May Every Wound Be Fatal - vanish into fiction

Elizer could not tell exactly when Reyna had realized the truth of his heart.

“…Come here.”

However, seeing her eyes sparkle for the first time in a long while, he had foolishly let his guard down.

Before he knew it, she was leaning against the railing of the balcony that overlooked the cliff, pressing the sharp tip of an ornament firmly against her throat.

Elizer felt a deeply ominous premonition.

He felt as though he was about to lose Reyna. Just as he had lost Kassian. Just as he had lost everyone he loved, while standing by unable to do anything.

He could not repeat that hell. He had to do something. Yet, he did not know what to do. His mind went completely blank.

“Are you afraid of my death?”

“Reyna, come back.”

“Why?”

“Stop, please, this way…”

“Do you even love me?”

He should have denied it, but in that split second, he could not. While he wavered, the time for explanation ended.

“You do love me, don’t you?”

Everything had been discovered by her.

Reyna seemed certain of his feelings, but her expression was one of utter incomprehension.

“You said I was horrific.”

Elizer had hated the Reyna who whispered of love while knowing nothing.

“And yet, you love me?”

Elizer had loved the Reyna who whispered of love while knowing nothing.

But as a survivor, he had things he had to do.

“After burning my home, killing every last one of my kin, and protecting your sister-in-law instead of me…”

Having lost too much, he was no longer capable of loving anything.

Nevertheless, he loved her.

That fact became the problem.

“How can you expect me to live?”

Elizer loved Reyna. Therefore, he could not kill her.

“…It is too horrific, Elizer.”

He also knew the fact that it was too horrific to call this emotion love.

“You should have at least kept it hidden.”

Because he knew, he had tried not to let her find out.

“I intend to die.”

Because he vaguely knew that if Reyna found out, she would act like this.

Elizer’s face distorted violently. She was right. He should not have been found out.

It was the moment Elizer sensed something and moved his legs.

As if she had been waiting, Reyna leaned her upper body backward.

Her light body passed over the railing all too easily. Without hesitation, Elizer stepped onto the railing and threw himself toward the cliff below.

“Your Majesty!”

Sir Lyman, who had lunged forward reflexively, barely managed to catch Elizer’s lower body as it went over the railing, and Elizer reached out desperately for Reyna. It was a miracle that he managed to snatch her wrist.

“Reyna…”

However, Reyna, having resolved to die, was merciless.

Realizing what she was about to do, Elizer shook his head frantically and pleaded.

“No. Don’t. Do not do this.”

It was unclear if his plea had reached her, but she waited for a very brief moment. She seemed to be thinking of something.

It was the moment Elizer harbored a foolish hope.

She whispered as if for the last time.

“It will hurt a lot.”

Simultaneously, the sharp hair ornament was driven into the back of his hand, which was holding her wrist.

“No…”

In an instant, his strength failed, and Reyna’s hand slipped through his fingers.

Reyna closed her eyes. Her face, serene as if asleep, rapidly receded.

Reyna. Elizer flailed his arms to get her back.

“Your Majesty!”

But more hands held him and would not let go.

Elizer struggled like a trapped beast. In the meantime, Reyna’s form was instantly swallowed by the black waves and vanished from sight.

Elizer wailed.

Several hands pulled him, as he twisted his body violently, back inside the railing. It was the moment Elizer was about to shake off the hands holding him and dive into the dark sea.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty.”

Sir Lyman struck Elizer’s vital point.

Elizer had once been a knight, but jumping into the sea from such a height in the middle of the night was an act of suicide. Sir Lyman had to protect his sovereign.

Elizer, who had been thrashing like a madman, collapsed helplessly.

The screams and laments of someone were buried beneath the enthusiastic cheers and the long blast of the horn trumpets. Crushed by the weight of several people, Elizer made his final struggle, rubbing his forehead against the cold marble floor as if trying to dig into it.