A Cry Above the Cliff
“What…”
…do you mean?
But there was no time to ask back.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
I didn’t even know what had happened.
KWAAGWANG! A loud explosion and the carriage collapsing. Hiiiiing! A spine-chilling horse’s whinny.
A dagger embedded threateningly! Before I could even register it, what filled my vision were the faces of my companions—wide-eyed with shock, visible even through the black cloud-like smoke!
Ruman and hyung crushed under the carriage with bewildered, shocked faces, Del running toward us while dropping the reins, and… I saw a gray-haired man instantly grab Coco.
Coco had a shocked expression when she saw the man!
As if she’d encountered someone she knew!
The corpse that hyung had discovered! The gray-haired, gaunt man! It was definitely that man! What’s going on?? Wasn’t he dead?!
Dismay washed over Del’s face, and I had no time to think!! Was that person an assassin targeting Princess Coco! Was he a traitor?!
There was no time to think about running away or feeling afraid like Coco had said.
Not the flying daggers, not the masked people dropping from the trees.
I told you, didn’t I? To trust me!
“Ren——!”
I threw my body at the back of the man who was embracing Coco and leaping toward the cliff.
Which meant… I had essentially thrown myself under the cliff.
But in such a terrifying situation, I, I couldn’t leave someone alone!
This isn’t because Coco and I are friends! It’s humanity! Humanity! Also, well, because I told her to trust me.
The hyung I know, that wonderful Hero, always does his best on missions.
He would definitely come to rescue Coco.
I’ll protect Coco until then. I can do my part too!
A wind sharp enough to tear my cheeks pounded and scratched my entire body. The wind roughly swept through my ears. It felt like my eardrums would burst. I squeezed my eyes shut in fear.
“Reeeeeeen——!”
So when we fell under the cliff, I couldn’t tell whether the voice calling me was Temarr hyung or Ruman, whether it was a call or a scream.
More explosion sounds came from behind us.
***
My insides churned violently.
I felt like I was about to vomit, my vision spinning dizzily. If nothing burst out from inside, I felt like I’d pass out like this.
When I jumped off the cliff, if I felt a strange sense of liberation, wouldn’t that be crazy?
Actually, I almost lost my grip while grabbing the man’s waist.
If Coco hadn’t hit the man with a horrified expression, I probably would have bashed my head against the cliff rocks and died right there.
As soon as I barely managed to grab the man’s waist, his eyes shook greatly with confusion.
But… strangely, he didn’t shake his body to throw me off or try to kill me.
Why??
“You crazy bastard!! What the, hell are you doing—!”
Coco’s voice echoed because of the wind. It sounded like a scream too.
I wanted to answer her with something!! But I couldn’t open my mouth.
Instead, I used all my strength to raise my arm that was swaying in the wind and grabbed Coco’s arm. Her eyes wavered.
You bastard!! Where are you trying to take Coco!!
But below this is all cliff.
Then— are we going to die now?
Kuuuuuung.
Pusususu…….
With an impact sound like rock breaking, Coco’s abundant purple hair soaked in the sunset looked exactly like blood. Bounced by the sudden impact, we at least avoided plummeting headfirst into the rock, using the man’s body as a cushion.
Blood gushed from the gray-haired man’s mouth, and the princess who bounced off like that also hit the cave-like rock wall with a thud!
Like a doll with cut strings… Coco collapsed limply, and her purple—now blood-colored—hair covered her.
The only person conscious was me.
‘——en.’
I felt like I could hear some sound from very far away…
Faintly, my eyes kept closing too. It felt like my stomach was twisting, but nothing came out, as if the vomit was stuck somewhere in a lump. No, maybe it’s more accurate to say I didn’t even have the strength to vomit?
Hyung. Ruman.
Where are you?
I wasn’t anxious. Because I knew they would come.
What I was agonizing over was… whether I should kill the gray-haired man who had vomited blood and passed out.
In the small cavity the man had created by breaking the cliff, I grabbed and lifted one of the large, sharp rock fragments that had fallen from the earlier impact.
It was so heavy my arms trembled.
With this, I could take that man’s life.
If I just squeezed my eyes shut and struck his head a few times…….
“Ugh!”
As I was approaching the man holding the rock fragment, my leather shoes slipped on the rock debris.
“Urgh… It hurts.”
I blinked blankly.
My blood ran cold. Goosebumps and cold sweat ran down my spine simultaneously.
I had one leg sticking out beyond the cliff.
