Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Master of the Sword
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Ye-hyeon received a call from Colton.
It was a message saying the treatment was done, so take Hilde away.
He dropped everything and raced to the location indicated by the GPS, where he found Hilde strapped to a bed and receiving an IV drip. In front of the building, presumed to be a private hospital, there was a mobile bed waiting.
All the color drained from Ye-hyeon’s face.
He slammed on the brakes, leaped out of the car.
One of Colton’s subordinates standing by the bed turned his head.
“Supreme Commander. Here’s your patient. We’ve administered nutrients, so his life is no longer in danger, but he had a couple of psychogenic seizures during treatment.”
“He had seizures because you force-fed him.”
Hilde, drenched in cold sweat and staring blankly at the sky, grumbled.
“Thanks to you, my PTSD feels worse. Really appreciate it.”
Ye-hyeon stared down at Hilde, speechless.
The man was buried in the bed, dressed in a patient gown. No visible injuries, but he looked utterly exhausted. His white hair was soaked with sweat, whether from fever or enduring pain.
Why….
As Ye-hyeon stood frozen, Hilde met his eyes.
“Sorry.”
He gave an awkward smile.
“I overdid it. Lost my reason for a moment….”
“Are you really okay?”
“Just let him rest.”
When Ye-hyeon cut Hilde off and asked the subordinate, the plain-faced man answered flatly.
“We’ll transfer him to your car.”
Hilde protested that he could get in on his own. But neither Ye-hyeon nor the elder’s subordinate paid him any mind.
Ye-hyeon laid him in the passenger seat, adjusted the IV bag, and wouldn’t let Hilde move until he’d received the medical report.
Even as he hit the accelerator to drive off, he pleaded not to move.
Hilde gave a apologetic smile and obeyed.
Silence fell quickly. It lasted until the car reached its destination. Because Ye-hyeon had told him to shut up for now and sleep.
Hilde fell asleep like the dead, then snapped his eyes open the moment Ye-hyeon opened the passenger door.
“I’m really fine.”
He looked up at the stiff Ye-hyeon and smiled faintly.
“I can walk. More importantly, I need to explain what happened….”
“Lie on the bed in the cabin first, then talk.”
Ye-hyeon deliberately used a firm tone.
Fortunately, Hilde listened. While confirming that Hilde washed up and lay down, Ye-hyeon checked reports from his subordinates.
Thankfully, Gilbert had attended the meeting in his place. It had ended without incident.
He also had messages from HR Director Kang Ju and Yoon.
From Yoon’s concise report, Ye-hyeon learned how Hilde had bolted from Colton’s villa. Yoon said the rest had tried to follow, but couldn’t keep up.
HR Director Kang Ju reported that the mission had been urgently postponed.
The reclamation mission delayed indefinitely. Having grasped the situation from the series of reports, Ye-hyeon dragged a chair to the bedside and sat.
“Hilde.”
“Yes. Am I in the brig?”
The man lying on the bed propped himself up on his elbows and asked.
Ye-hyeon pressed down firmly on his shoulder with a pale hand.
“Lie back down.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If anything’s wrong, say so right away. Thirsty, pain, anything….”
“I’m really fine.”
“Can you talk comfortably?”
“Yes.”
“Sleepy? Wake up and talk then.”
“Not sleepy.”
“Then talk.”
Hilde made a strange face at the dry command.
Was he scared?
After dropping someone’s heart, why was he the one looking scared?
Ye-hyeon barely kept his composure, but he had no idea how wildly his heart had pounded since receiving Colton’s message. Truth be told, it was still racing.
Oblivious to this, Hilde wore the face of a subordinate reporting a mistake.
The white-haired man gauged his mood before speaking.
“My past… I remember it all….”
Hilde recounted his past matter-of-factly.
Ye-hyeon listened in shock.
He tried to compose his crumbling expression, but it was hard.
A horrific story.
It was one of the scenarios Ye-hyeon had imagined, the one he’d hoped most wasn’t real. He’d wished Hilde had fallen out with his kin for some reason and betrayed them. That he’d turned away for selfish reasons.
That way, Hilde would have suffered less.
But of course.
This man wouldn’t have made a selfish choice.
Ye-hyeon often thought about Hilde’s mind.
Even before knowing his face.
Even before knowing his voice, Ye-hyeon had thought of Hilde. Because his father had relentlessly driven him, saying countless times, “You’ll never catch up to that man, but at least try to imitate his sword.”
“I could only imitate his swordsmanship; I never truly internalized it. If even I couldn’t catch up, you’re useless.”
“Where is he now?”
He’d mutter that while failing to escape, beaten down, unable even to stand properly.
“He could do it himself….”
Lee Seung-hyun never answered.
He just kept driving him, driving him relentlessly.
