🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 58
“If you don’t bleed, the zombies won’t detect you by smell.”
Whether he heard me or not, Renier kept walking without answering.
“I think I understand now why the men of this castle like the lady so much.”
As soon as we exited the inner castle, he murmured this quietly.
He no longer pressed a blade to my neck or forced me to walk ahead of him.
Renier walked a little ahead, but his muttering still reached me clearly.
Even in a moment like this, he was bringing it up again—
that ridiculous story about me being engaged to Heresdon and being in love with Lumi.
“I’ll leave behind some of my food.”
Before I could say anything, Renier spoke again.
“Not much, but…”
He looked conflicted, as if still debating whether he should give up any of his food at all.
“I suppose it’ll last you for a while…”
Our eyes met. Realizing how contradictory he sounded, he quickly cut himself off.
“Anyway, things went smoothly thanks to the lady offering herself as the hostage instead of the child. Consider it payment.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Me replacing Uben as the hostage made things easier?
I asked again, not understanding, and Renier shrugged lightly.
“Since the lady became the hostage, His Highness Idorian couldn’t resist and had to do as we said.”
Things would have gone their way regardless.
The moment they took Uben hostage, resistance became impossible.
Whether it was me or Uben, it wouldn’t have changed anything.
“A woman you like is different from just a child.”
Renier added, reading the confusion on my face.
Then his earlier words came to mind:
‘Don’t worry. One lady is more than enough for a hostage—more than enough.’
Had he meant they wanted me as the hostage from the start?
If that were so, then their obsession with my supposed relationships with Lumi and Heresdon was just to figure out who was most suitable to take hostage.
“…Ah.”
If so, then maybe in the original story too—
when they kidnapped Lillia and dragged her out of the fortress—
that may not have been random at all, but planned.
“Renier, the men have been drugged and tied up.”
Jade approached from behind and reported briefly.
“Good. That’s enough to keep them from following.”
“We should leave now. But the lady…”
“We’re leaving her here.”
Jade tilted his head, clearly unhappy with that decision.
“Wouldn’t it be safer to take her? What if she runs to free the others?”
“That’s why we drugged them.”
Renier cut him off curtly and changed the subject.
“When you exit the fortress, cover yourselves with nearby zombie corpses. They say it masks the smell.”
Everyone already had a sack slung on their backs.
At Renier’s signal, Jon—standing near the gate—grabbed the crank handle and turned it with force.
The gate slowly rose with a loud grinding noise.
People hurried out of the stronghold.
As Renier had said, they smeared zombie corpses over their bodies.
Their faces were all grim and determined.
They must have been terrified at the thought of retracing the path they had come.
“Twenty died before reaching the forest, and another ten died climbing up to the fortress,” Renier muttered beside me.
“So…”
Again, he cut himself off halfway and leaned a sack against the wall.
“We should close the gate quickly.”
That was when I smelled it.
A strong, metallic scent of blood.
I turned toward it—and saw Idorian standing in front of a second-floor window.
His eyes were cold.
In his hand was a tightly drawn bow.
His narrowed gaze was fixed on a target, the bowstring trembling slightly from tension.
“…Hurry and get out.”
He was already ready to shoot.
“His Highness is going to release the arrow.”
The moment I finished speaking, the bowstring snapped forward.
Thwip—!
With a sharp sound cutting through the air, an arrow shot past Renier’s feet and struck the ground with precision.
Dirt and pebbles burst upward as it hit.
Startled, Renier stumbled back.
I looked up again at Idorian.
His expression didn’t change.
He immediately drew another arrow.
Swish—!
Again, the arrow narrowly missed Renier’s shoe.
“Damn…”
Cursing under his breath, Renier staggered but didn’t stop running.
He bolted out through the gate.
Even after Renier disappeared outside, Idorian kept his bow drawn—
until I snapped back to my senses and rushed to turn the crank.
The crank handle, normally heavy, spun almost weightlessly—because of his blood scent.
Boom—
Only after the outer gate fully closed did Idorian slowly lower the bow.
At last, his gaze turned toward me.
Jaw clenched tight, lips pressed firmly together, muscles along his jawline taut.
His eyes rapidly scanned me before he vanished from the window.
Through the corridor windows, I saw him sprinting toward the gate.
In moments, he burst out in front of it.
“Aah…”
Idorian was bleeding.
Now that he was close, the scent of his blood hit me even stronger.
This is bad.
That thought flashed—
and then Idorian wrapped his arms tightly around me.
From within his arms, the scent of blood crashed into my senses, scrambling my mind.
His body was hot.
His breathing rough.
The thick smell made my mouth instinctively part against my will.
“I thought you…”
Idorian pulled me tighter, restraining me so firmly I grimaced.
I tried to pull back, suppressing instinct, but his arms only tightened.
“…might get dragged away.”
“Your Highness, your blood…”
The scent was suffocating. I could barely form words.
He wasn’t the only one who could smell it—
the zombies would definitely be drawn here soon.
Don’t bite him.
My heart pounded uncontrollably.
My thoughts scattered wildly.
He ran out here because he was worried about me. I can’t bite him.
I forced my chaotic mind into order and pushed him again.
I used strength—but Idorian didn’t budge at all.
Don’t bite. Don’t bite.
Even in my heightened state, I couldn’t move him.
“Thank goodness…”
His breath grew uneven.
Then his weight slowly began to lean on me.
His arms weakened.
His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto me.
Thud.
And only then was I able to push him away.
“Your Highness…”
Idorian offered no resistance as he crumpled where I pushed him.
Dust rose where his body hit the ground.
He was completely limp—the drug had taken full effect.
Only then did I notice the stain of blood on his sleeves.
His forearm was reddened and inflamed.
And from beyond the gate came the dragging sound of something approaching.
Then low, eerie groans.
The zombies had picked up the scent of blood.
“…Damn.”
The zombies suddenly sped up, awakened by the scent.
If I left Idorian here, the forest zombies would swarm the fortress.
Thump. Thump-thump.
My heart hammered so hard it hurt, and my mind was too dizzy to think straight.
In the end—
I lifted the collapsed Idorian into my arms.
