BTCATL 26

26.

“…Rdin?”

I softly called his name as he hugged me tightly, but Rdin didn’t respond.

Only after a long time passed did he finally seem to realize I was safe, and he slowly let go of me.

And then—just for a brief moment—I saw fear flash across his eyes.

Fear, terror, those dark emotions.

Almost falling off a cliff was certainly a serious incident, but… was it really something to react to this extremely?

Somehow, the corners of his eyes looked swollen. As if he had cried.

Even his arms, now limply at his sides, were slightly trembling.

What was he so afraid of?

“You’ve finally lost it, haven’t you?”

At Calios’s voice, Rdin seemed to snap out of it and finally let out a slow breath.

And only then did he seem to realize just how tightly he had been holding me. His shaking eyes met mine.

“A-Apologies.”

“…Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m just relieved you’re safe, Asila.”

The trembling in his eyes, which had been tinged red, soon returned to their usual calm, and so did his behavior. That’s probably why I soon forgot about it.

The middle-aged woman I’d rescued from the cliff—Marchioness Seden—clung to my hand as we exited the forest, her face pale and terrified.

It wasn’t until the sun set and she reunited with her husband that her expression finally crumpled and she broke down.

Tears spilled from her eyes, weighed down by the fear of death, and the marquis held her tightly, his shoulders trembling.

“Oh, gods. Thank you, Razerddin. Truly, thank you… I’m so glad you’re safe, Rose. So, so glad…”

“Hans…”

Though the marchioness only truly came to her senses after the monster was killed, she seemed to vaguely recall that someone had stopped her.

“Thank you… thank you, Spiritist…!”

After hearing the full story, the marquis took my hands and wept.

I blinked.

A faint warmth seemed to seep into my chest. It was a strange feeling. But… not unpleasant.

“…Yes.”

In the end, I couldn’t help but let out a faint smile. The fact that I had saved someone—and that it had led to such a positive outcome—didn’t feel bad at all.

Some time later, after regaining her composure in her husband’s arms, the marchioness approached me and took my hands.

“If it’s not too presumptuous… could we host you at our estate for just a few days? Or even just one night? We want to express our gratitude somehow…”

There was so much admiration in her teary eyes that I couldn’t bring myself to say no. I turned around.

“…It’s too late to request a unit to escort us now. And we were going to stop by the capital anyway.”

Rdin’s indirect agreement to stay just one night visibly brightened the faces of the marquis and marchioness.

✧ ✧ ✧

The marquis couple gave us the three largest rooms in their estate, excluding their own.

When they offered to assign maids to us, we politely declined. As I entered the room and was just setting my robe down, there was a knock.

“May I come in, Asila?”

It was Rdin.

Moonlight poured through the window, illuminating the room.

Rdin set a tray with two steaming teacups down on the table and sat across from me.

He must’ve just bathed—the ends of his long silver hair still damp and glistening.

Unlike usual, when he tied it back neatly, his hair was loose, lending him a more disheveled, almost decadent air.

A refreshing scent drifted from the loose collar of his loose-fitting shirt.

The faint glimpse of his pale skin made my face flush involuntarily—I quickly looked away.

There was something unfathomable in his deep blue eyes, like he was lost in thought.

An awkward silence filled the room.

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since the two of us were alone like this.

After a while, as he idly rubbed the handle of his teacup, Rdin finally spoke.

“The monster you defeated today was called an Illudria. It’s one of the few monsters with mental manipulation abilities.”

A monster that lures in its prey by showing them the one thing they most long to see.

It has almost no physical power of its own, but its illusions are so powerful that it’s classified as S-rank, Rdin explained.

Even spiritists, without years of experience, could be easily drawn into its illusion. It was a dangerous being.

Ah… I see.

As a child, I had longed for the royal family to accept me as one of their own. Later, in the grand duke’s household, I wished for his love.

Not anymore, of course—but if I were to name the image I had wished for the longest, it would’ve been that.

So… that was the reason behind the absurd illusion I saw.

“And also…”

Rdin looked like he had more to say, so I looked up.

His long silver lashes glinted in the moonlight.

I took a soft breath, momentarily struck by how beautiful he looked.

—I’ll save you. Someday! I’ll definitely save you…!

