Episode: 77
Kaiton raised the light in the room, nervously sweeping his face. It was to drive Ondal away. At least make him close his eyes. He was sick of using wicked and terrible methods, but he couldn’t stop.
Ondal covered his eyes in pain. He tried to endure it, even exerting force, but it was only for a moment. His blood vessels bulged, and tears streamed down his face before he fell. But Ondal did not scream or cry sadly. While he was worried about Muriel, he cried sorrowfully, but when his own weakness was pierced, all his emotions seemed to be gone. He covered his eyes with a calm face, like a doll without tears.
When he saw Ondal accept the persecution and pain he suffered as if it were natural, Kaiton felt like his gut was being twisted. Damn it. He glared at Ondal and muttered curses under his breath.
“Don’t pretend. You were planning to sneak a peek with Sharan’s eyes anyway, weren’t you?”
What an unpleasant bastard. Kaiton nervously scratched his head. It felt dirty to hit an enemy who had no intention of resisting. He felt disgusted at himself for being stubborn and acting like a lowly and arrogant despicable villain.
But now there was no Muriel to stop him. She said she would help him make the right choices as long as he was strong, but now she was abandoning him. So maybe he could act however he wanted. Kaiton was forcing unreasonable rationalizations, but he couldn’t help but feel nervous at the thought of Muriel getting up and looking at him with disappointed eyes.
“You… How far can you see?”
Suddenly, Kaiton, wondering, stared at Ondal with cold eyes. Although he felt dirty with himself, he was somewhat pleased that Ondal could no longer see Muriel. But suddenly, he thought that might not be the case.
“Whenever I use the fragment… you can’t see Muriel, can you?”
When Ondal didn’t answer and just bit his lips, Kaiton’s expression instantly became fierce. The piercing light that stung Ondal’s eyes, as if to represent Kaiton’s mood, turned even more brighter, threatening.
“Answer me, you insidious bastard!”
Kaiton grabbed Ondal by the collar and snarled, but Ondal didn’t flinch. Ondal was only scared when it came to Muriel. He was skilled at dealing with the contempt and hatred directed towards himself. Muriel seemed to feel sorry for that difference in Ondal, but to Kaiton, he appeared only to have a clever and insidious personality that behaved coy and manipulative as needed.
“Turn down the light.”
Ondal struck Kaiton’s hand away, speaking quite coldly.
“Why? Are you going to show those devilish eyes again?”
Kaiton clenched his teeth and retorted, but Ondal calmly brushed it off.
“You’re using Muriel’s Pacio right now.”
“….”
“Don’t casually use the blessings bestowed upon Muriel by the gods.”
Kaiton was left speechless. Ondal, who changed his colors like this, still disgusted him, but he was stabbed to the core by his words. Kaiton tightly sealed his lips in response to Ondal’s words, which seemed to criticize him for pushing Muriel around while pretending to be concerned.
“You sullen child. Does Muriel know? You were secretly watching her every move, weren’t you? If she knew, she’d be freaked out and disgusted. You knew and hid it, didn’t you?”
Kaiton tightened his grip on Ondal’s collar as he spoke. However, the light that had been illuminating the room suddenly disappeared.
“…What are you hiding?”
Muriel’s voice turned both men’s faces simultaneously. Muriel, who had risen before they knew it, looked at the two men with a weary expression.
“Muriel.”
“Muriel.”
Kaiton wept with relief that Muriel had woken up, and Keaton screamed. After sobbing sadly, his eyes were still moist and his pale face scratched his nerves.
“What is Ondal hiding, Kaiton?”
“No…!”
Before Ceyton could even respond to Muriel’s question, Ondal shouted dryly. Ondal desperately shook his head.
“I can’t see Muriel. Sharan’s eyes… they’re supposed to see Ur.”
Kaiton naturally thought it was a lie. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Ondal, but he had no intention of continuing the scuffle. Muriel had awakened, and there were many things he wanted to discuss with her. Whether Sharan’s eyes truly couldn’t see Muriel could be confirmed gradually.
Kaiton didn’t believe Ondal’s words at all, so he snorted, but Muriel nodded her head.
“Oh… I was going to ask about that too. You can’t see me, Ondal?”
“…Uh, yes.”
Ondal felt guilty about lying. He had to hold out and refrain from babbling further by biting down on the tender flesh inside his mouth. He could tell just how unpleasant it was to show oneself to others when they didn’t want to just by Kaiton’s reaction. When Ondal realized that Muriel might distance herself and show him a subtle unfamiliarity, he unknowingly ended up lying.
