Kingdom of Mortheluna, outskirts of the capital Sellafun, the village of Vilkorrmor.
***
Cries of pain and the wailing of mourners echoed through the village.
Walter had appeared out of nowhere — and in a matter of seconds turned the village into a slaughterhouse. Dozens were dead, more still wounded.
Asa sighed, tore his eyes from the corpses, and went back to bandaging Valeria's shoulder.
When he tugged the knot again, the woman flinched and hissed through her teeth.
"Hey! Gentler!"
"Lera, stop squirming. I'm almost done."
"I told you, this isn't necessary. I could've set it myse–"
Hearing that, the white-haired healer shot her an irritated look and deliberately yanked the knot one last time, cinching it tight.
"Hey! I know you did that on purpose!"
Rolling his eyes, Asa simply let go of the bandage and kissed her cheek.
"Like hell you're setting a dislocation like that on your own. And you're sure as hell not walking around with an arm flapping like a rope."
Valeria blinked a few times, then shook her head.
"You're not this caring with the rest of the villagers..."
"You know exactly why."
"Hmm, true enough. Sweet of you, Asa."
"Yeah, yeah..."
Unable to keep watching the carnage from the sidelines any longer, Asa pulled away from his wife and headed toward the people who needed him. Valeria, in turn, followed with long strides.
Without slowing down, Asa glanced at her and kept walking.
"Where do you think you're going?"
She scoffed at the question.
"Where do you think? To help you with the wounded, obviously."
He stopped and turned to her, his face a mix of annoyance and worry.
"Don't be an idiot. Go and rest."
That was the moment Valeria snapped.
"Rest?!"
She grabbed his collar with her free hand and tried to hoist Asa into the air. There was the sound of tearing fabric, and Valeria ended up holding a scrap of her husband's collar.
'Shit!'
Irritation flickered across her face.
Giving Asa no time to recover, Valeria seized her husband by the forearm. With inhuman strength that defied her battered state, she dragged him into an alley and slammed him against the wall.
"Damn it, Lera! What's gotten into you?!"
Valeria's eye twitched.
Furious, she released his arm. In the next instant, she pinned her forearm against Asa's collarbone, holding him in place.
A vicious smile spread across the woman's face, and she leaned in closer.
"What's gotten into me? Oh, I'll tell you exactly what. I'm sick of watching you break your damn back trying to help every single one of them. For fifteen goddamn years! Why?!"
Unable to hold back, Asa shouted back:
"You know why! I'm not some naive idiot! I hate most of them just as much as you do! Listen – you're not thinking straight right now. Hear me out, and I'll explain everything."
Valeria eyed him with distrust but swallowed her stubbornness and stepped back.
"Talk."
Sighing, Asa rubbed his collarbone.
"I'm not going to save the ones who are badly wounded. Honestly, I'm not going to save most of them at all. Pull the half-dead back from death's door? Not a chance."
An expression of disgust crossed his face.
"Let them die. I'll only help the ones with minor injuries. This village has survived on exactly two things: the unity of people who've wished each other dead for years, and me."
Valeria fell quiet and glanced toward the road. The furious villagers were already shouting, searching for Asa.
"So you're saying that..."
"Yes. This village is doomed. Look at it clearly. Those who died are an irreversible loss of labor, and the wounded won't be fit to work properly either."
Valeria went silent, then looked at the man in front of her with something like admiration. She was looking at him like a completely different person.
After a moment, she smiled and pinched his cheek.
"Where'd you learn to think like that, husband?"
"When you spend days listening to merchants talk, you pick up a thing or two whether you want to or not."
As he said it, Asa rubbed the pinched spot.
The two of them shared a quiet laugh. The moment felt so peaceful, so intimate, that they completely forgot about the raging crowd of wounded villagers looking for exactly one man.
But the peace didn't last.
The instant they let themselves relax, a gut-wrenching scream tore through the air.
The scream of a mother who had lost her child.
All color drained from Valeria's face, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Even without words, she understood exactly what that scream meant.
Asa, in that same moment, flinched and clenched his fists at his sides. His head dropped.
'Curse this place...'
When the scream finally faded, the two of them in the alley let out a breath.
Asa looked up and studied the pained expression on Valeria's face.
'She's probably thinking about Lucius...'
His expression darkened.
'I need to find a way to heal his wounds. I can't let him stay blind.'
With effort, Asa smoothed his face and placed both hands on his wife's shoulders. Feeling the touch, she opened her eyes wide.
"Asa...?"
"I promise – I'll get us out of here. Once I deliver the order of darts, we'll find somewhere better to live than this hellhole."
With those words, Asa gave her the brightest smile he could manage. Seeing it, Valeria couldn't help but smile back, her eyes glistening...
"Pfft, you charming idiot with a silver tongue..."
She glanced toward the mouth of the alley and wiped her eyes.
"Come on then, romantic. Everyone's been waiting for you. And you'd better keep that promise..."
Exchanging a knowing look, the two of them left the alley without another word.
The moment Asa emerged from hiding, the crowd swarmed around them — desperate and wild, like a pack of starving wolves closing in on a lamb.
