38. sequelae (1)

Christine closed the door behind her and walked slowly to the bed where Maxim was lying.

she said nothing. Christine sat down on the chair next to Maxim’s bed with a grim expression on her face.

“How are you feeling?”

“Can I be honest with you?”

Christine nodded softly. Maxim raised one corner of his mouth and smiled. The hand was rubbing the scar on the abdomen.

“It hurts so bad. It’s like someone’s still burning It hurt like being stabbed with a knife until just now, but now it’s a little better.”

“Of course it is.”

Christine let out a deep sigh and glared at Maxim.

“Why did you overdo it?”

“Is it because it was inevitable? If you were me, you would have used it.”

Maxim said that, as if teasing Christine. Christine continues to stare at Maxim with a displeased expression.

“Don’t talk so plainly. It’s because it was brought from the state right before death.”

Kick, Maxim laughed. Maxim then took off his hospital gown and exposed his upper body. There are more scars than the last time I checked. And as if covering all the wounds, the long scars were always there.

“I expected it.”

Maxim smiled bitterly and ran his finger over the scar. Just like that time, black cracks spread from the scar. Cracks pulsate like blood vessels. Maxim frowned when he realized that the cracks were all pointing upwards.

It wasn’t the heart that the rift was aiming for. Somehow, Maxim could feel that way. Christine didn’t seem to know that.

Christine’s face hardened. She was wearing a very heavy expression.

“You’ll know when you see it.”

“what?”

“A curse, a curse. Now, what I struggled to stop has started to progress very slowly.”

Christine reached out and placed a finger on Maxim’s stomach. beginning of scarring. Where did the playful attitude of asking to see her wounds gone? Maxim did not reject the healing light that Christine gave him, but accepted it comfortably. The throbbing scar area gradually calmed down.

Christine continued to speak, letting in a light.

“While the senior was asleep, I took care of the scar all night. After using the aura, sure enough, the curse was quickly eating away at me.”

Christine removed her hand. Maxim looked Christine in the eyes and asked her to continue the explanation.

“I couldn’t confirm it on the spot… but after I transferred my senior, when I checked it, it was in a really dangerous state. My injuries were serious.”

Christine’s voice was slightly hoarse. Maxim, unsure of how to react, just listened to Christine.

“I stopped. I thought it would be okay to stop the curse from progressing and treat other internal injuries, but I thought so…”

Christine’s words trembled a little. Maxim had a vague idea of what she was trying to say.

“The curse doesn’t stop.”

There was even a sense of fear in Christine’s words. Christine’s hands trembled and she clutched at Maxim’s bedspread.

“Don’t stop. Even if you use all the methods you normally use, even if you squeeze and refine your mana to the limit and try dozens of times, the curse that should definitely stop is progressing very little.”

“…is it.”

Maxim smiled bitterly and adjusted his collar. Christine looked at Maxim’s face. As if he had expected this to happen, his face was just calm. Christine felt a surge of emotion inside of her. Maxim looked at Christine’s weeping face.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m not… I’m not crying.”

Christine answered in a wet voice. Tears ran down her cheeks against her will. Christine answered, heeping, breathing involuntarily and weeping. As for her, she tried to hold back her tears as much as she could, but she couldn’t stop her hands from moving up to her face.

“No matter how, no matter how hard I tried… I couldn’t stop it. sorry. Because I am weak I…”

Maxim stroked Christine’s hair. I could feel her hair, which was soft, but somehow a little frizzy from fatigue.

“Because I’m not crying.”

“Yes, yes.”

Maxim kept stroking Christine’s hair until she stopped crying. When Christine’s tremors subsided, Maxim asked her cautiously.

“Have you seen anyone else?”

“I am the only one. Because I didn’t want my seniors to be known.”

“…Thanks, Christine.”

Christine looked at Maksim, who was able to say thank you in this situation, with a frustrated look. Maxim looked at the eyes that were bulging and burning bright red.

“How long do you think you have left?”

“Are you asking me to say that now?”

Christine groaned and sighed. Maxim’s expression did not change. Christine hung her head, thinking she had made a mistake. why am i angry

“…it’s okay.”

Maxim said. Christine struggled to open her mouth.

“…it won’t be going that fast. If you don’t overdo it, your lifespan will end at a slightly reduced line, but if you continue to act as a knight, if you use more mana, the curse will proceed faster.”

