The noon light poured in long shafts through the window bars.
The room was bright, but the air was not light.
Over the distinctive smell of medicine and dry cloth lay a thin layer of tension, the kind that came just before departure.
Bido was sitting with his back propped against the head of the bed.
His body was still too heavy for him to endure long on his own.
Every time he drew a deep breath, somewhere inside him throbbed with a dull ache.
Because of that, his gaze naturally turned toward the people gathered in the room.
Raymond, Miryeong, Ayla. And Ed, Wolryeon, and Jincheong.
Raen stood close at Bido’s side.
Miryeong was the first to speak.
“Everyone, listen carefully.”
All eyes in the room gathered on her at once.
Miryeong did not add a single unnecessary word.
“Raymond will explain the current situation.”
Raymond slowly walked to the front of the table and set down the documents in his hand.
The sound of paper touching wood rang out with an odd clarity.
After looking around the room once, he spoke in a calm voice.
“First, we have refused all of the escort personnel proposed by Velosa.”
Ayla’s brows moved ever so slightly.
Ed stood silently with his arms crossed,
and Wolryeon and Jincheong waited without a word for what came next.
“Fortunately, they did not make much of an issue of it either. At least on the surface.”
Raymond lightly touched one of the documents with his fingertips.
“What matters most right now is that we bring the witness and evidence we possess directly to the Grand Duke.”
“For this audience, only I, a clerk, and one escort will be accompanying us.”
No sooner had he finished than Miryeong took over.
“I’ll go as that escort.”
There was not the slightest hesitation in her words.
As if she would not give anyone time to object.
Miryeong turned her head and swept her gaze over the faces in the room one by one.
“And the rest of you stay here.”
“Take care of the wounded, and keep a close eye on anyone coming and going outside. Especially—”
Her gaze stopped on Bido.
“Don’t take your eyes off Bido.”
A brief silence passed.
Bido unconsciously put strength into his fingertips.
If it had been the original him,
no, if his body had been even a little more intact, he would have been the first to say he would go with them.
But not now.
His legs still could not hold out for long,
and even if he gripped a sword, he did not know whether he could swing it properly.
Forcing himself to move now would not be help, but a burden.
Bido himself knew that better than anyone.
Bido pressed his lips shut.
Instead of what he needed to say, he thought of what he needed to do.
He had to recover.
For now, that came first.
Raymond continued speaking.
“I do not believe there is a high possibility of a major disturbance breaking out immediately here in Velosa.”
He paused for a moment,
then lowered his voice a little.
“In particular, those who are trying to keep us in check are most likely targeting me and the evidence in our possession.”
“They will likely try to stop the audience, or shake us before it takes place.”
“So those of you remaining here are likely to be relatively safe.”
“I don’t like the word ‘relatively.’”
Ayla spoke in a low voice with her arms crossed.
Her tone sounded sarcastic,
but beneath it lay calculation rather than simple dissatisfaction.
Raymond nodded calmly.
“I know. I am not saying we can be certain.”
At that, Miryeong looked at Bido and tossed out the words bluntly.
“That’s only by our side’s standards. If the Empire reaches out again, it’s a different story.”
Her chin lifted slightly toward Bido.
“In that case, Bido’s side might be in greater danger.”
At that moment,
Raen, who had been standing beside Bido, silently reached out and wrapped her hand around his.
It was a small hand, but the strength with which it held him was unmistakable.
Bido looked down at that hand for a moment.
It was warm.
That warmth seemed to soften the cold tension in the room, if only slightly.
Miryeong watched the sight for a moment, then said no more.
Instead, she slowly turned her gaze toward the window.
As if she knew who was there,
she spoke low toward the presence outside.
“It’ll work out somehow.”
Miryeong turned around.
“We’re leaving right away. Don’t let your guard down.”
Raymond also gathered the documents and added briefly,
“We will return as soon as the audience is over.”
“Until then, I suppose we must hope nothing happens.”
Ed gave a short nod,
and Wolryeon cast one glance toward the window before bringing her hand to the heavy crossbow.
Jincheong silently moved to take position by the door.
Their movements held no waste, as if everyone already knew their role.
Bido watched them.
Those leaving and those staying behind.
For now, the two sides were clearly divided.
The door opened,
and Miryeong looked back at Bido one last time.
In that gaze were worry, vigilance,
and an unspoken pressure telling him not to collapse yet.
Soon, the door closed.
The room grew quiet again, but that quiet was different from before.
Someone had left, and someone had remained.
And now, even those left behind were in a position where they could no longer simply rest.
Time in the room flowed slowly, but unmistakably.
The medical officer came by from time to time to inspect Bido’s wounds.
Wolryeon sat leaning by the window, dismantling the heavy crossbow, cleaning it, and oiling it.
Jincheong and Ed went in and out several times, bringing food and water.
Raen stayed by Bido’s side almost the entire time.
The two did not talk about anything important.
Things they had seen on the road, what had happened at the Silver Moon Order’s garrison,
the small stories Raen had heard while staying with Maho.
