Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 572

572

“Cibel, I’m sorry, but I think I need to go shopping alone. I’ll drop you off, and if I’m late, please head back first.”

“Okay, I understand.”

The flyer was moving away quickly. Leaving Cibelius waving behind, I hurried after it with the child. Worried about losing it, I picked her up and ran.

The flyer led us for a while and then turned into a quiet, out-of-the-way neighborhood. It was easily an hour away from the shopping district where I’d met the child. I’d expected to meet her at the most bustling square, so I was a little surprised we’d come this far. I was glad I hadn’t sent her alone this far. The group that had been following us since the shopping district was still behind us, maintaining a reasonable distance. At this point, it was hard to see it as a coincidence that we were going the same way.

“Do you live around here?”

I asked carefully, and the child nodded. Her face was brighter, perhaps because she recognized the neighborhood.

‘Did they lose the child and then just go home without looking for her?’

Bad thoughts began to creep in. Surely they hadn’t abandoned her, had they? No, that’s too much of a stretch. Maybe they thought she’d gone home first, so they decided to check there first.

In any case, the flyer continued on and finally landed in front of a house. The child wriggled, saying it was her house, so I put her down, and she ran quickly. She knocked on the door, and after a moment, a man with a plump face opened it.

“Daddy.”

“Oh my gosh, Emily!”

The man cried out in emotion as he saw the child.

“Oh, Emily, do you know how much your dad looked for you? Where on earth have you been!”

He hugged her tightly and checked to see if she was hurt, so thankfully, it didn’t seem like he had abandoned her on purpose. The group that had been following us slowly kept their distance and only watched us. It seemed they couldn’t approach now that a guardian had appeared. It seemed like my role was over, so I was about to turn around. I was planning to have a little chat with that group that didn’t feel right, on the way. At that moment, the man who was examining the child recognized me and stood up, looking embarrassed.

“Excuse me, but who are you?”

“Ah, hello. Actually, I saw that the child was lost…….”

“Ah, did you bring Emily all the way here?”

I nodded, and the man was so grateful he didn’t know what to do. He said he had been looking for his daughter everywhere and thought he would check at home, and we arrived right after that. It was as I suspected.

“I’m glad you were able to meet your dad safely. You must have been very scared, so please comfort her.”

“Yes, thank you. I’m really in your debt. Would you like to have a meal…….”

“No, it’s okay. My companions are waiting for me. I’ll just accept your gratitude.”

As I was smiling and trying to politely decline, the child hesitated and tugged at my sleeve. She looked sad that I was leaving like this.

“Emily seems very sad too, so please come in for a moment. If a meal is difficult, I’ll offer you tea. It’s just cheap black tea because we don’t have much… Please, let me offer you something.”

“Ha, are you kidding me? If you’re going to say it’s cheap, don’t even offer it. Hey, forget it. Just ignore him,” Lapis, who doesn’t deal with anything that isn’t high-end, grumbled. I wanted to ignore him too, but I thought the child might be disappointed, so it was hard to refuse this time. It was still morning. I thought I could go back before lunchtime, so I reluctantly nodded.

“Then I’ll just have a cup of tea.”

“Thank you so much! Come on, please come inside.”

The man, looking pleased, quickly opened the door and led me inside. The interior was an ordinary house that you could find anywhere. While the man was busy in the kitchen preparing to welcome a guest, I sat at the table feeling awkward and looked around. After a while, the child came to me carrying a tray with teacups.

“Here you go. Drink it.”

“Thank you.”

The liquid in the teacup had a clear red color. It seemed to be black tea, as the man said.

“You said your name was Emily, right? Where’s your mom?”

“I don’t have a mom.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

I asked to ease the awkward atmosphere, but it had the opposite effect. I was flustered, so I took a sip of the black tea, and my face involuntarily frowned. It was too bitter, as if it had been brewed wrong. But there was an even stranger aftertaste.

‘This taste is…….’

I put the teacup down right away. I had a particularly unpleasant feeling since earlier, and it seemed it wasn’t just my imagination.

“What, what is this messed up situation?”

Lapis’s voice lowered as he sensed something was wrong. Emily gave me a questioning look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t tell me you guys…….”

I tried to get up, but I felt dizzy. It seemed like it was a drug to make me lose consciousness.

“Oh, you noticed already. You have a very sensitive tongue. I’m glad I put more than the usual amount in, just in case.”

The man, who said he would bring something to eat with the tea, appeared with a smirk. “Hey, you can come in now.” At his words to the window, the door burst open, and the men rushed in. I recognized their identities at a glance. They were the same delinquent group that had been following us since I met Emily.

“Fortunately, it was a success.”

“I was really surprised earlier. I was trying to lure him this way when he used some kind of magic and told her to follow it. It’s a good thing Emily got his sympathy and persuaded him, or we would have ruined the whole thing.”

“What, he was a magician? What a stroke of luck.”

Were they all in this together from the beginning? I tried to ask what they were doing, but I couldn’t open my mouth. At some point, I just sat down on the floor. My body was as heavy as waterlogged cotton. I was usually resistant to drugs, so I wondered why this was happening, then I remembered that I was no longer a water spirit king.

“To think you’d be in this state right away.”

Even if Lapis hadn’t said it, I was dumbfounded. I was too careless because I thought the other party was a child. I was only holding on thanks to becoming a Sword Saint [a master swordsman]; otherwise, I would have lost consciousness right away. First of all, it was urgent to get the drug out of my system.

“Good job, Emily.”

The man stroked Emily’s head. Emily, who had been expressionless all along, now had a happy smile on her face.

“No, but why isn’t he losing consciousness?”

“Did you use too little of the drug?”

