EP: 95
“Why… is everyone gathered here?”
This was too much… Muriel looked at the people filling her room. All the black wizards, including Debbie and Sadie, as well as August, Kaiton, and Ondal, were gathered in Muriel’s room.
It was so hot that it was hard to breathe. Muriel wondered how many logs were burning in the fireplace, struggling with the stuffiness. Suddenly, she realized that the stuffiness was not only due to the heat. The room was silent enough to hear the sound of the logs crackling in the fireplace, and the air was unusually heavy.
“Muriel!”
Ondal and Kaiton were the first to react to Muriel’s words. Ondal, with swollen eyes as if he had been crying all day, stood up. Kaiton said nothing, but he sighed low, rising from his chair without a backrest.
“Both of you… let’s stay calm… and act like gentlemen.”
At that moment, Auguste, who seemed to be tense, mediated between the two, as if blocking them from Muriel. He looked cautious like he was handling a bomb.
Kaiton, ignoring August, walked straight towards Muriel and grabbed her wrist. Seeing that a familiar cold sensation ran through her body, he seemed to be checking her remaining pacio. However, unlike before, where there was a relentless force that felt like it would burst her veins, this time, a gentle and slow energy spread.
“Why…?”
Before she could ask why the atmosphere was like this, she could see the reason.
“Don’t touch her.”
Ondal snarled as he grabbed Kaiton’s wrist. It seemed like he was about to break it. Ondal exerted all his strength, emitting a fierce energy like a hound. It was indeed the Ondal Muriel knew, the one who seemed like he’d been shedding tears, but this sight of him was quite unfamiliar.
Kaiton raised his eyebrows as he silently looked down at Ondal. It seemed like he was restraining himself, but he wasn’t at all. He was just calmer and colder in his anger compared to Ondal. Kaiton’s face resembled that of a demon as his eyes flickered. Black electricity crackled between Ondal’s hand, which was holding Kaiton’s wrist. The smell of burning flesh came up immediately, but Ondal did not back down or let go. He gave strength to his hand to the extent that the blood vessels and muscles in his arm bulged.
“Agh, here we go again… Please, stop!”
“We agreed on a ceasefire!!”
“Ondal, you… The commander is totally fine!!”
“Hold him properly, bring him over here!! We’ll all die at this rate…!”
“If you’re going to fight, go out and fight…!”
The exhausted black wizards crowded around Kaiton. August struggled to separate Ondal from him. The wizards quickly created a barrier around the two, and August created a massive attack rune to keep Kaiton in check. It was a threat that he would attack if necessary.
“I told you not to touch Muriel!!”
Ondal swiftly drew the sword that tied to August’s waist. Eklum’s sword, so valuable that it could probably buy a whole castle, swung towards Kaiton with great speed. Muriel couldn’t even scream. It was very fleeting. She was surprised that Ondal truly swung at Kaiton with the intent to kill. The sword pierced through numerous protective barriers and dug towards Kaiton.
“What is this….”
Muriel was taken aback, but what surprised her even more was that everyone seemed unfazed by the situation. This must have been a scenario that was repeated several times while she was unconcious for them to be so composed and familiar with it.
As the sword neared his nose, Kaiton gave a mocking smile and covered the approaching threat with black energy.
“Crawford! Stop the attack!”
August groaned, his clear eyes contorting. It seemed that August’s protective barrier was blocking Kaiton’s threatening attacks aimed at Ondal. Muriel, astonished, looked at Kaiton and Ondal, who were solely focused on harming each other, without any concern for their own protection, and approached Kaiton.
“Stop it.”
She tried to grab Caden’s wrist, but she couldn’t because of the protective barrier. Kaiton’s face was pale. His body temperature, which had just touched her hand, was also as cold as ice. He was once again depleting his pacio, while Muriel’s pacio remained calm, without fluctuation.
“Stop… You’re so pale right now…!”
