Chapter 45

Her whole body ached. Beyond the burning pain on her back, it felt as if her internal organs had been crushed.

By comparison, the pain from her broken bones didn’t even seem that noticeable anymore.

It seemed Talli had been taken somewhere. Her injuries were healing—agonizingly—and regenerating.

At first, the place was noisy, but gradually, it grew quiet.

By the later stages of her recovery, her consciousness had returned, though her eyelids were still heavy and impossible to open.

While she slept, she could vaguely sense someone had come to see her.

They sat by her bedside, quietly watching her, as if their gaze could take shape, carefully tracing over her features.

It made Talli a bit uncomfortable.

She struggled within the depths of her mind, trying to wake up sooner.

Until one day, she felt the edge of the bed sink slightly, and once again sensed that same gaze.

After days of effort, she could now move her fingers. Sliding her hand down the soft silk blanket, she gently touched a fingertip as cold as icy jade.

Then, in one swift motion, she hooked it—and gripped tightly.

Got you.

Talli thought to herself: Just who’s been sneaking in to stare at me every day?

Unfortunately, she didn’t hold on for long. The other’s fingertips paused for a moment, then slipped away like a fish swimming through water, easily slipping out of her grasp.

All she managed to leave behind was a faint scratch on the back of their hand.

And then, the presence vanished.

Talli felt that the hand she had touched—like ice—was now faintly warm.

That afternoon, she opened her eyes for the first time.

Soon after, sunlight filtered softly through the gauzy curtains of the spacious room. A warm voice rang out gently: “You’re awake!”

“Miss Sacrifice, how are you feeling?”

“For such serious injuries to heal this quickly—what a strong life force!”

“For someone from the human world, to end up here as a sacrifice—this is something unheard of, unseen, in over a hundred years!”

Talli still felt a dull ache at her temples. She groaned lowly and, with effort, propped herself up on the bed.

In front of her stood several beautiful fairies with thin, gauzy wings—exactly like the ones Talli had seen in the dream at the first temple.

They gathered around her bed, curiously watching her.

Talli was momentarily dazed. She accepted the water they handed to her, feeling her dry lips moisten.

“Thank you… Where is this place?”

The fairies brought a basin of clean water and a warm towel. Talli buried her face in the towel, and it felt like every pore on her face opened up. Her dulled senses slowly returned, and the unease in her heart began to soften.

She exhaled gently and heard the little fairies say, “Miss Sacrifice doesn’t know? This is the Tower of Wasted Time, at the center of the world!”

Talli froze.

So that means…

This really was the place from the temple dream—the destination she had wanted to reach?

She began to recall what happened before she lost consciousness. “How long have I been lying here?”

“A whole week, Miss Sacrifice!”

The fairies held her hands and ears, helping her with recovery training, then brought her outside. “Let’s go get some fresh air.”

Talli awkwardly put on her shoes. As soon as she opened the door, a desolate wind swept toward her.

Beneath the layered clouds, the lifeless land stretched out toward a boundless, dark forest. Beyond that, a deep chasm split the sky from the earth, as if tearing apart the boundary between reality and illusion. In the distance, dim sunlight broke through the cracked cloud layers, reminding Talli of the four horsemen who galloped through her dream. The same scenery had seemingly stretched unchanged across hundreds or thousands of years.

The fairies began explaining: “…The land beneath the tower is lifeless. Long ago, ancient creatures who lived by raw flesh and blood roamed here. After the monarch ascended the throne, they were banished to the wilderness beyond the abyss, and only then did the Tower of Wasted Time return to peace.”

Talli looked down.

“Around the land lies the Dark Forest. Many rare beasts that have already gone extinct in the human world still live there. Of course, far more of them are vicious, bloodthirsty monsters. Despite their strength, they’ve never dared to take even one step past the boundary. About 300 years ago, His Highness cordoned off a large hunting ground within the forest. Every year, a designated hunting season is held. Speaking of which, this year’s season should be coming soon.”

Talli narrowed her eyes, gazing toward that dark forest, shrouded in mist. It looked like a truly dangerous territory.

“Beyond the Dark Forest lies the Abyssal Chasm that separates us from the Abyss City. Below the chasm is a hundred-foot-deep black abyssal water. Almost no human—or even abyssal folk—can survive passing through it.” Unless you have wings.

One of the fairies shivered as she spoke. “I heard that the black water is bone-chillingly cold, without any sign of life. Miss Sacrifice, you must be careful not to fall in.”

“What are you saying? Miss Sacrifice wouldn’t just wander over there for no reason!”

While they chatted, Talli was walking along the circular corridor.

This “tower,” rather than a simple tower, felt more like a city built in the shape of an enormous corridor rising straight from the ground. Just the floor she was on now was already so vast, she couldn’t even begin to imagine its full size.

