The Order’s Mad Dog (2)

* * *

Bridonia, northern district, Agnes’s residence.

Agnes tapped the table hard enough to break a fingernail. Tak, tak, tak… The sound, as unsteady as her own heart, filled the room. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, her anxiety gnawing at her. The dried blood, tasting faintly metallic, decorated her chapped lips before she even had time to register it.

She was afraid to close her eyes.

The world faded to black when she did.

In that abyss-like darkness, Agnes saw the figure of a screaming girl and heard her agonizing moans. Even now, if she closed her eyes, she could hear faint whispers behind her. It hurts. Save me. Please, let me live.

It was driving her insane.

She hadn’t slept soundly for a single day since escaping the mountain range.

But there was nothing she could do.

Both summoning soldiers and launching a solo expedition were forbidden. The lord, upon receiving the report, had marked the mountain range with two red stars: `Extremely Dangerous.`

A monster capable of defeating someone as strong as Agnes in a single blow, and a magic circle that blocked Aura emission. If they recklessly deployed knights and lost them, it would lead to an irreparable loss of combat power.

Knights were precious, after all.

It was called a knight `order,` but there were barely over ten knights in the entire territory. Unlike mages, knights were in desperately short supply.

Agnes found this fact particularly agonizing. Unable to save a single young girl, yet called an honorable knight, one of the few skilled ones… It was all just empty flattery.

She would never forget what happened there.

A frail body crumbling helplessly before overwhelming force.

The helplessness of having to close her eyes in the face of a girl being violated.

The frustration of having to cower, unable to even think about escaping.

Despair.

Just despair.

Only despair.

She hadn’t felt this guilt from the beginning.

Agnes basically loathed the adventurer type.

Dirty, ignorant, and weak, yet they looked down on the weak once they gained power. She wouldn’t feel anything even if those bastards died in droves before her eyes.

But that girl was different.

She warmly embraced and caressed Agnes, who was on the verge of madness. She didn’t forget to instill hope in Agnes, who was filled with nothing but despair. She was so kind that Agnes unconsciously snuggled into her arms and acted spoiled. If it weren’t for her, she might have committed suicide long ago.

Was this what it would be like if an angel descended?

Even though she was clearly a head shorter than Agnes, the girl’s embrace felt as vast as the ocean.

And yet.

That girl.

When she was pinned under a monster, moaning in pain with a tormented expression.

Agnes’s heart crumbled along with her.

Even until the very end of their escape, she didn’t lose her smile. It would have been understandable if she resented being left behind, but she saw them off with a resolute face, as if she was satisfied with just that.

If, by some chance, she was still alive… that big cow-headed thing would… make a mess of her…

-Beudeuk.

Her teeth ground together. Those scoundrel-like adventurers didn’t even say thank you as they left.

Agnes recalled her promise to the girl.

―I swear I will save you from here.

`I promised…`

Regret washed over her like a tidal wave.

What if she was clinging to even the faintest hope and desperately holding on? Had she robbed her of the chance to close her eyes in peace? If she hadn’t made such an impossible promise, would she be suffering less? Looking back now, she might have been the worst of them all.

Agnes, who never even glanced at stimulants like alcohol or opium, craved alcohol today. A really strong one, at that.

-Kung, kung, kung!!!

“…….”

Agnes, who was thinking of getting dead drunk at the Black Rose, frowned and got up at the sound of someone banging roughly on the door.

If it was something trivial, she’d break their limbs.

Squeak.

She opened the door.

“I greet Agnes-nim!”

A spirited voice struck Agnes’s ears as she opened the door.

The man before her was a regular soldier.

One who hadn’t awakened their Aura, just a regular soldier who lived off his salary.

“…What is it?”

The soldier swallowed hard at the sight of Agnes, who looked no different from a madwoman. But he couldn’t afford to panic. Considering what Agnes had been doing for the past two days, he could really die.

She was harassing her subordinates to find her benefactor, threatening the guards to make sure they told her if a red-haired girl came, and there were even rumors that she had hired a mercenary group.

Agnes’s appearance was that of a madwoman, a Gwangin itself.

The soldier delivered the urgent message in a calm voice.

“An adventurer, presumed to be the last survivor of the subjugation order, is currently being held in the West Gate guard waiting room. Thanks to the recovery scroll that Agnes-nim prepared, their life is not in danger, and…”

The soldier continued, watching her carefully.

`I found the guy you were looking for, so please stop harassing us….`

Agnes’s expression was frighteningly unchanged. Her bloodshot eyes shone red as she stared at the soldier with a chilling blank expression.

“……That’s all.”

“Ag… Agnes-nim?”

The soldier trembled with fear after finishing his report. Her expression remained the same, but the creeping murderous intent made it hard to even meet her eyes.

Agnes spoke in a voice that scraped against the floor.

“…You.”

“Yes, yes!”

“If you’re lying, I’ll cut off your limbs.”

“N, no! It’s true!”

The soldier was startled and straightened his posture.

“Long, flowing red hair and a small build… It’s the same description that Agnes-nim gave. S, so please take away some of that murderous intent…”

Agnes staggered and pushed the soldier aside. She didn’t even think to grab her armor and rushed outside. The soldier shouted something, but she didn’t hear it.

`How did she cross the plains? How did she defeat the minotaur… No, no…`

Several questions arose, but none of that mattered.

One more time.

If she could just see that smile again…

She would even burn her own life.

