Episode 37: The First Piece (4)
Thump, thump.
Her heart was pounding.
Would he believe it? She was nervous. Kaiton’s hand touched Muriel’s shoulder.
She flinched.
As she jerked and tried to get up, Kation pressed down Muriel with force.
“Stay still. Because I’m trying to treat you.”
Did he move on…?
Ah, that’s what it was. She thought she’d been caught red-handed, but Kaiton didn’t seem to have seen Tyler Hunt. That was a relief. What a stroke of luck. Phew…
As the tension eased, a sigh of relief leaked out. On top of that, when a pleasant energy came in through her shoulder, her body naturally relaxed.
“…Thank you.”
The voice that flowed out like an exhale carried a sense of lethargy. If Kaiton were to catch on that Muriel was enjoying it too much, he might play tricks. He might think it was disgusting and violently surge out his energy again. Yet, Muriel couldn’t help but let a small smile escape her lips.
“…Aren’t you going to insist on doing it yourself?”
“If you’re willing to do it, why bother… It would be better if you did it.”
Relaxed, Muriel tilted her head, omitting the rest of his words. Kaiton, on the other hand, gave a vague answer like ‘Is that so?’ before sealing his lips shut. Was he focusing on the treatment?
Since Kaiton didn’t say anything, Muriel kept her mouth shut as well. As the surroundings grew quiet and her body felt lighter after receiving treatment, she went from feeling drowsy to actually being about to doze off.
Muriel thought Kaiton would finish the treatment in the blink of an eye. Was the injury deeper than she’d thought? Muriel lifted her head to meet Kaiton’s gaze and ask him how long it would take, only to find him smiling.
…He’s smiling?
Muriel wanted to ask why he was smiling in a somewhat scary manner, but quickly recovered and turned her words around.
“Why…why are you treating me?”
“Well… I can do it, that’s why.”
“….”
“Didn’t you push away Sharan’s persistent dog that wanted to treat you?”
That’s because she was afraid that ancient curse of hers would be caught. Perhaps Kaiton didn’t know that, so he was praising her for refusing Jaron’s treatment even though Muriel considered it troublesome if he were to find out, too.
She was a little taken aback.
This was the first time she saw Kaiton genuinely enjoying himself without any malice.
She couldn’t believe he felt nice just because Muriel pushed away someone associated with Sharan. Did Kaiton hate Sharan that much?
Kaiton recalled Sharan’s dog, who seemed close to Muriel. He was a commoner-born knight who recently advanced ahead and sought success by flattering Sharan.
As Kaiton knew, there had been no previous interactions between Muriel and Jaron, but their playful teasing seemed so natural.
As if they were very close.
That…was strangely unpleasant.
He tried to ignore it, but just like a simmering pot that couldn’t be silenced even with a lid, the unpleasant feeling slowly crept out.
In front of him, she always wore a fierce and determined expression. With those fiercely upturned eyes, she showed a stubborn face, pretending not to be intimidated.
A face that playfully teased.
That playful, teasing face.
It was unsettling.
Yet in the end, it was Kaiton who Muriel comfortably entrusted her body to.
Kaiton pursed his lips, feeling a strange sense of exuberance. Even when he tightly held his lips together, the corners of his mouth curled up on their own.
Of course, he knew that Muriel didn’t guard against him because he already knew about the curse and the ancient magic. But it didn’t matter.
“…The wound is pretty deep. It’s difficult to tell the severity of a wound when there is no pain, so be more careful in the future. Besides… if it’s not me, there’s no one else who can treat you, right?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Muriel nodded obediently. He thought she would only lie and deny everything. It surprised him that she knew how to behave so well, like a child listening to instructions.
He almost wanted to affectionately brush her hair in satisfaction. As if they’d noticed his mind, the blue strands resting on her shoulder fell and gently touched his hand.
Tickle, tickle.
Because of the tickling blue waves that tickled his heart, his mind felt weird. Kaiton tightly grasped Muriel’s shoulder. As if by doing so, the ticklish feeling would go away.
While he tried to ignore the tickling sensation on the back of his hand and focus on the treatment, Muriel looked up at him. She said that she couldn’t feel any pain. But did it hurt…? It would be nice if that were the case. If he alone could make Muriel suffer, just as he alone could heal her. That would be truly wonderful.
“While you’re at it, could you also remove the curse that is still on me?”
“It’s impossible. As I said before, only the caster of the curse can undo the magic.”
“Can’t Crawford do it?”
Pause. Only then did his hand, which stubbornly gripped Muriel’s shoulder, fall into the air.
“A magic that only the caster can lift… how can I solve it?”
“Well… I thought you could do it since you’re a genius.”
Kaiton’s mood, which had briefly softened, plummeted again. Above all, it annoyed him most that for a moment, he thought Muriel had recognized him.
‘If you don’t remember me, I won’t lift the curse forever.’
She hadn’t visited him for 12 years even though he’d nailed his words like that, so how could she recognize him now?
It was Muriel’s words that made Kaiton soft, and then made him feel worse again. The fluctuation, like the fickle temperature of autumn, only irritated him further.
“If you want to lift the curse, you have no choice but to find out who cast it.”
“Is there a way to find out?”
