Chapter 73
“That won’t be easy either.”
Light wrapped around Maya.
The black light once again formed a circular ring around her.
Maya turned her back.
Through a crack similar to the one Maya had created earlier, Tristan stumbled out, panting heavily.
Was it because he was still a boy and lacked strength? He didn’t look in good shape.
Blood was trickling slightly from a scar on his face.
In his right hand, Tristan held a pitch-black sword.
The sword, almost a symbol of the Beiadon family, shone even brighter in contrast to the pure white dragon in Maya’s grasp.
“I’m not the only one who knows how to attack Maya.”
At some point, Tristan had walked up beside her and drew his sword instead.
Just because Maya wouldn’t attack didn’t guarantee the butterfly wouldn’t.
And he couldn’t leave her alone. To prevent that, Tristan had deliberately stepped forward first.
There was another reason too.
Last time, during the previous battle, the butterfly hadn’t attacked Tristan.
Even when Tristan figured out how to break the fog, which was the butterfly’s attack, it didn’t make a move against him.
One would expect it to attack someone useless to it, yet it completely ignored him.
He hadn’t noticed back then in the chaos, but now it felt undeniably strange.
Even later, while fighting Maya, the creature merely watched Tristan.
That alone raised suspicion.
Why?
Why didn’t the monster attack Tristan when it clearly had the power to?
Only one person could answer that question—the monster itself.
So Tristan decided to face it head-on to find out.
“We’ll keep this standoff going.”
At Maya’s words, the butterfly blinked in bewilderment.
“Hiss!”
Its composed facade cracked.
“You think I’ll just let this happen?!”
The creature, unable to even spread its wings, launched an attack at Maya.
But the barrier didn’t even get scratched.
After all, Tristan had given everything he had for this very moment.
“Maybe you should be attacking this side instead.”
Tristan was still intentionally leaving himself open.
“So what will you do now?”
Maya and Tristan pressed the creature back together.
It looked like the butterfly was being pushed back—but both Maya and Tristan knew better.
It could still unleash swarms of insects to force Maya into attacking, or it could use people as bait.
And yet, it chose this approach.
‘Monsters aren’t very bright.’
Most of the ones Maya had met weren’t, and the massive monster she encountered in this life wasn’t any different.
They acted confident, but when something strayed outside their expectations, they panicked and lost control.
‘You didn’t think we’d respond like this, did you?’
Now its true nature would show.
The butterfly shook far more violently than before, screaming at the top of its lungs.
“…E-even if it’s not you two, there are plenty of humans who could kill me! And then this one will die too!”
It was definitely rattled now.
And that confirmed the answer.
This monster, like the others, wanted to die.
Fighting wasn’t always the only way to win.
“No. Others won’t be able to kill you either.”
This time, Maya raised her sword to protect everyone else.
“…Just try if you can!”
The butterfly shouted in a last, desperate outburst and spread its wings wide like a blooming flower. The tips of its wings stabbed toward Maya’s eyes.
As Maya winced and blinked against the pain, the creature broke free from her grasp.
Tristan first bound the butterfly with his sword’s black light, then reached for Maya’s eyes.
“I’ll administer first aid.”
One look at the bloodshot eyes told him she could’ve gone blind.
Tristan squeezed his eyes shut.
“…Thank you, Tristan. But we need to hurry and chase after it—”
The more he looked at Maya’s face, the harder it became to shake off the vivid illusions lingering in his sight.
The illusion was so real it felt like it was birthing new traumas within him. His stomach churned.
The thing Tristan feared most turned out to be exactly what he’d imagined—Maya.
But it wasn’t that Maya didn’t love him.
He wasn’t afraid of not being loved.
From the start, he knew love could never be equal in size.
He thought it natural for the one who loved more to make the greater effort.
And if Maya didn’t love him, then he intended to ask her to.
Even if, after all his effort, Maya’s heart never changed, he’d settle for loving her alone.
Because he knew love could never bend entirely to one’s will.
That fear seeped out from his subconscious.
“Tristan, I’m tired of you always leaning on me.”
The Maya Beiadon who had finally grown sick of him.
“So you were such a pathetic man all along?”
The good-man mask ripped away, and Maya stood there, disappointed by Tristan’s naked desires.
When Tristan finally let loose the feelings he had long suppressed, Maya’s reaction—that was his greatest fear.
“I’m disappointed.”
“…”
“You’re such a worthless, insignificant man.”
From the very beginning, things beyond his control had shaped his image, his entire being.
‘I couldn’t help any of this.’
He was born into this curse.
And yet, he tried to survive.
Why did he have to face such judgment from the only person he had ever truly loved?
The illusion of Maya struck him.
A scar tore across his left cheek, but he didn’t even care to move.
Even using his healing powers felt pointless.
His grip on reality began to slip. His battered body whispered that it wanted to sleep.
If he just slept here, he wouldn’t feel any pain anymore.
He could sleep forever.
Run away.
Don’t face it.
The whisper in his ear was sweet, almost irresistible—but the word run away jolted his mind clear.
‘How long will I keep running?’
He had already spent too long running.
Tristan opened his eyes wide and stared straight at the illusionary Maya spitting cruel words.
And the moment he truly saw her, he realized what a stupid mistake he’d made.
The Maya he knew would never look at him with such dull, vacant eyes.
“Maya… wouldn’t say that.”
If strange rumors spread, she’d say they didn’t make sense. And even if Tristan confessed every hidden feeling, she’d understand—so this is who you are.
The Maya he knew would never be disappointed in him.
She’d never say those words.
Tristan clenched his fist tightly.
What kind of illusion was Maya seeing right now?
‘Could her fear… be me?’
A selfish thought reared its head. He hoped that, in her illusion, the thing she feared most was him.
He wanted to matter that much in her life.
‘And I hope the one who saves you from it… is me.’
A wish bloomed in Tristan’s heart—one for Maya alone.
And so, without hesitation, he cut down Maya’s illusion.
It was only a step toward seeing the real her.
As Maya vanished, another fear loomed—the cursed, tainted future awaiting him. The failed revolution. The ultimate downfall of House Beiadon.
But compared to Maya, those fears barely stung.
“I’ve already imagined all of that countless times.”
He had spent long years in the North, cut off from the world. Time was all he had. And in that time, Tristan honed himself.
He worked tirelessly to grow into a righteous man.
But loneliness and fear weren’t something effort could erase.
Bad days came, but so did good ones.
Tristan learned to accept his negative feelings as they were.
Crack.
The sky split, and through the rift appeared Maya, having subdued the butterfly.
The real Maya.
Tristan moved toward her.
‘So I thought I was fine now.’
But clearly, he wasn’t.
“Tristan, are you all right?”
Maya shook his shoulder. Her eyes, usually clear, now looked alarmingly hazy.
“The butterfly—”
“I can track it down.”
Tristan blinked and muttered in a low voice. At this close distance, he could sense everything in detail.
The butterfly was heading toward Alec and Hayden.
Gasping for breath, Tristan mounted the wyvern and forced himself to keep his composure.
He didn’t want to show weakness in front of Maya.
“Get on. We need to follow it now.”
“Yes, but…”
Maya climbed up behind him and pressed her hand to his forehead, frowning.
“Are you really okay? You didn’t even treat the wound on your face.”
She gently brushed her fingers across the scar on his cheek, her brows knitting tighter.
“Such a pretty face…”
The words slipped out before she realized—and Maya clamped her mouth shut.
“Maya, what did you just…”
When Tristan asked again, Maya hurriedly changed the subject.
“Let’s go, quickly!”
