“Don’t… don’t come over.”
Evernight’s voice was very low and subdued in a short time. It seemed like he was muttering curses in a low voice, but the sound was so small that it was inaudible.
“I-I won’t do anything. I’ll-I’ll just apply medicine. I swear.”
Fuck, shit. I’m going crazy. Evernight tilted his head back and swept up his bangs. His fiercely sharp gaze pierced Anya like a warning.
“If you come, I might kill you, Anya.”
His small feet flailed in the air beyond Haebing, startled by the word “kill.” But Evernight looked really serious. The black energy had now climbed past the back of his hand and up to his wrist. He was trying not to lose consciousness, but occasionally his head tilted to the side, making Anya’s heart run cold as he watched.
“You-you can kill me. I-I would have been dead anyway if not for kyung.”
Even if he died by his hand, he had no regrets. Rather, if he died instead and he lived, he could gladly give up his life. Anya’s foot, which had been stopped in mid-air, finally stepped on the ground across Haebing. At that moment, Evernight’s eyes, which should clearly have been blue, momentarily turned purple.
“You damn greenhorn, why won’t you listen!”
Evernight shouted. As he jumped up from his seat, he staggered as if dizzy for a moment. Anya hurriedly approached and supported him. It wasn’t an illusion. Up close, Evernight’s eyes had really turned violet. He pushed Anya away with all his strength.
“Get lost. Go back to your place.”
Evernight said through gritted teeth like a wounded wild bird. His Adam’s apple kept moving as if he was enduring something. Though his whole body was trembling from the cold, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Cal-calm down…!”
The moment Anya tried to take one more step toward him, Evernight, whose reason had finally half-snapped, pulled out a dagger and threw it at Anya.
The rapidly flying dagger grazed Anya’s cheek and embedded itself in the gap between the rock walls right behind him.
“Next time it’ll be your throat. Don’t come over.”
He slumped down against the wall and exhaled rough breaths with his head tilted back.
* * *
Anya couldn’t sleep a wink all night. The boy had to make a choice.
Would he follow Evernight’s words, or refuse them?
Of all the countless days he had lived until now, this was the first time he had stood at such an important and intense crossroads of choice. Anya rested his chin between his knees and wracked his brain.
I need to think carefully. If I take even one wrong step, I’ll roll off a cliff. A very deep cliff I’ll never be able to climb back up.
“……”
Anya’s gaze briefly rested on Evernight, who was letting out faint groans.
‘Evernight-kyung wants me to follow his words most of all. He’s Tildyen’s greatest knight and the knight commander I must follow, so obeying his orders is right. But just in case….’
His gaze gradually lowered and stopped at his blackened forearm.
‘If he dies, what use are all these things?’
Thinking about greeting his cold corpse the next morning made all the blood in his body instantly run cold. Anya bit his nails with an anxious expression.
‘Then… let’s say I disobey Evernight-kyung’s order and go over to him. Then….’
I can ease his pain for a while. If I’m lucky, I might be able to hold out until Riario-kyung and Karen-kyung find us.
‘And if I share my mana….’
Blue light gathered on Anya’s blood-covered palm and quickly disappeared.
‘They said monsters are weak to magic, so there might be improvement. In this case, what’s the worst-case scenario?’
“Me dying….”
Anya muttered blankly. It was mana that had already been drawn up to its limit when fighting the monster. Anya could clearly feel some kind of energy rapidly draining from his body.
Whether he died by Evernight’s hand or died sharing mana with him didn’t matter. If Evernight was going to die, it was ideal in all situations for him to die instead. The moment he decided that, fear instantly vanished without a trace.
Anya held his breath and waited until Evernight fell completely asleep. Every time he exhaled, hot breath rose. Although Evernight’s entire body was hot like a fireball, Anya searched every corner of the cave floor and gathered firewood, worried he might catch a cold. But he couldn’t gauge how long they would have to endure here. Anya only replenished firewood enough to keep the campfire from going out.
