The two of them fell silent as if by agreement.
A suitable silence passed, and Verdi groaned again.
“So this is how you hint that I should leave.”
“Then leave already. Let him rest comfortably.”
Giselle looked down at Verdi’s shameless face.
“Once you recover, you should go to that land at least once.”
“...Even if you hadn’t said it, I was already prepared for that.”
“If you intend to wash the blood from your hands, then perhaps that’s the place to do it.”
“You... what do you mean by that? Are you saying this will be the final war? Did you see something?”
Verdi’s face twisted like a child’s. Looking into those eyes that still shone exactly as they had in boyhood, Giselle gave no answer at all.
“Damn it! So you can’t give me a straight answer, huh?”
He chewed out the curse through a confused expression.
“Luman was badly injured.”
“...”
Verdi slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.
The Heroes never bothered mentioning small injuries. If they said someone was injured, it meant a wound severe enough to sever limbs or threaten death itself. It was not surprising. But for Verdi, who knew their bodies were already falling apart, the truth hurt more deeply.
“He’s still alive, right? He’s not the kind of bastard who’d die before spending all his gold coins. Ah, more importantly, did the engagement go well?”
Giselle understood perfectly well that Verdi was deliberately trying to continue with trivial conversation, so he indulged him for a few words. When he mentioned that Luman’s engagement had fallen apart, Verdi looked genuinely shocked and pressed him for the reason, but Giselle only told him to pass the time thinking about it himself.
“I’m planning to send a highly skilled priest.”
“I’ll go with them.”
“They leave tomorrow. If you can move by then, do as you like. We happen to need a suitable escort.”
“So they’re a valuable priest, then? Using a Hero as an escort.”
Verdi grumbled, but he did not seem displeased.
“...Are they skilled enough to be worth hoping for, even with a Hero’s wounds?”
“We’ll know once we see. But they’re different from the usual trash.”
Giselle recalled that man’s narrow eyes. They always looked as though he were smiling pleasantly, yet beneath them lay something deeply sunken and rational.
“It’s nice to have hope at least. Prepare my things too. A miracle already happened, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to move.”
“Very well.”
“And where is our king?”
Verdi smiled mischievously.
“See him after you recover.”
Giselle answered firmly and turned his back. Verdi watched him disappear with the sword still in one hand, then let out a groan.
“Ugh.”
He had acted as though he were fine, but his entire body hurt enough to leave him drenched in sweat.
‘An anti-Hero weapon?’
He replayed the moment he had been attacked, but nothing came back to him.
Can someone this careless even call himself a Hero?
Verdi sighed. Trying to steady his breathing, he focused on what was happening inside his own abdomen.
‘The Hero’s miracle.’
That miracle that returned them from the brink of death.
The thing that drove away every death that had stood before them countless times. A phenomenon that could only be called a miracle.
For the first time, Verdi asked himself where those deaths went.
If death was turned away from them... then where did it go instead?
Lost in thought, Verdi turned his head.
The boy lying in the same room. His breathing was so faint, every heartbeat so slow, that even his existence felt dim.
“Why did you do that?”
As the haze gradually cleared from his mind, his gaze drifted to the boy’s collarbone. Clicking his tongue shortly, Verdi leaned down slightly and reached out.
He parted the collar and touched the collarbone. Bright red blood was still flowing there. Though compared to before, the bleeding had slowed somewhat.
Verdi studied him closely when someone lightly tapped his hand.
Unlike the soft, delicate skin, the fingertips were rough and cracked.
Confused by the contradiction, Verdi turned his head. Following the clumsy pale hand that seemed to be patting the back of his hand—
He found vivid green eyes staring straight at him.
“...”
“...”
Their eyes met briefly.
An unreadable emotion lingered in the boy’s gaze.
“Huaaagh!”
Boom!
Verdi’s massive body slipped and became wedged between the narrow beds.
“Uuugh.”
Startled into screaming, Verdi immediately clamped his mouth shut to suppress the urge to vomit. The sudden impact of his heavy body sent violent tremors through him, shaking apart the stability his body had barely regained. Perhaps the wound in his abdomen had split open again; the blood soaking through was alarming.
But Verdi had no attention to spare for his own body.
Hurriedly wiping the boy’s blood from his fingertips onto his clothes, Verdi groaned as he struggled to pull himself free from between the beds. Even so, his mouth never stopped moving.