"Hurry, bring him here! They're dying! Dying!" a woman screamed, grabbing his arm.
Blood from her palm smeared across Asa's shirt.
"Healer! Move your ass already! Get in there and do your job! Help them!" a man bellowed, shoving him from behind in desperation.
Within seconds, the shouting and demands multiplied, blending into a single cacophony. Everyone wanted the same thing — for Asa to help them and their loved ones first.
'Fucking bastards...'
Watching it all unfold, Valeria felt something clench in her chest. She couldn't watch this calmly. Not after what he'd promised.
With her uninjured hand, she reached for her belt, where she'd strapped her daggers after the fight.
But Asa moved first.
Before Valeria could even touch the hilt of her daggers, her husband tore free from the woman's grip and slammed his fist into the idiot who'd shoved him from behind.
A sickening crack rang out, and the man staggered backward, clutching his nose. Blood seeped between his fingers.
The crowd recoiled in shock. Asa merely shook out his hand after the punch.
Valeria, meanwhile, watched it all with relief in her heart and quiet pride for the man she'd chosen years ago.
"Damn it, my fingers are gonna start bleeding again..." he muttered, eyeing the reddening bandages around his fingertips.
"Whitehead, you tired of living?! I'll–"
Asa lifted his eyes from his fingers and looked at the man's bloodied face.
"Silence."
The whole crowd froze at the word. None of them had heard that commanding tone since the lord had left.
Without warning, Asa pushed his way through the people in front of him.
"Move aside, idiots. If you want me to help your loved ones, don't waste my time. You should all be grateful I even live here at all..."
Asa looked around, searching for defiance on their faces. Seeing only reluctant compliance, he sighed and stepped forward.
The crowd dispersed and hurried toward their loved ones, hoping Asa would help them.
Suddenly, a sharp, ornate dagger landed right in front of him. Startled, he stepped back and looked around. Everyone else looked just as surprised.
Turning around, Asa saw Valeria walking away, waving a hand without looking back.
"Hold onto this for me for a while, dear! It'll come in handy. I'm going to check on my brother and our prisoner."
'Reckless woman...'
Without much thought, Asa bent down and picked up the weapon. Erbe. The engraving on the hilt was unmistakable.
Memories of what had happened flashed through his mind.
Holding this dagger, and another one besides, Valeria had thrown herself into battle against the madman. He'd seen clearly — the burning hatred and worry in his wife's eyes in that moment.
He'd watched how Valeria moved right before locking Asa away in his own shed.
Asa had never tried to pry into Valeria's past, and she'd never tried either. They'd built their family on the present and on trust.
But now the time had come. They were going to have a long conversation about Valeria's past.
Meanwhile, Walter was still unconscious from Asa's sleeping draught. He was bound in every rope they could find, kept under Ignavius's watch. The younger sibling had come out of the fight in far better shape than his older sister.
And Lucius... Valeria still hadn't seen their son's condition. Because if she had, it would have been a disaster Asa couldn't even begin to imagine.
Dagger in hand, he finally reached the first wounded man — Kalim. With a severed leg and a broken jaw, the man was fighting with everything he had not to scream.
Seeing the pitiful state of him, Asa sighed and set aside his thoughts.
"Let's see..."
Cold as ice, the healer knelt over the wounded man. He set the dagger aside and began examining the poor soul...
But within seconds, Asa shook his head and started to rise. Watching his salvation slip away from him, the wounded man let out a hoarse scream.
Asa closed his eyes and tried to leave, but was stopped. Someone grabbed his pant leg.
He looked down, into the man's eyes. Disfigured, his jaw hanging loose, the man's gaze begged for help.
"Don't look at me like that. You won't survive wounds like these."
With those words, Asa turned away and looked around.
All the survivors had gathered in small clusters, huddled around their loved ones, trying to help however they could. Even Brad — the idiot who'd shoved him from behind — sat beside his friend, pressing his hands over a wound in the man's stomach.
But the poor soul at his feet... No one stood around him. The answer to "why" was obvious enough. His friends and family were dead. Kalim was alone, and he didn't have long left.
Not wanting to linger, Asa yanked his leg free from the weak grip and moved on. But after a few steps, he heard a faint, garbled sound:
"End... it..."
A feeble plea, forced out despite the broken jaw.
'He wants me to do it?... Damn it.'
Asa began to doubt himself. He had no doubt that the poisons he'd sold had caused hundreds of deaths over the years. But taking a life with his own two hands? He wasn't capable of that.
But he also couldn't leave this man to die like this.
Erbe trembled in his grip.
"Fuck it!"
Asa spun on one foot and straddled the man's chest. Teeth clenched, he raised the dagger, preparing to deliver the killing blow.
'I have to make this painless. He's already suffered enough with these wounds...'
"Don't be afraid... It won't hurt."
Asa grabbed Kalim by the forehead and forced his head to turn. There it was – exactly what he'd been looking for.
Flipping the dagger around, he brought it down with full force and struck the man's temple with the pommel. The body beneath him went instantly limp, all life draining from it.
