I Picked Up an Abandoned Villain in the Polar Region

Episode 72

 

After Brody left Rubinus’s room, Kyle, searching for her, crossed paths with Rubinus, who was leaving her room after putting a baby to sleep.

Rubinus, noticing Kyle’s intent, slowly spoke, “The person you’re looking for left a little while ago.”

Her perceptiveness was unmistakable—she had discerned his purpose. As expected of a witch.

Kyle frowned, feeling as if his thoughts had been seen through.

Kyle glanced past Rubinus, standing in the doorway, toward Ron’s bed.

It seemed Brody had searched around the rooms where she thought the baby might be before coming here.

Just as Kyle’s impatience began to ease, Rubinus addressed him.

“Thank you,” she said.

When Kyle raised his head to look at her, she continued.

“I’ve heard you went through a lot to get here. If there’s anything you wish for, just say the word. I’ll grant it.”

Though she’d already asked Brody the same, the other woman had resolutely declined, saying she wanted nothing.

Kyle, on the other hand, smirked at Rubinus’s offer and asked.

“How can you be so sure I want something?”

Despite his wary tone, Rubinus calmly returned his gaze, her steady demeanor making Kyle realize she truly meant what she said.

She would grant whatever he wished for.

Kyle hesitated, staring at the witch before him, a being with transcendental power.

His thoughts drifted back to the day he had first met a witch—a day she had warned him of the tiger tribe’s future invasion and urged him to return to the valley of Roden.

She had foreseen his future.

Would Rubinus also be able to see his future? What lay ahead of him? What kind of life would he lead? Would he continue to bear the heavy yoke of his past, or would his fate take a different turn?

The image of a groundhog surfaced in his mind, and he murmured softly, “Ah.”

The thought of the groundhog reminded him of how he was cursed by the black witch to live forever in the body of an animal.

It was a fleeting thought, but it stirred something within him.

Kyle abandoned his initial plan to ask about his future and instead gave voice to a reckless, forbidden request.

“Could you… lift the black witch’s curse?”

‘I should be asking about my future,’ he chastised himself.

Wasting this rare chance on someone else’s behalf was irrational. Yet, without hesitation, Kyle followed the impulse in his heart.

“There’s a forest near the upper reaches of the Anders River, home to a groundhog. That person has been trapped in an animal’s body for years due to the black witch’s curse. Could you lift it for him?”

This was the kind of request one might expect from a nosy, soft-hearted fool—someone like the meddlesome rabbit he’d been traveling with.

Had her nature rubbed off on him? Acting on impulse for the sake of another, Kyle gritted his teeth, realizing his actions didn’t fill him with regret.

Rubinus listened silently, staring at him as if she could see the inner turmoil behind his sudden decision.

After a moment, she nodded and promised to lift the curse by any means necessary.

Kyle, still dazed by his audacity, turned to leave but was stopped by Rubinus’s voice.

“One more thing,” she said cryptically before reentering the room.

Kyle instinctively followed her with his eyes.

She approached a table in the corner, where an object lay covered by cloth.

Pulling the cloth away, she revealed a large, dark purple crystal ball. Its ominous glow drew Kyle closer, his curiosity piqued.

The orb resembled one he had seen before, used by the witch who had foretold his future.

“You wish to see your future, don’t you?”

Rubinus’s words startled him. He hadn’t voiced that desire aloud, yet she had already read it in his eyes.

As she rolled up her sleeve and placed her hand on the orb, Kyle watched in awe.

Swirling smoke inside the orb began to churn, glowing red with sinister light. The witch’s eyes reflected the orb’s glow as she stared deeply into it.

“Snowfields,” she murmured, her voice breaking the silence.

Kyle frowned.

“Snowfields? Do you mean Asgar?”

He wondered if she was looking at the past instead of the future.

Ignoring his question, Rubinus continued, her tone calm as if reciting what she saw.

“You will journey far, gather a strong following, and build a mighty nation. These are the things that lie ahead of you.”

Snowfields, a strong following, and a mighty nation. Kyle mulled over her words.

