For the heart - Chapter 34

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 34

 

“The Saint is sleeping rough in Plaza Alley.”

 

“A guild member from Edma’s Guild recognized a girl begging in the opposite Plaza Alley. The portrait was really helpful.”

 

“Let’s hurry and go see.”

 

“He said the guild member is watching from a certain distance to make sure she doesn’t get away.”

 

Nina and Casian climbed onto the horse tied in front of the alley.

 

Since it was completely opposite from the guild, the two rode quickly.

 

But it was a weekend afternoon in the town square.

 

With people bustling about so much, they were forced to slow down their horse’s pace.

 

Nina felt anxious but took in the sight of people gathered in small groups.

 

There were particularly many children holding their parents’ hands.

 

“I heard the Lantern Festival is coming soon. Many families have come out to buy masks.”

 

“Ah.”

 

The Lantern Festival, where lanterns are released into the sky for those who have departed, was a major event in Arsed, but Nina had never attended.

 

Casian, who caught a glimpse of Nina’s expression, asked.

 

“Have you ever participated in the Lantern Festival? Montregger also has a similar festival around this time.”

 

“…No. Never once.”

 

What had she ever experienced, really.

 

Casian didn’t ask any more questions to Nina, who answered matter-of-factly.

 

When they passed through the crowded section and approached the place where the Saint was said to be, Nina spotted a short-haired girl sitting against a wall in front of an alley in the distance.

 

Casian also seemed to recognize that the girl was the Saint, quietly calling “Your Highness.”

 

The closer the girl got, the more Nina felt breathless.

 

She looked so similar to the portrait Casian had drawn.

 

Could she really be the Saint? Please, let that girl be the Saint.

 

Nina prayed earnestly to herself.

 

Crash! Crack—!

 

But at that moment, the clear sky suddenly turned black and the heavens split open.

 

“It’s a monster! A monster is falling!”

 

“Kyaaaah—!!”

 

“Mommy!”

 

Among people’s sharp screams, with a thunderous crash, a huge monster rolled on the ground.

 

“Kushis…!”

 

Nina and Casian immediately recognized the monster.

 

It was the Kushis that had recently been captured alive and brought into the Imperial Palace.

 

The one that bites people indiscriminately and tears them to shreds.

 

Though monsters fell three or four times a year, this was the first time for an extremely dangerous monster like Kushis.

 

And of all days, today.

 

Nina was torn between the Saint visible in the distance and the monster.

 

If she missed this chance, there was no telling when they might meet again.

 

“Grrrrowl, kraaaaak—!”

 

“Kyaaaaaaah—!”

 

“Please open the door! Please let us in!”

 

In an instant, merchants closed their windows and locked their shop doors.

 

There were hundreds of people who couldn’t get inside.

 

“…Casian, go to the Saint. You must keep hold of her while I deal with the monster.”

 

“Are you insane?! You didn’t even bring a sword, how are you going to handle that huge monster alone,”

 

“Fortunately someone sent up smoke. The subjugation team will come soon. I have to hold off Kushis until then. Ha!”

 

Nina immediately turned her horse and charged toward the monster.

 

The hood Nina had been wearing flipped back from the fast speed, and her short blonde hair fluttered.

 

While everyone was fleeing from the monster, she was the only person in this square charging at it.

 

Nina drew the dagger tucked at her waist and leaped from her horse.

 

With the monster’s thick hide, it was impossible to inflict fatal wounds with a dagger.

 

‘I’ll aim for the eyes. I have to at least prevent it from seeing until the subjugation team arrives.’

 

Nina, who had climbed onto Kushis’s back, instantly grabbed onto the monster’s perked-up ear. Then she drove the dagger into its glinting black eye.

 

“Kraaaaaaak—!”

 

“Damn, the sword is too short! Ugh!”

 

It would have been good if she could have pierced all the way through the eye to the back of the head.

 

Kushis, stabbed in one eye, went even more berserk. It shook its body violently to shake Nina off and slammed its head against building walls.

 

Each time, Nina’s body was crushed between Kushis’s head and the wall.

 

“Hng…!”

 

The impact transmitted through her whole body, and finally there was the sound of one shoulder blade breaking.

 

But instead of her shoulder, Nina reached out and grabbed Kushis’s other ear.

