The Disciple's Vow
How had things come to this?
The ground was littered with corpses alongside trampled bread that looked freshly baked, along with apples, tomatoes, and other fruits, all crushed beyond recognition. The only shelter he had, the shack, had been utterly destroyed, leaving no trace of its former shape.
“The food is ruined, so it seems I won’t be able to offer you a proper meal right away.”
Even after losing his home overnight, the boy was still worrying about food.
“You went out to buy that?”
“It’s hard to find anything worth calling food around here.”
“So you went all the way to the market?”
“Yes. But leaving your side was clearly a miscalculation on my part.”
Mathias stared at Odeliana for a moment before reaching out toward her face. His large hand cupped her cheek, and he began wiping away the blood that had splattered across it.
“You look a mess.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
“You’re fearless.”
“That’s also something you shouldn’t be saying.”
“……You’re far weaker than I expected.”
The last remark carried a strange undertone, but Odeliana let it pass without comment.
“What grand expectations did you have for a cripple?”
Standing tall amid a scene of slaughter that resembled a battlefield, covered in blood—it was hardly a dignified sight.
Since this place was a lawless slum where crime festered, the chaos was minimal. Passersby merely paused to watch, thinking some trouble had broken out, but thankfully no panicked screams or stampedes erupted.
“I suppose we’ll need to find you a change of clothes. Shall I go buy some?”
At Mathias’s suggestion, Odeliana shook her head.
“If we both show up at the market looking like this, we’ll be taken for the instigators of the commotion and end up in shackles.”
Though such incidents might be ordinary here, this wasn’t something that could be easily brushed aside. People had died—two of them. Staying here would mean constantly clashing with enemies seeking revenge.
“Because of me, you’ve lost your home and made an enemy of the local organization…… Your life from now on won’t be smooth. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I’ll compensate you for everything you’ve suffered.”
Only then did Mathias turn his gaze toward the collapsed remains of his shack.
In this place, having a roof to keep out the rain and space to stretch out and lie down was invaluable. To others, the shabby shack might have seemed worthless, but to Mathias, it had been his greatest asset.
Yet even after losing it, Mathias showed no great distress. Instead, his eyes gleamed.
“How exactly do you plan to compensate me?”
He leaned against the wall with a meaningful smile, like a gambler who had just spotted an opportunity to win big. As if he had been waiting for this moment.
“I doubt anything ordinary will satisfy me.”
“I’ll take responsibility for your life.”
“What?”
“I chose to interfere in your affairs, so the responsibility for you is mine as well. You’ve lost your home. It’s only right that I take responsibility for the life I ruined.”
This was turning out better than expected. She had been wondering how to persuade Mathias to come with her, and now an opportunity had presented itself. Her luck was good.
“You’ll take responsibility for my life? That’s an unexpected offer. I thought you’d just try to silence me with a few coins or your body.”
“You’ve lost your home, and life here is harsh. Like most of the poor, you probably have nowhere else to go. So I’ll take you in and take responsibility for the rest of your life. Isn’t that compensation enough?”
“You’ll take responsibility for my life?”
Arms crossed, he leaned against the tree and smiled.
“So that’s why you claimed to be my bride.”
“……Huh?”
“You said it yourself. That you were my bride.”
“You heard that?”
“I have sharp ears.”
“……”
“It’s a novel feeling, becoming a child groom married overnight.”
Odeliana’s face turned deathly pale. Ignoring her reaction, Mathias laughed out loud as if the situation amused him, then reached out to gently stroke her hair.
“Since you promised to take responsibility for my life, you’ll stay by my side forever, won’t you?”
“……”
“I’m glad you’ll become my future bride.”
What nonsense was this? Realizing that Mathias had misinterpreted her words, Odeliana spoke hurriedly.
“Why is the conversation going in that direction? I said I’d take responsibility for your life, not that I’d marry you and build a family.”
“To take responsibility for someone’s life, one must become the closest possible person to them. And between a man and a woman, what relationship is closer than husband and wife?”
Odeliana blinked, then laughed in disbelief.
