Chapter 42
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Chapter 42
"Ugh! Dad's being so petty!"
As I narrowed my eyes into slits, Curtis Rohan swallowed what was in his mouth and looked at me.
I asked with sparkling eyes.
"Can I eat this and still go to the Villa and come back?"
Curtis Rohan seemed to have anticipated what my request would be.
Since he'd surely guessed that this incident was aimed at Rachel, he was definitely planning to refuse me.
"I know you're worried, Dad, but I just want to check if Rachel's okay and then come right back. Okay? Dad?"
Phase one: the cuteness offensive.
At that, Kamang also climbed onto my head and trembled along with me, as if endorsing my opinion.
But Curtis Rohan didn't seem inclined to grant my request.
"Vivian."
"Rachel went there alone yesterday to rescue me because I was kidnapped. Even knowing it was dangerous...."
Phase two: the tears offensive.
As I finally spoke through sniffles, Curtis Rohan eventually sighed and raised both hands in surrender.
"However, there's a condition."
* * *
Rachel's eyes opened.
The intense sunlight visible the moment his eyes opened told him that considerable time had passed.
As the sun rose, all the terrible things from last night vanished like a nightmare.
Yet the heaviness weighing on his body bore witness to yesterday's battle and the incident.
Along with the memories of last night, the first thing that came to mind was.
'...Vivian.'
Vivian's safety.
Just as I pulled the bell cord to ask about Vivian's whereabouts, the door opened slightly.
What appeared through that gap was....
"Rachel, can I come in?"
Those honey-colored eyes I'd been longing to see.
And behind them stood a man with eyes identical to those.
It was Curtis Rohan, who had followed Vivian to the Villa out of concern about letting her go alone.
Rachel froze when their eyes met.
[Dad, I'm sorry I'm late. I'm so sorry for leaving you alone....]
The image of him embracing Vivian and nearly weeping last night overlapped with the memory of his grandfather sobbing after losing his mother, and my heart sank heavily.
At the same time, my gaze toward Vivian, who was waiting for my permission, grew distant.
"...Come in."
Vivian rushed in as if she'd been waiting and sat in the chair beside the bed.
"Are you feeling okay?"
On Vivian's cheek as she asked was a small bandage.
It was right where the dagger thrown by the Kidnappers had grazed her.
And perched on her round head was the Dark Spirit I'd seen last night.
Upon witnessing this, I drew in a slow, deliberate breath.
The more I gazed upon Dias, upon Vivian's wounds, upon the Dark Spirit....
The more it felt as though a massive thorn had lodged itself deep within my throat.
I answered with a beat of hesitation.
"...Yes."
Noticing that I was staring at the spirit hovering above my head, Vivian extended her palm.
The Dark Spirit then settled onto her palm as naturally as if it had always belonged there.
"I was too frazzled yesterday to introduce you properly, didn't I? This is the Dark Spirit—I met it in the Cave yesterday."
The Dark Spirit trembled its small form as if offering me a greeting.
"You were right about me. I'm not strange—I'm special."
"...."
"Thank you, Rachel."
Normally, I would have responded with awkward gruffness, but I said nothing at all.
'Does she dislike me because I'm a Dark Spirit?'
Yet Rachel had been kind enough to call me special.
She wouldn't hate me over something as trivial as prejudice.
Flustered by my inexplicable silence, Vivian changed the subject.
"It's a shame we couldn't enjoy the Festival properly yesterday, isn't it? I even bought you some delicious skewered chicken, but I lost that too.... Sigh."
"...."
"Once you're fully healed before the Festival ends, let's go again. This time, I'll make sure you get to eat plenty of delicious things."
"...I don't want to go."
"Huh? Oh...."
Vivian was taken aback by my rather cold response, but she quickly tried to understand my feelings and recover.
"Ah, I see. This year is a bit much, isn't it? I'm sorry—I wasn't thinking. Then next year―"
"I don't want to go with you."
My frigid voice cut through Vivian's words.
Vivian's vacant eyes blinked as they fixed upon me.
Her gaze held an unwavering faith, as though she couldn't believe my cold demeanor.
Yet I shattered that faith completely.
"You shouldn't have followed me yesterday. You only ended up like this because you foolishly trusted me and went along."
"...."
"I should never have come to this wretched Rural Village in the first place."
Yet contrary to my words, my mind was flooded with endless visions of spring and summer spent in this Village.
The view of the Village from atop the hill.
The day I visited my mother's grave with grandfather.
A quiet summer night, with someone sleeping peacefully beside me.
Vivian was present in every single one of those scenes.
And now.
The protagonist of those memories gazed back at me with wounded eyes—so different from the smiling face I held in my heart.
"Why... why would you say such things?"
"...."
"Why are you speaking so cruelly?"
"I'm sick of you, sick of this Village, sick of everything."
Each word that left my lips—sharp as a blade—pierced and tore at my own heart.
Rachel averted his gaze from Vivian's eyes, which threatened to spill tears at any moment, and opened his mouth to issue the dismissal spell.
"That's enough—"
"Are you afraid?"
At the unexpected question, Rachel looked at Vivian with bewildered eyes.
"Afraid I'll die?"
"...."
"Afraid you'll be in danger by staying at my side?"
"What I'm afraid of is that you'll be in danger—"
"If that were truly the case, why do your eyes look like they're about to cry even more than mine?"
Caught in his own contradiction, Rachel's eyes went blank.
Only then did I realize.
Vivian wasn't crying because my words had wounded her....
She was crying at the sight of my anguished eyes—eyes that had been torn open by my own cruel words.
"I'm afraid too."
"...."
"But I want to be by your side anyway...."
My voice grew increasingly choked with tears, my words trailing into silence.
Vivian wiped away her flowing tears roughly and forced out her next words as if expelling them from deep within.
"I love you."
That brief but weighty confession—sincere and carefully compressed—completely shattered Rachel's defenses.
"Then to you, am I really just the kind of friend you'd abandon if you were scared...?"
Rachel swallowed the emotions that surged like a breaking dam, his voice hoarse as he answered.
"...No."
At the same moment, Rachel's blue eyes overflowed like a lake.
"The truth is, I...."
Our spring, our summer.
I'm actually curious about the autumn and winter landscapes we'd share together.
"I want you... to be by my side."
Even if being near me puts you in greater danger, even if you get hurt.
Even if that makes me selfish.
Only then did Vivian, who had been watching Rachel finally reveal his true heart, burst into tears and pulled him into an embrace.
Rachel, dazed by the warmth, hesitantly embraced her in return a moment later.
Behind the shattered facade, the truth that had been hidden erupted forth.
The desperate desire not to let go of this warmth.
* * *
Several days later, late into the night.
After touring the Estate, Butler Owen was preparing to retire for the night when the sound of hoofbeats startled him into hurrying toward the entrance.
Curtis Rohan rode through the main gate on horseback.
Under normal circumstances, he would have returned by carriage, but his hasty arrival suggested he had rushed back upon hearing news of Rachel.
"Welcome back, sir."
"Where is Rachel?"
"He has recovered to nearly his usual condition. He should be sleeping at the moment."
Only then did the turbulent gleam in Curtis Rohan's eyes finally settle.
He glanced up at Rachel's Room window once, then stepped into the Estate and asked.
"Did you capture the mastermind?"
"The mastermind escaped, and the mercenaries who were hired to carry out the kidnapping were... completely annihilated."
Curtis Rohan's footsteps halted abruptly as he moved deeper into the Estate.
He furrowed his brow and turned back to Owen.
"You killed them all?"
"More precisely, it would be accurate to say they 'were found dead.'"
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org