“…Isn’t the only way to recover your lost memories? After all, Muriel’s memories must hold all the answers.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
It was an answer devoid of sincerity. There was no urgency to relieve the curse since she felt no pain.
“Have you ever tried to recover your memories?”
Her sleepiness seemed to disappear at once at the thorny reproach.
Well, was there a need to find those memories?
What was important about what had already gone by?
“Well… someday, you know. Right now… I want to focus on something more important.”
“Something more important than finding your own memories? I can’t think of anything so remarkable. Do you truly have such a thing?”
Kaiton pushed the corner of lips. This time, the smile was familiar to Muriel. A cold smile filled with displeasure. A mocking smile filled with sarcasm.
Just now, she thought that the atmosphere between her and Kaiton had softened for the first time. Could it have been an illusion?
She thought about how Kaiton might jump in bewilderment at her words. But she wanted to say it to him at least once someday. It was a relief to finally be able to say it now.
“I’m going to save the Demon King.”
It was a brazen declaration.
An ambition beyond her means.
Like Jaron, she might end up paying the price of suffering later. But still, this was her true intention.
“Did I just hear you wrong?”
“…I won’t beg the Demon King for my life, nor will I stand by his side and destroy the world – I’ll just save him.”
“Why?”
Kaiton’s eyes twitched. A dry voice flowed out of him as if coughing up a low breath. If she wasn’t looking at Kaiton’s face, she might have misunderstood that he was about to burst into tears again. The squeezed voice was cracked and weak.
“..He’s not Callahan Ur, the one who committed the crime, his son’s son’s son… he’s not even that. I want to help him. That man hated by all.”
“Ha…!”
She was sure he was furious.
Muriel tried to meet his eyes, wanting to convey her sincerity, but Kaiton tightly closed his eyes when their gazes met.
She was afraid he’d suddenly explode in anger. The bleeding had stopped for a while, but her body still felt cold as if the blood was still seeping out.
A moment of silence passed.
She couldn’t tell if only a few seconds had gone by or if a considerable amount of time had passed. She couldn’t seem to feel the passage of time in front of Kaiton.
“…You’re going to help him? How? In what way?”
He raised his chin as if urging her to continue. With his arms crossed, his lower lip pressed against his tongue, and his legs crossed, he looked down at Muriel. His face seemed amused and indifferent at the same time.
But when she looked into his fiercely lit eyes, she had a different thought. That he wasn’t actually amused or indifferent, but rather trying to appear that way. Just like how Muriel couldn’t hide her heartbeat in front of him. It seemed like he couldn’t hide the flicker of agitation in his trembling pupils either.
“That’s…”
Unable to say that she would find all the pieces of Ur’s sculpture, grab his leash, and prevent him from doing anything bad while supplying him with pacio, she closed her mouth, and Caden exhaled a suppressed breath.
“…Was that just nonsense again? It seems like the rumors about Muriel Storm being a reckless liar were not unfounded. Isn’t that right?”
She thought he’d get mad, but instead, he spoke quickly and dryly, as if to clean up the situation.
“There is no way you can save the Demon King.”
He was firm. His certainty was both irritating and somehow pitiful, so even when Muriel heard him accuse her of being a liar, she couldn’t help but speak up stubbornly.
“I believe it, so it doesn’t matter.”
“…”
“I believe I can help that person. It doesn’t matter if Mr. Crawford doesn’t believe it.”
Kaiton looked at Muriel, who stubbornly added her words. He was confused. Just like when fourteen-year-old Muriel had prophesied their ends, he was afraid that Muriel’s words would come true this time too.
He was afraid that she might really save him.
It was absurd, ridiculous, and laughable. Enough to just brush it off and laugh, but he couldn’t. I could only look at Muriel, unable to breathe or swallow his saliva. Something bubbled up inside his chest. A surge of emotions crawled up his throat with ferocity. Kaiton just looked at Muriel, frozen like a statue.
“All I want to tell you is that what I want is not the destruction of the world or becoming the Sharan’s Saint. It’s just to help Ur.”
She spoke as if she knew that the man in front of her was Kaiton Ur. She calmly, and foolishly said she would help him.
“No…”
The words made Kaiton’s head dizzy. Don’t be swayed. Don’t believe it. It’s all just a tempting illusion. He had to get his act together.
Help him.
That was impossible.
He had lost everything, including Pacio. After being chased by Sharan, he struggled in the harshness of the world, and eventually burned through all his flames. If it weren’t for the fragments of Ur, he would have already become a demon. A cold, unhappy, and angry ghost.
In order to avoid becoming a demon, he had to steal others’ pacio. The flames of others heated his own cold and empty chest. He was no different from Callahan Ur now. He had become the same as the madman who used to make demons on every road he passed, recklessly snatching other people’s pacio.
Without even knowing how many innocent and helpless ghosts lay beneath his feet. Without even realizing that he had become the demon who turned the Ur name into that of the demon king. Without even knowing that he had to continue creating unhappy and cold ghosts in order to survive.
Could he be helped?
No, he couldn’t.
Already…
His end was already far from a peaceful death. It had become like this when, instead of becoming a trampled demon, he had chosen to become the trampling demon king. No matter how much Muriel tried, she wouldn’t be able to help him.
