The Northern Grand Duke’s Hamster

When we returned to the campsite, the wounded knight had already drawn his last breath. A heavy silence hung in the air as people gathered around the corpse, swords drawn.

“How pathetic, falling for such a cheap trick.”

Kyle spoke with a scoff of disbelief. Belial clenched his jaw, his pride wounded. But there was no refuting it—it had been his mistake. Clicking his tongue in frustration was all he could do.

They had preyed on their anxiety, provoking movement and fostering internal discord, only to strike once their target was vulnerable. All for the sole purpose of reducing our forces, they had killed the wounded knight without hesitation.

“How ruthless.”

Sen brushed her fingers over the fallen knight’s cold face, closing his lifeless eyes. She looked somber.

“The wound isn’t even that severe. He must have suffered terribly before he died…”

“……”

“What’s the point of seizing the throne through such means?”

“Who knows.”

Kyle let out a sharp, cold laugh.

“That’s exactly why we don’t live like Lorenz.”

“……”

“Their methods may be vile, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them.”

“What is there to learn?”

“The resolve to kill your enemy in order to survive.”

His voice was so calm, so indifferent, that it felt no different from discussing what he had for breakfast the day before.

“This isn’t a simple hunt where you return home safely after slaying some beast or monster. Nor is it a staged duel where you stand face-to-face and exchange blows. I’m sure you expected this. But still—”

“……”

It was the voice of someone who had endured over a decade in the frozen wilderness—falling, standing back up, hardening himself through countless trials.

“Knowing something and truly understanding it are two different things.”

The weight of his words settled heavily over the group. The knights stood in solemn silence, mourning the life that had just slipped away before them.

“The next time…”

Kyle’s sharp gaze landed on Belial.

“Lorenz will come to take your head, Belial. So you’d better act wisely—unless you want to be hunted like some common beast in this forest.”

Belial slowly lifted his head. The moon had vanished behind the clouds, casting the world into darkness. His eyes fell on the knight lying at his feet. He swallowed a bitter sigh.

Death was already creeping closer.

There was no more room to retreat. No more space to run.

***

A day passed, each moment honed to a razor’s edge with tension.

We encountered a pack of kobolds, the same kind I had read about in The Bestiary of Magical Beasts. The enhanced ones were particularly aggressive, their size making them even harder to deal with than some monsters. Fortunately, we subdued them without suffering serious injuries.

I made full use of my Eye of Truth and burned through my Luck stat to activate a one-time protective barrier, assisting Kyle throughout the battle. I also applied some ointment I had purchased at a discount from a nut store to treat his wounds.

But as dusk fell, a knight of the Blake Order perished. He had strayed from formation and fallen to an enemy mage’s attack.

I had seen Kyle in battle many times before, but I had never witnessed him look as terrifying as he did then. His expression, twisted in fury, was so fierce it seemed like he could tear a man apart with his gaze alone.

To Kyle, these rogue mages weren’t just enemies. They were the nemeses of his people, the executioners of his knights.

He had chased after the fleeing mage, who had barely escaped with one arm intact, fully intent on slaughtering him.

I had no choice but to stop him.

“We’re short on numbers, Your Highness. Please, calm down.”

We had started with ten. Now, we were down to eight. And even among those eight, our unity was only temporary. Clinging desperately to Kyle’s waist, I pleaded with him.

“If we split up now, it’ll only put us in greater danger… Please. Lorenz will send more men, or he’ll come himself. Just wait.”

“My knight is dead. And you want me to stand here and do nothing? To simply watch his death go unanswered?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it!”

Kyle exhaled sharply. His breath, heavy with rage, trembled as he released it.

Slowly, he forced himself to swallow his fury. Revenge was one thing, but he couldn’t endanger the rest of us for it.

“I’ll compensate you handsomely.”

Belial’s voice broke the tense silence.

Kyle let out a cold, derisive laugh.

“…Compensation? Did you just say compensation?”

His crimson eyes blazed with fury.

“Then bring him back to life.”

“……”

“No amount of gold can pay for a life. Offering something you can’t repay is nothing but an insult to the dead.”

Teeth clenched, Kyle seethed through gritted words. The battle with the monsters had left him covered in blood, making his grief and rage even more pronounced.

He had carried the weight of countless lives lost—hundreds, thousands—on his back. A burden I could never fully comprehend.

