“I.”
Temar’s face twisted in pain.
‘Brother.’
Ren’s voice circled his ears like a round, tormenting him. If he did not see Ren right now, if he did not confirm that he was all right, he felt as if he would go mad.
Forcing his emotions down, Temar lifted his eyes and looked straight at Geloman.
Blue energy gathered in Temar’s eyes, full of will. The vivid light scattered through the dawn air like fireflies.
“I have to go to my younger brother. I have to go back.”
“Have you forgotten your mission? I told you. The king has already shown you more than enough mercy.”
“I know. But I have to go back to my younger brother.”
“I don’t understand. Temar. Why?”
“.......”
“Why are you trying to defy the king?”
If Geloman was not convinced, he would hold Temar back forever.
Temar and Geloman were the ones who had led the king’s commands from the very front. They were no different from the king’s two-horse team.
“My younger brother.”
Temar forced his mouth open.
“Ren...”
His thick lips trembled as he forced the words out.
“He needs me. He needs his brother. At least once, I have to go back to Ren, to my younger brother.”
Because I am that child’s brother.
Of the countless times Ren had said, “Brother, don’t go,” Temar had not once looked back.
So at least once, shouldn’t he?
Even if it meant defying the king’s command and being expelled. Even if he became a disgraced Hero.
It would not be the version of him Ren wanted, but at least once, in front of Ren, Temar had to be nothing but his brother.
Geloman looked into Temar’s eyes. He looked into the heart melted inside them, into his abyss.
And he thought of Ren, the younger brother Temar spoke of.
The way he had quietly endured, and the unmistakable pain pooled inside those clear green eyes.
Inside that abyss, Geloman read Temar’s lightning-struck resolve.
At this moment, the most important thing to him was returning to Ren,
and for that, he would brave even death.
“I will ask one last thing.”
Geloman knew too. There were hearts even death could not break.
It was a heart he carried himself.
Because Geloman had devoted his whole heart not only to protecting the king, but to this kingdom and the justice meant for him.
“Does your loyalty to the king remain unchanged?”
“It does. I am forever his sword, and he is forever my king.”
Temar knelt before Geloman and bowed his head, as if Geloman were the king himself. His hair, still uncut, spilled down and covered his face. But even through that, the blue light in his eyes, burning like a savage flame, pierced through and wavered with the dawn.
Geloman looked at those fiercely blue eyes, as if they lit the half-melted snow path, then gave a short nod.
His blade-cold blue eyes acknowledged Temar’s will.
“But you had better be prepared for punishment.”
Geloman’s voice was a little lighter than before.
Even if that punishment was death, Temar would not back down.
“...Thank you.”
Temar looked at the thick, rough hand held out before him, then clasped it and rose. Wet snow dropped from the knee that had touched the frozen ground.
“Ah, your younger brother.”
“What about Ren?”
Geloman’s blunt eyes swept over Temar’s face.
“He uses his fists well. Does he take after you? Did you teach him?”
At the joke, Temar smiled bitterly. For some reason, the spot on his solar plexus where Ren had struck him seemed to throb. Geloman bared his teeth and laughed. It was a harmless, slightly foolish-looking laugh, one Temar had truly not seen in a long time.
The exhaustion and relief after a full-out fight wrapped around their whole bodies. Feeling their muscles throb, the two let go of each other’s hands.
And neither of them had to say who moved first. With the capital at their backs, they began climbing back up Mount Geroa. Behind them, daybreak stretched long.
***
“You all right?”
Cedric was an incredibly kind person. Ren found himself realizing that all over again each time Cedric asked whether he was all right. His long, narrow eyes were rather sharp, but the way they softened when he looked at Ren offset the intensity in his gaze. Not that Ren would have been frightened even if he had not done that.
Ren only blinked at his question without answering.
The truth was, he felt like death.
“Since when are you so caring?”
Kenta glared at Ren and Cedric with his small, sharply slit eyes. Beta was still asleep, leaning against him. The breathing and voices of the children mingled together. The wagon was still shaking.
“Just how far are they planning to take us...!”
His voice was full of anger.
“How far are they really taking us...?”
A girl who had been curled up in the corner, neither eating nor speaking, finally lifted her head. Her badly shaking eyes looked ready to spill tears at any moment.
“How the hell would I know!”
Bang!
