Three days earlier.
A low voice echoed within the apostles’ space.
“…The last shadow has been severed.”
After those words fell,
the other apostles said nothing for a while.
The silence was brief,
but the emotion steeped within it was not simple quiet.
Displeasure, doubt, and the sense that their expectations had gone awry spread in silence.
The first to speak was the apostle with the high voice.
“Is that even possible?”
He murmured low, as if he could not believe it.
“We sent three of them. With that much, shouldn’t it have been over already?”
The apostle with the low voice answered at once.
“It is certain. There is only one case in which my brainwashing is cut off.”
His voice was calm,
and so it was all the colder.
“Death.”
Another apostle spoke as though through gritted teeth.
“How in the world is such a thing possible?”
“The Moon Demon was one thing, but are all those who bear the moon’s blood such monsters?”
The low-voiced apostle cut him off immediately.
“Do not jump to conclusions.”
After a brief silence, he added,
“There may be another factor that cannot be explained by the moon’s blood alone.”
The high-voiced apostle spoke slowly.
“One thing is certain, then. All three shadows are dead.”
This time, no one denied it.
The air within the space was growing heavier by the moment.
Unease and doubt did not easily subside,
and beneath them, anger lay quietly sunken.
The low-voiced apostle opened his mouth again.
“We will send another.”
At that single sentence, the gazes of the other apostles gathered in silence.
“However, this time will be different. Before we send an assassin.”
He continued slowly.
“We send someone who can observe the situation and return.”
“We must confirm with our own eyes who killed the shadows, and what the variable was.”
The apostles nodded without a word.
What they needed now was not anger, but confirmation.
But that did not mean the emotion beneath their composure had disappeared.
The deaths of the three shadows were not merely a failure,
but proof that something unforeseen was already in motion.
—
Bido opened his eyes with the sensation of sinking into very deep water.
All around him was neither dark nor bright.
There was no ground beneath his feet, yet his body did not sink,
and something like a faint light spread in the distance.
Through that light, wavering like ripples, came a familiar voice.
“You’re awake.”
Bido slowly raised his head.
The person standing before him was certainly not unfamiliar.
It was different from looking into a mirror,
but neither was it like looking at a complete stranger.
“…Seonhwa.”
That name slipped from his lips first.
Instead of answering, Seonhwa quietly looked at Bido.
Her gaze was calm,
but beneath it lay both an old sorrow and an unshakable will.
Bido’s lips moved.
“What on earth… do you mean, I’m prepared?”
Seonhwa did not answer for a moment.
Instead, without taking her eyes off Bido, she slowly opened her mouth.
“You are already prepared.”
Bido’s brows narrowed faintly.
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t need to know right now.”
Seonhwa’s voice was gentle, but firm.
“In any case, you will come to know it on your own.”
Bido looked at Seonhwa, then asked quietly,
“Then what am I supposed to do now?”
Seonhwa watched Bido’s face for a moment.
As though she already knew the answer.
“Believe in yourself.”
After a short silence, she added,
“Do not waver.”
For a while, Bido could say nothing.
It was a dreamlike place,
yet those words alone sank into his heart with a strange clarity.
Bido said in a low voice,
“…I survived because of you.”
At those words, Seonhwa shook her head ever so faintly.
“No.”
Bido raised his eyes.
And Seonhwa continued quietly.
“I’m not the one who saved you.”
Her voice was still calm,
but this time it was deeper and clearer.
“I’m not something like a soul.”
“Nor is there some other living person inside you.”
Bido silently looked at Seonhwa.
Very slowly,
Seonhwa set down each word so that Bido could understand.
“I am merely the will that remained. The thought that sought to save Roan.”
She placed a hand near her own chest,
then lowered it again toward Bido.
“But that does not mean I exist apart from you.”
Bido’s breath trembled almost imperceptibly.
As though confirming the final truth, Seonhwa said,
“The warning you heard, the power you grasped, and the fact that you endured.”
After a brief pause,
she spoke clearly.
“All of it is yours.”
Bido could not say anything.
Seonhwa’s face remained composed,
but there was no wavering in her eyes.
“You are far stronger than you think.”
Bido’s lips trembled ever so slightly.
“I…”
When she stopped, unable to continue,
Seonhwa answered in a low voice.