Refusing to look at the dead man's face, Asa turned away and blindly closed Kalim's eyelids for him. Forever.
Rising to his feet, the healer looked around and saw everyone staring at him, eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"I'll bet they all think I've lost it..."
***
Not far away, sitting on the ground beside an unconscious man, two figures watched everything unfold.
"Lera, are you sure nothing's going to happen to him? He could barely bring himself to kill that guy, and there's a whole crowd of people out there who need the same mercy."
Hearing her brother's words, Valeria shook her head.
"He'll manage. I believe in him."
She turned and looked Ignavius in the eye. The smirk on her lips didn't waver.
"But what about you?"
"Me?"
"Ever since we dealt with that bastard from the clan, you've been staring at Asa like you're trying to burn a hole through his back."
Ignavus froze, like a child caught red-handed.
"Damn it... Was I that obvious?"
"Completely. Even just now, you didn't take your eyes off him until I pointed it out."
He opened his mouth, scrambling for an excuse. He couldn't tell her what he'd seen in the letter – not before he questioned his sister's husband himself.
But before Ignavus could get a single word out, a chill crawled down his spine.
All because of Valeria.
The smirk flattened into a thin, straight line, and something he couldn't quite name lit up behind her dark eyes.
When Valeria got angry, she could terrify her brother without even trying.
"Ignavus. What happened. Between you and Asa. Does it have something to do with Lucius?"
As she said it, she rose from the ground. But at that moment, the sleeping Walter stirred.
Unnoticed by Valeria, Ignavius let out a breath of relief.
'Thank you, you clan-dog bastard!'
"Listen, sister — let's talk about this later, with Asa, alright? We still need to make sure he doesn't wriggle out of those ropes!"
But Valeria wasn't listening. She was already at her limit.
From a pocket in her sleeve, she pulled out a small vial of glowing blue liquid. Asa's sleeping draught.
She grabbed Walter by the hair, forced his mouth open, and hurled the vial straight into it.
"Sleep, you son of a bitch! Stay out of the way!"
Shouting this, she slammed his jaw shut with a kick. Glass shattered inside Walter's mouth, and thick blood began seeping between his lips, mixed with the draught.
For a moment, Walter woke from the sharp pain in his mouth.
He opened his one remaining eye – his gaze burning with rage. Feeling the glass in his mouth, the hunter tensed and spat out everything he could.
But it was useless. The draught had already seeped through the wounds in his gums.
Fighting the rising drowsiness, he looked up at Valeria standing over him with contempt, and her gaze answered with the exact same. A moment later, Walter's head slumped limply, blood still trickling from his mouth.
One thought flickered through Ignavius's mind.
'Looks like she blew off some steam on him...'
But he was dead wrong.
Valeria glanced toward Asa's shed for a moment, then turned back to Ignavius.
"I'm asking one last time. What happened between you and–"
But she didn't finish.
Valeria's eyes went wide, and she spun her whole body toward the shed. Her face was a mix of shock and confusion.
Seeing his sister's reaction, Ignavius forced himself to his feet.
"Something wrong...?"
"I'd swear on my soul – I'm certain Asa didn't shut that door."
She understood immediately. Someone had gotten inside and shut the door behind them, so no one would see.
A thief from the village?
The hunter's accomplice?
A bandit from the distant woods?
None of the possibilities were safe, because – aside from every alchemical treasure in that shed – Lucius was in there too.
'Damn it...'
Wasting no more time, Valeria yanked her Kaeryaku from her belt and bolted toward the shed. Ignavius stayed behind.
"Asa! Someone got in there!"
Hearing his wife's shout, Asa broke off from tending to another villager.
Seeing the shed's closed doors and Valeria with dagger in hand, he grabbed Erbe and sprang to his feet, then sprinted toward her.
'Shit, shit, shit! Who the hell had the nerve to break in there?!'
Within seconds, Asa and Valeria converged at the door. The two exchanged a silent look.
Much to Asa's displeasure, Valeria went first and pulled the door open.
Daggers ready, they stepped inside one after the other and found... no one.
The shelves of potions were untouched.
The crates of ingredients were untouched.
Asa's chest of commissioned darts was untouched.
A cold chill ran through both their bodies. Asa was the first to lose his composure.
"Lucius!"
Breaking the silence, he ran toward the small back room where Lucius lay.
Seeing this, Valeria gasped in alarm and tried to stop her husband, but failed.
"Asa, wait! Damn it–"
Seeing no other option, she had no choice but to follow Asa's lead and run after him.
Overtaking him, Valeria kicked the door clean off its hinges.
"Don't you touch my son!"
But what they saw stopped them both cold.
Lucius – his eyes and face bandaged, his skin pale as death – was conscious. More than that, in his trembling hands he held a wooden cup of water.
Sitting on a chair beside Lucius's bed was a girl who looked about eleven years old. Her light brown hair was tied into an intricate, tangled braid, though even that didn't stop it from reaching all the way down to her waist.
When Asa and Valeria burst in, she barely flinched, turning slowly to face them.
"Hello, Aunt Valeria and Uncle Asa..."
It was Elli.