I stared at the magic circle—its other half warped and crushed—then turned my gaze forward again.
Just as I’d suspected, Theo really had tracking magic on him that he couldn’t escape. If I’d tried to flee with him, Zed would’ve caught us before we got very far.
And at the same time, my heart went cold at how wide the burn area was. The wounds looked at least second-degree, and a bitter taste rose in my mouth.
My feelings tangled. I hesitated more than once, then finally forced out the words.
“I’m sorry, Theo.”
“.......”
“If it’s that bad, it must’ve hurt a lot—”
“That’s enough! Don’t apologize!!”
At my sincere apology, Theo recoiled as if disgusted and shouted. He even rolled up the sleeve on his uninjured left arm and thrust it right in front of me.
“Do you see this? My hair’s standing on end!”
“.......”
“I got the scare of my life. Don’t ever do that again!”
Varen gave Theo a cold look as he raised his voice at me. Only when Theo saw the blue eyes flicker did he clamp his mouth shut.
I adjusted my grip on Varen’s hand and soothed him. The more we talked, the more it felt like Theo wasn’t going to harm me—so I freely glared at him.
“You bastard. Even when I apologize, you freak out.”
“Whew. Now I feel at ease. You know that rumor that if a person suddenly changes, they die.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t die before you do.”
I’d thought his tastes were strange from the moment I met him. Apparently he felt steadier when someone treated him roughly.
Facing forward again, I asked what I’d truly been curious about.
“Then how did you end up with the Rebels? You seem pretty trusted.”
“I was a Rebel from the start.”
I stopped short. When I stared at him with wide eyes, Theo lifted his chin.
“Why is that so surprising?”
“Then you were a Rebel and you still experimented on monsters?”
“How many times do I have to say it? I didn’t want to.”
As if urging me to keep moving, Theo jerked his head. When I matched pace and started walking again, he lowered his voice and continued.
“At the very least, I’ve never killed a monster. I’ve even released them while avoiding Zed’s eyes. If you hadn’t caused an uproar, I planned to give Elpera the antidote and then let her go.”
At his words, the image of Ella’s back as she fled into the forest rose in my mind, leaving me heavy.
Elpera had originally been a monster that lived independently. By now, the brainwashing would’ve mostly worn off... but the thorn lodged deep inside me didn’t just come out.
And more than anything, Kallen—still sniffing at night while missing Ella—also weighed on my mind.
I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration, then threw out my remaining question.
“Does Zed know you’re with the Rebels?”
“He seemed suspicious, but he couldn’t find definitive proof.”
“Funny. Two brothers taking opposite paths.”
“Just because you were born on the same ship doesn’t mean you sail the same course. Besides, Zed threatened me using my mother and sister’s lives.”
I knew he was vicious, but using his own family’s lives as bait...
Now that I knew, Zed Cardo was so vile I almost wondered why he hadn’t appeared in the original story at all. Or maybe he was meant to be a villain for the late arc.
While talking with Theo, we reached the edge of the forest before I realized it. Noance, who had been walking ahead without a word, turned around.
“From here, find your own way. I don’t need to escort you all the way home, do I?”
I looked back along the path we’d come. The dense trees rose thickly.
But no matter how hard I focused, I couldn’t sense any presence from the Rebels.
Finding the lodging where our group was staying wasn’t the problem. The problem was whether I’d be able to find ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the Rebel base again afterward.
When I stayed silent and weighed it, Noance rummaged through his pocket as if something had finally occurred to him. What he held out was a single bronze-colored coin.
“Once you’re this far, this’ll guide you.”
I took the coin and examined both sides. There wasn’t any obvious marking—so this was supposed to act like navigation?
As I only tilted my head, Varen took the coin from my hand.
“I’ll come find you soon.”
“Yeah. Don’t die until then.”
Varen’s eyes narrowed at the farewell that was hard to tell was concern or not. Even under the dragon’s sharp stare, Noance just shook his head.
“Tsk. Slow for a dragon.”
“What?”
“If you don’t want to watch your lover die, you’ll need to train.”
Leaving words that made my ears burn, Noance lazily waved his hand. Then he turned back without hesitation with Theo.
