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Chapter 43
Beg While You Cry
The pouring rain drenched the Monster Forest thoroughly.
The dark forest, the sky blackened, the downpour, and the growling Krawlins slowly approaching.
Estelle, holding hands with him, offered a faint smile.
“Johan… I’m okay.”
Estelle seemed as if she would be crushed and disappear under the massive creatures at any moment.
And she wasn’t entirely wrong. If Johan abandoned her, there was no doubt she would die.
The Krawlins weren’t rushing to attack only because Johan was there, guarding her.
‘…But I’m scared.’
The hand that had unconsciously tried to reach out to him was trembling. The moment Johan noticed it, he quickly pretended to be calm, but he did not miss the expression on her face.
At first, he thought she was just trying to cling to him like that. But Estelle’s feelings were genuine.
‘Why…?’
Estelle urged him.
“Hurry. If we wait, it will be too late even if we try to run.”
“Shut up.”
“But…”
“I’m not leaving you behind.”
A Krawlin, sensing Johan’s hesitation, leapt at him.
Shreek!—Johan thrust his sword into the Krawlin and killed it.
‘If only this weren’t the Monster Forest…’
The forest’s currents interfered with dark magic. That left no choice but to fight with swordsmanship.
Several Krawlins leapt at him simultaneously.
Johan clenched his teeth and fought as efficiently as possible.
‘Killing them all would be impossible.’
Instead, he aimed to inflict injuries that would make it difficult for them to attack Estelle immediately.
He sliced one leaping Krawlin’s leg with his sword, stomped another with his foot, and drove his hand into yet another before killing it with a sword.
Yet no matter how efficiently he fought, the situation did not improve.
‘We weren’t coming alone.’
He painfully realized his mistake.
The reason Johan had come with Estelle alone was simple.
‘The plan was to get out of the Monster Forest quickly and teleport with magic.’
Given the usual behavior of Krawlins, this wasn’t a bad judgment. They didn’t usually move in large groups.
‘The Krawlins were targeting Estelle.’
By the time he realized that, it was already too late.
The scattered knights couldn’t be called back in time.
Only ten Krawlins remained.
He felt other monsters approaching from behind, but for now, only these ten needed to be dealt with.
“Ma’am, get under that tree.”
“Okay.”
Estelle obeyed his instruction so that Johan could defend her easily.
She picked up some stones nearby, seemingly intending to throw them at the Krawlins, though they weren’t much help.
‘Soon, they’ll target Estelle.’
They had to be dealt with first.
This time, Johan charged at a Krawlin to drive his sword into its neck.
Crack!
The Krawlin grotesquely bit down on Johan’s sword to resist.
“Graaah!”
Another Krawlin charged at him.
Johan used his hand to pierce the jaw of one while the other hesitated due to his sword, killing it.
Even then, they did not die easily—he had to stab them repeatedly.
It was a tedious process.
“Only two left.”
The two remaining Krawlins exchanged glances and prepared to attack simultaneously.
One of his sleeves was tattered from a nearly bitten arm, and blood flowed from his wounded forearm. His grip tingled from overexertion.
Yet, instead of fatigue, his mind felt hotter and hotter. His rising anger was uncontrollable.
‘Johan… go alone.’
Estelle was right.
‘If I go alone, I can escape, right?’
Leaving Estelle behind seemed the most rational option.
Yet… why?
He gripped his bloodied sword and laughed arrogantly.
“Come.”
The two Krawlins charged at him simultaneously.
They were annoying but not impossible to handle.
The last one required him to exert all his strength, but he could manage it.
‘It’s not over yet.’
He sensed another Krawlin approaching.
‘I have to escape the Monster Forest while I can.’
Johan frowned, clutching his chest tightly. Pain throbbed as he had overstrained himself.
As he took a breath and tried to glance at Estelle crouched behind a tree, he heard:
“Ma’am… again—”
“Is it over?”
It was then. A Krawlin leapt from the air.
‘There’s one more?’
It hovered right above Estelle’s head.
There was no time to think.
‘Please—’
Johan pushed off the ground and ran.
He forcibly unleashed dark magic. The uncontrolled power surged wildly.
It didn’t matter.
He swung recklessly at the Krawlin.
Crunch… Snap!
The Krawlin impaled on Johan’s hand, crashing into a tree.
Blood, wood splinters, and dust sprayed onto the ground, creating a tremor-like sound.
“Johan… your arm—”
Estelle turned her head, eyes wide in shock, her navy-blue gaze clear and startled.
The hot Krawlin blood ran down his injured forearm, dripping onto his face.
“Do you think I’d leave you behind?”
Johan bent down to meet her gaze.
“Yes… actually, everything you said was right.”
“……”
“If I abandoned you, everything would be easier.”
Had luck been slightly worse, Estelle would have been torn apart by the Krawlins. Just imagining it made his madness surge uncontrollably.
He rubbed Estelle’s cheek with his bloodied thumb.
Her white skin was stained black with Krawlin blood.
“You wanted to die so badly… should I let you?”
Estelle’s navy eyes flickered slightly, but in a fragile voice, she said:
“Thank you.”
“…Thank me for what?”
“For trying so hard to protect me all this time.”
The strange thing was, her words felt genuine.
‘You want me not to abandon you.’
No matter how well Estelle acted, fleeting emotions could not be faked.
‘Then why did you ask me to leave you?’
He heard the horde of Krawlins closing in—more than before.
In a situation where he couldn’t even wield a sword, they’d be even harder to face.
Cold reason whispered:
‘Wasn’t she just a tool for revenge you planned to discard?’
Even in darkness, her peach-platinum hair shimmered. Long white eyelashes framed gentle, rabbit-like eyes, her features sweet like a sugar doll. Every strand of hair seemed endearing.
‘Estelle Libertan.’
The hatred for Libertan, which he had briefly forgotten, surged back.
Libertan had not only killed Johan’s family—they had tried to kill him too.
From that moment, revenge was all Johan had left.
He had erased the kind, gentle Count Blanchet of the past and become a cold, ruthless avenger.
He had completely denied and burned his former self.
Johan slowly cupped her cheek.
“Ma’am, today you only say things I don’t want to hear. Act cute like usual.”
“……Like usual?”
“Yes. You know what I want to hear.”
The hatred for Libertan had not vanished.
And Estelle wasn’t hateful either. But simultaneously, she was unbearably lovely to him.
He wanted her by his side, whatever it took.
He didn’t want to lose the smile she offered him right beside him.
“How could I ever let you die?”
Estelle’s smile wavered.
“But this is so foolish… Johan could die too because of me.”
“Just beg to live!”
Estelle acted as if her own life was meaningless.
Johan’s anger surged once more.
“Why?! Why do you keep talking about dying?”
He grabbed both her shoulders, growling.
“You’re not that foolish!”
Over her tearful face, images of his family overlapped—smiling through hardship, without resentment.
“Beg to live!”
“……”
“Don’t treat your life like someone else’s—show me you want to live!”
At that moment, Estelle’s faint smile completely broke.
