Chapter 55
06_Broken mirror
Prina thought she must be dreaming. A nightmare so dreadful it felt like sleep paralysis.
The kind of dream where no sound comes out when you try to scream, where your body refuses to move even when you try to run. And in such nightmares, there was only one way to escape.
Move the tips of your fingers. Wake up.
Though she felt she might faint at any moment, Prina fought hard to hold on to her senses.
And at last, she managed to force out her voice.
“…Why.”
The first word she spoke was the question she most wanted to ask.
“Why did you do that?”
Hunter’s bright yellow eyes flashed in response, almost as though they were resonating with hers. His expression was calm… so calm it was impossible to believe he had just done something so horrifying.
No, rather, it looked as though he was… expecting something.
Like a delighted reaction. Or praise for having done well.
Seeing the satisfaction on his face, as though he was proud of what he had done, sent the fine hairs on the back of Prina’s neck bristling.
“I told you, didn’t I? From the beginning, he was your gift.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a nightmare. It wasn’t a dream.
It was undeniably reality.
Her blood ran cold. A chill of horror swept through her.
“Why.”
This time, it was Hunter who asked.
“Why are you making that face?”
He tilted his head, as if he truly didn’t understand.
“You like fixing broken things. Don’t you?”
“……”
His tone was casual, as if merely confirming an obvious truth.
Prina couldn’t answer.
He was right. She did find meaning in healing others. But that only applied when there was no deliberate cruelty involved. Helping those who stood on the border of life and death. That was what she did.
But to harm in order to create that moment of healing…
That was something so monstrous she had never even conceived of it.
“What’s wrong, Prina?”
He asked again, almost soothingly. As if he truly didn’t understand the reason for her reaction.
His voice was calm. More serene than usual, even.
And that very calmness sent an even colder chill through her.
“You said you wanted to see me as I really am.”
“……”
“You said it didn’t matter who I was, so long as it was the real me.”
Prina couldn’t say a word.
“You said that was your wish.”
“……”
“Wasn’t it?”
Everything he said was true. Words that had come out of her own mouth.
She had thought of him as a beautiful mirror.
Someone with the same black hair as hers.
Someone who bore scars like hers, but faced them differently. Head-on, proudly. Someone who saw her as she was, who showed her she was needed.
She had thought of him as the other half of her soul. Her fortune. And she had wished their happiness would last forever.
But today, that mirror shattered.
It wasn’t that he had changed. Of course, she herself hadn’t changed either.
It was simply that the truth, as it had always been, had surfaced at last. Nothing more, nothing less.
“…Prina.”
Hunter called her name as he approached.
With each step he drew closer, her heart tightened painfully, but Prina stood rooted in place, unable to move.
“Was it because I made a mistake? Because I broke him and he couldn’t be fixed anymore?”
Hunter asked. He truly sounded as though he didn’t know what he had done wrong, as though that was the only explanation that came to mind. Yes. To him, perhaps this wasn’t wrong at all.
“Sorry. It really was a mistake. I misjudged my strength.”
Before she knew it, he was right before her, cupping her cheek in his large hand.
He was the same as ever.
That hand, covering her cheek entirely.
Those arrogant eyes looking down at her as though she were something adorable.
Nothing had changed.
Prina raised her trembling gaze to look at him.
That same seriousness from when he had handed her chocolate.
That same warmth from when he had held her in his arms.
That same gentle tone he used to soothe her when she was startled.
Hunter, surely, hadn’t changed at all.
“…I guess I just got too angry in the moment, seeing you and that bastard whispering secrets together.”
The black serpent tattoo coiling down to his wrist was visible.
Until recently, she had thought it beautiful.
Now, against her cheek, his touch felt like that serpent itself was slithering coldly across her skin.
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