The easiest way to keep the Duke from discovering that an outsider is hiding in his room…
Come to think of it, it was a problem that could be solved quite simply.
Just keep the Duke from entering the room.
Xion had a ducal knight convey that he wished to meet the Duke.
They had tossed out bait on their side, so they’d be waiting for a bite. By now they would be expecting Xion, having realized the Duke was involved in his companion’s death, to show some sort of reaction.
Having shown he had the power to seize and shake everything around Xion, perhaps the Duke was looking forward to seeing Xion afraid of him.
Sure enough, the Duke returned wearing an unpleasant smile, as if he had known Xion would seek him out.
“Rexion, what brings you to me?”
“You’re the one who sent the invitation, Your Grace.”
“Hahahaha.”
To call the corpse of a dead companion not a warning but an invitation.
The Duke liked that very much.
That Xion had ostentatiously reclaimed the hero’s sword and belted it at his waist as well.
“Seems you failed to take the Demon King’s head.”
“You never intended for the Demon King to be killed in the first place. Only if I end everything with my own hands can you credit the accomplishment to the house.”
“Haven’t you realized yet, Rexion? Everything is already over.”
“What do you…”
Xion had intended to feign submission to the Duke.
By showing him exactly what he most wanted to see, he would lower the Duke’s guard, ask for help, bring him to the Grand Temple, and hold out for a week.
But Xion had no choice but to abandon the entire plan.
Because he suddenly sensed Reinhild’s presence.
Breaking off his conversation with the Duke, Xion turned his head toward where Reinhild was.
Reinhild had left the Demon King’s castle.
“So you’ve finally noticed, Rexion. For a hero you’re so slow. Yes, in the end the Demon King will die by your hand… Rexion! I haven’t finished speaking!”
After “finally,” Xion heard nothing of what the Duke said.
Having left the castle, Reinhild’s presence, which had grown distinct, faded in an instant.
It wasn’t like his power had weakened outside the castle.
Sensing Reinhild’s existence gutter, as if he would vanish from this world in a moment, Xion sprang to his feet and bolted.
The thought that he should detain the Duke couldn’t even enter his head.
He had to find Reinhild right now.
Reinhild was in pain.
‘Rein, please… please be safe.’
Even as he threw away an important chance, when Xion reached the last place where Reinhild’s presence had cut off, Reinhild wasn’t there.
But traces that he had been were.
The ground, saturated with powerful miasma, was rotting and sloughing apart.
The once-lush forest had withered as if diseased and lost its former color, and the animals and birds that lived there had long since fled far away.
Even a Demon King does not, merely by walking out, saturate the world with miasma. It was certain something had happened here.
Xion could immediately discern the cause.
In the middle of the forest, where the miasma was thickest, Reinhild’s blood had pooled.
If not for the god’s power that told Xion the Demon King’s location, he might have dropped to his knees right there and wept.
‘Calm down. Rein is still alive.’
Though as faint as a candle about to go out, he could unmistakably feel the trace.
Xion followed it and ran to the Demon King’s castle.
The sight there was unlike usual.
The owlbears that had greeted Xion with deep-voiced cries were nowhere to be seen, and more than a third of the dense forest had been destroyed.
Amid the prickling thickness of the miasma, he could even faintly feel holy power.
‘What on earth happened?’
His heart grew urgent.
He regretted leaving even after realizing Reinhild had been attacked.
Please let all of this be reversible.
Calling Reinhild’s name over and over in his heart, Xion climbed up through the secret passage.
“Rein!”
Reinhild lay on the bed as if dead.
Xion moved carefully so as not to wake him, but the moment Xion drew near, Reinhild clutched his chest in agony and his eyes flew open.
“Ha—huff…!”
“Rein, are you all right?”
“Xio… you… You’re alive.”
That was Xion’s line to say.
Clutching his chest and sweating coldly, Reinhild nonetheless looked at Xion and gave a faint grin.
Seeing such a clear smile for the first time, Xion felt as if his heart would melt.
