"Ru—"

...What the hell do you mean?

But there was no time to ask.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

I didn’t even understand what had happened.

A massive KWA-BOOM! and the carriage dropping out from under us. The horses let out shrill, skin-crawling screams.

A dagger slammed down like a threat!

Before I could even process that, what filled my vision was everyone’s faces—even through the black, storm-cloud-like smoke, I could see how white and wide their eyes were.

Luman and my brother pinned under the carriage with stunned, panicked looks. Dell letting go of the reins and sprinting this way. And then—

a gray-haired man snatching Coco up in an instant.

Coco looked shocked when she saw him!

Like she’d just run into someone she knew!

The corpse Brother had found! The skinny gray-haired man! It was definitely him! What the hell was going on?? Wasn’t he supposed to be dead?!

Dell looked stricken, and I didn’t have time to think!! Was that bastard the assassin after Lady Coco?! Was he the traitor?!

I didn’t even have time to think about running, or about being scared, like Coco had told me to.

Not the daggers flying at us, not the masked men dropping from the trees.

I told you, didn’t I? Trust me!

"Reeen—!"

I threw myself at the man’s back as he leaped off the cliff with Coco in his arms.

Which meant, yeah... I basically threw myself off the cliff too.

But in a situation this terrifying, y-you can’t just leave someone alone!

And it’s not because Coco and I are friends, okay?! It’s human decency! Human decency! Also, I, uh, told her to trust me.

The brother I know is the kind of amazing hero who gives everything he has to the mission.

He was definitely coming to save Coco.

I’d protect her until then. I can do my share too!

The wind pummeled and clawed at my whole body, sharp enough to split my cheeks open. It tore brutally at my ears. It felt like my eardrums were going to burst. I squeezed my eyes shut in terror.

"Reeeeen—!"

So when we dropped straight down below the cliff, I couldn’t tell whether the voice calling my name was Temar or Luman, whether it was someone calling for me or a scream.

I heard more explosions behind me.

***

My stomach was churning.

I felt like I was about to throw up any second, but my vision kept spinning. If it didn’t all come rushing out right now, I felt like I was just going to pass out instead.

If I’d felt some weird sense of freedom when I jumped off that cliff, then I must be fucking insane.

Honestly, I almost lost my grip when I grabbed the man around the waist.

If Coco hadn’t hit him with that horrified look on her face, I might’ve smashed my head against the cliff rocks and died on the spot.

Once I barely managed to latch onto his waist, even his eyes shook wide with panic.

But... weirdly enough, he didn’t shake me off to get me loose, and he didn’t try to kill me either.

Why??

"You fucking lunatic!! What the hell are you doing—?!"

Coco’s voice buzzed in the wind. It almost sounded like a scream.

I wanted to answer her, say anything at all!!

But I couldn’t open my mouth.

Instead, I forced up my arm, swaying wildly in the wind, and grabbed Coco’s arm with everything I had. Her eyes shook.

You bastard!! Where the hell are you trying to take Coco?!

But below us was nothing but cliff.

So then—

was this where we died?

BOOOOM.

Crk... crsssshh....

Along with the impact that sounded like rock breaking apart, Coco’s thick purple hair, soaked in the sunset, looked almost blood-red. The sudden shock sent us bouncing away, but thanks to the man’s body acting like a cushion, we at least didn’t go smashing headfirst into the rocks.

Blood surged out of the gray-haired man’s mouth, and the lady, who’d been flung away too, slammed into the hollowed-out rock wall with a hard thud!

Like a doll with its strings cut...

Coco collapsed limp, and that purple hair—now looking red as blood—spilled over her.

I was the only one still conscious.

"—en."

It felt like I could hear something from very far away....

Everything kept fading in and out, and my eyes kept trying to close too. It felt like my guts were twisting, but it was like the vomit had clumped up somewhere and wouldn’t come out. No—maybe I just didn’t even have the strength to throw up.

Brother. Luman. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Where are you?

I wasn’t panicking.

Because I knew they’d come.

The only thing I was thinking about was... whether I should kill the gray-haired man who’d coughed up blood and passed out.

Inside the little hollow the man had made by smashing into the cliff, I picked up one of the rocks that had broken off in the impact—a big one, sharp-edged.

It was so heavy my arm shook.

With this, I could take that man’s life.

If I just shut my eyes tight and brought it down on his head a few times....

"Uh—!"

I was carrying the rock toward him when my leather shoe slipped on the rubble.

"Ugh... that hurt."

I ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) blinked blankly.

