Chapter 23
Unlike me, who was flustered and panicking, Valentin looked calm. The way he twisted one corner of his lips was clearly a sneer.
“They even stirred up a Stonewhale. I guess they were desperate since they couldn’t kill me.”
It was obvious who he meant.
Empress Cordelia.
‘But a Stonewhale? How did they even manage that?’
A Stonewhale was a Rank 2 monster. As the name suggests, it was a whale-shaped creature that lived buried in forests like a stone. It looked like a deep-sea fish that lived where no light could reach.
In the original story, it had only been described as a giant monster, so I hadn’t thought much of it!
Looking at the terrifying mass in front of me, I silently cursed the author for not describing it properly.
‘What happens next again?’
In the original story, Valentin defeats all the monsters rushing at him.
He is seriously injured in the process, but Lucy helps him recover. Then he cleanly wipes out the second wave of monsters as well.
But now that he’s separated from Lucy, my role is to prevent him from getting hurt.
Since this is a monster Valentin can handle alone, if I help, we should get through this without any major injuries.
While I was clinging to that hopeful thought, the Stonewhale opened its massive mouth and charged.
Even as the ground shook violently, Valentin stood firm and unshaken. He quickly glanced at the assassins around him and then swung his sword sideways.
From the tip of his blade, a sharp wind burst out along with a dark red light. The light shot forward in a clean arc and sliced straight across the Stonewhale’s thick yellow teeth.
Crack.
“Kieeeek!”
Just watching it made my own teeth ache.
The monster’s teeth shattered like fragile minerals in my hand, and I offered a brief moment of silence for them.
Having lost its powerful weapon in an instant, the enraged Stonewhale thrashed and thrust its massive head toward Valentin.
But despite its overwhelming force, its jaws snapped at nothing.
Valentin had already climbed onto its enormous body with astonishing speed.
“Kieeeek!”
The Stonewhale shook violently to throw him off, making the entire forest tremble. The trees and grass stuck in its back swayed up and down, as if the forest itself was dancing.
But Valentin’s expression did not change at all.
Judging by the way he calmly lowered his gaze, he was trying to locate its core.
The reason the Stonewhale was ranked as a Level 2 threat wasn’t just because of its size. It could only be killed by destroying its core. The problem was that the core moved somewhere inside its body and was smaller than expected, making it difficult to destroy.
Where in that huge body could the core be?
Just as I was thinking—
“Nathan!”
Valentin shouted my name.
Following his gaze, I saw a group of Kalebs swarming toward us.
“Ah!”
I quickly dodged. One of them charged at me and slammed into a tree.
But before I could relax, it bent at the waist and sprang back like a boomerang.
I grabbed its neck midair and threw it hard into another Kaleb charging from the side.
“Grrr!”
After that, it turned into a brutal fight between me and the Kalebs.
As the danger rose, sharp claws I hadn’t used before automatically extended from my hands. This wasn’t the time to hold back.
‘If Valentin gets hurt because he’s worried about me, I’ll never forgive myself.’
I clawed and stabbed at their eyes without hesitation.
Every time I swung my hand, sticky blood splattered across my face.
No matter how many I threw aside, they kept bouncing back like springs. I didn’t even have time to check on Valentin.
Still, deep down, I believed he would be fine.
After all, in the original story he had to face the monster alone. Now he had me helping.
Even if he did get injured, I could carry him back to the camp before the next wave appeared.
‘…Wait.’
As I slammed another Kaleb to the ground, a sense of unease hit me.
‘Were there assassins in the original story? I’m sure it was only monsters.’
And why weren’t they attacking earlier?
The situation was unfolding differently than I expected. Feeling rushed, I clawed out the last Kaleb’s eyes.
At that moment, Valentin seemed to have found the core. He stabbed his sword into the Stonewhale’s head. It looked like he was trying to use aura to destroy its insides completely.
“Your Grace, wait—!!”
As the aura pierced through, the Stonewhale’s body swelled, and sharp red beams of light shot out from its entire body.
It was going to explode.
Sensing the danger, Valentin kicked off the monster’s head and jumped down. A magic circle had appeared beneath him.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
A robed mage stepped forward and touched the glowing Stonewhale. The monster’s huge body shrank and vanished in an instant.
“Now they’re doing this too…”
Valentin glanced down at the dense patterns beneath his feet and let out a cold laugh. His eyes, wiping blood from his cheek, were colder than ice.
