My Strange Savior - Chapter 151

Chapter 151

“What on earth are you…?”

The cow thrust its head into Gia’s arms. The head was heavy to match the large body. 

Gia awkwardly smiled at the sight of the cow making a growling sound as if asking to be touched.

“Do you even know what that is…? If you throw it away like that, what will happen? It can’t fall off a cliff…”

As the cow affectionately pressed its head against Gia’s chest, Gia fell backward to accommodate its large body and head weight.

“Ha…”

Gia sighed and chewed on her lips. How should she die now? There was no clean way to die. 

Gia touched the dagger, but eventually let go. She could feel the ornament that Kalion had done at her fingertips.

She didn’t want to cut her own throat with it. Gia pushed the head of the cow, nestled in her arms, against her chest.

“What did I do… Kuh.”

Her once-healthy heart began to pound with pain as if going crazy. 

Could it be? Gia’s pupils widened. Was it the harbinger of a rampage? When Gia, who was coughing by folding her waist, touched her lips to the warm sensation, sticky blood stained her palm.

“Darn it.”

She had to go die quickly. There was no time left.

“You, get out quickly.”

A cloudy membrane quickly covered, and Gia’s eyes became so clouded with brown that it was impossible to find the bright color. The rampage was certain. Gia stood up from her seat, and the cow bit and pulled Gia’s waist, trying to get her attention.

“What… What is it? Get out.”

Her breath became increasingly rough. Blood seeped out with each breath. There was no time to struggle. As Gia tried to detach the cow from her body by squatting on the floor, her body collapsed heavily.

“Kng.”

“Get out. Heuk.”

Her cells expanded, and her whole body twisted. The virus spreading in an instant made Gia’s hands tremble. Gia desperately leaned on the floor to try to detach the cow from her body.

She couldn’t rampage like this. She envisioned herself going down to the village, killing people as she pleased. She had to stop that somehow. The damn cow was hindering even that.

The cow, blocking Gia from going outside the cave, continued to push its nose toward Gia. 

Why was the cow acting like this? Did it have a grudge against her? 

Gia bit her teeth hard to suppress the pain, and her lips touched the warm blood when she coughed.

“Go… Go away.”

Pushing the cow away, Gia desperately held onto her fading consciousness. She couldn’t focus on the dizzying sight. With the pain that felt like thousands of needles stabbing her whole body, her consciousness gradually drifted away.

Even while trying to detach the cow clinging to her, Gia rolled her body, but it stayed in place. It shouldn’t be like this. Strangely, her lips became dry, and thirst surged. 

With the ringing in her ears, Gia’s body convulsed.

The trembling of the body stopped for a moment. 

Swoosh. When Gia stood up, she was no longer the same as before.

“Kruk.”

Zombie-like sounds emanated from Gia’s mouth. 

Gia, tilting her head, stared at the cow in front of her with hazy pupils as if she were about to eat it.

And in an instant, she rushed towards the cow.

* * *

Bam.

Kalion shook off the knight who’d grabbed him and burst through the door to the duke’s office.

“Father!”

“You’ve come.”

In the composed appearance of the Duke, Kalion could not contain his anger. His large shoulders shook up and down as he shouted at the Duke as if roaring.

“Why the hell did you lie to me!”

The Duke’s pupils were indifferent as he watched Kalion yelling as if roaring.

“Gia, it’s what the child wanted.”

“What, what is that… Gia. Why Gia.”

All of Kalion’s thought processes came to a halt as if pierced by something.

Kalion, who had shaken off the hand of the attendant holding his arm, quickly turned his body. Kalion’s footsteps, going up to Gia’s room, became urgent. His insides burned as he leaped three steps at a time.

‘No… No.’

Kalion’s voice denying the reality of the situation couldn’t even come out.

Click.

As the door opened, the room strangely felt cold. It was as if no one had entered for the past four days while he was away searching for the mage. Kalion forcefully stepped into the motionless room.

“Gia?”

The voice of Kalion, who believed it wouldn’t be what he was suspected, cracked miserably.

Kalion, searching the room, pulled out the bathroom door. There were no traces of Gia here either. Denying reality, Kalion came back down to the study.

“Where is Gia?”

Kalion’s expression, standing calmly next to his father as if he had expected this, was frighteningly calm. But the Duke knew that he was on the verge of exploding.

“Where is she?”

Kalion’s voice, enunciating each word as he spat them out, was colder than midwinter.

“She left.”

“Lies… Lies.”

“She told me everything before she left. That she would soon go on a rampage.”

Kalion’s knees buckled at the Duke’s words. 

Did Gia lie to him? He should have suspected when she mentioned having about a year left.

