SWY 114

“Serman’s lord… You mean the Marquis of Ailun?!”

Lestel, who had been listening silently to the conversation between Sharhan and Gilbert, suddenly cut in. He was startled by the sudden mention of his father’s name.

“That’s right.”

“Why on earth is the Marquis of Ailun collecting amethysts?”

“Who knows. Just before the world went to shit, our guild got a request. If we brought amethysts, we’d be guaranteed food and safety. Back then, the reward wasn’t gold, so we ignored it, cough, but once corpses started rising and eating people, I remembered the job. I risked my life to gather them, but damn it, the avalanche buried everything I had… cough! I thought I got lucky when I found that amethyst brooch, but turns out today’s the day I die.”

Gilbert let out a bloody cough, grinning as he did. Sharhan watched him coolly, unmoved even as Gilbert muttered, “Just kill me already,” and then stood up. He grabbed Gilbert’s leg as the man wheezed in pain.

“Lestel, open the door.”

“W-what?! That wasn’t the deal!”

Realizing what Sharhan meant to do, Gilbert shouted desperately. Lestel, catching on, smiled with satisfaction and walked to the door.

“You believed that? A peaceful death is a luxury people like you don’t deserve.”

Sharhan smirked cruelly, lifting Gilbert’s leg while he squirmed. Gilbert tried to resist, clawing at the floor, but with his body weakened by injury, he had no strength. He hurled curses instead.

Lestel pressed his ear to the door, listening to the outside, then gave a nod.

“They’re busy eating the woman.”

“Let’s get him up.”

Sharhan and Lestel hauled Gilbert up as he kicked and screamed.

“Let go! You bastards! You think I’m gonna die alone?! Aaaagh!”

He shrieked, hoping to draw the corpses’ attention to the cabin instead, but it was useless. As soon as Lestel opened the door, Sharhan kicked Gilbert in the back, shoving him out. He stumbled straight into the arms of the corpses waiting nearby. They pounced on him immediately and began tearing him apart.

“Go rot.”

Lestel kicked away a corpse trying to squeeze in, then slammed the door shut. Gilbert’s howling and cursing faded quickly into silence. Neither of them felt even a trace of guilt for breaking their promise and throwing him to the monsters.

“The floor’s a mess.”

Sharhan muttered as he rolled up the carpet, now stained with blood from dragging Gilbert. They moved Ethan’s corpse into the elderly couple’s bedroom, then sat by the fireplace. The flames had dimmed, so Lestel added more wood before sitting down beside Sharhan and taking out the brooch, gazing down at it.

“……”

Leaning sideways to rest his head lightly on Lestel’s shoulder, Sharhan stared at the brooch for a while before asking,

“Why is the Marquis of Ailun collecting amethysts? Don’t tell me your dad had a hobby for that kind of thing?”

Obviously nonsense. A man like the Marquis of Ailun, who could afford the rarest of gems, wouldn’t bother with something as cheap as amethyst.

“Shan.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know anything about your family?”

“Besides the fact that we’re an old founding house?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing.”

“Didn’t your father ever tell you anything?”

“No.”

“……”

“What are you trying to find out? You already know everything I know.”

“This… is a family heirloom of the Kaios house.”

Lestel hesitated, glancing at Sharhan’s face, but eventually told the truth.

“What are you talking about? Why would this be… our heirloom? Wait–are you serious? I pawned this, so how did it end up with you?”

Sharhan laughed in disbelief at first, waving it off, but froze when he saw the seriousness in Lestel’s face. He picked up the brooch and examined it more closely.

“I’m the one who paid for it.”

“I heard they said it was worthless at first, then bought it back later at a high price… That was you?”

Now it made sense why Lestel had treasured such an unpopular brooch so much, it was Sharhan’s family heirloom.

“Yeah.”

“Why?!”

“Because I wanted to go to the Academy with you. How could I go alone and leave you behind?”

Sharhan’s voice rose, frustrated by the idea that Lestel had secretly helped him get into the academy.

