HEO 137

However, human emotions are not a matter of simple arithmetic. If a friend you once played with every night in the hot springs murdered your father, anyone would be swept away by a rage that reason could hardly suppress.

Even if they knew the friend had a desperate reason. Even if the entire story was, in reality, a fiction woven by a broken mind.

But to Silver, it is the truth.

How on earth did things get so twisted?

If Silver finds out that I am ‘that Wolf’…

Wolf looked down at the river. His face shimmered on the surface of the water, stained by the sunset.

“That guy named Wolf, he’s still alive, right?”

Wolf asked impulsively. Silver nodded, staring at the distant riverbank.

“You’re going to get revenge, right? On Wolf.”

At those words, Silver paused and looked at Wolf. Wolf’s palms were drenched in sweat against the oar, but he deliberately shrugged with a cheerful air.

“Regardless of how great your father’s mistake was, you can’t just forgive him. You’re planning to take Wolf’s head, right? Right?”

“Fuck? What do you take me for?”

Silver snapped back sharply. Wolf’s eyes widened. This wasn’t acting. He was so surprised he nearly dropped the oar.

“You’re not going to get revenge? Are you serious?”

This petty brat is doing nothing? This is practically the river flowing backward or the sun rising in the west.

Of course he is.

“Who said I wasn’t getting revenge?”

A petty answer came snapping back. Silver rowed violently.

“I’ll just take his biological father’s faults into consideration. I’ll settle for cutting off Wolf’s nose.”

Goddamn, thank goodness. He’s fucking merciful!

Wolf was so stunned he was speechless, but the parrot on his shoulder shrieked.

“That’s an aggravated punishment!”

Wolf didn’t even have time to stop it. Red Eagle spread both wings wide and rattled off rapidly.

“That’s dozens of times more vicious than decapitation! Every time he looks in a mirror, every time he feels a biting winter wind, every time he faces a child, he’ll suffer mental and physical agony and be pointed at! Difficulty breathing is just a bonus!”

“Shut up, Prince! Close that beak!”

You’re doing great, Prince. Please protest louder on my behalf.

“I’m not wrong! Captain, this eccentric is confusing mitigating circumstances with aggravated punishment! Mitigating circumstances are grounds stolen contentfor lightening a sentence, stolen contentnot grounds for making the method of execution more cruel!”

“Ugh, stop! I told you to stop. Since when do animals interfere in human affairs…?”

Silver gave Wolf a suspicious look as he formally tried to quiet the parrot.

“What is your parrot talking about? Fuck, for an animal, he uses some damn sophisticated words…?”

“He just picks up difficult words from somewhere and spouts them. Don’t mind him; Prince doesn’t even understand what he’s saying. In my eyes, your decision is very rational and cold-headed!”

“Hmph, I’m a guy who calculates accurately.”

If those words had been a joke, Wolf would have laughed so hard he’d have fallen into the river. Wolf sighed deeply inwardly and poured on the flattery.

“Wonderful! Exactly, regardless of the circumstances, he’s the one who killed your father. As a son, it wouldn’t be right to just sit back and do nothing.”

“I’m different from that Wolf. I’ll formally request a duel and fight him.”

“Cool! That in itself is already stolen contenta perfect visit our siterevenge. Just unauthorized copythe request for a duel will make him feel incredibly ashamed!”

“That is, if that bastard even remembers the past.”

Wolf faltered at those words. The back of his neck suddenly turned cold.

“What does that mean? That Wolf forgot the past between you and your father?”

“Probably.”

Silver’s expression as he looked down was complex. It was like a book page where the ink had blurred from water.

A flock of crows flew overhead, cawing. Wolf kept his mouth shut and just rowed. He felt strange.

Something had slipped again, but a piece that fit oddly well had popped out.

Wolf has no memories of Silver and his biological father. That part was a blank space, like a white sheet of paper. Forgetting past memories and having no memories to begin with are as different as black and white. However, in terms of the absence of information, they are the same.

What is this?

“By the way.”

Suddenly, Silver looked straight at Wolf. It was a tense gaze.