Such things continued in fits and starts.
Even when the conversation stopped, it was not awkward.
The mere fact that someone was beside him made the silence far more bearable.
After choosing his words for a moment, Bido looked at Raen.
“Raen.”
“Yeah?”
“How can you tell where Roan is?”
Raen could not answer right away and tilted her head for a moment.
She seemed to be choosing the words to explain it herself.
“Mm… if I had to compare it to something, it’s like being pulled.”
“Like being pulled?”
“Yeah. Maho told me.”
“He said the fragment of the moon inside me is being drawn to the moon’s spiritual power Roan possesses.”
Raen lightly touched the area near her chest with her fingertips.
“It’s not perfectly accurate.”
“Sometimes the direction is clear, and when he gets farther away, it becomes faint.”
“Maho said it’s because I’m originally sensitive to this kind of thing.”
Bido slowly nodded.
“I see…”
After the brief reply, quiet settled again.
Beyond the window, the sound of people’s footsteps faintly brushed past in the distance.
The sound of Wolryeon fitting the crossbow’s parts back together rang out once more.
Then Raen stared at Bido and carefully opened her mouth.
“But I can feel something from you too, Bido.”
Bido raised his eyes.
“From me?”
“Yeah. It’s not like Roan, where I’m strongly pulled.”
Raen trailed off and thought for a moment.
“I don’t know how to put it… but when I’m near you, it feels a little like I’m settling down.”
Bido paused for a moment at those words.
They were unexpected.
And yet, strangely, he did not feel like denying them.
Rather, it felt as if he were hearing from someone else’s mouth, for the first time, something that had been somewhere inside him for a very long time,
something only he had passed by without knowing.
Bido smiled faintly.
It was a very slight smile.
“A sense of stability…”
Raen nodded.
“Yeah. It might sound strange, but it’s really like that.”
Bido turned his gaze again and slowly looked around the room.
The walls and the window, the cup of water by the bed, Wolryeon’s fingertips as she looked down at the crossbow she had finished maintaining,
the presence of Jincheong and Ed standing quietly near the door.
And the warmth of Raen close beside him.
He could stop Roan.
He could save him too.
This power of his that people spoke of that way—what exactly was it?
That question still circled inside Bido.
Only, it was a little different from before.
Before, it had felt like a vague fear,
but now it was as though something was quietly breathing within reach, close enough for him to touch if he stretched out his hand.
It still had neither a name nor a clear form.
But it was definitely there.
Bido quietly looked down at his palm.
Then, very slowly, he curled his fingers.
Is it really inside me?
Along with that thought,
something like a faint resonance brushed past once deep within his chest.
It was so faint that it almost felt like an illusion.
But this time, Bido did not miss it.
Ssssh.
A crescent moon mark slowly rose upon Bido’s forehead.
“Uh…”
Raen’s eyes grew round.
“Bido, on your forehead… that…”
Bido looked at Raen and smiled faintly.
Whenever the gate of Moonblood opened, his forehead no longer burned as if it were being seared.
Instead, only a very gentle warmth remained.
The moon’s energy was certainly cool,
yet the more it seeped into his body, the more his insides seemed to warm quietly.
Cold and warm,
sensations that should never have been able to coexist now overlapped as naturally as if they were one.
“This…”
Bido took the crescent moon necklace hanging around his neck in his hand.
“They said I inherited it from my mother. Just like this necklace.”
Raen looked up at the mark on Bido’s forehead in wonder.
After hesitating, her fingertips carefully stopped in front of the crescent moon mark.
“Can I touch it?”
Bido nodded.
It was the moment the tip of Raen’s finger touched the mark.
Bido’s brow moved ever so slightly.
From the place she touched, something like a cool ripple spread in an instant.
Through the center of the warmth, an unfamiliar grain brushed past.
“Hm…?”
Raen seemed to sense something strange as well and blinked.
From her fingertips, a thin black light bloomed like thread.
At first, it was faint, like an optical illusion.
But soon that light spread upward along the back of her hand.
A black and murky energy slowly flowed from Raen into Bido’s crescent moon mark.
“Raen?”
The moment Bido tried to sit up,
the air in the room changed all at once.
Wolryeon reflexively raised her head, and the hand holding the heavy crossbow lifted immediately.
Jincheong, who had been leaning by the door, lowered his stance, and Ed also took a step forward at once.
“What is it?”
Raen looked down at her own hand in confusion.
“Uh…”
Bang!
The closed window flew open violently.
The wind from outside rushed into the room all at once, and the curtains billowed fiercely.
Everyone’s gaze turned there at the same time.
A shadow crouched low on the window frame.
“What the hell is this?”
There was no ragged breathing, no hesitation in the voice.
It was Maho.
His gaze did not even sweep over the people in the room.
It fixed straight on the black light flowing out of Raen’s hand.
His face hardened at once.
“Raen!”
Maho’s shout struck through the room.
“Take your hand off!”