And perhaps that was why his sorrow felt all the more unbearable.

“That’s right. Life isn’t something that can be compensated.”

At the sound of that voice, Kyle’s eyes flashed. His hand gripped my arm, the same one wrapped around his waist to hold him back. It felt like he was silently begging me to let go.

I could hold him no longer. No—I shouldn’t hold him back.

Releasing him, I took three steps back.

In an instant, Kyle drew his sword. The blade, dripping with crimson blood, was aimed at—

Lorenz.

“Life demands vengeance.”

“I never thought I’d see the day when I agreed with a despicable bastard. Well then, let’s settle the score.”

“No, no.”

Lorenz shook his head lazily, taking a step forward.

Clang.

The knights standing beside Kyle and Belial simultaneously unsheathed their swords. Lorenz’s men did the same. The hooded mages accompanying him raised their hands slightly, preparing to cast spells.

“No more moving the chess pieces.”

Lorenz’s eyes narrowed.

“Belial.”

“……”

“What do you say? Instead of spilling more worthless blood, why don’t we settle this between ourselves? Truth be told, I didn’t even want to bother with this whole process—I was just planning to let the monsters take care of you. But you held out better than I expected.”

Worthless blood.

Kyle clenched his fists so tightly they trembled.

To see someone who had followed him to this very place, only to die for his sake, be reduced to nothing more than an insignificant casualty—how cruel it must have felt to stand there and do nothing.

Belial had also lost a knight the night before. His green eyes burned with seething hatred.

“Fine. I accept your challenge.”

This forest was nothing short of a lawless land. Here, status and allegiances meant nothing. People were divided into only two categories:

Those you had to protect.

And those you had to kill.

“I’ll lead you to an open space. Follow me.”

Lorenz grinned widely.

I started thinking frantically. What should I do? How can I help? Maybe there was something useful in the nut store’s inventory…

I opened the system window, checking my remaining Miracle points, the cooldown for Reload, and the available items in the store—

“Don’t.”

Kyle, having steadied his breath, grasped my wrist and stopped me. His voice was quiet yet firm.

“This is between them.”

“……”

“You can’t change the flow of every event to your will. Even gods can’t do that—you know that, don’t you?”

“…But he might die a meaningless death.”

It wasn’t because I felt any particular loyalty, admiration, or friendship toward Belial. If anything, my feelings leaned closer to dislike, considering how he had treated Kyle.

But—Sen loved him.

Not Serena, the protagonist of Heart of Winter, but my friend, Sen. The one person in this world who had accepted me without hesitation, who believed in my absurd words without question.

“How is it meaningless, Shu?”

Kyle pulled me closer, his voice low.

“If he grips his sword until the very end, if he fights with everything he has for his own survival, then it’s not meaningless. He would have done everything he could to live.”

“……”

“Even if you interfere and disrupt this, those two will inevitably clash again. And that would only lead to more bloodshed. This is the cleaner solution.”

“I know that. But still…”

“Or would you rather kill Lorenz yourself in Belial’s place?”

Kyle came to a halt. His crimson eyes locked onto mine.

“There’s a difference between struggling to save someone and killing to protect them.”

He was right. If Belial and Lorenz had to fight, I would rather Belial be the one who survived. And if I could help him win, I wanted to do so.

But if I had to take a sword and kill Lorenz myself—

…I couldn’t answer.

This wasn’t a game or a movie.

I had lived a normal life before this. There was no way I could bear the weight of taking another’s life.

“You can’t do everything, Shu. And even if you could, it would only humiliate Belial.”

I replied hesitantly, almost like making an excuse.

“…If it were you instead of Belial, I might have drawn my sword and charged at Lorenz. Even if it meant spending the rest of my life haunted by it.”

“That may be true. Because you like me.”

Kyle lowered his gaze, a faint smile curving his lips.

That simple expression carried warmth, as if he were quietly thanking me.

“But Belial is not me, Shu. Remember that.”

“……”

“I don’t want your hands stained with blood. Once it’s there, it never washes off.”

Was that a wish born from his own experiences?

I nodded wordlessly in response.

Kyle wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. The scent of blood—still fresh and unwashed—filled the space between us.

“Let’s go. We need to keep watch. Anything could happen.”

“Yes.”

The setting sun burned red, like blood.

The final night in the Eastern Forest was closing in.

And for someone, that night would be their last.