Chapter 8
“That fucking bastard, damn it all!”
Erich hurled his jacket aside and exploded in rage. It hadn’t been enough to extinguish the fire, and everything had turned to ashes. Not just the documents—everything.
At least he hadn’t gotten burned. His jacket was scorched and riddled with holes, and from head to toe, he was covered in blood and ash, looking like a demon risen from hell.
“Ugh, blech…”
Shevik poked his head out from the hole in the basement and dry-heaved. He was a mess too.
“This is seriously disgusting.”
As Shevik alternated between coughing and retching, groaning all the while, Erich muttered while rinsing out his mouth.
“It’s not like this is your first time.”
Even so, Erich wet a towel himself and tossed it over. Shevik caught it lightly with one hand, rubbed his face, and sighed.
“That guy’s really insane, isn’t he? How the hell did he get all the way here…”
“Ha.”
Erich furrowed his brows and slumped into the torn-up armchair, burying his face in his hands.
“Damn it!”
In the end, they couldn’t find anything in the wrecked corner of the house. And now the doctor was dead on top of it all—he was boiling with fury, on the verge of losing his mind.
“To think we have to go back empty-handed like this…”
Shevik grumbled as he scrubbed his face roughly, then flipped the towel over and spotted a name embroidered on the clean side.
“Yulaina Heydenberg.”
“What?”
“The doctor’s daughter. So her name’s Yulaina.”
“How many names does she have? It’s probably Yulaina Dorf. What’s this Heydenberg business?”
Erich muttered listlessly, sinking deeper into the ragged armchair. Tsk. Shevik nodded and peered at the towel again.
“But about that woman— she really seemed like she didn’t know anything, right?”
“She doesn’t. Or maybe she’s scarily good at acting.”
Erich cast his gaze out the window. Dawn hadn’t broken yet, and outside, without any lights, it was pitch black. After a moment lost in thought, Erich spoke.
“She can’t have gotten far.”
He shook his head a few times, then sprang to his feet and picked up the pistol he’d set aside. As Shevik watched him deftly load the bullets, he asked,
“Are you going to kill her? No, right?”
“Why kill her? I’ll catch her and toy with her until she’s bled dry.”
Erich’s eyes gleamed chillingly.
“After ending up like this, I’ve got to get some compensation from the daughter to make it less unfair, don’t you think?”
***
The night-shrouded forest was terrifyingly silent and brutally cold.
“Ugh!”
Yulaina staggered over the dry leaves and dry-heaved. She retched several times, but nothing came up—only her throat burned with raw pain.
The night was utterly dark, without a single sign of life, yet she couldn’t shake the anxiety that the man might pop out from anywhere.
Everything had happened so suddenly. The mad archduke she’d only heard rumors about, her father abruptly bound and appearing, the union members he’d supposedly killed with his own hands, the afterimage of her father writhing in the flames…
‘I can’t believe any of it.’
The clouds that had thickly blanketed the night sky slowly drifted away, revealing the moon through the gaps, hanging there starkly. Its vivid, bright light quietly illuminated the forest path.
Without thinking, Yulaina glanced back and froze at the unexpected trace under the moonlight.
Along the path she’d run, dark red marks dotted the ground densely. It was from her blood-soaked shoes.
“Ah…”
Tears streaming down her face, Yulaina yanked at her shoes. She struggled to pull off the leather boots caked in blood and clung to her skin, then went behind the bushes to hide her mother’s shoes and the bloodstained socks.
“They’re Mom’s keepsake…”
Her entire body, covered in ash and blood, was already battered beyond recognition. And her green dress, torn to shreds and fluttering.
With a sob, Yulaina tore the hem of her dress and wrapped the fabric around her bloodied feet in place of shoes. She didn’t know how far she had to walk or where to flee, but if he was following her tracks, he’d catch up in no time. From now on, no matter where, she had to run without stopping.
“Dad, Mom. Goodbye.”
She’d never be able to return to this village again.
Whether alive or dead.
***
It was early spring, so the nights were still chilly. Walking in just a shirt without a jacket, the heat that had risen to the top of his head seemed to cool a bit.
‘Yeah, I thought things were going too smoothly.’
Erich followed the dotted red bloodstains at a leisurely pace. It’s more satisfying to yank the leash just when they think they’ve escaped.
He’d first heard about the long-vanished doctor on the day before a major battle near Luar Castle.
“If you go quite a bit north from Luar, you’ll hit the Meberus Mountains, and a little further east from the end there…”
The old man he’d met in the occupied Luar territory pointed here and there on a large map, explaining about Kisoff Village.
There, in a rural village where they made and sold blue-bottled tonics under the village chief’s lead, the craftsmanship was so good that word spread quickly—that was the kind explanation.
