A Night of Love
"Ah, well, if you'll excuse me."
With his preparations complete, Einzel slipped away toward Sayne. Behind him, Rupos Luderan watched his retreat with an unreadable, calculating gaze. Einzel pointedly ignored the prickle on his neck, quickening his pace the moment Sayne came into view.
"Everything ready on your end?" Einzel whispered as he reached her side.
Sayne gave a subtle nod.
"Good. Let's move."
Excusing the handmaidens under the pretense of wanting some privacy together, the two slipped into the shadows and began to move discreetly. They maintained an air of nonchalance as they made their way toward the heavy door leading to the basement, but two sentries immediately stepped forward, barring their path with leveled halberds.
"Halt. No one is permitted beyond this point."
"Even on my authority?" Sayne asked, her voice turning ice-cold.
The guards did not so much as flinch. "Direct orders from the family head, Lady Sayne. No one enters—not even you."
Sayne and Einzel exchanged a brief look, nodding in silent agreement. Neither of them had expected to be waved through politely in the first place.
Thwack!
In the blink of an eye, Sayne struck both guards down, leaving them unconscious on the stone floor.
The iron-banded door swung open smoothly on well-oiled hinges—proof that someone had made frequent use of it quite recently. Slipping inside, they descended the winding stone staircase into the subterranean depths. But as they reached the bottom landing, they froze in their tracks.
Gathered in the vast expanse ahead stood dozens of soldiers, bristling with drawn swords and leveled spears.
"Well, we're fucked," Einzel muttered under his breath.
"What should we do?" Sayne whispered tensely.
"First, be quiet so they don't spot—"
Before Sayne could even finish her sentence, a loud crunch of crushed mortar echoed underfoot. In unison, every guard in the chamber snapped their heads toward the sound.
"...Yeah, we're really fucked."
"Damn it all!"
They bolted. Charging headlong into an unknown number of foes was sheer suicide. Dodging past the first line of guards, they sprinted deeper into the underground complex. The basement stretched out far vaster than anticipated, its labyrinthine layout making it impossible to spot a weak point at a glance. Their only option was to weave through the corridors, scatter the pursuit, and pick them off piecemeal.
Yet how were they supposed to divert their attention long enough to scatter them?
Einzel hurled a fireball onto the carpet lining the stone floor. Under normal circumstances, underground facilities were equipped with wards and suppression charms to avert catastrophic fires, but the sudden burst of flame was more than enough to sow immediate chaos. The guards scrambled in disarray to extinguish the blaze, and Einzel and Sayne seized the opening to slip away undetected.
They ducked into a small, unlit chamber that seemed ideal for lying low. But as their eyes adjusted to the gloom, a gruesome sight greeted them.
Corpses. Piles of them, strewn haphazardly across the cold stone floor.
Sayne recognized them instantly. They were the bodies of the Luderan family's political rivals who had vanished without a trace over recent months. A bone-deep chill washed over her, raising goosebumps across her skin.
"...What is this...?"
"The nobles who recently went missing..." Einzel grimaced, his jaw tightening. "Dammit. I really didn't want to stumble into this kind of shit right off the bat."
"How could they—"
"Shh. Someone's coming."
A pair of guards approached the doorway. Einzel and Sayne struck like lightning, knocking away their weapons and knocking them out cold in a single breath. But through the corridor outside, a harsh order rang out:
"Kill all intruders on sight! It doesn't matter who they are—if they're down here, slaughter them!"
Sayne's expression darkened. With lethal force authorized, holding back and merely knocking people unconscious was no longer a viable tactic.
"Things just got dangerous," Sayne said grimly. "If you want to pull out, now's your last chance."
"Forget it. I helped you take down those guards at the entrance—there's no clean way out for me anymore. Besides, after coming this far, I'd feel cheated if I didn't see it through."
"...Fine. Then we see it to the end."
"Don't bother dodging every fight," Einzel added. "We're going to have to cut our way through anyway. I can work a few miracles with Holy Power, so I can patch us up as we go. It'll lower the risk."
Stepping away from the charnel house, they slipped out of the chamber and resumed their search.
Patrol after patrol poured out of the side halls, forcing them into brutal skirmishes. Einzel channeled his Holy Power to mend their wounds, but physical exhaustion began to take its toll, and before long, his divine reserves ran completely dry.
"...Nothing useful here either," Sayne muttered, frantically rummaging through stacks of documents in another room. "Just corruption ledgers meant for blackmailing rival houses... Wait, shit. The Imperial Palace is in here too."
"...Let's check the next room."
"Right."
The moment they stepped back into the hallway, however, an overwhelming wall of soldiers blocked their path.
"...Run!"
They turned on their heels without looking back. Against a force of that size, victory was an impossible dream; running was their only prayer.
"Seize them!"
Shouts echoed from every corridor, sending jolts of panic through their chests. Grit their teeth as they might, darting through turn after turn, it was only a matter of time before they hit a dead end.
Surrounded.
"...Any bright ideas?" Sayne asked, breathing hard.