The black eyes quietly seething with anger finally fell from Ondal and turned towards Muriel. Muriel was worried Ondal might take advantage of the gap to attack Kaiton, but luckily, his fierce spirit seemed to have died down. Muriel looked at Ondal, who was staring at her as if about to start sobbing, and faced Kaiton, who was also fiercely staring at her. His eyes weren’t much different from Ondal’s. Filled with impulsiveness and irritation, as if he was contemplating whether just killing Muriel would release him from his torment.
Muriel’s spine chilled for a moment, but she firmly held Kaiton’s wrist, steadfastly meeting his gaze. He was still as cold as ever. She wanted to mimic him and check his remaining pacio, but Muriel didn’t know how to do that. Since August was there, she couldn’t even ask him to take her pacio, so instead she looked up at him discontentedly.
“Are you okay?”
“That.. are you really asking me that right now?”
It was the first time Muriel heard Kaiton’s voice since waking up. It sank low, as if he hadn’t said anything for a while.
“You know I’m fine because you already checked. But I can’t make sure you’re okay…”
His smooth lips always formed a sarcastic storm, but now they twisted in annoyance before tightly closing in a straight line. Muriel became a little nervous.
“Just… say something..”
The black eyes were blaing. As Muriel looked back at them, she saw a mix of resentment, anger, and confusion mixed in them. He looked away. Muriel gently grabbed his hand.
She didn’t like how his temperature in her hand was still cold. His body temperature was always cool, like his homeland, the plateau. But whenever Muriel touched his hand, it quickly warmed up. It wasn’t hot enough, but it was still lukewarm. Yet this time, his body temperature didn’t easily return, making her anxious.
“You’re not going to answer?”
No… That’s not it… In truth, her anxiety stemmed from another reason.
She wanted to hear Kaiton’s voice. She wanted to see his annoyed, sharp black eyes.
‘I’ll take you out with me any day.’
It wasn’t like they were a spell, but his words became reality. When she woke up and heard his voice for the first time, when she met his eyes… It was then Muriel felt herself truly awakening. Before that, she had opened her eyes, but her sense of reality hadn’t returned. It felt like she was just in a daze, dreaming. Everything was unfamiliar, not just Ondal. It felt like she was looking at the world through ill-fitting blurry glasses… But when she heard Kaiton’s feisty voice, everything became alright. He so easily pulled Muriel back into reality.
So, she wanted to hear a little more, but he kept his mouth shut and did not look at Muriel.
Please, hold onto me.
You said you’d take me with you…! Unable to say those words, Muriel said something else.
“Is it because… you couldn’t catch the demons because of me? So if that’s why you’re angry, I’m all recovered now, so-“
“-If that’s the case, will you give me all your pacio?”
It felt like she would get burned by his eyes. His black eyes, as low and deep as his somber voice, were filled with fire. It felt like she was looking at ice burning in flames. It was fiery, yet she couldn’t tell if it was too cold or hot.
“I… told you. My pacio is infinite…”
As Muriel fumbled an answer, Kaiton pulled her close.
“So. You’ll give it all up?”
“That’s… already…”
It wasn’t hot, afterall. Kaiton began to suck out her pacio as if threatening her to dare answer she would give it all. Along with the pacio, it seemed all her warmth was also being sucked into him. Yet even though Muriel was giving him pacio enough to make her jaw tremble, his temperature regrettably did not rise. Muriel held his wrist firmly again with strength and answered.
“…I’ll give you everything.”
He got even angrier. His lips twisted at an angle with a distorted face.
“I caught one…. One demon. I found a fragment containing an enormous amount of pacio, but I guess it’s useless to me now. Since there’s someone willing to give up their everything to me.”
“I’m giving you pacio…! Not my everything…”
She corrected his eerie words, but Kaiton only sneered as if her words were funny.
“Don’t faint next time. There’s still one left.”
“…Yes.”
She was a bit flustered. The more she worried about Ceyton, the more she assured him that she’d give him any amount of pacio he needed, the more his mood plummeted. Although he verbally acknowledged it, his eyes seemed to be holding back disdain. The force with which he took Muriel’s pacio was incredibly violent compared to earlier.
“This is yours.”
