The Hero's Embrace
When Serena opened her eyes, she was buried in a pile of rubble.
“…Ugh.”
A trickle of dirt slid down and brushed her cheek. The chilling touch made her eyelids quiver.
Her shoulder throbbed. Her head felt hazy. A heavy pressure bore down on her entire body.
In the thick darkness where she could barely see, the scent of earth rose in waves.
Serena drew a few shaky breaths, then tried to piece together what had happened with her muddled mind.
This is….
A cave. The atmosphere and the smell left no doubt.
As she steadied her breathing, memories from minutes earlier flooded back.
The battle she had fought alongside Hwian. At its climax, Prince Ernest’s face twisting with madness as he unleashed some kind of spell.
I couldn’t stop it….
The indiscriminate bombardment magic Hwian had called Ruinfall. The instant the cavern began to collapse under its power, her consciousness had snapped off.
How much time had passed since then?
Serena peered desperately into the gloom, but the lack of light made it nearly impossible to assess her surroundings. All she could dimly sense was that she was trapped somewhere between heaps of stone.
My body….
She bit her lip and tested her limbs. She wiggled her fingers, flexed her toes, and gave her hips and shoulders a cautious shrug.
Everything moved. There was no sharp pain.
She must have been lucky. It seemed nothing had crushed her badly.
Or rather…?
That was when the strangeness of it struck her.
She was definitely pinned beneath stone, yet her body felt strangely fine. More than that, a gentle, inexplicable warmth enveloped her.
As she tilted her head in confusion, a low voice spoke right beside her.
“…You awake?”
“Hya?!”
“H-Hero?! Are you there? Are you all right?”
The completely unexpected whisper made Serena flinch hard.
When she asked in a panic, she felt a faint nod from so close their noses could almost touch.
“For the moment…. Cough. Hoo, this is hell. I just hope we’re not buried too deep.”
His voice was a soft murmur. She felt the warm brush of his breath against her nape and the faint, steady beat of his heart.
The realization that she wasn’t alone sent a deep wave of relief through her.
As the tension left her muscles, Serena finally understood the source of the warmth covering her. She slowly lifted her gaze.
Hwian’s large frame was shielding her from above, protecting her small body from the avalanche of stone.
He protected me….
The memory of the explosion flashed through her mind—how he had wrapped himself around her in that instant, pulling her close.
Gratitude and guilt swelled inside her. Serena turned toward the place where his voice had come from.
“How did we both survive…? Thank you for protecting me, Hero. Truly. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“We got lucky. A few broken vertebrae aside, I’m fine.”
“Yes, we really were lu— Wait, that is not fine! I can’t treat you properly here, but I can at least ease the pain! Let me see… my staff is in my left hand, so….”
Flustered, Serena hurriedly gathered her magic.
Strands of pure white power shimmered like fresh snow, mirroring her gentle nature. The faint glow pushed back the darkness between the stones for the first time.
“…!”
At the sight it revealed, Serena forgot their dire situation and hiccupped.
S-so close…!
Hwian’s face—usually set in that cynical expression—was right in front of her. His strong features were faintly twisted with pain, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
They were so near that if either of them relaxed even a fraction, their noses would touch.
“…Hm?”
Suddenly his gaze met her golden eyes.
The eye contact felt far too embarrassing. She quickly looked away and finished weaving the pain-relief spell.
She didn’t understand why her heart was hammering so violently.
“…How does it feel?”
“Mm. Oh, that’s nice.”
“I only dulled the pain. The wounds are still there, so don’t push yourself. Once we’re out, I’ll heal you properly….”
Her voice had grown smaller and smaller until it suddenly cut off.
Once we’re out.
The belated question of how they were supposed to get out finally hit her.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Huh? Why are you apologizing again?”
The wave of guilt made her shrink. In a small, sunken voice she murmured, “I’m sorry.”
Before the puzzled Hwian, she recalled how he had moved earlier.
The first time she had truly seen him fight, his movements had been nothing short of superhuman.
