Youngest 259

Episode 259

“……”

Steady breaths touched his skin, then drifted away.

He sat before the bars, gazing quietly at the woman who slept, her head pillowed on his palm.

This was serious.

Now, he knew how those gentle features curved when she smiled.

‘Just once more…’

Would he not see it again?

Suddenly, he felt the gritty sensation of dirt on the back of his hand.

Despite the supremely uncomfortable position, there was no pain.

Rather, he was just grateful that this rough earth wasn’t touching her delicate cheek.

Such idle thoughts were all that crossed his mind.

Regrettably, the woman’s mana did not recover easily.

She was constantly exhausting it to suppress the ‘Crest’ carved into her lower back, and here on this continent, where mana was sparse, it was even harder.

Thus, she stayed naturally near Khalid’s cave.

They didn’t share many words, but they listened to each other’s breathing, breathed the same wind, and gazed at the sky together.

“What’s this?”

Kal frowned as if he found it all incomprehensible.

The woman untied the end of her robe, which she had bunched up like a bundle.

Rustle.

Well-packaged bread and fruit spilled out.

“I went into the village, and they gave it to me.”

“…Who?”

“The baker in the lower village. He said today was a day when bread was handed out for free.”

Such a commemoration… Did one exist?

“Eat.”

Kal stared in shock at the bread she offered him.

‘So you’re saying she… brought food?’

She’s trying to feed me?

Thanks to the Dragon God’s power, Kal didn’t feel hunger. In fact, even the flow of time in this cave was different from outside.

‘By now, perhaps, the Dragon God’s power and my own have evened out somewhat.’

“……”

What was this feeling?

Should he be moved by her reliability?

Or, as a man, should he feel ashamed for failing to provide?

He couldn’t tell.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Kal had no choice but to accept the bread she held out.

Once more, she gave him a faint smile.

Ah, does she smile whenever she shares food?

Yet she herself only placed a single small red wild berry in her mouth.

“……”

“……”

Again, they shared food beneath the luminous blue sky.

‘Now that I think about it, no one has ever shared food with me before.’

Nor had anyone ever told me, sleep well, first.

Nor watched the flowing clouds with me in this way.

Nor smiled at me so gently…

She was the first in all these things.

“Have some water, too.”

Softly, she offered a wooden canteen.

Again, Kal almost absentmindedly accepted it and watched the slight smile play on her lips.

What is this, even the water tastes sweet.

As the cool, clear water slipped down his parched throat, it felt as if every nerve in his body sprang back to life.

The feeling of being alive.

It was the first time he’d truly felt it in ages. Perhaps, the first time ever.

‘When I leave this cave…’

At last, he realized what he must do.

‘I’ll take your hand and go far away, to some distant place.’

Somewhere you will never have to think of death again.

As you have taken root in my dark cave, making me desperately wish to live on—

‘I want to become that very existence for you.’

It was the moment he made up his mind.

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, the woman—who had been sitting quietly—clutched her belly and collapsed to the ground.

“What’s wrong?”

Startled, Kal hurried to the bars. He stretched out his hand with all his strength, but couldn’t reach even the hem of her robe.

“What’s wrong? Please, look at me. Please.”

“The… Crest…”

The Crest?

Then Kal noticed that the branch traced across her hand had grown a little longer.

“It’s too late to stop the corrosion…”

Blood gushed from her nose and mouth.

Khalid felt his mind go stark, blinding white.

“No.”

He stretched out his hand with all his might. But all his fingertips found was the blood flowing from her lips.

Why am I here?

Why at all!

Kal screamed inwardly as he watched her faint.

He loathed his own helplessness more than ever.

And at the same time, in that instant, he realized something—that he might now be able to do absolutely anything for her.

Anything.

Truly, anything…

When the sky darkened into night, the woman finally opened her eyes again.

Kal had endured the longest, most agonizing stretch of his life.

If not for the faint traces of her breath, he might already have gone mad.

“Are… are you all right?”

“…It’s gone.”

She wiped the blood carelessly from her face with her white habit and murmured so.

“What’s gone?”

“…The final formula of the Dark Magic summoning circle.”

She said the Mage King had infiltrated through her Crest and stolen the formula from her mind.

So, soon—

This land would be devastated by the Mage King, who had summoned Dark Magic.

“Let me out. I’ll stop it for you. Even if it means pushing myself past my limits, do it.”

Kal spoke quietly.

He was resolved to offer her an Oath Sigil once they escaped from here. That way, he could share his mana with her.

“…No.”

At that moment, she clenched the earth.

Drip, drip. Round marks seeped into the ground.

“I just want to end everything now.”

Kal, in that instant, sensed that something besides the magic circle had been lost, something else had happened to her.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“You know… the Mage King left me a memory.”

“…A memory? What do you mean?”

“I…”

Suddenly, with a tear-stained face, she looked straight at him. The wretched contortion of her features made his heart plummet.

“I remembered I was the daughter of Leviathan Zevert…”

“……”

“I killed my own father…”

A beast-like cry broke the silence of the forest.

“I want to stop now. Please, just stop. I’m so tired… I just want to disappear.”

She began to work her magic.

“So please, kill me.”

At that moment, Kal felt his shackles drop away.

For the first time in an immeasurably long time, he was free from those bonds—though there was not even time to savor it.

He dashed frantically out through the equally unbarred opening and caught the woman as she half-collapsed.

But already, her face had gone slack as if dead.

“Don’t give up.”

Please.

Don’t give up on your life.

“There will be good days…”

He repeated the words he’d once heard from God.

“Good days will come to you.”

“No.”

“….”

“Such days will never come.”

Khalid was terrified she might die at any moment. So he said whatever came to mind.

“Then I’ll find them for you.”

“……”

“I’ll find days of happiness and joy for you.”

I swear it.

No matter what price I must pay.

“You said you know time magic, didn’t you?”

“…”

“Then give it back.”

At that, her eyes widened briefly, then squeezed shut.

With a faint, weary breath, she shook her head.

“There’s not a single time I want to return to.”

A life so weary, so endlessly worn.

She’d grown with no name, lived as the Mage King’s pawn, and in the end, killed even her own father.

She said she just wanted to see the end, finally.

“Then wind back my time.”

Kal offered her an Oath Sigil.

Pouring his mana into her, he whispered,

“Just as you saved me, I swear I’ll save you.”

“What…?”

Their brows touched. Her eyes glowed red.

Judging by her furrowed brow, she had not chosen this.

Wisthal!

The power within him surged, but Kal fought it back again.

Was it the goddess’s power—dormant within her—now striving to help?

Kal prayed with desperate longing.

Anything would do.

‘To the time when she can be happiest—’

Send me.

Fwoooosh—

In that instant, light so bright it blinded him blazed forth.

And then, above the entire forest—or rather, as if it could blanket the entire world—a colossal magic circle appeared.

The woman’s eyes shot wide open. Khalid smiled at her softly.

“When we meet again, let’s start by choosing a name.”

“…!”

“One that makes your heart flutter every time it’s spoken.”

Clatter, clatter. Somewhere, the rough wheels of a wagon tumbled noisily along. There were frantic shouts and screams, too.

Clatter, clatter.

His world began to rewind.