What Kaiton handed over to her was a fragment of Ur that had turned pitch black. It was her first time seeing a piece that contained pacio.It seemed to contain a small black hole. She couldn’t understand why the color of God’s blessing, pacio, resembled a black hole that symbolized the destruction and disappearance of everything. When Muriel thought about how many victims’ pacio would probably be contained within the black fragment, her appetite waned.
When she looked at him as if questioning why he gave it to her, Kaiton gave a frosty response before leaving.
“Since you… so willingly endure pain, there’s no reason for me to use others’ pacio, right?”
After Kaiton disappeared, Ondal, who had been bound all this time, sobbed and embraced Muriel. Ondal had tried to rush towards Kaiton in a frenzy when he used Muriel’s pacio, but he couldn’t move his word an inch. Kaiton, having recovered pacio, didn’t allow Ondal even the slightest opportunity.
“Muriel… Muriel… Muriel…”
The more Muriel tried to wiggle and retreat, the stronger Ondal’s arms trapped her.
“It won’t work if you don’t pacio to Kaiton, right…? I, I’ll do it, then. I’ll do it instead of you.”
“The pacio I give to Kaiton is limitless-“
“-There’s no such thing as limitless!! You cannot endlessly receive the blessings of God!! And if Muriel becomes a demon… hng… hng… I… I would never be able to live.”
“Ondal… I’m sure of it, my pacio, it’s regenerated….”
“No! Muriel knows it too, there’s no such thing. An Endless blessing… The God of Bulrion is not that merciful. Kaiton Ur too… he knows everything! He knows that pacio can not be refilled infinitely, yet he’s still using you…! Hng, Even though you’re in pain, Muriel. Even though your face turns blue and you fall… he still, he still…”
Ondal’s cheeks, damp with tears, stuck warmly to Muriel’s neck and collarbone. It felt like a child was clinging and crying in her arms. Until recently, she’d thought that Ondal was becoming more mature, but when she saw him cry sadly like this, he was most definitely still a child.
Suddenly, she envied Ondal. She couldn’t believe he could cry to his heart’s content. She couldn’t believe he could be so honest with himself.
If she had been able to be this honest, wouldn’t Kaiton have been less angry? If she could have fully conveyed her heart to him… If she could have honestly and transparently expressed how worried she was about him, would he have understood her desire to help him?
She knew the reason Kaiton was so cold was because he was worried about her. Even though he’d confirmed her pacio had come back, he’d been worried about what would have happened if something had gone wrong when she fainted, and that’s why he put up his thorns again, that’s why he got angry. But even though she knew he was startled because of her fainting, that he became more fierce when he got hurt… she was a little disappointed.
But she couldn’t help it either. She… couldn’t watch Kaiton do bad things. She couldn’t just watch him become a demon… so all she could do was give away what she had. She wanted him to… accept her heart and sincerity with a smile.
“Please… please… let me protect you. I care about you, Muriel… I’d rather do it in your place. I’ll give Ur all my pacio… Yes? Can’t you stop now?”
Can’t we stop now?”
Ondal hung onto her like she was going to turn into a demon any moment.
Muriel felt her pacio, which was located near her heart. Again, it was back. It had regenerated.
But even if it was not infinite…
As Ondal said, nothing in the world was eternal, so even if her pacio reached its limit someday…
Muriel knew she would make the choice to give her pacio to Kaiton. It may be a reckless, arrogant thought that she might have because her prideful pacio kept regenerating.. But that was her sincere intention. After all, she…
“This is… me protecting myself.”
She couldn’t be without Kaiton anyway. Kaiton was her place to return to. He was the gravity that firmly held onto her, preventing her from drifting away into space when she couldn’t tell between reality and dreams. He was the sun that made her endure the boring and tiresome orbit time and time again.
“For my sake… I’m protecting Kaiton. So, this is my responsibility, Ondal.”
“Why…?”
“Well…”
A weak smile escaped her. She couldn’t understand it either. She had realized, with great difficulty, the reasons why she shouldn’t like him, why she hesitated to have feelings for him… But she couldn’t figure out why her heart kept flowing towards him. She was helpless for no reason. It simply flowed towards him.
“I don’t know either.”
“….”
