Chapter 43
‘I’m betting on that slave bastard!’
‘No way. That hunting dog, Maxy, had insane energy. I’m betting on the dog.’
Jex was a foreigner. After much hardship, he left his homeland and arrived in the southern region of Bertania—only to face even greater trials.
Life was hellish. His job was to fight against magically-enhanced hunting dogs in illegal dogfighting pits.
Every day, every minute, every second, a part of his soul died. The world turned dark and murky. He began to forget who he was.
‘Hey, you. Are you still alive?’
Someone spoke to him in his confinement. He had no idea how she slipped past the heavy security.
‘……’
‘You’re alive. Here, take this sachet. As long as you carry it, that dog won’t attack you again.’
‘……Who are you?’
‘Me? I’m Eslyn.’
He remembered thinking her voice was like a bell.
But he wouldn’t trust a Bertanian again. Jex growled as he looked at the shackles binding his arms and legs.
‘Did you come to buy me as a slave too?’
‘Huh?’
‘Are you going to trick me with a job, put me on a leash, whip me, and drag me into another hell?’
‘Hmm… yes.’
Jex clenched his teeth.
‘I’m trying to trick you with a job.’
‘What?’
‘But I don’t want to leash or whip you. That…’
She lifted her head slightly, revealing deep blue eyes beneath the hood of her robe.
‘That’s not something you do to another person, is it?’
‘……’
‘So? Want to work as my knight? I need someone skilled. I promise it’ll be a much better life than this.’
‘Aren’t you… afraid of me?’
His huge frame and different skin color made him a target of fear for many in the empire.
But the woman laughed like she had heard something amusing.
‘Why would I be afraid of you?’
“Sir Jex, are you even listening?”
Two voices overlapped. Jex snapped out of his thoughts.
“A-ah… I’m sorry.”
He quickly tilted the kettle in his hand. Drip. Hot water filled Eslyn’s empty cup once more.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I was just thinking… Could you repeat the question?”
“I asked if you had any medicine—something for Sir Tevet’s wounds.”
“Ah.”
Jex looked around the cabin and shook his head.
“I don’t have any in stock. But dawn is coming. I’ll head to the nearest village and bring back a physician.”
“No physicians. We’re being hunted. Just bring back some medicine and bandages.”
“But…”
Eslyn raised an eyebrow, surprised. Jex had never questioned her before.
“Your complexion isn’t good either, my lady.”
Her pale face looked ready to collapse. Eslyn smiled faintly.
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”
“Bringing in outsiders and being discovered by pursuers would be worse.”
“…Understood.”
Jex reluctantly gave in, resolving to buy up every remedy the village had.
Eslyn stood. Her clothes had mostly dried by the hearth, but still clung uncomfortably to her skin.
“I want to wash up and change. Is that possible?”
“I’ll heat some water and prepare a tub. I don’t have anything in your size…”
“Anything that covers me is fine. You can grab something from the village. Also… can you deliver a message?”
Jex nodded without hesitation.
“I’ll get more firewood.”
The hearth’s flames were beginning to dim. Jex stirred the coals and stepped outside.
He picked up firewood from the yard. His eyes darkened.
‘What did you just say?’
‘Your master died today. Stay in the palace or leave—do what you want. That was the deal.’
‘That… deal?’
‘Go.’
Jex’s jaw tightened.
Suddenly overwhelmed, he pounded his chest with his fist—but it did nothing to relieve the pressure.
He turned back. Light was spilling from the cabin window. Inside, a faint silhouette swayed with the flames.
What was this feeling?
He didn’t know how to describe the wave of emotion inside him. But one thing was clear.
‘This time, I’ll stay by her side to the very end.’
He would never experience that crushing defeat again.
He wouldn’t let Eslyn abandon herself this time.
‘I always thought my master was right.’
To him, Eslyn had been a hero.
‘But she gave up her life and left us behind.’
That had been a mistake. He wouldn’t let her make it again.
Even if it meant disobeying her—he didn’t care anymore.
As long as he didn’t lose her.
A life stuck between death and survival, staring into the void left by a lost master—
“Sir Jex, want help picking up firewood?”
That kind of hell, he would never return to.
Tebet was falling.
Endlessly, relentlessly, eternally…
His entire body was being torn apart and ripped to shreds—but it didn’t matter.
As long as the person in his arms didn’t disappear. As long as she was safe.
But at some point, something felt wrong.
His arms, which he thought had been full, were now completely empty.
No. No, absolutely not.
“Huff!”
He forced his eyes open.
His breathing was rough, like someone who had sprinted a great distance. His whole body burned with pain—but even so, he quickly groped around his chest.
She wasn’t there. Gone.
Eslyn had left him again!
“Damn it.”
He cursed through gritted teeth and pushed himself upright. Throwing off the blanket, he was about to storm outside when—
“……”
A small sound of breathing caught his attention.
Only then did his vision return to him. The room was dim, all the windows shut tight, yet sunlight leaked softly through the cracks.
Relying on that faint light, he turned toward the source of the sound.
“Haa…”
There she was.
Eslyn.
Curled up, fast asleep on the sofa in the middle of the room.
Tebet furrowed his brow.
“Why is she sleeping in a place like that?”
It had to be uncomfortable.
He moved to bring her back to bed, lowering his legs off the mattress.
Just as he tried to rise—
Suddenly, his vision spun wildly.
‘What…?’
Tebet shook his head hard.
On instinct, he reached for the sword lying next to him. A strange pain jolted through his palm.
‘…What am I even doing right now?’
When he looked up, there she was—curled in sleep, her figure slightly crumpled.
An unfamiliar sensation washed over his entire body.
