SWNOVELXO Chapter 348: Freshman (2)
A chilling wind swept through the Illa Jeridon Mountain. It was sharp as a blade. Even in the bone-freezing cold, Flame forced her wings to keep moving.
“... Haa...”
Her body can’t take it anymore.
Even though she used mana to shield herself from the freezing temperatures, flying for so long above the Reversed Mountain, one of the coldest places in existence, had left her body numb and frozen.
‘I’m definitely getting sick after this…’
Still, it didn’t matter now.
Exhausted and in pain, Flame fought to compose her expression.
To keep a smile even in the most dire of situations had always been second nature to her. But right now, she couldn’t even force a smile once.
“This... Is my defeat.”
Countless icicle blades pierced through Alpha, the Angel Hunter, pinning him in place.
A single spear of light had impaled his abdomen, sealing his magic completely and rendering his body immobile.
Crunch!
Stepping onto the thick snow, Flame locked eyes with him.
“The Stella Knights will be here soon. Stay put until they arrest you.”
“... Arrest? Haha. How naive.”
“What do you mean?”
She raised her staff, scanning her surroundings.
Was he planning to escape?
Impossible.
With the Spear of Judgment embedded in him, he wouldn’t be able to use his magic even if he indeed wanted to escape.
Besides, the icicles were likely Eisel’s handiwork. It had frozen his mana veins, making spellcasting impossible.
“You… Do you even understand what you’ve done to me?”
“I sealed your magic with the Spear of Judgment. You can’t do anything—”
“Wrong.”
Cough!
Alpha suddenly coughed up blood, causing Flame to flinch and step back.
Her fractured ankle throbbed from an earlier attack, but she had no time to dwell on the pain.
“If I were a normal human, sealing my magic might have been enough.”
“... You are human. You just stole demonic magic and used it.”
“Is that so? I used to think the same.”
Alpha smiled bitterly.
“For a hundred years, I abandoned my humanity and wielded demonic magic... It wasn’t until recently that I realized... I had already become one of them.”
Alpha let out a blood-chilling laugh.
“I’m dying soon. How pathetic. I spent my entire life chasing after angels, and now, after finally meeting one... I’m dying? Such a miserable fate.”
“W-What...?”
Flame hadn’t intended to kill him.
From the very beginning, she had felt a strong aversion to taking a life—especially when the opponent wasn’t a dark mage.
“You’re no different, are you? The more you use angelic magic, the more you become one of them. Do you see it as a curse? Or perhaps... A blessing?”
“I...”
Becoming an angel was supposed to be a blessing.
After all, hadn’t she relied on the power of angels to overcome countless hardships, including this very moment?
And yet—
She didn’t want to become one.
Only now did she realize just how painful that rejection must have been for the angels themselves.
They had given Flame their power freely, asking for nothing in return—only hoping that, one day, she would acknowledge them.
“Enough with the pointless talk.”
Flame looked at the icy spear impaling Alpha.
In the novel, Eisel’s magic had been described as art.
But now, that magic was far from anything resembling art.
Perhaps it was because Eisel’s skill level was still far too inadequate to fully master it.
“I want to hear more about... Why you hate angels.”
“Don’t you already know?”
“I do. Angels once targeted the Twelve Moons and caused chaos on the surface. But those angels were already subdued by their own kind. Just because one human is a murderer, does that make all humans the same? I don’t understand why you hate angels as a whole.”
Even if there had once been angels who targeted the Twelve Moons and wreaked havoc, it was ultimately the angels themselves who had captured and punished their own.
The cycle of hatred should have ended there.
And yet, even after hundreds of years, the hatred endured, leading to the rise of generations of angel hunters. It felt utterly illogical to Flame.
“You’re right. Not all angels are evil. But... That didn’t matter to us."
Alpha closed his eyes.
His breathing grew weaker, fading with each passing moment.
Since when had Flame become so cold-hearted, standing before someone at the brink of death?
“Angels... And demons... They are a special bloodline. What if I told you that the Twelve Divine Moons themselves were born from angels and demons?”
“... What are you talking about?”
She had never heard such a claim before.
“Heh... No need to look so skeptical. My story has no proof. But the Twelve Divine Moons and that special bloodline are far too... Cough!”
Alpha suddenly coughed and shower of blood spilled from his mouth.
Flame hurriedly reached out, gathering light mana to cast a healing spell, but Alpha let out a bitter laugh.
“Are you trying to burn me alive... When I’m already dying? Haha...”
“Damn it...”
Of course—light magic was poison to demons. There was nothing she could do to help him.
“What did you mean? That the Twelve Divine Moons originated from angels and demons?”
