No Regression for the Victor - Chapter 34

“……!”

Startled by Hyun’s signal, Misha looked up at the window, then broke into a bright, innocent smile and waved.

And wearing a faint smile, Hyun looked down at Misha and beckoned for him to come up quickly.

Seeing Hyun’s gesture, Misha immediately tossed aside the shovel he’d been holding and ran toward the front door.

“Did you sleep well?”

With a head still dusted in unmelted snow, Misha greeted him with a cheerful smile, and Hyun couldn’t help but let out a reflexive laugh.

It had already been over a year since Misha and his master had begun their regular dispatches to the Ice Lake.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a good situation that the surveillance of a shabby house with no more signs of rebellion had become so strict, but thanks to the new seeds and books Misha brought each month, Hyun’s days were never dull.

Following Misha’s instructions, Hyun would nurture the new seeds until they sprouted and became seedlings, and then the next month, Misha would find a good spot in the greenhouse and plant them.

When Hyun finished the books Misha brought, Misha would always bring him more to pass the time.

After over a year of this, Hyun’s greenhouse had become more splendid than most flower shops.

“When I woke up this morning, I saw that a lot of snow had piled up. If too much snow collects on top of the greenhouse, the pillars might buckle, so I cleared it off in advance.”

No matter how many times he cleared it, the snow in Frigid would pile up to his knees in an instant.

Even though Hyun had told him countless times not to trouble himself and to take it easy, Misha never listened.

Sometimes, Misha’s slightly cheeky and utterly clueless attitude left Hyun at a loss for words, but he didn’t dislike it.

When Misha first started visiting again, Hyun had been full of questions.

Why was someone being so kind to a dying traitor?

It was easy to offer a moment’s sympathy to a pitiful stranger in a foreign land, but it was rare for someone to willingly take on the trouble and hardship of going out of their way to help over the long term, doing what most people simply wouldn’t.

Hyun had found it a little burdensome, and since it was strange to receive such kindness with no strings attached, he’d tried to keep some distance from Misha.

But as if fate were playing a trick, the Crown of the Slayer, which had previously only brought a lingering weariness, seemed to sprout up inside him and triggered a sudden seizure.

He’d always resigned himself to the idea of withering away slowly, but having never experienced a seizure, Hyun was genuinely shocked.

Even though he, as a reader of the original work, knew the Grand Duke of Transis would die of illness sooner or later, the stabbing pain was so intense he thought he might actually die then and there.

In the end, it was none other than Misha who discovered Hyun collapsed from the seizure and took care of him.

When Hyun finally regained consciousness after a long bout of seizures and nightmares, he opened his eyes to see Misha, dozing with his head bowed in the chair by the bed.

The unpleasant screams he always heard upon waking from those foul dreams disappeared the instant he saw Misha’s face, as if someone had hit the mute button.

‘There’s no need for you to do this. Why not just leave a sinner like me to die, like so many others would?’

But at Hyun’s self-reproaching question, he received an unexpected answer that left him speechless.

‘…You just looked lonely.’

Misha blurted it out, then seemed startled by his own words and hurriedly covered his mouth, apologizing.

‘Sorry, I spoke out of turn…’

Yet as he went on—saying that if Hyun hadn’t wanted other people meddling, he shouldn’t have let himself be seen—Hyun found himself at a loss for words at this miraculous logic.

He knew the Duke would be offended to hear a mere servant claim to feel a kinship with him, but when Misha said he too had nowhere to truly belong, Hyun felt as if something deep inside him had been suddenly intruded upon.