Farewell to the hero! chapter 70

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That deep voice brought with it a faint ringing in my ears.

By the time the eerie sound faded, my trembling legs had locked in place, like rusted machinery grinding to a halt.

Ah.

A dry gasp escaped me, and the damp air clung to my skin.

The coolness before the rain gave way to a stifling summer heat.

I tightened my grip on the flowerpot without realizing it.

The delicate roses quivered, their scarlet petals fluttering to the ground.

For a moment, it felt like the earth beneath my feet was crumbling.

An endless pit seemed to yawn open below me, pulling me into its depths.

Something within me shattered, reassembled, then broke again in an endless loop.

In reality, I hadn’t moved an inch, but it felt like my very existence was being torn apart.

I didn’t need to wonder who the voice belonged to.

There was no need.

My senses, heightened by instinct, already knew the answer.

The faintly floral voice could only belong to Kaindel.

It had to be him.

“Why must you be such trouble?”

His languid tone carried no discernible emotion, just an air of fatigue.

It was so like Kaindel—indifferent to anything outside his own domain.

The familiar atmosphere made me turn my head without thinking.

A mossy wall, a puddle formed from discarded wash water, and a wildflower growing in the middle of the path came into view, one after the other.

Finally, my gaze landed on a figure standing at the end of the alley.

A tall man, distinct even from behind, faced a white horse.

From where I stood, only his robed back was visible.

But that was enough. I knew instantly it was Kaindel.

My long, hopeless infatuation proved useful for once.

Kaindel patted the horse, soothing its restless stamping and snorting.

His touch was gentle yet mechanical, as if merely waiting for the horse to calm down.

He pulled sugar cubes from his pocket and fed them to the animal with practiced ease.

It wasn’t until the horse had devoured five or six cubes that it finally settled.

Kaindel let out a quiet, deflated laugh.

“Clever creature I’ve picked up,” he murmured, lightly tapping the horse’s jaw with the back of his hand.

He tied the reins to a nearby tree and turned around, shedding his robe.

His deft fingers combed through his golden hair, loosening it from where it had been neatly pressed.

As the robe fell away, it revealed eyes like lush greenery—vivid, untainted emeralds that shimmered in the gaps between his tousled locks.

Fully facing me now, Kaindel’s expression was devoid of any warmth.

His eyes, heavy with boredom, lowered as he slid on a pair of leather gloves.

His meticulously crafted fingers disappeared into the snug material.

I bit down on my lower lip as I watched him prepare to leave.

My throat tightened painfully.

I should have fled before he noticed me.

But my body, frozen stiff, refused to obey.

The closer his gaze drew to mine, the more I found myself retreating, step by step.

The narrow alley and the pre-rain stillness amplified every hesitant footstep, each sound like a booming thunderclap.

At last, Kaindel’s attention snapped to me. His emerald eyes sharpened as they met mine.

“…”

“…”

The weight of his gaze pinned me in place, stripping me bare despite the robe I clung to.

The suffocating silence stretched on, threatening to choke me. My insides twisted.

There was no escape.

The intensity in Kaindel’s eyes flickered momentarily, brightening before sinking into darkness.

Suspicion and distrust clouded his gaze, yet he didn’t avert his eyes from me.

Instead, he stubbornly held me captive with his unrelenting stare.

Kaindel’s lips parted, and for a brief moment, his expression twisted violently.

It was a cacophony of emotions—delight, despair, anger, anxiety, joy, sorrow—all jumbled together in a dissonant mess.

I had never seen such a look during our time together; it was alien to me.

Soon, his dry lips began to move, mouthing something faintly. It wasn’t hard to discern.

“Isa.”

He was calling my name.

The moment I realized Kaindel had recognized me, the flowerpot in my hand slipped.

It was inevitable.

The pot rolled at my feet, cracking loudly as it hit the ground, sending a puff of dust into the air.

A handful of soil spilled from the fractured pot, crushing the uprooted rose beneath it like a miniature landslide.

But I had no time to care about the mess.

I instinctively took a step back.

Then another.

My trembling hands clenched into fists.

A wave of regret swept over me—’I should’ve fled sooner.’

My vision flickered as I focused on Kaindel.

When the dizzying sensation lifted, I realized I was already running, turning my back on him.

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“Haah… Hah… Huh.”

I darted out of the alleyway, weaving through narrow spaces between the clustered houses.

Though my breath burned in my throat, I didn’t stop.

My mind fixated on one thing: I had to get as far away from Kaindel as possible.

He would no doubt find my sudden flight suspicious, but that was a secondary concern.

With no destination in mind, I kept running.

My overworked stomach ached sharply, but I ignored it.

“Ah…”

After an aimless sprint, I spotted a wrought-iron fence overrun with vines.

I hesitated briefly before crouching behind it.

The tall fence was about my height and would obscure me for a while.

I hugged my trembling knees and worked to steady my breathing, careful to muffle the sound with my hands. E

ven the faintest noise could give me away.

As I calmed my ragged breaths and tried to ease the stabbing pain in my chest, I saw Kaindel in the distance.

He was approaching at a measured pace, his gaze sweeping his surroundings.

“Isa.”

His quiet voice brushed against my ears.

“Isa. Isa.”

“…”

“This time, I saw you. I saw you clearly. So come out now.”

There was no one around him, but Kaindel spoke as though I were right next to him.

His tone wavered between pleading and commanding.

What stood out the most, however, was his unhinged appearance.

Had he already found my hiding spot?

Kaindel, with his uncanny intuition, could very well pinpoint my location.

My heart pounded as I swallowed hard to stifle the hiccup of anxiety threatening to escape.

But the rising panic quickly fizzled out.

Kaindel didn’t seem to know I was there.

I cautiously peeked through the fence at him.

Somewhere along the chase, he had lost his gloves.

His bare hands were visible, and in one of them, clenched tightly enough to make the veins bulge, was a shard from the flowerpot I had dropped in the alley.

“Please…”

“…”

“Please…”

He muttered the word over and over, his trembling fingers brushing against his temple as his expression twisted painfully.

A hollow laugh broke from his lips, only to fall silent.

“Blood…” he murmured indistinctly, trailing off.

“…Again.”

Again. Again. Again.

He repeated the word like a mantra, dragging a hand over his face.

The pot shard fell from his grip, revealing his bloodied palm.

The shard had cut deep, leaving vivid red streaks like jagged roots down his hand.

“A hallucination, huh.”

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