Ch.54Shining Knight (12)

At the sharp sound of metal clashing, Judy and Smith looked toward the alley where Caden had disappeared.

“No… no… no!”

Smith began struggling to free himself from the ropes. Seeing his desperate movements, Judy Ice finally let go. She too was worried about Caden and couldn’t hold Smith back any longer.

“Please! Please let me go! I wasn’t lying! Can’t you hear the fighting sounds coming from over there?”

“…Tch…”

Eventually, Judy drew her sword as well. Smith flinched and let out a short scream.

-Snap.

The ropes binding Smith were cut by Judy’s sword. Having gained his freedom in an instant, Smith looked at Judy, then without a word, turned and fled as fast as he could.

Right after Smith ran away, Judy also moved. She ran in the completely opposite direction from where Smith had gone—toward the sounds of battle.

“Caden…!”

Judy entered a room filled with the sounds of men groaning, things breaking and falling, and the chilling screech of metal.

The sharp, metallic smell of blood filled the room. Judy couldn’t take any action after entering.

She couldn’t see anything. The room was lit by only a single candle, and whenever a dark figure passed in front of it, Judy couldn’t discern anything.

At that moment, she heard someone rushing toward her.

Judy raised her sword in a defensive stance.

As the sound came within range of her sword, Judy swung it.

She needed no other reason to swing her sword than the fact that Caden was fighting somewhere in this darkness.

“Argh!”

She felt her sword cut through something, and the rushing figure collapsed at her feet.

The fallen man clutched his chest, groaning and covering his fresh wound.

After kicking away the dagger in his hand, Judy shouted into the room.

“Caden! I can’t see anything to help you!”

Instead of an answer, only the confused screams and shouts of many men returned.

Judy felt her mind going blank.

Was Caden really fighting alone in here?

Even though her eyes weren’t yet accustomed to the darkness, she doubted she would see much even if they were. Was he fighting in these conditions? Alone against all these people?

Despite his skills, she hadn’t expected this. That he could fight alone in the dark against so many people.

Of course… she didn’t know. He might be getting beaten in there.

Judy kept blinking to adjust her eyes to the darkness.

Meanwhile, the sounds of battle moved from left to right.

Just as she was beginning to get a sense of how the figures were moving, someone else rushed toward her.

Just like before, Judy judged by sound and swung her sword at the opponent who entered her range, and another man collapsed before her.

This time, Judy kicked the fallen man’s head hard. Then she did the same to the first man who was still clutching his chest.

Both lost consciousness and were no longer threats.

“…Huff… huff…”

Judy blinked her wide eyes and took another step deeper into the room.

She blamed herself for her helplessness in this chaotic situation, unable to assist Caden.

Why had she come here if she couldn’t help him? There was no reason to be here if she couldn’t be of use to Caden.

Two more steps deeper. As she was enveloped in darkness, the sour scent of men unpleasantly cut through the smell of blood.

The enemies inside must have noticed Judy’s deep intrusion, as someone screamed and charged at her.

She vaguely blocked his gleaming sword and deflected it. Immediately after, she crashed into him hard to break his balance, then swung her sword to cut him down.

“Ha!”

Before she could look for the next opponent, the sounds subsided.

-Clang!

With the sound of a sword being dropped, a sudden silence fell.

Judy surveyed the room in response to this abrupt quiet. She moved toward the wall to protect her back.

Who had won? Was it Caden or this gang? Judy had to take a gamble.

“…Caden?”

She questioned into the darkness.

“…Yes.”

The familiar voice answered.

Realizing that only she and Caden were standing, Judy felt immense relief.

She approached the only wavering human figure.

“Caden…! Why did you do something so reckless! We agreed to resolve this through dialogue!”

Though she had fought one-on-one three times, Caden had fought many opponents at once. The difference in difficulty was obvious without her having to mention it.

As Judy approached the standing Caden, suddenly that dark figure collapsed onto her.

“…Oh!”

She felt a warm sensation immediately after. Was it Caden? She hadn’t thought it was cold, but she felt warmth.

“…?”

But there was something strange about that warmth. It seemed to flow downward, as if it had a direction.

After feeling this strangeness for a while, Judy touched the warming area with her hand.

Then she held her hand up to the faintly flickering light.

Judy’s hand was covered in red blood.

“..Ca…Caden?”

“…Don’t panic. It’s not my blood.”

Caden said this, but his weight leaning on her was getting heavier. She couldn’t bring herself to contradict him by saying, ‘Yes, it is your blood.’

