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My Male Lead Became Fierce (2)
“You still don’t know who I am.”
“Who cares? Watch what you say about my man! What’s worse, no matter how much I think about it, you seem to be the reason that my life has been shortened. I want to kill you twice, but I’m just barely holding myself back. Would you please just cooperate obediently?”
I gave a fiery speech using a mixture of honorifics with informal speech. [1]
“You think I deserve to die after all! You have no intention of helping me. Instead, you just tell me not to come see you if I want to live out the remainder of my life!”
I ran out of breath after shouting continuously. Kylis’ horse studied my face.
“Sir Knight, I’m deliberately not looking into your identity! I have a mountain of words I want to say, but I’m worried that if I know who you are I’ll get intimidated and I’ll have to hold myself back even when I get angry! Understand? Whether you had 1,000 or 5,000 wives in your past life, I still don’t want to know!”
But Kylis turned away, acting as though he hadn’t heard my complaints.
“Someone has entered the forest.”
As if the order to attack had finally been handed down, the monster-like horse’s eyes gleamed with a pale blue light. It was instantly fired up, ready to ram into the intruder like a raging bull.
What the heck kind of horse is this again? Olga said it was a Ferghana horse or something, but is that actually its breed? [2]
I couldn’t help grumbling even as curiosity was sprouting inside my mind.
“Hmm. They probably just came to play around. This isn’t a restricted area.”
Although people rarely visited, this wasn’t a place where people couldn’t come at all.
However, he seemed to be treating this time as a special case. His black and blue helmet gleamed.
“They possess divine power. It’s not an ordinary amount. I’ll have to kill them.”
What kind of crazy logic is that?
I couldn’t help being utterly astonished.
“Isn’t there something wrong with your line of reasoning?!”
The forest had been rustling about, bathed in warm colors. But when Kylis made a grand motion, the sunlight from above was blocked and all of the activity in the forest ceased as if to bow down to him.
The golden light embracing the forest instantly began to flicker out. Once the sounds of animals could no longer be heard, ominous smoke began to flow out of his armor. If I left things as they were, it seemed like a huge disaster would occur. I stood in front of Kylis, blocking him.
“Calm down! That person has no idea who you are, Sir Knight! Maybe there’s a religious event going on nearby!”
Since he said that the person had an unusual amount of divine power, the likelihood of them simply being some religious devotee was low. But in this day and age even the Archbishop’s divine power wasn’t that strong…
Suddenly I felt all of the blood drain from my body. I covered my mouth with my hand, becoming lost in thought.
It couldn’t be…
I checked the glass bottle that Vesta had given me out of concern for any future trips I might make to the forest. A rough stone had been placed in the small, thumb-sized glass bottle that would rattle about when Vesta wanted to send a signal.
Just like it was right now.
“Ahhhh! Did Rayleigh follow me? I guess he entered the forest after seeing my carriage. I’m sorry. I’ll take him somewhere else right away.”
Cutting the conversation short, I was just about to run off when my body was yanked backwards due to some strong force. I looked up in bewilderment at Kylis, who was holding on to my arm.
“Why…?”
He was so strong that, instead of just taking a step back, I had nearly fallen.
Kylis remained silent. I pointed out our current situation to him in a gentle tone of voice.
“Sir Knight, now you’re the one grabbing on to my arm.”
“Don’t go.”
Suspicion grew into certainty. This ghost even seemed to know that divine power had an adverse effect on me.
“It’s okay. He won’t kill me.”
I tried to free my arm from Kylis’ grasp, but no matter how hard I tried he wouldn’t let go.
“Don’t get carried away with unfounded confidence.”
“No, I belong to a family with a high rank, so…”
“I can’t hear you.”
Continuing, Kylis said stubbornly, “Because I have no ears.”
“Do you know… I don’t even know what to say.”
Then you had a mouth that you used to speak? Huh?
“I’m opening up a path by force. Cover your face.”
Since it wouldn’t do me any good to get caught with a non-human entity by Rayleigh, I glanced around me.
“Even if suddenly you tell me that, there’s nothing I can cover myself with…”
It’s not like I can glue a bunch of leaves to my face or pull my dress over it.
Kylis pressured me in a vicious tone of voice.
“Now.”
My eyes scanned here and there, wandering the forest. With no other alternative, they eventually landed on Kylis. Or more precisely, on his empty helmet.
I was the type of person who didn’t hesitate to put their thoughts into practice.
“Well then, please excuse me!”
I recklessly tore off Kylis’s helmet and threw it over my head. My field of vision became dark.
“Covered! Oh wow. This is seriously heavy. My neck is wobbling.”
My voice echoed inside the helmet. I made some adjustments, moving my eyes to the opening so that I could see in front of me.
I heard Kylis’ dumbfounded voice.
“You…”
I looked over at Kylis. Seeing his even more bizarre appearance, I bit my tongue. There truly was a headless knight before me. With his helmet removed, the ghost couldn’t even pretend to have a head. Fortunately his neck had turned pitch-black so neither bones nor flesh could be seen.
This was not the time to be scared. I managed to take one step forward and make a hastily improvised proposal.
“You’re not going to kill Rayleigh looking like this, are you? Think it over again! Y-you won’t look cool! Let’s run away for now!”
