The Sand Bride - Chapter 10

The force was so strong it hurt as if she’d been hit, but Esther didn’t make a sound. A glimmer of hope arose. Karzhen stood unwavering in the brutal sandstorm, as if it were nothing. So, perhaps he might show her some mercy……?

Though she hated him in her heart, Esther couldn’t help but cling to that hope, despising herself for it. But she knew all too well that in the face of the sandstorm’s terror, Karzhen was her only lifeline.

The past, where she had been humiliated but forced to accept food and clean water thrown at her like an animal, was proof of that.

“Hmm.”

Karzhen looked down at Esther, who could barely keep her eyes open in the wind, with a strange expression. Her thin, turquoise eyes desperately staring at him through the storm oddly pleased him.

He usually detested humans who clung to him, but this woman, though keeping her distance, seemed to cling to him with her gaze alone, which he found somewhat endearing.

Moreover, her damp, pale turquoise eyes reminded him of lush forests he had never seen, an unnatural, almost unnatural freshness. Her hair was the color of sand, but her eyes were like greenery, a contrast Karzhen had found striking every time he looked at her.

“Ah…!”

Deciding to keep her alive for now, Karzhen hoisted Esther onto his shoulder and firmly gripped her thighs. Hakan, looking back, gave him a strange look.

Karzhen made a show of lifting Esther and then setting her down, signaling his intention to take her with them. He could feel her trembling hands clutching tightly to his back.

* * *

The hellish sandstorm eventually subsided with the setting sun. But even after it passed, the disaster left behind continued to haunt the surviving captives with misery and horrific memories.

Half the captives had already disappeared, and the few who remained were in a pitiful state, listlessly waiting for death.

While the Kemut tribe celebrated their safe passage with a drinking feast, the captives’ groans of pain echoed like a grim accompaniment. Esther, curled up in a secluded spot far from the other captives, sat huddled alone.

Having seen Karzhen carry her on his back, the captives viewed her as a traitor who had ingratiated herself with the enemy. The suffering they had endured at the hands of the bandits fueled their hatred.

Esther didn’t regret her survival, but being ostracized by those who had shared her plight was deeply painful. Yet, she hadn’t truly betrayed them to the bandits, so she found solace in being alone, away from prying eyes.

With a gloomy expression, Esther rubbed her cheek against her knee and began to doze off. Her body, exhausted from the morning’s ordeal, cried out for rest. Her legs ached, her back throbbed, and her eyes were heavy with sleep.

“Hey.”

A shadow fell over Esther as she sat in a sandy hollow, trying to sleep.

“What are you doing here?”

Esther opened her eyes and looked up. She saw reddish-black hair and yellow eyes.

It was a young man with the same eye color and similar features as Karzhen, but it wasn’t him. Esther vaguely remembered seeing him earlier that morning.

“The boss is looking for you. Go see him.”

The man was Hakan.

“…….”

Esther’s shoulders hunched at the sight of Hakan. It was clear without explanation that he was Karzhen’s brother. Their eyes were identical—yellow, round like a full moon, and piercing like a predator’s, sending shivers down her spine when met in the dark.

“S-sorry…….”

Esther stammered, hesitantly rising to her feet. Hakan narrowed his eyes and looked down at her. The pitiful, terrified woman was pale, unable to move past him or sit back down, frozen in indecision.

A thought crossed his mind—pathetic. He had heard she hadn’t even been beaten or tortured, yet she was this scared…… Hakan clicked his tongue inwardly and stepped aside to let her pass. Karzhen, drunk, was waiting, so he had to send her quickly.

And Esther, who now knew all too well what being summoned meant, walked toward the sound of drunken men’s cheers, trembling like a lamb led to slaughter.

As she passed by, Hakan’s sharp senses caught the scent of his brother’s mark on her body, along with a fresh, green aroma. It was like the smell of freshly picked fruit or grass.

He had heard that people from the southeast lived on grass and leaves, which explained the scent. Was it true? Hakan watched Esther’s retreating back with mild curiosity. Her body was firm and well-toned—perhaps that was also because she was a woman from the southeast.

Or was it the same for men? His sister had captured a man from the southeast a few years ago and made him her husband. He didn’t last long, though…….

“What do you think, Hakan? Isn’t she pretty?”

Hakan briefly recalled his sister’s smile when she first brought that man to the capital. Her bright, toothy grin was still vivid in his memory. Pretty. His sister often said that about the southeastern man. She had always loved beautiful things.

‘Weaklings.’