Chapter 62

Kyle's footprints looked like the trail of breadcrumbs Hansel and Gretel had left behind.

Deep blue paw prints stood out sharply against the white snow.

Holding Father's hand, I followed them across the vast snowfield.

Then—

"Huh...?"

Far out on the horizon, a white-haired boy came into view.

It was Kyle.

"There he is! I'll go first!"

"Aisha, it's dangerous to go alone—"

"Kyle!"

I heard Calypse calling after me, but his voice no longer reached my ears.

Pat pat pat—

My footprints landed one after another over Kyle's paw prints.

I thought he'd gotten much farther away.

Thank goodness he hasn't.

Then again, that made sense.

No matter how unusual Kyle's ability to transform into an animal was, compared to monsters he was still only a child.

And this place was a lawless land.

Even knights formally trained by noble families struggled against the monsters that made this place their home.

No matter how extraordinary Kyle was, surely he couldn't have ventured too deeply into—

"...Kyle?"

Just a little farther.

A few more steps, and I'd be close enough to call his name.

My legs stopped in their tracks.

Something was wrong.

Kyle wasn't alone.

...What are those?

They had been too far away to make out before, but as I drew closer, dark figures gradually emerged around him.

And they were—

...Monsters.

Clink.

The poison needle I had been carrying just in case slipped from my fingers and disappeared into the deep snow.

"..."

I clamped a trembling hand over my mouth.

To stop myself from screaming.

Neither in my previous life nor this one had I ever witnessed something so alien.

One had only a single eye.

Another stood nearly three meters tall.

One walked on four legs.

Another had claws long enough to gouge through stone.

Another drooled thick strands of saliva.

Monsters of every imaginable kind had gathered around Kyle, circling him with their heads lowered.

As though they were worshipping the one and only god they had ever known.

***

The wind swept strands of white hair aside, revealing those emotionless violet eyes.

Kyle looked completely calm.

As if monsters bowing before him were the most natural thing in the world.

So...

What was I supposed to do?

Run away?

Call out to him?

Or rescue him and run?

"...?"

The thought made me let out a hollow laugh inside my own head.

Rescue Kyle?

Me?

Who did I think I was?

I'd been so terrified I'd dropped the poison needle I was holding.

What could I possibly do?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, it felt as though every precious memory I treasured had been ripped away.

Kyle disappeared from all of my memories with him.

The child standing before me...

...was no longer the Kyle I knew.

Whoooooosh—

At that moment, a fierce gust of wind made him narrow his eyes before casually turning his head.

Our eyes met by pure chance.

"...Aisha?"

The empty violet eyes slowly widened.

"Aisha."

Without warning, someone covered my mouth and pulled me behind a boulder.

Startled, I looked up.

It was Calypse.

"It's all right. Father's here. Just don't scream. And breathe."

"..."

Only after I found myself wrapped in Father's warm embrace did I realize...

I hadn't been breathing.

It was Calypse.

The man who wielded the power of ice.

The man strong enough to protect me forever.

Huu...

Huff...

Maybe it was because the tension had suddenly broken.

My breathing grew ragged, and tears began welling up in my eyes.

"Aisha?"

Then Kyle called my name.

The moment I heard his voice, the tears I had been holding back spilled onto the back of Calypse's hand, which was still covering my mouth.

"...Aisha? Where are you?"

Like a child who had lost his mother...

He called for me again.

I didn't have to look.

I could picture him turning his head from side to side, searching. ℯℯ𝘭.

That was the kind of child Kyle was.

A little strange.

But he always listened whenever I spoke.

Like a cat, he always climbed through my bedroom window just to see me.

Of everyone I had ever met...

He was the purest.

"Aisha. Listen carefully."

But the desperate voice calling my name was swallowed by Calypse's low warning.

"There are beings in this world called demons."

Demons?

The unfamiliar word made me flinch.

"...Damn it."

Calypse closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

For some reason...

He looked as though he regretted something he had done long ago.

"A demon is a being capable of communicating with both humans and monsters."

Communicate...

...with monsters?

"And Kyle is one of them."

Kyle?

Suddenly, scenes from the original novel resurfaced.

The reason the Frozen Kingdom and the Kingdom of Doctia had finally ended their war.

The reason Calypse had become celebrated as the Frozen Kingdom's greatest hero.

No...

The reason humanity had built the ice barrier across the northern frontier in the first place.

It had all been because of the god of the monsters.

Humans found it in the end.

The lesser god that bestowed language upon monsters.

Before the young and fragile being could grow, they came to eradicate it.

The moment I remembered that passage from The Sword of Judgment, my eyes widened.

Kyle.

The character who had died so early in the novel that he barely mattered...

...yet whose existence had set the entire story in motion.

Humanity had feared the lesser god who sought to bring civilization to monsters.

To stop him...

They had raised the ice barrier.

Looking at the scene before me...

Listening to Calypse's words...

There could be no mistake.

That lesser god...

...was Kyle.

Which meant...

I...

I saved the lesser god.

"..."

Just then—

"Aisha? Aisha, are you here?"

After Father's explanation ended, Kyle's voice echoed through the snow once more.

Judging by the crunch of footsteps that drifted over every so often, he was searching for me.

One minute felt like an hour.

Eventually...

Perhaps he had finally given up.

His footsteps stopped.

"I know you were here."

His voice wavered.

"You ran away because I'm a monster."

Strange.

"Because I'm a monster... because you're afraid of me. Back at the bookshop... you froze when you saw me."

The fear that had gripped my heart only moments ago...

"...I'm a monster."

...why was it changing?

"People always told me I was cursed."

Kyle.

No.

I shouted the words silently inside my head as I pressed a hand against my chest.

Hearing his voice now made something twist painfully inside me.

It felt as though a caterpillar trapped inside my body was desperately trying to claw its way out.

And that caterpillar...

"I should stay here. Even if I want to go back to Aisha... I'm a monster—"

"No!"

It grew.

And grew.

Until it finally burst free.

I hadn't even realized I was moving.

Huff... huff...

By the time I came back to my senses through my ragged breathing, I had already broken free from Calypse's arms.

Not far away—

"...Aisha?"

Kyle was staring at me with wide, startled eyes.

Oh no.

By the time I realized what I'd done, Father had already risen from behind the boulder with his sword drawn.

I knew how dangerous this was.

"..."

Because the moment Kyle looked toward me...

Every monster that had been worshipping him turned its gaze toward me as well.

But—

"If you don't want to live here, then don't!"

There was one thing I absolutely had to tell him.

"If you don't want to be a monster, then live as a person!"

The moment I opened my eyes in this world...

I had been a spy.

"If anyone calls you cursed again, tell them their mouth is even more cursed!"

I'd struggled with everything I had to escape that life.

Nothing had come easily.

I'd suffered.

I'd fought to earn other people's trust.

"Tell them you're not a monster!"

There had even been times when I'd screamed in frustration.

Even if I was born a spy, I don't have to stay one if I don't want to!

I remembered crying because of the way people looked at me.

That was why I knew...

Even the frightened expression I had shown Kyle...

...would wound him.

...Ah.

Only then did I understand.

Why I'd run to him without thinking.

Why was my heart suddenly so restless.

Why it had felt like that caterpillar inside me was trying to break free.

"Kyle."

An apology.

"...I'm sorry for looking at you that way."

I wanted...

To apologize to him.