You Have to Repay Your Savior

Trigger warning for a gruesome death. Please tread carefully.

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The two walked hard and walked again. Jerald wanted to sit down and wait for his parents to come to their rescue. But Arthur was leading him so proudly that he couldn’t be more grumpy.

Nevertheless, there was clearly a limit to the physical strength of a child. Jerald’s legs were gradually shaking.

—Ruff ruff!

Then, once again, they heard the cry of a wild dog. It was the same cry as they heard earlier. Jerald looked at Arthur in amazement.

“Brother, what is that?”

“It’s all right, Jerald. Calm down.”

“I’m scared, Brother…”

“It’s all right, Jerald.”

That was all Arthur could say at the time.

“Let’s run fast. Then it’ll be less scary.”

“Yes…”

Jerald started running with Arthur with a very frightened look on his face. However, the brothers’ movements seemed to have stimulated the wild dog more. The sound of wild animals running through the wind began to grow ominously in their ears. And finally—

“B, Brother.”

Arthur and Jerald ran into a big wild dog in front of their eyes. The wild dog drooling with its white teeth exposed seemed nothing but hideous and cruel to the young boys.

Arthur swallowed his dry mouth and grabbed Jerald’s hand.

“It’s all right, Jerald.”

“But, Brother…”

“We’ll run fast.”

Arthur tried to calm his brother down.

“If we run away with all our might, we can get away.”

Unfortunately, the little boy didn’t seem to know that no matter how fast humans ran, they couldn’t beat the speed of dogs. Or he told a hopeful lie to reassure his brother even though he already knew it.

In any case, Jerald believed his brother’s words, and asked in a nervous voice.

“You can run well, right?”

“Of course.”

Arthur said in a slightly trembling voice.

“We’ll count to three, and then we’ll run together. Okay? One, two…”

Three!

After finally counting to three, the two brothers started running with all their might. Seeing the two people running, the excited wild dog started running along with them.

The wild dog quickly chased after Arthur and Jerald, and it seemed like the boys would be caught up by the wild dog at any moment.

When he felt the howling of a wild dog in the back of his throat, Jerald thought that maybe they would both die there.

However, without allowing such thoughts to continue for long, Jerald moved his legs in a desperate attempt. In a situation where life was at stake, even such a thought was a luxury.

“Huh, huh…”

The boys, who had already lost strength after walking for a long time, ran with all their might. There was a limit to physical strength. Jerald felt his steps becoming slower and he despaired.

However, since he could not die like this, he was making his last struggle to survive. It was then.

“Ack!”

Arthur, who was running behind him, could be heard falling. Surprised, Jerald quickly turned around.

“Brother!”

“Jerald!”

“Brother, get up, come on…!”

Arthur put his hand on the ground in a hurry to get himself up. However, he stumbled and fell down again, perhaps because he hurt his ankle while falling.

And Jerald couldn’t get closer to Arthur and just stomped his feet.

The situation was extremely bad. Behind them, wild dogs were chasing them at a fast pace, and Arthur was unable to stand due to his injury.

There was no time for delay. A choice had to be made.

Should he go to help his brother get up, or… should he abandon his brother and save himself?

And it was easy even for a child to know which side had a higher chance of survival.

However, people are not beings that act only according to reason. How could he leave his brother behind? That was, that was…!

Jerald’s face was colored with panic. It was equivalent to driving his brother to death.

“Jerald!”

And Arthur noticed Jerald’s anguish.

“Go, hurry up! Go, Jerald!”

“No, Arthur. I can’t…”

“Hurry up and go!”

That was the first and last time that such a big shout came out from Arthur’s small body. At that moment, Jerald really felt like dying. Any choice was too cruel for him.

And time was not enough to wait for Jerald to make a choice. The wild dogs had finally reached behind Arthur, and Jerald knew what scene would follow.

“Aaaaaah!”

Jerald, covering his ears and tightly closing his eyes, screamed and ran forward. An unknown strange cry kept bursting out of his mouth nonstop.

“Aaaahhh!”

He had to scream. Without that, he couldn’t bear it. If he didn’t scream, it was obvious what he’d hear from behind him. Just thinking about it made him sick, and he felt like he was going to lose his breath any minute.

Jerald felt his heart crushed by a vice and now ran forward, covering his face.

It was awful. So awful, he didn’t even dare to look back. He didn’t even dare to think about seeing his brother’s last moments. Jerald ran, ran, and ran with a look that seemed like he was about to die. Even at that moment, he only thought of living.

