Don't Touch My Thorn (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12

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The scene before my eyes changed rapidly. Every time Idrish stepped on the ground, the shock was transmitted directly to my stomach, doubled. Each time, my breath caught in my throat.

“You, muh, puh, al, lah, ah, ah!”

My words broke apart from the violent jostling.

Damn it, I should’ve sat down to ride! My posture’s all wrong! My stomach’s going to burst!

But I clenched my eyes shut and endured it. Even if my stomach burst open, I had to save Rodrio.

When the carriage arrived, Zeros came out, rubbing his sleepy eyes. He looked bewildered at Idrish’s unexpected appearance at this hour.

“Where’s Rodrio?”

“Lord Rodrio? He went to bed a while ago. Shall I fetch him?”

“Did you confirm he’s actually sleeping?”

“Uh… no.”

Zeros rolled his eyes.

“I’ll check myself.”

Idrish strode up the stairs.

I anxiously chewed my nails, staring at the top of the stairs where Idrish had vanished.

I hoped Idrish would reappear and say Rodrio was sleeping soundly.

Even if that made me the only liar, I just prayed tonight wouldn’t be the night Rodrio met with disaster.

I wished Rodrio would come out grumbling about being woken up from his sleep.

“Miss Hedgehog, right? What on earth is going on? Why did you suddenly run away, and why are you looking for Lord Rodrio…?”

Zeros questioned me, but before he could finish, Idrish reappeared. Just from his rigid, stony expression, I could guess Rodrio wasn’t there. My vision went white.

Idrish grabbed my forearm. My body swayed limply.

“Tell me everything you heard. Where is Rodrio right now?”

“In the forest—he’ll be in the forest. He said he’d lure them. Exactly… I don’t know.”

I was locked inside Idrish’s room. Both the windows and the door were tightly secured; escape was impossible. Not that I wanted to leave anyway.

My mind was filled entirely with thoughts of Rodrio.

But all I could do was pace the room anxiously and peer out the window.

Torches searching the forest were visible everywhere. Every servant in the house had been mobilized. Even the head of House Artigrado, whom I’d never seen before, had come out himself to search for Rodrio on foot.

At first, the lights had only moved near the mansion, but as time passed, they spread farther out. It seemed Rodrio was farther away than expected.

My palms were soaked with sweat.

This is all my fault.

I knew this would happen the moment I arrived at this estate, yet I didn’t stop it.

I kept turning away from and ignoring that youthful face.

While I scrambled desperately just to avoid death myself, I ignored Rodrio, who was even younger than me and destined to die.

Rodrio was fated to die anyway. Even if I saved him this time, unless the prophecy changed, Servian’s attacks would continue. So I couldn’t interfere. I had no power to stop it…

I rationalized it that way, but deep down, I knew the truth.

I was simply afraid of getting involved. My own survival mattered more. This life—I desperately wanted it to last long.

Tears streamed down my face. It was unbearable to accept that I was the one who let Rodrio die.

“Where are you? We have to find you quickly.”

With every passing moment, the chance of saving Rodrio dwindled.

But could we even find him? In the novel, they didn’t find him until well past noon—and by then, Rodrio was already dead.

Could I change the story’s outcome?

Each time that thought struck me, fear choked my breath.

Just as the sun rose and the world grew fully bright, white smoke rose from the edge of the forest—a signal someone had found Rodrio.

At the sight, I nearly collapsed onto the ground. Please, please, just let him still be breathing. I clasped my hands tightly and prayed to countless gods I didn’t even believe in.

Please, save Rodrio. Please.

A moment later, Idrish emerged from the forest’s edge, cradling a small body in his arms.

With each step Idrish took, Rodrio’s limp arms and legs swayed helplessly.

Oh no.

The closer they came, the clearer his appearance became. His clothes were soaked crimson with blood.

He looked utterly beyond belief that he could still be alive.

Tears burst forth.

Trending

Rodrio, please. Please still be breathing.

Just then, the old master dropped his cane and rushed toward Idrish. He fumbled over Rodrio, touching him here and there, then staggered as if collapsing on the spot. Servants quickly rushed to support him. The sight was unbearably tragic and horrifying.

Once Idrish and Rodrio disappeared into the mansion, time crawled for me like hell itself. I desperately hoped someone would come tell me Rodrio was alive—but it seemed no one would bother coming to me.

All alone, I was tormented only by the lingering image of that blood-soaked child.

When my face had swollen from crying so much, someone suddenly flung the door open.

