Chapter 344

Cellinne and Eva arrived at the royal castle somewhat later than Yurik.

Having leaped over the debris of the door that had burned and collapsed, they were dismayed by what they saw around them.

Everything was bright red and the air was hot. An ordinary person wouldn't even dare to enter this place.

Cellinne calmed her mind and concentrated cold energy into Yesung's gift she had been wearing.

The gauntlets covered with white frost would probably help somewhat in fighting the heat.

"Eva. Put this on first. We have the white snowman's protection, so we won't burn to death easily, but just in case."

"If you give this to me, what about you?"

"I've received training, so I'm fine. I can respond much faster than you. Let's split up. His Highness must have gone upward, so I'll go up on the right side and look. If there's anyone who couldn't evacuate, move them outside."

"Understood. Be careful. If you find Yesung, bring him out immediately. I'll prepare to treat him right away."

Cellinne entered the castle filled with scorching heat together with Eva.

Sparks and ash fell pattering from the ceiling. Occasionally, heavy decorative items also crashed down making threatening sounds.

Each time, Cellinne flinched and stopped, but she didn't give up moving forward.

While hesitating but still searching through all the open rooms and corridors in the royal castle as she climbed up, Cellinne realized that people inside the royal castle had evacuated faster than expected.

Perhaps it was because the fire occurred close to wake-up time.

Cellinne thought it was fortunate that Eva's work was reduced, when she discovered someone unconscious in that corner and hurried over.

Could it be Yesung?

However, the person she confirmed up close was unfortunately not Yesung.

No, not only was it not Yesung.

"...You."

It was a face she had never forgotten even in dreams.

He was certainly a little older than then, and his beard had grown thick, but...

How was the man who had been the border guard captain until just a few years ago in the capital?

The question that just arose was immediately resolved.

-Who would have thought we'd dispose of as many as nine barbarians. Thanks for being such a big help with my promotion.

Barbarians. A derogatory term that collectively referred to tribes that wandered without proper status, including the Rom people.

If the former guard captain had been promoted for handling 'barbarians,' it wasn't strange that he had returned to Aquilonia's capital.

As soon as Cellinne realized this fact, she reflexively grabbed the guard captain's throat.

There were no watching eyes here. Fortunately, she had even sent Eva to the other side.

Even if people discovered the corpse after the flames were extinguished, by then the body would be charcoal.

She could avoid even suspicion of murder.

If she just applied a little more pressure like this, this bastard would leave the world without knowing anything.

The enemy of her family. Trash that wouldn't be satisfying even if killed several times. How dare you, someone like you, someone like you...

It was the moment veins bulged in Cellinne's forearm.

Beyond one corridor, the middle gate that had been barely holding collapsed noisily.

She immediately came to her senses at that sound. If she delayed more time here, the path to find Yesung might be blocked.

She glared at the guard captain and slowly removed her hand.

If she left him here, Eva would discover him before long. The most important thing for her right now was finding Yesung.

She couldn't lose him for the sake of killing one piece of human trash.

Naturally, her feelings of hatred toward the guard captain hadn't disappeared. She just knew something more important.

Cellinne, who chose love over deep-rooted hatred, hurried her steps.

* * *

"-Yesung."

Yurik searched the entire royal castle meticulously.

He didn't think Yesung would be intact.

But he at least hoped he was still alive. Alive, so he could listen to his resentment.

But as soon as he encountered Yesung in the middle of the corridor on the third floor filled with artworks, all such feelings flew away.

Around him, the Queen's maids were collapsed. The blood scattered around and their wounded bodies seemed to prove what had happened between them.

But Yesung's face standing in the middle wasn't clearly visible.

Glass fragments embedded in bare feet. Torn clothes. A cloak and pants soaked in blood and ruined. Red hair. Crimson lips.

Yurik approached step by step. Yesung just watched him quietly without avoiding him.

"Why... why didn't you come?"

"......"

"Did you hate me? Was suggesting we leave Aquilonia together unacceptable talk?"

"......"

"Then, you could have just told me that. If you had said you didn't want that, I wouldn't have gone this far, I thought you would definitely come."

"No."

Flinch. Yurik's advancing foot stopped.

All sorts of anxieties clamored in his head. He thought no? What was no? Was the promise to come a lie? Did he actually not want to come? Or had he been mistaken? Was it his fault for not fully grasping Yesung's intentions? He didn't want him to die, even if he had thought of killing him, it wasn't sincere. He didn't want him to be left in this state by someone else somewhere else. He, he, he.

His breath, which had been fine even in the smoke, rose to his throat. The identity of this emotion was resentment.

But at Yesung's additional words, Yurik temporarily forgot even such things.

"I wasn't trying to do that. But I was afraid you'd get caught if I left too quickly. So I tried to hold the Queen's feet."

"No one ever asked you to do that."

"I know. I just thought that on my own."

"No one ever asked you to die!"

"Yeah. Right. No one ever said that."

"Then why, why do you keep..."

Yesung turned his head.

Yurik was suddenly afraid. What if Yesung abandoned him and left?

Being dragged into black mud, leaving Shambhala, hiding behind Eibon.

If he left him again like then.

Without even realizing it himself, Yurik dropped his sword and went to him.

The Queen Dowager's blood from just before clung stickily to the sword.

It wouldn't be difficult. Turning him back into a handful of blood. Putting that into Aphoom-Zhah's container too.

Yesung had no weapons. So he couldn't even resist properly.

No one was here. No other humans.

