Chimera of Batius - Chapter 30
Three days had passed since Ruzerolt was imprisoned in the tower. Although it would be a long time before Reym returned, his father, the Grand Duke, was due to arrive soon.
If one traveled nonstop from the south to the north, the journey would take roughly four days. Factoring in his father’s poor health and the necessary passage through Rivatron, he would likely reach the north within a week. So far, Dexler had not shown any overt reaction.
“Three days… My father will be here in three days.”
However, the Grand Duke’s arrival would not magically resolve everything. Ruzerolt rubbed his belly, contemplating a reality he still could not accept.
“Ugh!”
Since his imprisonment, the nausea had grown worse with each passing day. As it intensified, his anxiety festered into a gnawing fear.
What would he do if he truly was pregnant?
He had never heard of anything capable of impregnating an alpha. Unless it was that legendary flower…
“What a striking flower! What is it?”
“It’s a legendary flower, said to be able to crossbreed with any species. There are even stories that if you eat it, you can become pregnant instantly.”
Sexslust. A flower with red petals, a jewel-like yellow pistil, and a glossy black stem…
“If I had that flower, I’d look for someone I wanted to keep.”
Cheil… was it you?
No, no. It can’t be!
Isolated in that stone cell, his fear spread uncontrollably. The more he feared, the deeper he sank into visions of the worst possible outcomes.
“Ugh!”
Every time his thoughts spiraled, his stomach churned, forcing him to fight back the bile. He was already growing accustomed to the sensation, and that adaptation felt like its own kind of defeat.
The spacious cell had no barred windows, but it was situated at the very top of the tower, at a height that made jumping impossible. Without any railing to hold, Ruzerolt tried to steady his nerves.
At a time like this, I must think rationally.
Even if he managed to convene the advisory council, if he could not prove his innocence, he would only be strengthening Dexler’s absurd accusation that he was a chimera. If his father were to learn of this, the shock could be severe enough to cause a collapse. Ultimately, it would all lead to the worst-case scenario.
“I cannot let that happen…”
And the fact that his lover had not yet come for him…
No, I must not doubt him. Dexler is undoubtedly preventing him from coming. Yes, that must be the reason.
He felt a desperate need to see Cheil. He believed that alone would bring some clarity to this chaos. Ruzerolt tried to regulate his ragged breathing as he stared down at his abdomen.
He had never imagined that something could grow inside him; this entire situation was utterly foreign.
His mind was a tangled mess, his heart felt constricted, his throat was dry, and his entire being was tormented by a profound discomfort.
First… I have to get out of here.
With his decision made, Ruzerolt looked down from the tower window. Below, a corridor leading to a lower floor was accessible if he could descend the sheer, cliff-like wall. Ruzerolt dried his sweaty hands on his shirt and began to feel the bricks with his feet and hands, searching for a purchase to begin his climb.
He could not afford to remain still.
***
He climbed down carefully, feeling for the bricks with each tentative step.
Plop!
His hand slipped, and his body slammed hard against the wall.
“Ugh!”
“What was that? Did you hear that sound?”
A soldier ascending the tower stairs poked his head through a small opening in the wall. The hole was too narrow for him to look upward. Another soldier standing nearby offered a guess.
“Must have been a bird or a cat.”
To keep his shadow from betraying him, Ruzerolt pressed himself tightly against the stone, holding his breath. But then, a wave of nausea rose in his throat.
Mmm. Could it be?
No…
He had to endure it.
Ruzerolt clenched his teeth and forced the sensation down. The soldier, finding nothing, withdrew his head and resumed his watch.
“Ah, I don’t understand any of this. To say Sir Ruzerolt is a chimera… how is that possible?”
“Shh, keep your voice down! Don’t you remember Lord Dexler’s warning? Anyone who defends him will be branded a chimera as well.”
“Ugh, it’s unbelievable.”
The soldiers’ voices faded as they moved away. Ruzerolt switched his grip, clinging desperately to the wall. He was only halfway down, and his knuckles were already scraped raw and bleeding.
After a long and perilous descent, he finally reached the corridor. For some reason, the hallway was quieter and more deserted than usual. Ruzerolt moved like a shadow, hiding behind wall tapestries and clinging to window frames like a desperate fugitive.
