Chapter 7 (Part 1)

Cordelia ran urgently in the direction of the whistle sound.  

At first, the sound was sharp and strong, ringing out in quick bursts. But gradually, it became slower and weaker. It seemed like the person blowing the whistle was losing strength.  

“No….”  

She muttered to herself repeatedly as she pushed forward. She didn’t care about the direction. If it sounded like it was coming from above her, she ran straight ahead. If it seemed to come from the left, she turned without hesitation.  

Before she knew it, she had reached the middle of the forest.  

Cordelia turned her head this way and that, trying to figure out where she had arrived. But the more she moved, the harder it became to determine her direction. This was a place she had never been before.  

All she could see were trees and grass. It felt as though she had been dropped right in the heart of the forest. The reddish sunlight streaming from far away cast shadows of tall, dense trees. The grass, which seemed untouched by human footsteps for a long time, grew so tall it reached past her knees.  

‘Which direction was that light coming from earlier?’  

She quickly tried to recall, but her memory was too faint.  

However, there was a bigger problem. The whistle sound, which she had been relying on, was no longer audible.  

Immediately, fear began to creep in.  

The sunlight was growing darker with every passing moment, and for some reason, even the chirping of birds had ceased, leaving an eerie silence in its place.  

As she pushed through the long grass that clung to her ankles with every step, she called out desperately:  

“Levin! Where are you? It’s me! Cordelia!”  

Then, faintly, the whistle sound echoed again.  

Could Levin, injured, really be in this forest? Where was Skoll? Why hadn’t Skoll carried him back? Could it be that both of them were hurt? What about that gunshot earlier? Could Levin have been injured?  

“Keep blowing! I’ll find you! Please, just keep blowing….”  

She cried out, her voice trembling as she sniffled.  

Clutching the bag of medical supplies she had brought, she pressed it tightly to her chest and continued walking in the direction she thought he might be.  

Then, in the distance, she saw a glimmer of hope.  

It was the unmistakable shadow of a person.  

The figure appeared to be leaning against a large tree trunk, with one shoulder and arm sticking out.  

In that moment, an overwhelming sense of relief and joy flooded her chest, as if the heavy weight she had been carrying had suddenly lifted. Her once heavy steps now felt light as a feather.  

She called out to him, her voice filled with excitement:  

“Levin! Why are you out here all alone…?”  

But then it happened.  

As she approached closer, something unexpected caught her eye, and her steps came to an abrupt halt.  

Hair.  

She saw hair.  

It was stained red.  

For a moment, she thought, ‘Is it because of the sunset?’ But even so, something about it felt off. The hair was tangled in a grotesque mess of curls, unlike anything she had ever seen on Levin.  

And as she looked closer, the shape of the shoulder and arm also seemed very different from what she knew.  

Then, the man turned his head from behind the tree.  

His profile was illuminated clearly in the glow of the setting sun, revealing a hooked, crooked nose.  

“…No. No… No….”  

It must have been instinct that made her start stepping backward.  

Suddenly, a sharp ringing echoed in her ears. It was the same sound she had heard back when she was tormented by nightmares.  

And then, she saw it.  

Those piercing blue eyes, staring at her like a predator locking onto its prey.  

“…Ah!”  

Thud.  

Was this what it felt like for the world to stop?  

As soon as their eyes met, her breath caught in her throat.  

Those blue eyes burned fiercely, staring straight at her, as if they held a blazing blue flame within them.  

Levin.  

It was Levin.  

The demon-like figure who had tormented her endlessly in her dreams—or rather, in the memories she had tried so desperately to erase.  

Cordelia let out a scream and began to run.  

But then, she felt something behind her, moving swiftly, following her.  

Terrified, she turned her head slightly to glance back, and there it was—a dark shadow chasing after her with heavy, pounding steps.  

It was him.  

He was chasing her.  

Panicked, Cordelia screamed and threw the bag she was holding toward his face.  

But it was useless.  

He dodged it effortlessly, moving far faster than she could.  

“No, no…! Stay away! No! Nathaniel! Nathaniel!”  

