WTBFCY Chapter 33

At his suggestion to go with him, Regina shuddered. She, who had been unable to move her mouth under Sashar's pressure, finally managed to shake her head in refusal.

"N-no! I don't want to!"

Sashar soothed her as if he understood completely.

"You haven't been born long, so you're being swayed by the memories of the first human you accepted. But after molting, it will be different. Your true nature will emerge. Don't be too afraid."

"I said no! Don't do this!"

Sashar extended his hand to Regina again, but trembling, she swatted it away and screamed. At her firm rejection, he hesitated. Normally he would have dragged her with his power. But strangely in a good mood, Sashar readily accepted her refusal.

"...Very well, then it can't be helped. If you need help, come find me anytime."

Newly born black fairies were bound to suffer from hunger anyway. It would only be a matter of time before she, unable to bear it, came looking for him. Thinking this, Sashar took out paper from his pocket and wrote his contact information.

"……."

But Regina turned her head away, showing no intention of accepting even that. Sashar smiled bitterly for a moment, stuffed the paper into her coat pocket, and straightened up.

"Then, have a good evening."

Crouched and trembling, Regina didn't raise her head even at Sashar's farewell. He watched Regina for a moment, then turned away.

He didn't know why a newly born black faerie was with a half-blood hybrid who hunted them, but it didn't matter. The black faerie would soon succumb to hunger and come looking for him, and he could kill that half-blood anytime.

A colder wind began to blow through the street submerged in pitch-black darkness. The hem of turned-away Sashar's coat fluttered slightly in the wind, then wrapped around his body in an instant and vanished without a trace.

"Did he... leave?"

She had been truly afraid he might take offense at her refusal and turn violent. Even after Sashar's presence disappeared, Regina stayed frozen for a long while before carefully turning to check her surroundings. Seeing the silent street submerged in darkness showing no movement, only then did she exhale in relief.

"Haaaaah. That was really scary...."

Her arms and legs still trembled. Grabbing the unlit streetlamp and struggling to stand, she carefully approached where Noah had fallen. She was afraid he might already be dead, still not moving at all, but she couldn't help checking.

"Hey, Noah. Are you okay? You're not really dead, right?"

Staggering on weak legs, she approached Noah and gently shook the arm of him lying face-down. But there was no response. Regina bit her lip hard and stepped closer to shake him harder.

Splash.

A sticky liquid touched her shoe. And Regina immediately recognized it as Noah's blood. Enough blood to form a puddle.

"...Nngh!"

Reflexively holding her breath, she quickly covered her mouth and nose. She only now became aware of this thick sweet smell, her mind having been distracted by tension. The intense sweet scent filling her nose and mouth made her retch involuntarily. It was a fragrance strong enough to bring tears to her eyes.

"Noah, snap out of it! Noah!"

Regina took out a handkerchief from her belongings and tied it to cover her nose and mouth, then shook Noah's body again. Then his limp hand twitched.

"Noah! Oh my god, you're alive! J-just wait a moment. I'll go get someone quickly! No, I should stop the bleeding first."

Seeing this, Regina jumped up in a hurry. Then sat back down and pulled out whatever clothes she could grab from her bag and wrapped them around Noah's body. She couldn't see where or how he was injured in the darkness, but it seemed better to try stopping the bleeding this way.

Thunk, roll roll....

While wrapping clothes, she must have hit the hem of Noah's coat—something from his inner pocket fell to the ground with a thunk. Regina's gaze unconsciously went there and she stopped moving without realizing it. The clouds that had covered the moon revealed themselves and illuminated the pocket watch that had fallen to the ground.

A pocket watch sparkling silver, reflected in the moonlight.

'I fed the watch your blood. With this, wherever you go, it'll tell me. Now even if you run, I'll catch you quickly, won't I?'

Suddenly Noah's voice echoed in her ears. Regina, who had been covering Noah's wounds, flinched and pulled her hands away. What am I doing right now? Why am I desperately trying to save him?

'Will you come with me? Or should I kill you right here?'

