… So in the end, I’ll die in this cold …

Hein suddenly remembered the cold he was feeling right now. His exhausted body couldn’t move, and he had no sensation left in his cold limbs.

The only numbing cold he could feel was in his heart as his body couldn’t feel anything anymore. Feeling like this, Hein couldn’t help but smiled wryly.

Of course, his face didn’t move a muscle as it was only in his mind.

As the [ Lover’s Revenge ] ended, like a puppet with its strings cut, Hein’s lifeless body slowly fell to the ground. At this moment, suddenly the necklace around his neck glows green and it grows heavy for just a split second.

When Hein’s body almost touched the ground, someone suddenly held up his body gently, embracing him.

Eh …?

However, that was when Hein felt something different.

Since he had almost no sensation in his body, he wasn’t sure what that was at first.

What is, this …?

But as time passed, his sensations gradually returned, and he understood that the sensation was warmth.

At the same time he understood that, he noticed the presence of someone nearby.

His nose then whipped a familiar smell causing him to slightly woke up.

With his consciousness weakening, his vision was blurry but he still held his self to at least stay awake for a several seconds.

Iona … ?

Hein don’t know who it was, maybe it’s Iona but for some reason, he felt a very deep familiarity from the warmth hugging his body.

Feeling like this, Hein ignored that presence and focused on the warmth. That was because when he really died, he wanted to at least…  feel warmth…

Maybe it’s really … Iona?

“…ein! Hein!…”

Hein tried to smile at the voice.

Someone was calling his name, but his vision was already blurry, maybe due to the blood loss or the burning pain embedded in his stomach.

He suddenly felt someone pulled the pitchfork from his abdomen.

Because he was already numbed in pain, he couldn’t feel anything anymore — except the familiar warmth.

– It’s fine, I’ll be fine for a little longer, so don’t worry…

However, he didn’t know if his face actually showed his smile or not. If he didn’t breathe, he might not be able to properly smile. Worried, Hein started breathing.

“*cough* *cough*”

However, Hein’s injured body couldn’t properly do that.

His whole body was already dying because of the fatal wounds. This resulted to him coughing repeatedly.

“*cough* *cough*”

For each time he coughed he could feel himself getting weaker. Knowing that would make the owner of the voice sad, he still tried his best to breathe.

I’m sorry…

Hein wanted to say something to her. However, he knew that he didn’t have much time left for that. And he felt that it was regrettable.

Wincing from pain, Hein raised his head and saw a blurry face shouting something. Iona?

But Hein felt the girl wasn’t Iona but someone else. Someone he wanted to see but he doesn’t know who it was, he just felt it.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Hein’s consciousness gradually grew faint.

Maybe he was only hanging on a single thread?

However, Hein didn’t feel afraid, that was because of the warmth coming from the girl embracing him while shouting something.

He thought that the feeling of her hugging him was an extremely comfortable one.

It gave him a sense of security in his heart and at the same time, the sensation of their skin pressing tightly to each other made him feel blissful.

As his consciousness faded, Hein noticed that the girl who is embracing him was crying because some water was dropping from above landing on his face.

Worried, Hein desperately endured his urge to sleep and told her.

“… Don’t worry… I… won’t die from this …”

Certainly his body was wounded all over and continued to bleed, his stomach was pierced by an incredibly hot pitchfork that seemed to want to grill him alive and he felt that he would faint if he were just to relax.

… But Hein believe that he won’t die and make the girl cry for him.

No! He wanted to believe it.

Slowly reaching his hand, Hein touched the blurry face while smiling naturally.

“…I’m … immortal…”

Hein said to calm the girl, though he didn’t know if it worked.

….and that was his limit.

————————–

“Hein! Hein! Wake up! Don’t scare me please, quickly wake up!”

When Hein fell unconscious, the beautiful girl was so scared that her heart almost exploded.

She was so anxious that she almost went insane.

