I Can’t Run Away From the Girl Who Saved Me

74 – Fox (2)

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If life goes according to plan, there is nothing more joyous than that, but as everyone in this world knows, life is not that easy.

Over the past few days, we have been looking for new home candidates.

However, contrary to Sylvia’s hopeful predictions, all the places she looked at were contaminated with dark demonic energy.

I clearly looked into Sylvia’s eyes, which were filled with despair.

There were still a few candidates left, but there was no time anymore.

In the morning, it’s already been a week since I wandered in the forest.

I could already guess that as soon as I opened my eyes, I started coughing dryly.

The end of my life has come so dull and boring.

Looking at my noticeably pale arms and palms, I could easily guess what her face would look like, but Sylvia didn’t say much about my condition.

Maybe he didn’t want to worry me,

However, my face reflected in Sylvia’s red eyes had sunken cheeks, and her shaking eyes looking at me and her tightly closed lips transparently conveyed the truth that she was trying hard to hide from me. Was doing it

Ms. Sylvia was clearly anxious.

Maybe that’s why her steps felt so hasty and fast today.

Or maybe I’m just slow.

I collapsed on the floor, leaning on a tree, and spoke out of breath.

“Silvia, wait a minute… Just take a break.”

She didn’t miss the weak voice I was squeezing out while looking pitifully at the back of Sylvia’s head as she ran ahead.

Sylvia’s expression, who quickly turned around, could no longer hide her true feelings.

Her face, colored with astonishment and sadness, ran towards me.

Dry cough does not stop.

“Ash! Are you okay?”

“…Wait a minute, take a break.”

“…”

Ms. Sylvia bit her lip.

I needed rest as my condition was, but I didn’t have time.

I looked at her and slowly caught her breath.

My useless lungs, unable to even take a deep breath, kept coughing up a dry cough.

It’s over, give up now.

It felt like my body was saying that.

“Haa…”

“…Ash.”

Honestly, I had no regrets about this life full of misfortune.

From the moment he burned Layla’s already resurrected body, he was somehow out of his mind.

A blurred sense of reality. An opaque presence.

It felt as if my soul had taken about three steps away from my body and was staring at me blankly, leaving me with my arms crossed.

I was honestly tired of this helpless emptiness.

I want to stop.

“…Five minutes, five minutes is all.”

“Okay.”

However, it could not collapse like this yet.

It wasn’t for me or her, it was for her.

Every time I thought of Sylvia, who would once again be left alone in her loneliness after I died, I would feel the will to at least try her best until the end.

I slowly breathed in through my nose, biting my lips tightly as I let out a dry cough.

My fingertips are numb and my toes have no feeling.

The lower part of my calf felt heavy, as if I had taken someone else’s leg and glued it on.

Consciousness becomes hazy.

My vision was blurry, as if a pitch-black cloth was coming down from inside my eyelids and then being rolled back up again.

No,

Not yet.

You must show will.

‘Do you want to live by killing me?’

No, Lila.

I’ll be there soon,

I’m just trying to show Sylvia one last courtesy.

Please wait a moment.

I’ll come to you soon.

There are so many things I want to say to you.

It may sound like an excuse, but I really did my best, but I was so pathetic that I wasn’t good enough, and I will apologize to you for having such an idiot.

So, please wait a little longer.

I slowly tried to get up by leaning on the tree.

Sylvia slowly approached me and grabbed my arm and helped me up.

I exhaled slowly and said.

“… Now, let’s go.”

＊

No matter how much will you have, there are some things you can never achieve.

At the end, she even ran with me on her back, but in the end, we ended up in the middle of the forest again, cruelly, at night.

Maybe it was because I became hazy in the middle of the day, but night seemed to come faster today.

“Damn it!”

Sylvia slowly slowed down her steps, but soon she was screaming, hitting the tree that was standing near her with her fist.

As a loud roar rang through the forest, the sounds of birds flapping their wings as they fled echoed across the night sky.

