Chapter 13 | I’m Afraid of You
[Prince] “A messenger to the Empire.”
The prince spoke like a puppet, repeating nearly verbatim Greta’s words.
With eyes unblinking, unsettling and vacant, how could one not think the prince was acting strangely? But even stranger than that, though he did not blink even once, not a single soul pointed that out……
Not long before Greta’s words left the prince’s mouth—
[—] “There’s something happening outside the capital city. They want someone who’s capable of tracking the location of the perpetrator.”
The occurrence from outside the Imperial capital was spoken by an unexpected person, leading the information to an equally unexpected place. This was just before Olivia and Cryer managed to find evidence of the incident themselves, fumbling to catch the tail of the one responsible.
In the Nordian royal palace, far from where the incident took place, Greta had already caught wind of what was happening. That faint presence that she felt was the same as the one she felt when she killed her father, the mage, not long ago.
Her father might not have felt this presence, but Greta was a mage superior to him by leaps and bounds, and so she felt it with ease—the presence that grew stronger and stronger.
And obviously, any presence she could feel was related to that of the ancient god.
Her verdant green eyes glowed like those of a snake.
Speaking again, the prince uttered Greta’s words once more.
[Prince] “I will help catch the criminal as soon as possible.”
As Greta’s words ceased, so too did the prince’s, and when she turned and walked away, he turned with her.
Returning to the King’s Office, Greta patted the prince on his cheek, whispering in his ear.
[Greta] “You did well.”
Greta leaned down and kissed him on his forehead, and only then did he finally close his eyes. For just a brief moment, a sigil of the ancients burned on his forehead as she pulled away, but it was gone in an instant.
The prince sat like a ragdoll in the chair, like a puppet with severed strings sinking in his seat. Greta took one look at him before closing her eyes and turning away to leave.
With eyes closed in thought, she walked, following that distant presence that kept tickling her nerves.
The heart of the Empire—the outskirts of the capital city. The presences were swaying, moving from here to there, acting chaotically in their motion.
[Greta] “How useless.”
Greta quietly clicked her tongue.
To know that someone who worshiped the ancients was doing something beyond her supervision and out of her sight didn’t make her happy in the slightest. If some unintelligent fool were to perform the wrong ritual, then the arrival of the old god would only be delayed.
There was even the chance their ascension might be lost entirely, and so she needed to find whomever this person was and set them ablaze.
Whoever they were and what they did, it needed to be purified.
[Greta] “Perhaps I should contact Cryer?”
She was told he was captured and was being held hostage by the Imperial Princess, but no. The more likely truth was that he wanted to stay there.
After all, no tiny little Imperial Princess would be able to keep him pinned down if he didn’t want it.
Eventually, Greta shook her head.
On second thought, she didn’t need to ask for his help in dealing with this little upstart.
[Greta] “Everything is done by the will of God.”
As the purest warrior, chosen by the gods, whatever he did, whatever he willed—His desires reflected the desires of the gods themselves.
[Greta] “Cryer.”
Calling out his name and stroking the empty canvas with her finger tips, Greta’s expression was more lively and colorful than ever before; a beautiful smile stretched across her face.
[Greta] “No matter how distant you are, I can always feel you so clearly.”
A dark shadow loomed over her eyes as Greta closed them tightly, embracing the canvas with a firm grip.
* * *
At the same time the blood of the workers colored the halls of the Nordian palace, Cryer and Olivia had just reached an empty space, a wide field of white trees and bushes.
[Cryer] “Here.”
When Cryer said that, Olivia took a quick glance around the area, but nothing in particular stood out to her.
[Cryer] “It’s been buried already.”
[Olivia] “What?”
[Cryer] “Do you remember the incident?”
Realizing he was asking her if she remembered anything like this from before her return, Olivia shook her head.
[Olivia] “Something similar happened before. At the time…..”
Olivia narrowed her eyes, her brow furrowing as she searched her scattered memories.
