Why Did You Do That? (1)
Reyan couldn't move at all. Even at a glance, his condition looked dire. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his clothes kept drinking in deeper shades of red.
Both Runyang and Heste saw it clearly: Claire's Black Mana had pinned him down so completely that he couldn't offer the slightest resistance. Heste, who had approached Reyan from the start only to stay close to Claire, might feel differently, but for Runyang this was unforgivable. The cat-beastkin's eyes flashed with icy light. She stared at Claire, demanding an answer for why she had done this. It wasn't enough to wound a precious guild member; she'd even disrupted the academy's most vital subjugation training. Runyang wanted to make her pay dearly, yet...
“...Reyan, wake up! Just hold on a little longer. Big sis will make sure it doesn't hurt...”
That mattered more than anything else. Runyang carefully lifted the motionless Reyan onto her back and hurried out of the training ground, never taking her eyes off Heste and Claire.
Tap. Tap. The sound of her footsteps faded into the distance. Reyan slowly vanished from Claire's sight.
I did it. Reyan wouldn't have to join the subjugation practice. Heste would have no reason to save him, and the two of them would never grow any closer. I protected him. I saved Reyan.
Yet the tears came anyway. She hadn't made a single sound, her breathing stayed steady, her face never twisted, but one fat drop slid down her cheek.
Her heart ached. Watching the blood pool on the ground and slowly soak in, she finally felt the full weight of what she had done.
“...I'm such an idiot.”
Claire covered her face with both hands. Everything she had done in the name of protecting Reyan had only ended up hurting him. It was a vile, repulsive scheme—using the guild master who clearly cherished him to drive them apart. Even though Reyan lay injured, she had felt relieved. The tears fell without permission.
In the heavy silence where no sound escaped, Claire could only watch the fading outline of Reyan's back.
“...It's all right, Claire. Runyang couldn't have meant to truly harm him. You were only trying to protect Reyan. Isn't that so?”
The words came from Heste—the very person Claire despised most, the root cause that had driven her to this. Yet Claire could not rebuke her.
“Let's go. You want to stay by Reyan's side, don't you? So do I, Claire. You haven't forgotten our promise to protect him, have you?”
Instead of refusing that sweet suggestion, Claire simply followed her toward the young man she herself had wounded.
...
Runyang stared down at Reyan as he lay unconscious. Even with his eyes closed, he didn't look peaceful. Each breath carried a pained rasp.
The sense of betrayal burned too hot to bear. She had known from the moment he first spoke about the gift how sincerely he cared for Claire. When she saw those crimson eyes stepping down from the carriage, she had realized the girl was an Artifare, but she never scolded him. Of all the people she had met in her life, Reyan was the kindest. She had believed the woman he loved could never be wicked.
Had they fought? Was that why this happened? Or were the rumors true—that the Artifare family were nothing but lunatics who lived only to hurt others?
No matter how she turned it over, no answer came.
Runyang threw open the door to the hospital room and stepped outside. She wanted to grab both Claire and Heste and demand the truth. What had Reyan ever done wrong? Had she simply taken a dislike to her? The fact that she, as guild master, had failed to notice an academy student's ploy in time and endangered her own member only stoked her fury higher.
Her cherished new recruit was hurt. The glass of rage had been filled to the brim. One touch and it would spill over.
Strangely, the moment she left the main gate she spotted them—Claire and Heste, who had the nerve to come to the hospital.
“...Wh-where is Reyan?”
She was the one who had hurt him, so why was she crying? The sight was so repulsive it made Runyang's blood boil. The glass overflowed.
“...What the hell do you need to know for? Why? Planning to finish him off this time? Must've been disappointing. Since you couldn't kill him in one blow.”
But Heste stepped in front of Claire with a gentle smile.
“...Does it really have to be Claire's fault?”
It was neither an apology nor an evasion, nor an attempt to crush her with authority.
“As you know, she's from the Artifare family. Claire has no friends except for me and Reyan. At the academy she's discriminated against, and the professors only harass her about the past instead of actually teaching her. Do you honestly believe Claire intentionally hurt Reyan? If so, I have one question. Lady Runyang, why didn't you fight with your full power?”
“Y-you... You're saying this is my—”
“Am I wrong? If you had been circulating your mana from the beginning, you could have easily responded when Claire slipped up with her clumsy spell. This was clearly an accident. If the master had taken her even a little more seriously, it could have been prevented.”
“What are you—!”
“...Please don't worry. Reyan won't be hurt again. It was simply a mistake. Claire is suffering too. So please stop tormenting her for no reason. You know what kind of relationship Reyan and Claire share.”
