The Price of Breaching the Contract - Chapter 41

“How is he? There’s nothing seriously wrong, is there?”

Yulania pressed Joel, her expression hardened. Santi, carried in by two knights, was covered in blood from head to toe, making it impossible to see where he was injured.

Joel hesitated for a long time before finally nodding.

“His life isn’t in danger. However, he suffered a strong blow to the head, causing him to lose consciousness temporarily.”

“The head…?”

Yulania repeated, then looked down at Santi’s face with a collapsing expression. His forehead was as neat as usual, his jawline firm, and his lips were the same as ever. But the mere fact that his eyes were closed seemed to shatter everything.

“When will he wake up?”

Her voice was almost a prayer.

“He only has a slight fever now, and his pulse is stable. However, he seems to have put his body to sleep due to accumulated fatigue. You’ll need to watch over him for a few days.”

‘Accumulated fatigue.’

Those words pierced Yulania’s heart like a sharp dagger. Only now did she realize how long he had been carrying this heavy responsibility alone. Or perhaps she had known but had been turning a blind eye. Amidst the royal family’s gaze, the investigation team’s surveillance, and the daily demon attacks, he never showed any signs of hardship.

She was overwhelmed with guilt for simply being by his side during all those days.

Yulania quietly sat in a chair and held his hand tightly. The warmth she felt through the pure white bandage felt weaker than usual, causing her heart to ache. She couldn’t take her eyes off his calloused, hardened hand for a long time.

“If you endure alone like that, this is what happens.”

In a space where no one was listening, Yulania murmured softly.

“Now I might be able to do something. I wish you would lean on me too.”

Outside the window, snow was falling again. Quiet and endless white storm, like all the days covering this castle.

Yulania never left his side for a moment, her tired eyes fixed solely on his face.

Joel and the maids offered to take turns several times, but Yulania refused every time. She held Santi’s hand and silently guarded his side.

The long night, which seemed like it would never end, finally passed, and morning arrived.

Diego came to her, who had been keeping watch without even eating. The vice-captain’s eyes clearly showed the traces of the battle that had continued all night.

“Princess.”

Yulania slowly raised her head. Only a few had returned urgently due to Santi’s injury, so he had immediately crossed the wall to finish things up.

“Ah.”

Belatedly, Yulania thought of the other knights and sighed in dismay. If the strongest Santi was injured to this extent, there must have been considerable casualties. Even Diego, whose swordsmanship was second only to Santi, was covered in injuries here and there.

As Yulania met his tired eyes, Diego bit his lip for a moment and carefully continued.

“The demon attacks have noticeably decreased. We don’t know the reason, but there are definitely signs of calming down.”

Yulania was silent for a moment.

“Is that, a good thing?”

“Yes. There haven’t been any unusual movements in the patrols up to this morning. The expedition team has also returned safely.”

A small, subtle emotion bloomed in her heart at that moment. Before she could even breathe a sigh of relief, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

‘Did even the gods, take pity?’

Did her prayers, Santi’s arduous sacrifices, and the hearts heavier than the endless falling snow reach them even a little?

Diego finished his brief report and went out again. He had a mountain of work to do, filling in for Santi. As he left the room, he hesitated for a long time as if he wanted to say something to Yulania, but eventually bowed his head silently and left.

That night, Yulania dozed off without realizing it. Her body couldn’t handle being awake for so long.

Yulania woke up in a strange yet eerily familiar scene. She took a deep breath and slowly looked around. Her consciousness was still faintly hazy, and even the tips of her toes felt like they were submerged in a faint mist.

‘A dream.’

It was an entirely white space. There was no sky, no land, and no boundaries. But it was definitely a space she had been to before. One night she couldn’t remember, she had wandered around searching for something in this very place.

“Again, it’s this place.”

Yulania murmured softly and moved her head. It was clearly the same space, but the atmosphere was completely different from last time. Back then, everything was empty, and there was only a faint light shimmering far away. A light that she thought she could never reach, no matter how hard she tried.

