May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 25.1
“Cassian?”
It was the moment Elizer called Cassian once more.
Someone suddenly stuck his head out from beyond the wall. It was neither Cassian nor his knight, Noel.
He was a palace guard who had been patrolling near the annex palace, and Elizer froze on the spot as if he had seen a monster.
“What is this… Who are you supposed to be?”
The guard was just as flustered.
For a brief moment, a silence fell as though time itself had stopped.
Elizer suddenly turned and started running.
“Hey, stop!”
The guard shouted a beat too late and hurriedly climbed over the wall to chase the child.
Seized by the terror that this unfamiliar man had surely come to kill him, Elizer pumped his legs frantically.
He had no idea where he was running. His vision shook wildly, and the only sound he could hear was his own breath rising up to his throat.
So when a rough hand suddenly grabbed the back of his neck, he could not even scream and was dragged away just like that.
Young Elizer squeezed his eyes shut and instinctively searched for Cassian. Then, astonishingly, a low voice called out to him.
“Elizer.”
At the familiar voice, Elizer snapped his eyes open. The person who had seized him was none other than Noel Briere, Cassian’s knight.
Shh.
Noel quietly raised a finger to his lips. Elizer instinctively held his breath. Right after that, the enraged guard ran past the bushes where the two were hiding and disappeared into the distance.
Letting out a small sigh of relief, Noel looked down at Elizer.
Elizer, already frightened, watched his expression carefully. He believed that Noel, who did not like him to begin with, would surely be angry since he had broken his promise to stay put.
However, Noel said nothing.
Hesitating, Elizer asked,
“Where is Cassian?”
And for some reason, Noel did not scold him for failing to say Your Highness. With a dark expression, he answered,
“He was poisoned. He made it through the worst of it last night.”
The words were still difficult for Elizer to understand. Even so, the quick witted child realized that something had gone wrong with Cassian.
When Elizer did not know what to do, the young knight gave a weary smile and awkwardly patted the child’s hair.
That night, he took the child out of the annex palace and returned to Cassian’s palace.
In the process, Elizer, who was stepping outside the annex palace for the first time since his birth, was frightened and clung tightly to Noel, refusing to let go. Noel looked troubled but did not try to push the child away.
Cassian, lying on the bed like a dead man, looked at the sight with curiosity.
“When did you two get so close?”
At that playful question, Elizer finally recognized Cassian. It was because Cassian, who had grown frighteningly thin in such a short time, looked almost like a different person.
“It seems the queen has noticed the child’s existence.”
In Noel’s words, Cassian did not look particularly surprised, as though he had expected this. However, like Noel, his expression was dark.
Young Elizer fiddled with Cassian’s fingers, which had grown thin like twigs, and whispered softly,
“I am sorry….”
When Elizer apologized with careful consideration, Cassian laughed.
The laughter sounded more like a sigh than usual, and the child grew even more dejected.
Forcing a smile, Cassian called out to him.
“Elizer.”
“Yes.”
“It is embarrassing, but I do not have the power to protect you in this royal palace. I cannot even properly protect my own body. But I think I can at least send you out of this dreadful prison.”
Once again, it was a story that was still difficult for Elizer to understand.
“Elizer, do you not want to see the world beyond the wall?”
However, everything Cassian told him was astonishing and fascinating. So without understanding what the words truly meant, Elizer nodded first. Then, feeling that something was strange, he asked,
“What about Cassian?”
“I have something I must do.”
At that answer, Noel’s face twisted with such sorrow that young Elizer could not understand it at the time.
Cassian gently brushed the child’s hair as he spoke to him, while Elizer asked whether he could not stay here instead.
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