“What...?”

Coco looked stunned.

Temar, who had been standing right up close looking at Ren, also went rigid.

“No, I mean, my body’s fin—”

“Sh—! Be quiet, you!”

Barely swallowing the word shut, Coco clapped a hand over Ren’s mouth.

Ren’s eyes rolled nervously.

Kirky ducked his head like he was choosing his words, and it felt to Coco like every drop of blood in her body had drained away. Something was wrong? Because he had that chronic condition, something really had gone wrong from the shock earlier...? Fighting to keep herself upright through sheer will while dizziness rocked her, Coco stared hard at Ren’s face, which looked perfectly fine.

So it’s only the outside that looks okay?!

Then what the hell is that Hero supposed to do?!

Coco’s next glance went to Temar.

To a man who seemed broken somewhere deep down as a human being.

If that broken man—like he only reacted to precise commands, like something inside him had shattered—realized Ren’s life still wasn’t safe...

Coco didn’t even want to imagine what would come next.

She threw off the thought and fixed her eyes on Kirky’s mouth.

Please. Please say there’s still hope to treat him! 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Thin lips curved into a smile completely unsuited to the moment, and he went on.

Even the maids quietly clearing things away and bringing hot water and medicine held their breath for this moment.

“He’s completely fine! Hahahahaha! Who do you think I am?! I’m the High Priest’s prized disciple, the one who receives all his lo—aaagh! Lady Coco, I-I’m sorry, have mercy—aaagh!”

“You lunatic!! Get back here, right now!?”

“Haah... my lady, you’ll hurt yourself. Please don’t run.”

“...”

“...”

“Get back here, I said?! Somebody catch that bastard!!”

“Eek!”

“Priest, don’t run!”

The heavy, serious mood shattered to pieces, and in an instant the room turned into total chaos.

Furious, Coco ran all over waving her arms, trying to catch Kirky, while Kirky gleefully played tag with her, ducking behind maids here and there in a flustered blur. Even while rubbing the arm she’d hit, apparently because it hurt, his face was still full of a mischievous grin.

Seton tried to stop Coco, but he was no match for her, and the maids broke into cold sweats thanks to the high-ranking priest hiding behind their backs. Those innocent girls who had never had any reason to come into contact with men flushed bright red in the cheeks.

Ren and Temar stared at them in bewilderment. In the end, when Ren let out a clear burst of laughter, Coco finally stopped trying to catch Kirky.

Because that bright laugh felt like the true end of what had happened earlier.

“The physician’s perfectly fine too! They say he’ll wake up tomorrow!”

With a knock, the door opened, and the physician, changed into clean clothes, was brought in unconscious on a stretcher.

“Good work.”

Still huffing from chasing Kirky around, Coco said it primly.

Temar stepped closer to Ren.

The face that had been screaming earlier was nowhere to be seen. It was an overly calm face. Watching Temar, who had switched faces so completely, Coco shook her head. How can he be that different? Was I dreaming earlier?

“Are you okay?”

It was the kind of gentleness that smoothed away every grievance at once.

The corners of Ren’s eyes reddened in an instant.

Ah, seriously. I don’t want to cry in front of my brother.

His chest stung sharply, like someone had poked his softened heart with a needle. Of course he had thought his brother would come back safe. He was an undefeated Hero. Naturally, he’d save everyone and return. That was what Ren had believed.

Aside from being covered in dust, everyone in the group was safe.

Even blood-soaked Temar—even though his black clothes had turned even darker from all the blood they had drunk in—now seemed to have stopped bleeding from his wounds.

Enough that what had happened in that hollow felt like a dream.

Ah, if it was a dream, he felt like he’d just had one too. What was it again... Rather than digging through his memory, Ren met Temar’s eyes directly.

“Brother, are... ahem, are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

Ren and Temar looked at each other for a long time.

“Heheh. That’s all thanks to me.”

“Will you shut your mouth already?!”

Coco barked at the oblivious Kirky for butting in.

“Hing! My lady only hates me!”

When her violet eyes flashed dangerously, Kirky finally yelped and shut up.

“Shall I take a look at the Hero too? He absolutely reeks of blood!”

“I’m fine.”

Temar declined politely. His eyes were still checking over Ren. Ren rolled his eyes and avoided [N O V E L I G H T] Temar’s gaze, but secretly enjoyed the pounding in his chest.

