Chapter 34
“‘So what?’ you say? To be afraid of—no, to dislike something as trivial as insects is a disgrace for a warrior! Do you realize what would happen to my reputation if such a fact were made known?”
“But… every human has at least one or two weaknesses, don’t they?”
Confronted with such plain truth, Edwin bit down hard on his lip.
It wasn’t wrong. But still—
“…Right.”
He clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw ached, and finally pleaded in a low voice.
“Please… at the very least, don’t let Anette know.”
At that, Sharie’s eyes widened as she finally grasped the real reason behind his insistence.
Of course—no one ever wanted to show their unsightly side to the person they liked.
“Alright. I promise to keep it a secret.”
“You swear this—man to man.”
Once Edwin saw the sincerity in Sharie’s gaze, his expression relaxed, relieved compared to before.
The battle with the spiders had forged an odd sense of camaraderie between the two.
Meanwhile, from the very moment Sharie had slipped out of his hold, Kaisa’s displeasure was impossible to miss.
The sight of his wife growing unexpectedly closer to another man left him visibly sour.
“How did you manage to get so close to my wife so quickly?”
Standing with arms crossed, Kaisa fixed his gaze on the two of them. In his amber eyes flickered a coldness Sharie had never seen before.
“Well, since we’ve achieved our objective, shall we return?”
Sensing the atmosphere turn grim, Edwin quickly backed away to put distance between them.
As Sharie stood there, dazed by his hasty retreat, a large hand closed firmly around hers.
“The one you should be looking at… is me.”
Kaisa looked down at her with a deliberately tender smile.
“Let’s go.”
His familiar warmth seeped into her skin through his touch.
The cave around them was just as dark and damp as when they entered, but their return felt nothing like their arrival.
Sharie tightened her grip on his hand.
“….”
Kaisa’s fingers paused for the briefest moment, then gently brushed over the back of her hand.
His long, delicate fingers were calloused from years of wielding weapons.
Almost as if savoring the feel of her skin, his fingers slid between hers, entwining tightly.
The near-crushing grip should have been suffocating, yet strangely, it calmed her.
“Let’s go home.”
His soft voice lingered in her ears.
Home…
To Sharie, a home had once been nothing but a place of pain.
Barely half a year had passed, and already its meaning had changed.
Now, she thought of the cozy bedroom in the castle, its fireplace blazing warmly.
That was her home now. Her true haven.
They emerged from the cave into the depths of night.
The mountain at night was a different world.
Thickly clustered trees, jagged rocks, and steep cliffs all blurred into shadow and gloom.
Even the ground beneath one’s feet was hard to see.
“Ah—!”
Sharie slipped on wet, slick leaves and stumbled.
The slope below would have sent her tumbling if not for Kaisa’s quick hand, pulling her back.
“Thank you.”
“It’s only natural.”
Once he let her go, Kaisa scanned their surroundings.
Both Sharie and Edwin were visibly exhausted.
The serpent clan’s bodies far surpassed human limits, but after relentless mountain climbs and a brutal battle, even they had their limits.
It was better to rest than force a dangerous descent.
“We’ll camp here until dawn.”
Kaisa swiftly chose a spot for a makeshift camp.
“But what if monsters attack the village while we delay? You are our greatest strength, my lord. Shouldn’t you return as soon as possible?”
“One day will make no difference.”
Edwin still looked doubtful, but Kaisa’s unwavering tone silenced him.
Together, they cleared the ground, drove sturdy branches into the soil, and set up a crude shelter.
While working, both men noticed a small, careful presence lingering nearby—
Sharie, hovering like a shy little creature.
Kaisa’s lips softened into a faint smile.
Masking it quickly, he called out lightly,
“Sharie, if you’re not too tired, could you gather some dry grass from around here?”
“Yes!”
Delighted to have something useful to do, Sharie nodded brightly.
She crouched down, her small hands scooping leaves and dry grass.
Her figure was so endearingly cute that, had she truly been a little rabbit, Kaisa might not have resisted the urge to nibble her.
“Will this be enough?”
Her cheeks flushed pink from the cold as she held out an armful of grass.
“That’s quite a lot. Well done.”
Kaisa smiled as he took it.
His face revealed nothing of the heated impulses he concealed beneath his calm exterior.
“This will be more than enough for a fire.”
He arranged the grass and twigs, ringed them with stones, and soon had a crackling fire going with his flint.
Meanwhile, Edwin had stitched together a crude sleeping bag from spare cloth.
Kaisa patted it down flat.
“Sharie. Over here.”
Her wide eyes were already drooping from exhaustion.
After the long trek and the ordeal in the cave, sleep was inevitable.
“Then… I’ll just lie down for a little while.”
Rubbing her drowsy eyes, she staggered to the bedding and curled inside like a rabbit burrowing in its hole.
Her steady breathing soon filled the camp.
“…That was mine, you know.”
Edwin muttered faintly, but Kaisa ignored him. Instead, he pulled out a blanket from his pack and spread it over Sharie.
The fire seemed too far to keep her warm.
Would she be cold?
As he worried, Edwin chuckled from beside the flames.
“If you think your wife is cold, why don’t you go warm her with your own body?”
Normally, Kaisa would have scowled or ignored him. This time, he replied without hesitation.
“True. The best way to fight the cold is to strip down and cling together like beasts. What do you think—want to watch?”
The blunt crudeness made Edwin’s expression sour.
“…Forgive me. It was only a joke.”
“As was mine.”
Ignoring Edwin’s sigh of relief, Kaisa studied Sharie’s sleeping face.
Her cheeks glowed with a healthy flush, unaffected by the mountain chill.
Satisfied, he turned back to the fire and drew something from his inner pocket.
“Thirteen pieces. All found in the mountains.”
“…These are—”
Edwin paled at the sight of the gleaming green stones in Kaisa’s palm.
“Shards…”
Shards were rare crystals sometimes found in the remains of ancient monsters.
A rich green hue, glowing faintly.
When burned, they melted like wax and gave off an eerie fragrance.
“Such a wondrous gem…”
From the moment they were first discovered, Shards spread like wildfire through rumor and greed.
Collectors paid fortunes before anyone understood their true nature.
But soon the terrifying truth emerged.
“These are demon stones! They lure monsters!”
Drawn to Shards like moths to flame, monsters swarmed wherever they appeared.
Especially when burned, their scent could carry for miles, stirring entire habitats into chaos.
Attacks on homes and villages followed, countless times.
“As protectors of Barhad, we cannot allow such a wicked thing to circulate among our people.”
By decree of the former clan leader, every Shard in the land was confiscated.
“But it’s my property! I paid good money—how can you just take it?”
There had been protests, but safety outweighed personal greed.
In this frozen land, survival came first.
And so, the shimmering green crystals—once praised for their beauty, now cursed as a menace—were locked away in storage.
Until finally—
“The great Gaia will surely purify even such blasphemous relics.”
Every Shard was offered to the temple.
Since then, any new stones unearthed during hunts were also delivered there.
“Are you telling me Shards were being burned in the mountains?”
Edwin swallowed hard.
It was nothing less than a deliberate plot to endanger the land, with no regard for peace.
“But why…? Who would do such a thing?”
“Who else.”
Kaisa’s tone dripped with hostility.
“But Arceo is locked away in prison. How could he possibly orchestrate this?”
Edwin’s doubt hung heavy in the air.
Kaisa, however, only looked indifferent.
“Who knows. I don’t.”
“My lord…”
The firelight danced across Kaisa’s sharply cut features, gilding them in a shifting glow.
Beneath his jet-black hair, his golden eyes gleamed with a predator’s light.