He had crushed dozens of monsters beneath his feet, dodged flying daggers, and crossed blades with a prince, all while carrying her on his back. Every threat aimed at her was cut down without a single wasted motion.
Superb skill. Razor-sharp reflexes.
That was why she had thought:
If I hadn’t been there, he could have avoided a collapse like this on his own. He only ended up trapped because he tried to protect me.
Self-loathing born from her own lack of confidence rose like bile.
As she hung her head, a large hand reached out.
Thick fingers gently pinched her soft cheek and tugged.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while now. You worry about the strangest things.”
“…U?”
“You apologize even when it’s not your fault. I don’t like seeing it, so from now on, that’s forbidden. This is your warning.”
“…Agh?! A-ack! Ack…!”
A frail squeak escaped her as he pinched her cheek again. She flailed her arms and legs in protest.
Hwian finally released her, then lightly rested his hand on top of her head.
“Uuuu…. Why are you pinching me….”
“Because you keep apologizing for things that aren’t your fault. Once or twice might be overlookable, but you’ve done it constantly since we met.”
“B-but still!”
“You were probably thinking something pointless again. That maybe you did something wrong. That you made a mistake. Regretting things that are already in the past, right?”
“…Uuu.”
He had hit the mark perfectly. Unable to argue, Serena lowered her head again.
Rustle. His fingers stroked through her hair.
The ticklish sensation made her shoulders twitch. He continued speaking.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. There isn’t a single thing you need to apologize for.”
“…….”
“I think I said this yesterday too, but you really worked hard. It was your first real battle—you had every right to be nervous—yet you never faltered. You trusted me. You followed me. You were a huge help.”
More praise followed.
Rustle. The slow, relaxed strokes continued.
The gentle sensation seemed to brush against her heart. Serena curled her fingers tightly.
Hwian kept speaking in that same calm, admonishing tone.
“People who don’t recognize their own worth are disappointing. A person should at least know what kind of human they are.”
“…Those are difficult words.”
“Not at all. Once you see it, it’s simple.”
Hwian lightly brushed her warm hair as he spoke. In his mind, memories of Elisia from the royal palace flickered past.
The First Princess had been a woman who truly did not know her place.
She had no real ability, yet her ambition overflowed. She believed herself supremely talented, and that delusion eventually led her to be devoured by her own greed and destroyed.
That was the kind of person he hated—those who didn’t understand what they truly were.
Ironically, the same words could be applied to Serena, who was the complete opposite of Elisia.
In his eyes, Serena was a truly hardworking child.
Even while trembling, she had done everything she could to heal others. Even when her life was in danger, she had believed in him and followed without hesitation. She had willingly walked a dangerous, grueling path without a single complaint.
Yet she herself had no idea what kind of person she was. She constantly undervalued herself and dismissed her own efforts.
A child without confidence.
He hated that.
“You are an amazing person, Serena.”
“…….”
“Be proud. If you keep looking down on yourself, what does that make me, who holds you in such high regard?”
Hwian had not kept companions close for a very long time.
Traveling with others felt like a story from years ago. The only one he could even call a comrade was Carmen, and even then, the time they had spent apart far outweighed the time together.
Because in the end they could never keep up with him. Because in the end they would all die.
That was why he had chosen to be alone. Why he had wanted to remain alone.
However.
“I have something I want to tell you.”
“…?”
“Well, it’s nothing new, but….”
For the first time in ages, he had found someone he actually wanted to call a comrade.
She was still immature, a small seed of possibility. He wondered what color the flower would be when she finally bloomed.
“I’ll tell you later. For now, let’s get out of here.”
Serena tilted her head, not fully understanding his meaning.
“—F-found them! Everyone, over here! This way!!”
Hainkel’s voice suddenly reached her ears.
The sound of shovels scraping stone followed. Moments later, light poured in. Serena let out a thin, trembling breath as she stared into it.
“Relax. For all its faults, the world is still worth living in. At least for now.”
Her golden eyes sparkled. Her heart raced. Heat rose to her face.
Not because she had finally been freed from the crushing rubble.
“Right?”
Because in the flood of light, his smiling face looked unbearably beautiful.