The instant Kenta raised his voice, the wagon window rattled as if someone had been waiting for it.
“I told you not to make noise.”
Someone had struck it from outside.
“Sob... hhic...”
“Fucking hell, so damn annoying!”
Kenta panted with a look of sheer bad luck on his face. Even so, his voice was much lower than before.
Instead of the sounds scattering dizzily around his ears, Ren listened to the beat of his own heart.
“Drink some water, at least.”
Ren blinked slowly. Even through the dizziness, Cedric’s voice, lower than most boys their age, fortunately reached him clearly.
“Tell me if you want some.”
Blink. Blink. Blink.
Cedric sighed and turned his head away.
Ren felt frustrated because he could not ask what he really wanted to ask.
Doesn’t your knee hurt?
Cedric had let Ren use his knee as a pillow all through the dawn, and even after Ren woke up, he was still lending him his lap.
But even after morning came and dog-food-like slop was shoved inside in a basin, Ren could not move.
It was because of the pain he was suffering without his medicine.
He had wondered when it would start hurting, and this was the state he woke up in.
It had been a long time, so he needed some time to adjust. It did not hurt as badly as when he had a seizure, but every sensation in his body had sharpened, and even the slightest brush stung painfully. Even sunlight touching him felt agonizing, so maybe it was fortunate that he was trapped inside this dark cargo wagon. Of course, if he had not been trapped, there would have been no reason he could not take his medicine.
Gathering both hands at his chest, Ren tried to breathe as slowly as possible and draw up whatever vitality his body had left. Admirably enough, this was a method Ren had learned on his own. When he was in pain, if he drew in and let out his breath this slowly, it became at least a little more bearable.
Kenta glared at Ren with displeased eyes.
After screaming his head off like he was having some kind of fit, now he was lying there meekly with his head on someone else’s lap. It looked ridiculous. It pissed him off.
He had screamed like he did not know how to give up, making everyone anxious for no reason and making Beta cry, and now he had already given up? Ha!
Like flint striking flint and sending up sparks, sparks flew through Kenta’s heart too.
Kenta had shouted at Ren to shut up, but inwardly, he had been hoping. Hoping Ren was the same kind as him. Hoping, even a little, that Ren would keep refusing to give up, keep thinking of some way to screw over those bastards, and keep resisting until the end.
He decided that if he got the chance, he would mess with Ren. How dare he disappoint him. After screaming his head off on his own and making Kenta expect something!
And that chance came sooner than expected.
“Get out already! You want to get beaten? Huh?!”
A large man threatened them as he dragged the children down.
Unable to adjust to sunlight after so long, the children squeezed their eyes shut, got tangled together, and fell.
The man was counting the heads of those staggering down when he saw the two boys wriggling inside and crumpled his face like a sheet of paper.
“You two over there!”
It was when the man narrowed his eyes to see into the dark interior.
Mischief formed in Kenta’s eyes. Too playful to call malicious, too nasty to dismiss as a joke.
“Hey—!”
“Let go!”
“Argh! That’s not it, I’ve got something to say about those two!”
Kenta, who had been slapped across the cheek, panted as he opened his mouth.
The man shook off Kenta’s hand from his arm as if brushing away a bug. He had been walking toward the cargo wagon to drag them out himself, but when he saw Kenta glaring at him and trembling, he sneered.
“What would you have to say? It’s probably some useless bullshit.”
Again. Flint struck inside Kenta’s heart.
That small bit of spite mixed with the contempt he had received from the man and swelled even larger.
“Those bastards were stuck together the whole time. Whether they were fooling around or not doesn’t mat— kuheok!”
“That true?”
The man lifted Kenta up with one hand. Physiological tears welled in Kenta’s eyes from the grip clamping down on his throat. A murderous intent on a completely different level from before burned savagely in the man’s eyes. His gleaming stare looked at Kenta as if carving him to pieces. Even when Kenta kicked at the man’s shin and stomach with all his strength, flailing his legs to survive, the man did not budge.
The terrified captives held their breath and turned their heads away. Beta bit down hard on her lip as she looked at Kenta. The girl’s two legs were trembling violently. Her legs twitched as if she were about to step forward, but the distance she actually moved was not even a millimeter.
Kenta forgot what he had just said and nodded with all his might to survive. With his bound arms, he pointed inside and waved ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) them around frantically.