The sword's tip scraped against the floor making a chilling sound.

He had to hold that face lost in thought, that person whose thoughts he couldn't even guess, to this earth.

This was a matter of survival. For him to remain human, to properly establish the standards of his world.

When exactly one step's distance remained between him and Yesung.

"Yurik."

"...Why?"

"I think I need to apologize to you."

"For what reason?"

He thought, don't apologize. Why apologize now?

Before Yurik could ask that, Yesung took Yurik's empty hand.

Like in the old days.

"I always wanted to create a family for you."

"......"

"So, I wanted to give you much more normal people as family than someone like me. I hoped you would meet better people than me and learn many things from them."

"So? Are you trying to apologize for just that kind of thing now? At a moment like this?"

"No. It's not 'just' this kind of thing. That seems to have made me avoid you. I might have thought that if I stayed apart by myself, you could naturally go to better people. And... I'll be honest. I also didn't want to go to you. When I see you, I feel like bad memories will come up."

His heart sank.

Yurik stared blankly down at Yesung.

Yesung was always kind and gentle to him. Of course, there were times when he wasn't, but at least he had never said such things so directly.

When he looked at him, bad memories came up? Why?

"I- I? Made you recall such memories...?"

"I'll say in advance that I have no intention of telling you what it is. But when I see you, it's painful. I want to avoid you. Sometimes when I'm looking at you, I can't breathe. I feel nauseous. My head hurts. But at the same time, I know I shouldn't equate you with that person. You are you, and that person is that person. This isn't your fault. It's only my fault for being unable to forget this one thing. So it's all my fault that I avoided you under the pretext of caring for you."

"Yesung."

"I thought the Queen would be someone for you."

"No! The Queen, didn't care for me at all."

"I know. I found out too. But that's not the Queen's fault. The situation deteriorating this far is also because of my misunderstanding. Because I found it hard to look at you, I tried to force someone else in. It's my fault. My mistake, and I was stupid."

"That's not it at all. Yesung, why do you think that? No one thinks that. So don't say such things."

Yesung's face was no different from usual. Though guilt was faintly permeated due to the confession he had made to him, it stemmed from the fact that he had made someone else uncomfortable.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Yurik was afraid of exactly that point. Someone inside him was screaming horribly.

He thought, don't change. Stay the way I remember. Tell me you're the same person as me. Don't become a different being. I'm lonely. Don't change. Don't go far away leaving only me like this!

He threw away his sword. A loud sound rang sharply in his ears.

Yurik knelt in front of Yesung, not caring about the discarded sword.

"Don't go. Will you leave again? Leaving me here? Making me spend long years alone again?"

"Yurik."

"Even if hyung is lacking, it's fine. You can just teach me what I don't know. No one ever taught hyung. I learned by myself, but hyung didn't have the opportunity or time. Hyung avoided me and ran away, living only for other humans. So give me a chance too."

"Yurik."

"Give me a chance to become hyung's family too! Don't say only I can't. Don't leave only me alone in the long time, in the eternity where I can't even die... Please."

Everything hanging in the corridor was burning.

Landscape paintings, still life paintings, portraits with solemn expressions.

Things drawn in similar styles were hung for the eye pleasure of passersby,

Not works that could comfort someone's bone-deep loneliness.

To Yurik, everything in this world was a vain illusion. Like sandcastles that would soon disappear.

The only person who could pull him down to reality from the illusion where he struggled for thousands of years, tens of millions of years, was just one.

The person who lived the same life as him and could make him feel kinship reached out and wiped Yurik's tear-soaked cheek.

Yesung crouched down in front of Yurik and met his gaze.

"Yesung?"

"You don't need to cry like that. I've already decided to do so."

"......"

"I had a chance to talk with the Queen. It was different from what I imagined. Moreover, I just thought that someone like me would be needed to raise you."

"Really?"

At Yurik's question, Yesung withdrew his hand. Supporting his chin with one hand, he was lost in thought for a moment before answering sporadically.

"Sometimes, I might make expressions showing I'm uncomfortable looking at you. I might end up pushing you away. You might get hurt because of me. I might make you upset. There will be many moments when you get angry at me. In some ways, it's natural. The period we were apart was too long compared to the time we were together. ...We might not understand each other. You might think, how did I get involved with such a guy."

"Are you telling me reasons not to become family now?"

"No. That's not it. But, even if you later come to think of me as utterly tiresome. Even if such an ending is predetermined... There were definitely moments when we felt happy while spending time together. If we create more of such times, I think we'll later come to think it's fortunate we have each other. I hope we can become that kind of relationship."

Yurik stared blankly at Yesung.

"...Yesung, don't you hate me?"

"The current you is fine."

"It's not an extension of the deal about giving the throne?"

"It's not that kind of thing. So."

Yesung, who had been choosing words for a long time, finally spat out one sentence.

"Let's go back together."

He thought, ah, well. Saying let's go back together while the castle is being roasted is a bit strange. But that's not his fault so please overlook it.

Yurik, who was watching Yesung add awkwardly, hugged him tightly.

Yesung, who was patting the head of him sniffling inappropriately for his age, muttered.

"Ah, you're heavy. More than that, my feet hurt too much right now, can't we go out quickly? Yurik? If you're going to cry more, cry outside. My nose is too stinging staying here."

But there was no way Yesung's deflating words would reach Yurik's ears, who had barely regained his family.

The two people continued sitting in the hot air like that,

Until Cellinne came looking and shouted asking what they were doing in the fire.