The Blade That Reached the Heart
A pain like my shoulder blade was crumbling rushed over me, making my consciousness fade for a moment, but I was able to regain my senses when my stomach twisted.
“Anyway, I’m sorry about this. It would’ve been better if we hadn’t run into each other… But now that we have, I can’t just let you go, can I? Just as well, since I can confirm whether the rumors are true, you’ll have to become decent bait. You don’t seem particularly close with hyung, but that fellow Ruman seems quite fond of you. Ah! This’ll be a good opportunity to test whether the so-called Hero truly prioritizes the King’s orders and upholds the greater good, or if he’s just another human who values blood ties! You’re curious too, aren’t you?”
Why…….
“There’s no need to make such a face. How close are you with Princess Coco to be making that expression? Just like Ruman said, kids these days really are strange!”
Is it because of me?
If I, if I hadn’t followed and jumped down… perhaps, if the gray-haired man had been trying to save Coco, couldn’t they both have escaped?
‘Run away.’
Coco’s words were referring to Del Belkerman. This person before my eyes.
Stupid me, I misunderstood those words…….
As someone worth only one person, I just didn’t want to leave Coco alone.
But the one who robbed her of the chance to escape, the reason that gray-haired man collapsed coughing up blood—it was all because of me.
Hweeek. Uwheeek.
My entire body twisted.
As if the energy rising from my toes was turning my whole body inside out.
I vomited up green bile.
My throat expanded and it poured out without even a chance to breathe.
“My. How filthy.”
As my internal organs twisted, a completely different kind of pain pounded throughout my entire body, making my consciousness hazy.
Aaaaaaagh.
I didn’t even have the strength to scream.
I wanted to pretend not to know.
My heart ached at Coco’s words that she had no family to trust.
Even so, I thought Del, the last remaining guard knight with her, would protect her.
Traitor.
He was a traitor. I didn’t want to believe it.
“By the way, this is unexpected. I thought you’d ask what happened to the Hero.”
He stood up, releasing the shoulder he’d been gripping hard enough to crush.
I couldn’t even feel the pain in my shoulder anymore.
When he let go, my body tilted as it was. Still, I stiffly raised my head. I have to buy time. Hyung is a Hero who has never failed a mission, so he’ll definitely come to rescue Coco.
As the sun set, Del’s face began to become visible again.
“Aren’t you curious?”
A vivid scar running across his cheek.
His face held a cruel smile that seemed delighted, and the sword in his hand… blood I hadn’t noticed before was dripping down the blade, soaking the ground.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
“……!”
Ah…….
And… Del Belkerman wasn’t wearing black clothes.
He hadn’t changed into black clothes… he was drenched in blood.
The blood covering him appeared black in the darkness, hidden by the shadows.
Was it hyung and Ruman’s blood?
Uwheeeeek.
No, that can’t be.
“How pitiful…… Ah, what an ecstatic taste. You wanted to savor it, didn’t you? Heu.”
What I retched up wasn’t bile.
What covered the green contents was blood.
Physiological tears wet my face.
“Ren……”
……! Coco.
Coco, Coco is safe. She’s regained consciousness.
I wanted to turn to look at her.
But I couldn’t extend my body due to the pain of my stomach tearing apart.
“Aaaaaaagh!!”
Pain like being wrung out. Like all the joints in my body were dislocating and then snapping back into place.
It was a seizure. One with pain incomparable to before.
A pain that felt like my consciousness would be ripped out.
As if draining all my strength.
I twisted my entire body, screaming and crawling on the ground.
‘Do you know? Those bastards called Heroes are nothing but broken machines without orders, Ren. Ah, how powerless they were!’
Del’s ecstatic whisper tore through my mind.
“Ren…!”
Coco’s faint voice couldn’t reach me.
“Princess, you’ve finally awakened.”
Del greeted the Princess with an ecstatic expression.
“What are you going to do…. That child… has nothing to do with this…!”
Coco’s shrill voice trembled.
Coco, who would often shout and sharply glare, was trembling in fear.
“Nothing to do with it? Don’t you know that witnesses must also be dealt with?”
“You only need to deal with me…! What did you, do? Stop tormenting Ren! Leave that child alone—!”
“I heard something, you see. It seemed like quite valuable information, so I couldn’t just let it pass. Since we’ve already run into each other, isn’t this fate? Though I was going to just push you off the cliff to disguise it as an accident… Why are you making me work so hard? If you’d gone quietly while you were asleep, wouldn’t that have been peaceful? Then this child wouldn’t have had to watch you die either.”