As if that sound was a signal, I slowly sat down on the floor.

When Sylvia heard the sound of me falling to the floor, she turned around with a shocked expression and ran over to support my head.

She spoke in a firm voice.

“Ash, let’s go out to the forest tomorrow. No, come here and ride me. “Let’s get out right now.”

“Ha… Ha, Sylvia… Mr.”

I slowly shook my head.

This was because I knew very well how quickly the forest, once it started to get dark, was covered in complete darkness.

The midnight forest would be extremely dangerous even if I moved calmly, but it was obvious that it would be even more dangerous now that I was filled with impatience.

Didn’t the carriage accident in which I lost Lila also happen in the forest in the middle of the night?

Although I knew very well that I was dying due to the demonic energy accumulated in my body, as my breathing became rough, I felt stabbing pains all over my body, and I felt so tired that it was difficult to lift a finger, I knew that I was dying right now tonight. It didn’t seem like I could even get over it.

If Sylvia held my hand, I felt like she could last a few more days.

I opened my mouth with trembling lips.

“Hold my hand… please.”

Sylvia grabbed my hand as if to snatch it and squeezed it with both of her hands.

Soon, her body turned white, and the warm energy spread through her hands, as if melting into my entire body.

Divine power.

It’s a little bit, but I feel like I can breathe easier.

I slowly got up and said.

“I’m going to be dissatisfied.”

“No, stay still. “I’ll make a fire.”

“No…”

I recited her spell as she gently waved her free hand.

The fire that sprang from the tips of my trembling fingers spun around in the air, forming a long tail, and quickly took the form of a fox the size of my head.

“At least that’s what I used to do.”

“…Ash.”

Over the past few days, whenever I camped in the woods, I made the night fire.

Amazingly, this fox that appears through my flame magic not only warms the chilly night air,

As if it was conscious, it maintained its form even while I was sleeping, guarding the area around Sylvia and I, preventing wild animals from approaching.

It’s a magic that lasts even when the user’s consciousness is lost. I’d like to research it someday when I have time, but I don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance.

Well, it didn’t really matter.

I saw him every day for the past few days, and he was a little bit taller, and he was also quite cute, befitting his fox form.

“Don’t you think this guy is quite cute?”

“…Ash,”

“hahahaha, it’s just magic, so what am I talking about?”

“It’s too much to do…”

“No… I’m overdoing it.”

Unlike me, who was dying, the fox looked alive.

Probably because my magical power is so generous.

I gently scratched the chin of the fox squatting in front of me.

It was made of flickering fire, and it was moderately warm, and it was lovely to see its cheek gently rubbing against my finger.

I said with a satisfied smile.

“…Silvia.”

“Yes,”

“Anyway, Sylvia, you can’t sleep because you’re worried about me. At least if I have this guy… If I can still feel the warmth this guy makes while I sleep, it means I’m alive… Sylvia, you don’t have to worry.”

“…”

“I don’t think I’m going to die tonight. “Really.”

“…Ash.”

I slowly looked at Sylvia.

Her eyes looked hollow.

Just because you don’t die doesn’t mean you’re invincible.

She was a monster in many ways, but she was still human.

She won’t die if she doesn’t sleep, but she feels tired.

She won’t die even if her demonic energy accumulates, but her body will also be in as much of a mess as mine.

I said, coughing dryly.

“So, sleep well today.”

“…”

“And, let’s go out to the forest tomorrow morning.”

“…What?”

Sylvia was surprised by my words and asked back.

I looked up at her and nodded her head.

“…I’m going out. We.”

Sylvia’s eyes fluttered wide open as if she was surprised.

She slowly lowered her head, kissed my cheek, and hugged me.

It was no wonder that Sylvia was surprised.

Sylvia has been constantly worried over the past few days as she sees me getting worse day by day.

Should I go out to the forest right now, or should I look for more forests?

Will you take the risk of spreading a curse on the world, or will you take the risk that Ash might die?

