Chapter 126
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 126
Oscar wasn’t sleeping or eating, making every second the physician spent watching over the patient pure torture. The attending physician now wished for her recovery more than anyone, so when the Marquis suddenly summoned him, his heart sank.
Standing at the entrance of the mountain cabin, Oscar glared at him like a demon that had clawed its way out of hell. As the physician rushed toward him in a panic, Oscar turned and entered the cabin first. The physician hastily followed him inside to find Oscar already by the patient's side, just as he always was.
Has her condition worsened?
Seized by a sudden dread, the physician hurried over. Oscar, staring blankly down at the woman, muttered, “She woke up. She spoke, too.”
“Pardon?”
The physician quickly examined the patient.
Well, she’s still unconscious… But since he was dealing with Oscar, he couldn’t just say that. Checking her pulse first, he did feel that her condition was improving.
“She is certainly doing better than before.”
“Does that mean her condition has improved?”
“Yes. Her breathing is stable, and her heart rate is stronger. But… when did she wake up, and for how long did you speak with her?”
“…”
“Your Excellency?”
Oscar, who had just been demanding an immediate checkup, fell silent. The physician couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking. Yet, Oscar's eyes remained fixed on the woman, who was breathing evenly without the slightest disturbance.
It was as if he were branding her image into his mind.
The physician swallowed hard without realizing it.
He understood then that Oscar was struggling to distinguish whether the woman waking up had been real or a dream. This was Oscar—a man who made razor-sharp decisions even when his own life hung in the balance.
“I think you need to sleep,” the physician said, his voice trembling. “Your Excellency.”
If this woman failed to wake up…
Then this place would become the wolf's grave.
Not a chaotic grave ravaged by a storm, but a quiet death, like an old tree slowly withering away where it stood.
It wouldn't be a death from a severed throat or a torn-out heart. Instead, like a small, unhealing wound that slowly bleeds a body dry, the wolf would waste away. He might not even realize he was dying until his very last breath.
It was an obsession far more chilling than any boiling rage.
The physician quietly glanced back at the sleeping Seo-ah. What on earth had happened to make this man so obsessed? And could this tiny woman even withstand such a terrifying fixation?
“You said she woke up. Looking at her condition, that seems highly likely.”
“…”
“Unless you’re growing a beard on purpose, perhaps you should shave?”
Oscar’s eyebrow twitched, a silent warning not to speak nonsense, but he remained silent at the physician's next words.
“If she wakes up and sees Your Excellency looking like this, she might be frightened.”
Those words actually moved the wolf.
It was truly astonishing.
*
Meanwhile, Simon von Bernheim was grinding his teeth as he made his way toward the mountain cabin where Oscar had nested.
Negotiating with the Tekan Ambassador had been an absolute nightmare. Those bastards had nothing to their name, yet they put on such ridiculous airs that he had wanted to flip the table on them countless times.
Their bullshit came in a wide, buffet-like variety.
But the main point boiled down to this:
They were offended that Oscar hadn't come in person.
Historically, neighboring countries often had tangled, hostile relationships, and Tekan and Ishas were no exception. Oscar had personally visited Ishas to secure permission to use their canal, so the Tekans found it deeply insulting that he hadn't visited their country and had instead sent a proxy to meet their ambassador.
But no matter what excuse they offered, they couldn't tell them the truth.
‘Because the woman who was our target is unconscious.’
What kind of absolute nonsense was that?
His head felt like it was going to split open.
The ship that had been anchored in Ishas Bay had likely already turned its bow toward Tekan. In the end, Simon had to use every ounce of his skill to bring the Tekan Ambassador to Oscar’s location.
And so, he was now escorting the Tekan Ambassador.
Just how grueling, filthy, and pathetic that journey had been was plain to see from the haggard appearance of Simon's direct subordinates.
After renting out an entire, reasonably clean hotel not far from the cabin to house the ambassador, Simon cursed with every breath as he headed toward the cabin.
As he crushed a nearly finished cigarette butt under his heel, one of his Wolves quickly handed him another. Smoking continuously as he neared the cabin, he saw the Wolves loitering around the area turn to look at him.
The bastards who had been doing nothing but guarding the place looked far too comfortable and well-rested.
“Uh, excuse me…!”
A few Wolves reached out toward him in panic, but there was no way Simon—who had spent days catering to the whims of that pathetic Tekan Ambassador—would notice or care.
