episode_0057

Episode.57 Fading goals

When I realized I had been knocked out at the start of the battle, I felt something rising in my throat.

I couldn’t hold back the coughing that broke out.

“Cough! Cough!”

As I coughed repeatedly, blood burst out from inside my mouth.

I felt a little dazed when I saw my blood splattered on the floor.

【Hey you! are you okay?!】

Chaewon quickly approached me with a very surprised expression and was looking at my condition.

【… Luckily, most of the impact went into the sword, so there were no injuries. I can’t see the inside, but…】

According to Chaewon, she swung her sword with the goal of destroying my weapon.

Huge difference in skill.

Otherwise impossible weapon destruction.

I tried my best to understand this situation.

‘I thought I had become stronger… but I still have a long way to go.’

From far away, I could faintly see Illya flying towards me in a hurry.

I received a sudden shock that came without warning and forced myself to stand up, supporting myself with trembling legs.

“Cough!”

Hemoptysis again.

‘Was the coughing caused by the discomfort I felt in my throat earlier due to hemoptysis due to a curse? or not…’

or not.

Was it because he was really thrown into the wall so miserably?

When I was thrown against the wall, it felt as if the impact had hit my internal organs and the blood wasn’t coming out from damage.

It makes me think that the effect of the curse may have been triggered by just one hit of Verdium.

“Are you okay?”

Ilya started to support me.

But perhaps because she was short, it didn’t help at all.

“Looking at the color of that blood, you are not qualified to wield that sword. Probably, the growth limit of that sword also reaches there.”

Verdium put the sword back into the red orb, as if he had no intention of finishing me off.

“The excitement has cooled down now. Listen carefully, fledgling. Confidence without foundation promotes destiny.”

He brought out the wine again using blood magic.

He even makes a wine glass.

I sit on the throne again and drink wine calmly, as if nothing had happened just a moment ago.

“Be, Verdium. Where did the white-haired woman who came with me go?”

“You mean that disabled woman who can’t see that came with you?… Don’t worry. I will use it as an offering for your wedding.”

“Sacrificial offering?! What do you mean-!”

Pot-!

I felt like I was being hit on the back of my neck.

“I’m sorry. Close your eyes for a moment.”

【Ahh! That mosquito-like woman is Siwoo!】

I could not bear the feeling of my eyelids becoming heavy and lost consciousness.

**********

As my heavy eyelids became lighter, my eyes began to open naturally.

“Umm…Umm…”

I had closed my eyes for a long time and couldn’t handle the light coming at me at once, so I frowned and got up from my seat.

“This is… a bed?”

It seemed like it was a bedroom, seeing as there was a bed.

“Ah, are you awake? After the fight with my father, I knocked you out for a moment before the fight escalated… but I was worried that I hit your neck too hard.”

【that’s right! I was much more worried than that woman.】

“Ah… yes. I fainted.”

It seems that they had obtained information that Harin was being used as a sacrifice.

“Is this your room?”

“No? This is your room from earlier, right?”

“This is my room you came to a little while ago?”

【Yes, just… Have you fainted so badly that you can’t even recognize that I’ve removed a mosquito net or something? 】

I think so.

There’s no way to know what happened while I was unconscious.

I didn’t get much benefit from contacts that weren’t contacts with Verdium.

Rather, after he rolled away like a dog, I think he talked about the wedding.

‘Why do I feel like I’m trapped in this Violet mansion…’

【Don’t worry about such trivial things. Inside the gate, let’s just see and hear the facts and believe them.】

For some reason, Chaewon says the right things.

“Hey, Siwoo… right?”

“Uh, but you… your tone keeps changing.”

“Hi!… No, huh. My dear. Are you in any uncomfortable place right now?”

There’s no way to know what happened while I was passed out?

A wedding where Harin becomes a sacrifice?

No, no. How to know what happened while I was passed out.

It’s in front of me.

“There is no inconvenient place… I would like to know more about our wedding.”

“Huh?! Ah… Hmm, are you really looking forward to marrying this body? Just be patient.”

With a smile that made it hard to tell what she was thinking, Ilya was smoothing the undone buttons of the dress shirt I was currently wearing.

“Well, I’m more worried than excited. Tell me a little about the wedding offering.”

“Sacrifice… You mean that white female that came into my mansion like you?”

“It’s a female.”

“The white female is providing food, clothing, and shelter in another room. Well, it seems like the room door is locked so you can’t move.”

‘… confinement, authorization.’

This room has a window and a terrace that can look outside.

I want to go rescue Harin right now, but my physical strength is limited right now.

I was quietly organizing my thoughts.

“…Haaam.”

At that time, Illya yawned.

Maybe it was because I yawned so loudly that I was wiping away tears.