 

It was the moment she was about to drive the dagger into the remaining eye.

 

‘Huh.’

 

She felt her body floating with a rough recoil.

 

In that instant when she fell away from the monster that had jerked its head back and was suspended in midair.

 

Kushis bit down on Nina’s torso with a crunch.

 

“Huk!”

 

Caught in Kushis’s mouth with her legs and neck dangling, Nina’s eyes took in the terrified people.

 

And.

 

“Casian….”

 

She could see Casian, who should have been heading to the Saint.

 

He was straining with all his might to pull out the iron rod with the Empire’s flag that was installed in the center of the square.

 

The iron rod was buried so deep in the ground that it wouldn’t budge even in a storm or hurricane.

 

Casian gritted his teeth and shook the iron rod violently.

 

His face gradually turned bright red, and thick veins bulged on his neck as he exerted all his strength, finally managing to pull out the iron rod.

 

“Nina!!!”

 

Then Casian shouted loudly as he saw Nina caught in Kushis’s mouth.

 

Nina thought his red eyes looking at her were burning fiercely.

 

Even as her consciousness flickered and grew hazy, she couldn’t understand herself for thinking that his blazing eyes looked beautiful.

 

Before she knew it, all Nina could see was him running toward her, holding the iron rod like a spear.

 

Grrrrr….

 

Kushis’s head turned viciously toward Casian as it spotted him charging forward.

 

“Don’t come… It’s dangerous…”

 

A fading voice flowed from Nina’s lips, but there was no way it could reach Casian, and even if it did, he showed no signs of stopping.

 

Kushis threw Nina, who had been in its mouth, aside and charged at Casian.

 

“N-no…!”

 

“Kraaaaaaak!”

 

Nina, sprawled on the ground, momentarily forgot her pain as she reached out toward Casian and screamed.

 

And just before he was about to be caught in Kushis’s gaping maw, she finally squeezed her eyes shut.

 

So Nina didn’t see it.

 

“Gr, grrr…”

 

“Haa, haa.”

 

The iron rod Casian held piercing straight through Kushis’s heart.

 

Thud―!

 

Dark red blood flowed from the monster’s gaping mouth, and with a thud, its body collapsed to the side.

 

“Nina.”

 

Only then did Nina open her eyes at the low voice calling her name.

 

Her body wouldn’t move, as if her spine was broken.

 

“Casi, an…”

 

Casian, covered in the monster’s blood, ran to Nina and embraced her. Then he quickly took her hand and pressed his cheek against hers.

 

“It’s okay. You’re fine. You’ll be healed soon.”

 

Casian made eye contact with Nina and quickly channeled his healing power into her.

 

With excruciating pain as her spine realigned, Nina exhaled the breath she hadn’t been able to take, even craning her neck back.

 

Even so, Nina’s eyes never left Casian, who was looking at her.

 

Their gazes were desperately intertwined.

 

Nina’s tears continuously flowed down her temples to her ears.

 

“It’s okay. Don’t cry… It’s all done.”

 

Casian thought Nina was crying from pain and continued to comfort her.

 

He wiped away her tears and stroked her hair.

 

But Nina realized in that moment that her tears were because he was safe.

 

“What if you had died… doing something like that.”

 

“I told you I don’t die.”

 

“I’m the one who doesn’t die. Not you…”

 

Nina, her body recovered through healing, spoke reproachfully while still in his embrace.

 

Only then did a deep breath escape from Casian, now certain she had escaped from pain.

 

It had definitely taken longer to heal than before.

 

“That was reckless. You knew a dagger couldn’t kill Kushis.”

 

“There were many people around. I just had to hold out until the subjugation team arrived.”

 

She really was hopeless.

 

How could she not even calculate the pain she would suffer?

 

Even after learning the oracle was false, even after knowing she didn’t have to sacrifice herself for Arsed, why did she so easily choose to sacrifice herself?

 

Did preventing the citizens’ deaths come before the oracle she now knew was false and her own safety?

 

“Didn’t you say you wanted to live an ordinary life? Ordinary people think of their own safety first in any situation. So…”

 

“I’ll do that when the time comes. When the day arrives that you let me live an ordinary life.”

 

Nina dusted herself off and stood up. Then she turned around and looked at Casian, who was gazing up at her.

 

“Let’s go. We need to find the Saint.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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