Seongguk – Catastrophe

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-Slurp. Lick. Lick.

Lena had her face buried in a metal bowl, lapping up the whitish liquid.

“Is it tasty?”

“Umm… delicious!”

Lena raised her head and wiped the corner of her mouth with her finger.

-Swish.

Then she put it in her mouth as it was, savoring the taste.

“Ah! Pope, I was wondering if I could ask you something I’m curious about?”

“You’ve eaten well, so you may ask now.”

“The chances are very low, but what if Jade still loves me even after hearing all the truth? I have to leave Jade’s side…”

“Haha, that’s entirely possible. Lena, you’ve got The Hero completely bewitched.”

“S-Sorry.”

“It’s alright. If The Hero says he can’t give you up, Lena… you must attack The Hero.”

“A-Attack Jade?”

Suddenly, Lena froze and stared blankly at the Pope.

“Lena?”

The Pope felt a chill for a moment.

‘There’s something eerie…’

But the Pope dismissed it as nothing.

He had confirmed countless times that the brainwashing was perfectly in place.

“You don’t need to listen so nervously. For example, you can take a sword and attack The Hero. If that’s not possible, even a piece of glass will do. Of course, it would be a disaster if there were any fatalities or aftereffects, so you must do it without being dangerous. Just the act of attacking The Hero will make him abandon you.”

“Without endangering his life. I understand.”

Lena nodded as if she understood.

“But if I do that, Jade will hate me…”

“Hmm… Lena, come closer to me.”

“Yes?”

“Quickly.”

The Pope beckoned Lena with his hand.

Eventually, Lena quickly approached the Pope.

“Do you have any orders for m—”

-Bang!

“Guh… cough…”

Lena clutched her stomach, trembling, and collapsed to the floor.

The Pope’s fist, imbued with Divine Power, had struck Lena’s stomach forcefully.

The Pope walked over to Lena, who was writhing in pain. Then he knelt in front of her.

“Do you still have lingering feelings for The Hero?”

“Kuh… ugh…”

Instead of an answer, only drool dripped from Lena’s open mouth.

“Lena, you must remember. You are a ‘Sinner’.”

“Kuh… I’m sowwy.”

Lena endured the pain and prostrated herself before the Pope.

“I’m sowwy for asking, hngh… strange questions.”

“Never. Never hold The Hero back.”

**

“I love you too.”

-Thwack.

Cold, sharp metal easily sliced through skin and muscle.

Crimson blood flowed down the blade and dripped onto the floor.

-Drip. Drip. Drip.

“Lena. Is this your choice?”

“J-Jade.”

Lena took her hand off the hilt and hurriedly stepped back.

-Bang!

At that moment, Lucas burst into the room.

“A-Are you alright? Just now, the Sinner attacked The Hero with a sword…”

“…”

Jade and Lena’s gazes naturally turned to the uninvited guest, Lucas.

‘The fact that Inquisitor Lucas knew and came in as soon as I was stabbed…’

Jade carefully observed Lucas.

“Were you perhaps spying on us?”

“…I apologize. I heard a loud noise earlier and was peeking through the door to understand the situation.”

Lucas readily admitted his mistake and lowered his head.

‘He started spying from when we fell together earlier?’

Jade considered saying something to Lucas but decided to let it go.

This trivial matter wasn’t important right now.

“More importantly, are you alright?”

At Lucas’s worried words, Jade raised his left hand.

The sword Lena had stabbed him with had pierced through Jade’s palm.

Just a moment ago.

Lena thrust the sword towards Jade’s stomach,

-Thwack.

Jade quickly blocked it with the back of his hand.

No matter how skilled Lena was as a Swordsman, it was a sword swung without mana.

Even a careless Jade couldn’t have failed to notice it entirely.

Jade stared at his left palm for a moment.

-Trickle.

Blood continued to flow from the open wound.

It was a fatal wound that might render his left hand unusable if he didn’t receive healing from a priest.

Normally, he would have writhed in sudden pain, but…

Strangely, he couldn’t feel much sensation right now.

“It hurts a little, but it’s alright.”

Jade raised his left hand and showed it to Lucas.

“T-To block it with your hand! We need to get you treatment immediately…”

“No.”