“Does that mean you truly want me as your bride?”
“There’s nothing bad about it.”
“We’ve only known each other for a single day.”
“Does time matter? What matters is that we’ve faced life and death together in that short day.”
“Your tastes are rather unique.”
Listening calmly to her serious words, he smiled playfully.
“Indeed. I didn’t know my taste ran to women drenched in blood.”
She felt slightly flustered by the bold behavior of a boy who still seemed so young and inexperienced.
“You’re quite the sly one. But deep trust doesn’t only come from romantic relationships. People can build trust through all kinds of connections.”
“That may be true, but between a man and a woman, isn’t a romantic relationship the deepest and most fulfilling form of trust?”
“No. Nothing is as trivial as emotions between a man and a woman.”
The price of blindly believing in love had returned in the cruelest, most selfish form: betrayal and death. The heart of the one she had believed loved her had been nothing but a cunning scheme to achieve his ambitions, and the sweet voice that had whispered love had been nothing but brainwashing.
‘I died like a fool, believing in it blindly……’
Love was that noble, that base, that meaningless. It was an experience she never wanted to repeat. She would never love anyone else again. From now on, suspicion mixed with fear and terror would always come first.
“Then how exactly do you plan to take responsibility for me?”
“……”
“I’ve lost the home I lived in all my life, and I’ve made enemies of the people here. The man who died was one of the leaders of the organization that rules over Kobeck. By killing him, I’ve turned my back on a massive organization. I’ll have to live in fear for the rest of my life. I’m terrified of everything I’ll have to face from now on.”
Those words would have been more convincing if he had at least pretended to be scared. Speaking as if it were someone else’s problem without even blinking……
Odeliana approached the corpse of the man she had taken down. She reached into his robes and pulled out a flyer. Though stained with blood and partially smeared, the content was still legible.
She held the bloodied flyer out to Mathias. He slowly scanned its contents.
“Come with me.”
“……”
“Even if we’re not lovers, there are plenty of other ways. They say even brushing sleeves creates a connection. As you said, we’ve only just met, but we’ve already faced life and death together several times. That’s more than just a passing encounter. So come with me to where I live. It’s nothing to boast about, but it’ll be better than here.”
Odeliana extended her hand toward Mathias. His gaze lingered on the hand stretched out as if demanding he take it immediately.
“I’ll guide you. I’ll be the one to lead you through your life.”
“……”
“Take it. Take the hand of the patron who will guide you down the shortcut of life.”
Anyone else would have dismissed this as the arrogance of a cripple or the madness of a lunatic. They might have sneered, asking who she thought she was, offering patronage in such shabby clothes.
Yes, it was certainly a rather ridiculous sight. Born as a noble’s illegitimate daughter, never acknowledged from birth, with nothing but a few emergency coins given by Blair as her only wealth, yet claiming the status of a half-noble to offer patronage—it was unsightly.
Yet Odeliana had her own conviction. A baseless confidence that the boy before her would never reject her hand.
‘I trust your judgment.’
Thinking about it now, perhaps it hadn’t been Joslyn who chose Mathias. It was you who chose Joslyn. The honor, wealth, and power Joslyn offered—you had no interest in them from the beginning.
Then why had you followed him in your past life? Perhaps you had been born with an extraordinary instinct for someone destined to bear the fate of a hero. She had no doubt you possessed remarkable judgment.
“A patron.”
“……”
“Rather than such a stiff business relationship, if we’re going down that path anyway, I’d prefer something a little more affectionate.”
His large hand, slowly extended, enveloped Odeliana’s.
“Since you’ll be the one guiding me, ‘Master’ suits better than ‘patron.’”
“……What?”
He bent one knee. Then he carefully pressed his lips to the back of her hand.
A kiss on the back of the hand was a greeting that conveyed reverence toward the other person.
Since it was a distinctly aristocratic gesture, Mathias shouldn’t have known it, yet he performed it with perfect form, showing more reverence than anyone else.
“That promise to personally guide me.”
“……”
“You must keep it.”
“……”
“Master.”