Acidity of Regret Ch 104
- Feb 22
- 6 min read
[Bandit] "Hey, catch her!"
[Bandit] "Get back here!"
Her lungs expanded until her throat burned like a raw wound. Every swallow felt like a choice between thorns and fire.
Her legs trembled, reaching their absolute limit, but stopping meant death—or a fate so hollow she would pray for death.
She squeezed every ounce of strength from her failing muscles. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic rhythm of survival.
Frigid winds whipped across her face, stinging like physical blows. She raced blindly through the dark, uncertain if she was even descending the mountain. Tears pricked her eyes, hot and sudden.
A suffocating sense of déjà vu gripped her. Hadn't she been here before?
Before her regression, when she tried to flee from Declan, she had looked exactly like this. Then and now, she had done nothing wrong, yet she spent her life sprinting away from the shadows of others.
Why did misery haunt her so?
The Goddess had claimed she was born to be loved, yet her path led only into one mire after another.
[Tommy] “So we are destiny, My Lady.”
His manic words echoed in her mind. To her, "destiny" wasn't a thread connecting two souls; it was a sentence pronounced upon a life.
Perhaps this was her destiny. If so, whom should she blame for this wretched existence?
A bitter resentment welled up, directed at the Goddess who only showed her face when she was at death's door. No one face surfaced before the divine.
Declan.
From the moment she met him, her life had never known peace. Every path tangled into a knot; every smooth road curved into misfortune. Her quiet world had spiraled into a trajectory of misery the second he entered it.
[Vanessa] "Ha... huff..."
The dense canopy suddenly vanished. She burst into an open clearing, and the world fell away.
[Vanessa] "Gah!"
She skidded to a halt, the jagged lip of a precipice centimeters from her toes. The breath she had been fighting for crawled back into her lungs in shock.
A pebble skittered off the edge, plunging into the lightless void. Below, the sea churned—not the calm cobalt she knew, but an ink-black abyss that looked deep enough to swallow the world.
[Bandit] "You crazy bitch!"
She spun around. The bandits emerged from the tree line, their faces flushed with rage. Each held a weapon.
She backed away, her hands empty and trembling.
The situation had curdled into something far worse than before; earlier, she had a path to run. Now, she stood on the brink of an abyss.
[Bandit] "Haha. You dare throw dirt in my eyes and run?"
The man leading the pack stepped forward, his eyes bloodshot and pulsing with venom. Even in the dark, his fury was palpable. He was the one she had blinded. He gripped a broad-bladed dagger, looking as though he wanted to carve her into pieces on the spot.
[Bandit] "Come here quietly, and I won't get angry."
[Vanessa] "......"
[Bandit] "Surely you don't want a scar on that pretty face?"
He beckoned with a crooked finger, his tone the slithering hiss of a snake.
Won't get angry? Won't leave a scar?
His eyes told a much more violent truth.
She widened the gap between them instead of closing it. Her defiance snapped his remaining patience.
[Bandit] "What do you think you’re doing? Planning to jump? Well?"
[Vanessa] "You think I won't?"
She snapped the words back, but his suspicion held weight.
Plunging into an unknown sea in this season was a death sentence. In the sweltering heat of summer, one might survive, but the winter air already bit at her skin. The water would be a tomb of ice. Yet, capture remained a fate more terrifying than the grave.
They closed in. Just as the leader lunged to grab her—
[Bandit] "Ack!"
[Bandit] "Gah!"
[Bandit] "What the—urk!"
Steel flashed through the gloom. A blade carved through the air, and bandits collapsed like puppets with cut strings. In an instant, only the man she had blinded remained standing.
[Bandit] "What... what is this?"
She stood frozen, just as bewildered as the survivor.
[Bandit] "Who’s there! Show your—"
[Man] "Don't move."
A gust of wind swept across the cliff. Her eyes widened as a figure stepped over a fallen bandit.
Hair blacker than the surrounding night whipped in the gale. Blue eyes, reflecting the cold galaxy above, locked onto her. Only one man in her world possessed those features.
[Vanessa] "......Declan."