“Are you confident that you can handle whatever comes in the future?”
For some reason the ‘future’ that Kylis was talking about seemed like a ‘future’ where he got mad and killed me. And it felt quite close.
“I’m not confident.”
Does this look like something I did because I had a plan to you?!
I decided to pin my hopes on Kylis having some idea of my status.
“But if someone gets hurt here, I may never come back to see you again, Kylis. And the forest might become pretty noisy. I don’t think you’d want that.”
Kylis was silent for a moment. I waited motionless for him to make a decision. Eventually the intensity of Kylis’ spirit abated, albeit only slightly.
“That kid is a descendant of Anacleto.”
My eyes opened wide.
“Your insight is really good.”
“I’ve encountered him before. Although only briefly.”
Kylis, whose gaze had been glued forward, turned around as if he had lost interest. It seemed that Rayleigh wasn’t rushing headlong in our direction.
Whoops. I need to hide my hair too.
It was a bit awkward because even the slightest movement caused the helmet to twist around. I firmly grabbed hold of the helmet.
“Hey Kylis, is divine power dangerous for you?”
“Just worry about yourself.”
“… Be honest. You’ve never had a single friend in your entire life, have you?”
To my surprise, Kylis said nothing about me wearing his helmet or trying to provoke him.
“Divine power does not eat away at me. It has been that way since I was born. However, it is a different story for you who has become tainted by my malevolence.”
“Aha, I see…”
I nodded.
And then I shouted, “Hey! So you were the cause after all!”
They say it’s dark beneath the oil lamp. [3] The culprit had been right under my nose.
I’ll make you pay for this!
“You! You stole my life force and made it so that I have an adverse reaction to divine power!”
The helmet was quite heavy and was obstructing my vision, so I tried to take it off.
Kylis spoke in an emotionless and insincere tone of voice.
“You yourself offered up your lifespan to me.”
“How am I supposed to believe that? I have no memory of it at all.”
“That was bound to be the case because I erased your memory.”
“Ahhh, my blood pressure…”
I was losing my mind. What angered me the most was Kylis’ indifference.
He had only shown me the tiniest bit of sincerity after my persistent interrogation. Up until that point he hadn’t intended to reveal anything. He hadn’t cared even a little about how I would take his words or his actions. Because he had no respect for me in the first place…
The helmet was halfway off, but thinking that Kylis’ hand was reaching out towards me, I forcefully pushed the top of the helmet down, shoving it back on my head.
“I won’t give it back.”
There was no room for rebuttal. I bit my lip firmly.
“Because you erased my memories I almost died without even knowing the reason why.”
Anastasia had actually met such a tragic fate in the original story. I was unable to hide how upset I was. Showing a hint of kindness, Kylis gave me a brief explanation.
“At the time, you said that it didn’t matter.”
“… You mean I brought it on myself?”
I was shocked when Rayleigh’s words suddenly came to mind.
Kylis’ tone abruptly seemed to soften a little.
“You simply had so little attachment to your own life that you didn’t care if you threw it away trying to save a dirty, filthy thing that you didn’t even know.
I couldn’t figure out what expression I should make. I actually thought it was a relief that my face was hidden because I was wearing a helmet.
“I have been wandering for a very long time. This body is dead, but not dead and half of my soul is chained up so that I can never be resurrected as the perfectly evil villain I once was. When I first met you I was merely a disembodied spirit and you took pity on me. But you went too far.”
Kylis spoke at length for the first time.
“You said that you hadn’t been face to face with anyone in a long time. You also said that the longest conversation you’d ever had in your life was when you met me.”
My mind went completely blank for a moment.
What the heck. I won’t even be able to blame anyone if he says that.
If this was the result of the former Anastasia Sinclair’s own choice… if this was the outcome of a decision she made because she thought Kylis was worth the sacrifice, then I’d have no choice but to accept it.
Assuming Kylis was telling the truth, I wouldn’t be able to feel regret about what happened. I needed to shift the responsibility of that decision onto the Anastasia of that time and not write it off as a mistake she made.
At least, I could do that. If nothing else…
“… You gave away your lifespan so recklessly that I felt compelled to erase your memories. For that reason I will not return your lifespan to you.”
My chest felt tight as if my heart was breaking.
Anastasia Sinclair had purchased a conversation partner, not with money but with her life.
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Notes:
[1] Formal/polite and informal/casual speech represent varying levels of politeness used when talking to and about other people in Korean. Generally this is reflected in a change in grammar, conjugation, and sometimes nouns. The type of speech used is dependent on the age and status of the other person as well as the speaker’s familiarity with them.
[2] Ferghana horses (한혈마) were a breed of horse that was highly prized in ancient China. They were said to have been both beautiful and sturdy mounts. Called the Ferghana horse due to the area they likely originated from, they are also referred to as ‘heavenly horses’ as well as ‘blood-sweating horses’ due to them purportedly sweating blood upon strenuous rides.
[3] ‘등잔 밑이 어둡다.’ Sometimes translated as ‘it is dark under the oil lamp’ or ‘the beacon does not shine on its own base’, this phrase refers to the fact that it is sometimes difficult to see what is right under one’s own nose. The lamp illuminates everything around it, but casts a shadow at its base, making it hard to see what is right beneath the lamp.