Chapter 121

Alexa snapped out of her thoughts with a start.

“What?”

She had just been lost in thought about the connection between Selina and the Spire, so her mind couldn’t quite process what she’d just heard. Live together?

Jeremiah’s cheeks flushed pink. It had been a spontaneous, impulsive remark, but it was also one of the most honest things he had ever wanted to say. Jeremiah liked Alexa.

He liked how it was obvious she’d grown up surrounded by love. He liked how she knew how to share her heart with others. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, he’d been captivated, and now he was completely head over heels. So maybe the words slipped out without thinking, but they had been sincere.

“Come with me… to the imperial capital. Let’s live there together.”

“In the capital?”

“I think I’ll feel too lonely if I go back alone.”

Jeremiah gave her a look full of quiet sorrow. Thersion was the first place where someone had truly stood by his side. Thersion was where the wolves lived: Ysildus, Terrun, Essellia…

It was also where, for the first time, Jeremiah had felt safe. And where Alexa was. Ysildus already had Thersion. So at least Alexa, couldn’t he take her with him? His eyes trembled.

“Ah…”

“What do you think?”

“I…”

Alexa hesitated, unsure how to respond.

“Alexa.”

A force tugged her waist from behind, and she whipped around. She didn’t even flinch because the scent enveloping her was all too familiar.

“Ysildus?”

“Yeah. You were outside? I’ve been looking for you.”

“Mm… I was just talking to Jeremiah for a bit.”

“I see.”

Ysildus straightened Alexa and placed her at his side, then turned to Jeremiah. Seeing Ysildus smiling like a bright, poisonous mushroom, Jeremiah involuntarily took a step back.

“Jeremiah.”

“Y-yeah?”

Jeremiah stammered without meaning to.

“I told you to watch your mouth, didn’t I?”

Ysildus tilted his head ever so slightly. He was still smiling, his features smooth and calm, but the aura he gave off was viciously threatening. Whatever bond they might have formed while living together meant absolutely nothing now. It was all written on his face. Jeremiah bit the inside of his cheek.

‘He heard? D**n ghost.’

He’d made sure Ysildus wasn’t around. So where had he overheard that, and how had he appeared so fast?

“Keep that up and you might be asking for an early grave. You know what they say, those who talk too much are the first to die.”

Ysildus murmured languidly.

“…Where were you?”

Ysildus smiled like the question meant nothing. The savagery built up over the past five years while Alexa lay unconscious showed on his face.

“Ysildus, Jeremiah’s just saying that because he’s lonely. Why are you getting so angry?”

Alexa stepped in to calm him. As Ysildus turned to look at her, his expression quickly softened as if nothing had happened. The murderous energy directed at Jeremiah vanished entirely. Ysildus spoke.

“Well… he’s trying to take you from me, Alexa. And we promised we’d be together forever, didn’t we?”

“Wait, huh? We did?”

That was news to her. Ysildus tilted his head at her with a pitiful look. Trapped in the shadow cast by him, Alexa blinked.

‘What’s up with him?’

Something had definitely happened during those five years. Some tectonic shift in his emotional landscape, or maybe even a literal growth spurt. He had grown a lot. Alexa let out an awkward laugh and began stepping back. But Ysildus grabbed her hand like an eagle snatching its prey.

“Alexa…”

“Y-yeah?”

“If you follow Jeremiah, I’ll be so sad and lonely. I might just cry myself to death.”

He smiled inwardly. They hadn’t actually made any promises to be together forever, but that could be arranged.

“R-really?”

Ysildus pulled a gloomy face. He looked every bit the mature man now, but Alexa suddenly recalled a vivid memory from long ago: the little puppy left behind at their lodgings, waiting for her to come home.

She used to rush back to the dorm just to see him. She could still picture him running on all fours and clinging to her skirt, tail wagging like a windmill as he stood on two legs and did a twist.

That’s right… Ysildus had always been someone prone to loneliness. Just because he’d grown didn’t mean his true nature had changed. Alexa gripped his hand tightly and shook her head.