Below the cavity space the man had made… was an endless precipice. If I were lucky, could I have survived by getting caught on a tree?
No.
I would have become meat skewered on a stick.
Why did this man… do such a thing?
There’s nothing below the cliff. Did he intend to take Coco’s life along with his own, throwing away even his own life? Because it was beneficial? But if that were the case…!! Why did he create this space using his entire body… and not shake me off?
When I encountered this gray-haired man, what was Coco’s expression?
What was this man’s expression? Who was the person Coco told me to run away from?
“Huu…”
“Coco?!”
A short breath burst from Coco’s mouth!
As if she was regaining consciousness!
“Princess!”
As I was about to approach Coco, I turned around at the shadow cast over me.
It was Del! Del Belkerman! Princess Coco’s escort!
He came to rescue the princess! Where’s hyung?
But even when I looked around, hyung was nowhere to be seen.
“Del…”
“So you were here!”
He cut off my words and exclaimed as if filled with joy and admiration.
The scar across his cheek looked deeper, perhaps because of the sunset.
“I’ve been searching for quite a while.”
Del’s eyes curved pleasantly.
He approached with heavy steps and drew his sword from its sheath.
The blade tip flashed as it caught the red light.
Del, who had been looking toward Coco, turned his gaze to me while still holding the sword.
“……”
His profile that had been illuminated by the sunset became invisible, swallowed by the darkness from the backlight. My eyes were dazzled by the red sunset light, so I squeezed them shut and opened them again.
In that moment of silence that seemed to swallow even sound, I heard the sound of rock dust being stepped on and scattered.
I swallowed the rising bile and lifted my head.
“You’re awake!”
“……”
“Uugh…”
From behind, I could hear Hugh’s faint breathing that sounded like it had already stopped and Coco’s groaning.
You must have come to rescue Princess Coco.
Otherwise, there’s no way you would have thrown yourself off the cliff.
As I tried to stand up from the ground, I collapsed right there.
I had sprained the wrist I’d used to support myself on the ground when I fell while carrying and moving the rock fragment. The throbbing pain crawled up my back sharply, making all the hair on my body stand on end.
“It’s really strange, I tell you. Does being the Hero’s younger brother give you special abilities… Hmm.”
“Urk…”
Nausea surged up.
It was strange.
A pain like my bones were being realigned, as if my entire body was being wrung out, surged through me… but my mind was hazy.
“It would have been good for both of us if you’d stayed asleep… Kids these days seem to dislike soup. How troublesome.”
Del Belkerman, shaking his head, knelt down in front of me.
When did he get this close?
My head felt like it was going to fall to the floor.
For a moment, it felt like my consciousness was repeatedly cutting out and returning as if my blood flow was being cut off.
Before my eyes was Del’s body dressed in pitch-black clothes.
He let out a regretful sigh and lifted my head with his fingers.
When our eyes met… I recalled the gleaming beast’s eyes I had seen in the forest.
I’m sure what I saw were a beast’s eyes.
Why do those eyes and Del’s eyes seem to overlap?
“I suppose that’s also what you’d call luck. Huhu.”
Del laughed lowly.
He moved the hand that had been lifting my chin to my cheek and tapped it lightly.
“Uuuurgh… Hueok…”
My entire body trembled.
It felt like the ground was swaying as if I’d been suffering from motion sickness for a long time.
“You… came to, rescue Coco… right…?”
Urk… Hueok. Haa. Haa…….
The artificial cavity the gray-haired man had made was filled only with my labored breathing.
I tried to keep my eyes open properly and glared at Del’s face.
A smile appeared in his pleasant eyes.
“Hahahaha!”
He trembled violently, then threw his head back.
His cheerful laughter was loud enough to echo through the low ceiling and cavity.
Dust fell from the ceiling with a rustling sound. Del shook his head and brushed off the dust.
“Hahaha. You don’t really believe that, do you? I understand the desire to escape reality, sure. But if you do that even in this situation, you look a bit stupid.”
Del tapped my forehead.
“Making such an expression. If someone saw, they’d think you were my princess.”
“……”
“It seems your Hero hyung didn’t tell you that being naive is no different from being stupid. Well, Heroes are just combat weapons who do as His Majesty commands, so they probably don’t have time to teach such things, do they?”
No, right? It can’t be…….
Del patted my shoulder.
I wanted to shake it off, but I didn’t even have the strength to move a finger.
I tried to pull my body back, but Del gripped my shoulder hard so I couldn’t do that either.