Jade pulled out the sword that had pierced his palm in one swift motion.

-Clang!

Then he tore off a piece of his clothing and quickly wrapped it around his palm.

The blue cloth that quickly covered the wound began to turn red.

“That won’t be enough to stop the bleeding from the wound.”

Unable to watch any longer, Lucas reached out and grabbed Jade’s left hand.

-Whoosh.

A pure white light emanated from beneath Lucas’s hand.

“I’ve stopped the bleeding for now as an emergency measure. But you need to see a healing priest quickly to prevent scarring.”

“…Thank you. I’m fine now, so I’d appreciate it if you could leave.”

“Instead of that, I should immediately deal with the Sinner—”

-Grip.

Jade strongly grabbed Lucas’s shoulder with his right hand, cutting him off.

“Please. I need some time alone with Lena.”

“The Hero…”

“Please.”

Beneath Jade’s seemingly rational exterior, intense anger and sorrow were seething.

Noticing this, Lucas had no choice but to give up and step back.

“…I understand. I apologize once again for eavesdropping on the situation.”

Lucas bowed to Jade once before quickly leaving the room.

Thus, Jade and Lena were left alone in the room once more.

-Thud, thud.

Jade began to walk towards Lena.

He remembered hearing that people become calmer when they’re too angry.

‘Is that what’s happening now?’

He never dreamed he would have such a terrible experience because of Lena.

Jade had come right in front of her, but Lena remained sitting there, motionless.

“Lena.”

“…”

“Is this the choice you made to push me away from you? I told you, even if it meant turning my back on the world, I would choose you. But you had to hurt me like this?”

Lena bit her lower lip and trembled, seemingly afraid of the situation.

“T-That’s…”

“Or is it that if you were caught as a spy like this, Malus or whatever his name is ordered you to kill me?”

Since they couldn’t use The Hero, they might have ordered her to kill him instead.

If that was the case, Lena had agreed to and carried out that order.

“This kind of plan had no chance of succeeding. Even if you succeeded in stabbing me, I wouldn’t have died. But you still chose the side of the Demon instead of me. Is this all the love you had for me, after we went through life and death together?”

Ha.

Just a few minutes ago, Lena had confessed to him that her love was the only truth.

‘Hngh… I love you. I love you so much.’

And yet she does this.

Perhaps even that love was a false emotion.

‘How far does Lena intend to play with my heart?’

Jade couldn’t believe any of the words Lena uttered anymore.

Only then did Jade realize why his palm didn’t hurt.

His heart was breaking at the reality that Lena had truly betrayed him and attacked him.

‘It hurts. It hurts so much.’

Would it be this painful to have his heart stabbed dozens of times with an awl?

The pain was so intense that he couldn’t feel other sensations properly.

“Say something. Even a ridiculous excuse is fine.”

“…Sorry.”

“I don’t need your apologies right now. Tell me what the Demons promised you in exchange for killing me. Was it something I couldn’t have given you? I’m The Hero too. I’m weak now, but in the future, I’m someone who can accomplish almost anything.”

“…”

Jade continued to pour out questions in a calm tone.

But Lena couldn’t answer anything properly and just remained blank.

“Ha, ha…”

I’ve tried hard enough, haven’t I?

I was going to embrace her even though she was colluding with Demons, betraying friends, and deceiving everyone.

But Lena trampled on his heart until the very end.

By holding a blade to him.

‘Is there no choice but to give up on Lena now?’

With everything so twisted, there might be no way to resolve it right now.

Lena’s heart couldn’t be turned around with just love between a man and a woman.

He wanted to believe it wasn’t true until now, but there were things in the world that couldn’t be done with just willpower.

“Lena, it seems like now isn’t the time. We, who have been running continuously, need time. From here on, we might not be able to run together forever.”

Jade turned away from Lena.

-Grip.

Seeing Jade about to leave, Lena desperately grabbed Jade’s leg.

“J-Jade, I’m really sorry.”

“Ah. Are you perhaps afraid of being executed? I’ll stop that.”

“It’s not that—”

-Peck.

Jade bent down and lightly kissed Lena on the forehead.

“I’ll give you time, so reflect on it during that time. When we meet again later… I believe you’ll choose me.”

Lena.

Can we be together again?

If we can’t, then I will…