“No. I won’t leave you alone, Ysildus. I won’t let you be lonely.”

“Forever?”

“Yes. Forever!”

She spoke with the solemn expression of someone pledging to take responsibility for a puppy or a kitten they’d adopted.

“We made a promise. These past five years were way too long.”

Alexa’s eyes crinkled as if she might cry. She was picturing a forlorn Ysildus sitting quietly by her bedside. But in truth, he hadn’t looked like that at all.

Ysildus had stayed by her side with a fierce expression full of longing. And now, Jeremiah took a step back. As long as that hellhound of a man was standing guard with those watchful eyes, there was no way he could whisk Alexa away. His chest ached. Just as he was about to disappear into the shadows again, Alexa’s voice stopped him.

“Jeremiah, you should visit Thersion often too. Right? We’re all friends, after all.”

This… this is why I couldn’t let go. Jeremiah and Ysildus’s eyes locked.

* * *

Alexa scratched her head. Thanks to Jeremiah’s strange words, she’d completely forgotten her original goal. She glanced sideways at Ysildus, who was lying next to her reading a book.

“Don’t you think the bed really has gotten too small?”

“That’s why I got us a new one. Still feels cramped?”

Forget it. Alexa shook her head and hugged her pillow, scooting slightly farther from him.

“Alexa.”

Ysildus spoke in an easy tone, as if her distance didn’t matter.

“Mm?”

“If you’re curious about something, you can always ask me.”

“…Huh?”

“Weren’t you looking for Jeremiah because you wanted to know something?”

“H-how did you know that?”

Alexa’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Did he lay out a fortune-telling mat or something?!’

She swallowed hard.

“There must’ve been a reason you sought him out. Or… was there something you needed to discuss with him in secret?”

“It’s not like that…”

“Right? Because if you keep secrets from me, I might cry.”

He said it with a smile, his eyes gently crinkling. For some reason, Alexa blushed and shuffled another handspan away.

“Y-you don’t have to cry. I’m not keeping secrets. I just… had something I wanted to ask.”

“What did you want to ask?”

“…I want to help too, Ysildus. I hate just sitting here doing nothing.”

“But you’re still not fully recovered. You’re too weak.”

Ysildus began toying with her wrist. He did it so naturally that Alexa didn’t even notice his touch at first.

“But… but…”

Alexa blinked rapidly.

“I’m not weak…”

She felt like her presence was complicating things, like the straightforward solution was now being forced to take detours because of her. Pulling the Emperor out of the fortress of the capital… sending only humans into the city when they were already weakened…

“What if I’m the one who can lift the curse? Without dying, I mean.”

“Alexa…”

Ysildus pressed a kiss into her palm. Then, shifting his body, he rested his face against her knees, smiling playfully. His lips moved slowly.

The warm breath against her fingers made Alexa’s eyes go wide. Her fingertips curled, her cheeks reddened. She could see her own hand sinking between his lips. Oh my god. She barely stopped herself from screaming and blinked rapidly instead.

“Ys-Ysu…”

Ysildus didn’t reply; he just smiled and continued running his lips across her fingers. 

Rubbing his lips against the back of her hand, he whispered, “…I want to keep you locked away, Alexa.”

Something about the way he said it felt strangely intimate. She swallowed.

“I want to hide you where only I can see you. I don’t want you getting hurt. I don’t want you to know anything dark about this world.”

“Ysu…”

There was a flush of heat in Alexa’s voice. Ysildus’s lips had reached her wrist.

“I just want you to see beautiful things. To hear lovely sounds. That’s all.”

He slowly rose. Their eyes met.

“But…”

Ysildus trailed off as he leaned closer to her.

“I shouldn’t do that… should I?”

His lips brushed hers, soft and fleeting, like a rabbit’s kiss. Alexa stopped breathing. Then he pulled back and asked,

“Are you going to push me away?”

Alexa’s lips quivered. She should say yes. She really should…

“…No.”

The word slipped out on its own. Ysildus’s shadow swallowed hers. Slow. Sweet.

……

T/N: Ysildus has a talent for gaslighting, I like that *sarcastically*