The Unending Punishment
It was the first time in several years she had heard Orsini’s voice.
“I despise noisy chatter. I don’t need any damn advice, so hurry up and treat it, then get the hell out.”
For a moment, Canna nearly let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
If he had demanded a reply, she would have been exposed without question.
And as if the heavens were on her side, a book lay draped over his face.
If she could finish treating him and slip away before he removed the book, before he created any reason for her to speak—
I can end this without being discovered.
Canna walked quickly and sat down beside him. She examined his injury. A long gash ran down his right arm, apparently sliced by a monster’s claw.
Now that I think about it, I heard he can’t use his right arm anymore.
It had to be the lingering effect of the deadly poison he consumed three years ago.
She had known from the reports, yet seeing the ruined limb with her own eyes stirred a strange feeling inside her.
This was the arm she had broken. The sacrifice he had offered to obtain a peaceful life.
Enough. These thoughts are useless.
This was no time to drown in sentiment. Canna carefully took hold of Orsini’s arm.
At that exact moment, his body flinched hard. It stiffened like stone.
Why is he reacting like this?
Had he noticed her just from the touch?
But the right arm she held should have no sensation left.
Yes, of course. That arm is little more than decoration now.
As if her worry had been pointless, Orsini offered no further reaction.
Relieved, Canna moved her hands swiftly. While she worked, she stole a glance at the book covering his face.
The Punishment of Sisyphus?
In the paradise on earth created by the gods, a world where no hunting or sustenance was needed to survive.
Sisyphus became the first murderer by hunting a young deer in that garden.
The god imposed divine punishment: he must roll a lump of salt larger than his own body into the sea until the waters were filled.
Yet the salt dissolved the instant it touched the waves.
Nevertheless, Sisyphus continued to roll the salt in, hoping that one day the sea would be full and his sentence would end.
Thus, Sisyphus’s punishment became an eternal torment with no possible end.
Orsini was reading something like this?
It was a very old piece of classical literature.
He was doing something that didn’t suit him at all.
Thinking so, she finished wrapping the bandage around his arm. That was it.
The moment Canna withdrew her hand and began to rise—
“……!”
She thought her heart would stop.
Canna froze where she stood.
Then, very slowly, she lowered her gaze to her own wrist.
Orsini had reached out with his left hand and seized it.
What is this?
Her mouth went dry with dread. Canna carefully tried to pull her wrist free.
Thud. His hand dropped away without resistance.
What? What just happened?
Her heart hammered wildly.
Still, she turned around with composure. She walked calmly.
Once she left the room, the waiting knight looked as though he wanted to speak.
She ignored him and kept moving. She walked, and walked, and walked farther still.
He caught on.
Cold sweat slid down the back of her neck.
He definitely caught on!
Otherwise he would never have grabbed her so suddenly.
I have to run—right now!
There was no time to pack. Canna headed straight for the castle gate in a panic.
When the gatekeeper saw her trying to leave, he asked, “Physician? Where are you going?”
“Open the gate. I’m going to the village to buy urgent medicinal herbs.”
“What? At this hour? Alone?”
“It’s urgent. The medicine is for Lord Orsini Addis. So hurry, before it’s too late!”
“Ah, yes, yes. Understood.”
As soon as the gate opened, Canna broke into a run.
Where do I go? Where?
To the village?
No. No one can witness me fleeing.
Then the hunting grounds.
Canna changed direction at once. She sprinted toward the forest where the lord liked to hunt.
Damn it.
The curse came out on its own.
Damn it, damn it all!
The last three years had been peaceful.
She had been truly happy.
Yet right now she could hear the sound of that happiness cracking apart.
Damn the Addises!
She had run away to escape the Addises, only to be dragged back into their grasp.
Canna was so furious at this reality that she could hardly endure it. It felt as if someone were whispering at her back.
Don’t run.
Running is pointless.
This is your real life.
Just like Sisyphus, forever trapped in the punishment of filling the sea with salt until the day he died, suffering beneath the yoke of the Addises was her destiny.
“Canna.”
How long had she been running?
A low voice reached her.
“Stop.”