Right. This man before her eyes was someone who tried to kill her. Hadn't he even fed her blood to the pocket watch so he could kill her anytime once she turned into a monster, unable to resist hunger?

"……."

Perhaps this was her only chance to escape. As that thought occurred, Regina hesitantly stood up. The pocket watch, kicked by her foot, made a clink sound. Her gaze moved in sequence to the sticky blood pooled beneath her shoe, Noah lying in it, his pale fingers.

'Once you can't resist hunger and eat a human and molt, then I'll hunt you and that'll be the end.'

When she recalled Noah's voice again, Regina was picking up the fallen pocket watch. The sensation of the pocket watch, grabbed as if snatching it, was unusually cold. Regina stared at the collapsed Noah while gripping it with trembling hands.

She wanted to live.

An intense impulse struck. No, it was the instinct of a living being.

One step, two steps. As Regina moved away from Noah, she found herself running when she came to her senses. Clutching the pocket watch like a lifeline.

Hesitation grabbed her ankles, but the desire to live kicked it away.

The pure white moon floating on the pitch-black road. As if that half-cut moon was the only exit, Regina ran frantically. If she just took this watch, Noah couldn't find her. As hope of survival filled her, Regina's steps lightened. She moved forward as if someone pushed her back.

Like this, if she just ran far away. Run to the train station and board whatever train she could catch. She felt a strange sense of liberation. Though she hadn't been confined, it felt like she was bursting out into the world for the first time, like her breath finally opened up.

Thud!

The pitch-black view before her suddenly turned bright then. Regina, who had squinted at the overly bright light, stopped in surprise at an impact hitting her shoulder. Stumbling back a few steps with a bewildered expression, she looked up to see the woman before her dusting off her clothes irritably.

"Oh my, what a fright! How can you run up so suddenly!"

"...Ah."

Before Regina could say "I'm sorry," the frowning woman glared at her and passed by. It felt like her eyes snapped open. Once out of that street, people's voices and carriage sounds grew loud as if it were a lie. Looking back, Kapsen Street with its streetlamps out still lay submerged in darkness.

Regina, who had stopped, stepped aside to the roadside to avoid the people busily passing by for year-end. Was it because rationality returned momentarily? Hesitation suddenly arose and caught Regina's steps as she tried to move forward.

If I run away like this, will Noah die?

—But now the faerie's power has disappeared, so won't someone passing by discover him and save him?

But what if no one passes by? What if he dies?

—Honestly, it's not my concern. He tried to kill me too.

But if I leave someone dying, wouldn't I be complicit in killing him? And if I make that choice, will I really not regret it? No, rather than regret....

—I want to live.

After making such a choice, can I return to who I was? To the 'Regina Evelyn' I knew?

—…….

The voice in her heart stopped. Regina looked down at her feet with a confused expression. Just moments ago, she had seen only one path under the moonlight, but now she saw dozens of branching paths created by the streetlamp lights.

With the expression of a lost child, she looked back at the path she'd run from.

Regina wanted to live. But not just to live—she wanted to live as Regina Evelyn, as a person. Only then did she realize that not only her memories until now, but also her future choices, would create Regina Evelyn.

Drip, drip.

Was it raining?

That thought occurred. But the rain fell very intermittently and even that was lukewarm. At the moisture dripping onto his face, Noah struggled to open his eyes and saw Regina's tear-soaked face blurrily above him.

"……?"

And he realized she was straining to drag his body somewhere. Crying, unable to let go of his heavy body, pathetically dragging it along.

Even with his mind hazy from pain, Noah was puzzled. He had definitely felt her running away, so why was she here? Even while unconscious he had sensed the presence, noticed Regina running far away. He had heard her footsteps running frantically, swept up in the fervor to live.

'Don't tell me... she came back....'

Noah watched Regina's face quietly through narrowly opened eyes. With her face a mess, she cried while gripping him so hard her fingers turned white. From that sight he felt the conflict of wanting to run away.

Noah watched that sight, then unable to overcome his heavy-as-a-thousand-pounds eyelids, closed his eyes again.

She could have abandoned me. How foolish.

That thought occurred, but only briefly—he fell into sleep as if sinking into deep water.