SWY 159

Sharhan glared down at the marquis’s lifeless body for a moment. If the man had simply accepted the outcome and faced death with dignity once he realized he’d lost, Sharhan might have believed he’d at least retained the final pride of a noble. But the marquis’s end had been ugly and cowardly.

In the end, he never apologized, but that didn’t matter. An apology from someone who felt no remorse would have been an insult anyway.

Look at him, lying in the ruins… how pathetic.

It was a fitting death for a man who had committed countless atrocities in pursuit of ambition. With a scornful twist of his lips, Sharhan exhaled and dropped to both knees.

“Haaah…”

A tremendous wave of pain surged through his entire body. He felt sweat trickling not just from his brow but all the way down his scalp. Even in the cold air, his body burned.

His heart was pounding as if it might burst. His fingers, still wrapped around his sword, were trembling uncontrollably. A wave of weakness swept over him, and he felt the urge to collapse. If not for Lestel’s voice behind him, he might have just closed his eyes and let himself fall.

“Damn it! Marquis! Traitor of Ailun! You betrayed your father… You’ve disgraced your bloodline!”

One of the knights, shocked by the marquis’s death, cried out in anguish. But Lestel only scoffed.

“Then follow your beloved marquis and build a new Ailun Empire in hell.”

“You’re not even sad he’s dead? Kill Kaois now and avenge the marquis!”

“I haven’t had a father for a long time.”

“You disgrace! I’ll kill you myself!”

The clash of swords rang out next. Just as Sharhan gritted his teeth and tried to rise to help, Lestel’s sword cut deep into the knight’s chest.

“Sharhan!”

“Are you okay?”

They shouted at the same time. Of course, neither of them was in good shape, but at least they were alive. That alone was a relief.

“The corpses will be here soon. We need to go.”

Sharhan nodded and quickly looked around. While he’d been fighting the marquis, it seemed Lestel had taken down five or six knights.

The ones less injured and still capable of moving had all been slain by Lestel. There were still some breathing knights scattered across the field, but their wounds were severe. They couldn’t even sit up, let alone stand.

If all of them had been unharmed, it would probably be Sharhan and Lestel lying among the dead instead. In a way, the mana explosive had saved them. Not that Sharhan felt any gratitude toward Parel. They themselves might have died or been crippled in the blast too. The fact they survived was nothing but luck.

“What should we do? Should we kill the rest…”

Sharhan hesitated, wondering if they should finish off the wounded to avoid future trouble.

“Help us! Isn’t anyone out there? Get us out of here!”

A faint voice rang out. It came from inside the well.

“Claire?”

Lestel’s brows furrowed. A moment later, a man’s voice followed: “I can’t breathe! There’s no air in here! Open this now!” It was one of the twins. They must have been trapped inside the secret passage when the explosion collapsed the entrance.

“Please! Father? Father!”

“Help us! Sir Harrel!”

The voices were hoarse from shouting and barely audible unless one was really listening. If Sharhan and Lestel hadn’t had sharp hearing, they wouldn’t have heard them at all.

“What do you want to do?”

If no one helped them, the trapped men would either suffocate in the narrowing passage or be forced to return to the castle filled with moving corpses. Sharhan had no intention of helping. Neither did Lestel.

“I don’t hear anything. Do you?”

Lestel shrugged, feigning ignorance. He didn’t even consider Claire or the twins family anymore. Blood ties meant nothing compared to bonds formed through shared hardships and genuine loyalty. There was no reason to waste time and effort digging them out.

“I don’t hear anything either. Oh, wait… I do hear something. The corpses are coming.”

Grrrr!

As expected, the predator’s cry echoed in the distance. And it sounded like there were a lot of them.

Thump thump thump! Raaaagh!

The roars of the dead grew louder, thudding across the ground as they charged. They would be visible soon. The faces of the wounded knights, who had been crawling and trying to rise, twisted in desperation.

Seeing that, Sharhan decided not to dirty his hands. The corpses would deal with the rest. Right now, they needed to get out as quickly as possible.

Sharhan was about to urge Lestel to hurry when he fell silent. He noticed Lestel staring blankly at something in the distance.

It was the marquis’s body.

“….”

