“Ah! I-I mean…!”
Anya let out a small scream. Nevertheless, the good boy didn’t push Evernight away. He was more worried about Evernight’s condition than his own body that was already beaten to a pulp.
“Did-did you sleep well? Is your body… are-are you okay?”
With each word he uttered, teeth dug more strongly into his still-underdeveloped throat. Then the dozens of heat marks drawn on Anya’s entire body blazed more redly as if in full bloom.
It couldn’t be helped because they were naked. Under the cloak, two nude bodies were tightly entangled together.
“Anya, you’d better stop talking now. The curse hasn’t completely disappeared yet.”
Evernight’s fingers came down along the spine hollowed on the small back, tapping like playing piano keys.
“It’ll be troublesome if you keep moving.”
He let out a small sigh. His voice, not hiding his regret, tightly embraced the small body and soon released it.
“Bear with it a little. The mage bastard will come soon.”
He felt something heavy rising from his lower abdomen. Anya knew well what it was, but pretended not to know and quietly held his breath in Evernight’s arms.
“Sleep more. Dawn hasn’t completely broken yet.”
So this is what it feels like to greet the morning with someone.
Anya felt a deep sense of belonging and stability in his broad arms. Enough to forget the fact that this place was the land of death beyond the Wall, teeming with terrifying monsters. Evernight looked down at the faintly trembling pale eyelashes for a long time before getting up from his seat.
“Whe-where are you going…?”
Anya’s voice was hopelessly ruined. The campfire nearby seemed to have almost reached the end of its life, as only a small ember barely announced its existence on the branches that had turned black into ash. Evernight brought some remaining firewood from the corner and threw it into the campfire.
“I’m going to look around this vicinity for a bit.”
Anya, who had been blankly staring at the flames growing fierce again, raised his head in alarm.
“It’s-it’s still da-dangerous!”
Anya shouted while looking at his hand where black thread-like lines were still rampant. Raising his voice made it feel like blood would come out of his vocal cords.
“…There’s nothing more pitiful than starving to death.”
He spoke bluntly while putting on the clothes messily thrown on the floor. His blue eyes rested on the young face where tear stains were still vivid, then gradually descended. Because the cloak had come down, his flat chest and skinny stomach with no flesh to be found were visible.
“I’ll go hunting nearby.”
“Bu-but….”
“If that bastard Riario doesn’t find us today either, we’ll have to stay here for several more days.”
“But… wha-what if a mo-monster appears….”
“I’ll have to kill it.”
It was a matter-of-fact tone. He cracked his stiff neck left and right and smiled crookedly.
“Don’t think foolish thoughts and stay put here without moving.”
He didn’t yet have the power to stop him. At the stubborn command, Anya just crawled over and handed the man Haebing.
“Th-then at least ta-take Haebing.”
Evernight turned his head hurriedly. It was because Anya’s naked body was blatantly exposed. He quickly pulled out the dagger from the holster on his thigh and cut the back of his hand. When the vivid pain came rushing in, only then could he breathe.
“…That sword is yours. Whether you throw it away or not is none of my business, but anyway, I don’t use swords whose owner is alive.”
Red blood dripped from the tip of Evernight’s long fingers. He strode over and threw his cloak over Anya’s body.
“You need to develop some sense, greenhorn.”
Red droplets formed on the tips of the black sable fur.
“Don’t tell me… such rough intercourse is your preference?”
At his sarcasm, Anya’s mouth opened slightly.
“…What?”
What an abominably terrible taste.
Before Anya could retort, Evernight wiped the back of his hand on his pants and walked toward the cave entrance. And he disappeared without lingering into the snowstorm.
As soon as he disappeared, a desolate silence instantly filled the cave. Anya pulled the cloak closer to wrap his body tightly, then stared endlessly at the campfire.
“Should I ga-gather more firewood… since it’s needed for cooking.”
Ah, no. He told me not to go out, so let’s stay put obediently.
His body soaked in fatigue soon fell into light slumber.
But each time Anya fell into light sleep, he woke up startled at the voice blaming himself.
He couldn’t fall asleep at all. His condition was so bad that he would pass out the moment his head touched anywhere, but some kind of huge barrier was preventing the boy from resting comfortably.
‘Where is Evernight-kyung right now?’
The snowstorm was still raging outside the cave.
‘I can’t just be comfortable like this alone. You must take responsibility for everything you’ve done.’
All of this was a tragedy stemming from his own ignorance. The boy reprimanded himself coldly.
As time passed, the guilt only grew. Last night’s intercourse was very harsh, but that was only a temporary measure at best. Anya discovered himself considerably obsessed with Evernight’s safety and well-being.