Maxim nodded.

“It’s a big deal, that.”

“Yeah. So that’s what I’m saying. As a side note, if you use the aura even once more, the curse will definitely consume your body.”

Christine said in a sharp voice.

“…Can I stop now?”

Maxim blinked.

“You can quit being a knight and go back to your hometown to live. Ex-girlfriend, come here, forget everything.”

Christine was saying that as if she were making an earnest request.

“The fact that the senior wanted to hide will now be revealed if he continues to act as a knight. Maybe you already noticed.”

Maxim looked down at his hand with a complicated expression. Things have changed a lot. After the reprieve declared by the count was over, he could have quit the Knights. But it didn’t. His choices overlapped and overlapped, creating the same result as now.

Still, will you just keep turning your back on your choice and run away?

Maxim confronts Christine.

“After returning to the royal capital, I think I will need some time to think about it.”

Christine sighed, relieved that Maxim’s answer was not a resolute refusal. After a moment of silence, Christine clapped her hands softly as if she had just remembered something.

“Oh, I think seniors and the captain will be on vacation when we return to the capital this time. I think it will probably come out in a week…”

Maxim narrowed his brows.

“Are you giving me a week or so of vacation to return early without any full-fledged dispatch activities?”

“What could be better than taking sick leave? I’ll give it to you for free I think the fact that I raised my criminal record by one major had an impact.”

Maxim scratched the back of his head as if in trouble.

“This, I’ll see all the benefits of being isolated at the bottom of the cliff.”

“Don’t think about doing anything else and recuperate at home. After the report in the capital, it seems that we may have to return to the uninhabited land right away.”

Christine pouted and said.

“No, I think it’s best to stay in the capital and not come back here before then.”

Maxim chuckled at Christine’s addition.

“What would you do if you didn’t have friends without me?”

“I have a lot of friends.”

Christine replied with a frown.

“Don’t your friends have more seniors? The only people I am close with are Sir Paola and Sir Roberto.”

Maxim pulled his face back with a bitter expression as if he had been hit.

“Well, aside from that.”

“Your skill at changing the topic of conversation is no joke, senior.”

It was just when Maxim opened his mouth to bring up another subject.

“Come to think of it, Theodora…”

smart,

Someone knocked on the door of the hospital room. Christine winked at Maxim and opened the door to the hospital room. Maxim immediately recognized the person standing outside the door.

“The Marquis…?”

“You have worked hard, Maxim Appart.”

Christine looked at the Marquis who strode into the hospital room with a frown. The Marquis, not paying attention to his gaze, came near Maxim’s bed and stood with his arms crossed.

“He came back alive with good judgment in an isolated situation. I’m glad you came back safely.”

“…thank you.”

The Marquis sighed and shook his head.

“Well, putting everything else aside, I want to say I’m sorry.”

Maxim shook his hand at her unexpected apology.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I think I misjudged you. It was embarrassing, so I even deliberately placed them in rough terrain.”

Maxim let out a laugh. I didn’t expect someone the size of a count would come to apologize in person like this.

“Is it okay for someone who should be heavy-handed to apologize to the pyeongdan members like this?”

The Margrave raised a corner of his mouth faintly at Maxim’s attitude.

“I’m apologizing because I think it’s a situation where I need to apologize. I’m not the kind of person who doesn’t lower my head when I have to. Even if it’s dreary, there’s no end to it.”

Maxim could not even open his mouth and listened to the margrave’s self-torture at the sight of him being put down without hesitation.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Except for a little throbbing.”

“I’m glad. The road to the royal road is going to be very long, so make sure you get plenty of rest.”

The Marquis cleared his throat and evoked an awkward atmosphere.

“Thanks to you… it’s a little hard to say, but thanks to you and Theodora falling off the cliff, we were able to obtain conclusive evidence of this anomaly.”

“Evidence, do you mean the evidence of the good side?”

The Marquis shook his head.

“Unfortunately, against it. The existence of that death worm was the biggest evidence suggesting the movement of the Behemoth.”

Maxim hardened his face.

“why…”

“To put it simply, there is no reason for a Death Worm that is powerful enough to dig into a rock to dig into a cliff. I just use the ground as my territory, and when I want, I can catch and eat the monsters that walk on the ground.”

Maxim nodded at the Marquis’ explanation.