He should live.

No matter how painful and terrible this moment is, he should live right now. He shouldn’t be eaten.

Instead of letting those scary teeth bite him, he had to run away safely and catch his breath.

The instinct for survival moved, crushing him as strongly as the horrors and suffering.

“Ha, ha…”

How long did he run like that? Jerald realized that no one was chasing him from behind anymore. The speed began to slow down. After walking so slowly, Jerald slumped to the spot at some point.

“Ahh, ah…”

The sound from his mouth was neither a scream nor a cry. Those who survived alone on behalf of their brothers could not wail with agony. The little boy could not even make a sound and began to thump his chest, crying.

“Ahh, ah…”

Jerald’s face was twisted in pain and wracked with guilt. He sat on the floor for a while, crouching and hitting his chest. Other than that, Jerald couldn’t do anything.

The relief of surviving was not a trophy but a scarlet letter to him.

“Arthur, Arthur…”

As if sorry to call the name recklessly, Jerald groaned and tore his chest apart. After doing so for a long time, the little boy eventually collapsed on the spot, unable to overcome shock and grievance.

It was, as he remembered, the last time in the forest.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

And when he opened his eyes again.

“Your Highness!”

“Are you awake?”

The first thing he saw were the servants and maids of the prince’s palace.

Jerald looked at them with an expression that did not grasp the situation at first.

“…Why me?”

“You’ve been lying down for a week.”

“Everyone was worried, Your Highness.”

The servants and maids approached him affectionately.

But Jerald still didn’t seem to grasp the situation.

“So I…”

“…”

“Why…”

Jerald muttered with a blank expression, then immediately got up from his place as if he had forgotten something. Those who looked at Jerald with bewildered eyes felt despair at the words that followed.

“Oh, I have to go see my brother.”

“…”

“What are you doing now?”

“…Highness.”

One servant opened his mouth in a heavy voice, and Jerald stared at him with innocent eyes as if he knew nothing.

The servant who first called Jerald seemed to have a hefty stone weighing heavily on his chest, but there was no reason to lie about a story that could not be kept hidden from the beginning.

The servant breathed heavily and confessed the truth to Jerald.

“The crown prince is no longer with us.”

“…What do you mean?”

Jerald’s expression quickly hardened.

“Tell me so I can understand. Why isn’t he here?”

“His Highness the crown prince…”

“Heuk.”

At that time, a maid who couldn’t stand it burst into tears. Everyone looked at the maid. The maid, who had cried for the first time, tried to hold back her tears sadly, but eventually couldn’t bear it and began to sob sadly.

“Huh, huh, Your Highness…”

“…”

“His Highness is dead.”

Jerald came back to reality only after hearing that. He had a vague idea of ​​how he had woken up on this bed.

But he didn’t really want to know the story before that. He hoped he would never know.

Jerald closed his mouth, and all the servants around him began to cry together before they knew it. Jerald muttered in vain.

“My brother is dead…”

He died because of me.

That was the first thought that came to Jerald’s mind. Because of me…

“You died because of me, Brother… because of me…”

—Creak!

At that time, the door opened and someone appeared. Everyone around Jerald looked at the person who appeared with astonishment. From a black hat to white socks, there was an unspeakable sadness in the woman’s eyes and a silent wail on her lips.

Anisha slowly entered the bedroom, looking at Jerald with a hollow face under her eyes.

Jerald, devastated to the point where his mind and body were ruined, wanted Anisha to comfort him. He wanted her to tell him that what happened in the forest wasn’t his fault, that it was just an accident and that it couldn’t be helped. The child wanted to find peace of mind after hearing those words.

But…

“…How can you come back alive alone?”

“Mother…”

“How can you be alone!”

Anisha screamed like she was having a seizure.

This could not happen. The eldest son died and the second son came back alive!

If God knew how much effort Anisha had put into raising her and her husband’s first son, this should not have happened.

Anisha was fed up and glared at Jerald.

“You scary, terrible thing! Your brother died and you came back alive alone!”

“M, mother…”

“It ate your brother and you came back alone! You poisonous snake!”

Anisha continued to hurl harsh words afterward.

Jerald had heard harsh words from his mother during his short life, but he had never received such a harsh look.

While Jerald, who was shocked, couldn’t even open his mouth, Anisha began to cry with a gulp. Then, Anisha left his room as if she didn’t want to see Jerald anymore.

The boy was left alone, and after that day, the door to his heart was completely closed.