Day had broken, but the weather was still gloomy and he couldn’t tell how much time had passed in the dim cave.
“I-I need to make it so Riario-kyung can qui-quickly fi-find us.”
The boy finally got up from his seat. When he fully straightened his knees to stand up, it felt like every single muscle was screaming. And something squishy flowed down his thigh.
“……”
Anya paused for a moment but soon silently wiped those things with rolling leaves, then put on his clothes that were lying haphazardly on the floor. Several places were roughly torn. They were traces of Evernight tearing them last night.
When he approached the very edge of the cave entrance, his clothes and hair fluttered in the huge snow wind. Anya pulled up the sable fur cloak Evernight had left behind once, then crouched down and placed his hand on the cold stone floor.
Blue light gathered beneath his palm and soon scattered into the earth.
‘Riario-kyung can use detection magic. He’ll definitely use detection magic to find us. If he feels my mana… if he does, there would be nothing more to wish for.’
Unfortunately, the mana used to deal with the monster last night didn’t recover overnight.
But he couldn’t stop.
He could receive Evernight several times, but if the root of the curse embedded in the back of his hand wasn’t pulled out completely, Evernight would eventually transform like that monster. The people of Northernmost, the knights of Tildyen, the blacksmith Ban, Gregos… they shouldn’t lose Tildyen’s first lord so helplessly.
“A bit… more. I-I can do a bit more.”
The thick cloak slid down his shoulder and fell off completely. But this time he didn’t even feel the cold. The blue light was endlessly sucked into the frozen ground and began to expand its influence like branches spreading.
“More… more…!”
The blue energy spread out fiercely like a huge meridian, unobstructed by anything. How many minutes had passed? Anya felt dizzy for a moment and immediately removed his hand.
It was a feeling very similar to when he collapsed from mana depletion in Northernmost. Anya immediately stopped all actions. If he collapsed, he wouldn’t be able to suppress Evernight’s madness. The boy leaned his body against the wall and wiped away the cold sweat flowing down.
Today passed like this, but if not, tomorrow again, if not, the day after again.
He could do it anytime.
* * *
As darkness deepened, the snowstorm gradually subsided. Stars began to rise one by one in the night sky outside the cave. Nevertheless, the night sky here couldn’t shake off the feeling of being like a vast ocean.
When Evernight’s return was delayed, Anya anxiously paced around inside the cave. Just when his entire mind was being eaten away by negative imaginations of something happening to him, he returned.
“Your face is a mess.”
Evernight, who glanced sideways at Anya who was noticeably relieved, threw several rabbits onto the floor.
“The dead ones like human flesh the most, but when cornered, they don’t discriminate against animal carcasses either. It’s quite difficult to hunt here.”
For something like that, Evernight’s skill was excellent. He immediately sat down on the floor and skinned the beast. Anya, exhausted to the limit from using mana, ended up dry heaving at the raw scene.
“Watch carefully.”
Evernight roughly grabbed Anya’s chin with his hand covered in sticky blood.
“Tildyen’s knights often go on patrol. If you’re unlucky, or rather with a fairly high probability, you’ll face a situation where food runs short. Then you have to catch anything and stuff it into your mouth indiscriminately.”
Beast blood stuck thickly to the tender cheek that had lost a lot of weight. Seeing that appearance made him feel deep thirst again. As night fell, the mad desire began to surge again. He let out a small sigh and roughly wiped the blood from Anya’s cheek.
Evernight, who skillfully peeled the rabbit’s skin and separated the flesh, stabbed it deeply on the dagger and brought it close to the campfire. Soon a golden smell spread softly inside the cave.
Having watched the poor rabbit being dismembered from one to ten, he thought he wouldn’t be able to touch it, but as soon as he smelled it, appetite surged madly.
Grrrowl.
In the cave quiet as a mouse except for the sound of meat crisping and burning, that sound rang out particularly loudly.
“How funny.”
Evernight sneered and pulled out the hot meat with his bare hands and tossed it to Anya.
“I-I’ll eat well.”
Evernight picked up several thick branches and stuck chunks of meat in skewer form, then placed them around the campfire.
Even after they filled their stomachs to some extent, there was no particular conversation between them.
“Aren’t-aren’t you cold?”
Anya was worried about Evernight who had thrown the cloak to him and gone hunting with a bare body. No matter how much fever had risen due to the monster’s curse, the human body was too weak to endure this severe cold. Even if it was Evernight.
“Shh.”
At that moment, Evernight hurriedly covered Anya’s mouth and drove him to the edge of the cave wall. He didn’t forget to quickly stamp out the campfire to extinguish the embers.