“Let’s… let’s go back quickly. You’ll be fine.”

Judy quickly set her priorities. He needed a doctor.

But Caden stopped her.

“…Judy. There’s something more urgent. This criminal organization… seems to have been targeting children too. I’ll… go back to Rush. You see that door over there?”

Judy looked at the worn door next to the candle.

She nodded in his arms.

“I heard children’s voices from inside… Could you check it out?”

“…Children?”

Judy’s mind snapped to attention at the word ‘children.’

“…Is that why you started fighting?”

“Somewhat. Will you check the door?”

“I-I’ll check. What about you?”

“I told you. I’ll… go back to Rush.”

“…Can you make it back?”

“…Of course.”

Caden raised himself from Judy with a strained sound. When he moved away, the parts that had felt warm now felt cool as they met the air.

He staggered toward the door. Judy didn’t hesitate watching him. She felt she should help Caden after quickly checking as he asked.

Though she wanted to follow Caden, if children were involved in this crime as he said, she couldn’t just leave them.

She quickly ran to the door. When the doorknob wouldn’t turn, she rammed her body against the door several times until it broke.

-Crash!

“Yaaah!”

Immediately after, someone tried to swing a sword at her. The area behind the door was somewhat brighter. Seeing the figure clearly, Judy extended her sword and pierced his wrist before he could approach. The man screamed, dropped his weapon, and fell to his knees.

Judy quickly kicked him away. There was a staircase behind the man, so he tumbled down to the basement floor and stopped moving.

Judy grabbed a torch hanging next to the door and went down the stairs.

What greeted her made her dizzy.

As Caden had predicted, many children were locked behind iron bars.

“…This is insane…”

Judy cursed without realizing it.

She knew they were a criminal organization, but she hadn’t expected them to be this evil. Even most criminal organizations wouldn’t harm children.

Only after facing them did she begin to understand why Caden had no choice but to draw his sword.

Judy realized the situation couldn’t be resolved quickly.

She finally turned and ran outside.

If she had to set priorities, it was Caden. She needed to check how badly he was injured first.

She planned to find a doctor first and leave the children in the basement to the town guards.

All the people who might harm the children had been eliminated. Sadly, the children would have to wait a little longer.

She ran outside and headed to where they had tied Goldie and Rush.

As she left the alley and the moonlight shone, she could see a trail of blood on the road.

If this wasn’t Caden’s blood as he claimed, there would be no reason for it to flow for so long. He was injured, without a doubt.

“..Haa..! Haa..!”

But when she arrived, Caden wasn’t there.

Only Goldie remained.

Rush was also nowhere to be seen.

****

-Thump thump thump thump.

Late at night.

Asena, lying in bed, rose at the sound disturbing her rest.

Her room was still a mess. All strength had left her body.

-Thump thump thump thump.

Someone was knocking on the dormitory door.

Despite her room door being closed, Asena’s ears rang with the sound of someone urgently and roughly knocking on the main door.

Who could it be? Though she got up thinking it might be Caden, she knew better than anyone that it wouldn’t be him.

With her nerves on edge, she became curious about the visitor. Who would dare knock on their door like that without fear?

But then again, it was harder than anything to summon the will to get up with her weakened body. Without Caden’s warmth, she couldn’t find strength.

Now she too was beginning to break. This had never happened before, but Caden wasn’t coming to her. He wasn’t coming to reconcile. He remained unmoved even when she gave him hints.

The fact that he was the only one she couldn’t control at will, and also the only one she wanted to control, seemed quite ironic to her.

This time, someone gently knocked on her room door.

-Knock knock.

‘Sister…? Someone seems to be looking for us..’

It was Kirsy. Finally, Asena had no choice but to get up.

-Creak…

She opened her door weakly and passed by Kirsy without a word.

If whoever was looking for them didn’t have important business, they would have to be prepared.

Asena finally opened the main door.

As soon as she did, a strong smell of blood wafted in.

“…?”

A young girl in white clothes stained with red blood looked at them with trembling eyes and said,

“I… I am here to see Duke Praester and Lady Kirsy.”

Asena frowned. She felt anxious but couldn’t express it in words.

After a brief greeting, the girl spoke without taking a breath.

“Caden Praester has been injured.”

Hearing those words, Asena froze, then after confirming the blood on the girl’s body, her legs gave way.

****

Running to the infirmary where Caden would be, Asena experienced her legs giving out several times.

Seeing Asena constantly falling, no one would have thought she was the dignified Duke Praester.

