BSW 141

141

Ho-eun glanced back at him for a moment, then tried to turn back to Tae-muk.

“Just a moment. Right now, General-.”

“Can’t do that.”

Gil-sang grabbed Ho-eun’s wrist. It wasn’t just holding him back from going, but dragging him backward.

“Hey, why, why are you doing this? Stop it.”

Ho-eun tried to shake off Gil-sang’s hand. But with his insignificant strength, he couldn’t win against him. After tugging and twisting his wrist a few times, he looked at Tae-muk with aggrieved eyes. Please get this man off me. Please take me with you. I want to go to you. That’s what he wanted to say. But at that moment.

“Cough…….”

Tae-muk heaved his chest and coughed violently. At the same time, dark red blood gushed from his mouth, creating a pool of thick blood on the snow.

Tae-muk’s vomiting of blood didn’t end there. After coughing a few more times, he slowly leaned forward, then slumped to his knees.

“Ah…….”

Ho-eun, seeing that, turned pale. Tae-muk collapsing. He had never dared to imagine it. He didn’t think such a thing would happen.

Because Tae-muk was strong.

The strongest in the world, his God of War.

So Tae-muk collapsing was incredibly shocking. No, it was frightening. What would happen to him? He had to go to him right now, right now.

Ho-eun shook his arm, trying to shake off Gil-sang’s hand somehow.

“Corporal, the General is, is bleeding, ah, let go of me. Quickly.”

“…….”

But Gil-sang dragged Ho-eun away without a word. When Ho-eun struggled and resisted violently, he finally said, “Excuse me,” and even lifted Ho-eun by the waist.

“Why are you doing this! I’m the General’s Bondmate! I, I have to heal him!”

Ho-eun thrashed wildly as Tae-muk grew further away. He stretched his pale, thin hand out towards Tae-muk with all his might.

“Not now, do it later.”

“Why should I!”

The Devouring Ghouls were all dead. Now all that was left was to save Tae-muk. Nothing was more urgent than that. Unable to understand the situation at all, Ho-eun struck Gil-sang’s arm wildly. But Gil-sang didn’t budge.

“Sniff……. Let go…….”

As Tae-muk continued to move further away, Ho-eun finally burst into tears. He felt frustrated, angry, annoyed, scared, and afraid.

“General…….”

He looked at Tae-muk with tearful eyes. At the same time, he thought that Tae-muk would be looking for him too. That he would be feeling sadness at his moving away, so he would take him back. And indeed.

“…….”

Tae-muk, even as he continued to spit out blood, stared at Ho-eun with wide eyes.

But that gaze was strange. It wasn’t the look of someone watching his Bondmate move away. If it was a look of longing for his Bondmate, it wasn’t that either. Rather, it was, well, like…… the eyes of a fierce beast angered at having its prey stolen.

For a fleeting moment, there was a surge of murderous intent, as if he would instantly snap Gil-sang’s neck and seize him.

“…….”

Ho-eun gasped softly. Why, why was Tae-muk giving him that look? As he looked at Tae-muk with confused eyes, Gil-sang took Ho-eun and mounted his horse. Then he placed Ho-eun in front of him.

“Corporal, why are you doing this? Let me go.”

Ho-eun, belatedly regaining his senses, struggled to escape from his grasp. Seong-im came running breathlessly and covered Ho-eun with a thick, enormous Crimson Rain Brigade cloak.

As if trying to hide Ho-eun.

“W, what is this…….”

Ho-eun, flustered, floundered to take off the cloak.

“Hyah!”

Gil-sang started to ride the horse. With the sudden jolting, Ho-eun staggered as if he would fall off at any moment. Then Gil-sang firmly grasped the cloak wrapped around him and rode the horse even harder.

“Wh, what is, what is going on, what the hell…….”

Ho-eun couldn’t understand the current situation at all. He didn’t even want to understand. Were they all crazy? What would happen if they left him by Tae-muk’s side, who was so injured? Did they want Tae-muk to die? Were they even trying to commit treason?

He couldn’t condone it. He couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Ho-eun twisted his body with all his might. He would rather fall off the horse. He wanted to go to Tae-muk, even if it meant that.

But as always, Ho-eun’s struggles were truly insignificant and paltry. On top of that, the fever rose without a clue, and he couldn’t even struggle for long.

Ho-eun hated himself so much that he wanted to bite his tongue and die.

But he couldn’t die.

Because Tae-muk was in pain. Because he would be waiting for him.

He had to return to him.