He took a deep drag of his cigarette, hollows forming in his cheeks, and exhaled a thick cloud of gray smoke. The wind caught it, sweeping it straight toward the cabin.
“Where is His Excellency?”
“Uh, Senior…! The cigarette…”
“Any change with the target?”
“…”
“Then what about His Excellency?”
“…”
Simon, who had been striding past the Wolves, stopped in front of the Backup Team Leader. When the man remained silent, Simon carelessly flicked his cigarette ash and spat out a curse.
“…Fuck, what a mess.”
He had deliberately avoided thinking about it, since the Tekan Ambassador was already giving him a headache, but the matter of the target was no small issue either.
Thanks to her, his own life had been saved.
Of course he was grateful. If she wanted compensation or demanded he repay her for saving his life, he was more than willing to pay whatever price she asked.
But that was that.
It was strange enough that she had suddenly appeared one day holding the key, but that woman…
“She was definitely sensing the flow of mana.”
The so-called "Seer." Were people with such abilities common? Even when the Wolves searched with fire in their eyes, they could barely find any.
Acrid smoke swirled around him.
Reaching the clearing in view of the cabin, Simon muttered, still unable to believe that their master had gone into seclusion over this mysterious target.
“If she’s not waking up after all this time, isn’t she basically brain-dead?”
From experience, that was highly likely.
“It would be easier in many ways to just die rather than hang on half-alive.”
Easier for her, and easier for everyone else.
At those words, disgust washed over the faces of the Wolves gathered around Simon—especially those who had made it through the Rock Forest. There was a reason why, even among wolves who didn’t hesitate to commit cruel acts, he was called a “devil.”
One of the Backup Team members whispered to Simon's direct subordinate.
“You should put out your cigarette, too. Your boss is a dead man.”
Then, he began to count down.
“What the hell are you talking about?” snapped one of Simon's Wolves, already irritated from dealing with his boss.
But the other Wolves, who hadn't been able to properly smoke a single cigarette over the past few days, tilted their heads in confusion.
“…?”
An uneasy silence fell, like watching an explosive whose fuse had burned all the way down but failed to detonate.
By now, His Excellency should have been furious at them for letting cigarette smoke drift inside.
Then, someone muttered, “Did she wake up?”
The whisper quickly spread.
“Oh, really?”
“Is that it?”
The Wolves standing further away came running over.
“She woke up?”
Seeing the joy spreading across their faces, Simon, who was still smoking, frowned.
Frowning as if wondering how such a trivial thing could bring them joy, the devil shook his head in pity and walked toward the cabin. Intending to tell Oscar that the Tekan Ambassador had arrived and that he needed to come out, Simon looked ready to knock on the door—but for some reason, his steps halted a single pace away.
The hand he had raised to knock froze in midair, his red eyes fixed on the door.
It felt as though a ferocious wolf was standing right on the other side of the thin wooden panel. He could almost feel the raw, wild breath of the beast that would greet him the moment the door opened.
Just as he found himself unable to knock, yet unable to step back, the presence beyond the door slowly receded. It was as if something else had caught its attention. As the dark, heavy aura drifted away with heavy footsteps, the tension finally drained from Simon's shoulders.
A cold sweat broke out across his back.
*
She opened her eyes.
An unfamiliar ceiling came into view. The exposed wooden beams were definitely unfamiliar, yet somehow, it felt like she had seen them before. The same went for the rustic window to the side and the curtains hanging over it. The sunlight filtering through them was dazzling.
It felt as though she had been asleep for a very long time. Words hovered on the tip of her tongue, but her thoughts remained just out of reach. What time was it? Where was she? Everything was hazy.
Staring at the window, she turned her head to the other side. In that brief moment, a scene flashed vividly through her mind.
She had dreamed a strange dream. In it, her beloved grandfather had comforted her gently. And the dream had continued, showing her this very room…
Oscar, with his dark stubble. The man who had looked at her with eyes as deep and burning as a well.
Beside the bed, a single, rough-grained wooden chair sat empty.
I feel like he was sitting right there…
Turning her gaze a bit further, she saw a white towel, a stoppered glass bottle, and a wide basin on the wooden nightstand.
Seo-ah stared blankly, caught in the jarring gap between the lingering sensation that Oscar had been there and the sheer unreality of it.
“…”
The sunlight reflecting off the glass bottle sparkled like stars.
The wind slipped through the open window, carrying the light with it. It gently brushed the hair behind her ears, whispering soft sounds as she woke.