Judas ran.
His magically enhanced body left scars on the ground.
In his rapidly changing field of vision, he didn’t miss a trace.
The tracks of being dragged.
A faint scent mixed with the smell of grass.
The fragrance coming from Eliya guided the way.
Time felt like it was flowing slowly.
Kidnapping.
Five years ago, he recalled the assassin who came to kill Eliya.
Eliya had gained a useful ally.
But that meant there were even more enemies.
It wouldn’t be strange to get swept up in such affairs at any moment.
However, Judas couldn’t deduce who the opponent was.
He was close to Eliya, but didn’t really know the details of her circumstances.
He had become an adult, yet he still wasn’t rational.
It was an inherent problem.
He just ran, assuming the worst-case scenario.
Before long, he stopped running.
Under that large tree over there, there was Eliya.
‘Is she tied up?’
It was hard to clearly identify due to the obstacles of grass and trees.
There wasn’t even time to take a closer look.
‘I don’t see anyone else around. An ambush using a hostage?’
Even a hunter’s instincts couldn’t see anything.
Even survival experts were silent.
A calm and cautious opponent.
‘Did they set up a magical disruption field…?’
The optimal magic to confront a wizard.
Using that field, magic couldn’t be used.
No exceptions, not even for Eliya.
However, Judas wasn’t a wizard, so he couldn’t feel the disruption field.
No point in overthinking it.
He had no choice but to close the distance and go for a frontal assault.
Judas hurried towards Eliya.
“Miss!”
Eliya turned her head swiftly to look at Judas.
Before she could say anything, Judas hugged her.
“Judas…?”
Her murmured question scattered in his embrace.
All of Judas’s senses focused on the outside.
If the enemy planned to do something, now was the perfect time.
If he and Eliya were overlapping, he could defend and sense.
‘…Why is it so quiet?’
But no enemy appeared around.
Judas pulled away from Eliya.
She didn’t seem to be injured.
On one hand, he felt relieved, but it also puzzled him.
Her usual calm expression didn’t match the situation.
He couldn’t help but ask.
“Miss, what happened…?”
Eliya didn’t answer right away.
She just quietly looked up at Judas.
He had rushed over, tense, wrapped his arms around her, and upon confirming she was safe, he had a look of relief.
And now, her face was tinted with confusion.
That change caught his eye.
Eliya finally spoke up.
“Nothing happened.”
“Eh? But…”
“It’s all my doing.”
She confessed calmly.
The sudden disappearance.
The drag marks left on the ground.
The circumstances that looked like a kidnapping.
All were part of her self-made plot.
“……”
While listening to her, Judas began to regain his composure.
His calmed mind mocked his own delusions.
A magical disruption field? Nonsense.
How hard is it to set that up?
Even if it were possible, there was still the issue.
If Eliya was as perceptive as usual, she would have noticed right away.
It dawned on him.
In his previous life before becoming Judas, he had approached Eliya in a similar manner, and at that time, Eliya had sensed it beforehand and escaped.
So, it was impossible to sneak up on her and kidnap her.
There was no need to worry about her.
He should rather be concerned about what kind of reckless kidnapper had met a gruesome end.
He figured that out, but he still didn’t fully understand everything.
He voiced his remaining question.
“Why… did you do it?”
He couldn’t fathom the motive.
“That’s….”
Eliya couldn’t give an immediate answer.
It felt strange to her.
This wasn’t the first time she had pulled such a stunt on Judas.
All the previous contenders had fallen victim to the same trick.
The reasons she had given to them were simple and rational.
It was to assess their ability to react and cope with unexpected situations.
An excuse.
Eliya didn’t care about the others’ reactions.
She simply wanted to see Judas’s reaction.
The reason she did the same thing to them was merely to compare with Judas.
Right. She wanted to see his reaction.
But….
“I was curious.”
Judas questioned her with silence.
What was she curious about?
Eliya couldn’t answer that question either.
She just looked up at him.
The changes in emotions reflected on his face.
Whether past or present, he was so honestly foolish.
Slightly furrowed brows.
Ragged breaths.
Eliya reached out her hand.
He had grown so much taller, now more than two spans taller than her.
Judas flinched at her touch but didn’t pull away.
Her slender fingers gently brushed over his pronounced brow.
As she swept past his thick eyebrows, they reached his furrowed brows.
“Why are you angry?”
Eliya asked.
It wasn’t an accusation.
She was genuinely curious.
Why Judas was angry now.
How had the other contenders reacted?
They merely hung their heads in shame, accepting their faults.
They sought forgiveness for their mistakes.
If one had to name their emotions, it would be embarrassment, fear, and guilt.
No one had been angry.
They all showed predictable, boring reactions.
‘Why are you always… different?’
Under Eliya’s gentle touch, Judas’s frown faded.