I blinked.

…What was that just now?

A child’s voice—young, raw, and full of sorrow—brushed past my ears. It left a light ache in my heart before fading away.

The vague weight in my chest disappeared the moment I looked into Rdin’s eyes.

There was no room for thought—his eyes were filled with a wistful sorrow, as if recalling something far away.

The same look I’d seen when he embraced me in the forest.

Back then, it was the fear of the moment. But now, it felt like he was merely touching the remnants of it.

“Rdi…”

“I’m just… truly glad you’re safe, Asila.”

But before I could call his name, that look vanished.

What remained was the same gentle smile he always wore.

In his eyes, only a faint relief lingered, colored by a soft shade of blue.

My heart sank.

He was the one who pulled me out of the hellish grand duke’s home. The one who opened the path to salvation and hope.

So then… what is it you’re seeing that makes you so sad?

✧ ✧ ✧

“Rdin. Rdin.”

He woke to a distant voice.

Dark hair fluttered in the air. Cloudy silver eyes stared at him.

His breath caught in his throat.

A little girl who shouldn’t be here—who shouldn’t even know his name—was looking straight at him.

That girl… the one he could never forget.

He instinctively reached out to her—but someone stopped him.

He looked up.

Two pale-skinned men with sharp ears were holding his arms.

Elves.

“Rdin. Rdin. Rdin.”

The girl hummed his name like a lullaby, as if she couldn’t see him at all.

And then he realized.

It was an illusion. Created by a monster.

He could tell.

The fact that this illusion had summoned her, when it was supposed to show only sweetness and comfort—meant that, deep down, a part of his mind never forgot her.

Because he had always been waiting… for that girl to call his name.

The moment he recognized it as an illusion, the nymphs appeared and shattered the space.

He staggered and collapsed against a tree.

His breathing quickened.

Even if it lasted only a moment, he had seen her again. That little girl whose name he didn’t even know.

The nightmare had returned.

He closed his eyes.

The remnants of his past, filled with countless experiments at the hands of elves, began to creep up and suffocate him.

[Rdin…]

The nymphs circled around him, calling his name, but Rdin didn’t hear them.

✧ ✧ ✧

—There’s another kid just like you.

—Wanna see?

The elves laughed cruelly as they held up a large mirror before young Rdin.

—A human offered up his daughter as a sacrifice, and we gladly accepted. See that kid?

Beyond the mirror was a dark room. Something squirmed in the corner.

Rdin flinched instinctively.

A little girl with tangled black hair and glowing, cloudy silver eyes.

A woman roughly grabbed the girl’s arm and injected a golden liquid into her.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!”

Both Rdin and the girl in the mirror screamed at the same time.

Because the elves had injected the same substance into Rdin’s arm.

He knew what it was.

Elven blood.

He didn’t know why the elves were experimenting with injecting their blood into humans.

In that unbearable pain, all he could think was—he hoped the girl in the mirror wouldn’t wake up.

Maybe if she stayed asleep, the pain would be a little less.

The elves enjoyed these near-torture experiments, sharing many twisted stories with young Rdin.

Or perhaps they simply enjoyed seeing his face twist in horror.

—We hypnotized that human woman. She hated her daughter, for some reason. So we just… intensified that a little.

Sometimes, very rarely, when their guards left the room, Rdin and the girl could talk through the mirror.

Rdin could see her—but she couldn’t see anything.

“…What’s it like where you are?”

One day, she had asked him.

“It hurts here. I wish my father would see me. My mother hates me. She hits me. Yesterday, she used a switch on my legs. I bled. It hurts. But I don’t want to give up…”

Her short, broken words conveyed all her pain and suffering.

They clung to each other.

They treasured every rare moment they could speak, making a promise:

If we survive—someday, let’s meet.

But things only got worse.

The mirror didn’t just show the girl during the experiments.

It showed her being beaten. Her being screamed at.

It was horrific.

Her silver eyes grew cloudier by the day.

“…I’ll save you. Someday! I’ll definitely save you…!”

As the elves gave orders to the woman, young Rdin bit through his gag and shouted to the girl trembling in the corner of the mirror.

Rdin slowly opened his eyes, his head throbbing.