Crown of Thorns

CHAPTER 37

Translator : Cuties ––– Editor : WilsonWilson

When I opened my eyes, a white world unfolded. For a moment, I felt like I was in a field of snow, and I was mesmerized for a moment. The cold air and the smell of snow were missing, but the dazzling beauty was the same.

As I slowly lowered my eyes, I saw white eyelashes that hung long and red sun-like eyes. Every time he blinked, his eyelashes covered his irises and made it look as though clouds were hiding the sun.

Evan, who resembles the wonders of nature, sat close by me and looked up at me with his chin raised. I closed my eyes again because the clear gaze seemed to have pierced me.

“What’s wrong with you? Did you have a bad divination?”

I opened my eyes to Evan’s voice and looked down at the card I was holding. It was as white as Evan’s hair. It was Teror’s divination. It was about to come true. I flipped the card and shuffled it with the rest. Evan is still just looking up at me.

I know that time is running out. If not now, I may never be able to use my influence. This was an opportunity given to me. It was the first step toward turning Evan into a warrior. And no one could be more qualified to serve as Evan’s fence.

So I have to tell him, I have to let him know of this.

My mouth refused to cooperate.

“Nyx, you don’t look good. What’s the matter?”

I straightened out my furrowed brows. I tried not to make it obvious, but I was caught. Evan has recovered everything the witch had lost. Her emotions, as well as her facial expressions too. So it’s even harder. To let Evan go.

To be left alone again.

The cards, which had been shuffled recklessly, were put down in a constant arrangement and turned over. As if to laugh at my troubles, the god of death is still lurking beside Evan. The god of death whispers to me. Give me your warrior, and I’ll give you eternal life.

It’s as sweet as the devil’s temptation, but it’s bitter poison to me. I don’t need an eternity. What I want most is death. Protect the warrior from the god of death. And to have him take me instead. Yes, in order to save the warrior, I had to die. Now the road is open, what am I waiting for? If I can’t change the future, I’ll be alone forever. What would a brief breakup amount to in comparison with endless agony?

I put down my cards and turned my eyes to Evan.

“Evan.”

“Yes, say it.”

His earnest red eyes, staring at me as if he would listen to whatever I say, are heartbreaking. No matter what the world is, no matter how ugly and dirty it is, he is like the sun that illuminates us all, consistently warm. How can I be so unhappy when the sun, which I thought had abandoned me and turned away from me, rose up here and looked at me?

I stared into those eyes for a moment, pulled something out of my sleeves, and handed it to Evan. Evan unwittingly accepted it and could not conceal his bewilderment.

“What is this?”

Evan looked at the thing and asked. The elaborately carved object looked like a necklace, it also looked like an ornament worn on a garment, but it had a subtle glow. It was responding to Evan’s energy. The object that was close to silver in my hand had turned white in Evan’s hand. In the wind, the engraved pattern in the middle revealed itself clearly.

“You keep it. From now on, this is yours.”

“What is this?”

“It’s something that will protect you.”

You don’t have to know yet, Evan. It won’t be long before he found out anyway. Rather, it was more important for me to know what was going on now and what to do in the future.

“Evan, you must go out into the world now.”

Evan’s eyes widened at my words. Soon after, he shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows. Evan’s white hair scattered about. Then he looks up at me with a tearful face. Evan seems to know what to do in order to appeal to my soft side. I think he is intentionally expressing his feelings.

Evan continued his words with eyes full of sorrow.

“Do I have to? Can’t I just stay here?”

No. You can’t stay in the witch’s arms forever. You must go into the pack that will protect you. And you must build up your strength in it. Instead of being ostracized, you have to be recognized.

The witch’s tower was not much of a safe place for Evan anyway. There may be people who visit the tower of the witch, similar to right now, but the witch won’t be able to hide Evan and protect him. He may be killed. As a witch, I don’t die, but Evan does. I can’t face Evan’s death again.

When I didn’t answer, Evan begged me, clasping at the hem of my dress.