Gia’s response, smiling brightly and saying that she might find the mage, echoed in Kalion’s ears.

“Promise to come find me. Come and heal my illness. Then, I’ll stay by your side for eternity.”

“My illness is not something that can be cured. I asked you not to tell him.”

At the Duke’s indifferent tone, Kalion’s heart was torn into countless pieces. Kalion, who grabbed his torn chest, breathed deeply. But it still didn’t feel like he could breathe.

“Uh, huk.”

It’s a lie. She said she was waiting for him. Gia wouldn’t make such a choice. 

Kalion’s red eyes, denying reality, shook as his upper body twisted forward.

Barely extending his arm to support himself, Kalion grabbed his left chest.

The mage who was supposed to arrive in the evening had not shown up for several days. Sensing something unusual, Kalion attempted to return to the mansion. However, he was reassured by the information source and attendants, who gathered to inform him that the mage would arrive tomorrow.

While spending time there like a fool, what thoughts occupied Gia’s mind as she left the mansion? 

Overwhelming emotions suppressed Kalion. It shouldn’t have been spent alone. Even if she couldn’t cure the illness, it shouldn’t have been left for her to face the end alone.

Kalion’s eyes burned red as he imagined Gia’s lonely figure. How difficult and lonely must have been on her journey. Kalion, thinking about his vanished lover who left without saying a word, felt his throat turning red.

“Gia.”

Thick teardrops fell from Kalion’s eyes as he called out Gia’s name. 

Did he even have the right to shed tears? he should find Gia now, even if she said she couldn’t cure the illness. He has to be by her side. 

Kalion straightened his hunched body.

Drip, drip. Kalion, wiping away the tear trails with his hand, looked at the Duke.

“Where did she go?”

When Kalion, who seemed on the verge of exploding at any moment, calmly asked, the Duke’s lips twitched. 

Was it okay to say it now? His eyes seemed to convey that.

“Please tell me. If you don’t want to see me go crazy.”

Kalion’s red eyes, warningly fixed on the Duke, approached closely. Unable to avoid it, the Duke sighed and opened his mouth.

“That child said she’s going back to where she first met you.”

Three days since she left. Even if Kalion caught up with her now, he wouldn’t get what he wanted. 

Making that judgment, the Duke, who couldn’t hide his fierce red eyes, spat out the words as he looked at Kalion.

As soon as Kalion heard those words, he immediately left the mansion. Filled only with the thought of finding Gia, Kalion quickly mounted on Lux. Lux’s four legs crossed rapidly in response to the owner’s footsteps, which seemed more uneasy than usual.

“Yah. Hurry. Lux.”

Kalion was in a hurry, fearing that Gia might choose her end somewhere without him. He thought that if he caught up with her now, he could reach her side.

Resentment that wanted to blame why she didn’t trust him quickly subsided and turned into a whirlwind, but it soon retreated inside without a tail. 

Kalion bit his lip tightly.

‘I will go. I will go to you.’

* * *

It had been days, but Kalion had lost track.

Empty-handed, he set out towards the Hagria Mountains without rest, urging his horse forward.

Leaving the exhausted Lux in an inn midway, Kalion continued his journey with only dried meat as sustenance, having pawned even his sword. 

He prayed inwardly for Gia’s well-being, pleading not to make any other choice. Kalion desperately invoked a god he had never bothered to acknowledge before.

“Come on.”

The destination was within reach. Upon reaching the foothills of the Hagria Mountains, Kalion leaped off his still-moving horse without stopping.

“Please, Gia.”

Whatever her fate may be, he doesn’t care. He just wants to be by her side.

So Kalion conveyed his unattainable hope.

The place Gia mentioned when they first met. If Kalion’s expectations were correct, it referred to the cave where they confirmed each other’s existence. Kalion, filled with certainty, moved forward.

As if unable to delay even for a moment, rapidly crossing his legs while climbing the mountain, Kalion suddenly stood still. 

Is what he is seeing now real?

“Gi…”

At the name he could barely pronounce, Kalion’s heart was tinged with sadness. Looking at Gia coming down the mountain, sitting on the back of a large cow with the sun as a backdrop, Kalion wondered if he was dreaming.

Why is it said that if you desire something too much, you see illusions? 

Kalion looked just like that now. Otherwise, Gia wouldn’t appear before him the moment he uttered her name.

Standing still, Kalion stared blankly at his lover riding down on the cow, forgetting even to breathe.

“Gia… Gia!”

It would have been fine even if it were an illusion. Kalion shouted Gia’s name, running towards her.

“Ka-Kalion?”

“Gia!”

In an instant, Kalion reached Gia and stretched out both hands. It seemed like touching Gia would make him realize that this moment was real.

Trembling hands reached out to Gia.