Ho-eun gasped for breath, trying to calm his breathing. Then, in a much calmer voice, he said clearly.

“Let me down.”

Because he was speaking from inside the cloak, his voice was muffled, but it wasn’t so quiet that Gil-sang, who was right in front of him, couldn’t hear him.

“…….”

But Gil-sang didn’t answer. He wasn’t usually a talkative person, but he had never ignored him before. Moreover, the speed of the horse only increased. In time with the speed at which the horse’s hooves hit the ground, Ho-eun’s heart also beat faster. He felt anxious and uneasy.

Ho-eun, who had bitten his lower lip tightly and released it, said again.

“I told you to let me down. Let me down.”

“…….”

“Let me down! I said let me down!”

Ho-eun gathered the little strength he had left and shouted. He was really angry. So much so that he even groped his side. To find his Gun. He was thinking of pointing it at Gil-sang and threatening him.

But the Gun wasn’t there. There was no way he would have a Gun on his body, having been lying in the tent for days, sick.

Ho-eun gnashed his teeth in frustration. Thud. The cloak was lifted. At the same time, the white world covered in snow painfully scratched his eyeballs. Ho-eun briefly closed his eyes tightly, then glared at Gil-sang with all his might. And just as he was about to shout something.

“Quiet.”

Gil-sang said as if pleading.

“Excuse me?”

Ho-eun, dumbfounded, asked back as if scoffing. Gil-sang said again with a serious face.

“Please be quiet. The Captain might hear the noise and follow us.”

“……Excuse me?”

Ho-eun was completely dumbfounded by the absurd sound. Who would follow? Tae-muk would follow? Hearing his voice? Even if he did, why shouldn’t he? If that was the case, he should make even more noise.

Ho-eun looked at Gil-sang as if he couldn’t understand. Then the sound of another horse’s hooves was heard.

Seong-im was following behind Gil-sang. Behind him, Byeonguk was also visible, as well as a dozen other soldiers. They were the ones who always guarded Tae-muk’s side, and they were of high rank. In other words, they were highly skilled.

As if they had promised each other, they stood close to Ho-eun. Then they looked around with wary eyes. It didn’t seem like they were wary of the Devouring Ghouls that might be in the forest. A few Devouring Ghouls wouldn’t be a very frightening presence to them. Then what on earth were they wary of? Ho-eun couldn’t know anything.

“Why…… are you doing this? You haven’t forgotten that I’m the General’s Bondmate, have you?”

Ho-eun asked with a crumpled face. At that, Gil-sang stared at the front, where the eyes and trees were thick, and answered.

“I know. How could I not know that? That’s why we’re running away.”

“…….”

So, from whom were they running away? Surely not from Tae-muk? But he was his God of War, not a Devouring Ghoul? Ho-eun, still not understanding the situation, frowned even more. Gil-sang sighed softly and said.

“My mission is to protect Young Master. And right now, to protect Young Master, I have to avoid the Captain.”

“Why? Is the General going to kill me or something?”

“…….”

Gil-sang opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it without saying anything. It was silence. But Ho-eun read a faint affirmation in that silence.

“…….”

So Ho-eun couldn’t open his mouth any further either.

Gil-sang ran through the forest for a long time without resting. He only stopped when the horses were no longer able to run. The place was densely wooded, and the snow was up to his thighs, so he had to walk as if swimming.

“…….”

Ho-eun looked back at the forest he had passed through and thought. What if Tae-muk couldn’t hear his voice, let alone find him, and just left? That’s how far away he was.

Gil-sang and the soldiers, who had finished surveying the surroundings, began to clear the snow and set up tents. He wondered when they had prepared for this bizarre ‘escape’, but they had everything they needed, from tents to Dopo to food.

By the time they had created a place to stay and even lit a fire, the sun had set and night had arrived. Countless stars appeared in the sky.

“…….”

Ho-eun sat in front of the fire with a gloomy face. Gil-sang had told him to go inside the tent because it was cold, but he stubbornly sat outside. It was childish, but he was doing something called a protest.

Seong-im put a fur over Ho-eun’s shoulders, but he couldn’t even say thank you in his depressed state.

“Ha…….”

Ho-eun sighed deeply and closed his eyes tightly. Whether he closed his eyes or opened them, Tae-muk’s figure kept flickering in his mind. His staggering appearance, his collapsing appearance, his vomiting blood. And when he recalled the flesh that had been torn and eaten everywhere, he couldn’t sit still any longer.

“I think it would be better to go after all.”