“Do you really think... That the Progenitor Mage created beings as great as the Twelve Divine Moons... Out of nothing? Cough!”
“The Progenitor Mage...?”
“They must have... Taken the foundation from somewhere. We suspect... It came from angels and demons...”
His voice began to fade, like wind escaping a hollow shell.
Yet Alpha kept his gaze fixed on Flame, as if determined to leave nothing unsaid before his death.
“Angels... The true angels and demons... Were wiped out centuries ago...”
“What...?”
What was he saying?
She had been talking to angels just moments ago.
And yet, Alpha claimed that all angels had gone extinct?
“There are... No angels left anymore.”
Alpha’s eyes drifted and closed partially.
Flame wanted to shake him, to demand answers, but she couldn’t bring herself to pressure a dying man.
Even in his final moments, Alpha refused to lower his head. With his half-closed eyes, he forced himself to gaze at the sky.
The clear blue expanse seemed especially dazzling that day.
“You are... The last... The most special being in this world...”
Ssshhh...
Alpha’s gaze faded, his lifeless eyes fixed on the sunlight as he took his final breath.
“What... What the hell...”
Flame collapsed weakly to the ground, staring blankly into empty space.
— Flame! Are you okay?!
— We’ll heal you! Hang on!
Voices echoed in her ears… Deep, melodic, and soothing, like whispers carried on a gentle breeze.
She had seen them before.
In her dreams, they had wings like angels. They lived free and unburdened in a temple high above the clouds, where they played harps, sang, and danced as if time itself had stopped.
She knew what she saw.
‘... Could it be real?’
No.
She tried to shake herself free of the thought.
In the novel, angels were barely even mentioned, and she had never seen them in person.
At most, she had glimpsed their images in her dreams.
But could she truly call those dreams reality?
‘No, no. Stop being ridiculous.’
This was...
It was just a cliché.
An enemy, dying dramatically, spouting nonsense to plant doubts and confusion in the hero’s companions. It was the oldest trope in fantasy stories.
Alpha was probably just that kind of character.
At least, that’s what she tried to convince herself.
‘But something felt... Off.’
The doubt had lingered in her heart since the end of the battle.
Alpha, for some reason, had stopped attacking with killing intent.
At the time, she had assumed it was exhaustion.
But that explanation didn’t sit right.
But his magic had remained as explosively powerful as it was at the beginning of the battle.
Alpha had withdrawn his killing intent and ultimately fallen to Eisel of the Morph family and Flame, who wielded the power of angels.
And as though he had foreseen his defeat, he had calmly accepted death and left behind his final words.
Seriously...
Would anyone in this world really throw away their life just to deceive others?
At least in Flame’s understanding, no one could possibly do such a thing.
— What’s wrong, Flame? Is something bothering you?
“... It’s nothing.”
The angels couldn’t hear Alpha’s voice.
Unless Flame willed it, they had no way of perceiving what had happened on ground.
— You don’t sound like yourself.
— If something’s bothering you, talk to us anytime!
— We’ll always be here to protect you.
“... Thanks.”
Ending the conversation there, Flame cut off the telepathic link.
Leaning against the icicle summoned by Eisel, Flame closed her eyes.
‘I’m so tired.’
She knew that if she fell asleep here, she’d probably freeze to death...
But surely, Eisel would come for her.
***
When Hong Bi-Yeon finally woke up, three days had passed since the incident.
During the period she was unconsciousness, the Adolevit Palace had been thrown into chaos.
A breach had occurred at the most secure tomb in Adolevit, and the fact that the princess had fainted enraged Queen Hong Se-Ryu to the point that he overturned the knights’ order. News of the incident spread across the entire nation.
However, it was soon revealed that the event had been akin to a natural disaster.
Baek Yu-Seol testified that the attacker hadn’t been an ordinary mage, but one of the Twelve Divine Moons.
When he arrived at the cemetery, the guards had already been incapacitated, rendered unconscious by an unknown force.
This was how Baek Yu-Seol had managed to enter the cemetery so quickly.
Since the Twelve Divine Moons were beings that even nations couldn’t handle, Hong Se-Ryu had no choice but to suppress her fury in the end.
“... Her Majesty was furious?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Princess Hong Bi-Yeon smiled for the first time in a while at the response from her personal guard, Yeterin.
“The Queen was angry over something related to me?”
“It’s a good sign, Your Highness.”
“No, Her Majesty was angry because the ‘princess’ was attacked, not Hong Bi-Yeon. That’s just the kind of person she is.”
Even though she understood that, for some reason, it still felt good.
Unlike the past, when her title as princess was barely acknowledged and she was treated like a ghost within the palace, things were different now.