In this sudden situation, she felt as if her intestines were melting. A hot sensation kept flowing down from her chest, and her expression contorted.

While losing family to illness or accident wasn’t particularly unusual, Asena had thought such things wouldn’t happen again.

Tragedies might visit a person once, but rarely twice. Was losing her parents not enough for the gods?

She couldn’t accept the situation.

That he was injured.

They hadn’t even reconciled yet. She had only said harsh words. She hadn’t revealed her true feelings, and their last conversations were all sharp-edged. What if that was the last…

The fact that they had to call her to the infirmary indicated how serious his condition was. Not only that, but the doctor’s clothes soaked in red, and the blood still glistening on his forearm reminded her of the gravity of the situation. Those red traces were undoubtedly Caden’s.

Kirsy asked while crying,

“How… how badly is he hurt? Is my brother okay?”

“…..”

The doctor gave no answer. It wasn’t that he was ignoring her; he seemed afraid to answer.

“Answer me quickly!”

Kirsy shouted. After letting out a cruelly loud voice, she easily crumbled again and sobbed.

Asena refused to believe anything until she saw it with her own eyes.

The steadfast Caden couldn’t be injured. The healthiest person in the world couldn’t have bled. Her pillar of support couldn’t have broken.

She had never even thought of such a thing.

Yes. Asena had no doubt that he would greet them with a smile again. No, it would be fine even if he didn’t smile.

Even if he was still angry, Asena was prepared to apologize. To say she was sorry for everything she had done wrong.

Nothing else mattered as long as he remained as he was.

Because this couldn’t be the end. Because this couldn’t be the end when she had only done hurtful things.

The destination began to appear in the distance.

‘Arrrgh…!’

At the same time, a familiar male voice screaming in unfamiliar pain echoed from afar.

Hearing that sound, Asena’s legs gave way again. She fell, touching the ground, but soon stood up shakily again.

Perhaps it was fortunate. Through his voice, she realized that Caden hadn’t lost consciousness. Though he was screaming in pain, he was conscious.

Asena didn’t care about anything else as long as he stayed alive. It didn’t matter if any part of his body became uncomfortable as long as he lived.

But if he… somehow went wrong.

Asena couldn’t calculate how to handle this despair and the anger that would rise.

“Kugh… Arrrgh!!”

The screams of pain grew worse as they got closer. Asena was experiencing, for the first time in her life, a fear so great that it was difficult to move her legs.

The despair from his screams and the lack of preparation for what was about to unfold made her heart pound as if it would burst.

But she couldn’t stop here either.

The twins entered the infirmary where Caden’s screams were coming from.

Caden, receiving treatment under the red light, was a mess.

For the first time in their lives, they had to see Caden’s face contorted in pain.

His entire body was covered in blood. From his face to his pants.

With his upper body bare, he was stitched up in various places, and more stitches were being added.

They had never seen Caden in such a terrible state.

Three people were holding him down. But even that seemed overwhelming, as they were putting their full weight on Caden, yet he kept shaking and moving.

The doctors were shouting in a disorderly state.

Some to Caden:

‘Please bear with it a little longer…! We’re almost done with the stitches!’

Some to fellow doctors:

‘When is the poppy juice coming?’

Some to the twins:

‘I’m truly sorry, but you can’t come in! Please wait outside!’

All these voices seemed to hit a wall before reaching Asena. Her eyes saw only Caden.

Her brother covered in wounds. His light that seemed about to fade judging by the blood he had lost. Her support, her love who had shown her what burning happiness was.

As the doctor opened his wound and brought a needle to it, Caden raised his upper body again with eyes that looked about to burst blood vessels.

“Arrrgh!!!”

Seeing his red, wounded upper body, Kirsy finally lost consciousness and collapsed.

-Thud.

At the commotion, the doctors’ eyes, and even Caden’s wavering eyes, looked at them.

Asena and Caden’s gazes met.

In that moment, it felt as if only the two of them remained in this space.

“…Brother…”

Asena called to Caden. It was truly after a long time. Tears flowed from Asena’s eyes without her realizing it.

For some reason, he seemed farther away than ever before.

Caden stopped screaming and panted, then gritted his teeth and smiled a small smile in that state.

“…Kugh… Asena. Take your sister and wait outside. Can you do that…?”

With eyes that seemed about to go out, with the same expression he had shown when the twins burst into tears in the past, he spoke to Asena.

The childish fight had already ended in a way no one wanted.