Ondal felt suffocated inside. He was more painfully lonely than when he was in the underground prison. Lying to Muriel felt like covering the moon floating in the sky. It was impossible to bear the loneliness without closing his eyes. So Ondal couldn’t fully enjoy the relief of Muriel finally waking up. He wanted to run to her and embrace her, but instead, he remained frozen in place like a statue, unable to move. It was a punishment he imposed on himself.
“I… I’ll… bring food.”
“No, it’s okay…”
“Uh… I forgot that August said he wanted to see… meet me! I have to go…!”
“Ondal…!”
Ondal made up a good excuse and ran away. Muriel sensed something was off and tried to follow him, but Kaiton blocked her path.
“You have something to say to me.”
“Why were you bothering Ondal again? You know very well that Ondal did nothing wrong, Kaiton.”
Muriel breathed a long sigh and said. She had cold sweat on her forehead, perhaps because she had a nightmare. She wiped it roughly with her hand and brushed away the strands of hair stuck to her face. In truth, even if Kaiton hadn’t stopped her, she wouldn’t have been able to catch up with Ondal. Her body felt weak and drained. Seeing how exhausted she was despite Kaiton clearly casting a spell on her, it seemed to be because of severe mental fatigue.
“…Why did he do nothing wrong? I heard that monster blew the black wizard into the lake.”
Muriel’s brow naturally furrowed at the word monster. When Muriel glared at Kaiton with a tired expression, letting out a sigh, Kaiton flinched but shamelessly kept his eyes open as if asking what he did wrong.
“Don’t call him a monster. You don’t even think so.”
“Who says I don’t?”
Kaiton spoke coldly as if there was no chance, but Muriel casually disregarded his insistence.
“I know it’s not true. And Ondal is not at fault either. It’s just… an accident. Is Sadie okay?”
“She’s perfectly fine since you threw your life away to help her.”
Kaiton glared at Muriel as if he was about to unleash nagging right away. However, once again, Muriel casually ignored Kaiton’s threat and shook her head.
“No one got hurt, so everything turned out fine.”
“You almost died. You’d be dead if I were a little late. Don’t you realize that?”
“You weren’t late. It’s all thanks to Ondal for running so hard. So don’t be too hard on Ondal.”
“Why is it thanks to that bastard? I’m the one who saved you.”
Muriel couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at Kaiton’s vicious expression. Even though she admitted, “Well, that’s true,” but his eyebrows didn’t relax.
“Thank you for saving me. Thanks to you, I lived again.”
Muriel confessed her sincere gratitude calmly. Kaiton didn’t say anything in response. He just silently stared at Muriel. His face was expressionless, so she couldn’t read much from it, but he seemed to have lots of thoughts. He looked troubled, worried, and tense.
Muriel, thinking that Kaiton might be worried about her uncertain future without countermeasures, quietly opened her mouth again.
“It’s really okay…”
The atmosphere grew strange, and Muriel awkwardly answered, rolling her eyes. Seeing Kaiton cautiously examining himself as if searching for something, it seemed that he wasn’t only concerned about her falling into the lake.
“Your dream… It seemed like you were having a nightmare.”
Ah… So he was worried about that. Muriel nodded gently, thinking that it was unexpectedly delicate.
“It’s a bit… I did have a strange dream, but I’m really okay.”
“What kind of dream was it…?”
“Just…”
Muriel slurred her words. It was because she wondered whether Kaiton would believe a dream she herself couldn’t, and because Kaiton, who was staring at her, seemed somehow frightened. It was Muriel who had the nightmare, but Kaiton seemed more scared, so Muriel pretended to be calm.
“Just… a random dream. Nothing special.”
Kaiton observed Muriel intently, as if trying to see if it was true.
“You looked… like you were crying. You sobbed sadly. You even broke out in a cold sweat…”
“That’s… because someone stole my chicken leg. It was a very coveted piece of meat.”
Ha, when he clicked his tongue at the joke, Kaiton finally eased his tense shoulders. He let out a sigh of relief and touched his temples, covering his eyes with one hand.
Muriel was curious about what Kaiton was worried about, but she couldn’t ask. Kaiton’s nagging continued.
“Next time, don’t just jump into the lake recklessly. If you can barely succeed in using magic, don’t use it for others. And don’t wander around a territory filled with monsters at night with that brat in the first place. You were lucky today, but we can’t know if it’ll be the same next time. What’re you going to do if I’m not around?”