“However, the fact that he dug into the cliff and tried to expand the no-man’s zone by weakening the ground. And…”

The Marquis looks down at Maxim with sharp eyes.

“The fact that humans have been relentlessly targeted and attacked.”

Maxim thought of that moment. Apparently, the death worm targeted and attacked Maxim himself and Theodora as if he had built up a grudge.

“…It couldn’t have been done without the order of the higher entity that could lead all the monsters.”

“And the parent object is…”

The Marquis affirmed.

“yes. The only high-ranking entity capable of commanding such a monster would be the Behemoth.”

“…It’s a big deal.”

“It’s not a big deal. It is a situation that could decide the existence of the kingdom.”

The Marquis shrugged. Contrary to what she said, she seemed to be accepting reality with a calm attitude.

“There will still be time. I don’t know in a year… but at least in a month the Behemoth won’t suddenly come in.”

“I should be grateful for the time I was given to prepare,” said the Marquis, looking out the window.

“It will be time to gather troops in the capital… and if we can catch the Behemoth, the situation in the no-man’s land will be a little better.”

The Marquis finished the story by unfolding his arms.

“Aren’t you curious about anything? Anything you want to ask?”

Maxim glanced at Christine. Christine narrowed her brows as if asking why she was looking at her. Maxim turned his head to the Marquis again.

“Theodora…So, how is the captain?”

The Marquis raised his eyebrows.

“It’s a bit better than you lying down. My right leg was seriously injured, and there are quite a few other fractures and cuts, but the vice-captain and the medical officer worked hard to recover a lot.”

Maxim turned his head to Christine and tried to thank him, but Christine broke down and refused to make eye contact with him.

“Now I can get out of bed and walk with crutches. Recovery is also very fast in case someone isn’t a knight.”

The Marquis paused for a moment. To Maxim, her appearance appeared to be difficult to utter the next word.

“So, he asked if it would be okay if I came to visit you in the hospital. I asked if I could just visit him, but he said I had to ask him.”

Maxim’s speech was momentarily blocked.

“How can I tell you? It’s okay to come…”

Maxim shook his head.

“Nope.”

The voice was firm.

“I’m sorry to say the Marquis, but…”

Some truth has come to Theodora, but at least you must not face her now. Rather, because of that, we couldn’t face each other now.

“Please tell me I can’t meet you.”

—

“Then, please take good care of yourself.”

The Marquis left those words and left Maxim behind and left the hospital room.

It was evening. The sun was setting outside the window and the sky was turning red, creating a scene that matched the scenery of the no-man’s-land.

In the corridor of the hospital ward illuminated by the sunset, the Marquis spoke to a person who was sitting in a chair in the hallway.

“Did you hear?”

Sitting in the chair was Theodora. I couldn’t sleep, so I was looking down at the ground with wide eyes. His right leg was wrapped in bandages. At the same time, the crutches were scattered beside him.

Theodora nodded helplessly at the Marquis’ question.

“What are you so down on? You said it wasn’t your fault.”

“…sorry.”

Theodora answered in a completely submerged voice. The Marquis sighed, clicked his tongue, and looked at Theodora.

“You take good care of yourself too. Your name is the captain, so don’t look too downcast in front of the members… Go back to the hospital room.”

As the Marquis approached with the momentum to take Theodora away, Theodora shook her head and refused the Marquis’ help.

“I will be back soon. I’m fine, Marquis first…”

The Marquis sighed. What was the change of heart? The Marquis looked at Theodora for a while, then left her behind and left the ward. Theodora heard the Marquis’ footsteps receding.

Hell, she had no idea what was going on.

The reason why Maxim suddenly collapsed vomiting blood, and the meaningful words that Maxim had told him before. Theodora was shaking. It felt like something was wrong with me.

Theodora crouched down and trembled. Just like when he was locked up in a cave with Maxim, he wrapped his left leg in his arms and trembled.

Time passed. Theodora continued to sit, not noticing that it was getting dark outside.

jump.

The door to the hospital room, where Maxim was lying, opened. The one who opened the door was Christine. Theodora quietly turned her head to watch Christine come out, then met her eyes.

“…Captain?”

Christine called out to Theodora in surprise when she encountered a completely unexpected person.

“…Vice-captain.”

Theodora’s voice was small, but desperate.

“What is happening to Maxim right now?”