“I-I-I wasn’t trying to do anything bad! I’m Temar’s close friend! I heard you were his younger brother... there was blood coming from your wound, so I was trying to wipe it away! I didn’t mean to—”
The more he spoke, the emptier his head became and the more tangled his words turned.
Why had he gone and touched someone else’s sleeping body in the first place?
The problem was that the wound had been partially hidden beneath the collar. If it had just been exposed arms or legs, it would have been much better. The fact that he had pulled the collar aside bothered Verdi terribly.
He felt like a complete degenerate.
Why the hell had that lunatic sliced across someone else’s younger brother’s collarbone?!
Internally cursing Giselle to death, Verdi desperately begged forgiveness from the boy in front of him.
“...”
“Hm? What did you say?”
After rambling endlessly, Verdi’s sharp hearing finally caught a dry voice.
“...Water...”
“Ah!”
Craaack!
Nodding that he understood, Verdi moved his body that was stuck between the beds. Instead of struggling to squeeze himself free, he simply broke the bed apart. Wooden fragments rained down where Verdi had been trapped.
He quickly returned with water. Hesitating awkwardly, Verdi wrapped an arm around the boy’s shoulders and applied strength.
Whoosh!
“Ugh...!”
“Hhk! A human body isn’t a feather— Ah! I-I mean, I’m sorry...!”
Under Verdi’s strength, the boy’s body bent sharply forward. Verdi hurriedly caught him, his face now completely pale.
“H-Here’s water...”
The hand holding the cup trembled violently from tension. Watching the droplets slosh everywhere, Ren slowly regained his senses and gave him a pathetic look.
Ren placed his own hand lightly atop Verdi’s thick one and guided him instead. Pulling the stiff, frozen hand toward himself, Ren drank the water with difficulty.
Verdi found himself staring unconsciously at the water trickling down Ren’s lips before jerking back in alarm when he met Ren’s gaze.
“I-I wasn’t trying to do anything bad...”
The sound of him swallowing seemed loud enough to shake the room.
“It’s fine. I know you weren’t.”
“Hm? Y-You really mean that?”
Too tired to explain, Ren simply nodded.
His mind was gradually clearing. He could distinctly feel the intent behind the hands touching him. If Verdi’s touch had been groping or filthy, Ren probably would have kicked him with every ounce of strength he had left. He had only let it pass because it had not offended him much.
More importantly... had he said wound just now?
Frowning in confusion, Ren touched his own collarbone.
“Ugh!”
“A-Are you alright?!”
Verdi startled violently and grabbed Ren’s hand. He only meant to stop him from touching the wound, truly nothing more than that, but somehow Verdi still felt like a thug and hurriedly released him again. Perhaps it was because Ren’s skin was so delicate that it reddened instantly.
‘Why am I injured?’
Ren stared oddly at the flustered Verdi and tilted his head.
Wait. Just before this, I was definitely in Coco’s outdoor garden...
As Ren recalled how he had collapsed, his face suddenly turned pale.
“Where... is Giselle?”
“Ah, Giselle just left the room.”
“...”
Had he noticed?
Of all people, the one he least wanted discovering the truth had seen his disgrace.
Ren’s eyes sank heavily.
But it would not be easy to figure out. Even Temar, Luman, and Jepeto had failed to properly identify his illness.
A hesitant voice interrupted Ren’s thoughts.
“Do you have any message you want passed along? Or need anything? Does the wound hurt badly?”
“Ha... your wounds look far worse than mine.”
Unable to completely ignore Verdi hovering anxiously nearby, Ren answered back. The sharp poison had drained from his voice. Perhaps his guard had unconsciously softened around Verdi’s clumsy and honest demeanor. Or perhaps seeing Verdi worry over a scratch that barely qualified as a wound while blood poured from his own injuries had softened something inside him.
“Ah, I’m fine.”
Verdi grinned broadly and thumped his own wound.
Cold sweat was dripping down him, so what kind of stupid bravado was that?
The sight suddenly reminded Ren of Temar and Luman, and tears abruptly filled his eyes.
“...! W-Wha, what do I do...?!”
Seeing the tears instantly spill over, Verdi smacked his own forehead hard enough to make a loud crack. Even staring at the red handprint blooming across his forehead, Ren could not stop crying.
Were they badly hurt? Who was hurt? He said it wasn’t his brother, but...
I don’t want Luman or Geloman getting hurt either.
Ah, I really... have fallen apart.
Enough to burst into tears in front of someone I’ve never even met before...
An awkward comfort settled onto Ren’s shoulder. Verdi’s rough hand brushed against it as lightly as a feather.