“No way? This amount is enough to knock you out as soon as you put it in your mouth.”

“Should we give him more?”

That’s when it happened.

Koo-oong!

A loud noise accompanied a strong vibration that shook everything. The men and Emily, caught off balance, screamed. Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, and the structure rapidly collapsed. It was as if a giant had seized the house and crushed it in one fell swoop.

When I regained my senses, the house had vanished, leaving only the foundation. I surveyed the ruins, then turned, sensing a presence. Someone stood where the door would have been. Beneath disheveled black hair, cold, sunken golden eyes gleamed with a chilling light.

Troel.

A feeling of despair weighed heavily on my chest. He was the last person I wanted to see right now.

“…This is why I can’t bring myself to like you.”

I closed my eyes at the muttered voice.

Misfortune always approaches silently, swallowing everything in an instant. Perhaps it waits for the moment when you’re most vulnerable.

* * *

Korea rarely experiences earthquakes. Strong earthquakes capable of collapsing buildings are especially uncommon. It wasn’t until middle school that I realized this terrifying natural disaster wasn’t just a story from a faraway country, but something that could happen to me and those around me. Taejin, who had traveled to a neighboring country during vacation, recounted how he had almost died in a strong earthquake. I think I understood what he meant when he said it felt like the end of the world.

The ground split and surged violently before my eyes. A thunderous roar shook the world. Trees tilted precariously and were uprooted. Buildings were crushed like tofu.

When the shaking stopped, it was all over. The unfolding tragedy made me dizzy. Not a single area remained intact. In just a few minutes, an entire neighborhood had been completely destroyed.

From among the collapsed piles of stones, the groans of survivors echoed. It had happened so quickly that no one had time to escape. I hesitated to even count how many people had survived this devastation. And this wasn’t an accident, but a phenomenon deliberately caused by someone. And that someone was Troel. It felt like I was trapped in a terrible nightmare.

“Elle!”

Just then, the wind rushed past, and Sibelius landed nearby. He must have been searching for me, worried by my delay, and rushed over after seeing the destruction.

“What on earth is going on?”

As I hesitated, unsure where to begin explaining, I heard a faint moan. A child was crawling out from the collapsed debris. It was Emily. She seemed to have survived the catastrophe. But the place she emerged from was unfortunate. It was directly in front of Troel.

“Sa, save me…”

Emily, severely injured, reached out her hand with difficulty. Instinctively, she seemed to be asking for help, assuming someone was there. Troel looked down at her indifferently.

“Filthy.”

He grabbed Emily by the back of her neck and dragged her away. Terrified, Emily struggled wildly, but she couldn’t resist the strength that even an adult couldn’t overcome. Troel headed toward a cliff where the ground was cracked. A bad feeling washed over me.

He was going to throw Emily down there.

“Troel! Stop it now!”

I shouted urgently, but he continued walking as if he hadn’t heard me. Sibelius, belatedly understanding the situation, hurried to block his path.

“What are you doing!”

“Get out of the way.”

“Don’t be so insane! She’s still a child!”

“At the same time, she’s an accomplice in a human trafficking ring. She’s rotten to the core.”

“What?”

“This little human that you think is a child tried to kidnap Elle and sell her off.”

Sibelius swallowed. Only then did he seem to recognize who the girl was.

“The one who said she lost her dad in the shopping district…”

“She was happy at the thought of selling her for a high price.”

“…!”

“Does she still look like just a child to you?”

Sibelius couldn’t answer Troel’s question. Even if he possessed a gentler nature than others, he was fundamentally a unicorn, a different species. He had been raised to distrust humans. It was natural for him to feel revulsion when faced with such a disturbing situation.

“She didn’t know any better! It’s the fault of the adults who taught her that! She’s still a child, she can change!”

“It’s faster to kill her.”

I hurriedly tried to stop him, but it was futile. Troel brushed past the frozen Sibelius and continued walking.

“It hasn’t even been a month yet!”

Only then did he stop. But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Ah, right. That’s still pending.”

A cynical smile twisted his face. His gaze swept across the devastated surroundings.

“I’ve already killed so many, does it even matter?”

“That’s…!”

“Let’s just say I broke the promise without worrying about it.”

“Troel!”

“Instead, let’s say I haven’t decided to kill you either. We both broke our promises once, so isn’t it fair?”

No. This isn’t right. It shouldn’t be this way. My mouth felt parched. Sibelius looked bewildered.

“What are you talking about? Who decided to kill who?”

Troel answered.

“If I don’t change my mind after a month, I decided to keep my old promise. To kill her first. Did you think I’d involve myself in such a pathetic daily routine without any conditions?”

“…You’re resorting to vile threats again!”

“Sorry, but she suggested it first. Threats are only made when there’s a benefit. What benefit do I get from this?”

Sibelius looked back at me, bewildered. I couldn’t meet his gaze, as if he were asking if it was true. Troel, watching the scene indifferently, muttered like a sigh.

“I’m tired of it all now. I’m going to end it, all of it.”

His face was empty, as if hollow, and my heart sank. In the illusion that Kanos showed me, his face falling into the black pit was like that too.

“Let’s get out of here first, Elle. It’s too dangerous here.”

Sibelius, clenching his fist tightly, reached for me. Just in time, the drug’s effects had almost worn off, and my strength had returned, so I shook off his hand and ran. I heard him calling, but I didn’t have the mind to look back. Immediately after, Troel finally threw Emily off the cliff. Fortunately, my timing was perfect. I managed to jump, catch the falling Emily, and land again.

“Are you okay?”

Emily, frozen white in my arms, burst into tears, unable to even breathe. This wasn’t the time to calmly soothe her, so I set her down for now and stood in front of Troel. Troel was staring coldly at the scene.