RHH | Chapter 2.5

Leehwan approached the relic and lifted the glass cover. His hand, grabbing the golden goblet, was rough. He immediately left the room.

With a dizzy mind, he mapped out the patrol routes. If he left through the main hall’s entrance now, he’d run into the patrolling soldiers. After a moment’s thought, Leehwan opened a window and jumped out.

But that turned out to be a mistake.

In that brief moment, a familiar face looked up at Leehwan. A white nightgown and a shawl draped over it fluttered in the wind. Leehwan stared at the golden hair swaying in the breeze.

The gaze, filled with terror, swept over Leehwan before stopping at his eyes. Suddenly, Leehwan remembered that he had only ever shown his eyes when meeting Sollino.

“P-pilgrim?”

He had to kill him. He had killed the soldiers to leave no witnesses who could confirm his identity, hadn’t he?

Leehwan raised his sword. Sollino collapsed to the ground. His pale face overlapped with someone else’s.

Will I face you like this someday?

The blood-stained sword hung in the air. Sollino opened his mouth. Just as the first sound of a scream was about to escape his lips, Leehwan brought the sword down.

The cold blade pierced the heart that had been pounding moments ago. Sollino couldn’t even scream properly before he died.

Leehwan sheathed his sword. The lifeless body collapsed. Even the once-shimmering golden hair was now soaked in blood, losing its luster.

The person with the beautiful golden hair.

Lucien.

“Ah…….”

Leehwan let out a groan. His body, which had been standing tall, swayed. As he staggered forward, a hand emerged from the darkness and covered his eyes.

A warm hand. The warmth of a living being.

“Why are you here?”

Leehwan whispered. He added the name of the person who was supposed to be waiting with the horses on the mountain, a short distance from the cathedral.

“I was worried about you, so I came……”

Absalom, who had trailed off, turned Leehwan around. His eyes, darkened by the night, somehow looked happy.

“You did well.”

At his words, Leehwan shuddered.

“Did well? This?”

“Let’s go, Leehwan.”

Absalom, who had coldly glanced at the blood-stained golden hair, pulled Leehwan along. The force was terrifying. Leehwan had no choice but to be dragged away.

They soon reached the mountain. A black horse was waiting for them. Absalom helped Leehwan onto the horse before climbing on behind him. Absalom took the reins.

The cold night wind whistled past their ears. To Leehwan, it sounded like the final groans of those who had died tonight.

It wasn’t as if he had never killed before. During large-scale extermination operations, there were always those who violated military orders or attempted to desert. One of the methods to prevent recurrence was fear. At twenty-one, Leehwan had personally beheaded a deserter in front of everyone and then proceeded to fight without a hint of disturbance.

The operation was a success. The valley was filled with the corpses of monsters, and the streets of the Imperial Capital were so crowded with flowers welcoming Leehwan’s triumphant return that there was no room to step.

But to Leehwan, it was all a nightmare.

He couldn’t eat or drink. The moment he put anything in his mouth, he felt nauseous. He couldn’t tell if he was chewing food or the soldier he had killed back then.

When he slept, the dead soldier appeared in his dreams. Leehwan killed him over and over again as the soldier begged for his life, saying he had made a mistake.

The torment continued until Lucien held Leehwan in his arms.

‘You’re not a bad person.’

Lucien said that Leehwan’s actions were all to protect everyone, and that the real evil was the monsters and dragons. I’m not bad. Only after engraving those words in his heart could Leehwan finally sleep.

The same thing happened several times after that. Each time, Leehwan cried and suffered. At the time, he thought it was part of the process of becoming stronger.

Now, Leehwan knows better. It wasn’t strength or anything of the sort. It was just him turning a blind eye to his own pain, deceived by sweet words. Because, by Leehwan’s standards, it was a bad thing to do.

And today, he killed again.

“If there’s something you want.”

Someone whispered close to Leehwan’s ear. A low, deep voice. It was Absalom.

“Just say one word. Say ‘Absalom.’ Then I’ll take care of everything.”

The words were incredibly sweet. Anything? Leehwan asked. Anything. Absalom replied.

“If you want, I’ll kill as many humans as you want.”

Absalom pulled the reins, stopping the horse. The path ahead was too rugged to continue on horseback. They dismounted. After letting the horse loose on the mountain, Absalom approached Leehwan.

“Or should I destroy this world?”

The King of Monsters, the Dragon. The one and only being in the world made this declaration to Leehwan. Leehwan realized he meant every word.

On Leehwan’s tongue rested an entire world. If he wished, he could crush it to pieces. The moment he realized this, even the air felt heavy. In his dazed state, Leehwan couldn’t take his eyes off Absalom. Before him stood a being entirely different from anything he had ever known.

This was the Dragon, Absalom.

Leehwan’s lips moved on their own.

“What… are you?”

What meaning could there be in a question whose answer he already knew? Yet, Leehwan waited for something. Slowly, Absalom’s red lips parted.

“You already know. I’m Absalom……”

Hope swelled.

“……and a friend who cares deeply for you.”

