Chapter 32
Ael added quietly as Kiara stared at the mark, still dazed.
“Yes. Witches and their soulmates share wounds and pain. When you got cut earlier, I got the same wound. Now, both of ours have healed.”
Kiara nodded, trying to process the strange truth. Then, suddenly recalling something, she asked again.
“When I got cut earlier, it hurt less than I expected. Is that because we’re soulmates…?”
“Huh?”
Ael’s eyes sharpened in surprise at her question. Most people would usually faint just knowing they had met their soulmate, let alone acting so calm about a sword injury or the very idea of soulmates. How could this witch be so unbothered — facing the blade, hearing the word “soulmate” for the first time, and knowing she’d met hers?
“Well… I don’t really know, but maybe it’s because you’re a witch. I barely felt anything when I got the wound, too. Maybe sharing the injury made it heal faster?”
He looked thoughtful, but Kiara seemed more intrigued by him than by the answer. After explaining so fluently earlier, now he was suddenly claiming not to know? That contradiction caught her attention.
“You don’t know?”
“It’s my first time. I’ve never actually seen someone with a real soulmate before. People usually just point at happy couples and say, ‘They must be soulmates.’ But… honestly? I always thought it was a scam. Or an excuse.”
“…Excuse?”
“Yeah. You know the kind. ‘My wife isn’t my soulmate, so I’m allowed to sleep around to find the real one.’ That sort of thing.”
“Ah…”
Kiara gave a wry smile. She understood the kind of reasoning he meant. But as she nodded, Ael narrowed his eyes slightly, studying her.
“…You believe it?”
This whole idea — soulmates and shared wounds — was hard to accept even seeing it for someone like Ael, a natural skeptic. And yet this girl, who hadn’t even known what a soulmate was until recently, accepted it with calm ease. She even asked questions like she had it all figured out. The more he looked, the stranger she seemed.
Kiara gave a little shrug.
“I mean, I don’t get it, but the evidence is there, right? So I guess it’s just… true? Why bother arguing? You know those two-headed bears or hairy lizards? We don’t waste time wondering how they exist. We just run, or get eaten.”
She let out a resigned sigh, and Ael couldn’t help but chuckle.
“So they really are from Altnebra, huh. Makes sense, if things like that are still roaming around. But how did you even come across them? I heard they only stay near the Black Forest—ah.”
“…Because I only ever stayed near the Black Forest. But are we sure I am that witch who supposedly reappeared after decades?”
At Kiara’s out-of-the-blue question, Ael raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t been expecting an answer anyway. Before he could speak, she started to mock the very idea.
“Who knows? Maybe one did reappear, but got eaten before anyone found out. Or drowned. Or froze to death. Or was beaten to death by people. Just think about it, Captain…”
“…It’s Ael.”
“The people you came here with — didn’t they want to kill me too? For all we know, there might’ve been dozens of witches over the years who showed up, only to die without a trace.”
Grumbling and venting her frustrations, Kiara let out a sigh. The more she thought about it, the more it felt like a miracle she was still alive.
The only reason she’d managed to keep her sanity in such brutal conditions was not because she tried to understand, but because she focused on surviving. There was no point in talking to people who screamed at her without cause. All she’d get in return were curses. Better to duck and hide from the stones than waste breath.
“…Sounds like you’ve had a hard time.”
Ael found himself staring at her, unfamiliar with this suddenly sarcastic version of Kiara.
Then again, it wasn’t like they’d ever had a real conversation. When they first met, she couldn’t even speak.
With a faint sigh, Ael finally opened his mouth again.
“Either way, it’s best you don’t go outside too much. If something happens to you, I’ll be in danger too.”
“…Ah.”
Only then did Kiara understand why Ael had told her not to go outside. If that was the reason… she supposed she could understand. At least a little.
‘Still doesn’t mean I have to like it…’
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