"Working on it," Einzel replied dryly.
With spears and blades hemming them in from all sides, there was nowhere left to run. A direct breakthrough was out of the question.
"Surrender now," a commander among the guards stepped forward, raising an armored hand. "If you yield, we will spare your life, Sir Hero."
The implication hung heavily in the air: Sayne would not be granted the same mercy.
"...And Sayne?" Einzel asked.
"The family head was explicit. Should any of his children trespass into this place, they are to be executed without exception."
Sayne let out a bitter, choked sigh and lowered her head. In truth, she had half-expected as much.
"...At least you can walk away," she murmured, biting her lip until it bled. "Surrender, Einzel."
So this is how it ends. She had done everything she could, and while this outcome was hardly a surprise, dragging Einzel into her mess was a mistake she could never undo. She should have solved her own problems. Now, even without a marriage, her father would hold a leash around his neck forever.
"I refuse," Einzel said flatly.
"What?" Sayne spun to look at him, her eyes wide with shock. "Are you insane?! Are you really trying to die with me here? Aren't you afraid?!"
"Not one bit."
A lie. He was terrified of dying. But—
"I'm far more terrified of tucking my tail between my legs and leaving you behind like a coward."
If he ran once, it would never stop. The rot would spread until he lost control completely. No matter what happened, he could not run away. If he fled now, he would shatter completely—just like back when he had plunged a blade into his own heart over and over again until his mind unraveled into madness.
He compressed all of that agony into a single resolve.
"...Do you truly believe we are incapable of killing you, Sir Hero?" the commander asked coldly. "We belong to House Luderan. A mere Hero who fights the Demon King's army? We could bury your corpse, and not a single soul would ever find out."
"I know. Believe me, I know all too damn well."
He knew it from experience, having had his throat slit by men just like them in previous loops.
And yet.
Even so.
Einzel turned to Sayne, whose face looked ready to crumble into tears, and spoke calmly:
"Why look so glum? If you're going to die anyway, wouldn't you prefer some company on the road to the underworld? Listen to me, Sayne. I'm not running. And you—stop pretending you're fine, and stop acting like you've given up. It's pissing me off."
"What? You absolute idiot...!"
"You want to live, don't you? Then don't you dare give up when you're desperate to survive. Until the moment you die—no, even after you're dead—once you choose a path, you see it through to the bitter end."
It was an oath spoken as much to himself as to her. No matter how many times he died, he had to walk this road to its completion. In truth, he had only two choices: see it through to the end, or be broken beyond repair.
Sayne stared at him, dazed.
"What are you staring at? I told you I'd be your miracle. Miracles are meant for pulling off the impossible. You and I are going to make it out of here, and we're going to live. So shut up and save your breath."
Not a miracle wrought by Holy Power, but a true miracle in every sense of the word.
He was the Hero—a being meant to turn the impossible into reality.
"Grip your sword. And while you're at it, think of a way out."
"...So you insist on drinking poisoned wine?" the commander asked, narrowing his eyes.
"It's not poison," Einzel sneered. "It's a victory toast. And I'm going to drink it. Someday."
Even if he died right here, that day would come.
The commander raised his hand. "...Kill them."
The guards moved forward in tight, methodical formation, steadily closing the perimeter. They intended to slaughter their quarry cleanly, minimizing casualties on their own side.
"...There," Sayne whispered sharply. "There's an opening on the left flank."
She hadn't missed it.
"See? Told you," Einzel said. "Looking for a way out beats whining any day."
It was wisdom bought through countless deaths at the hands of impossible foes.
"...I'll squeeze out the last drop of my mana to wrap us both in protective barriers," Einzel said. "You're the spearhead. Can you break through?"
Sayne nodded resolutely.
They charged. Even if their chances were zero, even if they were hurling an egg against a boulder, forward was the only way left to go. Trusting in themselves and clutching to the faintest sliver of possibility, they cast aside fear and hesitation, surging straight into the enemy lines.
And the encirclement broke.
Sayne's blade tore through the weak point in their formation with terrifying precision.
"Dammit! Stop them!"
Yet right as they broke free into the open corridor—
A spear thrust out, piercing clean into Einzel's flank. Almost absurdly easy.
The wound wasn't instantly fatal, but left untreated, it would bleed him dry in minutes.
"W-What...?! Didn't you put up a barrier?!"
"Nope," Einzel managed a grim grin through the agony. "A barrier wouldn't have bought us enough time to outrun them anyway. So... eat this, you bastards!"
Clutching that sliver of possibility, he hurled another fireball into the cluster of soldiers behind them. One of the men erupted into flames, thrashing as the fire caught onto the others.
"We've gotta shake them off," Einzel wheezed.
Sayne's eyes widened. Without a second thought, she slung his arm over her shoulder and hoisted him up, breaking into a desperate sprint. Behind them, the guards were thrown into complete disarray by the blaze, losing their chance to give chase.
"Why... why would you go this far...?"
Sayne poured everything into her stride, praying desperately with every breath that he wouldn't die in her arms.