<Episode 26>

 

Neigh!

“Ack!”

As if waiting for it, one of the remaining horses rushed toward me.

Seeing the yellow teeth and long, pink tongue suddenly appear in front of me, I gasped.

‘I’m going to be swallowed!’

“Get down!”

At the sound of the voice, I reflexively ducked, and the horse’s mouth bit into the spot where my head had just been.

Just as the horse, now biting at nothing but air, tried to move again, Jaeger leaped onto it and pulled the reins.

With the horse’s head turned, he unsheathed his sword and thrust it straight into the crazed beast’s head.

Squish!

Blood splattered, and soon, the horse’s legs gave out as it collapsed to the side.

Jaeger landed smoothly and caught his breath.

He shook off the blood-stained longsword before sheathing it.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah… sort of.”

I answered in a daze.

I never expected to feel relieved seeing Jaeger—the one who hates me, not one of the other male leads.

“Thanks.”

“…”

Jaeger looked at me with an unreadable expression before sharply turning his head and wiping the blood off his cheek with the back of his hand.

“No need to thank me.”

He started walking ahead, signaling for us to keep moving.

As the light stone in his hand illuminated his path, I noticed the blood-stained white uniform pants he wore.

I quickly stopped him.

“Were you bitten?”

“I just got scratched by the saddle.”

“Are you okay?”

Jaeger scowled deeply.

“I’m fine. You don’t need to—”

At that moment, I heard a faint rustling, the sound of weeds being trampled.

Groooaaannn!

That awful zombie moaning followed.

‘Damn it…’

How long has it been since we dealt with the horse, and they’re already closing in on us again?

I glared at the zombies staggering out from between the trees.

‘One, two, three, four, five, six… Hah.’

I gave up counting and wiped the sweat off the back of my neck.

‘There are only two of us, and so many of them. What, do they want us to share even a grain of rice?’

With two people staying sharp, we could handle this, but Jaeger was injured, it was the dark pre-dawn forest, and I was exhausted from dealing with the horse.

‘Damn it…’

It’s always these variables.

These cursed ‘variables’ are the problem.

Crunch!

I bit my lip and sent the zombie nearby flying.

Crunch!

Jaeger dispatched the zombie lunging at him and shouted,

“It’s dangerous here! You should run!”

I snorted and swung my hammer.

“Why don’t you, the injured one, take a break?”

Jaeger irritably grabbed my arm and thrust the bag he had been carrying on one shoulder into my hand.

“Aren’t you listening? I can’t run, so at least you should.”

I shook off his hand and glared at him.

“If you say one more word, I’ll toss you to those zombies to feast on.”

“What?”

Jaeger frowned, his scarred eyebrow twitching.

I held the light stone closer to his face.

Now that I got a good look, his complexion was pale, and cold sweat dotted his forehead.

“When you were calling me a parasite, and now you’re pretending to protect me when you’re the one injured?”

Jaeger stared at me, speechless.

“If you’re injured, act like it and listen to me.”

I threw his arm over my shoulder and supported him.

“I’m not going anywhere alone. Absolutely not.”

“…”

“How could I leave you behind?”

His obsidian-black eyes flickered violently for a moment as they met mine.

This isn’t some weak hero complex.

It’s simple logic.

‘If I leave someone who already hates me behind, how am I supposed to deal with the consequences?’

Besides, Redria was apparently his first love.

‘Why should I, an outsider, deal with that kind of baggage?’

Whether it was mutual or Jaeger’s fault, I was going to save him.

I would save him and, in this zombie-infested area, make him let go of those feelings.

Even after leaving this place, I would still have to live as “Redria.” I had no intention of being shackled by his emotions once everything was over.

I swung the hammer with one hand while supporting Jaeger with the other. I thought he would refuse, saying he didn’t need help, but surprisingly, he leaned on me quietly, looking somewhat dazed.

‘He’s so damn heavy. Is his body made of lead?’

Breathing heavily, I continued to swing the hammer with one hand and support Jaeger with the other.

Rumble—!

But my efforts were in vain as the ground roared in anger once again.

The earth rose high like a storm, shaking off the zombies as it surged forward massively.

‘Terrain change.’

Darkness was my back.