The reason she chose to wander in the forest amidst the crossroads of choice as the time limit approached at every moment was probably due to her mission as a warrior to protect the world, but it was also due to my stubbornness.

This was because I, who was dying, was implicitly refusing to go out of the forest.

She already knew that I had no regrets about life, and that the only thing I feared more than dying was hurting others with curses.

Thankfully, she listened to my stubbornness.

But now it was a limit.

My body reached its limits, but so did my mind.

I could no longer see Sylvia struggling or in pain because of me.

Moreover, it was also because hope suddenly disappeared and an unholy thought appeared in my head.

The disturbing imagination that perhaps there is no place in this forest where we can live.

I no longer wanted to see Sylvia struggling in the magic world to find an oasis that didn’t exist.

“Of course, before I go out, I have to find something to cover my face.”

“You can hunt on the way out. “Right now, all I have to do is wear an animal skin.”

“…I like it.”

I smiled faintly and slightly gave strength to the hand she was holding on to.

I feel it.

The grip strength of her fingertips.

And, my thin life that looks as if it will be crushed at any moment.

I may not die today, but I probably won’t survive even if I leave the forest.

I didn’t think my body would get better just by breathing in fresh air without demonic energy.

That was the real reason I wanted to go out to the forest.

Compared to Sylvia, the period of time I spent in the forest was very short, but the scenery in the forest where the view was always blocked by trees no matter where I looked to the north, south, east or west was something that I, who lived in the Goldfield Estate, boasted of golden fields extending endlessly beyond the horizon. It was so stuffy.

At the last moment of my death, I wanted to die under her face and the spotless blue sky behind it, not in a forest full of trees that filled my vision as if they were about to overwhelm me.

I wanted to die not because of her red eyes that resembled the burning town of Millwood, but because I felt her hair like platinum sunlight floating in the blue sky.

And, above all…

I wanted her to live a new life.

Of course, we have this terrible curse, but when I think of Ms. Sylvia, who treated me at the time when I had just been rescued by her, with a cloth and a mask on her face, this curse is not a curse if we pay enough attention and accept any inconvenience. The degree was controllable.

Of course, her mistake would have fatal consequences, so she too would have been hiding herself in the forest, but she could no longer live in the forest anyway.

I thought that on this occasion, she should find a life worthy of her achievements and a partner worthy of her achievements.

Because she deserves it.

Unlike me, who has only failed throughout her life, she, who has achieved great things throughout her life, should be happy.

Perhaps she knew how I felt or not, she slowly put her upper body on top of mine and placed her cheek against mine and said,

“I’m sorry… I shouted loudly and couldn’t find it.”

“It’s not Sylvia’s fault.”

“It’s my fault, I…”

“No.”

“Ash…”

I slowly lifted her trembling fingertips and ran them through her hair.

As I slowly smoothed her bangs, I felt something like moisture in the middle.

I thought I could feel hot moisture on my cheeks, but soon they became moist.

“I’m sorry… Really.”

“Silvia…”

“…Ugh, ugh,”

I was worried for a moment.

Is it okay for me, who is probably dying, to say this?

I wonder if I just have regrets about her for no reason.

Could it be that she is just heartbroken and sad?

I knew.

How selfish and mean what I am about to say is.

However, I slowly twisted my trembling lips open.

I have been a failure all my life anyway.

I wanted her to be happy, but I didn’t want her to forget me.

A selfish and bad bastard.

I know.

Because I was always like that.

I am the appalling hypocrite who left Laila alive and shed tears as she watched the beautiful morning sun rise.

If I were to die soon, I wanted to leave even more of this behind.

I had to say this.

“I love you.”

I can feel her body shaking in surprise.

I whispered in her ear, squeezing out my dying voice.

“I love you… Really, I love you. Mr. Sylvia.”

“Me too… I love you too.”

The fox slowly stepped on the fallen leaves and began to circle around us.

I feel drowsy that I can’t stop.

Slowly, very slowly.

My eyes were closed.

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