The evening at the inn seemed ordinary on the surface.
A warm meal was served,
and everyone took a brief time to rest and regroup.
The medical officer went from room to room, checking the condition of the wounded once more,
and the members of the Silver Moon Corps decided to take turns guarding the wagons parked in the empty lot beside the inn,
just in case anything happened.
Miryeong took the first watch,
and by the time everyone was likely asleep, the area around the inn had grown even quieter.
Just then, a presence familiar to Miryeong approached.
Without bothering to turn around, she spoke.
“What is it?”
Maho and Raen stepped out of the darkness.
Raen was the first to speak.
“Lady Miryeong…”
Raen’s face was stiff with worry.
The moment Miryeong saw that expression, she let out a short sigh.
“Hah… It’s because of Bido, isn’t it?”
Maho, standing beside her, jerked his chin in answer.
“Raen’s been in a panic. I think she’ll only calm down after seeing his face, at least.”
Maho, who normally would have pushed the matter more bluntly, spoke with unexpected calm.
Miryeong narrowed her eyes for a moment.
In the meantime, Raen asked carefully.
“Is Bido… in a lot of pain?”
Miryeong did not answer right away.
She looked back toward the inn for a moment, lost in thought, then spoke in a low voice.
“You two stand out too much.”
Raen’s ears and tail drooped at once.
Seeing that, Miryeong continued.
“Still… Raen, if it’s just you, a short while should be fine.”
Then she turned her gaze toward Maho.
“Hey, Maho. Watch the wagons for me in the meantime.”
For a moment, Maho looked as though he wanted to say, Why me?
But after glancing at Raen, who could barely even breathe beside him,
he eventually nodded slowly.
“Fine. Go on, Raen.”
Miryeong spoke quietly to Raen as she followed behind.
“Raen. You have to be quiet. It’s not just Bido—everyone else is resting too.”
“Don’t raise your voice. Just see his face and come back out. Got it?”
Raen nodded immediately.
“Yes…”
The two of them entered the inn without making a sound.
The inn, deep in the night, was silent.
Only breaths fainter than those outside and the heavy scent of wooden floors had settled within.
Miryeong stopped in front of the room where the wounded were staying.
Then, careful not to let the door creak, she opened it just a crack.
Inside, the room was dim, relying on a single faint lamp.
The other wounded and the medical officer were already fast asleep.
Raen looked up at Miryeong once,
then very slowly approached the place where Bido lay.
Under the faint light, Bido’s face looked even paler than it had during the day.
A thin sheen of cold sweat clung to his forehead and temples, and his breathing was shallow and careful.
Even while asleep, his face showed that he was still in pain.
Raen stopped in front of him for a moment.
Now that she had come so close, she did not know what to say.
She had wanted to see him.
She had truly wanted to see him, but she had never imagined she would see him lying like this.
Raen bit her lip hard and carefully reached out.
Then she gently placed her hand over the back of Bido’s.
It was warm.
The moment the feeling that Bido was still alive reached her fingertips,
Raen’s throat suddenly tightened.
“…Hm?”
Bido opened his eyes very slowly.
His hazy gaze wavered a few times, then soon recognized Raen.
“Ah… Raen…?”
Raen nearly answered loudly on instinct,
but she remembered Miryeong’s words and hurriedly closed her mouth.
Instead, she clasped Bido’s hand tightly in both of hers.
Bido felt that her hands were trembling ever so slightly.
“…I’m all right, Raen.”
After taking a short breath,
Bido struggled to continue.
“Have you been well?”
At those words, Raen finally could not hold back.
The moisture gathered at the corners of her eyes fell with a soft drop.
Afraid a sound might escape, Raen bit her lip,
and with Bido’s hand still in hers, she lowered her head.
“…Yes.”
That was all she managed to answer.
But behind that brief word,
it was clear that far more words were caught in her throat.
In the end, Raen buried her face against the back of Bido’s hand.
Her breath trembled in tiny shudders as she tried to swallow her sobs,
and before long, a damp warmth spread over the back of Bido’s hand.
Feeling his hand grow wet, Bido quietly looked down at Raen.
With his injured body, he did not even have the strength to properly lift his arm,
but the tips of his fingers moved just a little.
Carefully, as though clasping Raen’s hand in return.
“…Bido. Get better soon…”
Bido very gently held Raen’s hand back.
“I will.”
After briefly catching his breath,
Bido added softly.
“Thank you, Raen.”
Raen could not raise her head for a while,
then finally, slowly straightened up.
Miryeong, who had been standing by the door, watched the sight for a moment,
then let out a low breath and stepped outside first.
Raen hurriedly wiped her eyes, then silently followed after her.
Just before crossing the threshold,
Raen looked back one more time.
Bido’s figure lying beneath the faint lamp entered her eyes.
Then the door quietly closed.
Silence settled over the room once more.
Bido slowly exhaled, feeling the damp warmth that remained at his fingertips.
The inside of his chest still throbbed,
and his body grew heavy again with even the slightest movement.
Still, Bido closed his eyes again.
Do not collapse.
Endure this.
And stand up again.
The pain remained,
and his wounds had not lightened in the slightest.
But the warmth left on his fingertips just now was strangely vivid.
Holding on to that sensation,
Bido leaned his body deeper into the bedding.
