The man only scowled, as if annoyed by Yelena’s resistance. But he didn’t budge.
“What?”
“What happened? Young Master…”
“Agh!” The man who was holding on to Yelena’s arm screamed.
That was because knowing it would be useless trying to push him away, Yelena bit his hand with all her might.
“M-my hand!”
She bit his hand hard enough that it started bleeding.
“Jack, are you o…”
While the other man was flustered by his companion’s injury, Yelena brutally kicked him between the legs.
“Kurk!”
Yelena, who had just rendered Incan’s men briefly immobile, took off running without looking back.
‘Where do I go?’ Yelena looked around as she ran breathlessly.
She didn’t know the way around, so she didn’t know where to go or if she’d even be able to meet the constable.
‘For now, I should look for a family house and hide there. Then, I can figure out where I am…’
But before Yelena could even go towards the private houses, someone grabbed her by the hair.
“Ah!”
“…Your Grace.”
It was Incan.
Breathing heavily and with his hand in Yelena’s hair, Incan was a mess. He was bleeding out of his mouth.
Incan spat out bloody saliva and looked down at Yelena incredulously.
“What the hell was that earlier? Huh?”
“Ugh, let go of me…”
“Did you use magic or something? Did you have a hidden one-shot artifact or something? Is that what that was?”
“I said, let go of me!”
Yelena struck Incan’s arm as hard as she could.
Incan flinched, but the flashes that had appeared on Yelena’s hand were already gone.
After confirming that there was no strength left in Yelena’s hand, Incan curled his lip, revealing his teeth.
“…I was so startled, Your Grace. You know? I thought I died.”
He threw Yelena to the ground and got on top of her, strangling her neck.
“Kurk!”
“I really thought I croaked, dammit.”
Yelena struggled.
She swatted at whatever part of Incan’s arm her hand could touch and scratched him with her fingernails.
But Incan didn’t even blink.
“I really wanted to treat you well. But you’re the one who refused that and made things reach this point.”
“…Kurk!”
“Why did you do that? It would’ve been good for you and good for me if you had just stayed still. It would’ve been great for the both of us.”
Yelena’s struggling grew dull.
She was being strangled and couldn’t breathe properly. Everything else was second to that.
She was gradually losing consciousness.
‘Kaywhin…’
One person came up in her hazy vision.
“I won’t kill you, so don’t worry. We came all the way here, so it’d be a shame even to me if I did. Instead, you should just faint and stay still… Kurk!”
It was then.
Incan’s hands that were strangling Yelena suddenly lost their strength.
Retch, Incan threw up blood and slowly passed out beside Yelena.
A blade protruded out of the center of the unconscious man’s chest.
“Yelena!”
Yelena’s darkened vision brightly cleared up. She raised her chin with much difficulty.
In the distance, she saw her husband, who seemed to have thrown the sword at Incan, running urgently.
Her husband was not wearing his mask.
But he was someone who always made sure to wear his mask when he went outside.
How urgent had he been?
Yelena smiled, paying no mind to the fact that her life was threatened just moments before.
“Kay…”
Then she lost consciousness.
***
An empty space that was white in all directions.
Yelena woke up in a strange place. She couldn’t even determine how far it extended.
She looked around carefully.
‘…Where am I?’
Then, she identified a familiar face and called out, “Old woman.”
The old woman gazed at Yelena and said, “Your first awakening has been achieved.”
“…First awakening?”
“You’ve already fulfilled the conditions, so there won’t be anything strange when you awaken. But I didn’t think that this would be what would incite it…”
Yelena blinked.
She didn’t know what the old woman was talking about.
“Old woman, what are you talking about right now? I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand. You won’t remember this when you wake up anyway.”
The old woman was saying that it didn’t matter whether or not Yelena understood her.
“I can’t tell you anything more than what has already happened. Those are the rules.”
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