Why must I endure this in the very north I have protected with my life?
Sadness threatened to overwhelm him. In that moment, his first and only desire was to see his lover. He wanted to hear the truth from Cheil’s own lips and to be comforted by him. He needed to know that Cheil was safe.
Where can I find Cheil?
A sliver of doubt lingered deep in his heart, yet his longing to see Cheil was so intense it bordered on madness. He missed that face, the one that whispered words of love, so profoundly that he felt tears welling up. The mere thought of his beloved made his eyes sting.
Cheil, where are you?
With no clear destination, he continued down the stairs. It was then that he caught a familiar scent—the gentle aroma of lavender he loved so dearly, drifting from a corner of the corridor.
It was definitely Cheil!
He was certain, for he had held him, had joined with him body and soul. Cheil was near. Ruzerolt wiped his eyes with his sleeve and scanned the surroundings. There was no sign of soldiers. Once he confirmed the coast was clear, he ran toward his lover.
Suppressing his doubts, a tidal wave of longing and sadness crashed over him.
Cheil…
He wanted to hold him in his arms that very instant.
***
“So, you are prepared to depart?”
Dexler leaned back and lifted his chin. Eden, clasping his hands as if in prayer, nodded eagerly.
“Yes, my lord! As soon as we complete the final preparations, we will leave the castle today!”
“You are as efficient as ever.”
At Mcbencer’s feet, beside Dexler, sat two large leather bags. At a gesture from Dexler, Mcbencer brought the bags forward and set them before Eden.
“Check them. This is the remainder of the reward I promised you.”
Eden swallowed hard and opened one of the bags. It was filled with obviously valuable jewels and gold.
“Oh! This is… haha! Thank you so much! Truly, thank you!”
As if afraid it would be snatched away, Eden closed the bag and hugged it tightly to his thin chest, a comical sight.
“Then we shall take our leave today. Thank you for everything.”
Eden bowed deeply and turned to go, but Cheil remained motionless. Seeing that he wasn’t following, Eden turned back and urged him in a frantic whisper.
“Cheil…! Hey! Why aren’t you coming?!”
“What I want is not gold or jewels.”
“What… what did you say?”
Eden rushed to Cheil’s side, pulling at his arm.
“The boy is talking nonsense again…! Why won’t you come?!”
Yet Cheil did not budge. Dexler, who had maintained an air of indifference, finally straightened in his chair.
“Then what is it you desire?”
“I have not yet finished playing the part of the lover. I wish to take him with me.”
“Ruzerolt?”
A spark of interest gleamed in Dexler’s eyes.
“I worked hard to tame him. It is only natural that I should want to play with my prize a little longer, is it not?”
Dexler rose from his chair and approached Cheil.
“How lowly, to covet a noble when you are of such common birth.”
He tangled his fingers in Cheil’s black hair.
“Giving Sir Ruzerolt to me would be in your interest as well, Lord Dexler. I thought you would prefer a clean resolution, but it seems I was mistaken.”
Dexler responded to Cheil’s low voice with an irritated smile. Eden, standing beside them, trembled like a leaf, terrified that he would be punished by association. The air grew heavy with a tense, stagnant silence.
“…How insolent you are.”
Dexler scoffed and returned to his seat.
“Sexslust. To be honest, I almost dismissed the legend of that flower. Were it not for the Duke of Lorencelot’s testimony, I would have considered it a ridiculous lie. I never imagined it would yield such… dramatic results. In truth, I am still astonished.”
He crossed his arms and smiled thinly.
“Very well. Given that your contribution to this endeavor has been considerable, I will grant you one more wish.”
Surprisingly, he acquiesced to Cheil’s proposal.
“Ruzerolt will be formally exiled from Heinsley tomorrow. Now that he has neither father nor brother to defend him, my word is law here. There is no other path for him. You may take him whenever you wish and do with him as you please. Do you consider this a sufficient reward?”
Ruzerolt, exiled.
Taking him with me to live on the fringes of society… It would not be such a bad life, a life of wandering. I could have him whenever I wanted, and if I grew bored, I could simply abandon him without consequence.
