Chapter 26: Duel (3)
“Hah... Hah... Hah...”
“Ah... Alpheus...”
“Hah... Hah...”
“Alpheus... I’m sorry... I... I...”
“Haaa...”
Each labored breath came with blood dripping from my wound. It was deeper and more critical than I had expected, making even breathing a struggle.
To make matters worse, the princess’s blood, likely from her hand when she struck, had seeped into my wound. The trace of it began to sprout thorny vines inside me, burrowing deeper into my body.
Was she planting something within me? Perhaps driven by the instincts of a witch.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a furious roar shattered the silence.
“What are you doing right now!!!”
“Father...”
“What in the world... do you think you’re doing?!”
In a situation no one could have foreseen, the person most enraged was, unexpectedly, the king.
Even as blood dripped from his own injuries, he unleashed a storm of fury.
“This is a duel! A sacred battle where no one may interfere! Do you even understand the gravity of what you’ve just done?!”
“I... I know, but if Alpheus wins...”
“It doesn’t matter what’s at stake! Even if it’s the fate of this kingdom, no one is allowed to intervene!”
“But... I...”
“Throughout my life, I’ve made countless mistakes, but there’s one thing I’ve always upheld—my honor as a warrior! And now... now you’ve shattered it all!”
He clutched at his head, his voice shaking with raw emotion. Though he had initially tried to hold back for the princess’s sake, he eventually lost control, his words turning into anguished shouts.
“Now everyone will call me a coward! They’ll say I used dishonorable means to win after losing my wife and having my daughter kidnapped!”
“N-no... I didn’t mean... I just wanted the duel to stop...”
“It’s over! It’s all over! For centuries to come, people will mock my name and laugh at my story!”
“Please, don’t say that, Father... I didn’t mean to...”
“I said it’s over!!!”
In the end, the king let out a pained cry and slammed his head against the ground.
It wasn’t the fact that he couldn’t defeat me that left a scar—it was that his honorable loss had been tarnished.
And that anguish naturally extended to the princess.
Facing her father’s resentment for the first time, she trembled before finally reaching out to me.
“Alpheus... I didn’t mean for this to happen. You understand, don’t you? I just wanted to stop both of you...”
“Hah...”
“That’s why my body moved on its own. I don’t even know why I did it... but still, I wanted you to look at me...”
Suddenly, a memory came rushing back.
The first time I met the princess was in the labyrinth.
Even in the dank, oppressive dragon’s lair, she had somehow remained impossibly clean.
In contrast, I was drenched in blood from head to toe. Worried I might scare her, I approached with a forced smile, stretching my face painfully, like an adult trying to comfort a frightened child.
But that smile became poison.
A fleeting moment of salvation in her despair planted itself deep in her heart, becoming a star she couldn’t extinguish.
And now, she had driven that cold, sharp edge deep into my flesh. Blood seeped from the wound, pooling beneath me.
“Ah... Alpheus... there’s so much blood...”
“Hah...”
“What should I do? Alpheus, tell me what to do! I...”
“Hero!!!”
Suddenly, a voice called out to me from behind.
When I turned my head with difficulty, I saw Count Brey’s alarmed expression.
“What the hell is going on?! Hurry and get the hero!”
“But the king...”
“Forget the king! He’s gravely injured too! The duel is over! Escort both of them inside and call for a doctor!”
“What about the princess?”
The count hesitated for a moment, visibly troubled by the question.
Interfering in the king’s duel and stabbing the hero in the back were crimes too grave to overlook, even for a princess.
After a brief pause, Count Brey lowered his voice and gave the soldiers their orders.
“Princess, please step away from the hero.”
“N-no, that wasn’t my intention...”
“It’s alright. Please comply. No harm will come to you.”
“No... stay back...”
“Princess, please calm dow—”
“I SAID STAY BACK!!!”
The panicked princess let out a high-pitched scream, her hand lashing out instinctively toward the approaching soldiers.
Thorns erupted from her outstretched hand like a fountain, ensnaring the soldiers and hurling them away.
She had intended only to stop them, but the thorns were lined with sharp barbs, injuring several in the process.
Each drop of blood spilled seemed to fuel more vines, spiraling her into an uncontrollable frenzy.
The nightmare escalated into a scene of blood and chaos, filled with screams of agony.
“AAAAHHH!”
“Don’t panic! Everyone, fall back! Princess, please calm yourself!”
Amid the carnage, the princess reached for me once again.
“Alpheus... please, help me...”
But by then, I had long lost consciousness, unable to hear her desperate cries.
I fixed my gaze on the far staircase, past the kneeling, weeping king. The sunlight spilled abundantly through the open sky, bathing everything in brilliant light.
There, standing amidst the radiance, was Mirian.
Her trembling eyes met mine. She, too, seemed stunned by the situation, her expression betraying disbelief.
“This... but how...?”
“...”
“How could it unravel so quickly...?”
She was rattled—deeply so.
But even in her shaken state, her beauty struck me. Was it my blindness to the truth, or had my perception always been clouded?
“Alpheus...?”
I stood before her, finally, after what felt like an eternity. Blood and exhaustion weighed me down, threatening to pull me to the ground.
Still, I gathered the strength to reach out.
“Mirian...”
“Why...?”
My hands, trembling but determined, cupped her cheeks. Her warmth seeped into me like sunlight, and without realizing it, I smiled.
This was the moment I had always longed for.
“I like you, Mirian.”
“What...?”
“I truly, deeply like you.”
With those words, I knelt before her, taking her hands in mine and kissing them gently.
“Be mine.”
The confession was simple yet raw, leaving no room for pretense.
“Alpheus...”
And for the first time, she called my name with unmistakable emotion.
But it wasn’t just Mirian who spoke.
“Alpheus...”
The princess, too, uttered my name, her voice trembling as the thorns within me stirred once more.