[Olivia] “At the time, an investigator was dispatched and the case was closed not long after that.”
[Cryer] “Closed? Then you know who did it.”
It looked as though he was raring to go and catch the guy before she even had the chance to respond, but once more, Olivia shook her head.
[Olivia] “I don’t know.”
[Cryer] “Did they close the incident without ever figuring it out?”
[Olivia] “No, they found the person, but they were nothing more than a burnt corpse. Their body was discovered in the vacant home of one of the missing persons.”
And even before that, from what she recalled, they could not find any clues as to the culprit’s identity at this moment in time.
[Olivia] “You said you smelled blood. Where?”
[Cryer] “Here. And there, too.”
Pointing out with his hand, Cryer furrowed his brow as deep wrinkles formed on his forehead. The place he was pointing towards looked like recently disturbed earth, the soil somewhat darker than the area around it.
And from the bushes came the flowing scent of blood that slowly turned into the stench of rotting flesh. Such was obvious just from seeing how much Cryer’s nose was twisting.
[Olivia] “Here?”
Olivia blinked in confusion as she tried taking a step forward to the place that Cryer had pointed out.
[Olivia] “What?”
And that was because suddenly, her feet were suspended midair.
[Olivia] “Cryer?”
Cryer had one arm wrapped around her, holding her in a loose hug. She kicked her feet around, scattering the dirt and damp soil under her, revealing the redder earth beneath the green grass.
Still holding onto her, Cryer turned to the side, dropping Olivia off somewhere a little ways off from where the site was.
[Cryer] “Can you not smell the blood?”
Tilting her head in curiosity, Olivia looked at him.
[Olivia] “Well, I have to take a closer look. Unlike you, I’m a regular human being.”
Obviously she would need to get closer to inspect the site, which was a very reasonable thing to say, but Cryer didn’t nod in agreement.
[Cryer] “It’s awful. You’re telling me you can’t smell it?”
When Cryer asked that, Olivia turned her head up.
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She sniffed a couple of times, taking in the air around her, but she didn’t smell what he could. All she could gather was the scent of grass.
[OIivia] “No, not really? In fact, the air smells rather nice, kind of like flowers. What do you mean awful?”
Olivia’s eyes were darting around with a widened expression, as if she was truly trying to search out what he found to be so disgusting. By the time she looked back to him, Cryer was already turning back to the field.
[Olivia] “Why are you going off alone!?”
[Cryer] “You should stay there. The land here’s been completely corrupted.”
Cryer’s words calling back to her like that naturally caused confusion and wonder to fill Olivia’s expression again.
[Olivia] “What do you mean, corrupted?”
At first glance, her question was perfectly valid.
The surrounding area was lush with vibrant bushes, and the air was filled with an almost overwhelming flowery scent. Obviously, the spot where the earth had been clearly dug up was suspicious, but that didn’t necessarily mean corruption.
But instead of giving Olivia a proper answer, Cryer picked up one of the scattered branches on the ground.
Whoosh.
He gave the branch a gentle swing, and that was when the air cracked, and the damp and blackened ground sundered as though it were nothing but cake.
The branch was thin, about twice the width of Olivia’s index finger, and so seeing such a feat would inspire awe in just about anyone who was there to witness it. However, Olivia, the only spectator to this act, was not surprised at all.
What did she have to be surprised by at this point?
He was a man who’d knocked down the walls of the Imperial Palace, said to be the strongest in the Empire.
Branch aside, she wouldn’t be surprised if waving his finger produced the same effect.
Instead, she stood up on her tippy toes, waving her hand as she called out to him.
[Olivia] “Say something, Cryer! What on earth is happening over there?”
She was a little frustrated standing here by herself, but there had to be a reason why he told her not to move from this spot.
Olivia listened to Cryer, staying in place as he warned not because she trusted him to speak only the truth towards her, but because she knew he was not the type to tell useless lies.
Counting the sheep in her head, one, two, three—finally, Cryer turned back to her.
[Cryer] “When did this start?”