“…you’re not going to be by my side?”
“You…!”
“You said you would stay in the estate for a while…”
“…That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Kaiton turned his head and frowned. Muriel carefully examined Kaiton’s face, which seemed somewhat bewildered.
Muriel realized only then that Kaiton looked like a drowning mouse. She was only sweating a little and still looked presentable, but Kaiton was still dripping with water. Why was he still in such a sorry state…?
“But why are you still wet?”
Kaiton’s face crumpled as if he’d been defeated, then in an instant transformed into a presentable appearance. Every time Muriel saw the speed at which Kaiton casted magic, she was truly amazed. He used magic more effortlessly than flicking his fingers.
“I just… forgot.”
Kaiton spoke as if making an excuse.
“Did you worry about me?”
Muriel looked at the water that dried up in an instant and asked the question she had been curious about. The wetness on his cheeks and neck was undoubtedly evidence of falling into the lake, but it also looked slightly different. As if he’d cried. Like he was worried, nervous, like he’d broke out in cold sweat due to anxiety.
“I just fell into a lake.”
“…When you can’t even beat a water spirit.”
“So you admit you were worried.”
Muriel smiled brightly. She just felt better at that. The uneasy feeling she had due to the nightmare was replaced by a refreshing one. She didn’t know that the thing that had been dragging her was a Water spirit, but the unpleasant and mushy sensation on her ankle was vivid, and now even that was okay.
What Kaiton worried about wasn’t just that she fell into the lake. He’d confirmed that she survived when he held her again, so that was fine. However, the reason he was absent-minded enough for Muriel to point it out was because he didn’t want her to see the disastrous future that awaited her. He was afraid that she would become aware of their dire future together. He was worried she would become scared and wary. That’s why he was on edge and anxious.
But now it was fine. Muriel smiled and gently brushed away the hair stuck to his forehead while he kept his face still.
As Kaiton quietly calmed his startled heart and finally found some relief, Muriel once again stirred his emotions. It was a different wave from the one that troubled his heart due to the nightmare.
“How silly… I wasn’t worried at all. I thought everything would be fine because I had Kaiton.”
“…Because I was here… you felt relieved…?”
Kaiton erased her laughter when she noticed Kaiton’s expression becoming more fierce. Kaipen stared at Muriel in silence for a while. He had a strange expression, so she thought he might scold her. She thought he would say something sarcastic like, “How pathetic, why do I have to worry about your foolishness?” But unexpectedly, he asked meekly.
“Why?”
Then, suddenly, he laughed. Unable to hold back the laughter that came out with a snicker, he continuously swept his face as if trying to wipe the laughter away, and eventually pulled at his ear until it turned red. Looking at the other ear also turning red, it didn’t seem like it was just because he was pulling on them. Anyway, Kaiton acted like someone who had lost a few screws.
“Why… you thought it’d be fine if I was there? Because I’m strong?”
Yes, I think so. Muriel looked at Kaiton strangely and tilted her head. Kaiton then made an arrogant expression, but it didn’t seem like he would be sarcastic as usual. Although the corners of his mouth curled up, he seemed very satisfied rather than displeased.
“Why me? It doesn’t matter who you call. You could have called Eklum or those little sorcerers who always follow you around.”
No one had ever followed Muriel around. Muriel wanted to point that out, but she obediently answered because she was curious about what the hell Kaiton wanted to talk about.
“That’s… I just thought of Kaiton first…”
Kaiton’s smile grew a little darker.
“So, why? Why did I come to mind first?”
Tilt. Did there need to be a reason for something that just came to mind? When Muriel weakly replied, “Just because…” Kaiton once again burst into an arrogant sneer.
“There’s no such thing as ‘just because.’ There must be a reason. The reason why the moment you thought you were dying, I came to mind first.”
He was exaggerating again. Muriel called Kaiton right before jumping into the lake, which seemed a bit dangerous, but it wasn’t the moment she thought she was going to die. Moreover, when Muriel really thought she was going to die, what came to mind was ‘Muriel’ herself. And it was very urgent and deep too.
When Muriel remembered the dream she had momentarily forgotten, her thoughts veered off track. The dream where she’d vividly felt the moment of death as a much more pressing issue than Kaiton’s puzzling attack. It was only a dream, but if she were truly the saint who witnessed the kingdom’s disaster, it was a dream that she could never overlook. Because a calamitous death would soon come.