But the hope that had swelled was instantly crushed.

What had he been hoping for? Leehwan mocked himself.

Even after being betrayed, Leehwan had somehow started to hope. That if Absalom told him the truth, that if even this timeline’s Absalom didn’t betray him. But once again, his hope turned to foam.

“A friend?”

Leehwan muttered. His lips twisted into something resembling a smile.

“How ridiculous.”

Leehwan’s voice sounded despicable even to his own ears.

“You’re obsessed with me, aren’t you? Did you think I wouldn’t notice how desperate you are to have me? What kind of friend does that?”

He wanted to hurt Absalom. Whether it actually hurt him or not didn’t matter.

Leehwan shoved Absalom’s chest hard. Absalom staggered back, his face pale, but his eyes still fixed on Leehwan. Leehwan felt an inexplicable urge to scream, but instead, he sneered.

“Don’t you get it? You disgust me.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Leehwan realized why he had said them. A wave of self-loathing and pain stabbed at his heart. He turned away.

He had wanted to hurt Absalom, but all he had thrown were the words that had hurt him the most in his life. Without any affection for the other person, such an attack was worse than meaningless. Was this all he could come up with in this perfect opportunity? Leehwan cursed his own stupidity.

He walked away quickly, putting distance between himself and Absalom. After about ten steps, hurried footsteps approached from behind.

“Leehwan! Wait!”

But Leehwan didn’t stop. Eventually, Absalom started running. He blocked Leehwan’s path and opened his mouth, hesitating for a long time before finally choosing the most ordinary words.

“I’m sorry.”

Absalom whispered desperately, lowering his gaze.

“I just…”

His voice was so faint it seemed like it might disappear. Leehwan sneered and cut him off.

“Just what? You just wanted to look down on me, didn’t you?”

Absalom looked at Leehwan with a pained expression. He looked like he was about to cry. Don’t fall for it! Leehwan shouted at his wavering emotions.

“Get lost.”

Leehwan growled lowly and walked past Absalom.

Originally, Leehwan’s plan had been this: first, create a record of leaving Sancoña. Then, book a room at an inn in a nearby village, and under the cover of night, sneak into the cathedral to steal the holy relic and escape. To do this, he had already figured out how to enter and exit Sancoña through the mountains.

After parting ways with Absalom, Leehwan left Sancoña through the rugged mountain path. He arrived at the inn just as the faint light of dawn began to appear in the eastern sky. He secretly slipped into a room on the third floor.

Truthfully, Leehwan hadn’t expected Absalom to stay away for this long. After all, the words he had thrown at him were so insignificant they shouldn’t have even left a dent, let alone hurt him. But as the sun rose and set again, Absalom still hadn’t returned.

In the middle of the night, plagued by nightmares, Leehwan woke up with a start. Cold sweat dripped down his cheeks. As he tried to wipe it away, he realized his vision was blurry. What was flowing down his cheeks wasn’t sweat—it was tears.

Since his regression, Leehwan had spent countless nights tormented by nightmares. But it had been a long time since he had woken up crying. Had tonight’s dream been particularly painful? He tried to recall it, but it was no different from the usual nightmares.

‘If there’s anything different…’

Leehwan chased away the face that had appeared in his mind and closed his eyes.

Just as his breathing was beginning to steady, a faint presence approached. Even in his half-asleep state, Leehwan realized it was Absalom.

Absalom must have been outside until just now, as the cold scent of the night air clung to him. It reminded Leehwan of the smell he used to notice on his parents when they returned home from work late at night. Without realizing it, Leehwan took a deep breath, and something warm and soft touched his cheek.

“Today too…”

A low voice, fitting for the night. Along with it, a delicate hand brushed away the tears from Leehwan’s cheeks and eyes. The half-dried tears were gradually wiped away. The movements were familiar.

Suddenly, Leehwan remembered what Absalom had said before they entered the guesthouse at Ermentas Cathedral.

‘Will you be okay?’

Absalom had asked because he knew. He hesitated, afraid of hurting Leehwan, and treated him with the care one would show something precious.

Leehwan opened his eyes. His sharp brown eyes glinted in the darkness.

“Get lost.”

Absalom’s absence meant he had been affected by Leehwan’s words. It gave Leehwan a strange sense of satisfaction.

Leehwan slapped away the hand still resting on his cheek. The sound of skin hitting skin echoed coldly.

“What did I just say? I told you, you disgust me.”

Absalom’s shoulders slumped. Leehwan raised his head. He could see Absalom’s lips, bitten so hard they were almost white.

When their eyes met, Absalom flinched and looked down. His silver eyelashes trembled faintly. It was clearly the reaction of someone who had been hurt.

Leehwan, being human, couldn’t claim he had never hurt anyone in his life. But he had never intentionally acted with the sole purpose of hurting someone out of hatred.

So what was this feeling now? Finding pleasure in someone else’s pain? He wasn’t this kind of person. Leehwan gripped the blanket tightly. Just then, Absalom spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“I already heard that…”

“I won’t leave you, Leehwan. This is my apology for that.”