“That kind of money meant nothing compared to the time I got to spend with you. I never once thought of you and me as separate. Wherever I went, you were supposed to be with me. But your family couldn’t afford the academy tuition, so I bought your heirloom for a high price. I hid it well, but just in case you found out, I had it made into a brooch.”

Lestel spoke calmly, even as Sharhan bristled exactly as he had expected. There was no reason to hide it now that he had revealed everything and laid his heart bare.

“……”

“Go ahead and get mad. Even if I went back in time, I’d do the same. Being apart from you hurt more than tearing off my own flesh.”

Lestel looked Sharhan straight in the eye. His green gaze shimmered with emotion. Feeling the weight of that overwhelming devotion, Sharhan’s chest tightened. The heat that had reached his crown slowly cooled, replaced by deep affection.

“You… while we were apart… you were looking for me…”

Sharhan bit his lip. His thoughts were a mess, and the words wouldn’t come out right. Lestel, smiling as he watched him struggle, spoke first.

“You want to ask how hard it was, right? It was torture. I missed you so badly it nearly killed me. I hated you a lot too. Didn’t your ears ring at the warfront? I cursed you constantly.”

“My ears did ring a lot. I figured it was you cursing me.”

“So you knew I’d curse you, and still ran away without saying a word?”

“I wasn’t running away… Honestly, we weren’t even that close back then. I felt uneasy, like I was leaving something behind, but it didn’t seem right to contact you either…”

Lestel pulled Sharhan into a hug as he rambled and scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“We’re close enough now that you won’t leave me again, right?”

“Yeah. Even if some accident separates us, I’ll come back to you. We’re that kind of pair now.”

“And you’re not gonna be mad anymore about me buying your family heirloom?”

“……”

“I held on because of this. Searching for you… it helped me survive. If I hadn’t had this brooch, I probably would’ve gone mad from missing you.”

Sharhan let out a long sigh at Lestel’s quiet voice that settled gently into his ear.

“Lestel.”

“Yeah?”

“Cut the nonsense and back off.”

“What nonsense?”

“You’re showing weakness on purpose because you know it makes me go soft.”

“Sometimes it’s annoying how well we know each other.”

Just as Sharhan suspected, Lestel had been faking his vulnerability to avoid more scolding. Clicking his tongue, he backed off. Sharhan looked at the grumbling Lestel and ended up laughing.

Honestly, he wasn’t mad anymore. It was embarrassing to have the truth about his poor family exposed, but it wasn’t like Lestel didn’t already know. And what was the point of arguing over something that happened years ago?

He had half a mind to act more upset just to get back at Lestel for hiding it so well. But imagining Lestel crying while searching for him softened him too much.

‘Did he cry? No, definitely cried. He’s always been a bit of a crybaby. I used to protect him when we were kids. Yeah, Lestel really can’t manage without me.’

He puffed up internally, but even if he hadn’t left Lestel, he would’ve forgiven him eventually. No matter what, the person who was always the softest toward Lestel… was Sharhan.

“So why did you suddenly confess that the brooch was our family’s heirloom?”

He could’ve kept it secret longer or brought it up more naturally later. The timing felt a bit abrupt.

“Because… I thought maybe the amethyst your father’s looking for… is the Kaios heirloom.”

Sharhan frowned, and a memory of what Ardelle had said surfaced in his mind.

‘He put a bounty on your for stealing the heirloom?’

His uncle had already taken the crest proving his right to inherit the title, the heirloom wouldn’t matter. But he’d acted like it was some priceless treasure, which had seemed odd.

As Sharhan held the brooch, deep in thought, he suddenly lifted his head and looked at Lestel. Another fragment of an old conversation came to mind.

‘It’s just a theory, but… like the village chief of Gagos guarded the ruins, maybe the Ice Cave is–’

‘You think there could be someone or a family that’s been guarding it?’

At the time, he’d agreed with Lestel but never thought of his own family. Now, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lestel had suspected all along.

“Do you think… my family was chosen to guard the ruins?”

Lestel nodded.