~Chapter 119~
Ethan, who was holding the sword pushed in upside down, slid and fell from the back of the giant bird.
“Your Excellency!”
The knights and Riden jumped up and ran to him.
Everyone around Ethan kept calling his name.
‘Did the Duke get hurt?’
Damian, who had just managed to climb up and was catching his breath, couldn’t help but worry.
He dragged his tired body closer to see what was happening.
Riden was shaking Ethan’s body beside him, but Ethan didn’t seem conscious.
Damian was counting on Ethan as his lifeline in this world. If something happened to Ethan, it would be a disaster. He wanted to check his condition more closely.
Worried, he got even closer.
“Step back!”
When Damian’s shadow fell over Ethan, Riden pushed him away roughly.
‘If only I hadn’t been distracted…’
He didn’t know exactly what happened to Ethan, but Damian blamed himself for being distracted while trying to stop the fall.
Just then, as Damian was pushed by Riden, a small hand mirror rolled loudly out of his pants pocket and across the floor.
‘Huh?’
Riden looked quickly at the mirror on the floor, then up at the now dead giant bird, and finally at Damian.
‘Did he know the giant bird would appear?’
It was a small hand mirror, usually used by noble ladies, not something an ordinary nobleman would carry.
Why did Damian have it?
It almost looked like he had prepared it, knowing the bird was attracted to shiny things.
‘…I’ll think about it later.’
Riden glared at Damian, then turned her head back to Ethan.
She could feel that Berbes was the reason Ethan was like this.
At this moment, there was only one thing she could do—something only she could do.
Without hesitation, Riden lowered her head and kissed Ethan.
She breathed into him, as she was used to doing, but the breath soon got blocked.
This was the first time this had happened.
Something like black threads, curled deep inside him, had taken over Ethan’s whole body.
[I miss you, I want to see you. Don’t go. Come back. I want to see you…]
The thing spoke in Ethan’s voice, and the sound made her dizzy.
‘Those are the words I heard in the tent! It wasn’t Ethan’s voice, it was this thing’s.’
Riden moved even closer. Now she could see it.
The thing it missed so much.
It was a woman with long brown hair and green eyes—the same as how humans imagined Siraka.
Suddenly, she realized something.
‘Maybe Berbes didn’t hate Siraka after all…’
In books she’d read at the monastery praising Berbes, it was written that the two gods fought fiercely and in the end, Berbes broke Siraka into six relics and threw them into the human world.
But now, the feeling coming from Berbes was only longing.
‘In the monastery, they wrote that Berbes was the winner. But maybe that’s not true. Did Siraka leave Berbes behind?’
She felt disappointed.
‘Then even Berbes doesn’t know where the relics are…’
He wouldn’t avoid finding her on purpose if he missed her this much.
But that didn’t matter now.
‘Anyway, let Ethan go!’
Riden shouted as if to purify the thing, breathing into Ethan.
She had to make it smaller so Ethan would wake up.
[I won’t let go until I find Siraka!]
Berbes growled.
‘What does finding Siraka have to do with Ethan?’
[Siraka loved humans more than me…]
Berbes, using Ethan’s voice, hesitated for a long time as if his pride was hurt.
[If I become human, I’ll know where she is.]
Now, Riden felt like all the puzzle pieces fit.
So that’s why the Kenwolf family was cursed. Berbes wanted to control them to find where Siraka was.
‘Wait, then our goals are the same.’
Her wish to gather the six relics and free Ethan from his curse was the same as Berbes’s wish to find Siraka.
[But who are you? You’re not Siraka, but you feel like her. And stop bothering me!]
Riden listened to Berbes whine, then spoke.
‘If you promise to let Ethan go, I’ll help you find Siraka.’
At this, the thing inside Ethan started jumping around.
[You know where Siraka is? Bring her to me now! If you do, I’ll grant any wish you want—even freeing this bloodline, or any wish…]
Any wish?
Even if Berbes didn’t know where the relics were, if he cooperated, it would be a big advantage.
What could she ask for?
She remembered Berbes’s powers from books.
‘What can you do?’
Fwoosh!
Berbes, maybe feeling insulted by a human, blazed inside Ethan.
[I’m the evil god Berbes! Killing a few humans is nothing for me!]
He was so angry, she could almost feel his hot breath.
But Riden sensed he was still trying not to touch the breath she was giving Ethan.
He said she felt like Siraka, so why was he scared?
Anyway—
‘So, can you grant this wish too?’
Berbes listened carefully as she glanced at Damian.
‘He must have known the giant bird would be here.’
So he was probably connected to the people secretly working inside the church.
Now it was too risky to use church people to chase away Mrs. Kimsiom.
Berbes replied,
[I can do it. If you do what I want. But first, show me you have the power.]
‘Let Ethan go first. I’ll prove it soon.’
At her words, Berbes slowly withdrew his power from Ethan’s body.
Soon, Ethan’s closed eyes opened slowly.
“Are you awake?”
Riden hugged him, still confused by the feelings mixed with Berbes.
The warmth of his body brought her relief.
She thought again about Berbes’s promise that he could grant any wish if she helped.
“Sir Damian, are you okay? You’re hurt.”
The hunting festival was over.
As expected, first place went to the hunting party led by the duke.
But what made more news was that a monster had appeared in the Eastern Empire’s land and people got hurt.
People started worrying that, just like the church planned, monsters might attack the Eastern Empire again.
“I’m fine. I got treated, but I’ll have to be careful for a while.”
After the festival, as they went back,
Since they were staying at Count Florence’s house, Riden and Damian naturally rode in the same carriage.
Damian answered Lady Hern, who kept fussing over his injuries, while thinking about what had happened.
Before the duke woke up, he couldn’t forget the face of Lady McCurry, who kept calling Ethan’s name.
It was just like…
“Sir Damian? The carriage is bumping a lot. You can lean on me.”
“I’m okay. I can’t do that to you.”
‘When was it…’
He remembered the time he saved Dain from drowning during a picnic by the valley.
He wasn’t a good swimmer, but he couldn’t wait for a lifeguard when Dain was drowning in front of him.
So he jumped into the water.
Luckily, he pulled Dain out, but he swallowed a lot of water.
“Senior, senior!”
He remembered Dain crying, slapping his cheeks.
‘For some reason, I only liked faces like that…’
Even if they fought, what comforted him was seeing Dain’s face by his side.
It had been a long time since he’d seen that bright smile.
‘At some point, I pushed Dain away just to feel safe, because I couldn’t handle my own fears.’
Thinking about the past, Damian suddenly stopped.
The face of Lady McCurry crying and calling for the duke—didn’t it look like someone he knew?
Maybe that’s why. Even after the festival, on the way back to the mansion, he kept thinking of Lady McCurry’s face.
‘No way…’
Suddenly, all the moments he brushed off, thinking he only cared because Lady McCurry was the main character, flashed through his mind.
Could it be… could it…
“Sir Damian?”
He slowly wiped away the tears that had rolled down his cheeks.
“Are you hurt? That’s why you’re crying, right? Lean on me.”
“…”
Tears fell onto Damian’s pants.
Riden McCurry was Dain.
The one he searched for so desperately was now crying for another man’s name.
Damian’s vision grew blurry.