“The things you saw in the cave earlier… do you remember all of them?”

“Huh?”

Wolf was bewildered. What is this, some kind of memory test?

“I remember. Do I look like an old man from a tribal village to you? Someone who rests every five steps and calls the neighbor Aunt by his daughter’s name?”

“It’s not that.”

Silver shook his head as he pulled the oar. Droplets of water splashed from the oar as it rose from the river.

“It’s just, people often remember things differently [Read on Read BL Novels]from reality, or forget things they just saw. For example, if you asked me what the innkeeper was wearing [Read on Read BL Novels]this morning, I wouldn’t be able to answer. I don’t remember.”

“That’s true. But the cave isn’t like the innkeeper’s wardrobe. Today’s cave experience was…”

Wolf gestured vaguely in the air.

“Maybe not for the rest of my life, but it was something that will stay in my memory for a very long time. Even the way to get in was unique. Even if I had to write it down, I could transcribe it accurately. Well, relatively accurately.”

“Fine, question. What was in the cave room?”

“A door on each side. A pile of firewood in one corner. A few chests too. I didn’t count the exact number, so I don’t know. There was a stove, too.”

“The type of clothes I gave you to wear? The color?”

At some point, Silver’s oar had stopped moving, submerged in the water. Accordingly, Wolf stopped rowing as well.

“The robe your father wore during his lifetime. Black with a purple lining. It fit perfectly, as if it had been tailored to my size.”

“Where did you stop after leaving the room?”

“The hot springs.”

“And where did you arrive after that?”

“The place where there was a hole in the cave ceiling. Light was streaming down as if someone had punched a window through it. A single clock lying scattered in the corner.”

Having answered without hesitation, Wolf asked.

“Do I pass? I might have gotten the color of your biological father’s robe lining wrong. It was too dark. It might have been a very deep blue…”

“No. It was purple.”

Silver began rowing again and looked toward the riverbank. A flicker of something like relief passed over his profile as he gazed at the unremarkable scenery. It was barely audible, but a sigh escaped his slightly parted lips.

Wolf, rowing in sync with Silver’s pace, tilted his head. What was that reaction?

Is he satisfied with my answer? Somehow, it didn’t feel like that.

Then, a thought suddenly tumbled into his mind. Like kicking away a ladder and diving through a window to break in.

What if what Silver was verifying wasn’t this side’s memory?

What if it was his own?

Hadn’t Silver said it himself? People often remember things differently from reality, or forget things they just saw.

What if Silver himself wasn’t sure of his own memories? What if he doubted whether his memories regarding his father’s death were hard facts like stone, or a woven narrative?

Looking back, it had been strange from the start. Hadn’t Silver been stingy about revealing his past? Yet, strangely, he had brought him to the cave. And that gaze. The way his eyes turned toward him as if confirming something every time he showed him the hot springs and the boots.

If that was a verification process. If it was a process of having a third party confirm whether the secret hideout, his father’s robe, the hot springs, and the clock actually existed outside his own head. In this process, Wolf had served as the judge and the scale determining the validity of Silver’s memories. A measurement tool, so to speak.

Holy shit!

Wolf’s grip tightened on the oar. He chewed on a feeling of dismay.

I just added weight to Silver’s delusions, didn’t I?

I stamped a seal on every single one and certified them as facts. I didn’t even correct the ‘clock’ and just diligently played along. Because I was too busy making sure Silver didn’t get upset. Because I was too preoccupied with mocking him inwardly, failing to realize Silver’s true intention.

No, it’s not certain yet. The idea that Silver used a third party to verify his memories is purely a hypothesis. One derived from a single, minor facial expression of Silver’s.

To confirm if this suspicion is true?

There was only one answer. An honest conversation.

Asking Silver in his heart if he had doubted his own memories. Asking if he was afraid that the whole story was a ragtag assembly of rumors he’d picked up and his own memories.

Silver was simply rowing, looking at the riverbank. The red sunlight hit his hair, scattering chaotically. Wolf’s lips parted. Countless questions gathered at the tip of his tongue, but not a single one came out.