Dirty Heart - Chapter 31

They had been combing through the forest for an hour, but there was no sign of Liam anywhere.

“Liam!”

No matter how much she called his name until her throat grew hoarse, only hollow echoes came back.

“Ha…. Where on earth did he go?”

Her anxiety naturally grew. The longer the time passed, the slimmer the chances of finding the child felt.

“Well, the weather doesn’t look good. If we’re not careful, we might get stranded.”

To make matters worse, dark clouds had begun to gather in the previously clear sky. The wind picked up, shaking the leaves noisily.

“Can’t we search just a little longer?”

Looking at Alex, Courtney pleaded desperately. The image of the child’s small finger wouldn’t leave her mind. Thinking Liam might still be suffering somewhere at this very moment, she couldn’t bring herself to turn back.

Thud.

At that moment, a dull sound rang out. When she turned around, a shocking sight unfolded. Lionel, who had insisted on following them even through the rough forest path, was half-collapsed against a large tree.

“Young Duke!”

Startled, Alex rushed over and supported him, but Lionel’s face had already long lost all color.

“I told you to rest in the carriage, you’re seriously no help!”

Hurrying over to the man sprawled like a corpse, Courtney scolded him with a face full of irritation.

“…Huh, he’s burning up?”

But only for a moment. Seeing how severe Lionel’s condition was, she instinctively placed a hand on his forehead and froze in shock. His entire body was boiling with a high fever.

Ssshhh-. As if things weren’t bad enough, heavy rain began pouring down like arrows. Looking up at the sky with a worried expression, Alex quickly supported Lionel.

“Miss Courtney. I’m sorry, but could you help?”

Because Lionel was so tall, Alex alone couldn’t support him. Courtney quickly moved to support his other shoulder and clenched her teeth. The man’s limp body felt far heavier than she expected.

“Let’s find somewhere to take shelter first.”

Even as they searched for cover, the rain only grew heavier.

***

“Hey! Wake up, kid.”

At the cold water being splashed over his face, Liam, who had been unconscious, snapped his eyes open.

“….”

An unfamiliar ceiling, the musty smell of mold, ropes tightly binding his wrists and ankles. It didn’t take long for him to grasp the situation.

“You’re finally awake.”

A man with a large scar on his face looked down at Liam with a sinister smile. The bulky man beside him snickered as well.

“But is this little brat really worth that much?”

“Didn’t you hear the director? Some noble paid a whopping 30 million krang for this kid.”

“I don’t get it. That Young Duke must have weird tastes.”

The scarred man turned Liam’s face side to side and licked his lips. Every time the man’s gaze swept over him, Liam’s body flinched instinctively.

“Well, he does have a pretty face. Are you sure this isn’t actually a girl?”

“Hey, don’t say creepy shit like that.”

“Look closer. He’s prettier than most girls.”

With a beast-like laugh, a large, thick hand unpleasantly caressed the boy’s cheek. At the creepy sensation against his skin, Liam could only shed tears in silence.

“Hmm….”

“Crying like that, you really are like a girl. Should I check if it’s still properly attached down there?”

At last, the man began to pull down the boy’s waistband, and Liam’s breathing grew even more frantic.

“Mm, mmm…!”

He struggled with all his might, but the more he fought, the ropes binding his wrists and ankles tightened even further. As the soft flesh sank under the pressure, an unimaginable pain surged through him. But with a gag stuffed in his mouth, only muffled groans escaped.

Just as the terror freezing his entire body was about to make him faint.

Bang!

With a thunderous crash, the door burst open, and knights in black masks poured in.

“W-Who are you people?”

The gathered men hurriedly tried to draw their swords, but it was useless. The knight at the front moved swiftly and subdued the group in an instant.

Clang!

The sharp clash of metal tangled with the men’s screams, and soon the stench of blood filled the air.

The man who had been toying with Liam collapsed before he could even grasp the situation, his neck severed in a single strike.

“Ugh.”

The moment Liam met the severed head rolling on the ground, he wet himself on the spot.

He couldn’t even properly beg for his life. The unidentified knights standing before him didn’t look like saviors at all. If anything, their blood-soaked uniforms and sharp gazes only made them more terrifying.

“Take him.”

With that short, cold command, Liam’s body was lifted into the air. He had no way of knowing where he was being taken or what fate awaited him.

***

“I can’t believe there’s a cabin deep in the mountains like this?”

As if they weren’t meant to die just yet, the three of them managed to catch their breath thanks to a cabin that appeared like a miracle.

While Alex hurriedly moved Lionel onto a chair, Courtney threw dry firewood into the stove and lit a fire.

Soon, as the dry wood crackled and burned, the dark interior was dyed in a warm reddish glow.

Outside the window, the heavy rain still poured down relentlessly, but at least around the stove, it felt like a small island of warmth.

“Mm, his condition really seems to be getting worse.”

Alex, who stayed close to Lionel to examine him, spoke in a deliberately serious tone.

Just as he said, Lionel’s condition appeared to be worsening. His forehead still burned like a furnace, and his consciousness was so hazy that he muttered nonsense from time to time. His pulse was irregular, and his breathing only grew more labored.

“I think I need to go back to the carriage to get some medicine. I’ll also check if there’s a physician nearby who can examine him.”

“What…? You’re going out in this rain? It seems dangerous….”

“It’s alright. If something happens to the Young Duke like this, it’ll be dangerous either way.”

After checking Lionel’s complexion once more, Alex left the cabin in a hurry, asking Courtney to take care of him.

Meanwhile, Courtney kept glancing out the window with an anxious expression. Beyond the heavy rain, the complete absence of any sign of people felt strange in itself.

‘I definitely saw mounted soldiers following us….’

The fact that no one came to rescue them even after Lionel’s condition had worsened this much left her deeply uneasy. Had they let their guard down simply because Alex was with them? Or had they also lost their way in the storm?

“….”

Courtney quietly turned to look at Lionel. The man’s ragged, labored breathing made him look like he could die at any moment.

Biting at the tips of her nails with an anxious expression, she suddenly began rummaging through the cabin as if possessed. Her gaze swept sharply across every corner within sight as she continued calculating without pause.

At that moment, something caught her eye. It was an old pair of scissors, heavily rusted.

Without hesitation, she picked up the scissors and looked out the window once more. As expected, the surroundings were completely silent.

‘If I stab that bastard’s heart with this….’

His body was already weakened, so maybe he could be killed even by something like tetanus. If she finished it before Alex returned and ran as far as she could, maybe she could escape.

‘Then Liam…? What about Liam, if I run away alone?’

She had come all the way here to save Liam, yet the moment a chance to escape appeared, the child had been pushed to the back of her mind. She felt disgusted by her own selfishness and cowardice. But at the same time, the primal desire to survive was something she couldn’t deny.

Caught between tangled emotions, the hand holding the scissors trembled uncontrollably.

Soon, as if she had made up her mind, she took a deep breath and slowly walked toward Lionel.