Elijah moved as far away as possible in the opposite direction from Gillie’s ranch. The summer forest blanketed in complete darkness had the advantage and disadvantage that the sounds of all kinds of insects made it difficult to easily detect someone’s presence.
Anxious about potentially running into Rose, Elijah lowered his body between the lush gooseberry bushes and moved cautiously. Choosing only paths Rose wouldn’t anticipate made the route difficult, which was no small challenge.
After moving for quite some time until his entire body was drenched in sweat, it was only when the blue dawn began to break that the village came into Elijah’s view.
‘There it is.’
Just a little further down and he’d reach the village. He didn’t know what value the money Gillie had given him held, but since he said it was at least enough for “travel expenses,” it should be enough to at least rent a horse or catch a ride on someone’s cargo wagon.
As the end came into sight, Elijah, his heart growing anxious, quickened his pace.
Seeing that he hadn’t encountered Rose even after coming this far, perhaps he was wandering around on the completely opposite side right now. This mountain was so high and correspondingly vast…
With that thought, Elijah felt a slight ache in one corner of his heart. He had thought he would feel relieved once he escaped from him.
…He couldn’t imagine what kind of feelings Rose might have while searching for him. He would surely be angry enough to have his eyes roll back, yet on the other hand, he also seemed like he might just be waiting for him with an unknowing face like an abandoned child.
Such contradictory aspects always coexisted in him. However, Elijah knew all too well that at their core lurked an innate cruelty he absolutely could not accept.
The forest dense with birch trees stretching straight created an eerie atmosphere, consumed by the dawn fog. Elijah raised the hood covering his head to secure his vision.
“…”
He almost screamed. Between the blackened tree shadows lined up, he saw a snow-white figure.
Once, he had praised Rose’s beauty that seemed to glow alone even in darkness. But at this moment, Rose truly seemed to shine alone in the darkness.
“Elijah.”
Elijah looked at Rose, who alone was neat and elegant, unlike his own disheveled state soaked in sweat.
“I was worried. Are you hurt anywhere?”
It was a monotonous voice, as if reading text. Unlike his words, no matter how he looked, there was no sign of anxiety from searching for him.
“…”
You knew. You knew everything, watched what I was doing, didn’t catch me even though you were close enough to reach…
“What are you doing there? That’s not even the direction home.”
“Ro… ze.”
His throat was so blocked that words wouldn’t come out properly. Elijah, who had hesitantly stepped back, lost his balance and collapsed with a thud.
“I, I don’t want to go.”
The white face tilted slightly to the side.
“Why?”
The corners of his mouth, wearing a childlike innocent smile, opened pleasantly.
“Do you want to play more?”
His face, as if delicately painted in oils, was vivid even in the darkness. Elijah forcibly gathered his legs that had lost strength from extreme fear and stood up.
“You said you wouldn’t go out without my permission. You clearly said so with your own mouth.”
If he gets dragged away like this, it’s over. A bright red warning rang in his head. The red remains of Igrit being gruesomely crushed on the floor flickered before his eyes. A thick smell of blood seemed to waft in with his hastily drawn breath. He didn’t want to have his safety threatened anymore under his cruelty.
No matter how deep the affection he had shared with Rose, for Elijah it couldn’t be exchanged for his life.
“Run, Elijah.”
Elijah immediately turned and ran. The summer forest that had been filled with insect sounds was now circling only with his own breathing and Rose’s laughter closely following behind.
“You’re too slow, faster.”
Cold breath brushed against the nape of his neck. Elijah desperately fled from him. The rough dawn air squeezed his lungs. To escape from him, he should clearly go down the mountain, but Elijah, desperate to avoid Rose, was climbing higher and higher.
“At that crawling pace, when are you planning to get home?”
Trapped in blind fear, Elijah couldn’t even realize he was being toyed with. His thoughts, narrowed by terror, held the wicked hope that if he just picked up a little more speed, he could really escape from Rose.
As he ran madly, the voice that had been closely chasing his neck stopped. Heat burst out from his exhaled breath. Elijah crawled into whatever hiding place he could find.
He entered between rocks beneath a fallen giant tree and curled up his body in the narrow space. His abnormally racing heart pounded his chest violently.
Slow footsteps echoed above the tree covering Elijah’s head. Thud, thud… It couldn’t be this loud, but to Elijah, the sound felt like thunder. The footsteps that gradually grew closer stopped above his head.
“This is all you could hide?”
White fingers dropped down beneath the tree. The scream that died in his hand desperately covering his mouth manifested as goosebumps rising like thorns all over his body. Tap, tap. Rose’s long fingertips lightly tapped the tree he was standing on.
“If this is all you could do, you shouldn’t have tried to run away at all.”
He was so scared tears came naturally. Elijah desperately stared at the white fingertips swaying before his eyes while blocking the breath filling his mouth.
A time like an eternity passed. A suffocating silence continued where even the faintly exhaled breath sounded as loud as thunder, then at some point it broke off abruptly.