“You saved yourself.”
Those words did not sound like comfort or a vow.
They were closer to simply informing him of a fact already decided.
“So remember.”
Seonhwa’s voice drew closer.
“Do not waver next time either.”
The light around them began to tremble very slowly.
The space that had spread like ripples began to crumble little by little,
and Seonhwa’s figure also grew faint.
Bido hastily reached out his hand.
“Wait—”
Even as she vanished, Seonhwa looked at Bido one last time.
“Now, wake up.”
With those words,
the world quietly split apart.
—
“Did you… just open your eyes?”
The first thing he heard was Miryeong’s familiar voice.
Bido slowly lifted his eyelids.
For a while, his vision was blurred, and the ceiling, light, and silhouettes of people seemed to blend together.
As he held on to his consciousness for a moment, the blurry shapes gradually became clear.
“Bido!”
Soon after, a clear, high voice pierced his ears.
“Hey, hey. No.”
Miryeong quickly reached out and grabbed Raen.
Raen, who looked ready to leap onto the bed at any moment, flailed both hands before barely stopping.
Bido moved his dry lips just a little.
“Ah… Raen…”
His voice came out weaker than he had expected.
Bido caught his breath for a moment, then asked again.
“Where…”
Miryeong answered.
“Velosa. You slept for a full day before waking up.”
Hearing that, Bido slowly tried to move his body.
Then his brow furrowed reflexively.
The pain was definitely still there.
The inside of his chest still pulled and throbbed,
but it was not as sharp as before, when one wrong breath would turn his vision white.
The medic standing beside him observed Bido’s reaction and said,
“Your condition has improved considerably.”
“Walking or lifting a sword is still too much for you,”
“but if you sit up with support, or if someone holds you, you should be able to rise for a short while.”
Bido slowly lifted his eyes and looked at the medic.
“…Thank you.”
At that, Miryeong smiled faintly from beside him.
“For what? You’re the one who endured well.”
“Bidooo…”
Raen was still held by Miryeong’s hand,
now staring at Bido with sparkling eyes that looked as though she was on the verge of tears.
Seeing that face, Bido smiled faintly.
“Raen… how are you here…”
Raen’s tail shot upright.
“Yeah! They said I can be here!”
Miryeong clicked her tongue as if fed up.
“Well, because she forced her way in.”
Then she added with a sigh in her voice,
“Still, everything is so chaotic here right now.”
“Looks like they don’t have the leisure to argue with one little Dulam kid.”
Raen ignored those words as if they did not matter and looked only at Bido.
Meeting that gaze,
Bido very slowly leaned back against the bed again.
It still hurt.
His body was heavy, and with the slightest movement, his wounds announced their presence.
Even so, one thing was certain.
It was different from when he had only been enduring on the road.
Bido closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
“…Everyone?”
Miryeong immediately understood what Bido meant.
“The other injured are fine now.”
“At least, all of them can walk.”
“They’re not fully healed yet, but they’re not tied to a bed like you.”
Bido exhaled, sounding a little relieved.
“What about Lord Raymon…?”
“He went with Aila for now.”
Miryeong answered briefly.
“He’s in talks with the Carmen side.”
“Aila is a witness, and Raymon is the representative of the delegation.”
“They’re probably laying out everything, from the attack to the things we brought.”
Bido quietly nodded.
His mind was still not completely clear,
but he could piece together, little by little, how the situation was unfolding.
After a moment,
Bido asked again.
“But… why were you here, Lady Miryeong?”
At those words, Miryeong looked down at Bido for a moment.
Then she answered as if it were nothing.
“Well, I was waiting until you woke up.”
“There’s someone you need to meet.”
At those words, Bido’s expression stiffened ever so slightly.
“Who…”
Before he could finish asking,
Bido slowly turned his head, following Miryeong’s gaze.
And for an instant, it felt as though his breath stopped.
Beside the bed,
in a place close enough to touch if he only reached out, lay Tiamar’s sword.
He did not know when, how, or through whose hands it had been brought here.
It was a sword that should have remained on the wagon, at least until they crossed the border.
Bido looked at the sword without a word.
Miryeong said quietly,
“So.”
Her voice was a little lower than usual.
“Once you come to your senses, you’ll meet them right away.”