Vol. 1 - Ch. 74

Chapter 74 

Daphne woke to a chilling cold. Her blurred vision was already engulfed in pitch-black darkness. It was a subtle shift, but after spending several days here, Daphne instinctively knew that night had fallen.

The beasts only moved at night. Holding her breath as much as possible, Daphne slowly lifted her upper body. Fortunately, she had just barely managed to crawl back into the cave before losing consciousness.

Dragging her body, heavy and sluggish like waterlogged cotton, she moved to rekindle the dying embers deep inside the cave. She needed to get a fire going quickly, both inside and at the cave entrance.

However, with no moonlight reaching inside, Daphne had to rely solely on the sensations in her fingertips and the soles of her feet to navigate through the darkness. It felt as if she had gone blind. Wiping the cold sweat from her brow, she cautiously made her way forward.

Suddenly, something bumped against her foot.

Wood.

Startled by the noise, Daphne quickly bent down and fumbled across the ground. Before long, her hand found the pile of extinguished logs.

Her eyes had just begun to adjust to the darkness, allowing her to faintly make out the pieces of wood. She began to build the fire. Although she knew the theory, she had no real experience, and it took far longer than it should have. Sweat poured down her face as she worked tirelessly.

All this survival knowledge had once been painstakingly acquired to escape Sergie. Daphne hadn’t thought it would ever come in handy like this. Gritting her teeth, she pressed harder with her hands.

Smoke began to rise, stinging her eyes, but eventually, the dormant embers flickered back to life. Daphne moved her hands faster, and soon, a small flame bloomed. She had rekindled the fire.

Still on edge, Daphne stayed alert until the flame grew strong enough. When it finally stabilized, her tense body slackened, and her hands dropped heavily to the ground.

“It’s done…”

She moistened her dry lips with her tongue. So focused on reviving the fire, she hadn’t even noticed the rain falling outside.

As the cold slowly drained from her body, the tension unwound. Huddled close to the fire, Daphne stared blankly into the flames.

She had barely managed two meager meals a day, relying on the memory of the fruits Edmund had once gathered. But the portions were far too small, and she was growing weaker by the day.

Today, driven by a reckless desire, she had wandered farther than usual, exhausting the last of her strength to build the fire. Sleepiness soon overwhelmed her. Daphne blinked slowly, her face clouded with fatigue.

‘He must be married by now.’

Naturally, her thoughts drifted to Edmund.

Even though she had leapt into the river on the day of the engagement, Daphne knew the Edmund she once knew would have finished the ceremony with an indifferent face.

Having celebrated such a grand engagement, his wedding would surely be even more extravagant, incomparable to the small ceremony they had once planned.

And in time, he would forget her.

Of course, anticipating that Edmund would send people after her, Daphne had carefully removed all the markers Damian had set and laid a new, barely perceptible trail.

Yet days had passed without a single trace of pursuit.

Edmund was not looking for her.

Daphne let out a short, bitter laugh. Her heart was already too shattered to ache over something like this anymore.

‘Things like this don't even hurt anymore.’

It should have hurt. But strangely, it didn’t.

‘I just... I just want to go back.’

Once she learned how to save Damian, she would return, save him...

‘...and then what?’

There was no home waiting for her. No one to leave with, either. Biting her lip, Daphne hugged her knees to her chest.

As her body gradually warmed and her thoughts began to dull, drowsiness washed over her. Just as her eyes were about to close, a strange gust of wind slipped through the folds of her clothes.

A chill ran down her spine. Daphne jerked her head up.

And then faint sounds, growing closer. Thud, thud. Like steady footsteps, shaking the ground ever so slightly.

Only then did Daphne remember the beast that had once appeared inside the cave.

‘How could I have forgotten?’

Panicking, she scrambled to gather the few belongings she had.

But before she could, a huge black figure loomed at the far end of the cave. The beast had revealed itself.

In the light of the fire, its features became horrifyingly clear.

Daphne gasped and pressed her palm tightly against her lips, trying to stifle a scream.

The creature had the shape of a wolf but stood on two legs like a human. Its arms, like a monkey’s, were clenched into fists pressing against the ground. Its eyes were shut tight, a long snout drooped forward, and its gaping mouth dripped with blood and scraps of flesh.

The beast sniffed the air, flicked out a forked tongue like a snake, and began to walk forward, one heavy step at a time. It only noticed the fire belatedly, recoiling with a startled roar and swiping at the flames with a massive paw. The burning logs were flung against the cave walls, extinguished in an instant.

Hours of effort were erased in a second, but Daphne didn’t regret it. All she wanted was for the beast to leave.

Licking its burned paw with its tongue, the beast turned toward the cave entrance.

At that moment, Daphne stumbled. A small stone rolled and clinked against the ground. Instantly, the beast turned and charged at her.

* * *

Edmund opened his eyes. His body was drenched. Slowly sitting up, he recalled the last thing he remembered – surrendering himself to the rushing current with his eyes closed.

He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from inside his jacket.

It had been found in the ashes of a burned fireplace, barely intact, the text long gone. Yet Edmund knew – he knew Daphne was alive, because the paper was not of a kind used in his estate.

It was a different material altogether. A sign that there were things he had not known.

‘Daphne.’

Had she gone to such lengths, even faking her death, just to escape him?

Rising fully to his feet, Edmund finally realized it was raining. Night had fallen completely, and the howls of beasts echoed not far off.

Daphne was somewhere in this forest. Edmund knew he would never give up, no matter how many years it took. He would search every inch of this black forest to find her.

Without hesitation, he began to walk.

After a long while, he spotted a familiar cord, the kind he had seen when rescuing Damian and Daphne. A shred of Damian’s torn clothing.

Edmund took a step, then froze.

It was not exactly where he remembered it being. A slight, but telling difference. He noticed immediately.

He examined the way the cord was tied – sloppily, loosely. Someone unfamiliar with such tasks. Only one person came to mind.

Daphne was near.

Turning sharply, Edmund exhaled heavily, searching for places she might have gone. Somewhere a woman without weapons or strength would take refuge…

“A cave.”

The cave where Damian had once hidden.

Setting his course, Edmund broke into a run. Even after just one visit, he remembered the way perfectly. Spotting faint, clumsily erased footprints, he pushed himself to go faster.

Before long, the cave came into view. As Edmund, relieved, took another step forward… 

Grr, krrr… 

A black beast emerged from the cave.

Holding his breath instinctively, Edmund spotted a torn piece of fabric caught on the creature’s protruding fangs. For a moment, he wondered if there was another person.

Until he recognized the fabric.

It was Daphne’s.

Edmund, disregarding all caution, locked eyes with the shredded, blood-soaked cloth.

["I came... because I had something to ask."]

The simple dress she had worn that day was now torn to shreds by the beast’s sharp teeth. A drop of blood fell from the beast’s mouth.

When Edmund saw the scrap of flesh inside it, he moved without thinking.

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