He barely managed to collect his feelings.
“…I’m sorry.”
“I want to hear the reason.”
A face he recalled seeing once before.
One from when he’d fainted frequently during his childhood.
One from when he was threatened by an assassin.
The expression that Judas had when he looked at Eliya back then was similar but more intense.
Eliya now recognized the nature of that emotion.
But today, it was a little different.
“That is, well… I was angry at myself for not being able to properly guard you, Miss. And also…”
Judas hesitated as he looked at her.
Eliya, who quietly waited.
If there was a red lake, it would be like this.
The moment he saw her clear eyes, he felt it was too late to turn back.
What to turn back?
“Because I was worried… about you.”
Worry.
He had said it before.
At that time, he had said he worried without hesitation.
But now, he hesitated for some reason.
What had changed?
Eliya pondered the definition of the word ‘worry.’
It felt like it resembled unease or anxiety.
Fearing that things wouldn’t turn out as hoped, instinctively presuming the worst.
When that worry was directed towards someone else, it meant he was concerned for the other’s well-being.
She understood.
Judas had often worried about her, she knew that much.
But still, Eliya found Judas’s reaction hard to understand.
“If you worry, do you get angry?”
Some emotions, when they reach their peak, express the opposite reaction.
Crying out of happiness.
Laughing out of pain.
Loving and hating equally.
Missing someone just as much as they hated them.
Eliya didn’t know him.
Judas also had never contemplated emotion this deeply.
He just hung his head like a sinner.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way, but I don’t even know why.”
Eliya lifted Judas’s chin.
As if to say, “Don’t look away.”
She quietly examined his face.
Getting angry because you worry.
She wasn’t sure, but she had seen it before.
A long time ago.
Once, her mother had scolded her.
Yes, back then, her mother had worried about her.
Eliya posed another question.
“Why were you worried about me?”
“I….”
Judas wet his lips with his tongue.
The hesitation didn’t last long.
“Because I’m to be your escort knight, after all.”
“…Right. I see. That’s what it is.”
Eliya placed her hand on Judas’s face and met his eyes.
The golden eyes met, flickering uncertainly.
Worry. Worry, indeed.
A self-made plot, woven in curiosity for Judas’s reaction.
It wasn’t that she expected a specific reaction or emotion.
It was just that the outcome intrigued her. That was all.
That outcome was right before her.
‘This is strange….’
Her heart ached.
Like a tongue numb from sweetness.
It tingled.
She hadn’t specifically expected Judas to worry.
But the moment she confirmed his intense reaction, she felt a euphoric thrill.
Not entirely pure, but a sadistic satisfaction.
At the same time, guilt began to sprout.
She felt like a child who had done something wrong.
Regret surfaced, thinking she shouldn’t have done that.
She had worried someone who cherished her so much.
Joy and guilt.
Both emotions filled her heart and threatened to overflow.
‘This is really strange.’
Had she done something wrong?
She wasn’t sure.
Ever since she had passed the time when she wanted her family’s love while feeling neglected, she had never thought she was in the wrong.
She had moved forward thinking that sin wasn’t a sin at all.
‘The look on your face…’
It hurt in a delightful way.
Guilt accompanied by pleasure and joy.
Those twisted feelings were unpleasant.
Would it get better if she spoke about it?
Her plump, red lips quivered as if to say something.
A small sound struggled to seep out.
“…I’m sorry.”
Judas’s eyes widened.
With a face that seemed shocked, he gazed down at Eliya.
In five years, it was the first time Eliya had apologized.
Avoiding his gaze, Eliya turned her head away.
She didn’t want him to see her face.
Clinging to his collar with yearning, she leaned into him.
As if hiding in his embrace.
But from Judo’s angle gazing down, she could be seen just a bit.
Her embarrassed, mumbling lips. Her flushed cheeks.
The prominent red eyes above her tear marks roamed anxiously.
She heard the sound of the worry she had accumulated in her heart collapsing.
Judas swiped a passing glance across his face.
Not daring to wrap his arms around the now-adult Eliya, he spoke stiffly.
“It’s not something for you to apologize for, Miss. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Judas didn’t know why Eliya had done this.
Though it was a rather naughty prank.
He felt that as long as Eliya was safe, the rest didn’t matter much.
“I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Eliya looked down at his hands.
Two flowers that seemed to be fetched at her request.
Winter flowers known as snow magnolia.
Seeing that flower with contradictory meanings, Eliya leaned against his chest.
The warmth could be felt through the layers of clothing.
Her heart raced.
It was hard to tell whose heartbeat it was.
“…Yes.”
Five years was enough.
To be colored by each other. All too much.
*
At the doorstep of the final exam.
After much deliberation, I made a decision.
‘I’ll just be an escort knight, why not?’
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