A satisfied smile touched Cheil’s lips. The certainty that he would soon have Ruzerolt completely soothed his restless heart. Cheil offered a polite bow to the two nobles. Eden, profoundly relieved, bowed as well.
***
As soon as the door closed, Eden began scolding him in a hushed, frantic voice.
“Cheil! Are you insane? What would have happened if you’d provoked them back there? Oh, thank goodness it ended peacefully.”
Cheil, however, did not respond. He merely rolled his amber eyes to the side and drew a slow, deep breath.
“Cheil?”
“…Eden. When do we depart?”
“This afternoon. If we hurry, we can reach the inn in the neighboring town before nightfall. It’s best to leave this place immediately after these sorts of affairs.”
“Good. Go and pack your things.”
“And what about you?”
“I have some personal preparations to make.”
“Don’t be long!”
More concerned with his luggage than Cheil’s plans, Eden hurried down the stairs. Once he was certain Eden was gone, Cheil glanced down one side of the hallway. Thanks to Dexler having dismissed the guards, the entire floor was enveloped in silence. At the very end of that quiet corridor, a soft, familiar forest scent drifted through the air.
It was Ruzerolt’s scent.
Step by step, Cheil followed the fragrance, the sound of his shoes echoing softly.
I thought he was locked in the tower. How did he get out? Did he truly climb down? And if so… did he overhear our conversation?
As he turned the corner, the familiar aroma intensified—the very scent he had longed for and remembered from the night before. At the end of the dim hallway stood a dark figure. A pair of green eyes was fixed on him.
As always, Cheil approached with his mask securely in place.
“Sir Ruzerolt? Is that you?”
He could feel the forest-like aura that always surrounded Ruzerolt grow taut with tension. Ruzerolt took a step backward, pressing himself against the wall. Cheil’s advancing steps slowed.
It can’t be… Has he discovered the truth?
“…Cheil.”
Ruzerolt uttered his name in a raw, hoarse voice. A tremor he was trying desperately to suppress was audible.
“You… how could you…?”
His voice was unstable, laced with confusion and betrayal. As if trapped by a crumbling wall, Ruzerolt stood his ground with visible difficulty. His pheromones were in chaos, an unstable cloud of scent hanging in the air. Cheil mentally caressed the turbulent aroma.
…He knows.
There is no doubt.
What did he hear? Everything from the beginning? No, perhaps not all of it. I must act calmly.
“Sir Ruzerolt, what is wrong?”
He tried to sound natural once more.
“Come… yes, come closer. Please.”
Cheil approached and extended a hand. In response, Ruzerolt recoiled with a violence never before shown, slapping his hand away with a sharp, definitive motion.
Cheil looked down at his rejected hand in disbelief.
Ruzer… rejected me…?
He could not process it. That Ruzerolt would push him away. His pheromones now radiated a powerful, explicit rejection. Cheil lifted his head, his expression one of genuine confusion. His yellow eyes locked onto Ruzerolt.
“You… are Dexler’s accomplice.”
From where did he hear it? Did he hear everything?
“I do not know what you are talking about. How did you get down here? Are you hurt?”
“You deceived me…”
“I was worried about you. I asked to see you repeatedly…”
“You deceived me and you betrayed me!”
Ruzerolt’s body trembled as he shouted, his voice thick with agitation. The broad shoulders that had always seemed so protective now appeared as fragile as a wounded animal’s. Cheil strode toward him.
He is so naive. I will be able to fix this.
“Betrayal? What are you talking about?”
He tried to use his mask—both literal and metaphorical—one last time to regain control. But Ruzerolt’s defenses only hardened.
“I… I heard everything. That you conspired with Dexler… to make me carry a child and have me cast out from my home…”
At that moment, the mask on Cheil’s face seemed to slip, not just physically, but in his entire demeanor.
“Ah…”
He rubbed his forehead with his palm and let out a heavy, resigned sigh.
“So… you heard everything.”
We were on the verge of being completely united. And you, Ruzerolt, have ruined it.
Though the pretense was now useless, there was one truth he needed to assert. Cheil removed the physical mask, revealing his true face and his true intentions.