Sharhan closed his mouth. No matter how far Lestel had distanced himself from the marquis, the man was still his father. It would be strange if he felt nothing. And earlier, he hadn’t responded to the marquis’s plea, maybe he’d had to bite back the instinct to beg for his life.

Sharhan glanced at him cautiously.

But there was no sadness on Lestel’s face. Only the faint clench of his jaw, the tense outline of his chin, suggested he was fighting back a complicated mix of emotions.

“Lestel.”

Lestel’s calm green eyes turned toward Sharhan at his call. Sharhan opened and closed his lips a few times, unsure of what to say.

He couldn’t apologize for killing Lestel’s father, and offering condolences didn’t seem appropriate either. All he felt was fear. Fear that taking the marquis’s life with his own hands might drive a wedge between him and Lestel.

‘I told him I’d kill the marquis myself, but hearing it and seeing it with your own eyes are two very different things’.

What weighed even more heavily on him was the way Lestel had smiled and turned his head when their eyes had met earlier, as if sparing Sharhan his own feelings. Lestel gave a light smile, brushed aside Sharhan’s messy hair, and spoke.

“Let’s go.”

After grabbing his pack, Sharhan nodded. He looked back at the marquis’s corpse briefly before facing forward and running ahead.

Sharhan and Lestel ran, avoiding the direction where they could hear the cries of predators. Whenever they encountered lone wandering corpses, they either struck their heads or took cover until it was safe to move again.

“Haa, haa…”

Their injured bodies quickly wore down. Even a little running left them breathless, and their wounds throbbed with pain. Every time, a weak voice in Sharhan’s mind urged him to sit down and rest, but he forced it down with all his will. Giving in now would only bring death closer.

They had found Iris. They had avenged their enemy. Just a little farther, and they could taste the sweet reward of the relics in the ruins.

‘Once we reach the ruins, I’m going to hold Lestel and sleep like the dead. After I’ve rested, I’ll wash up and spend the day tangled up with him until we’re both too tired to move.’

Sharhan pushed down hard with his thigh to take another step forward, imagining the bliss to come, but lost his balance and staggered. Lestel, startled, grabbed his arm, and they tumbled to the ground together.

“Sharhan, are you okay?!”

Lestel instinctively wrapped his arms around Sharhan as he looked up in alarm.

“I’m fine. Just lost my balance for a second.”

“You overdid it, huh? Legs giving out already? My love, you need to strengthen those thighs. With legs that weak, how are you going to keep up at night?”

Grinning mischievously, Lestel got up first and held out his hand to Sharhan.

“Whether I can keep up or not… we’ll just have to see.”

Sharhan snorted and took his hand, pulling himself up.

“Where’s the secret base Adam talked about? Is it still far?”

Sharhan replayed Adam’s words in his head, scanning the area as they walked.

“Probably about twenty minutes… wait. Shh.”

Sharhan suddenly fell silent and strained to listen. From not far away came the low growl of predators. Judging by the sound, it wasn’t just one or two. There had to be dozens. In their current condition, facing that many corpses was suicide. And it was too late to sneak past them now.

“What do we do?”

“We break through.”

Just as Lestel raised his sword, Adam’s words came back to Sharhan. On the way to the base, they would find a fallen tree with a hollow trunk, and from there, it would be about ten minutes north.

“There’s a place we can hide. Run.”

Sharhan whispered quickly and took Lestel’s hand before taking off. If he was right, they weren’t far from that tree. Fortunately, his memory was correct, and soon they spotted the fallen trunk Adam had described.

“There!”

They crawled into the hollow tree. It was narrow, forcing them to press tightly against each other. Their chests were so close that they could feel the pounding of one another’s hearts.

Without saying a word, their lips met. Just then, the snarls and growls of the undead began to echo nearby. The creatures passed right by the tree they were hiding in. A few stumbled and tripped over it. The tree shook slightly each time, but neither of them flinched, they were completely absorbed in their kiss.

It didn’t matter that they were dirty and unwashed, smeared with blood and dust. What mattered was that they had survived. Though they were wounded and exhausted, they were both still alive.

The kiss didn’t end quickly. Only after a long while did their lips finally part. Gasping, Sharhan rested his forehead on Lestel’s shoulder. As time passed, their breathing gradually returned to normal.