“I’m glad… you’re safe.”
At last, Xion let out a breath of relief and sank down as if collapsing.
By reflex he nearly turned to God like everyone else to give thanks, but he held it in. To thank the High God that the Demon King was safe would be quite the contradiction.
“I was worried. What happened, Rein?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“Did my other companions come?”
“No. The forest caught holy power. So I tried to put it out…”
Reinhild, groping for the thread, raised a hand to his chest. His heart hurt as if something were continually stabbing it.
From the moment he woke, the pain had started again.
Perhaps he’d awakened because of the pain.
“I collapsed from the pain, and the butler found me and brought me here.”
“That’s truly a relief.”
With a sigh of relief, Xion reached a hand toward Reinhild. He wanted to lay his hand over the one gripping the blanket tight in anxiety and soothe him to rest.
But Xion couldn’t.
Because when Xion drew near, Reinhild drew his hand away.
Whether it sprang from his unconscious or not, Reinhild himself seemed startled by his own action, his eyes going round.
“Rein…”
Xion worried that perhaps Reinhild thought he was the culprit behind all of this and, feeling betrayal or fear, had recoiled.
But Reinhild’s reaction seemed a little different from that.
‘Then why is he so startled?’
Reinhild looked strangely confused.
In the expression with which he looked at Xion, Xion felt unease.
Perhaps that feeling transferred. Xion too grew flustered and slowly rose to his feet.
Reinhild’s gaze followed Xion’s movements.
Still with that same anxious look.
“Reinhild.”
Xion set one knee on the wide bed, leaning in toward Reinhild. As the distance between them closed a little, he felt Reinhild’s expression darken a shade more.
He didn’t want to burden Reinhild, but he couldn’t just turn and leave like this.
If he left like this, it felt like this would be the end.
Like he would never see Reinhild again.
Xion steeled himself and moved to draw closer to Reinhild.
To say it was all right. That he wouldn’t hurt him. He wanted to make that clear.
“Is it all right if I take your hand, Rein?”
Normally Reinhild would have grumbled in a tone that said he didn’t really mind, something like, “Since when did you ask before grabbing?”
… but this time, too, he stayed silent.
Instead, he extended an arm toward Xion. A sign of assent.
Xion leaned toward Reinhild and once more reached out his hand.
Very slowly, carefully.
This time, Reinhild didn’t pull away either. He only watched Xion with a face still full of anxiety.
And the moment Xion’s hand touched Reinhild—
Reinhild screamed, clutching his chest at a pain that pierced his heart.
“U—haa…! Aaaagh!”
“Rein!”
When Xion tried to come closer, Reinhild twisted his body to avoid him.
Reinhild recoiled from me. This time it wasn’t chance, nor a mistake.
Realizing that, Xion froze where he was.
“Hff—huff… Ah, it… hurts…”
In pain, Reinhild slowly raised his head and looked at Xion.
His eyes brimmed with tears. At any moment they seemed ready to drop and soak the blanket.
But what shocked Xion was not that Reinhild was on the verge of tears.
It was that Reinhild was wary of him.
“Rein. I—”
“D-don’t come… any closer…”
Panting, Reinhild pulled the blanket up to his chin as if it could serve as a shield to protect him from Xion.
Xion wanted to explain that it wasn’t so, but he didn’t even know how to explain it.
He couldn’t tell why Reinhild was reacting like this.
What had gone wrong and where?
“Reinhild. If there’s anything I must beg forgiveness for, whatever it is, I will—”
“You.”
Xion stopped mid-sentence and waited for Reinhild’s next words.
Whatever Reinhild wanted, he could grant it.
If only he could stay by his side.
“You make me hurt.”
“How can I keep from hurting you, Rein?”
Even at those words, Reinhild only watched Xion warily. In his eyes there was not anger or contempt but fear.
Xion wanted to sink down right there and cry.
“When you come near, it hurts like my heart will explode.”
“…”
“Don’t come closer.”
For Xion, it was no different from a death sentence.
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