“I never intended to deceive you.”
“What…?”
“I only ever wanted to possess you.”
A powerful whirlwind of pheromones erupted around Ruzerolt, swirling violently as if to devour everything in its path. His voice shook with devastation.
“You… you betrayed me…”
Cheil blinked, his expression one of genuine, almost innocent, confusion.
“Betrayal? I have never betrayed you.”
As he stared into Cheil’s unflinching eyes, Ruzerolt’s own eyes reddened with unshed tears.
“You lied to me with false words of love… you used me for Dexler’s scheme…”
Ruzerolt’s gaze lost its focus, trembling emptily in the air. Cheil raised his hand and stroked Ruzerolt’s hair, his fingers hovering just above the strands.
“I never lied to you.”
“What…?”
“I do nothing that I do not wish to do, regardless of any orders. So everything I did with you was my own desire.”
“You’re saying you wanted to deceive me?”
Cheil took a step closer, their breaths now mingling.
“I would not call it deception. We both desired each other sincerely, did we not?”
“…”
The urge to possess, the carnal hunger—these are only possible when you truly crave the other. If I want you this intensely, how can my heart be false? This, by any definition, is love.
“If what we shared was not sincere love, then what was it? Ruzerolt, I love you.”
I want to take you with me, and you also wish to be with me. What more is required?
“So, come with me.”
Cheil caressed Ruzerolt’s cheek with his large, steady hand.
“Didn’t you promise you would always protect me? You said so yourself, just days ago.”
However, the hand Cheil extended was once again brusquely slapped away.
“After you have taken everything from me… after you have destroyed me and deceived me… how dare you claim to love me?”
Tears of anguish traced paths down his pale cheeks.
“I was a fool to ever believe you.”
He usually enjoyed seeing Ruzerolt cry. He liked him broken and undone. Yet, the sight before him now brought no pleasure, only a growing, sharp irritation. Cheil’s voice, once persuasive, was now laced with unmistakable annoyance.
“What does your regret change? Was your confession—that you needed only me—a lie?”
“I… ah… it was sincere! I loved you sincerely! I loved you so much I would have given you everything I possessed. To you…”
His trembling voice was saturated with tears.
“Cheil, I would have given you my very heart. But you…!”
Ruzerolt slumped against the wall, as if he could no longer support his own weight. Seeing his lover’s despair, Cheil felt a strange, unfamiliar constriction in his own throat.
In that moment, a single, overwhelming impulse filled Cheil’s mind: to pull him into an embrace and hide that tear-streaked face from the world. Just as he began to reach for Ruzerolt—
“Over there!”
“Seize the chimera!”
Armed guards stormed into the hallway. Cheil frowned at the interruption. Seizing the distraction, Ruzerolt shoved hard against Cheil’s chest and, in one fluid motion, leaped through the open window.
“Ruzer!”
Cheil’s hand shot out, but Ruzerolt slipped through his grasp like the wind. He landed safely on a pile of hay below. Their eyes met one last time in a fleeting instant. Ruzerolt’s eyes were red-rimmed and overflowing. The clear, serene forest that once resided in them was gone, replaced by a desolate landscape stripped of all warmth and boundless love. Biting his lip, Ruzerolt rose to his feet and ran northward without a backward glance.
Ruzerolt was escaping him.
No. I cannot let him get away.
He was trying to flee.
Do not dare escape from my hands!
Cheil grabbed the window frame, ready to jump after him, but someone yanked hard on his clothes from behind.
“What are you doing, you idiot? Have you lost your mind?”
Eden, clutching a heavy bag in one hand, had a firm grip on Cheil’s garments with the other.
“Let me go!”
“If you get involved now, we’ll lose everything—the money, our safety, all of it! We have to leave, now! Do not meddle in the affairs of a fallen heir!”
Cheil looked back out the window. Ruzerolt was already gone. Only his footprints remained in the snow, being erased second by second under a fresh fall.
I cannot lose him.
Cheil shoved Eden aside and sprinted down the stairs.
“Cheil! Cheil!”
Eden scrambled after him, but the weight of his precious bag fatally slowed his pursuit.