“Elijah.”
“…”
“You seem to get bored with anything quickly. I’m not like that.”
A white face suddenly descended into his view. Rose’s upside-down face looked extremely bizarre.
Moonlight clung to the silver-white hair hanging down. Above it, his smooth forehead and distorted eyes were fully captured in Elijah’s vision.
“Do you dislike me now?”
“No…, no, Rose. It’s not like that…, I…”
Elijah shook his head while tears streamed down.
“I’m scared of you… I don’t like being tied up like a criminal, and, and I don’t think we can keep being together like this, agh…!”
A hand that shot out in an instant gripped Elijah’s front fiercely and dragged him out.
“We were good together, Elijah.”
“Hic…, ngh.”
“You’re scared of me? Why on earth? How can you be scared of me?”
His throat was choked by the gripping hand so he couldn’t breathe. His toes, half-lifted in the air, pitifully struggled to touch the ground.
“What did I even do… It’s all something you brought upon yourself in the first place.”
There it is again. That face again. Rather like someone being choked, like someone pleading not to be abandoned.
“I’m yours and you’re mine. …Did you forget? You said you wouldn’t abandon me.”
“I, I never said such a thing…”
Ha—even at the single laugh that leaked from his twisted mouth, Elijah flinched as if burned. Rose, who let out a scoff as if dumbfounded, frowned.
“Elijah, do you even… have a conscience?”
In his fading consciousness, Elijah desperately grabbed his wrist.
“Sor…”
His trembling hand gripped the snow-white wrist tightly. Light flowing out from Elijah’s hand climbed up along Rose’s wrist and arm.
“Sorry, but… I don’t want to have you anymore, Rose… I, not like this…”
A faint crack appeared in the red eyes. Following the light extending from Elijah’s hand, scarlet flames blazed up.
The blocked airway suddenly opened wide and Elijah, who had fallen onto the wet grass, coughed violently. He slowly raised his head toward Rose standing motionlessly before him.
The acrid smell of burning flesh stung his nose. Rose was quietly looking down at the flames flickering vigorously on his arm. Hic… Startled, Elijah gasped.
“…Ah.”
Only then did a short sigh flow from Rose’s mouth. Bright red blood flowed profusely from the skin peeled in the pattern wrapped by the blazing flames.
“Rose…”
Elijah, shocked by what he had done, fumblingly got up. The skin surface that had always been white and clean without a single scratch turned bright red and crumpled, sizzling. It was a horrific sight where even the observer could feel the pain.
“Are… are you okay?”
Rose’s eyes distorted pitifully. The eyes glistening with clear moisture were those of young Rose, whom Elijah had loved so dearly.
“It hurts.”
Elijah, it hurts… Thick blood mixed with flesh dripped from the arm hanging ambiguously in the air.
“Wh-what should…”
What should I do. What should I do…? Elijah’s lips trembled. This was too much. He swore, he hadn’t meant to go this far. He really didn’t want to hurt him. He only wanted to remove the hand blocking his airway.
However, it was already too late to take back what his damned survival instinct had done as if it never happened.
“I’m sorry, Rose, I, I’m sorry…”
Transparent tears pattered down from the red eyes. The clear and brilliant eyes like glass beads were earnestly telling Elijah. It hurts, Elijah. It’s hot… Help me.
Elijah was seized by the feeling that he should immediately embrace Rose and somehow relieve that pain. His hesitating feet stepped forward.
“Flying Squirrel-ssi, close your eyes!”
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice was heard from above his head. Elijah grabbed the edge of the curtain that suddenly covered his vision without even having time to grasp the situation.
In an instant, the surroundings brightened. Through that bright light, Elijah captured Rose’s desperate appearance in his eyes.
“Eli…”
He couldn’t hear to the end the voice calling his name. It was because all his senses were suddenly cut off. Elijah felt extreme dizziness and clung to the arms tightly embracing his body.
A dazzling flash swallowed Elijah in an instant and disappeared. In the forest where blue dawn had descended, now only Rose remained alone.
“…”
As if the commotion from moments ago had never existed, an eerie silence descended.
The blood that had been dripping down his arm stopped. The heat that had wrapped around him subsided in an instant. The skin that had been bright red and crumpled, sizzling in a way that was painful even to look at, also healed cleanly.
The face that had been sobbing pitifully like an abandoned child was nowhere to be found, and a cold chill circled the white face brushing off the ashes from the burnt shirt sleeve.
“Ah.”
Irritation was mixed in the briefly exhaled sigh. Rose indifferently wiped away the tear stains remaining on his cheek. Soon the eyes that slowly lifted were completely cold.
“Just because I let him out for a bit, everything gets twisted.”
A voice dripping with cold circled between his well-shaped lips. His complexion, as if a layer of mask had been removed, was quite cold.
It was the face of a cruel predator, with no trace of the pitiful crying from just moments ago.