A strange irony gripped her. Seconds ago, she had cursed him as the source of all her misery. Yet, seeing him now brought a surge of undeniable relief.
He wasn't a stalker or a common thug; he was the one person capable of dragging her out of this mire.
[Bandit] "Dammit! Hey, wake up! All of you!"
The lone bandit screamed at his fallen comrades, but they remained motionless, their lives extinguished in a heartbeat. The realization hit him like a physical blow, turning his face the same ghostly white Vanessa had worn moments ago.
[Declan] "......Vanessa."
He looked uncharacteristically disheveled, his breathing heavy as if he had sprinted the entire way. Just as she found relief in him, he seemed to find his own soul again only after seeing her alive.
He turned his glacial gaze toward the bandit.
[Declan] "Are these the remnants that fled toward the village?"
[Siron] "The count matches, Your Grace."
Siron appeared behind him, delivering a low, grim report.
[Declan] "Then you are the last one."
Declan stepped forward, his silver sword gleaming like the blade of a cold executioner.
[Bandit] "Son of a—!"
Realizing he was cornered, the bandit lunged at Vanessa.
[Vanessa] "Hgh!"
With the cliff at her back, there was nowhere to go. She tried to dodge, but her balance failed. A thick arm clamped around her throat, crushing the air out of her.
[Bandit] "Don't come any closer!"
The bandit’s voice cracked with terror. The desperate scream echoed off the winter peaks. He pressed a dagger against her throat. The bite of the cold steel against her skin made her forget how to breathe.
Fear pooled in her eyes as she stared at Declan. His face contorted into a mask of pure fury.
[Bandit] "Who are you people? What do you want? If you don't want to see this bitch bleed, drop your weapons!"
Declan ground his teeth, his eyes burning with such intensity that the bandit flinched.
Despite his fear, the man tightened his grip on Vanessa, recognizing her as his only shield.
A curse hissed from Declan’s lips. He glared at the bandit with a look that promised to tear him limb from limb, then slowly, agonizingly, he bent down.
The bandit trembled but managed a frantic laugh as he saw Declan’s sword hit the dirt.
[Bandit] "You... I remember you from the village. Is this girl yours? But the man in the woods earlier......"
The bandit squinted at Declan’s knights, his lip curling.
[Bandit] "Wow. You really are a piece of work. Just how many men does this woman have?"
Declan’s expression darkened further. An aura of sheer lethality erupted from him, a silent vow that the bandit would not die quickly.
Her limbs felt like ice; her heart had frozen long ago.
[Bandit] "Move! Everyone, get back!"
Pressed by Declan’s presence, the bandit shoved the blade harder against her neck.
[Declan] "......Fall back."
At his command, the circle of knights parted. Declan never once took his eyes off Vanessa.
She realized the bandit had eyes only for Declan. He barely reacted when she shifted her weight or reached for his wrist. He saw her only as a trapped mouse.
Now.
As long as she remained a hostage, Declan was paralyzed. So were his men. The only way out was for her to break the deadlock herself.
The cold sting of the blade made her hesitate.
What if I fail? What if he cuts me?
Darkness threatened to swallow her mind. But she couldn't stay like this.
If she twisted his wrist without warning, his grip would buckle for a split second. That window was all she needed.
Before moving, Vanessa lifted her gaze. Her eyes met Declan’s. He stiffened, sensing her intent immediately.
She didn't know what she hoped to communicate—perhaps a plea, perhaps a goodbye. Then, with every ounce of strength she had left, she twisted the bandit’s wrist.
[Bandit] "Aargh!"
The dagger clattered to the ground. She tried to drop low, but the startled bandit reacted instinctively. He shoved her away with violent force.
Her foot stepped back, searching for purchase.
Oh......?
Nothing met her heel. Gravity took hold, tilting her body dangerously into the void.
[Declan] "VANESSA!"
The world blurred. She saw Declan lunging toward her, his hand outstretched, but the gap was too wide. She was already falling into the ink-black depths.
For the first time, she understood the horror of having nothing beneath her feet, of being claimed by the air.
Splash—!
The dark sea opened its mouth and swallowed its prey whole.
Comments