Heste let her smile fade and gently drew Claire closer, wrapping her in a protective embrace. Then she walked straight past Runyang and into the hospital.
Of course Runyang's anger did not subside. The way they spouted such twisted logic and brazenly headed toward Reyan as if they had done nothing wrong only made her blood burn hotter.
“...I won't let this go!”
True to her feline nature, Runyang impulsively chased after them.
Yet the moment she reached the hospital room door, she heard it.
“Reyaaan.... I'm sooorry, ah, aaaa.... It was m-my fault.... I'm sooorry, Reyaaan....”
Claire's wretched sobs drifted through the door. After a brief hesitation, Runyang could not bring herself to demand answers. She decided to hold back at least until Reyan woke up. They could talk afterward. With that thought, she barely managed to swallow her rage.
...
Claire had fallen asleep leaning against the side of the hospital bed. In the moonlit room, three people remained.
Heste sat in a chair, quietly watching the pair. Reyan's furrowed brow as he lay there. The clear tracks of tears on Claire's cheeks as she slumped over the bed. The realization that she had created this entire scene filled Heste with a strange satisfaction and a sharp pain in her chest at the same time.
She bit down hard on her lower lip. The pain felt a little easier to endure.
When she thought about it, the current situation had been born from her gaslighting Claire, pushing her to the brink so she could keep the girl close no matter what. She felt responsibility and guilt, yet strangely, simply being beside Claire and knowing the girl depended on her made her forget everything else.
She knew this wasn't normal. She knew the feelings she harbored for Claire resembled a perversion that deserved to be burned at the stake. But Heste had always understood exactly what kind of person she was, so she paid it little mind.
Creak.
The wooden chair scraped against the floor with an eerie sound, almost as if it were laughing in celebration that things were unfolding so well.
When Claire hurt, her own heart hurt too. Soon. The day I heal Claire will come soon.
Heste rose and walked to Reyan's side. She reached out with her pale, elegant hand and placed it over his chest.
If the Artifare bloodline was born with Black Mana that shattered and destroyed everything, the Meliard bloodline was born with White Mana that restored and healed all things.
The white orb that gathered at her fingertips sank into Reyan's chest.
What Claire wanted was for Reyan to stay away from the subjugation practice. That wasn't Heste's true goal, but after realizing how quickly Reyan was pulling Claire back into their old relationship, she chose not to crush even that small wish.
Whoosh.
Inside the still hospital room where no breeze should have stirred, a pleasant wind brushed across their cheeks. Reyan's breathing gradually steadied. She hadn't healed the wounds themselves, but she had made him forget the pain. He would no longer react to noise or outside shouts that might wake him. For a while, at least, he would rest comfortably.
“Claire.”
Heste gently woke her. The swollen eyes and lips, the lifeless gaze—everything spoke of deep regret. Seeing her like that made Heste's own chest ache at once, but she told herself the same thing Claire had believed: a small sacrifice was necessary for the greater good.
“...Why don't you apologize to Lady Runyang? I need to return to the mansion now. We can leave together.”
When she was with Reyan, Claire had approached her first. When Reyan collapsed, Claire had leaned on her. The important thing was that the moment Heste directly helped the girl who loved Reyan, Claire's fragile heart had turned to her.
That was why Heste hoped Reyan would push Claire away. Only then could she be the one to help her. That was the shortcut back to being the ordinary Heste—sleeping in the same room, sharing secrets, gossiping about their parents, laughing and talking without restraint.
“...Lady Runyang must like Reyan too. That's why she got so angry.”
Claire's eyes trembled violently.
“Did you understand what I said?”
She was clearly shaken. Even while drowning in regret and guilt, the suggestion that Runyang liked Reyan—the person who had become Claire's entire world—brought a faint, contradictory spark of jealousy to her gaze.
Heste took Claire's hand, helped her stand, and led her to the mirror in the room. A washbasin waited there.
“...Claire, let's start by washing your face. Even though Lady Runyang was that furious, she didn't come into the room, did she? She's trying to understand you. She knows you're regretting everything and struggling with guilt. If you show her even a slightly composed appearance, she'll be able to let go of her worries too, won't she?”
Claire slowly wiped the tears from her face. Then she offered Heste a small, fragile smile.
“...Thank you, Heste.”
It felt like a drug injected straight into her veins. Heste barely caught her slipping sanity and gently hugged Claire from behind.
“It's all right. We're rivals, but... we're friends too, aren't we?”
Claire looked startled, yet she did not push her away. The two women carefully opened the hospital room door and stepped outside. They looked at Runyang, who sat waiting on a bench.
“...I have something to tell you.”
She called out, asking for a conversation.