Crown of Thorns

The next day, a group of people entered into the witch’s forest. They were guests who came to Baron’s estate last night. Their steps were relaxed as if they were taking a walk, but their eyes were sharp. There was also a heavy tension that could no sooner cut anything daring to approach.

Even though they were all covered in a dark fog and unable to see even an inch ahead, they dug themselves out like wild animals, stalking their prey and slowly approaching so that the prey could not notice. Similar to those who have seen death and have never taken a step in vain.

“Is it that in the Witch’s Forest… darkness is more palpable? It’s darker and thicker than before.”

“I can’t see anything.”

“Be careful. It may be no less than a rumor, but it’s certainly a dangerous place.”

“Nat!”

And in front of them, Teror, whose nervousness could not be seen, was walking in the black mist with a sneer.

“It’s okay. This is not a monsters’ path. What are you so nervous about?”

The two boys, who were following him loaded with luggage, were shaking with faces as white as ghosts, but Teror hummed himself as if he were hunting in a quiet mountain.

It was a very unbecoming sight. No matter who saw it, they were men with extraordinary spirits, especially with how they were holding on to their weapons, ready to strike at any given moment. However, Teror, who wouldn’t even be able to escape them, let alone strike back, was proudly parading his fat belly before them.

After looking around their surroundings, the leader grabbed Teror, who was walking freely and questioned him.

“Do you know the way?”

Teror replied in a sarcastic voice.

“Because I’d just be taking a stroll here, not knowing where I’m going?”

The leader narrowed his eyes thinly, looking down at Teror, who was much smaller than himself. It felt as if he was looking into his insides. Teror only smiled at him.

“You seem pretty confident to be walking in a place where it’s hard to navigate due to its abundance of wild energy. Unlike someone who said he was too scared of monsters.”

“You know, I grew up here. I may be worse than a forest keeper, but I know a path to escape a monster. Of course, there’s no way we can avoid one if we go any further. Well, if you’re scared, why don’t we just go back?”

The leader raised an eyebrow at Teror’s provocation. Simultaneously, the men standing behind him were fired up and gave off a ferocious look. Teror’s face had instantaneously turned pale, and the boys next to him had begun to cry. The little children looked overwhelmed, just standing there.

The leader’s gaze seemed to reach the boys and then came back to Teror.

“Why don’t you send those kids back? They’re just a burden.”

Hope rose on the boys’ faces. But it died again when Teror spoke.

“Then who will carry that luggage? I’ll think about it if you’ll carry it yourself.”

The leader’s lips closed in a straight line. His eyes, which had been cold and blunt, were now filled with anger for the first time. Teror did not avoid his gaze, raising his head to see if his self-esteem was hurting after he had taken a step back unwittingly. The arrogant figure looked just like his father’s.

Soon, the leader’s eyes regained their indifference, he turned back and approached the members. Stepping a few steps away was enough to conceal him from Teror’s sight in the heavy fog. He opened his mouth, looking toward Teror, buried in a black mist with only his blurry outline vaguely showing.

“As you may have felt, it’s too dangerous to go as it is. You seem to have been too complacent, relying only on past memories. If it were for us, it wouldn’t be a problem, but you lot with us, we’d certainly be in danger. Let’s go back for now.”

“Yes? But…”

“Turn back, everyone.”

The leader’s words ended there, but the members nodded their heads gently. I looked towards the tower. To be exact, I looked at the end of the road they were walking on. Is there something wrong? Why is the present changing?

Teror and the man’s cards were obviously white, but did the future change in that short period of time?

Turning my eyes, I looked at the man called the leader. Clearly young, but with eyes mixed with indifference and sharpness, possessing well-knit muscles that must not have been built in just a short period of time. His atmosphere seemed much more mature. His eyes knew to see through the truth. I thought he would know the truth of Evan. So I tried to change his fate and make them face each other.

But if he goes back like this, if the future changes beyond my control, my plans will go awry. I was about to use my strength to force it.

“Argh!”

“Sa, save me! Argh!”

A thin scream rang out in the tranquil witch’s forest. I hurried to the place where I heard the screams. And not too far away, I could see the boys again. They looked terrified, seemingly crying until just a little while ago. It was after they had already been brutally mutilated. The dagger, apparently having been ripped off the boys, were thrown away at random. And the blade’s owner was waiting for the men who were running, wiping away the blood with a handkerchief.

