CH 24

Seniel’s room under the dim moonlight. Seniel’s eyes, which were on the verge of opening, frowned slightly. It wasn’t long before his eyes opened wide.

The presence, which was as faint as the moonlight, became clear like the sun emitting hot heat.

Right after Kid woke up, he untied his hair. Then he naturally checked the vase. Tulips, freesias, ranunculus, and anemones.

‘Nothing has been added.’

Kid brushed the petals of the last added anemone with his hand.

“You said you’d show it by words and actions.”

Seeing the flowers that were the same as yesterday, he did not feel so bad for some unknown reason. He should feel bad, but he didn’t. He asked himself why, but no answer came back.

Thinking that his mood had never been easy to explain properly in words, he took his hand off the flower and walked slowly. As he crossed the room and was about to open the door, he wondered if the unadded flowers meant that woman had escaped.

His slightly elevated mood turned to irritation.

‘I gave a warning like that, but it resulted in this.’

When he entered the main building, he questioned his feelings again.

‘If she ran away, catching her back should be enough. Why am I so annoyed?’

He had no reason to be so upset.

Kid rather liked allowing his opponent to run. He liked to tease, release, and catch like a cat catching a mouse. Giving a lot of hope but taking away all hope right before they succeeded. Nothing gave him more joy than that desperate look.

But yesterday, an unknown displeasure arose when he felt that woman was about to run away. That’s why he did the odd job of searching the room himself. Since he didn’t find anything, it seemed that she really had no intention of running away.

Then he asked why she looked so happy, and the woman made an excuse that she laughed happily because she’d received a gift from Seniel.

Kid would have liked it better if she’d said honestly she was trying to run away.

Vivi’s excuse made Kid feel even worse.

‘It means she saw Seniel and me the same way. How dare she.’

One should be scared of a murderer. Wasn’t she happy because she saw him overlap with Seniel?

So Kid stayed in the room for a trivial reason of surveillance, even though there was no reason to stay in the room anymore.

Thinking of Vivi trying to close her eyes, Kid brushed his hair roughly. He just needed to take it easy, but he became so impatient for some reason.

Realizing that the number of days he did things he didn’t understand had suddenly increased in recent years, he didn’t have the will to stop himself. He just did what he wanted, as always.

‘If I’m going to do something, it should always be something fresh and fun.’

But he felt unpleasant today. He didn’t feel happy doing what he wanted. It didn’t suit his temper to attach a ‘why’ to his actions. Still, the question of why he continued to do such random things remained long.

He hated complicated thoughts and decided to give a simple reason.

‘I guess it’s because she’s talented.’

Whether in flirting with Seniel or playing the piano.

With that conclusion, he opened the door to Vivi’s room.

***

As soon as Kid entered the room, he looked for Vivi with his eyes, forgetting the lamp.

No one was visible, only a blanket rising convexly above the bed. His face hardened even more fiercely than before, wondering if she had escaped with such a simple trick.

Thump. His powerful feet thumped on the floor every time he stepped. As he got closer to the bed, he could see the whirring sound of breathing and the intermittent movement up and down.

He noticed that what was inside was a person. His face softened subtly. It was such a subtle change that he could not even notice.

Kid’s lips went up. The thought of how to catch her if she’d run away disappeared. Now all he had in his head was the vase he’d seen in his room.

“Are you done playing with flowers?”

There was no answer from under the blanket. Normally, he would ask one more time to enjoy her reaction.

Kid, who had already exhausted his patience from coming here, did not wait any longer and pulled back the blanket.

The crooked smile disappeared from his lips.

Vivi’s body was crouched with only her eyes raised. She must’ve cried so much that her cheeks were filled with tears.

Vivi looked at Kid with tears in her eyes and closed her eyes. She hadn’t been able to sleep because she felt sicker than before. And when she heard the sound of Kid’s footsteps, her weakened mind couldn’t bear it anymore, and she started shedding tears.

Kid stiffened for a moment at the unexpected situation, then felt the irritation that had subsided slowly rise again.

You were happy to see me yesterday. So why are you shaking as if I’m going to kill you today?

Since he threatened her daily, he knew shaking in fear was a natural reaction. However, just as he couldn’t understand why the thought of her escaping yesterday agitated him, he couldn’t understand why he was angry now.

Seeing her avoiding his gaze, he asked in a low voice, “Why are you crying?”

Vivi wanted to answer, “I’m afraid you’ll kill me,” honestly. She thought since she was going to die anyway, it would be refreshing to die after provoking him a little. But then she had an ominous premonition that he would really tear her to death, so she swallowed the truth.

“It hurts…” It wasn’t a lie. Her head was spinning so much that she couldn’t stand up anymore, and her body ached as if someone had hit her.

Kid’s annoyance subsided slightly at that answer. He inadvertently placed his hand on her sweaty forehead. Vivi flinched and reflexively avoided his hand. Her eyes were already closed, but she quickly covered her face with her arms from the approaching warmth and the shadow covering her eyes.

