Chapter 38
“You can jump. Right?”
Ria looked at Zen with a determined expression. Zen, who had been staring blankly for a moment, let out a nervous laugh and tightened his grip around her waist. Ria wrapped her arms firmly around his neck in return.
“I won’t take responsibility if you fall.”
There was a hint of tension in Zen’s muttered words.
He shook his body a few times and then leapt onto the sword he was holding. Balancing on the thin blade, Zen held Ria tightly once more.
This is crazy.
Even knowing that, Ria had no choice but to close her eyes and leave everything to Zen.
A low sigh echoed in her ears, and her body swayed violently. As Zen took a running start, the sword fell below, and she felt her body rise into the air again. The wind rushed past her ears.
An eternity seemed to pass, and finally, Ria felt the ground beneath her hands.
“Hah…”
She opened her eyes dizzily. She was standing on the flat rock she had anticipated.
I’m alive.
Ria looked down at her trembling hands, clenched them tightly into fists, and looked around. Zen seemed to be catching his breath in a kneeling position.
“Haah… haah…”
“Zen!”
Ria hurried toward him but flinched. The cliff was still there, and the rocks could collapse at any moment. She had to move slowly.
Carefully, she shifted her body. She realized her magic had already worn off.
That was barely enough.
If she had been even slightly slower, it could have been disastrous. Shivers ran through her body, and tears threatened to spill. Despite her earlier determination to move cautiously, she quickly crawled to Zen on her knees and, without realizing it, hugged him tightly.
“Wh-…”
Zen’s surprised voice reached her ears.
“I’m alive, Zen. I’m alive!”
Ria felt like crying out loud. Even before she possessed another body, she had constantly faced threats to her life. Afterward, she had faced issues like losing her presence, but nothing had made her feel as close to death as this moment.
“…Ha, haha.”
Zen, who Ria was clinging to, suddenly laughed. Then, with an awkward gesture, he patted her shoulder slowly.
Ria glanced up slightly. Zen’s lips curved into a smile—not a smirk or a hollow laugh, but a helplessly amused smile.
Her throat tightened at the sight of his silver hair fluttering in the wind and his boyish smile tracing beautiful curves. He looked strange somehow.
It’s not that he’s unfamiliar… could this be the Zen from the original story?
Zen looked down at Ria with drooping eyelashes.
“Anyway, I can’t take my eyes off you.”
He pressed his face against her shoulder. Ria’s heart plummeted harder than when they were dangling from the cliff.
Oblivious or not, Zen mumbled against her shoulder:
“So, what kind of magic was that?”
You can jump.
He recalled the faint blue light that had enveloped them when Ria had spoken those decisive words. Since then, their bodies had felt almost weightless in the air.
That’s why Zen could balance on the sword and leap to a distant rock in an instant.
“That’s…”
Ria looked slightly embarrassed. Her earlier courage from hugging him had vanished, and she awkwardly avoided his gaze.
“Actually, it’s a very basic spell. Levitation magic. I didn’t expect it to work on people—it was an experiment.”
“I see.”
It wasn’t a difficult spell. Even Zen, who hadn’t chosen magic, could perform it if he learned the incantation.
Zen recalled something Korend had said when he was younger:
“The important thing isn’t the magic itself, but how you use it.”
He realized that Ria and Korend might be similar in that sense.
Zen still buried his face in Ria’s shoulder, nodding slowly, and each time, Ria flinched. He blinked slowly. His right ankle ached from the landing.
We need to get back.
Zen’s gaze fell on the place where they had been hanging. Though the sword had fallen, the rocks were so numerous that it wasn’t obvious.
“Without the sword, going back is impossible.”
“…What do you mean? If we had the sword, we could return?”
“The hilt has a magic circle. It can transport you to the palace or a shelter.”
“What?”
Ria, stunned, grabbed Zen’s shoulder and shook it while shouting:
“Then why didn’t you use it earlier? We wouldn’t have had to go through this!”
