiling at him.
“But seriously, you’re really handsome. It’s amazing.”
“.......”
Taking the opportunity, Ren openly stared at Viburn’s face to his heart’s content.
Earlier there had been no time to look properly, and whenever he saw Viburn he kept thinking of the old man’s face instead, so he had not realized it. But looking now, he was unbelievably handsome! No, maybe calling him unbelievably beautiful creature was more accurate? Tilting his head, Ren carefully examined Viburn’s face.
“Woooow.”
To properly look at his face, Ren had to crane his neck back completely. Their height difference was simply that large.
While he was admiring the thick neat eyebrows and deathly pale skin without a single visible pore, Viburn’s face suddenly moved much closer.
“......!”
“Why are you surprised? Weren’t you looking at me?”
“N-no! You suddenly got closer, so it startled me!”
Seriously startled me!
Ren grumbled softly. But he did not push Viburn away.
The sight of them together looked rather ridiculous.
Ren continued staring at Viburn’s face with endlessly fascinated eyes.
“Is my face really that fascinating?”
Ren nodded enthusiastically.
If only he had attended some kind of academy, he would have been able to properly describe Viburn’s appearance. That part was truly regrettable.
After admiring Viburn’s appearance to his heart’s content, just as he wished, Ren rubbed his sleepy eyes. Viburn lightly picked up the drowsy, staggering Ren in his arms and headed toward the cabin.
“......Hhk!”
Every human who encountered Viburn sucked in a startled breath and froze like statues. Yet Viburn did not spare them even a glance.
Entering the cabin, Viburn laid Ren down on the bed and even covered him with a blanket himself. Pulling over a chair and sitting beside Ren, Viburn moved his hand, and soft light gathered together, driving back some of the darkness.
The sound of steady breathing sweetly tickled his ears.
“You should stop hiding and come out.”
Yet there was always an intruder during sweet moments.
When Viburn commanded arrogantly, the shadow stuck to the wall rippled before taking human form.
“That hardly seems like the proper expression for greeting an old friend after so long.”
The figure emerging from the darkness was an elderly woman with a large frame. Yet her voice sounded closer to that of a young woman.
Viburn stared at her with emotionless eyes.
“Why are you here?”
“Why else? I came because your condition looked strange. I thought you were merely amusing yourself, but it seems you’ve developed an interest in humans?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Hmph! How ridiculous. In the end, you’ll come begging to me anyway, so you’d better stop acting so stiff.”
Cold eyes flashed sharply. Black energy instantly swallowed the room whole.
Yet the woman did not yield either. Her blue eyes glowed fiercely, and her pupils split vertically like those of a beast.
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