Ice shot through my guts. Goosebumps and cold sweat ran down my spine at the same time.

One of my legs was hanging out over the edge of the cliff.

Underneath this hollow space the man had made...

was a bottomless drop. If I’d been lucky, maybe I would’ve gotten caught in a tree and lived?

No.

I would’ve ended up like meat skewered on a spike.

Why did this man...

do something like that?

There’s nothing below this cliff. Did he try to take Coco’s life along with his own? Because it benefited him? But if that were true... then why make this space with his whole body... and why not shake me off?

What kind of expression had Coco made when she saw this gray-haired man?

And what about his expression? Who was Coco telling me to run from?

"Hhh—"

"Coco?!"

A short breath burst from Coco’s mouth!

Like she was coming to!

"My lady!"

I was about to go to Coco when I turned at the shadow falling over me from behind.

It was Dell! Dell Belkerman! Lady Coco’s escort!

He came to save her! Where’s Brother?

But no matter how I looked around, Brother wasn’t there.

"Dell..."

"So this is where you were!"

He cut me off and cried out like he was genuinely relieved to find us.

The scar across his cheek looked deeper in the sunset light.

"I’ve been looking for you for quite some time."

Dell’s eyes curved pleasantly.

He strode toward us and drew his sword from its sheath.

The blade flashed red in the light.

After looking toward Coco, Dell kept the sword in hand and turned his gaze to me.

"......."

The side of his face, lit by the sunset, was swallowed by shadow from the backlight until I couldn’t see it anymore. The red glow was so blinding I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again.

In that moment of silence that seemed to swallow even sound, I heard rock dust crunching and scattering underfoot.

I lifted my head and swallowed the sour bile rising in my throat.

"So you were awake!"

"......."

"Nngh...."

Behind me, I could already hear Hugh’s faint breathing, thin as if it were about to cut off, and Coco’s pained moans.

You definitely came to save Lady Coco.

Otherwise you wouldn’t have thrown yourself off a cliff.

I tried to brace a hand on the ground and stand—

and collapsed right back down.

I’d twisted my wrist when I fell earlier, carrying that chunk of rock and catching myself on the ground. The throbbing pain shot up through my waist, and every hair on my body stood on end.

"Seriously, this is strange. Is it because you’re the Hero’s younger brother? Some kind of special ability... hmm."

"Ugh...."

The urge to vomit surged up.

Something was wrong.

A pain like my entire body was being wrung out, like all my bones were being snapped back into place, came flooding through me... but my mind felt hazy.

"It would’ve been better for both of us if you’d stayed asleep... Kids these days really must hate soup. What a nuisance."

Shaking his head, Dell Belkerman folded down to one knee in front of me.

When had he gotten this close?

My head drooped like it was about to slam into the ground.

It felt like my consciousness kept cutting out and coming back, like my blood flow was stopping for a second at a time.

All I could see in front of me was Dell’s body in black clothes.

Letting out a regretful sigh, he hooked his fingers under my chin and lifted my head.

The moment our eyes met...

I remembered those bright, bestial eyes I’d seen in the brush.

I know what I saw back then was an animal’s eyes.

So why did those eyes overlap with Dell’s?

"I guess that’s luck too. Heh."

Dell laughed low.

The hand that had lifted my chin moved to my cheek, and he tapped it lightly.

"Ugh... hhk...."

My whole body trembled.

The ground felt like it was heaving, like I’d been motion sick for hours and hours.

"Y-you came... to save Coco... right?"

Ugh... hhk. Haa. Haa....

The artificial hollow the gray-haired man had made was filled with nothing but my ragged breathing.

I tried to force my eyes open and glared straight at Dell’s face.

There was laughter in those easy, gentle eyes.

"Hahahahaha!"

His whole body shook, and he threw his head back.

The cheerful laughter was loud enough to echo through the cramped hollow and off the low ceiling.

Powdery dust sifted down from above. Dell shook his head lightly and brushed it off.

"Hahaha. You don’t seriously believe that, do you? Wanting to run from reality—sure, I get that too. But doing it in a situation like this just makes you look kind of stupid."

Dell tapped my forehead lightly.

"Making a face like that. Anyone would think you were my lady."

"......."

"It looks like your Hero brother never taught you that being naive is no different from being stupid. Then again, Heroes are just combat weapons that do whatever the king tells them to, so maybe they don’t have time to teach things like that."

No. No way...

Dell patted my shoulder.

I wanted to shove him off, but moving even one finger was too much.

I tried to pull back, but Dell gripped my shoulder hard, so I couldn’t even do that.