But this time, the entire space was filled with brilliant golden mist, and the light was located so close that she could reach out and touch it. The faint light mass that had been shimmering in the distance was now gently undulating before her eyes, revealing its presence.

It felt as if it were subtly vibrating as if it were alive, tempting her, or perhaps desperately waiting for her.

Drawn by the pulse of the light, Yulania instinctively moved her feet. The golden mist gently parted as she moved, then surged back as if to embrace her again. She seemed to hear strange whispers passing through the mist. As if calling her name, or telling an unknown story.

Her heart began to pound, and her unconsciously quickened steps moved towards the light. Yulania still didn’t know what that light was, but only an intense desire to reach it surged within her.

The light that she could never approach in her previous dream. Yulania unknowingly stopped breathing and reached out her hand. As if waiting for that movement, the light mass trembled subtly and gradually moved closer to her touch. As the light neared her fingertips, she grabbed the light mass without hesitation.

In an instant, a dizzying sensation swept through her entire body. An indescribable, intense, and poignant sensation that penetrated every corner of her body. And along with that sensation, shocking emotions that shook her mind flooded in like a tidal wave.

“Gasp!”

Joy, sorrow, anger, loneliness, fear. A mass of emotions that she had suppressed for her entire life exploded within her. Heart-wrenching sadness, unbearable loneliness, and ecstatic joy as if she possessed the whole world washed over her simultaneously, confusing and mixing her mind.

Yulania wanted to scream amidst that vortex of intense emotions, but no sound came out. Those emotions were comforting her while mercilessly crushing her at the same time.

The faces of countless people flashed quickly through her mind. Father, Yurban, her mother whom she didn’t even remember, the royal servants, Santia.

Yulania desperately trembled and tried to take her hand away from the light. But instead, the light strongly held her hand and wouldn’t let go. As if accepting all her pain and sorrow, it didn’t allow her to escape from within.

Yulania didn’t have the confidence to handle such ardent and desperate emotions. But the light calmly settled into the deepest part of her heart, caressing her wounded inner self. As if silently conveying.

‘You don’t have to hide your emotions anymore.’

Yulania was lost in the light for a long time. The storm of emotions that she had feared so much gradually subsided. Her heart slowly calmed down, and her breathing became even. Her whole body was still trembling, but there was no longer the same intense confusion as before.

“Who are you? What?”

Yulania barely whispered in a trembling voice. But the light silently vibrated again. The small whispers coming from the mist became clearer and clearer.

‘We’re almost there.’

An inaudible voice echoed, and the light mass disappeared from her hand.

Startled by the sudden absence, Yulania clenched her fist in vain. As the light disappeared, the surrounding golden mist thickened, completely surrounding her. And she slowly began to wake up from her dream.

Even as she woke up, Yulania vividly felt the emotions she had experienced in the dream just now. Those emotions were clearly things she had experienced in the dream, but they still remained clearly in the depths of her heart, holding onto her.

As she slowly opened her eyes, the sensation of reality returned. But she was no longer the same person as before. The storm of emotions she had experienced in the dream had been deeply engraved in her heart, leaving a mark that would never be erased.

Yulania slowly raised her hand and placed it on her chest. She felt a warmth as if the light was still held in her hand. That warmth, shock, and the lingering complex emotions filled her heart.

But there was one strange thing.

When she woke up in surprise, she felt that the subtle breathing beside her had changed.

It was Santi. He slowly, very carefully, opened his eyes. Still with a blurry gaze, but clearly looking at her.

Yulania couldn’t say anything. She just looked at him. With eyes full of tears.

Santi spoke first.

“…Yulania.”

She finally shed the tears she had been holding back.

“I was here the whole time.”

Emotions came before words, and tears came before emotions.

At that moment, the world was silent. Not the holy stone, not the blizzard, not all the external noises, but only the breaths of the two people lingered in the room.

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