Canna did not stop.
That voice behind her. That voice. That damned voice.
Just as she feared. The bastard had noticed!
Then it came.
A razor-sharp whistle cut the air. Something streaked past her side and slammed into the tree ahead with a heavy thud.
A dagger.
“……”
Only then did Canna’s feet stop.
When she looked down, several strands of hair lay scattered on the ground.
Her own hair.
The realization struck like lightning.
I’m going to die.
If she moved again, he would kill her.
Shit……
While she drowned in defeat and despair, the sound of boots crushing grass drew closer.
Canna closed her eyes. She hadn’t wanted to do this again……
I didn’t want to kill anyone ever again.
She brushed her thumb across the cold metal ring.
I’m forcing you to kill once more.
It was the self-defense ring she always carried, hiding a poisoned needle inside.
She would wait until Orsini came close, then stab him. That was her only chance. The moment she made that resolution—
The next instant, a massive shadow swallowed her whole. He had closed the distance without a sound, fast as the wind.
“……!”
After that, she was simply thrown around.
Her body was violently spun.
He ripped the ring from her finger and hurled it away, then tore her necklace off before she could even catch her breath.
“Ah!”
A groan burst from the burning pain around her throat.
He showed no mercy. He seized her shoulder and slammed her backward with brutal force.
Thud! Her back crashed into the tree. Canna clenched her teeth against the flare of pain.
“……”
Only then—
After stripping away every possible hiding place for poison did he take one step back.
Canna panted harshly. She lifted her gaze.
A sharply carved jaw filled her vision.
Passing the cold, bloodless lips, she finally met a pair of green eyes.
They were icy, arrogant, and exhausted.
“Canna.”
Orsini opened his mouth.
“It’s been a long time.”
“……”
“Three years since that day.”
Was this truly Orsini?
Goosebumps raced across Canna’s back.
The man before her was eerily calm. A lake without a single ripple, a desert without wind. He was nothing like the Orsini she remembered.
“I thought about it often during the last three years.”
He extended his left hand.
Tap. The hand settled on her shoulder, slid past it, and stopped at the nape of her neck.
“What I should do with you.”
Then he pressed his thumb against her smooth throat. The pressure was light as a feather. Yet even that gentle weight made her feel as if she were being strangled.
“The woman who tried to kill me. What should I do with her?”
The next moment his hand clamped roughly around her neck.
“I should have killed you back then.”
“Ugh… ugh!”
“I should have killed you long ago.”
Strength slowly filled the hand gripping her throat. Her breath was gradually cut off.
Canna raised her trembling hand. The instant her fingers closed around his wrist—
Orsini’s hand twitched.
The first reaction he had shown.
Canna did not miss it.
“Or…sini.”
She forced the words out.
“It… hurts.”
At that, the strength in his grip slowly melted away.
Shocked by her words?
Orsini’s eyes sharpened instantly. A spark ignited in the burnt-out ashes of his gaze. It quickly flared into a roaring blaze.
“You tried to kill me.”
And, stubbornly, he tightened his hand again.
“You toyed with me and tried to kill me. Thanks to you, my arm is crippled.”
The corners of Canna’s lips curved upward. Gathering her ragged breaths, she stammered.
“I… see. How… unfortunate.”
“Shut up. Don’t spout lies you don’t mean.”
Despite the harsh words, it felt as if his grip had loosened. Just as that thought crossed her mind—
“Hey.”
A man’s voice cut through the air.
“You filthy piece of garbage.”
From behind them.
“You gonna let go of that hand or what?”
Orsini’s eyes flew wide open. His lips parted. Pure disbelief flooded his face.
Of course he would react that way.
Canna understood his shock. And despite everything, it almost made her laugh.
Of all the absurd comedies in the world—
Orsini slowly turned his head. And he saw the man who had approached without a sound.
The existence he had believed gone forever.
“……Kallen?”
Orsini called his brother’s name.
“You were alive?”
“Who the fuck are you mistaking for Kallen, you bastard?”
Ren spat the curse. He drew his sword in a flash and pointed it straight at Orsini.
“Let go of that hand, you son of a bitch.”