Like a sick herbivore, Vivi trembled to protect herself. Kid didn’t put his hand on her and decided to explain it first, graciously.

“Stop moving. I won’t kill you. Hold still.”

Hearing those words, Vivi looked at Kid. Her eyes, glistened with feverish heat, were full of disbelief.

Kid reached out again, more slowly, and Vivi, still anxious, forced herself to surrender. Not because she believed him but because she was afraid of him.

His big hand came close to swallowing Vivi’s little face and touched her forehead.

Kid’s brow wrinkled at the scorching heat. It wasn’t a lie to say that I cried in pain.

Tsk, Kid clicked his tongue.

He didn’t like it when he saw her wringing in pain. She was frightened as usual, but she looked better when she had that look of not wanting to lose.

Seeing Vivi trembling like a baby rabbit, Kid wondered what to do.

Actually, there was no need to worry. He didn’t have to take care of the sick person. He could just leave like this. On the contrary, if he pushed Seniel to do it alone, he could increase their time together.

Kid knew what would be in his best interest, but he couldn’t decide easily. He asked himself again on his unbroken impulse.

‘What’s not good about it? Why?’

Kid’s eyes met Vivi’s. He hated to see that shivering. Then he looked at Vivi’s forehead, which was dripping with sweat. He could’ve used his holy power if he didn’t like this sick look. Although not as good as Seniel, he knew how to use holy power.

However, Kid only used his holy power to kill people, never to save them. He had no intention of using it, and he assured himself he never would.

In the end, there was only one way to resolve this situation.

Kid looked away from Vivi. He turned and walked away from the bed.

“Wait here patiently.”

Vivi glanced at Kid, who came in and out at will. She couldn’t get up anyway, so she gave a defiant answer secretly and only hmm’ed vaguely.

***

Kid went back to his room and searched the chest of drawers.

“Of course a high priest won’t have any medicine at home.”

It was natural. Because the High Priest didn’t get sick, it was an unnecessary item in the first place.

While swearing, Kid went through all the chests of drawers in the room. Looking around, he saw a potion in the corner. Kid picked up the vial and glanced at the label attached to it. It hadn’t exceeded the expiration date, and the drug condition looked fine.

However, he did not know that this drug was old and was manufactured with a mix of hallucinogenic drugs. He had no interest in medicine, so there was no way he could know.

Vivi was struggling with the blanket, not even covering her body properly. Seeing Vivi, who couldn’t even move her body, Kid clicked his tongue.

“You must be in this state because Seniel stayed still.”

“…”

Vivi was silent. This had happened because she hadn’t met Seniel at all today, but she chose to close her mouth because she was afraid of exposing that.

Kid clicked his tongue and opened the vial. Then he approached Vivi’s side and slipped his hand under Vivi’s back as she couldn’t even move. When Vivi fluttered like a fish in fright, he said, “Stay still,” and went to work.

Vivi, struggling like an animal caught by a hunter, soon lost her strength and relaxed her body. She left herself in Kid’s hands with the thought, “Eh, yes. Do as you please.”

Kid lifted Vivi up, holding her in one of his arms. From someone’s perspective, it would look like a sweet hug.

Kid put the tip of the potion to Vivi’s lips.

“Open your mouth.”

Vivi was convinced that the object touching her lips was poison. She thought she would die like this, but she didn’t have the strength to rebel. So she accepted her fate and opened her mouth. The drug flowed slowly into her mouth, which differed from her expectation that he’d push it down forcefully. 

“Swallow.”

Vivi thought this couldn’t be medicine but swallowed it calmly. It was sweet and bitter.

When Vivi’s mouth was smeared with medicine, Kid silently swept it using his sleeve. After ensuring Vivi had swallowed all the medicine, he put her back on the bed.

He didn’t stop there. He even pulled up the blanket with his own hands. Vivi thought this blanket would cover the end of her head, but unexpectedly, it stopped at the tip of her chin. What’s this? She heard footsteps moving away from her as she blinked.

Vivi, in her hazy mind, thoughtlessly spoke to Kid.

“You’re leaving…?”

“Yes.”

I see. You’re leaving, and I’m going to die like this. Vivi casually imagined herself dying alone in this room with her eyes closed.

She could see her future of suddenly vomiting blood and struggling in pain alone without knowing when she would die.

Suddenly, her primal fear of death came belatedly.

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There was at least medical personnel when she died in her previous life. She was afraid that she would die alone like this. She thought that dying while seeing her murderer was less scary.

“W-Wait…”

Kid stopped and kindly walked back in front of Vivi.

“What is it?”

“I…” 

Tears fell from Vivi’s eyes. Kid’s face crumpled. Is there a problem with the medicine?

“C-Can’t you stay with me until I die…? I’m scared…”