It was Zeros. He must have searched the forest too—he was covered in mud himself after such a short time.

“Lord Idrish summons you…”

His hoarse voice carried despair.

I couldn’t even bring myself to ask him about Rodrio’s condition. I simply moved my trembling legs and followed where he led.

Creeeak.

Rodrio’s door opened with a chilling sound.

In the dim room, my eyes immediately went to Rodrio lying on the bed.

The boy looked utterly drained of life, deathly pale. His bare body, stripped of clothes, was stained with dried blood. A large bandage was wrapped around his waist, but since the bleeding hadn’t stopped, both the bandage and the bed were soaked red.

“Rodrio…”

I collapsed in front of him as if crumbling. I gently took his hand—it was unnaturally cold, unlike a living person’s.

“No, Rodrio, you’re okay, right? You’re still alive, right?”

I pleaded toward Idrish.

“He’s still breathing.”

I’d prayed so desperately—just let him be breathing, please, just keep breathing—but seeing him barely clinging to life was horrifying.

I squeezed the boy’s hand again.

“If we’d arrived any later, he would’ve stopped breathing. Your help was crucial.”

It was meant as gratitude, yet somehow it sounded like the opposite.

As if to say: if only you’d spoken up sooner, none of this would’ve happened.

Idrish grabbed my forearm and pulled me up. My body wobbled uncontrollably.

“This was stuck in his stomach. You know what it is, don’t you?”

I covered my mouth with both hands.

It was exactly as in the novel.

“The wolf’s fang…”

When attacking the blue-eyed white tiger, they use a wolf’s tooth. Naturally, Idrish assumed House Robero—the wolf clan—had attacked Rodrio, and would strike there first.

For Servian, it was advantageous: eliminate the blue-eyed white tiger and simultaneously remove House Robero, the rival beastkin clan they’d been watching closely.

But knowing something in your head from reading a novel and seeing it with your own eyes were entirely different. This was far larger, far more horrifying. The ivory-colored fang was longer than the span of my hand.

Just imagining that thing piercing Rodrio’s stomach…

Oh, what do I do?

It was far too horrific for a child to endure.

How much pain had he been in? How terrified must he have been?

Guilt blurred my vision with fresh tears.

Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped sometime during the night.

Even Rodrio’s ghostly pale face had regained a faint trace of color—but he remained unconscious.

I stayed by Rodrio’s side the whole time.

Perhaps because my words had been proven true, they no longer seemed to suspect I’d try to run away.

I gently wiped the blood matted in Rodrio’s hair with a damp cloth.

Just then, Zeros appeared.

“Lady Cecilia, Lord Tesmilion summons you.”

“Me?”

Tesmilion was the head of this household.

I clearly remembered his anguished collapse yesterday upon seeing Rodrio injured…

This would be my first time meeting Tesmilion. A sudden fear gripped me.

I made my way to the study, deep within the mansion.

They said Tesmilion rarely left his own room or this study throughout the day.

Knock knock. I gathered my courage and tapped on the door.

ads

“Come in.”

I was nervous. Pressing down the dizzying flutter in my chest, I slowly opened the door. Tesmilion sat directly ahead.

His swept-back white hair fell to his nape. His face was deeply lined and scarred, bearing the weight of hard-lived years.

Yet his eyes remained sharp—his irises, slightly more crimson than Idrish’s, seemed to pierce right through me.

My whole body tensed.

Tesmilion couldn’t possibly know I’d been passively watching Rodrio’s death for so long—yet somehow, I felt as if I were being reproached. It was hard to meet his gaze.

“You are Cecilia Erizo?”

I wanted to say “Yes,” but my lips were sealed shut.

Instead, I nodded like a dazed child. Just then, the door behind me opened, and Idrish entered. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one summoned.

Idrish stood beside me. Just that small presence slightly eased the suffocating tension.

But Tesmilion didn’t seem to think so—he kept his piercing gaze fixed on me.

“I heard you warned them in advance that Rodrio would be harmed.”

His raspy voice held no discernible emotion. Though his hair was the same silver as Idrish’s, his seemed bleached white from exhaustion, as if weathered by too many journeys through the world—a weary winter wind brushing against my skin.

I lowered my head and stared at the floor. Here too, white marble tiles interlocked to form geometric patterns.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Though Tesmilion’s words weren’t accusatory, my shoulders instinctively hunched inward.

“How did you know?”

His suspicion-laden question flew like an arrow.

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