* * *

Agnes arrived at the West Gate in less than ten minutes. The soldier said it would take at least an hour… Judging by her attire, she must have rushed out in a hurry. No armor, no sword. She was wearing everyday clothes.

“She was alive… she was alive…”

Tears that she hadn’t been able to shed finally fell.

They weren’t my tears, but Agnes’s.

She hugged me and began to weep loudly.

“U, um, Agnes?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, so please take your arms off me…”

She didn’t seem to hear me, burying her head in my chest and purring. Her blonde hair swayed, tickling my neck. I thought she was back to normal… but her partial regression to childhood hadn’t been fixed yet.

As I wondered how to get out of this situation, I decided to calm Agnes down with kind words, just like I did in the Frost Cave.

“I’m not going anywhere even if you don’t cling to me like that. So, can you calm down a little?”

I gave her a gentle smile and stroked her hair. My hand traced her hair, then her cheek, and then gently down her neck. Agnes blushed and accepted my touch. Her face even looked ecstatic at first glance.

The guard, who had been watching this whole scene, sighed briefly.

“Heoeo…….”

Agnes, the mad dog of the knights, was purring like a pet? She looked like a docile puppy, not a mad dog. And the other party was just an F-rank adventurer, which made it even more surprising.

I smiled bitterly and met his gaze.

“Haa….”

If you asked me if I liked forming relationships with people, I’d probably say no.

I had too many secrets to associate with others. Not to mention my extreme magical abilities, the peak of masochism, my masochistic tendencies… It would be a disaster if anyone found out.

“Agnes? Are you listening to me?”

“Haeueueu….”

It would be an overstatement to call this pet-and-owner-like relationship a normal one.

Agnes acted spoiled in my arms for a long time. As a result, her hair was disheveled and her clothes were rolled up, revealing her cute belly button. Her appearance, unaware of how decadent she was, was so charming that it was hard to take my eyes off her.

“Keu, keuehm.”

The guard’s awkward retreat looked familiar, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

* * *

I didn’t receive a separate investigation.

There were no questions asked.

According to the rules, I should have told them everything that happened in the mountain range, but Agnes must have taken care of it separately, and I was able to return to normal without any problems.

She didn’t want to force me to recall bad memories, or something like that.

`I didn’t have any bad memories, though.`

The more I replayed the situation in my mind, the more I felt a vulgar desire to go back and be subjected to it again, rather than feeling tormented.

Minotaur… If I went back pretending to be crazy, would he treat me as violently as he did then? If he’s still alive, I should go back and visit him someday.

Anyway, all this convenience didn’t come for free. In exchange, I was kidnapped… no, invited to Agnes’s residence. She was sobbing as if she would commit suicide if I refused, so how could I refuse?

Not that I had any intention of refusing. I didn’t have anything else to do, and I wanted to rest a little, so I gladly accepted.

Agnes’s residence was located in the northern district, where land was expensive. As expected of a knight. Her house was unbelievably large for someone living alone.

Moreover, there was a separate room for washing, a so-called shower room, which meant that she was quite wealthy, considering that ordinary people usually used public bathhouses or fetched water to wash themselves.

Of course, it wasn’t all good.

I had originally planned to just rest for a day or so…

“B, are you leaving already?”

Thanks to Agnes, who wouldn’t let me leave her side, I had to stay cooped up all day. She tried to keep me by her side when I washed, when I ate, and when I slept. If I even tried to go outside, her eyes would follow me.

Surveillance and control.

Have you ever been obsessed over by someone?

At least, from my experience, it’s not a very pleasant feeling.

She might call it love, but the essence has been twisted and changed.

It’s unilateral and subservient to call it love. A relationship that can only continue if one side is subjugated is hard to call love.

It’s really troubling that she’s filming a one-sided obsession-suffering drama.

I would have gladly responded if she had broken my limbs, locked me deep underground, treated me like a pet, or pulled out my teeth every time I didn’t listen.

“Heueu….”

My body trembled at the thought.

Withdrawal symptoms.

My body, which had been driven to ruin and corrupted, couldn’t react to such gentle emotions.

Instead of praise, I wanted abuse. Instead of caresses, I wanted strangulation. I wanted a violent partner who would treat me like a toy, less than human, rather than treating me as an individual.

The emotions heightened by dark and base desires were the ideal form that I desired, so Agnes’s kindness was just poison to me.

`I can’t even self-harm because she’s watching me 24/7….`

In the end, I made a decision on the fourth day.

“Agnes.”

“I, is there anything you need?”

Agnes carefully sat me down on the Chesterfield sofa. I refused because I didn’t want to get the sofa dirty, but she threatened me with tears, so I had no choice. I ended up sitting quietly. It was quite soft, being an expensive sofa.

I said in a calm voice.

“I have something to confess.”

“…A confession?”

It might be a bit shocking for Agnes…

But that’s that, and this is this.

I had to draw a line.

“You remember what happened in the mountain range, right?”

“…….”

Agnes swallowed hard.

I ignored her trembling eyes and said.

“How I crossed the plains with my bare body, or rather, how I escaped the minotaur’s surveillance in the first place… You could have been curious, but you never asked me even once. It’s probably out of consideration. I’m grateful for that. Agnes is kind.”

“But Agnes.”

“I’m not.”

“I’m not as kind as Agnes thinks I am, and I’m not noble enough to make a sublime sacrifice.”

“I’m sorry.”