RHH | Chapter 4.3

The next afternoon, Leehwan took a walk around the village. It was a small, harmonious village, though not wealthy. It was like a picture-perfect, simple utopia. But Leehwan knew that such places were the hardest to achieve.

As he walked, enjoying the leisurely stroll, a door opened at a house not far away, and Gretel came out. She bowed to the woman who saw her off.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“I’ll invite you again next time.”

“Really? I’ll look forward to it!”

Gretel smiled brightly. She turned around with that same smile and locked eyes with Leehwan. The door closed behind her frozen figure.

This is my chance. Leehwan thought so. But the next moment, he felt bleak about how to seize this opportunity.

It wasn’t like he had never talked to girls before. But those girls were either princesses or noble ladies, and that experience was utterly useless now.

He thought about starting with a greeting and stiffly opened his mouth. Gretel, who had regained her senses, looked around nervously. Leehwan spoke, not feeling particularly good.

“Absalom is at home.”

Gretel’s face turned red as she glared at Leehwan. Her pursed lips showed her irritation. Feeling like he might lose this chance, Leehwan was about to say anything when a small voice came from inside the house.

“Why do we always have to call Gretel to eat with us? I don’t like her. Always watching us…”

“Don’t say that.”

“Even Mom doesn’t like her much. She told me not to get too close to her.”

“Adults have their reasons for what they do. Stop complaining and go get some carrots from the neighbor.”

“But it’s cold outside…”

Light footsteps approached. Leehwan grabbed Gretel and hid in a shadowy spot.

The door opened and closed, and the footsteps faded away. Leehwan looked down at Gretel in his arms. Her face was bright red, and she was trembling. Fortunately, there were no tears, but it was clear they would fall at the slightest provocation.

“Gretel.”

Just the simple call made her slender shoulders flinch. Leehwan spoke, feeling anxious.

“Let’s not stay here. Let’s go somewhere…”

At that moment, Gretel jerked her head up. Her small face was stained with anger, defiance, and an inexplicable fear.

“You’re the same.”

“The same?”

“Don’t play dumb! You have it too.”

Gretel clutched the pouch at her waist. Her eyes were fixed on Leehwan’s chest, specifically the relic he kept in his inner pocket. Leehwan looked at her with a stiff expression. The suspicion that had been forming turned to shock with her next words.

“Why did you come here? I’m the one who’s supposed to protect the village! I can do it alone…!”

Leehwan hurriedly covered her mouth. At that moment, a faint sensation brushed against his palm. He quickly removed his hand and looked down at Gretel.

“What, what is this?”

“…What are you?”

The sensation he felt when he touched Gretel was the same as when he touched the relic. It was faint, as if it could disappear at any moment, but there was no mistaking that unique feeling.

Leehwan focused and examined Gretel closely. But no matter how many times he looked, he couldn’t sense any divine energy except from the pouch. He reached for it.

“No! Give it back! Without it, I’m nothing!”

Leehwan grabbed Gretel’s wrist. Through the contact, he felt the unique sensation of the relic fading away.

“What is this…”

As Leehwan’s face twisted, Gretel kicked his shin.

“Give it back! You thief!”

Leehwan, caught off guard by her sudden attack, loosened his grip. Gretel quickly snatched the pouch back and stepped away. Unfortunately for her, the back was blocked by a storage shed.

While Gretel looked for an escape route, Leehwan composed himself. As he sighed, Gretel trembled.

“Don’t come any closer!”

“Alright. Alright, so let’s talk.”

Despite the seemingly truce-like words, Leehwan’s gaze was sharp. He stared at Gretel’s pouch and asked.

“Do you know what that is and how to use it?”

Gretel didn’t answer. Leehwan roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“You don’t know anything…”

“You’re the one who doesn’t know anything.”

Her voice was like a wildcat’s. When Leehwan looked at her, Gretel was glaring fiercely. The look in her eyes, which had seemed playful before, was now filled with genuine dislike.

“Do you know what this is? No. I just received it from the chief. But why does its name matter?”

Gretel panted heavily, her breath uneven. Meanwhile, Leehwan watched her with an expressionless face, saying nothing.

“What’s important to me is that as long as I have this, people treat me well. You, who’s always with that kind person, wouldn’t understand how it feels when someone finally calls me by my name properly. At least with this, I’m Gretel from the white gatehouse! Not just some orphan girl from a hut! So get lost! There’s no place for you here!”

Gretel, fueled by anger, shoved Leehwan aside and ran off. Leehwan watched her retreating figure for a moment, then clenched his teeth.

At the table, Absalom, who had been idly playing with a pen, turned his head at the sound of the door opening. He saw Leehwan enter. Leehwan’s head was bowed as if he were adjusting his shoes, but his expression was desolate.

“Leehwan.”

Leehwan slowly raised his head. His face was blank. Absalom, who had pushed his chair back, spread his arms and whispered.

“Come here.”

Leehwan crossed the room with slow steps. He stopped in front of Absalom. Absalom pulled him down onto his lap.

