Temporary Protection
Temporary Protection
Ines, curled up in the muddy pit, was trembling all over.
Without stopping her beast-like act of biting her own forearm.
"......."
I roughly wiped my blood-splattered hand on my pants and slowly bent my knees.
And grasped Ines's frail shoulders.
Flinch.
Her body stiffened.
Her unfocused eyes wavered.
She thrashed and scratched the back of my hand like a beast.
Her nails dug into my skin, drawing beads of blood.
I silently endured her resistance.
And forcibly pulled her head into my broad chest.
"Stay still."
A low, dry voice like a command.
Her dirty cheek buried itself into my chest.
Thump, thump, thump.
The moment the regular heartbeat sound reached her ears, Ines's struggle stopped as if by a lie.
She slowly removed her lips from her forearm, which she had been biting until it bled.
Soon, she reached out both hands and clutched the hem of my shirt tightly as if it were a lifeline.
Her rough breaths gradually subsided, turning into soft breathing sounds.
She had fallen into a shallow sleep as if fainting from the sound of a heartbeat.
Why me. I couldn't understand why an idiot who had lost all other senses only reacted to the sound of my heartbeat.
But now was not the time to dig into that peculiar reason.
Without even making a sound, I lifted her light body into my arms.
She was as light as a feather.
The brilliance of the past remained nowhere on her skeletal body.
I headed toward the dormitory through deserted back alleys, taking advantage of the darkness.
Avoiding the patrol routes of the night watchmen and slipping into blind spots was easier than breathing.
'Only until she is fully healed.'
I sneaked into the old dormitory room, laid her on the bed, and coldly drew a line.
When she escapes that beast-like state and becomes able to take care of herself and function as a person.
At that time, I will give her plenty of money and leave her side without hesitation.
That was the perfect plan so that she would not shed blood because of me again.
The problem was the immediate money.
All the wealth I had saved to avoid entanglement with the world, I had thrown it all away just now to smash the slave trader's face.
Now, in my hands, I didn't even have a single coin to buy a handful of herbs.
I looked down once at Ines, who was sleeping curled up.
Even though the heartbeat sound was gone, her tired body seemed unable to overcome sleep and had fallen into a deep slumber.
I went outside again, carrying only a single dagger at my waist.
The outskirts of the capital. Beyond the massive barrier.
Beyond the barrier is a death ground teeming with starving magical beasts.
To raise quick cash, stripping their magic stones and hides was the fastest way.
At the entrance of a forest thick with night fog.
Sseuseuk-
The sound of dry bushes rustling.
In the darkness, yellow eyes flashed as a pack of gray wolves revealed themselves.
Hungry drool dripped between their teeth.
"Keurreureu...!"
Three wolves charged simultaneously toward my throat and thigh.
I held the dagger in a reverse grip and lightly kicked off the ground.
'Slow.'
Compared to the bloody battles I had with the demon army in the previous regression.
The trajectories were so predictable and slow that it made me yawn.
Seogeok-!
The sword tip that split the air dug into the beast's hide.
But at that moment, my brow furrowed slightly.
'My body isn't cooperating.'
The frail body of a teenager whose bones haven't fully grown.
Muscle strength, stamina, and mana were all trash level compared to the previous regression.
The cuts were shallower than intended, and when slicing through the beast's muscles, the recoil transmitted to my wrist.
But just because my body was weak, the 'techniques' engraved into my bones won't disappear.
If strength is lacking, I just need to use their strength against them.
Instead of thrusting with force, I slightly twisted the angle of the dagger toward the inertia of the next wolf leaping up.
Puuk-!
"Kkaegaeng!"
The nape of the wolf, unable to overcome the acceleration, impaled itself on the dagger.
I rotated smoothly without letting go of the hilt.
Using the gushing blood as a shield, I blocked the vision of the last remaining beast.
Then I slipped into the blind spot under its jaw and precisely severed the gap between the spinal cord and cervical vertebrae.
Kwajik.
With a cracking sound, the beast's head collapsed.
It was a clean slaughter that compensated for the body's limitations with experience and precision.
There was no need to catch my breath.
I split the solar plexuses of the corpses to dig out the magic stones, cut off the toughest back hides, and stuffed them into my pouch.
My grip ached, but it was a familiar sensation.
To me, life was merely a lump of meat to be cut down to survive.