Only after first meeting Ye-hyeon did he learn Hilde’s name.
“A gift from Hilde.”
Back then, he was so stunned he barely heard the words.
“Let’s pin our hopes on this.”
The sword he’d received.
Heavier than the practice sword he’d gripped until his hands blistered.
But he felt far more attached. Though identical in appearance to the practice sword—which had only ever felt cold—this one seemed to hold the gentle affection of its owner.
He also received a voice message.
How many times had Ye-hyeon replayed it.
“Let’s hope so. Slim chance, but.”
The voice was kinder than expected.
He’d thought it would be as cold and merciless as Lee Seung-hyun’s. But it was surprisingly gentle. laced with sorrow, resolve, and a fragment of gratitude toward the recipient.
Hearing that one fragment of gratitude made him seek out the voice message often, even after waking in the hospital.
It brought more joy than being hailed as a hero of chaotic times by the people.
But now, knowing all the facts….
“Why the long face.”
Hilde smiled faintly, propping himself up to peer at Ye-hyeon’s face.
“Why are your eyes red.”
Ye-hyeon barely held back the tears threatening to spill.
How could he remain sane after remembering all this?
Just hearing it twisted his guts.
Of course, even as he fought the tears, Ye-hyeon didn’t forget to lay Hilde back down.
Hilde yielded easily to his hand.
“Ye-hyeon.”
In the cool cabin.
The man lying still, gazing at the ceiling, called his name.
Ye-hyeon widened his eyes.
“Yes?”
“While getting treated earlier, I thought of you.”
Hilde rolled only his eyes to meet his gaze.
“I realized how cruel I’d been to you.”
Ye-hyeon blinked several times.
He couldn’t comprehend.
He stared piercingly at the man before him. From the moment he’d heard a being named “Hildebert Talib” had fallen through the portal, this was the one Ye-hyeon had desperately refused to let slip away.
When they finally sat face-to-face and the voice matched the message, how elated he’d been.
He remembered thinking how fortunate his long organization life had honed his poker face.
Hilde continued.
“Handing over a sword out of nowhere, then saying I hoped you were the type to embrace an enemy for mutual destruction, or someone with no attachment to life.”
He glanced at the window by the bed and chuckled wryly.
“Really vicious stuff.”
“Otherwise, everything would’ve ended.”
Ye-hyeon replied in a subdued voice.
“You were ready to go down with Kyle too.”
“That was a disaster we’d invited in. If Colton hadn’t steeled himself, I would’ve sat among my kin and the elders without hesitation.”
Hilde turned his head to Ye-hyeon.
“Thinking about it, it’s even worse. With only one choice, I sided with humans, picked some promising human I’d never met on my own, and told him to leap in with resolve to die.”
“Everyone was desperate. Why this ridiculous self-reproach?”
“Not self-reproach. If I went back, I’d probably leave the same message.”
Hilde said, then smiled softly.
A smile filled with sorrow and affection.
“But I did wrong by you.”
Hilde looked straight at Ye-hyeon.
“Sorry.”
He raised a hand to brush Ye-hyeon’s eyes.
“And thank you for doing so well. Feels too late to say it, but your form was flawless.”
Ye-hyeon began to cry.
He clutched Hilde’s arm and shed tears. He wept silently at the gentle voice asking why he was crying.
The man who’d averted the world’s ruin.
Yet received no thanks from anyone.
He was the one who’d made enduring that hellish training worthwhile. And upon meeting in person, even more dazzling than imagined.
With the man before him—the one he’d vowed to protect no matter what upon hearing his name, but failed to—Ye-hyeon wept long.
“Forgetting would’ve been a blessing.”
He muttered through sobs, and Hilde smiled gently.
With sincerity and affection.
“Then you wouldn’t have known the wrong I did you, or that you were my disciple.”
This being still loved humans.
***
“Commander.”
At Yoon’s voice, I stopped the fork midway to my mouth with the Lexic noodles.
It came from the first floor of the cabin.
“Is Hildebert here?”
Right.
I’d made a total mess of things.
My hand gripping the fork froze.
His usual voice brought a rush of reality. Ye-hyeon had ordered me not to leave the bed all day, just eat what I liked, so I’d forgotten for a moment.
Memories flooded back, chills running down my spine.
I’m screwed.
Back then, I’d ditched the mission and jumped out the window?
Leaving the prepared seniors behind?
Strictly speaking, isn’t this desertion?
“Yoon.”
As dizziness from reality hit and I dropped the fork, Ye-hyeon rose from his chair.
I watched the white-haired man approach the railing and lean over.
“Come up.”
Please don’t let it be desertion punishment.
Or at least, don’t make the penalty as brutal as the Empire’s!
Praying, I listened to Yoon’s approaching footsteps.