TOPWL 112

From afar, the sound of fireworks exploding in rapid succession could be heard. Soon after, the smell of smoke drifted into the alley. The raucous laughter and chatter of people felt like it was coming from a great distance. Yudit slowly lifted his eyelashes as if waking from a dream. Khalid was wearing a similar expression. Their vision, which had been focused solely on each other, now widened to include the world around them. Only then did the sounds and colors return to normal. What came first was a sense of regret, followed closely by embarrassment. No matter how deserted the alley, how could they have shared such an intense kiss?

“Your face is red,” Khalid teased, poking Yudit’s cheek.

“I just… started thinking it was a little shameless…”

“You’re feeling that after doing it all?”

When Yudit shot him a glare, Khalid burst into laughter and slung an arm over his shoulder. Even though he wasn’t leaning his full weight, the armored arm dragged Yudit’s shoulder downward. Yudit wondered how anyone could wear armor like that and still hunt monsters.

As they walked out of the alley, Khalid spoke up.

“We ought to thank the dire-bear.”

“For what?”

“Because it cried, we ended up kissing.”

“…Stop teasing me.”

Khalid let out a hearty laugh and drew Yudit closer under his arm.

“Come to my room tonight.”

As the commander of the knights, Khalid was staying for a while in the village chief’s annex, finishing up the final duties of the subjugation mission. Recently, accommodations had been completed for the people from the slum, so the knights were allowed to use the annex. And Yudit knew very well what Khalid’s words implied.

“If I were just a few years younger, I would’ve thrown you onto the bed the moment we arrived.”

“So you didn’t because… you’re tired?”

They had camped in the mountains for several days during the hunt, so of course fatigue would have built up. But at that, Khalid shook his head sternly.

“Not a chance. I’m in perfect health. If I’d known you’d think that, I should’ve proven it to you back in that alley.”

“…”

“If you’re okay with it, I can still prove it now.”

“I said I’m fine.”

At Yudit’s prim reply, Khalid chuckled to himself. Yudit wondered if maybe Khalid had eaten a bad mushroom in the mountains — his laughter seemed unusually frequent.

“Still, I’m the commander. I should at least show up for the start of the banquet. Need to get cleaned up, too.”

“You also have a short speech to give later in the square. Just in case, I wrote one for you.”

“You helped organize a whole welcome celebration over two days and wrote my speech? I’m touched.”

Khalid ruffled Yudit’s hair as he spoke.

“Don’t.”

Though he grumbled, Yudit let him mess up his hair without resisting — he actually liked the gesture more than he cared to admit.

***

Thanks to the people marching behind the subjugation force, the streets were mostly empty. When Yudit sent a concerned glance toward the vacant stalls, Khalid, as if reading his mind, spoke.

“They’ll come back to eat and enjoy themselves soon enough, don’t worry.”

It felt like his thoughts had been read. Yudit moved his lips left and right, trying to control his expression. Behind them, Huyan and Shane followed.

Then someone called out from a distance.

“Prince Yudit.”

A familiar voice clung to his ears like sticky syrup. A bad feeling crept up his spine. It was the instinct of one who had walked the edge of death many times. Yudit turned his head. His nanny was standing about eight steps away, looking straight at him.

The once plump and fair face of his nanny had sunken in and turned red with heat. Yudit was slightly shocked by how quickly a person could age. Huyan and Shane immediately came to stand beside him. It wasn’t that the nanny herself seemed threatening, but they were likely preparing for a possible assassin.

“Your Highness, are you happy after abandoning me?”

Bitterness filled the nanny’s eyes as she spoke. Her bloodshot gaze as she glared at him felt both unfamiliar and not. Khalid whispered to Yudit with a sigh.

“You haven’t killed her yet?”

At that moment, the nanny pulled something from her bosom. It was a dagger. Shane and Huyan simultaneously drew their swords. Watching them, the nanny scoffed.

“You’ve wrapped him up so preciously — as if I could harm the prince? I never even considered it, so drop your guard.”

Despite her words, she unsheathed the dagger. The blade glinted sharply under the sunlight, hurting the eyes.

“Nanny, stop.”

Instead of stopping, she climbed on top of a crate of apples set up as a makeshift table for a food stall. Clatter! The plates and water cups on the table crashed to the ground with a loud clanging. The poor stall owner, terrified by the sight of the dagger, couldn’t say a word, his hands trembling violently.