The boys had fallen down with their eyes still wide open. Their cheeks were stained with transparent tears. Their faces, distorted with pain, overlapped with Evan’s. In the tower, my breathing got short. I was still stuck in my memory, even though he was a young man remaining only in my thoughts, I was unable to shake off Evan’s death.

“What’s going on…?”

“What the…”

Soon after, the men stopped running, as if they had lost their words in the sight ahead. Their gazes, which had been fixed on the two boys submerged in the newfound pool of blood, were now transferred over to Teror, who stood in front of them. After rummaging through the bags the boys were carrying, Teror took out a small bucket and spilled the contents as they were. It was none other than blood that had poured out of it. The ever-pouring blood soaked the ground, And the excess blood, which had not yet been absorbed by the dirt, was flowing in all directions.

Blood sprinkled over the dead boys’ body, dyeing their corpses with a dark gray. The smell of blood, though fresh, was palpable. Teror burst into a frenzy, shaking his body to see the reactions of the stupidly hardened men.

“It’s worth seeing. It’s worth seeing. That’s the funniest expression I’ve seen lately. Confused? Can’t believe the situation you’re in? So, now’s the time to be scared. You smell blood in the middle of a witch’s forest. What do you think is going to happen?”

Teror’s eyes glistened with madness. I could hardly see them as human anymore.

At his words, I managed to come to my senses. I am in the present. I met the boy whom I thought I would never be able to see again. I can change the present. I can change his future.

I should protect him so that I never see him making that pained, deathly pale expression again.

And so I should think calmly. What’s going on here? Is this chance? Or is this poison for him?

The leader’s face was distorted. The members behind were also in great turmoil. Looking around, he began to pull the sword. Something was coming up. A terrible and ferocious entity had been squeezing the men’s bodies.

“Are you crazy?! Are you out of your mind to do this? You’re going to die with us! Why the hell did you do this?!”

“No way. Only you guys are going to die. Why would I kill myself by doing something useless? If you lot had been quiet, I wouldn’t have had to feed you to the monsters.”

As soon as Teror’s words ended, the atmosphere around him changed dramatically. Even though I had lost my sense of touch in this form, I could notice the abnormal calmness before the storm in the air. The men’s facial expressions instantly darkened. The reason was soon to be known. It was because the monsters had begun to show up.

“Uhm.”

Upon finally noticing that he was drooling, one of the men unwittingly bit his lip. The monsters, which appeared one by one in the black fog, looked so terrible that it was frightening just to come face to face with them. Their size was enormous; there’s no way they’d come to subdue the Witch’s Forest. These monsters had been here for a long time and have only grown bigger. They’re probably worse than any monster these men have ever seen. Their shaking eyes were all but telling the answer.

I suddenly realized. All of this had happened without my intervention. The current situation had not changed at all, and the coming future has happened according to the fortune that I had read in the cards. This was meant to be fate.

Although Teror’s future had been altered by my actions, I thought that this situation was somehow bound to happen eventually. I remembered that the young warrior who remained only in my memory would have been here instead of Teror. That was all I changed—bringing the warrior who is supposed to be in town to the tower. Originally though, it was Evan who was supposed to be in Teror’s place.

The boy couldn’t come to see me for a long time until he became a young man. And the young man who came after was much different from when he was a boy. I had agonized over what had changed him, what had swallowed his light, but now I knew the answer.

Everyone seemed to suspect that this place was more peaceful than expected. In the end, they had no choice but to send someone to find out about the situation here. The young warrior in my memory was living in the village, not the tower of witches, so he had no choice but to guide those who came inspecting to the forest.

Both the lord in the capital and the lord in the village would do anything to protect what they had. And so, the method he chose this time was to murder the inspecting men using monsters.

Evan at the time was far from to death, he would have survived it somehow, but whether the other men were dead or not, the lord of the village would not have left Evan be. Not when he knew the truth. And so he was as good as a dead man from then onwards.

This was the key—the key to changing Evan’s future. I finally found a small cogwheel that would change the present.

I realized from the beginning that I was destined to meet both Evan and the man named the leader. And that their fates were in my hands.

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T/N : I’m sorry I’m late with this chapter I’ve been busy with some IRL issues *sobs* I’ll make it up to you guys on the weekend with a double update.