” I just….”
“Just…? Like how the moon rises and night falls, just…? Like how one day ends and the next day comes, just…?”
“…Yeah, I guess so.”
On Dal took a step back and trembled.
“I know… I know that Muriel’s… Who Muriel’s moon is…. I know, but… sniff…. I… I can’t let you go.”
“…Don’t cry so much. It drains your energy.”
Muriel patted and comforted Ondal. She didn’t know just how much he’d cried and sweated all day, for his long and beautiful hair damp. Wet strands of hair clung to On Dal’s face, like the forehead of a sick child with a fever. Muriel whispered softly as she swept away Ondal’s messy long hair.
“Thank you for worrying about me… and for liking me. Still… don’t like me too much. You’ll be troubled.”
“Muriel is an affectionate yet cold-hearted person.”
August said.
“I think being cold-hearted in a caring way is better than being affectionate with a cold heart.”
Someone who was cold-hearted yet affectionate would be Rovelia. When Muriel smiled bitterly, August flashed his trademark refreshing smile. Longing that couldn’t be hidden in his deep rusty green eyes flashed momentarily, but quickly turned into bright and healthy eyes.
“Ondal has a point in his worries, but… I think you’ll be fine, Muriel.”
As On Dal looked at him with a melancholy expression, he made a troubled expression and awkwardly touched his forehead, wrinkling it, but soon smiled and shook his head.
“Sometimes, it feels like the impossible lingers by your side. You can just tell by looking at your ability to talk to the Murishi. If it’s you, Muriel… you might be able to deliver endless pacio to Kaiton Ur, and in turn, wouldn’t it bring a relatively moderate peace to Bulrion? …That’s what I’m looking forward to. I truly mean it, even though it’s embarrassing as an Eklum to think of relying on someone else’s help for peace in the kingdom. Haha.”
“W-Wait, just now… did you say, K-Kaiton Ur?”
The confident green gaze that once captured all the glory of the kingdom faded away like melting. His honeyed smile almost felt mocking because it was excessively sweet.
It was a honey-like smile that felt excessively affectionate, almost like a joke.
“That’s Kai Crawford’s true identity, isn’t it? The Master of the Sculpture. The Demon King, Ur.”
“…”
August burst into laughter watching Muriel stiffen with tension. In the heavy and sunken atmosphere of the room, it seemed the only person who could laugh so brightly was Eklum’s young master.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t know? But you were too sloppy for that, Muriel.”
“Since when…?”
“Well… Kai Crawford… I’ve had my suspicions ever since Kaiton Ur came here. I just needed some time to… check, and prepare.”
“Kaiton may be an Ur, but he’s a good person… You know that too, August.”
August always smiled while revealing his neat white teeth brightly, but his lips were tightly sealed this time. The cool smile on his mouth was as cheerful as usual, but too straight. Muriel’s nerves were on edge at his overly shrewd and meticulous manners and movements.
“No need to be nervous, Muriel. I heard Kaiton say it himself. As long as you’re with him, he won’t seek others’ pacio, so he won’t be a calamity for the kingdom. That way he won’t create any demons.”
“Ah… That’s right.”
“But, Muriel. If he poses a threat to Sharan and the kingdom, I will immediately fulfill the pledge of loyalty I made in Eklum’s name. It is my duty as an Eklum, the Guardian of Bulrion to fulfill the obligation of dedication bestowed upon me.”
August’s smile remained as picturesque as ever as he said so. It was gentle and friendly. That’s why Muriel could properly understand his warning.
‘I will kill Kaiton Ur the moment he creates a demon using the power of the fragments.’
The real August Eklum was a knight that made no exceptions when it came to his principles. Despite wearing a dazzling smile every day and being hailed as the epitome of gallantry, the center of parties and social gatherings, no one in the kingdom took him lightly. Though he adorned himself with gemstones as if flaunting that Eklum’s duty involved spending money, Muriel knew well that he had never once forgotten his duty as a Guardian. August was forever the knight of Sharan, always upright, dignified, and steadfast. So Muriel nodded.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let Kaiton use someone else’s pacio.”