His voice was gentle, as if scolding a disobedient child.
“That one’s stupid too. Why bother coming back? I don’t know how he disguised himself as a corpse, but if he managed to preserve his life, he should’ve quietly gone back. Tsk.”
Thud! The sound of kicking something.
“Princess.”
Del calling Coco in a chillingly sweet tone.
“Agh….”
“Huhk… Huk… Coco…!”
I have to… come to my senses. It’s okay. It’s okay…. After terrible pain, comes stability.
After the extreme pain that felt like my soul was being sucked out, it was actually okay…..
Sweat dripped down. I put strength into my hand pressed against the ground.
There was a sound of dragging across the floor.
Del grabbed Princess Coco’s long hair with an indifferent face and dragged her to the end of the cavity.
To where I was.
“Co, Co….”
I barely called out Coco’s name.
Her eyes lingered on the gray-haired man who had coughed up blood and fainted, then returned to me.
Coco’s lips trembled.
I’m sorry.
That’s what she seemed to be saying.
“Hmm.”
Del released the Princess’s hair.
Her purple hair fell in a cascade all at once.
He rubbed his chin as if pondering, then looked at me.
“Ah! Good. You’ll choose?”
“Choose what….”
The seizure had swept through my body like lightning and subsided, but my body was as heavy as if weighed down by rocks.
My hands and feet grew cold, and the blood circulation was so intense I felt like I might faint.
If I vomited blood one more time, I would collapse right then.
If another seizure came… this time I might not be able to endure it.
No. I have to stall for time somehow.
I’m going to die anyway. But not Coco.
“How should I kill you? Push you off the cliff, or stab you with a sword.”
“……”
Del’s eyes crinkled contentedly.
“You see, when I watch humans living so desperately, I feel awe. How amusing that they refuse even when they clearly know they’re going to die. So….”
He brightened as he found the right vocabulary.
“This is a reward. Since you struggled so hard to live, I’ll let you choose how you die in recognition of that effort. It’s my final mercy, so choose carefully.”
He was the type of human who would indifferently step on and kill a crawling insect.
The crawling insects right now were me and Coco.
A human who finds pleasure in watching an insect he thought was dead struggle with severed limbs, trying to live.
Ah! This person isn’t a guard knight or anything like that.
An assassin.
But not for money—he’s the type of human who enjoys the slaughter itself.
I bit my cheek.
It felt terrible, like flesh being torn away.
Swallowing the bursting blood, I glared at him.
That would be his fatal mistake.
“Come on. Hurry and tell me. What will you choose… I’m looking forward to it.”
Del grinned widely. His snake-like long tongue licked his lips.
Coco. It’ll be okay.
The distance between him and Coco was exactly the same as the distance between me and Coco.
Just a span apart, with the outer cliff between us.
“Speak, quickly!”
“A sw, ord.”
“A sword! Good. Heheheh. Right, better a clean sword than dying by falling and hitting things. As expected of the Hero’s younger sibling, you know what’s what. This suits the death of a noble Princess!”
Del Belkerman made a genuinely delighted face.
He pulled Coco’s arm to make her stand, but Coco collapsed limply.
“Tsk.”
Del made an annoyed expression.
As if asking why she was delaying when such an entertaining event was about to happen!
“Coco….”
I shook my head.
Because I felt like Coco was about to apologize.
Because Coco fell toward this direction, I was able to grasp her hand.
It was a hand soaked in sweat.
Her pale white face, her vividly shining purple eyes held guilt.
No, Coco.
If I hadn’t unnecessarily interfered, perhaps you could have escaped with that man.
But because of me… because of me who stepped forward without any ability…… it got twisted.
Even if I’d fallen off the cliff, I would’ve been fine anyway.
Since I’m a body that doesn’t know whether I’ll die from this seizure or the next.
It would’ve been better if I’d died and you’d gritted your teeth and escaped.
“Now, Princess. It’s time to depart.”
Del spoke in a detestable voice, pretending to be affectionate.
Giving an exaggerated knight’s salute.
Coco’s face contorted at his deception.
“Ren… What are you going to do with Ren.”
“He has another use. Just as the Princess’s death is useful to me.”
With a face feeling ecstasy, Del raised his gleaming blade.
He approached with an efficient posture, neither fast nor slow.
That sword, toward Coco’s neck, thrust in with one stroke.
And the one pierced by the sword…… wasn’t Coco, but me.
