<Chapter 123>
#14. The Calm Before the Storm (5)
As punishment for ignoring the thunderous sounds from his stomach all this time, Melty, who had finally filled his belly properly, put his hands behind his back. While the pretext was going for a walk after a full meal, his true purpose was to reach Calix, who had left as if he would return soon but hadn’t.
“Stop.”
Hearing the voice from behind, Melty withdrew the foot he was about to step forward with. Standing upright in place, Melty turned his head to look at Malek standing behind him. With arms crossed, Malek gazed at Melty who had been striding forward and let out a deep sigh.
“I told you not to wander far from here.”
“I haven’t gone far yet!”
“Not yet, but you were planning to, weren’t you?”
At Malek’s question, Melty’s mouth clamped shut. Cautiously watching his brother’s mood, Melty approached Malek with a slight smile on his lips.
“Hyung.”
“…What?”
“My stomach is full, don’t you want to go for a walk with me?”
Malek’s composure instantly crumbled as Melty clung to his arm and pleaded. He let out a laugh mixed with a sigh and gently tousled Melty’s hair, which was gleaming with bright eyes.
“I tell you to stay put, and now you’re trying to drag me into it?”
“No~o, walking together would be nice. I was happy to see you after so long, and we didn’t have much time to talk either.”
“…Kh-ahem!”
Despite clearly knowing it was calculated aegyo with an agenda, Malek fell for it helplessly. His feet were already moving in the direction Melty was leading him, contradicting his forced coughs of “Khm, kh-hmm!” Angel, who had been watching Malek’s easy surrender from a distance, shook his head weakly with a deflated expression.
What’s the point of being a monster who sees human necks like weeds, when he turns to mush in front of his brother worse than cotton candy dissolved in water?
Angel clicked his tongue in disapproval, delegated the cleanup to someone else, and hurried to follow.
“Mr. Melty! You mustn’t go any further.”
Melty, who had been moving along while holding his conquered brother’s arm, stopped at Angel’s call. Turning his head to look at Angel, Melty blinked and asked.
“Why?”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
“Even though I’m going with my hyung?”
Melty pressed himself closer to Malek’s side as he asked. At Melty’s question, Angel, at a loss for words, looked at Malek. Angel’s eyes narrowed to half their size when he saw Malek standing with his back and chest stretched tall.
“Yes. Even if you go together, it’s the same.”
At Angel’s resolute statement, Malek’s expression crumpled into something fierce.
“What are you implying? There’s no way my brother would be in danger when I’m with him.”
Angel shook his head at Malek’s tone, which was clearly laced with displeasure. Although Malek had seemed frightening when they first met, as the time spent together increased, familiarity grew. Thanks to this, Angel could assert his opinion more confidently.
“You agreed to follow our instructions when moving around.”
“That’s true.”
“You originally said you’d stop Mr. Melty, but instead you’re being enchanted by him. What am I supposed to do?”
“……”
Despite Malek’s glaring eyes, Angel stood his ground. There wasn’t a single incorrect statement in what he had said.
“Is it really not allowed?”
“No!”
Still clinging tightly to Malek’s arm, Melty stuck out his lower lip. Angel answered firmly in place of Malek, who remained silent. With a deflated sound of “Eh…” and shoulders dropping, Melty looked up at Angel and asked.
“Then where did Calix-ssi go?”
“He’s just looking around the area, he’ll be back soon.”
“There’s nothing wrong, is there?”
Angel remained silent at Melty’s question. As Calix’s adjutant, Angel was responsible for leading the group in the current situation where Calix was absent. Because of this, he roughly knew why Calix was delayed.
However, he couldn’t openly announce that the child the scouts had found in the cabin appeared to have a “contagious disease,” and that was why Calix couldn’t return. Angel knew enough about the dangers and repercussions of disease.
“He’ll be back soon.”
“But he’s been gone for a long time. And he left without eating much.”
Melty muttered while stomping the ground with his shoe tip. Angel smiled faintly at Melty’s concerned muttering.
“In this world, you could worry about everyone, but Calix-nim is someone you don’t need to worry about.”
“Pardon?”
“Well, that man is the type who’d be thrown into a fire pit and still tear his way through the flames to survive…”
Angel, who had been casually waving his index finger as he spoke, stopped mid-sentence. Melty blinked at Angel, who had frozen with his face turned white, then turned his head around. At the same moment, the voice of the person Melty had been wanting to see spoke.
“I leave and you openly badmouth me? I guess you’ve finally saved up enough money?”
“Calix-ssi!”