The shifting ground had its arms crossed.

‘No, wait.’

I let the light stone drop and grabbed Jaeger’s hand, which was slung over my shoulder.

His rough, large hand trembled faintly.

Rumble…!

The ground, covered in grass and dirt, rose like a massive wave.

Facing what felt like imminent death, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Just as we were about to be swept away by the earth…

…Jaeger tightly grasped my hand in return.

* * *

The ground tossed us around like a washing machine, spinning us this way and that before it finally stopped.

Quite some time had passed since then.

‘I wonder if the Crown Prince and Sien are holding up.’

But we didn’t have the luxury of worrying about them—our own situation wasn’t great.

To sum it up, we were trapped underground.

We barely avoided suffocating by wedging the hammer between the folds of the earth, which were about to crush us like paper.

Groooaaannn!

However, we couldn’t avoid the zombies.

I couldn’t see anything in the pitch darkness, but I could feel them, pressing in like a pack of dogs, shoving their hands and heads through the narrow gaps, causing dirt to fall onto us from above.

Fortunately, the terrain remained solid as stone during these changes, so there was no danger of it collapsing.

I shook my head to get the dirt off.

‘It’s good that the tunnel is safe, but…’

It wasn’t comfortable enough to feel relieved. Jaeger and I were in a very awkward position.

Both of my arms were pressed against Jaeger’s hot, solid body, my feet braced against the wall.

And to make things worse, I was sitting on some part of Jaeger’s body.

Groaning, I closed my eyes.

‘This is a bit of a problem.’

The discomfort of the position aside, my hair seemed to be caught on something, and the pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

If I relaxed my legs, my weight would press on Jaeger, and if I put strength into them, my upper body would rise, making the pain in my scalp unbearable.

‘First, I need to find the light stone for visibility.’

When we were tossed around earlier, the now-useless light stone had hit my head several times, so it must still be somewhere in the tunnel.

As I fumbled around, Jaeger groaned under his breath, grabbing my arm in annoyance.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to find the light stone.”

I shook off his hand and continued feeling along the damp earthen wall.

‘It should be somewhere down here.’

At that moment, I accidentally touched something firm and tense under Jaeger’s clothes.

Jaeger quickly moved his lower body and growled.

“What are you touching?”

Startled, I snatched my hand back.

‘…What did I just touch?’

I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to know. Meanwhile, my scalp still felt like it was going to rip off.

“Actually, my hair is caught on something and—”

“Don’t lift your head.”

“I’m just a bit uncomfortable—”

“Don’t move.”

What is this, a military drill? Am I the trainee, and you’re the instructor?

I felt a bit upset, probably because of the pain and his snappy tone, but I didn’t have the energy to argue with him.

‘…I think I understand why he’s so on edge.’

This position was uncomfortable for both of us.

Jaeger fumbled around his chest and eventually found where my hair was stuck.

Suddenly, my scalp was yanked.

“Ow!”

“It’s caught on a button. Just bear with it for a moment.”

He tried to free my hair with one hand, but when that didn’t work, he brought in his other hand.

It ended up with him practically hugging me. His body heat seeped through the thin fabric of his clothes.

‘This feels… strange.’

To think I was now stuck in a tight space, being held by a man I was fighting with not long ago.

Groooaaannn!

‘…Of course, that man hates me, and there are zombies swarming overhead.’

As I accepted my fate in this apocalyptic romance setting with a hazy mind, Jaeger pulled his hands back.

“It’s done.”

Carefully, I lifted my head.

The agonizing pain in my scalp was gone.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

I cautiously touched the wall and sat back down on the ground.

Jaeger let out a sigh of relief as he adjusted his posture, indicating how uncomfortable he must have been.

“By the way, how’s your leg?”

Feeling awkward in the silence, I searched for something to say and remembered his injury.

Thankfully, Jaeger still had the backpack with our food and supplies.

I pulled out a noise-canceling sticker from the pouch and stuck it to the wall.

A transparent barrier inflated like a balloon, enclosing us, and the sound of groaning zombies was blocked out. (I had saved it, as it’s one of the few one-time-use items that lasts for 24 hours and didn’t use it in the hut where noise wasn’t as much of a problem.)

I extended my hand toward Jaeger.