“Then… what about over there?”

Talli pointed.

To the south, the chasm that came from the Abyss curved halfway around to the north. It still remained deep and wide, but farther north, everything seemed to be obscured by a misty veil—nothing beyond it could be clearly seen. It was as if it were the edge of the world map, where one would crash into a thick barrier.

“That’s the World Vortex!”

One of the fairies eagerly answered, “No one has ever dared to approach that place. They say everyone who gets close… goes mad.”

“You say that like you’ve seen it yourself,” a younger fairy muttered.

“How can you speak to your elder like that!?” the older fairy frowned and raised her voice.

—

Talli remained silent. While slowly clenching and loosening her fist for rehab, she squinted her eyes toward that distant region.

If she could go up to a higher floor in the tower, she might be able to see it more clearly.

At dinner, she heard the news—the monarch had returned.

“His sleeping quarters are on the floor above,” a fairy told her, urging her to eat faster.

Talli took a few bites without much thought before the fairies pulled her away to wash up and change. While washing her hair, one fairy lightly touched her thin back and exclaimed in surprise, “She’s a hybrid of our kind and humans! But why doesn’t she have wings?”

“Not having wings is way too inconvenient, Miss Sacrifice!”

—

Talli nearly fell asleep in the large hot spring bath. The sound of movement woke her, and her cheeks were flushed red from the steam. She mumbled, “Aren’t hybrids usually wingless?”

She paused—and suddenly felt the hand on her back was a little cold. It wasn’t like the soft, delicate hands of the fairies. The palm had light calluses—likely from gripping a sword for years.

Only then did she realize the fairies’ chattering voices had gone completely silent.

She turned her head slightly, but didn’t dare to fully turn around.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a slender, well-proportioned hand resting on the edge of the bath. Long hair flowed across the water’s surface, shrouded in thick mist.

A young man sat at the edge of the pool, his hair loose, surrounded by drifting fog. His left hand reached out, gently caressing her back.

Talli felt his fingertips slowly trail down from the base of her neck, lingering over the area that had been scorched by the flames of a magical beast. He lightly traced the pink scabs with his fingertips—large patches of them. Even the warm water dripping from his fingers felt cold.

It tickled slightly. Talli shivered a little.

“Does it hurt?”

He asked suddenly, without warning.

“…No, it doesn’t.”

Talli answered truthfully.

To be honest, the only time she truly felt pain was during those short ten-odd minutes of battle. Any pain beyond that exceeded her pain threshold—she passed out, and once unconscious, she couldn’t feel anything anymore.

By the time she woke up, most of her external injuries had already healed.

Deritz lowered his lashes.

He gazed at the large patches of scars on Talli’s thin, frail back. Under the rising steam, her skin was as pale as jade, with just a soft flush of pink at her shoulders. But the blemishes on this jade were too many—lines and patches of scars crisscrossed her skin, old and new overlapping.

He gently rubbed a fingertip across one spot, and a small scab flaked off, revealing tender pink new skin beneath—like that of a newborn baby.

Just like the vibrant life within her.

Even after being wounded and beaten, once she healed, she would emerge fresh and full of life once again.

Talli didn’t dare to turn around.

She still remembered the first time she encountered the real Deritz in the forest—that overwhelming sense of pain and dizziness that twisted in both her head and her stomach.

She really didn’t want to throw up into the bath right now with a loud “bleh.”

Behind her, there was a splash of water.

Before she could react, the young man reached out with his long arms, grabbed her waist, and pulled her backward. Talli was like a little goldfish caught in a fishing net—she didn’t even manage to kick up a splash before she was scooped into his embrace, encircled tightly at the waist.

His arms were long and strong—completely unbreakable.

His head rested lightly against the top of her damp hair.

…This embrace felt oddly familiar.

That thought crossed Talli’s mind. She zoned out slightly, only to feel the soft sound of his breathing on the top of her head. At that moment, his mood seemed to settle. He didn’t summon servants to dispose of her for being a “sacrifice,” nor did he offer any further explanation about calling her a “collateral.”

Talli could even feel the heartbeat against her back.

And more distinctly, the gentle pulse in the inside of his arm, pressed against her waist.

One beat, two beats, three beats…

In that moment, Talli was suddenly struck by a strange illusion.

As if they had embraced like this before. Many times.

She patted her cheeks, trying to wake herself up from the dizzy, steamy haze of the hot spring.

The sound made Deritz slowly lift one eyelid.

“Your Majesty,” Talli hesitated, but finally asked, “What do you think of me?”

“…What?”

Talli slightly lifted her head. As she blinked, a clear water droplet rolled from her crow-feather lashes—pure and gentle.

“Am I… good enough for you?”

