Episode 109
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 109
A keen sense roused her exhausted mind. Get a grip. Someone's here. Don't let your guard down…
The sound of long legs striding toward her through the wet grass grew faster, like someone who had just spotted what they desperately craved.
She strained to pull a gun from her inventory, but froze.
SYSTEM: Item usage conditions met. Executing Errorcheck_Program.
……checking ‘???? ?????’ ###
completed. ###
TARGET;FATAL ERROR FOUND! You must use the item! Terminating Errorcheck_Program. ###
“What the…”
Inside her inventory, a blue potion bottle glinted, as if demanding to be chosen. Without thinking, Elysia grabbed it instead of the gun and stared at it with a blank expression. Rainwater trickled down her cheek, dripping onto the bottle.
Just then, a pitch-black shadow fell over her feet. She needed to lift her head and see who it was, but she didn't even have the strength for that.
This was the first time a message had ever told her she must use an item. She had to think. She had to figure it out. Who was this person?
But her head was spinning as if a siren were blaring inside it. A throbbing headache consumed her thoughts. In that moment, her vision went dark.
“Ah, my head… Dammit…”
SYSTEM: HP has reached 0. You will now enter the ‘Faint’ state.
If you are not treated within 30 minutes, you will enter the ‘Death’ state.
Clutching the potion bottle tightly, Elysia collapsed onto the fresh grass.
*
The approaching footsteps stopped short, as if in surprise. The man rushed forward, kneeling before her and staring down at her, stunned.
Moisture dripped from beneath her snow-white eyelashes.
Cain’s fingertips trembled as he cautiously reached for the woman’s forehead.
His hand, which had once so casually squeezed her cheek, now hovered, unable to make contact, as if she were too precious to even touch.
As if making a great resolution, Cain stroked her forehead, and his eyes widened. Her body, soaked by the cold rain, was burning with fever.
“Ah…”
His face etched with anxiety, he lifted Elysia into his arms. As he did, something fell to the ground with a soft thud. He glanced down at the glass bottle filled with a blue liquid rolling in the grass, then pocketed it as if it were his own.
Cain carefully supported the woman’s limp body and pressed the tip of his nose against her hot forehead. Ah, the scent of smoke, so thick it was almost sweet. Clutching her so tightly it might have hurt, he hurried away.
The woman was lighter than he’d expected. Cain entered the house where Elysia had been staying with her lover as if he belonged there.
He went up the creaking stairs and gently laid her on the bed before rummaging through Evan’s belongings as if they were his.
Finding burn ointment, bandages, and a fever reducer, he perched on the edge of the bed and gazed down at her sleeping face.
He gently pressed his fingertip to her brow, smoothing the pained frown, then lifted her right arm, which was a mess of blisters. Ecstasy pooled in his bloodshot eyes.
“Did you want to save it so badly you’d end up like this?”
A faint moan escaped her lips as he wiped the wound with a wet cloth. She groaned in pain, her legs twitching, causing the hem of her dress to ride up.
The man squeezed the ointment—prepared by her lover—onto his fingertips and smiled shyly.
“You understand, don’t you?”
A single tear traced a path down Cain’s face, an amalgamation of more emotions than one could count.
Even he couldn't keep up with the pace of his own heart. From the moment he saw her back as she plunged into the flames without hesitation, he had been laughing like a madman.
Elysia had been just an adversary, a gift that brought the thrill of the chase to his tedious life. But in that moment, she became an object of desire.
He had pursued only her, as if he’d lost his mind. He couldn't erase a single word she’d spoken, a single breath she’d taken, or the sight of her face covered in ash from his memory. His feet carried him to her, of their own accord.
I want you. I want to reach you. I want to touch you.
His gaze, unsettlingly persistent, lingered on Elysia’s face.
He spread the ointment over the cleaned wound. He didn't think he could ever let go of the warmth he held in his hands.
Cain slowly rubbed in the sticky ointment, speaking affectionately to the woman who was in no state to answer.
“It hurts my heart when you get injured like this.”
He pulled his hand away from her arm and barely suppressed the smile that threatened to break free as he unrolled a bandage. But the ferocious joy burst forth anyway, as both laughter and tears.
Why are you so lovely? So much so that I can barely handle it… He pressed a long, lingering kiss on her bandaged wound.