“I don’t want to go. I don’t want to be separated from Nyx.”

I didn’t want to part with you, either. I’m so happy that I spent time with Evan that I want us to stay like this forever. But if things continue like this, in the end, Evan will die. And I’ll be robbed with a weapon of remembrance, which will only get worse with my unending time. The Evan right now would never kill me.

Evan must stand on the side of the world and aim a sword at my heart.

“If you don’t follow your destiny, there’s no reason for me to be with you either.”

If Evan wouldn’t kill me, I’d rather push him away. I know there’s no use in doing that, I know that its too late, but I couldn’t get any more attached to him. I didn’t want to hurt for a long time by building more and more memories.

Evan stared at me with his fluttering red eyes as if he had been shocked by my words. His wounded-looking pupils tugged at my heart. The cut in my heart, which Evan had tried to soothe, was again bared open and bleeding. Up until now, the two of us had only been soothing each other’s wounds. But now that the situation had changed, we were hurting each other instead.

I hated myself, the one who knew of Evan’s fears, and what Evan desperately wants. I hated this situation; Evan is bound to get hurt no matter what I do.

But I couldn’t help it if I wanted to end my world.

The current wound is nothing. And to Evan, I’m no different than a dear childhood teddy bear. If you lose the teddy bear that you love so much that you always had it in your arms, you feel as though you’ve lost everything at the time. But the moment you turn to a new doll, you forget about it as if its a trivial thing.

“Evan.”

I called Evan, who was staring down at the floor with his lips clenched. Evan raised his head at my call and faced me. His eyebrows were broodingly knit together. When I first saw him, he looked just like that. But it felt very different from when I first saw him. Before I knew it, the young boy had grown this much. It is strange even though I knew well that human time went by fast. He’ll soon be a young man, just like the young man who remains only in my memory.

Will you think of me even then?

Evan stretched out his hand. He hugged me as he was groaning faintly from his own heartache. He hugged me as if he knew I was hurting. As if he were soothing me.

Evan, who had been doing it for a long time, muttered in a small voice.

“…stay.”

“What?”

When I asked again, Evan fell out of my arms and immediately turned back. Looking at Evan’s back, I tried to ask him again, but his words were faster than mine.

“What should I do?”

And Evan’s eyes, which had turned back and looked at me, were very serious and sharp.

*

Back in the gray world, the world I saw as a shadow was terrible.

The knights were covered in wounds, breathing heavily, perhaps exhausted from dealing with the monsters. On the floor were the bodies of the monsters they took care of and the carcass of the person previously known as Teror. Teror was torn to the point where he couldn’t be recognized. His blood dripped around him, touching a bead, rolling around the floor.

I knew what the bead was. It was because I saw the Baron giving it to Teror the day before. He reassured Teror that he could return to the castle at any time, saying that it held a protective charm. Whether he’s seen using it many times, or he never imagined that his father would kill him, Teror believed only in the power of that fake bead and came into the Witch’s forest. He didn’t know that he was the son of a person who would abandon his family for greed.

“Damn it, this son of a bitch.”

“I can’t see the end, sir. What should we do?”

“…there’s no way to get out.”

The number of monsters that came in propelled by the smell of blood was enormous. It was fortunate that the monsters hadn’t come at them all at once. And there were some things that couldn’t be easily rushed, perhaps because they had already seen several other monsters killed without hesitation. That part was fortunate, but it only proved that the monsters were more intelligent than the average animal, so they were harder to deal with.

As time went by, the knights were pushed back until there was no place to run to anymore. Leaning against each other, they braced themselves to die at any time. I waited for someone, constantly looking to the direction of the witch’s tower. I was holding back the monsters’ feet, just in case it was too late for him to overturn the current situation.

Soon, however, Evan, whom I had been waiting for, appeared. The knights could not hide their embarrassment. They wondered just when did the boy who did not fit in with the witch’s forest appeared. The monsters rushed in delight at the fact that a new prey had appeared.

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