This was completely different from the original story.
I tried to pull him out of the magic circle as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t easy.
‘There are too many monsters.’
Countless glowing eyes surrounded us.
Between me and Valentin stood monsters ranging from Rank 2 to Rank 4.
While I was thinking, Valentin was already cutting down the assassins around him.
Each time his sword sliced through the air, lives fell.
One. Two. Three.
Then suddenly, a small glass bottle flew toward him.
Valentin instinctively swung his sword. The bottle shattered, and a dark red liquid sprayed into the air.
Splash.
Just as the ominous liquid touched him, the mage who had been watching silently moved his finger.
The magic circle glowed with a sinister light.
‘Something’s wrong.’
I cleared the monster blocking my way and ran toward Valentin with all my strength.
I had to get him out of that magic circle.
I could feel monsters tearing at my back, but I didn’t have time to respond.
“Your Grace!!!”
By the time I reached him, blood was already dripping from Valentin’s mouth.
It would be fine even if he got badly hurt, because Lucy would heal him?
Don’t joke with me.
Seeing him like this, I wanted to grab my past self by the collar and shake him.
Valentin leaned on his sword, breathing heavily. Blood seeped between the fingers covering his mouth.
Every time he tried to lift his sword, his shoulders shook violently. They must have done something to stop him from using it properly.
‘This isn’t right. This isn’t what I knew.’
There was no time to think.
I hoisted Valentin onto my back and ran as fast as I could.
I didn’t even know where I was going.
I just ran to escape the monsters and assassins chasing us. My thighs and calves felt like they would burst.
Thankfully, as a beastman, I was much faster than humans or ordinary monsters.
The problem was that I was carrying a wounded man.
I could hear Valentin’s labored breathing near my ear, but I couldn’t slow down.
I had to shake them off.
As I tightened my arms around him to keep from dropping him, cold drops fell onto my face.
It started to rain.
“Ahhh!! Please get that face out of my sight!”
Clouded green eyes, filled with disgust and hatred, trembled with tears.
“….”
The child’s small hands trembled slightly. Until now, he had done exactly as his mother wanted—nothing at all.
He avoided showing his face to her. He even tried not to make a sound.
‘I shouldn’t have come out to look for the ball.’
He had thought she wouldn’t come to the garden today. That had been his mistake.
Under the gray sky, Elia looked even more worn than usual. Her shadowed face was still beautiful, but the jewel-like sparkle in her eyes had long faded.
“Your Highness, let’s go.”
Valentin’s nanny took his hand.
Normally, Elia would have ignored them, but today she blocked their path.
“…No. Wherever he goes, it’s still inside the palace. He’ll just show his face to me again.”
She tilted her head, her brows twisting.
Valentin saw the madness in her eyes and quickly shook his head.
But his reaction didn’t matter to Elia.
She grabbed his small, fragile shoulders and dragged him inside.
Her grip was so strong it felt like it would crush him.
“Let’s see, my child. That place will do.”
She ran a hand roughly through her hair and twisted her lips.
She pointed at a small decorative chest used to store accessories.
It was barely big enough for five-year-old Valentin to fit inside.
“Your Majesty…!”
The nanny tried to stop her, but fell silent under Elia’s sharp glare.
When Valentin didn’t move, Elia walked over and opened the chest herself.
“Get in. Now.”
This wasn’t the first time she had locked him up when she saw him.
But today he was unlucky.
This was the first time he had been forced into such a small space that he had to bend his waist just to fit.
Realizing how much he had grown, Valentin hurriedly squeezed himself inside before she could push him.
‘It’s okay. Someone will open it.’
Ignoring the pounding of his heart, he pretended not to notice the fear wrapping around him like a snake.
He believed that if he waited just a little, he would be free from the cramped darkness.
“Don’t you dare open it. If you secretly let him out like before, I won’t let you off.”
As her cruel voice and footsteps faded away, Valentin hugged his knees and buried his head.
‘Mother hates me because I’m ugly.’
Valentin thought he was the ugliest person in the world. He believed it was natural for Elia to hate him.
After all, she always reminded him how worthless he was.
As usual, he slowly counted, waiting for someone to open the door.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…
But even after counting more than ten thousand sheep in the darkness, the tightly shut door never opened.
Time passed. The sun disappeared, and bright moonlight filled the night.
When the nanny finally opened the chest in secret, Valentin had already fainted from exhaustion.