Melty’s face instantly brightened upon seeing Calix, who was slicking back his hair that was clearly soaking wet. Calix caught Melty in his arms as he ran toward him with a beautiful star-like smile and arms wide open.
“Why are you out here without proper preparation?”
“You didn’t come back. Where did you go?”
Melty buried his face against Calix’s chest and took a deep breath. Though it hadn’t rained, Calix’s thoroughly soaked body radiated coldness. With a serious expression and furrowed brow, Melty fiddled with his hand.
“Why are you so cold?”
“I rushed to wash up before coming back.”
Calix removed his hand from Melty’s grip and pulled his body away before taking a deep breath.
“It’s late now, so go sleep in the carriage.”
“Huh? What about you?”
“I’ll sleep outside.”
At Calix’s calm voice, Melty stared at his own hand that had been holding Calix’s just moments ago. Calix usually preferred staying close to Melty. Because of this, it was rare for him to reject physical contact first.
“……”
Seeing Melty frozen with a shocked expression, Calix smiled awkwardly. While he felt he should explain, he was hesitant to enter a confined space together.
‘If Melty’s blessing had been health, I wouldn’t need to worry like this…’
Afraid of potentially transmitting the disease to Melty, he had washed in a nearby pond and changed clothes before returning to the carriage. His blessing of immunity guaranteed his own safety, but it didn’t help others around him, making this an unavoidable choice.
Despite speaking so easily about his gift, Melty always maintained ironclad security regarding his own blessing. Unable to think of a good way to console him, Calix looked up and discovered Malek standing dazed with the exact same expression as Melty.
Calix, noticing that Malek seemed completely unaware of his gaze, turned his eyes to Angel who was standing nearby. When he silently asked with his eyes why Malek was acting that way, Angel pointed at Melty with an exasperated expression. Then, in place of Malek, he tapped one of his arms.
Recalling from Angel’s gesture that until just recently, Melty had been clinging tightly to Malek’s arm, Calix laughed with a deflating sound.
Having discovered yet another similarity between the brothers, Calix gently stroked Melty’s hair and spoke.
“Let’s move somewhere else first.”
***
The tent set up for camping wasn’t very spacious, but it was sufficient for four people. Melty, who had been worriedly watching Calix’s still-dripping hair while stomping his feet, eventually brought a towel. At Melty’s enthusiastic declaration that he would dry his hair, Calix nodded with a happy smile.
While his hair was being thoroughly dried with the towel in Melty’s hands, Calix finished briefly explaining the current situation. Angel, who had been listening seriously to the story about the girl’s death, the unknown epidemic, and the journey to check for any potential village, furrowed his brow.
“So was there a village after all?”
“Yes. I discovered a village.”
Melty smiled brightly after confirming that water no longer dripped from Calix’s hair. Though Calix wanted nothing more than to pull Melty onto his lap right then, he had to exercise restraint to prevent any possible complications.
“I’m not sure if they were people who fled from the original village, but it was extremely small in scale. It was barely large enough to be considered a village. Originally, there were hardly even 10 mansions there.”
“…The fact that you returned so quickly means, perhaps…”
Angel’s eyes widened as he realized what Calix was implying from his story.
“There were no survivors. Judging by the state of the village, it seems it’s been that way for quite some time.”
Calix frowned as he recalled the village ruins he had seen. To be precise, it was closer to ruins than a village. Seeing the faint bloodstains left on the outer walls of houses and on objects, it wasn’t difficult to predict what had happened.
“I believe it was the same disease as the one that affected the girl we found in the cabin.”
“…If such a contagious disease had spread, it couldn’t possibly be this quiet?”
“When even the existence of people living together wasn’t known, how would a disease that wiped out the villagers become known?”
After gently answering the frowning Malek, Calix took a deep breath.
“Then it’s likely the parents sent the child to the isolated cabin in an attempt to save her.”
“I think so too. The state of the prepared food ingredients also seemed to have been arranged with the child in mind.”
In other words, this meant the villagers knew they had a contagious disease before they died. And likely, the girl was probably fine when she was brought to the cabin.
While Calix continued his explanation, Melty, who had been quietly watching his face, tilted his head to one side and spoke.
“Calix-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“You have more to say, don’t you?”
“……”
Calix’s eyes widened at Melty’s question. In response to his gaze that seemed to ask how he knew there was still something unsaid, Melty replied.
“Well, between us, we know each other at a glance! So what else is there?”
At Melty’s confident expression with his nose held high, Calix felt the urge to kiss him right away. Clenching his hand tightly and regulating his breathing, Calix recalled the seriousness of the current situation and steadied his breath. Then he calmly spoke.
“This epidemic will spread across the entire continent.”
