The Second Son of The Marquis Runs Away from Home ~ Lacking Talent, He Abandons Everything and Becomes an Adventurer ~ - 160

Chapter 160: Heat Filling the Sky

“Sigh…”

Although the three of them fell asleep after embracing, I was still filled with excitement and couldn’t feel sleepy. I left the room and walked to the lakeside.

As I gazed at the moonlight illuminating the lake, I sensed a presence behind me and turned around. There stood Shurin.

“You were awake?”

“…I had something I wanted to ask.”

Shurin approached me and looked up as she spoke.

“…Why can you fight?”

In a voice filled with uncertainty, Shurin asked.

“I’m scared… I’m scared of dying even though Father and the clan are gone… I know I have to fight, but fighting against Roud is terrifying… Yet Berg, despite knowing all this, is willing to fight.”

Tears streamed down Shurin’s cheeks as she looked down, trembling hands clutching my clothes tightly.

“Why? Why can Berg fight even though I’m so scared? Why can Berg choose to fight against Roud, who is stronger than Berg?”

“…That’s right.”

I placed my hand on Shurin’s head and gently stroked it, then thought of a reason for my own fight.

“There are several reasons, but if I had to put it into words… It’s because there’s something scarier than dying, I suppose.”

“Something scarier than dying…?”

“I’m scared of dying too. I’ve been on the verge of death in battles more than once or twice… But I still fight because there’s something as precious to me as my own life.”

“Something… precious?”

“By not fighting, I might lose that precious thing… It might be taken away, trampled upon… I’m more scared of that than dying.”

Shurin listened intently to my words with her amber-colored eyes.

“So I fight… To prevent losing what I hold dear, and to uphold the choices I’ve made…”

“…I think I understand why Father entrusted you to me now.”

Saying so, Shurin wrapped her arms around me from behind.

“I want you to do the same thing for me as you do for Aria and the others.”

“W-what…”

I involuntarily choked on my words. Not just the content of her words, but when I embraced Aria and the others, I had cast a soundproof barrier.

“…That wasn’t enough to fool Elven ears like mine, and besides, I was watching.”

“E-even so, why would you…”

“…I’m empty right now. I don’t know what to do or who I want to become… So I need a reason.

I want a reason to live, something to fight for.”

Shurin whispered passionately.

“Fill me… with Berg’s heat.”

“…Understood.”

I took Shurin’s hand, laid her down on the bed, and pressed my lips against hers.

At first, Shurin had been passive, leaving everything to me, but gradually she began to seek me out.

As if filling the void with something lost, filling the emptiness with my heat…