The emotions he had consciously suppressed and restrained now exploded, seizing the woman in their grasp. My kindred spirit, and therefore my rival. You, who are so different yet fundamentally the same as me. I…
“I love you.”
Thump. His heart pounded. He wasn't starving, yet he felt a gnawing hunger. His throat burned with thirst. As if suffocating, he undid the top button of his shirt and bowed his head. The man’s throat bobbed.
He leaned down, nearly pressing his lips to Elysia’s, but managed to restrain the impulse at the last second. He stayed just inches away, close enough to breathe in her sweet, sleeping breath.
As if intoxicated by her scent, the man confessed once more.
“I think it’s love.”
A dark shadow fell over Elysia’s feverish, groaning face. The shadow cast by the firelight grew, threatening to swallow her whole.
He slowly reached out and caressed her cheek, smiling softly as he affirmed his feelings.
“Yes, it’s love.”
The extreme revulsion he once felt at the word ‘destiny’ melted away without a trace.
Only I can understand you, and only you can understand me. And just as I need you, you need me, too. So aren't we a kind of destiny?
The hand caressing her cheek moved to cup her jaw. With a slight pressure of his fingertips, the woman’s rain-slicked lips parted.
He shook a fever reducer from its bottle and pushed the pill into her open mouth. His wet fingers unconsciously brushed against her lips, and he flinched, steadying his breath. His heart was beating too fast; it was overwhelming.
Elysia’s expression soured at the bitter taste of the dissolving pill, and she swallowed it instinctively. Gulp. Seeing her throat move, he smiled and stroked her short, light-brown hair.
But a moment later, his expression hardened. He belatedly realized that this act—stealing another man’s medicine to treat her—was something that man should have done.
He tilted his head, his face now devoid of emotion as he asked.
“Why isn’t it me?”
Cain thought of the man the woman relied on. A man of the opposite color to himself. He imagined Elysia’s fingers running through that black hair and let out a low curse of displeasure.
If he held out his hand, you would naturally place yours on top of it. If he told you to open your mouth and take a pill, you would do so without a second thought, even if it were poison. You would meet his eyes, hold his hand…
Cain’s gaze swept across the room, which was rather small for two people, and his face twisted in disgust.
He considered it. You poor thing, you're just a little lost. But it's okay.
“You’ll fall in love with me.”
Just as I did with you.
With a smiling eyes, the man stood up from the bed. He soaked a towel in cold water and placed it on her forehead. With that final act, he turned to leave the room.
It was then that he felt the potion bottle in his pocket. He held the transparent bottle with its blue pill between his fingers, staring at it before grinning from ear to ear.
“You have some interesting things.”
Shamelessly, Cain tucked it back into his pocket, tossed a few more logs into the fireplace, and then disappeared, closing the door carefully so as not to make a sound.
Not long after, Evan pushed the same door open, his face a cold, hard mask.
*
The moment he heard Zenia’s words, Evan had run like a man possessed. But there was no one in front of the charred remains of the house.
His eyes unfocused, he searched for her frantically before coming to his senses. With the rain pouring down this hard, she might have gone home instead of waiting here.
Without a moment's rest, he headed straight for the house. His clothes were soaked, and transparent drops of water dripped from the hems, leaving a trail on the stairs.
Out of breath, he staggered up the stairs. He threw the door open and, to his relief, Elysia was there.
Evan tore off his wet clothes, uncharacteristically tossing them to the floor, and rushed to the bed to check on Elysia. That’s when he noticed something was wrong.
“…El?”
Though she hadn't fully regained consciousness, Elysia’s condition was stable. He pulled back the covers and frowned, seeing that she was still in her wet clothes.
He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. She didn't have a fever. Evan tilted his head, puzzled. Has she gotten that much stronger? To not get a fever after being caught in a rain like this.
He put out the lamp and began to pull off Elysia’s damp clothes. After drying her body with a towel, he changed her into clean pajamas and lit the lamp again. In that instant, he froze.
On the desk was a medicine bottle he had never taken out, and it was open.
His expressionless face stared at the half-open bottle. He calmly counted the remaining pills, then his sharp eyes gazed into the empty air.
“One fever reducer is missing…”
He picked it up and walked toward the fireplace. The logs in the roaring fire were still sharp and distinct—proof that they had been added not long ago.
Evan looked at the wet towel on her forehead and the bandage wrapped around her wound. His expression turned cold as he thought.
‘Someone else was here.’