Zen’s hair flew wildly.
Dizzy…
In fact, he had forgotten about the magic circle. Before reincarnating, he hadn’t used it after receiving the sword. After reincarnation, it never activated properly, so he had thought it useless.
Thinking back, if Korend had really tried to kill him, that magic wouldn’t have worked anyway, since Korend had created the circle.
Zen glanced away.
“It’s magic only the royal family can use. And it’s one-person only.”
Ria’s jaw dropped.
“Then… you had me jump just so you could… go alone…”
At that time… I really had forgotten about it.
Even Zen was surprised at how instinctively he thought only of saving Ria.
Unconsciously, maybe I even acted chivalrously.
Since dozens of deaths happened on the same day, Zen had a vague certainty that he wouldn’t die.
Even if I did, I’d come back.
“The word ‘jump’ feels… weird.”
But Zen admitted it anyway. He didn’t want to acknowledge that he had tried to sacrifice himself for Ria, and ultimately, it was Ria who had saved them both.
“Is the wording really the problem now?”
Ria raised her eyes sharply. No matter how scary she tried to appear, Zen chuckled.
“I thought… you were really going to die.”
Ria’s jade-green eyes filled with tears again. Zen instinctively reached out to hug her but hesitated.
Hug her?
He looked at his hand, then clenched his fist. Wanting to comfort her was a new feeling for him. Ria, unaware that Zen was feeling this, looked up again.
“You could have told me earlier!”
Zen smiled again. Ria’s expression grew strange, and she buried her face in her hands.
Zen tried to see her face, but she kept avoiding his gaze. Eventually, he rested his head on her shoulder again. Ria shivered.
“Why are you leaning on me so much?”
Her voice buzzed.
Buzzing?
Zen tried to shake his head to regain focus, but he felt weak. His vision blurred—strange, considering he shouldn’t be this tired.
“Zen?”
For now, let’s just get through the night… then…
“Zen!”
His head was dizzy. The pain in his right foot worsened. Strength drained from him, and he was sucked into a deep whirlpool of fatigue.
“Zen!”
Ria shook him violently. Leaning on her, he didn’t regain consciousness.
“Why… your body’s burning up!”
Ria touched his face. It was scorching—strangely, she hadn’t noticed it before.
Why…?
She gently laid him down and muttered a spell. White recovery magic flowed from her hands.
“Wake up, Zen.”
She was terrified. What if he lost consciousness completely, leaving her alone through the night?
As she poured the magic over him, she noticed his right ankle was swollen. Lifting his pants slightly, she saw it twisted oddly. Ria instinctively covered her mouth to stifle a scream.
You can jump. Right?
She remembered the words she had pushed onto Zen earlier.
It’s my fault.
Ria clenched her fists tightly, restricting blood flow.
I thought Zen would somehow handle it. Vaguely… I thought we couldn’t die. There had to be a way.
Desperate, she closed her eyes and began chanting the spell. White light emitted from her hands, and the swelling in Zen’s ankle began to subside.
“Even if it’s just this…”
All she could do was the recovery spell she hadn’t learned yet but had read about in a book. She hesitated, but it seemed to work.
They said most injuries can be healed.
Still, Zen hadn’t regained consciousness, and his body radiated heat.
“Zen…”
Ria brushed his silver hair, soaked with sweat. She used scar removal magic on a small scratch on his face. This was all she could do.
“What should I do…”
Night had grown deeper, and the moon was hidden by clouds. The mountain air was bitterly cold.
Ria shivered. If it rained, it would be disastrous. She looked up at the sky and swallowed hard, resolute.
There was only one place on the cliff to shelter from the rain—under a large overhanging rock. It could barely fit one person lying down.
He can’t get wet while injured.
Ria struggled but managed to drag Zen under the rock. His long legs stuck out, but there was no choice.
Now what…
As she hesitated, embarrassed to lie next to him, raindrops fell as if waiting for that moment.
