Chapter 169

That couldn’t be.

She had seen it clearly with her own eyes—the beast-headed Dragonkin sinking his sharp fangs mercilessly into Rezette’s left shoulder.

If the fangs had pierced even slightly deeper, his entire shoulder might have been torn clean off.

Rezette winced as he wiped down her forearm, only for a small, cool hand to settle over his own. Elise guided his hand back to her belly.

“The baby… Is it okay?” she asked, lifting her face to meet his gaze.

She looked far too close—pale cheeks, lips dried and cracked. It made his insides twist.

To Rezette’s eyes, the child was fine. Dragonkin offspring were tenacious by nature. Once they took root in the womb, they did not die easily. They absorbed nutrients from the mother until she was little more than a husk, clinging to life with terrifying persistence.

“Perfectly fine,” he replied.

He wanted to tell her now wasn’t the time to worry about the baby. The words rose to his throat, but he swallowed them.

She was scared—understandably so. She had seen for herself, just outside this tent, what exactly she was carrying inside her. How violent. How monstrous.

“It’s our child,” he said softly. “Of course it’s unharmed. You don’t need to worry.”

“But it’s never moved like that before,” Elise murmured. “What if I hurt the baby somehow… if something went wrong because of me?”

“There’s nothing wrong,” he said firmly. “Absolutely nothing.”

His voice grew hoarse with emotion. He cupped her cool cheeks and pressed gentle kisses to her nose and lips.

“You’re enduring so much. Please… don’t blame yourself.”

A flicker of relief passed through her clouded eyes.

“Then…” Elise licked her cracked lips and pushed herself slightly upright. “Then maybe I still can…”

Rezette didn’t catch her meaning at first.

She reached out with her right hand and began tracing something on his injured shoulder—a faint glyph, complex and unfamiliar to the untrained eye. A healing spell.

Only when a dim light flickered from where she touched him did Rezette realize what she was trying to do.

“…Elise!” he exclaimed, as if struck in the head.

A beat later, his voice rose in a panic.

“Have you lost your mind? This isn’t the time to waste energy on something like this!”

He snatched her small hand and pressed it firmly to the sheet, stopping her from completing the spell.

The child wasn’t in danger anymore. In truth, it never had been. He had only just managed to calm it down, pouring his mana into Elise to stabilize the situation—and now she wanted to cast magic again?

Tears welled in Elise’s eyes, glassy and clear.

“I just… wanted to heal you,” she whispered, her voice thick with tears. “But I can’t see…”

A single tear dropped, trailing down her pale cheek. Rezette realized then that she wasn’t looking at him, but flicking her gaze left and right into the empty air beside him.

She was searching for something in the void, for the circuits of mana she could no longer see.

She bit her lip.

The pathways were still gone.

Without them, Elise couldn’t cast any spell on her own, no matter how badly she wanted to stop his bleeding.

She felt as though she were crumbling into dust. Just a hollow shell. No matter how hard she tried to stay composed, guilt swelled like a beast inside her.

Her tears fell freely now, not even brushing her cheeks before dropping like rain.

“I’m sorry…” she choked out.

At that single, tearful apology, something within Rezette shifted. It wasn’t rage or frustration—it was something else.

The air flickered. Light around them blinked like candle flames about to die. The whole world tilted around her.

So this is what it feels like to lose your mind, he thought.

In all the years he had lived—and however many more he might survive—there would never be anyone more heartbreakingly dear to him than her.

The moment he saw guilt deepen in her eyes like ink spreading in water, Rezette wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and kissed her.

***

Now that Elise couldn’t use magic, the path back to the fortress above the canyon was effectively sealed.

Initially, Rezette had intended to take her back right away. Even if a cliff blocked their path, he could carry her up. Who needed a teleportation circle?

But the problem was what came after.

He couldn’t exactly walk through the front gates wearing the insignia of the Northern Alliance forces. And there were no secret tunnels to sneak through.

Besides, he had no intention of handing her back to those Arganian bastards—the very ones who had thrown her into danger.

They have no right. If the Emperor had died earlier, her circuits would’ve returned by now.

Most importantly, Elise didn’t want to go back.

“There are still Arganian soldiers unaccounted for… I don’t want to go back yet,” she said.

“You should get examined,” he insisted gently.

Elise shook her head.

“Just for a little while… a few hours even. I just want to stay like this a bit longer.”

“…But—”

“Do you have to go?”

Her whisper was soft, almost pleading. But as she said it, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“I missed you,” she murmured.

It was the kind of voice that made a man turn around, no matter how determined his steps.

So that’s a no, then.

She needed him desperately. And that was all Rezette needed to hear. 

He had sprinted through over ten days’ worth of terrain in just three. It had all been worth it.

“We’re already where we need to be,” he said quietly. “Where else would I go?”

As long as he could stay like this—with just the two of them—it didn’t matter if it was for days, months, or years.

Fortunately, the Arganian camp had been stocked with enough provisions for a few days of guerrilla warfare. Food, water—just enough to stay until Elise regained her strength.

Rezette used a damp cloth to gently wipe the grime from her cheeks and hands.

He then carefully removed her dusty clothes and helped her into the wooden tub. The warm water wrapped around her body, and her slender shoulders finally relaxed.

“Let’s bathe together,” Elise said, tugging on his sleeve. “I’ll clean your wounds… Please, come in.”

Rezette hesitated, unable to look away from her partially submerged figure.

“I don’t think that’s… a good idea,” he replied, voice low.

In truth, he’d been planning to leave after bathing her—to go outside, finish off any lingering beasts nearby, maybe douse himself in cold water at a pond somewhere.

The blood splatters he’d burned away with mana, but he still felt unclean. More than that, the tension in his lower body had reached a dangerous point.

Ever since that kiss, the blood that had rushed southward refused to settle. He rubbed a hand over his face in frustration.

“I might not be able to control myself,” he admitted. “This timing is… unfortunate.”

The madness he thought had burned out kept flaring back up the moment he let his guard down. He had no suppressants, no herbs. And the woman he loved beyond reason was right in front of him.

Her scent had grown stronger—vivid like fresh blooms. Maybe it was the pregnancy. Or maybe he had simply lost his grip on sanity.

Reading his intent to pull away, Elise pouted and shook her head. But no matter how sweetly she pleaded, no was still no.

Rezette forced himself to finish washing her and helped her change into fresh clothes. He kept his eyes averted to avoid her bare skin, which made for clumsy hands and missed ties.

Eventually, Elise noticed his struggle. Her eyes drifted downward—toward the strain beneath his waist.

Rezette reacted immediately, intercepting her hand as she reached out.

She’s lost her mind.

“Stop. Don’t look.”

He gently but firmly tilted her chin up, blocking her gaze with a kiss.

“I’ll be back soon. If you’re scared… close your eyes like before. Cover your ears.”

“…Count to thirty?” she whispered.

“…Maybe a bit more than that,” he muttered.

She let out a breath of laughter—barely audible, but real.

“Hurry back. I think… I’ve needed you a lot more than I realized.”

***

Rezette returned to the tent exactly thirty minutes later.

He had cleared the surrounding area, washed the blood and grime from his body in the river below the cliffs, and cooled his overheated body.

Every time the urge rose again, the sting in his shoulder grounded him.

As a final precaution, he cast a dark mist of mana across the area to shrink visibility, enough to keep both humans and beasts at bay.

When he finally returned, the tent’s canvas glowed softly.

Inside, a small shadow paced nervously, flickering behind the fabric.