The two large men sat intertwined, facing each other. The chair creaked under their weight, but they paid it no mind.

Absalom cupped Leehwan’s cheek. The warmth of his hand was so comforting that Leehwan closed his eyes and leaned into it. Absalom’s affectionate lips showered Leehwan’s face with kisses.

“Leehwan… Look at me. Okay?”

Leehwan opened his eyes as Absalom wanted. His deep blue eyes were fixed on Absalom. His chest swelled with emotion, but the voice he had heard earlier echoed in his ears.

‘Who doesn’t know?’

He didn’t say it out loud, clinging to the last shred of his pride. Leehwan took a deep breath, trying to dispel the frustration.

Absalom didn’t offer comforting words or pry. That, in turn, helped calm the bitterness in Leehwan’s heart.

After a while, Leehwan got up from Absalom’s lap. He walked around the table and sat in the chair opposite, asking.

“What were you doing?”

“I was organizing the information I found out earlier. I was almost done.”

Absalom blew on the ink to dry it. Leehwan glanced at the upside-down text. He had expected elegant, beautiful handwriting, but what he saw looked like it had been written with toes.

“Is this the common language of the continent?”

“Of course.”

“The paper you gave me before, the one with the locations of the relics. You didn’t write that yourself, did you?”

“No. A friend of mine…”

Absalom looked puzzled. Leehwan alternated between looking at Absalom’s face and the handwriting. The absurdity of the situation made him laugh. The stiffness in his expression melted away, and he gestured for Absalom to continue.

“I went to the chief yesterday to return the bread basket we received. The chief happened to be alone, so he left the room to get us something to drink. I took the chance to look around. There was a small ledger hidden behind a picture frame. I memorized two pages of it.”

“Memorized… Never mind.”

Maybe dragons don’t understand human limitations. Leehwan bit back his comment.

Absalom handed him a piece of paper. Unlike when it was upside down, it was somewhat readable now.

The paper was filled with names, each accompanied by small numbers. Leehwan frowned.

“These numbers look like years. Birth year, death year, and age at death, maybe.”

“It might be a little different. Look at the last one.”

Leehwan’s gaze slid down the paper and stopped.

Margrethe. 1337. 1359. 25.

Gretel. 1348.

“Isn’t this year 1361? I thought Gretel was around fifteen.”

The numbers next to Margrethe’s name, and the others, were all slightly off.

As Leehwan scanned the list again, a strange sense of unease washed over him. If the calculations weren’t wrong, it meant that women in their early to mid-twenties had been dying at roughly ten-year intervals. Moreover, the fact that the list only included young women was troubling.

“The other pages were the same. All women, mostly in their twenties when they died.”

Leehwan looked up from the paper at Absalom. They both realized they were thinking the same thing.

“I had an encounter with Gretel earlier. When I touched her, it felt like touching a relic.”

“Let’s hypothesize…”

Absalom continued in a detached tone. It was better that way. If Absalom had hesitated or been cautious, it might have felt even more tragic.

“What do you want to do, Leehwan?”

Absalom asked after finishing his explanation. Leehwan licked his dry lips. The image of Gretel running away flashed before his eyes. In the end, he could only throw the question back.

“What do you want to do?”

“Honestly, I’d like to take the relic and leave. What happens to the rest of them is none of my business. That girl is a bit pitiful, but… I don’t know. From my perspective, it’s better to break free than to be used and die like that.”

It was a cold statement. But to Leehwan, it sounded like comfort. After a moment of hesitation, Leehwan spoke.

“Let’s wait one more day.”

There was a feast tomorrow. He wanted to make a decision by then.

𓂃 ོ☼𓂃

The next day, the village was buzzing with excitement from the morning. The smell of food being prepared for the feast wafted through the air.

Leehwan made his way through the busy village. His destination was the chief’s house. The chief had told him to come by today to pick up bread.

Normally, Absalom would handle this, but today Leehwan went himself. He wanted to gauge the reaction to what had happened between him and Gretel yesterday.

When Leehwan returned with the bread, Absalom greeted him.

“Welcome back, Leehwan. How was it?”

Leehwan shook his head. Both the villagers and the chief had acted as if nothing had happened. Had they really not heard? If they had heard and were pretending not to, this village was truly something else.

“Oh, right. The chief said the bread is a bit old, so we should eat it by lunch at the latest. It might go bad if we keep it until tomorrow.”

“Is that so…”

Absalom dragged out his words. Leehwan noticed the subtle shift in his tone.

“Why?”

“Well, the bread smells a bit off.”

“You think it’s poisoned?”

The fact that Leehwan immediately thought of poison instead of spoiled food was a side effect of his long life in the imperial palace. But Absalom nodded.

“Something like that.”

Leehwan picked up the bread and sniffed it. The strong smell of onions, likely from the vegetables inside, masked any other scent.

“Even if it is poison, it’s not strong. At most, it would cause paralysis or induce sleep.”

“But in this situation, that could be fatal.”