The strongest pack of wolves belonged to his father, and the only mighty nation he could think of was the valley of Roden.

But Rubinus had said he would leave for distant lands. That ruled out Roden.

As Kyle grappled with this new vision of his future, Rubinus suddenly frowned.

“Something is obstructing your path.”

“I could guess who,” Kyle replied, immediately thinking of his father and younger brother.

Harsh as it was, his family had always felt like obstacles.

But Rubinus shook her head.

“It’s not a person. The obstacle lies within you,” she said.

“My inner self is what stands in my way?”

Kyle asked, confused. Rubinus gazed into the orb and responded.

“Are you resenting someone?”

Kyle’s expression hardened.

It was an unexpected question, yet it struck unerringly at the core of his emotions.

“I see anger, hatred, and resentment within you,” Rubinus continued.

“These are the things holding you back.”

Kyle stared at her, momentarily speechless.

When no response came, Rubinus, who had been gazing into the crystal orb, lifted her head and met his wavering eyes.

“You need to let them go. If you don’t, they’ll lead you to your death,” she said firmly.

Kyle lowered his gaze at her words, then let out a faint, hollow laugh.

Letting go? If that were something he could do, he would have done it long ago.

Those emotions had nearly destroyed him once, but they were also what had kept him alive all this time. He didn’t know how to live without them.

“If I can’t let them go, I’ll die, you say.”

It might be true—he’d already come close to experiencing it once in the wilderness.

With a sigh, Kyle cast his complicated thoughts into the empty air.

Seeing his turmoil, Rubinus spoke again.

“You’ll be able to let go, because there’s someone who’s keeping you from dying.”

Kyle turned his head at her words.

“Who is that?”

He asked, though he realized too late it was a question he didn’t need to voice.

“You already know,” Rubinus replied simply.

And she was right. Kyle already knew. There was only one person who had saved him time and time again, standing between him and death.

Leaving Rubinus’s room, Kyle walked back to his own quarters, lost in thought.

But something was different when he arrived—his terrace door was open.

Standing on the terrace was Brody.

Her petite figure, with her snow-white hair, was unmistakably that of his rabbit, Brody.

She was leaning against the railing, gazing up at the night sky.

Kyle stood silently, watching her. Rubinus’s words echoed in his mind: ‘There’s someone who’s keeping you from dying.’

At that moment, a warm, unexplainable feeling filled his chest.

Brody had always been that kind of person for Kyle—the one who melted his frozen heart.

In her presence, the resentment that plagued him lost its grip. Perhaps Rubinus had seen this and chosen her words accordingly.

“What are you doing in someone else’s room?”

Kyle asked, stepping closer.

Brody turned abruptly, startled.

“Kyle! Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you!”

He couldn’t bring himself to say he had been out looking for her.

“Just now, I saw a shooting star!”

She said, her voice filled with excitement.

“Hurry, come look with me!”

Normally, her animated tone and lively gestures would have annoyed him.

But strangely, the sight of her excitement over something as trivial as a shooting star seemed endearing.

Still, Kyle, not liking this unfamiliar feeling, replied flatly, “Why would I care about that?”

“So we can make a wish together, of course! I didn’t get to make one earlier.”

“That’s just superstition,” he retorted, though his gaze had already shifted to the starry sky above.

At that moment, a streak of light caught his eye.

‘Huh?’

A shooting star was indeed falling, tracing a long arc across the eastern sky.

“There it is!”

He exclaimed, pointing.

“Where?”

Brody followed his gesture and spotted the star, her excitement bubbling over.

“Quick, make a wish!”

She cried, clasping her hands together as she closed her eyes tightly, facing the sky.

Brody’s wish was always the same—her one constant goal: for Kyle Roden to stay alive.

Unaware of her silent plea, Kyle found himself half-smiling at the sight of her earnestness.

Shooting stars and wishes—how ridiculous, he thought.

And yet, as he looked at the falling star, he decided to do something he’d never done before, just for her.

‘Let the rabbit’s wish come true.’

That was Kyle’s wish.