“Your Highness, I went to you that day and begged for forgiveness. You remember, don’t you?”

She gripped the hilt of the dagger and pointed its tip at herself. Yudit tried to run to her, but Khalid held him back.

“Wait — let me go!”

“Have you lost your mind? When you should be running, you’re stepping toward someone with a blade?”

Shane moved toward the nanny in Yudit’s stead. She pressed the blade to her stomach and shot him a venomous glare.

“Don’t come closer. One more step and I’ll stab myself. You bastard — I hated you from the beginning…”

Threatening her own life, the nanny forced Shane to hesitate. Meanwhile, she continued speaking.

“But Your Highness,” the nanny said, her voice trembling with pain and bitterness, “you cast me out into the cold, cruel world just because you gave me a few coins.”

“Nanny, calm down. Let’s talk about this—”

“We should’ve talked back then,” she interrupted, shaking her head.

She raised the dagger.

“You knew. You knew I couldn’t survive without you. And even so… you cast me aside. That was your doing.”

Shane rushed forward, but the nanny moved just a breath faster.

Thud.

The dagger pierced through her clothing and sank into her belly. The nanny crumpled to the ground, curling in on herself. Yudit, face pale as a sheet, struggled violently.

“Nanny!”

“Calm down. That won’t kill her,” Khalid said, tightening his grip around Yudit.

“Kh… keh…”

The nanny gasped, unable to breathe properly. Her face had gone deathly pale, like a corpse. Shane approached cautiously and pulled back her clothes. Since the blade hadn’t gone too deep, the dagger dropped to the ground with a light clink the moment the fabric was moved aside. Shane kicked it far away with the tip of his boot. As he pulled the layers back, the wound on the nanny’s belly was revealed — a thin trail of blood trickling down the soft, white curve of her abdomen.

Shane’s face hardened as he examined the injury.

“The blade was poisoned.”

The veins around the wound were turning a sickly blue, bulging beneath the skin. When the nanny looked down at her own belly, her expression turned to horror. The poison was spreading rapidly.

“That… that can’t be…”

Suddenly, she let out a shriek, clawing at the ground as her screams ripped through the otherwise quiet street.

“Aaaagh! Agh! It hurts, it hurts, it HURTS—!”

Her screams echoed in the empty street.

“No, no, this can’t be. It was just a blade. Just a blade, they said. Why, why me? Why me—urk, guhh—!”

She writhed on the ground like a shrimp, her spine curling and uncoiling again and again. Khalid still hadn’t let Yudit go. Frozen in shock, Yudit could do nothing but stare at the nanny’s grotesque collapse. Her veins had already turned blue all the way up to her neck. Everyone’s faces twisted at the sickening sight.

Clutching her throat, gasping for breath, the nanny met Yudit’s eyes. With a crazed expression, as if she’d spotted a rope dangling from heaven itself, she began crawling toward him.

“Y-Your Highness… save me… I can’t… I can’t breathe… It’s all my fault, I’m sorry, please… please save me—”

Yudit couldn’t bring himself to look away.

“Shane, bring a physician.”

“It’s dangerous. There may be more enemies.”

“That’s an order.”

At Yudit’s command, Shane closed his eyes tightly, then ran off in search of a doctor.

The nanny, dragging herself forward with trembling limbs, didn’t get far before Huyan blocked her path. She glared up at him, blue-veined and snarling. But Huyan didn’t flinch.

“If you were going to plant malice in someone’s heart,” he said coldly, “you should’ve been prepared to be drenched in it yourself. Stop causing trouble, and die quietly.”

“You… you bastard…”

She clawed at his leg with her nails, but the thick fabric of his trousers stopped her completely. Huyan knelt down on one knee and asked:

“Who gave you the dagger? If you tell me, I’ll avenge you.”

“Liar… I don’t believe you…”

“I swear on my name.”

Even in her dying moments, the nanny’s eyes darted about wildly, filled with fear. Her breath came in short, agonized gasps. She reached out toward the air as though grasping at something invisible and muttered:

“Your… Highness…”

Yudit began to struggle again, thinking she might be calling for him. This time, Khalid released him without resistance. Yudit dropped to his knees in front of the nanny.

“Shane’s gone to get a doctor. Just hold on. You need to stay awake, understand?”

“Tell us who gave you the blade,” Huyan said.

The nanny’s fading eyes shifted slowly between Huyan and Yudit. Saying her final words.