I watched their backs with focused attention, but at some point their forms blurred and vanished from sight. It seemed like some kind of concealment magic, too.
A breath of relief escaped me at the fact that we were finally out. I took a long, deep breath and looked at Varen—who was staring down at the coin on his palm with a grave expression.
For a moment, I wanted to shout at Noance about who had crushed our kid’s confidence.
“Varen, don’t take it to heart so much. I’ll be careful too.”
“...Lover.”
“.......”
But Varen—who I thought might have taken a hit to his pride—was stuck on the awkward word instead.
With a face flushed all over, he whipped his gaze up to me.
“I see. Until we become mates officially, it’s lover....”
“Stop saying useless things. Let’s go. Morpha will be worried.”
I pushed at Varen’s back and made him move first.
For now, getting back to where our group was came first. To my eyes, the forest all looked the same, but Varen would be able to find the lodging.
“Do you realize I’ve been worried?”
But Varen didn’t even need to step up—Morpha found us first.
When I looked up toward the sound, Morpha—in the form of a young boy—was perched high on a tree.
They landed as lightly as a cat and approached us. Their face was expressionless, unreadable, yet I found myself clasping my hands behind my back and lowering my gaze.
When Morpha finally stopped in front of me, they looked up at me.
“Ceryl, do you have nothing to say to me?”
“...I was wrong.”
“Do you know what you did wrong?”
Maybe it was Morpha’s particular tone, but I almost felt like I’d been re-enlisted.
When I couldn’t say anything, Varen naturally stepped in, taking my side.
“That’s enough, Morpha. It’s not Ceryl’s fault. It’s because I—”
“Varen Dravergh, don’t interfere.”
Morpha sighed and swept their hair back. The youthful face, visibly drawn after a single night, was soaked with exhaustion that didn’t suit their age.
“Varen Dravergh, do you know what my role is?”
“You’re the dragons’ negotiator.”
“So you did know. I thought you brought me along just to play dress-up.”
“.......”
Both Varen and I fell silent, our mouths tightly shut.
Morpha, who had been idly twitching their fingers, turned their body toward Varen. Strangely, Morpha’s anger was sharper toward Varen than toward me.
“You didn’t leave Belzena to go sightseeing.”
“I...”
“If it were Ordin, he would not act this recklessly, without a plan.”
At the name that came out of Morpha’s mouth, I glanced at Varen.
Varen couldn’t respond at all. He only stared back at Morpha with shocked eyes.
“Do you still not understand that every dragon of our kin is on your shoulders?”
“.......”
“I have served countless Dravergh, but no one has disappointed me as much as you. Please behave like a Dravergh.”
After enunciating every word, Morpha threw on a transparent cloak. Then, raising a small gust of wind, they kicked off the ground and vanished into the sky.
Looking at Varen standing there blankly, I could only glare at a pebble on the ground for no reason.
“.......”
This time, it was something I couldn’t comfort away.
***
Wearing the transparent cloak, I returned to the lodging, and the moment I arrived, Kallen and Margon grabbed me.
“Ceryl! Why did it take you so long? Do you know how worried I was?!”
“Let me see. Are you hurt anywhere?”
I gave them halfhearted answers. All my attention went to Varen, who had his shoulders drooping pitifully.
When Kallen tried to run to Varen after confirming I was safe, I quickly caught her and stopped her.
“Huh? Why—”
“Leave him alone.”
And Varen, without speaking to anyone, quietly went up to his room.
In the suddenly heavy atmosphere, Kallen looked up at me. Even Margon—normally slow on the uptake—could feel the low pressure hanging off Varen.
I was too exhausted to satisfy their curiosity. I opened my mouth in a tired voice.
“Haa... I’m not hurt. I’m fine. Where’s Morpha?”
“They arrived earlier and have only been in the bedroom. They didn’t even eat. Did you eat, Ceryl?”
“I’m good. You two should eat.”
I patted the orange hair that drooped at once, forcing out a bitter smile.
Unlike a dragon, who could go months without eating and suffer no harm, a human who hadn’t eaten properly for two full days was at the point where their hands were starting to shake.
But my appetite had dropped off a cliff, and I couldn’t even feel hungry.
There was something I needed to soothe before my own hunger.
