Chapter 184
“Young Master… Young Masteeeeer!”
Taran’s voice echoed, tearing through the air. People stood frozen, staring blankly at the collapsed clinic, none daring to move first.
That was why they didn’t hear the urgent sound of approaching hoofbeats.
Neigh-!
Some people reacted to the sudden sound of a horse being abruptly reined in. On the horse was a woman with long, flowing silver hair. She had a pale face and large eyes like embedded amethysts, staring at the clinic in disbelief—she looked like a high-ranking noble.
“Ta-Taran.”
She called the doctor’s assistant with a trembling voice, but he seemed not to hear. He was sobbing uncontrollably, streams of black tears running down his face due to the soot on his cheeks.
“Taran!”
The woman dismounted and rushed straight to Taran, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. The people holding Taran backed away, startled by her urgency. What’s more, she bore a striking resemblance to their doctor.
“Hic, ugh, sob…”
“Where’s Fei? Why can’t I see him? And Luwen? He said he would come to get Fei—where is he? Hm?”
“Uuugh, waaaah… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I c-couldn’t pro-protect him…”
“No. No! Don’t say such things!”
Irene shook her head.
The Emperor had been furious, but what they had feared didn’t happen. It was Duke Cromwell’s knights who had raided the auction house when the First Prince’s arm was severed. This meant that Cromwell had been Luwen’s superior at the time.
Also, since Fei was under the guardianship of the Vinter family, if they were to acknowledge his guilt and punish him, they would also have to punish his guardian, the Duke’s family.
First, Fei Vinter was a victim who had been dragged to an illegal slave auction, and the Vinter family had been loyal to the Emperor for generations. Even the Emperor couldn’t turn his back on both Honorary Duke Cromwell and Duke Vinter, who were objectively innocent. Doing so would shake the trust between the Emperor and the nobility.
Moreover, Luwen was considered a candidate for the next Sword Master. Even though he had severed the First Prince’s arm, he was growing into an important figure who needed to be prevented from defecting to another country.
Yes, potential. The Emperor wanted to confirm that. Whether he possessed the talent worth restraining his anger for. Or whether he should demand that Duke Vinter hand him over.
Irene had understood why she was made to arrive a day late, but the Emperor actually praised her for it, saying that he would have been unable to make an accurate judgment the previous night due to his lost temper.
Afterward, he sent Count Rodiahim to the First Prince, then summoned the Imperial Knight Commander and Vice Commander to duel with Luwen. After witnessing his skill with his own eyes, the Emperor said:
‘This time, I shall show restraint.’
Which meant there would be no next time. Irene was grateful for even that much. Finally, after hearing from Count Rodiahim that the wound was healing well, the Emperor visibly relaxed and permitted the two of them to return.
‘I will go directly to the clinic.’
As soon as they left the palace, she sent Luwen ahead while Irene stopped by the Duke’s mansion to change into her Imperial Guard uniform to re-enter the palace.
And when she finished her preparations and arrived near the palace again, she heard someone saying that there seemed to be a fire. Though quite a distance away, she could clearly see smoke rising. The problem was that it was in the direction of the clinic.
‘It was strange that the First Prince so readily admitted Count Rodiahim, could it be…’
With an ominous feeling, Irene urgently turned her horse and galloped at full speed. And what she witnessed was this current ruin. Smoke rising from various places, the completely collapsed clinic, and Taran sobbing. No sign of Fei or Luwen anywhere.
‘My brother…’
A child whose sight always ached her heart. She didn’t know why her heart would tighten so. Even now, she still didn’t know the reason. A lovable but sometimes tear-inducing, cherished brother.
“Fei…”
Staggering. She approached the collapsed ruins.
“He’s alive. He can’t die like this. Luwen would have protected my brother. He would have protected Fei.”
Irene, who had been muttering, shouted loudly.
“What are you all doing? Clear away the debris!”
People who had been standing in a daze snapped to attention at her commanding voice. Irene took out a purple token from inside her garment and handed it to Taran.
“Take my horse and go to the mansion immediately to summon the knights. Tell them to come, every single one, without exception.”
“Hic, sob.”
“Don’t you want to save Fei? Stop crying and hurry!”
“Y-yes!”