She had risen to a position where Queen Hong Se-Ryu would be so furious over what happened to her.
“Oh, and...”
Yeterin hesitated for a moment and glanced nervously behind her before speaking.
“Until just before you woke up, student Baek Yu-Seol was here, watching over you.”
“... R-Really?”
Hong Bi-Yeon’s voice faltered slightly as if she was caught off guard.
“But... He ran away exactly five minutes before you woke up. It was almost like he knew the exact time you’d regain consciousness—even though not even the doctors could predict it.”
“... Ran away?”
Her choice of words felt odd. Not left but ran away?
“I don’t know. He really took off, like he was fleeing from something...”
“... I see.”
She let out a sigh of relief, gently placing her hand over her chest.
The flames that had once burned uncontrollably within her were now completely calm.
And the reason for that was likely...
Blush!
Suddenly, she recalled what had happened right before she fell asleep, and her ears turned bright red.
“Oh my, Your Highness! Are you feeling feverish again? Should I call the royal physician—”
“No, I’m fine!”
“Judging by your loud voice, you seem perfectly healthy. Would you like some ginseng tea?”
“... I’m sick of ginseng tea.”
“Pardon? Since when did Your Highness care about taste?”
Yeterin had a point.
Until now, Hong Bi-Yeon hadn’t cared about flavor. She simply drank ginseng tea because she couldn’t taste anything anyway.
But now, as she chewed the fruit that Yeterin handed her, she realized something clearly.
‘My sense of taste... Has completely returned.’
The fresh, sweet flavors now felt vivid to Hong Bi-Yeon—even without Baek Yu-Seol’s influence.
And so, she no longer liked ginseng tea.
With her sense of taste restored, the bitter flavor and unique scent of ginseng tea were no longer to her liking.
“Are you disappointed that Baek Yu-Seol left?”
At Yeterin’s teasing question, Hong Bi-Yeon silently stuffed another piece of fruit into her mouth and refused to answer.
“You must be feeling a bit down. But still, he never once left your side until just before you woke up.”
“... Really?”
Hearing that, Hong Bi-Yeon’s lips unconsciously curled into a small smile.
Watching this, Yeterin couldn’t help but feel concerned.
‘She’s destined to rule this nation someday... But if she can’t even control her expressions because of one person...’
In the past, Hong Bi-Yeon had been emotionless, like a machine or a doll, maintaining a cold, unreadable poker face.
But now, it had become easy to tell her emotions just by looking at her.
Yeterin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about it.
Still, she chose to think positively.
Even if Hong Bi-Yeon’s composure had weakened slightly as a politician, she had undoubtedly grown stronger as a individual—
Or perhaps, as a young girl simply experiencing emotions for the first time.
So Yeterin decided to test the waters by bringing up Baek Yu-Seol again.
“Oh, and you wouldn’t believe it. You know how no one is allowed in your room at night, right? Well, Baek Yu-Seol insisted on staying and wouldn’t take no for an answer!”
“Pfft... That’s ridiculous. There’s no way he could’ve done that.”
But in reality, even just hearing that was enough to make her heart flutter.
That was more than enough for Hong Bi-Yeon.
However, Yeterin tilted her head and dismissed the idea.
“No, really! Baek Yu-Seol’s smooth talking was unbelievable. He even convinced the royal physician—and somehow even Queen Hong Se-Ryu! I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but he actually guarded your bedside for three whole nights.”
“... W-What did you just say?”
Hong Bi-Yeon’s hair stood on end, like a startled cat, at Yeterin’s words.
“Yes. And he even asked that no one be allowed to enter your room at night. Well... I’m sure he didn’t do anything suspicious. He’s not that kind of boy. He’s more like a righteous knight, if you ask me...”
No.
Even if it wasn’t anything suspicious, it might have been something close enough to it.
Hong Bi-Yeon remembered—
Right before she lost consciousness, she vividly recalled what Baek Yu-Seol had done to extinguish the flames burning wildly inside her chest.
“Your Highness? Are you alright?”
Plop.
Suddenly, Hong Bi-Yeon stopped eating her fruit, pulled the blanket over her head, and buried herself underneath it.
Yeterin tilted her head in confusion.
“Your Highness? But... Shouldn’t you at least finish your fruit first...?”
“... Be quiet. I want to be alone.”
“As you wish.”
It wasn’t the first time Princess Hong Bi-Yeon had acted so temperamental, so Yeterin simply shrugged it off.
Humming a tune, she left the room and closed the door behind her.
Now that she was alone, the heat that filled Hong Bi-Yeon’s hospital room was likely not just because of the curse’s brand.