He could be lying here, fallen,
but he could not stop here.
—
Miryeong and Raen returned to the empty lot where the wagons stood.
Maho, who had been leaning beside one of the wagons, glanced over Raen as she wiped at her eyes.
Unlike what one might have expected, he did not tease her this time.
Miryeong looked at Maho and spoke in a low voice.
“Hey.”
Maho tilted only his head toward her.
“What?”
“Thanks.”
Maho’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“For what?”
Miryeong looked at him for a moment before speaking.
“If it hadn’t been for you, things might have become irreversible.”
Instead of answering, Maho turned his gaze away.
As if it were nothing, he snorted briefly and spoke bluntly.
“Raen and that guy too. They’re only necessary if we’re going to stop Roan.”
At those words, the corners of Miryeong’s mouth lifted ever so slightly.
“Right. Take good care of the kids you ‘need.’”
Maho immediately glared at Miryeong.
But instead of refuting her, he brought up something else.
“I took care of the one who ran.”
Miryeong’s gaze changed for an instant.
“Ran? The one who used the saw-toothed sword?”
“Probably. I didn’t get a proper look at his face.”
Miryeong was silent for a moment.
One of the three in black armor had escaped.
She had been on edge the whole time, not knowing when he might appear again,
but if Maho’s words were true, then at least for tonight, she could set that worry aside.
“…You’re certain?”
Maho gave a small shrug.
“If I’d missed him, he’d be on your heels by now.”
Hearing that answer, Miryeong let out a short breath.
“Good. Then at least he won’t be coming back tonight.”
Maho narrowed his eyes.
“What won’t?”
“Nothing.”
Miryeong did not explain further.
Instead, she gave a slight nod.
“Anyway, understood.”
Maho, still looking displeased, said,
“Keep an eye on that Bido or whatever his name is. Don’t let him die.”
“I will.”
Miryeong answered briefly.
Then she looked toward Raen for a moment.
The face that had barely swallowed down its tears had calmed somewhat,
but it was not an expression of complete relief.
Naturally.
Just because she had seen him did not mean they could go together right away.
Without saying anything more, Miryeong pointed with her chin toward the road.
“Go now. If you stay too long, you’ll stand out even more.”
Maho turned first.
“I was planning to, even if you didn’t say it. Let’s go, Raen.”
Raen sniffled once and moved toward Maho.
Then, suddenly, she turned back to look at Miryeong.
“Lady Miryeong…”
Miryeong looked at Raen in silence.
“Please… take good care of Bido.”
Raen paused to steady her breath, then added in a very small voice.
“And… see you again.”
Instead of answering, Miryeong raised one hand and gave a light wave.
Seeing that, Raen said nothing more and lowered her head.
Then she soon walked into the darkness together with Maho.
As the presence of the two grew distant,
only the night air remained in front of the inn once more.
Miryeong stared in that direction for a while, then slowly turned around.
The wagons stood quietly in a row within the darkness,
and the blue oxen crouched in place, letting out long, weary breaths.
The inside of the village was also strangely still.
The murderous presence that had continued from the forest could no longer be felt.
At least on the surface,
it truly seemed to be over.
But Miryeong could not easily relax her shoulders.
Even if the shadows had ended,
nothing had yet been revealed about why someone had tried to block this road.
Besides, this village was far too quiet.
Rather than the night of a place where people lived, it felt as though someone was holding their tongue and holding their breath.
Miryeong looked back toward the inn once.
Inside were Bido and the wounded.
And they had not even crossed the border yet.
She slowly turned her head again and looked into the darkness.
As though, at least for this night,
she would not let anyone else be hurt.
—
Meanwhile, in another room, Reimeon sat alone, still unable to sleep.
Beneath a small oil lamp, he was retracing everything that had happened from the beginning.
At first, he had thought the entire delegation was the target.
More precisely, he had believed the attack was aimed at Aila, the witness the delegation was taking with them.
In truth, that judgment had not been entirely wrong.
But once the three in black armor had appeared, their movements had been strange.
They did not seem as interested as expected in bringing down the entire delegation.
There had been traces that they were targeting Aila as well,
but the one they had truly been persistent about was, rather, Bido.
As though everything else were nothing more than obstacles on the way to him.
Reimeon slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.
He had already heard that Bido possessed the power to stop Mirkin.
They had tried to remove a dangerous element first—
that was one way to explain it.
But somehow, that alone was not enough.
The obsession in the moment when their blades had turned toward him
was far too blatant to be seen as simple caution or a spur-of-the-moment judgment.
It was as though their priority had been decided from the very beginning.
Reimeon tapped the table once with his finger.
If so, it meant there was information they did not know.
Whether the Silver Moon Corps had deliberately hidden it,
or whether the situation simply had not allowed them to speak of it yet, he could not tell.
Only, the enemy had seemed to move as though they already knew that fact.
And the possibility that this information was related to Bido
had now become difficult to ignore.
Reimeon sat in silence for a while.
Suspicion was not something he could easily voice.
At present, they had to cross the border back-to-back with those responsible for their escort.
But neither could he pretend he had not seen it.
Reimeon let out a low breath.
Why had the enemy targeted Bido before the delegation?
That question,
he did not think would disappear even when tomorrow came.