Not wanting to call out his name, she screamed another name instead, tears streaming down her face. It was the baptismal name he had once told her.  

Her throat felt like it was tearing apart from the screaming, and then she remembered the whistle hanging around her neck. She grabbed it and blew into it with all her strength.  

Then, she called out his name again.  

“Natha— Ahk!”  

But that’s when it happened.  

A large hand suddenly grabbed the back of her head and tangled in her hair.  

The force of it sent her tumbling backward, and she fell hard to the ground.  

“So, it really is you?”  

Her body ached from the fall.  

But before she could even process the pain, something heavy pressed down on her abdomen and lower body, leaving her gasping for air.  

Through tear-blurred eyes, she looked up.  

A shadowed face came into view.  

It was a grotesque, hulking figure with red hair, sitting on top of her.  

It was exactly as she had seen in her dreams.  

Levin.  

The same Levin who had beaten her, trampled her, insulted her, and violated her.  

“What are you doing here? Huh? What are you? How are you still alive and well? This damned woman—alive and thriving like this. And yet…”  

“No, stop! Get off me!”  

Crying, she struggled and thrashed.  

It felt like she had been dragged back to that day.  

Back to the time when she had been haunted by nightmares.  

She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to see his face anymore, and tried to push him away.  

But as she fought to push him off, his rough hands grabbed her, and with a ripping sound, her clothes began to tear.  

Her shoulder was exposed.  

She screamed and desperately tried to pull away.  

That’s when his voice, filled with rage and dripping with vulgar mockery, cut through the air.  

“Hah? And what’s this? Who’ve you been messing around with, huh?”  

It seemed he had noticed the kiss marks Nathaniel had left on her the previous night.  

But Cordelia didn’t care about what he said.  

She used every ounce of her strength to struggle, blowing the whistle repeatedly in between her cries.  

Then, suddenly—  

She choked.  

Her breath caught in her throat.  

The whistle fell from her lips, landing with a soft thud beside her.  

The man had begun to strangle her, his hands tightening around her neck.  

“You filthy thing! A seductress! Of course, someone like you couldn’t possibly be innocent!”  

“Ka— cough… hhk…”  

Her neck hurt.  

Maybe it was because blood wasn’t circulating properly, but it felt like all the blood was rushing to her face.  

Cordelia narrowed her eyes and, with all her might, dug her fingernails into the back of the hand that was gripping her neck. Then, as if scraping a wall, she gouged at his skin. She wanted him to hurt as much as possible. She wanted him to suffer.  

And just as she wished, blood began to flow from the back of his hand.  

But he paid no attention and tightened his grip on her neck even more as he shouted,  

“How dare you leave me! You filthy woman! I’ll kill you!”  

Her vision blurred.  

Her strength was draining from her body.  

Ah, was I going to die?  

Was I really going to die at this man’s hands?  

Regret surged over her all at once.  

She should have stayed at home, trusting him.  

She shouldn’t have come out, even when she heard the sound.  

Her husband wouldn’t even know that she was dying like this right now.  

And when he found her dead, he would be devastated.  

She had wanted to give birth to his beloved child soon, to walk in the garden with them, to share delicious meals with them.  

But now, it seemed like that dream would never come true.  

‘Nathaniel…’  

Calling out his name, she gradually closed her eyes as her consciousness slipped toward the ground.  

Even if it was just an illusion, she wanted to see him one last time.  

But then—  

Bang!  

A sharp, ear-splitting noise suddenly rang out.  

At the same time, the head of the person in front of her burst open.  

Blood splattered across her face.  

The grip on her neck loosened, and her head tilted to the side.  

She saw the body collapse with a thud.  

It was Levin—the man who had just been trying to kill her.  

Now, he was nothing more than a corpse.  

His wide-open, blue eyes stared lifelessly, his head half-crushed.  

Beside him, brain matter mixed with blood pooled on the ground.  

If she had been in her right mind and saw this horrifying sight, she would have fainted immediately.  

But perhaps because she was also on the brink of death, she felt no fear.  

She could barely breathe, and her mind was blank.  

Her half-closed eyes shut entirely.  

And then, suddenly, her body felt light, as if it were floating.