The old man who provided the crucial tip received a fistful of gold coins in return. As Erich personally handed them over, he offered sincere advice.
“Hey, old man, I’m telling you—better not touch that tonic and just throw it away. You won’t be able to get it anymore anyway, since the supply’s about to dry up.”
This secret meeting, known only to Erich, Shevik, and a select few officers, fortunately didn’t leak outside.
With the battle for Luar Castle looming, no one had the bandwidth to pay attention to anything else.
It was all or nothing. The archduke’s forces were out of supplies and cornered, while the enemies defending Luar Castle were prepared to fight to the death.
This was the final battle that would end the years-long war, crucial for both sides.
Even the seasoned staff officers stayed up all night with wide eyes, but Erich alone kept his eyes bright with another anticipation.
To find Walter, he had to stay alive, and he had to end the Luar Castle battle quickly. He fought with that sole determination, and the result was Erich’s great victory.
As the Norden flag was raised over Luar Castle and he signed the order to execute the Luar king and his clan, Erich’s mind was filled only with thoughts of capturing Walter.
That dawn, without rest, Erich led his closest aides straight north. Under the pretext of mopping up nearby remnants and touring supply bases to gather remaining weapons.
“Your Highness. We’ll go. You should rest a bit now…”
“Ah, I’m still buzzing from the battlefield. I need to chop a few more Luar necks to feel satisfied.”
No one suspected the archduke who casually tossed out such words. And they’d ridden day and night to get here!
That damn Walter bastard. To screw things up like this. Erich grimaced again, recalling the basement reduced to ashes.
“Hoo…”
What could he do? At this point, he’d have to devour the remaining prey to the bone to satisfy his urges.
And this prey had kindly marked her path so diligently. His gaze, gleaming fiercely like a beast’s, followed the red traces as he stepped forward.
***
Yulaina deliberately chose the rough path. She’d veered off the trail with tracks to hide in the bushes.
The problem was, she hadn’t anticipated the thorny vines lurking everywhere. Her hands pushing through the undergrowth had been bloodied for a while, and her arms and legs stung like fire where the sharp thorns touched.
Still, she didn’t stop. That low, mocking voice seemed to echo in her ears.
“Erich von Norhert, at your service. …It’s an honor to meet the beautiful princess as well.”
‘I won’t die by your hand, no matter what.’
Tearing away the bushes clinging to her forearm, Yulaina gritted her teeth. As she dragged her bloodied feet forward step by step, her body suddenly sank into the undergrowth.
“Ah!”
Her right foot stepped into empty air. In an instant, Yulaina’s sliding body was ensnared tightly by the thorny vines, which dug into her skin.
“Ugh…!”
She writhed in the pain of her flesh tearing. Blood droplets trickled down the vines and fell.
“Eu…ugh.”
The moment she barely pried the vines off.
“Ah!”
With a short scream, Yulaina tumbled backward into the pitch-black darkness.
A tremendous pain surged as if her body were splitting in two. Could this even be called a narrow escape? Her side caught on a protruding tree, barely preventing a fall off the cliff.
“Uht…!”
Grasping the tree roots, she hauled her body up with all her strength. Stepping on a suitable spot with her feet dangling in the air made it easier.
After climbing for a while, Yulaina collapsed onto the small path. She felt like she might pass out any second but clung desperately to consciousness and hid her body.
As she looked around, her eyes caught a glimpse of the clock tower’s spire rising tall.
“What is this…”
She’d thought she’d fled far, but she’d just circled around the village. Exhausted, Yulaina curled up and buried her face.
“Move faster!”
Soldiers’ shouts came from below. A soldier carrying a large barrel was pouring something out. The sticky, unpleasant smell of oil reached even where Yulaina was.
“Light it up!”
Realizing what the piled-up layers were, she clamped her mouth shut to stifle a scream. Amid the tangled, twisted limbs, crushed faces…
“Hello.”
A man appeared from behind her. With the moonlight at his back, his face was darkened like it had been erased.
“You look like hell.”
He wasn’t in great shape either. His shirt, with all the buttons ripped off, was stained here and there with blood and ash, revealing his muscular bare body underneath.
He approached casually and looked down toward the clock tower.
“If it weren’t for your father today, they’d have been happily drinking, singing, playing, and heading to bed.”
His mocking, slanted gaze swept over Yulaina.
“But now they won’t even get to play and are about to sleep forever—what a nuisance.”
Her patience ended there. In her heart, she felt she could kill the man before her right then.
“What exactly is your connection to my father? Why, why did he have to die?”
She hurled whatever she could grab—rocks, branches, dirt, grass clumps—and screamed.
“Well. Dying without knowing must be pretty agonizing.”
Erich bared his teeth in a grin.