“……”

Deritz’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He gave a low hum, then raised one hand—red runes spun slowly in his palm. “You want this?”

“Yes.”

Talli didn’t hide it.

“What else?”

Deritz asked.

This time, it was Talli’s turn to be confused. “What… what else?”

“Besides this,” Deritz lowered his head. Talli could feel his breath brushing against the shell of her ear—hot, scalding. “Is there nothing else you want from me?”

Talli pretended to stay calm. “No.”

Deritz looked at the reddening tips of her ears. “You can be more honest.”

Talli clenched her knuckles, trying to settle the nervous flutter in her chest.

That kind of intention… there’s no way she could let him find out!

“No,” she said again, sincerely. “I only want the rune. I already told you—it belongs to my companion. He’s also at the world’s center, and I want to return it to him.”

Just as she finished speaking, she let out a soft yelp of pain.

The fingers wrapped around her waist suddenly dug in, pressing hard into the soft flesh at her sides—whether as punishment or out of frustration, she didn’t know.

With a flex of his hand, the red rune vanished from his palm.

The hope that had flickered in Talli’s chest dropped back into disappointment.

“If you want to please me, I’m afraid you’ll have to be a little more obedient.”

His voice came from behind, followed by a cold chuckle. His teeth pressed against her neck and bit down—not quite gently.

Talli let out a soft grunt.

It felt like some kind of animal instinct—a desire to draw closer to another creature, to express yearning in a way that blurred the line between affection and aggression. His sharp teeth bit at her fragile pulse point, demanding her full attention, trying to make her feel the heartbeat pounding wildly beneath the surface he usually kept so calm.

…A small animal. Talli suddenly thought. Just like Dusk.

When Dusk got angry, he would also bite her like this—never hard enough to draw blood, but enough to leave her hands, shoulders, and neck covered in red marks. He had always had a fiery temper. Even in the middle of the night, if she rolled over and accidentally pressed his tail in her sleep, he would wake her up with a bite, no hesitation.

—Only this time, he bit much harder. As if hiding tangled hatred deep inside.

Talli couldn’t help herself—her nails sank into his arm and pinched.

And the moment she did, she was startled by her own reaction. A prick of fear rose in her chest. She looked down—and sure enough, little red marks bloomed on his pale arm.

Deritz’s skin was colder than white porcelain, as if it had no warmth, no emotion—so the red marks stood out all the more clearly.

As Talli fumbled about, she suddenly caught sight of a faint pink scratch on the back of his hand. It was extremely shallow—so faint that it looked like it might disappear if she had looked a moment later.

She paused, stunned.

So that moment in her sleep hadn’t been a dream.

She suddenly thought—maybe the Lord did have some unknown kind of attachment to her. No matter what it was, He had shown her favor. Maybe it was curiosity about someone who was half-human, half-elf—or maybe something else.

Even if it was complicated.

When His teeth finally moved away from her neck, Talli reached up and touched the spot. Two deep bite marks were left behind. Her fingertips gently brushed over them—

—like a mark.

After a while, a voice came from behind her again, this time in a calm and even tone.

“You really want this rune?”

Talli snapped out of her thoughts and immediately said, “Yes!”

“All right then.”

Deritz let out a soft laugh. “You must know, right? Our world’s center is in the hunting grounds of the Dark Forest. And in just a few days… it’ll be hunting season.”

Talli had heard the elves talk about hunting season before.

“Is it a contest of hunting skills? That’s fine, I—”

The splash of water behind her cut her off. The warmth that had tightly wrapped around her waist loosened and withdrew.

At this moment, Talli finally turned her head. Through the mist, she saw the tall young man. He had put on his clothes, long hair hanging down, dripping water that soaked into the fabric, darkening its color.

“No.”

He didn’t turn around. Instead, he tossed something to her. Talli fumbled to catch it, and when she looked down, she realized—it was the red rune.

Before she could even feel happy, she heard Him say, “Didn’t you say your companion is also at the center of the world? Perfect. Maybe they’ve already been thrown into the Hunting Grounds by the guards. That’s where all the outsiders and intruders go. You can enter as prey and try to find them.”

Deritz added, “That is… if you survive.”

He didn’t say who would survive.

“The power of the red rune is a ‘Curse of Undeath.’ When you’re gravely injured and on the brink of death, if you absorb it, you won’t die,” Deritz added.

Curse of Undeath…

Talli remembered hearing that name before, but she couldn’t recall exactly when or where.

After suffering such severe injuries, many of her memories didn’t come rushing back instantly when mentioned. She was still in recovery.

So…

“So, get yourself ready, Talli.”

His cold and emotionless voice faded away. “I’m looking forward to seeing you in the Hunting Grounds.”

Looking forward to seeing what you’ll look like—not as the hunter you’ve always been, but as the hunted.