A back alley in the night market.
I threw the blood-stained byproducts to a fence and took a money pouch mixed with copper coins.
I ignored the astonishment in his eyes.
As urgent, I bought hemostatic herbs, clean bandages, and bread, then headed to the dormitory.
I had delayed quite a bit of time.
As soon as I opened the door.
"......."
A pungent smell of blood that stabbed into my nostrils.
"Aeueung! Aaaaa!"
In the darkness, Ines was having a seizure.
With my heartbeat sound gone, she was banging her head against the hard wooden wall thump thump.
Red blood bursting from her forehead soaked her platinum blonde hair and dripped down plop plop.
Chaenggeurang-!
I threw the money pouch and food I was holding onto the floor.
Closing the distance in an instant, I strongly embraced the waist of Ines, who was about to bang her head against the wall again.
"Stay still."
Subdued by my strong force, she screamed as if she couldn't breathe.
Like a terrified beast, she turned her head and bit my forearm with her teeth.
Ppudeuk.
Her teeth sank in, and hot blood beaded up.
But I didn't even flinch. I didn't scold her either.
I simply forced her body around and pulled her tightly into my chest.
Her blood spread onto my clothes.
Thump, thump, thump.
The regular, heavy beating sound filled the silence.
"Eu, eueu...."
Her struggling body stiffened as if struck by lightning.
She removed her lips from her forearm.
And sniffled, persistently focusing on my scent and the sound resonating from my chest.
Soon, her bloodshot eyes slowly relaxed.
Clutching the hem of my clothes as if it would break, she exhaled a deep breath soaked in relief.
To assess her condition, I picked up the bread scattered on the floor and brought it to her mouth.
"Eat."
There was no reaction. Even though she must have been extremely hungry, she didn't sniff it or open her mouth.
She only rubbed her cheek to hear my heartbeat sound closer.
I put the bread aside and forcibly lifted her head to meet her eyes.
"Can you see my face?"
"......."
"Your name."
She didn't even move her lips.
I slowly raised my hand and waved it in front of her eyes.
Her gaze didn't follow. Even reflexive blinking was duller than a beast's.
Sight and hearing didn't connect to any rational thought.
She was only clinging to my body heat and my heartbeat sound—those primal senses—like a conditioned reflex.
I silently looked down at the top of her head, held in my arms.
'What the hell, why.'
I couldn't understand.
The lover before me was a complete idiot.
A pathetic lump of flesh with even her survival instinct broken, fearing the world.
Yet how could she find such blind stability only by my side?
As if she had encountered her lost other half.
I indifferently suppressed the bitterly rising sorrowful question.
I lightly lifted her blood-soaked body and headed to the bathroom filled with cold water.
I wet a towel and slowly wiped her face and body.
Every time water touched her wounds, her thin shoulders trembled, but with her cheek resting near my heart, she didn't have a seizure.
The caked dirt and blood washed away.
Her brilliant platinum blonde hair and white skin were revealed.
But on that white skin, whip marks from the slave trader and scars from scratching herself grotesquely covered it.
I indifferently spread crushed herbs over the scars and wrapped clean bandages.
I took out the largest white shirt from my wardrobe and draped it over her like a cover.
The shirt hem fell all the way down below her thighs.
When I laid her back on the bed, Ines curled her body into a ball.
Clutching the hem of my shirt sleeve with both hands, she began to breathe peacefully.
Only the thin sound of her breath filled the quiet room.
"......."
Without even washing my hands caked with blood and herbs, I stood by the window.
I stared at the dawn with cold eyes.
Soon, the morning bell of the Academy would ring.
The plan I had tried to escape with was completely ruined.
I couldn't leave Ines alone in the dormitory.
Because if I disappeared from her sight, the moment she couldn't hear my heartbeat, that beast would bang her head against the wall again.
There is only one way.
To always keep her within my sight, within arm's reach.
The Academy is a strict hierarchical society.
High-ranking noble sons usually bring servants along, but for an orphan commoner like me to accompany a personal maid was insane.
Surely, trash would block my path and, seeing my decent looks, engage in dirty harassment.
But such petty rules and face, I didn't care.
'If there's a bastard who brings up regulations.'
My fingers gripping the windowsill tensed with force.
In my dry and parched eyes, blood-colored murderous intent clearly imbued.
'Then I'll just smash his head.'