My brother’s looking at me this long! I wanted to say more to him, but nothing came to mind. No, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say!!

Oh right! I should thank Coco!

“Coco.”

“What.”

At Ren’s sudden call, Coco answered curtly. She didn’t look at him. Pretending to go hit Kirky again, she awkwardly averted her eyes. Maybe Kirky realized it, because he grinned and teased, “Ohhhh? Why are you looking at me~? I’m not the one you mean?!” Ren was just as embarrassed, so he didn’t force himself to look at Coco either.

Tangling his fingers together, he only barely managed to say,

“Thank you.”

“For saving everyone, th—”

Ren stopped mid-sentence.

His eyes began slowly widening, and little by little he looked around the room again.

The maids were still carrying hot water. The floor was still full of bloodstains not yet cleaned up and cloths dyed red. Even the maids’ aprons were soaked with blood.

That blood wasn’t Temar’s.

The physician, making weak little groaning sounds, had been laid out on a small bed in the corner, looking like he was dreaming. Brother Temar was right in front of him. The gray-haired man, Hugh, was speaking with the very similar-looking man called Seton.

Dell Belkerman’s severed head had been abandoned in the corner against the wall. Coco was standing beside Kirky, stepping on his foot.

One person was missing.

“Ren?”

Lady Coco, who had stopped stepping on Kirky’s foot, called to Ren when he froze in place.

Unlike before, when he’d seemed full of life, Ren’s face had gone white.

“What is it, are you hurting somewhere?!”

“Ren.”

Temar grabbed Ren’s hand hard.

No. I just missed it, that’s all.

Ren slowly ran his eyes over every face in the room.

In the silence that fell over it, Ren’s shallow breathing sounded dangerously loud.

“What is it. What is it?!”

Anxiety spread across Temar’s face, the face of a man who had thought the nightmare was over. Temar glared at Kirky like he wanted to kill him. The muscles trembling along his body swelled as if he might unleash his power at any moment. Seton drew his sword and stepped protectively in front of Coco, while Coco shoved him aside and tried to move toward Ren.

“Ren! What is it?! Kirky! Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?!”

Ren’s unrest felt so intense it was almost tangible.

“Lu... Luman...”

Ren’s eyes shook anxiously.

“Where is Luman...? Where is he...?”

Those pitifully trembling lips searched for Luman.

“Ah...!”

Her heart dropped with a thud all the way to her feet, then only a few seconds later began to beat again, slow and heavy. In her taut, tense body, each heartbeat felt like it was shaking her from head to toe.

Only then did it hit her that she had completely forgotten the Hero who had brought Ren here safely despite gasping for breath, the Hero who had done everything he could to save Temar’s group.

Luman.

“Kirky.”

Coco called Kirky in a stern voice.

With injuries like that, Kirky had obviously treated him. More than that, he was a Hero, wasn’t he? There was no way he’d die that easily. Brother was walking around this fine, after all.

“Luman? The blond handsome guy?”

At his light tone, Coco nodded.

“Yes! That man! Where is he right now?? Is he okay?”

Ren’s hands clutched the blanket so hard it looked like his fingers might break, and the desperation in them was impossible to miss.

“Um...”

But as if betraying Ren’s hope, all that came from Kirky’s mouth was a vague, uncertain sound.

“If you joke around again, I’ll send word to the temple and have them drag you back there, so keep that in mind.”

Even under Lady Coco’s vicious threat, Kirky’s crumpled face, like he was still thinking something over, showed no sign of clearing.

“The blond handsome guy is...”

Kirky swallowed the rest of the sentence and lowered his head.

His hair slipped down, hiding his face.

What did that mean? Ren didn’t want to think about it, but against his will, tears began spilling down in fat drops. His thick lashes were soaked in an instant, and seeing the tears hanging there pitifully, seeing his face flushing red without even managing a single sob, the mood in the room froze solid.

Ren looked like he might stop breathing.

They wanted to comfort him, but no one could step forward. Ren looked so fragile that if anyone said the wrong thing, he seemed like he might collapse on the spot. Coco could only glare harshly at poor Kirky instead. But Kirky still kept his head bowed. His eyes were hidden behind his hair.

“Ren.”

Temar carefully gripped Ren’s shoulder.

Ren’s blank gaze drifted through empty air.