Please Forget Me - Chapter 220

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

Killian had been waiting for the fight to start.

From what he observed, battles were fought on the hilltop every night. Once the fight began, even if we fired our guns, the noise would be drowned out by the battle sounds.

And the soldiers, focused on the hilltop battle, would quickly forget even if they noticed gunfire from somewhere else.

That was when it would be safe for us to shoot and drive off the dogs.

“I want to help too…”

As I reached for the revolver at my waist, Killian shook his head without taking his eyes off the sights.

“You’ve never learned to hunt. Don’t lose sleep over it.”

So had Killian hunted often before?

Click.

He smoothly operated the bolt, ejecting a spent cartridge and closing the chamber naturally.

I expected him to shoot immediately, but he just watched the dogs beyond the doorframe like he was waiting for something.

Bang! Whoosh!

At the moment a flare lit up the sky again, he tore off the half-broken latch and flung the door wide open.

Facing six dogs directly, without any walls to block, his rifle spat fire.

Bang!

One dog charging at us collapsed, shot in the neck. As the others closed in on the dying dog, Killian fired again.

Bang!

Though the flare had faded and visibility was low, he hit another dog precisely. As the second dog fell, the rest began to flee. By the time the sky was tinged red with dawn, only the two dead dogs remained before us.

“Hah…”

“You chased them all away. Amazing.”

The man, familiar in his movements, ejected spent shells and closed the chamber with a tired sigh. He looked incredibly cool—like a true knight.

As I hugged Killian, joy flooding me, a sinister sound came from behind him.

Growl.

Not all the dogs had fled. When the light returned, I saw under Killian’s arm that a plank opposite the cabin had completely fallen off.

Through the gap, a dog was trying to squeeze in, and the man struggled to push it back with the fallen board.

“Killian, over there…”

Bang!

Killian, holding me frozen in his arms and turning only his upper body, shot a hole through the dog’s head.

“Hah… thank you. Thank you.”

The man slumped as if his legs gave out. I hadn’t seen it because the darkness had returned so quickly; I only guessed by the sound.

“By the way, you two have unusual names…”

Bang!

Gasp.

Thud.

With no dogs left, Killian fired one more shot into the darkness. Something large and heavy fell silently to the ground—too big to be a dog.

‘Killian shot the man too.’

It wasn’t an accident. He never wasted bullets, and afterward, instead of being startled, he hugged me and let out a relieved sigh.

Bang!

From afar, the flare rose again. It meant the sky would brighten soon.

“Close your eyes, Dana.”

When he first said that, I didn’t listen, but maybe my body remembers the scene perfectly. My whole body froze, refusing to obey, but my eyelids closed on their own.

“Keep them closed until I say it’s okay to open.”

He lifted me and sat me down on what felt like a pile of firewood.

“I’m going to clear this place. Just wait a moment.”

Closing my eyes tight, I heard sounds—

Shuffling. That was the sound of a dead dog being pushed between the wall cracks.

Dragging. That was the madman’s body being pulled out the door.

And after that, a much heavier, squelching noise lingered. That had to be Joseph’s rotting corpse being dragged out.

I wanted to cover my ears but didn’t, holding it in. It would be worse not to hear what was happening.

The sounds of moving the corpse faded and stopped. Killian returned shortly after and busied himself inside the cabin. Then I heard the door close and the latch slide into place.

Click.

That was the sound of a match striking. Soon after, the smell of burning wax began to mask the lingering stench of the corpse. A faint light flickered before my eyes.

“It’s okay to open your eyes now.”

Cautiously, I opened them. Seeing the cabin lit by a single candle, I finally understood what had kept him so busy.