Taran roughly wiped his tears with his forearm and mounted Irene’s horse. As he spurred its flank, her voice could be heard shouting.
“There are survivors below! Move carefully! You there, get down from there—standing on that could cause further collapse!”
People moved in unison under her command. At the same time, they realized that their kind doctor was actually a high-ranking noble.
But what did that matter? The person they were trying to save wasn’t some barely-seen nobleman, but the doctor of their clinic who sympathized with their pain, examined them meticulously, listened to their stories—the doctor of the clinic they wanted to keep visiting.
* * *
I opened my eyes in darkness. My throat felt rough, and my entire body was heavy. It felt as if something was weighing me down. I opened my mouth to take a deep breath because I was suffocating.
But my throat only stung more, and breathing remained difficult.
‘Is anyone there?’
I tried to call for help, but my mouth only opened and closed without producing sound. Finding this strange, I reached up to feel my throat when suddenly the floor gave way, and whoosh—I fell downward.
I kept falling endlessly in a space filled with nothing but darkness. No matter how much time passed, the darkness remained impenetrable, not allowing me to distinguish anything even an inch in front of me. I struggled and tried to scream, but the black space seemed to swallow all sound, remaining eerily quiet.
Was there no bottom? I fell and fell again.
‘Luwen!’
With no response to my calls, I started to feel afraid. Where and why was I falling? What lay at the end of this darkness? More importantly, where was this place?
After falling for quite some time, I collided with something. Thud—judging by the warmth, it seemed to be a person.
I felt around to confirm the shape. It was indeed a person.
“That tickles.”
The voice that came with a soft laugh was familiar. I almost burst into tears from relief.
“Luwen!”
Huh? My voice was working.
“How did you come all the way here, Young Master?”
Luwen seemed to know where this place was.
“Where is this place?”
“It’s a place with countless corpses.”
I looked around at this chilling explanation, but couldn’t see anything. If the surroundings were full of corpses, perhaps it was better not to see.
“Why am I here? And why are you here?”
“I am here because I failed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand. More importantly, you should go back. You shouldn’t be in a place like this.”
Luwen walked, carrying me. More precisely, I only felt like we were walking because of the familiar rhythm of movement. The strange floating sensation persisted.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m trying to send you out, Young Master.”
“What about you? You’re talking as if you’re not coming along?”
He said nothing. That response was as good as confirmation.
“If you’re not coming, I’m not going either.”
“Don’t be stubborn. It’s troublesome.”
“We can just go together.”
“I am not qualified.”
I’m not sure who’s being stubborn here. Does he think I’m the kind of person who would abandon my lover in a place like this and go alone, without even understanding what’s happening?
“We’re lovers, aren’t we? We even promised to escape together if things went wrong—how can you do this?”
“…Are you and I dating, Young Master?”
“Did you hit your head or something?”
Since I couldn’t see, I reached out in frustration to check Luwen’s face. But something was strange. He was missing his right ear. Shocked, I checked again, but there was no mistake.
“What’s this! Your ear, why is your ear like this? Did the Emperor do this?”
“No. It was just the war…”
“War? What war?”
That’s an event that hasn’t happened yet.
“Who are you? Are you really Luwen?”
Even the Luwen in the original story had intact ears. So… this person with Luwen’s voice wasn’t Luwen.
Despite that certainty, it was strange. It was the body temperature I knew so well, the embrace I knew. My head warned that this wasn’t Luwen, but my heart felt that this person was indeed him.
“Young Master, I hope you won’t come to this place again in the future. I don’t want to… see you anymore. So please, always think of yourself. Live selfishly, looking after only your own welfare.”
“What are you saying? I don’t understand. You said this was a place with many corpses? Whose corpses? Why are you here? How did I end up—”
“We’ve arrived.”
“Luwen!”
Thud—he pushed me. Faint light leaked into the space that had been nothing but darkness.
At that moment, I could see Luwen. He had a long scar on his cheek. He looked much older than the Luwen I knew.
And on the ground… there were countless Luwens. Dozens, hundreds, no. There must be thousands. They were all Luwen. The corpses he mentioned were all Luwens.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
I’m actually gonna cry wth…. I don’t think this is only a dream / imagination on Fei’s mind