Occasionally, Evernight would wake up and watch what Anya was doing. Every time their eyes met, he would turn his head away with clenched teeth. The man’s tense jaw muscles moved minutely. Anya sat at a distance to reassure him as much as possible.
Time beyond the Wall passed especially slowly at night. Having been overworked both mentally and physically all day, Anya dozed off without knowing it. Each time that happened, it seemed like Ronan’s voice came riding on the bleak wind from outside the cave.
Smack!
Anya struck his own cheek with all his might. You don’t deserve to sleep comfortably. He reprimanded himself harshly.
In the dead of night, when only a handful of moonlight seeped into the pitch-black cave. Anya finally confirmed that Evernight was asleep. The boy carefully approached Evernight’s side with medicinal herbs, crossing over Haebing.
His wound looked even more terrible up close. The wound on the back of his hand, placed on his half-bent leg, looked very serious. Blue veins protruded grotesquely and black thread-like lines spread like tangled thread over the back of his hand. Anya bit his lips until they bled as he carefully applied the finely ground leaves on his wound.
“Ugh….”
A small groan leaked from Evernight’s mouth. Anya’s movements stopped for a moment. When he became quiet again, Anya applied the ointment once more, then shared his mana with him. He felt dizzy for a moment, but it wasn’t enough to die.
As if the mana really had an effect, it seemed like color briefly returned to Evernight’s pale face. Anya quickly withdrew his body before Evernight woke up.
He decided to step back and observe the progress. Not because he was scared, but because he feared that his ignorance might cause another disaster like before. There must be a clear reason why Evernight was drawing such a firm line like now. Anya tried to be cautious and calculate all possibilities as much as possible.
But that too was his ignorance. In the dead of night. Evernight’s symptoms worsened. Anya jumped up from his seat and ran to him without hesitation.
“An, ya.”
Evernight’s breathing became ragged and his shoulders heaved occasionally. He looked at the boy rushing toward him with half-opened vision.
“Anya, I told you not to come over!”
Evernight shouted. He ground his teeth with a growl like a wounded wild bird. Evernight tilted his head back in agony and squeezed both eyes shut. His complexion was very pale.
“……Kyung?”
Anya looked at Evernight in an awkward posture, neither able to do this nor that. Though the situation was clearly serious, Evernight desperately ordered him not to come over, so Anya felt deep conflict.
“At-at this rate you’ll die. I-I’ll at least apply medicine.”
Anya pleaded as obediently as possible so as not to upset Evernight.
“You, just shut up.”
Though he spoke so coldly, a strange heat could be felt from his face. Seeing the man who was always arrogant and unfeeling show such a disheveled appearance made Anya feel deep anxiety instead.
He didn’t know exactly what kind of curse or toxicity it was, but it was definitely because of that monster. At the last moment, Evernight saved Anya while sacrificing himself. Even though he knew his hand would be pierced by the monster’s teeth.
Damn it! You’re really an irredeemable bundle of nuisance!
Anya cursed himself inwardly. When he was in the imperial palace, he thought he just had to survive somehow. Even if he was servile, even if he was weak, he thought it was enough to just live somehow. But Anya now wanted to live properly. He wanted to perform the role given to him and become someone who helped others.
So he couldn’t be weak. In this place, weak beings were inevitably weeded out. If only he was weeded out, that would be fortunate… but being weeded out sometimes dragged the people around him down like a drowning ghost.
Thud.
Finally, as strength left the hand supporting the ground, Evernight collapsed to one side. He tried to concentrate in the storm of past illusions and rushing sensations, but it seemed to be his limit. The monster he had dismissed as a small fry seemed to have more troublesome curse-type hallucinations than expected. Without a mage, mental-type monsters were more annoying than physical ones.
Even as his mind grew hazy, he could see the boy trying to approach him across Haebing.
