After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 89

A pungent smell stung his nose.

Leo, with senses more acute than others, slowly opened his eyes at the smell.

A heavy fatigue pressed down on his entire body.

He frowned for a moment, staring at the ceiling, then slowly turned his head to look around.

‘Where is this?’

His mind was blank. He twitched his eyebrows at the acrid smell permeating deep into his lungs, then recognized it and sighed.

‘The smell of detoxifying herbs.’

Only then did his memories begin to sharpen. The situation where he was facing the familiars while afflicted by the Aura Restriction Potion and poison. And Ayla finding him.

Leo’s gaze slowly moved downwards. Ayla was holding his hand tightly, asleep, slumped on the edge of the bed.

“…Haa.”

He thought he had just lost consciousness and woken up due to internal injuries from the poison, but it seemed she had really fallen asleep.

Leo quietly gazed at Ayla’s sleeping face.

He remembered her small frame suddenly appearing and hugging him with all her might, as if trying to protect him.

‘I really ended up being protected.’

The fact wasn’t exactly pleasant.

It felt like he had become such a pathetic man that he had to borrow the strength of that small body.

Leo swallowed a bitter smile, closed his eyes, and slowly began to regulate his breathing, circulating his Aura.

As the energy spread, it gradually pushed out the remnants of the poison that remained deep within his body.

It would take time to completely detoxify, but fortunately, it seemed he had avoided serious injury.

In fact, fighting the familiars all night while poisoned, and unable to use Aura, was too much even for him. He thought he might lose an arm or a leg.

Then, he felt a small vibration, and Bam, who had been curled up in the corner of the bed, approached and licked his cheek.

Then, rubbing its head against him, it meowed softly, as if relieved that he was safe.

‘Strange fellow.’

Leo smiled faintly, raised the arm that Ayla wasn’t holding, and slowly stroked Bam’s head.

The cat purred contentedly, leaning against his arm.

Leo, who had given one hand to Ayla and one to Bam, looked around again.

Even in the dim darkness, the decorations and structure that were faintly visible were unfamiliar. Looking at the high ceilings and arched windows, it was clear that this was the North.

‘I’ll have it fixed up so you can use it right away, he said…’

Not long after Lucas arrived in the Imperial Capital, he had said something like that.

That now that he was returning to the North, he would have to live in the Grand Duke’s Castle.

Leo chuckled, remembering Lucas’s words that he would have it fixed up so he could use it right away and to leave it to him.

‘I didn’t expect to come here so soon.’

The interior was neatly arranged, as if it had not been empty for a long time.

‘The Count worked hard.’

Thinking of Lucas made him feel strange.

The man who had found him buried in the snowy mountains that winter when he was twelve, about to give up everything, saved him, and cared for him as much as his own son. A man who always threw gruff words as if he were annoyed, but always worried about him as if he were a child out on the water.

Sometimes his affection felt uncomfortable. As if it were affection that wasn’t his.

But now, Lucas felt more like a parent than his own father.

How could he ever repay that kindness?

“Leo?”

At the low whisper, he lowered his head.

Ayla was rubbing her eyes and slowly lifting her head.

“You! You’re awake?”

The blue eyes that were half-closed widened and sparkled with joy.

She jumped up and approached the head of the bed, bending over.

Perhaps because the room was dark and she couldn’t see well, she leaned closer to his face, as if to check if he was really awake.

His heart began to beat rapidly as he faced her face that had come so close.

Leo tried to reassure her by forcing a smile and opening his mouth.

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you sleeping in your room?”

Then Ayla’s eyes turned slightly red, and she slumped to the floor as if she were about to cry.

“Thank goodness. I’m so glad.”

Leo, startled by this, raised his upper body, and Ayla, equally startled, quickly got up and reached out her hand.

“Are you trying to get up? You should just lie down.”

“It’s okay. You should sit down properly.”

“I’ll turn on the light.”

Leo leaned back against the headboard of the bed after confirming that Ayla had lit the lamp and sat down in a chair.

Ayla’s face, illuminated by the lamp, seemed to look worse than before.

“…Were you very surprised?”

“If I wasn’t surprised, would I not be surprised? You haven’t woken up for two days.”

“Two days?”

Leo asked back, a little surprised.

Ayla pouted her lips at Leo’s reaction and said as if complaining.

“Yes. Do you know how worried I was? I was really surprised.”

“…I guess so. I apologize.”

“I didn’t say that to get an apology. I was just saying I was surprised. I was scared that you wouldn’t wake up.”

Leo felt a strange feeling at her resentful tone.

But before he could think deeply, Ayla, with a sullen expression, asked him.

“Why did you do that?”

“Why did I do what?”

“With a body poisoned… why did you try to solve things alone?”

“……”

“You could have asked people around you for help. It would have been difficult to deal with the familiars alone in that condition, so we could have dealt with them together, but why?”

“Ayla. The familiars are a part of me.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means they’re connected to me. If a familiar is hurt or dies, it affects me too.”

“That’s…”

Ayla’s eyes widened.

“Then at that time when that hawk, Wiltus, was hurt, you!”

“Ah, that time.”

Come to think of it, Wiltus had almost died during the hunting competition.

Leo casually replied as if it were nothing to minimize the shock she would receive.

“Thanks to you not giving up on Wiltus, the impact wasn’t that great.”

“…I didn’t know. Really?”

“It’s natural you wouldn’t know. I didn’t say anything.”

“……”

“Anyway, that’s why I acted alone. For example, if Dex were to help me and get hurt while fighting those guys, it would be the same as hurting me.”

Leo smiled and continued.

“There’s no need to put that kind of burden on them.”

He was serious.

Leo really didn’t want to do that.

The curse of the Supermoon was something that should be endured alone.

Yes, that’s how it was, but…

“Ayla.”

Leo asked her with an expression that still couldn’t believe it.

Before he lost consciousness, he seemed to have seen an absurd scene. If it wasn’t a dream.

“Those guys the familiars seemed to listen to you.”

“I felt that way too. I don’t know why, but…”

“I don’t remember well. What happened after I lost consciousness?”

“Nothing much happened. When your aides and Ian tried to take you away, the familiars showed a sharp reaction. Your aide told me to tell them to go back, just in case.”

“And then?”

“When I said what your aide told me to say, they really went into your shadow.”

“…Haa.”

Leo chuckled and rubbed his forehead.

For those guys to listen to someone else, was that even possible?

“I took you to the Grand Duke’s Castle right away. They said it was the closest place at the border checkpoint.”

“I see.”

“Everyone was very worried. You didn’t wake up for two days.”

At Ayla’s continued concern, Leo smiled apologetically and said.

“I’m fine now, so go to your room and sleep. I assume a room has been prepared for you to rest?”

“It has, but I’m not going.”

“…What? Why?”

“You need to rest more. You need to sleep well when you’re sick to get better quickly.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at Ayla’s stubborn reply.

“What does that have to do with you not going back to your room?”

“You can’t sleep unless you’re touching me, right? So, I’m not going back.”

Her voice, speaking quietly, was filled with firm determination.

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