“If you’re tired, go to sleep. Me too today…”

It was amazing that I could fall asleep at Black Gate, especially with the boss in the same room.

Because time passes differently inside the Black Gate than outside. The physical rhythm of my body seemed to flow differently as well.

You have to take care of what you eat, but inside the Black Gate, even if you haven’t washed for a month, you don’t feel bad at all.

Of course, it doesn’t even cause greasiness.

So I immediately lay down in bed and tried to sleep.

“Illy, I’m sorry, but please turn off the light here. I don’t know how to turn it off.”

“Huh? You mean fire? Ah… You can turn it off with magic… No, you can turn it off with magic.”

– Just right.

Illya extinguished the fire with her own blood magic similar to Verdium.

Every time I saw that blood magic, it gave me goosebumps.

‘Is this PTSD?’

On the Internet, in certain communities, they sometimes make jokes using something called PTSD.

“Thank you.”

Anyway, I didn’t forget to say thank you.

“Huh? Thank you?…”

Illya tilts her head.

【Are you going to sleep now?】

‘Yes, I have nothing to do, so I have to do it. If you think Verdium is in the same space, you might lose your life in your sleep. Well, I thought I’d stay awake and not sleep.’

【Who do you keep watch with? With that mosquito woman?】

‘With you… Well, even if we were to stand on guard or something like that, we wouldn’t be able to withstand Verdium’s power… without a weapon.’

I looked at the nightstand next to the bed, and my broken sword lying on top of the nightstand.

Whenever I see a broken figure, I feel like the path I’ve walked and the effort I’ve made have been broken, and I feel weak.

A heavy blow.

A perfect hit.

In just one shot.

Even the weapon is damaged, so it is impossible to attack Verdium.

The black gate struck by lightning that Harin mentioned… The dark red gate seemed to be a truly unusual gate.

If there are a lot of them around like Black and Blue Gate, the only person who can survive is definitely ‘that guy’.

My ex-girlfriend.

Now, even in my thoughts, calling my name feels like a sin.

Why, because we broke up?

As time passed, it seemed as if the hatred I had for her and the strong sense of betrayal I felt from her were gradually fading away.

It wasn’t said to me, but it was said by adults around me who were 10 or 20 years older than me.

The fact that it was all true only made me more miserable.

When I was in elementary school, a man passing by on the street said.

– ‘Ugh, it’s all pointless. First love never comes true.’

When I was in middle school, while I was waiting at the hair salon, the lady who listened to the concerns of the customer who was fixing her hairstyle said this.

– ‘Okay, what do you do when you meet a guy like that? I miss you. ‘Really?’

My love affair with her began when I was in high school.

It was just fine back then.

I used to think that the pain of heartbreak and the pain of separation that adults around me talked about were just the words of people who couldn’t take care of their loved ones.

Like the stream of water gushing from the fountain that day.

Waves on a rainy day… like waves.

Dating is something where there are always times when the mood goes up and times when the mood goes down.

Since I started dating and my mood went up, I didn’t think it was natural for me to go down.

‘ah…’

While I was vaguely thinking about this, I came across an article on a blog or something.

First love, it’s nothing special. I keep thinking about it.

This is just one of those meaningless sentences.

But what this sentence means.

It is said that time ultimately resolves the pain of a first breakup.

Time is the best medicine.

Despite the long list of random thoughts, my mind is clear, but my body is tired.

I covered myself with the blanket and closed my eyes.

– Rustle, rustle.

Not long after, I heard the sound of fabric and blanket rubbing against each other.

“What… are you doing?”

I asked the creature under my blanket.

“Why, why! Well… no, shouldn’t we lie down together?”

“Do vampires even sleep?”

“Yes, of course we sleep too.”

“Vampires are nocturnal and active at night, so they sleep at night?”

For vampires, compared to humans, it would be morning now.

“Aren’t there people who stay up all night and sleep in the morning? I’m that type too!”

Ilya took my pillow away.

“Don’t you usually sleep in a coffin?”

“What nonsense is that?”

Illya was already in a comfortable sleeping position.

“At least sleep outside the blanket. We’re not in that relationship yet. Well, that kind of relationship may not be possible.”

When I tried to pull up the blanket and take it away, it held the blanket tightly with both hands with a reaction characteristic of this surprising species.

“I don’t like it! I feel the cold too!”

“But what about your room, why are you lying here?”

“Ta, not really. It doesn’t matter, right?”

“Yes, you are handsome. Since it’s annoying, I’ll just sleep.”

Illya seemed to be taking a step back.

Are you trying not to bother me?

【sit down…?】

‘I’ll sleep.’

I closed my eyes to really fall asleep.

But Illya whispered to me.

“Hey… if you don’t sleep, can I take some of your blood?”

I thought it wasn’t bothering me, but it seemed like the reason I took a step back was for momentum.