[Olivia] “You mean the missing persons case?”
[Cryer] “Yeah.”
Olivia had spent the entirety of the previous night combing through the documents she was given, and when she finally gave him the answer, Cryer shook his head.
[Cryer] “It must’ve started sooner than that. This must’ve been going on for at least a few years now.”
[Olivia] “What do you mean, a few years……?”
Before she could finish talking, Cryer was right in front of her.
Olivia couldn’t make a single sound, startled into silence and frozen with her mouth left agape. Cryer reached out his hand, taking her chin and pushing her mouth closed.
And when she noticed him touching her with his hand, Olivia felt a rush of irritation and bitterness, glaring up at him.
[Cryer] “You seemed a little frustrated, so I tried appearing in front of you as soon as possible.”
She didn’t say anything, but Cryer seemed to notice just how miffed and perhaps angry Olivia was that he appeared right in front of her so suddenly, so he added a quick word of explanation.
But even now, her rounded shoulders were shrinking away from him as they trembled, and her blue eyes were still flashing with bitterness towards him. Being met with such a sight, Cryer bowed his head.
[Cryer] “I’m sorry.”
[Olivia] “You should know better…….”
[Cryer] “But I’ll keep doing things like this, so you might as well get used to it.”
Cryer cut her off, shaking his head before she even had the chance to finish speaking. Olivia shouted out at him.
[Olivia] “That doesn’t sound like an apology……Eup! Hmgh! Mng!”
Suddenly, Olivia’s mouth was being covered by a large hand that engulfed nearly half her face. She loudly protested, squirming in dissatisfaction, but she stiffened at Cryer’s next words.
[Cryer] “Get used to it.”
She couldn’t see his eyes, darkened and shadowed as he narrowed them, but within his low voice was a sense of sincerity. Nothing more, nothing less.
[Cryer] “I can’t always save you just by warning you every time there’s danger.”
Olivia stared up at him.
His words were absolute. There was nothing she could say to argue with that.
Like they discussed before, they were in the same boat now, so perhaps it would be wise to work closer together as they ran to achieve their shared goal.
And moreover, that goal was not one that could be achieved with an optimistic attitude alone, and one wrong turn could lead her down the path of dangerously staring down the blade of a sword once again.
But even so…….
Olivia slowly pulled Cryer’s hand away from her face.
[Olivia] “Cryer.”
Calling out to him, her blue eyes like the still waters of a lake, undisturbed by the wind, met with his of dark crimson, burning like the scorched earth below.
Time passed as they stared at each other, the exact amount uncertain.
Then finally, Olivia pulled her lips apart.
[Olivia] “You’re right. I have to get used to it.”
[Cryer] “Yeah.”
Olivia took a deep breath, pushing her chest out as she shook out her head. Cryer’s response was simple but hers was simpler, returning her words without giving herself even a moment to breathe.
[Olivia] “You’re right, but……”
He was right that this would be the best approach to their situation right now.
But four times.
Four times too many, Cryer relentlessly pursued and mercilessly killed Olivia in cold blood—four times.
No matter how much she allied herself with him; no matter how many examples she was given of how he was not a simple bloodthirsty murderer who swung his blade for the thrill of it, that was a fact that could not be changed.
[Olivia] “I am afraid of you.”
Though she stared up at Cryer, looking straight at him without trying to avoid his eyes, Olivia’s voice was shaking.
Her fear was instinctual.
Their relationship was no different from that of an apex predator, sharing its habitat with the small creature who was his prey.
And Cryer did not try to comfort Olivia in this moment. He did not understand where she was coming from, and so he could not sympathize with her fear.
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All he could do was convey his honest sincerity.
[Cryer] “I’m not going to kill you.”
In the low tones of his voice, the truth of his words was difficult to miss. She could not ignore his candor with how he said it.
Olivia gave a very exaggerated nod.
[Olivia] “I know that. But knowing that doesn’t stop me from being afraid………What are you doing?”