Unbeknownst to Hein, he knows full well who this beautiful girl was.

He once met her as an enemy but he then fell in love with her and confessed…

Yeah!

—She was no other than the Dryad Queen; Flora.

The necklace Flora gave to Hein actually has a hidden function.

This was after all a pair of lover’s necklace, given like an engagement ring so whenever one of them was in danger, the necklace will summon the other part.

When she surveyed the area, her heart couldn’t help but stop. The place she was in was in a very sorry state.

— It was as if a war had just happened.

Corpses and broken houses littered the place.

Flames were burning everywhere and there was even a huge crater not far away from her. The crater was scorched black and there were even flames still flickering inside it.

At first, Flora was bewildered as to why she was summoned but because she knew what this meant, she immediately looks for Hein.

However, when she finally found him, he was already drowning in his blood and a golden pitchfork has pierced his stomach.

She doesn’t know what happened but her heart suddenly stopped beating when she saw him like this.

She didn’t know what to do as she held his bleeding body in her arms. She called his name and he weakly responded but it seemed he couldn’t recognize her, maybe because of his fatal condition.

He tried to reassure her but it seemed like he was joking, though she can’t seem to laugh.

“Please… please wake up, Hein! You are not this weak! You will become stronger right? You will protect the people you wanted to protect right? So don’t die easily like this! Quickly wake up!”

“Don’t you want to be with me? Then I won’t go anywhere, I’ll be stay beside you as long as you wake up… don’t die, I beg you don’t scare me!”

She called his name but there was no reply.

Her tears continued to fall from her eyes as she kept hugging his body close to her. Seeing him like this completely drenched in blood, Flora’s heart couldn’t help but tighten in pain.

Flora keeps calling his name but to no avail. Hein wasn’t responding, he isn’t even moving.

“No…”

Beside her was Iona who was blown away by the shock wave.

She was the first to rush towards Hein but she stopped when a beautiful girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere and then embraced her master.

She didn’t know who this girl was but she didn’t feel any hostility from her so she didn’t attack her but when she saw Hein fell unconscious, a dread suddenly enveloped inside her.

Iona walked shakily towards Hein and Flora with her head lowered, and then when she was less than a meter from them, she collapsed to her knees in front of them like a puppet with its strings cut.

Although she reached out towards his body with her right hand, she suddenly pulled it back before it could reach him.

“… I’m sorry… because of me… once again… master…. it’s all because of me…”

Iona hid her eyes with her sleeve while crying out.

“Ah…………… Aaah………….!!”

Moaning, Iona bends her knees as she cried. She had promised him that this time she will protect him but …

… because of her, Hein; her master … her long awaited master whom she waited for so many years, died right in front of her!

She had promised him that she will protect him but instead he died protecting her!

— That regret was unfathomable.

“Hein!… please, wake up Hein! I’m Flora! I’m right here beside you so wake up!”

Flora forced this out with a shaking voice and a grief-stricken expression. Tears rolled down from her large eyes and fell to the ground like sparkling gems.

—In the distance, a roar resounded.

Buried under a pile of rubbles were two giant ugly dogs, shaking their huge bodies as if they were throwing the dirt and dust away.

“… I didn’t expect that last bit of strength… truly scary~”

Hades somersaulted from the ground and gently landed.

He also didn’t leave unscathed as blood were leaking from the corner of his mouth. He pats his chest and cocks his head nonchalantly but when he saw Flora who was crying while hugging Hein’s body, he was momentarily surprised.

“… Chloris?”

When Iona heard Hades voice, she immediately sprung from her position and immediately prepared to kill him but she suddenly noticed the beautiful girl who was embracing her master’s body become dumbstruck for a moment when she saw Hades.

“Hades …”

—suddenly, the whole ground started to shake.

An explosion resounded in the air and everyone; including Iona and the soldiers fighting some monsters not too far away from them fell to the ground from the impact.

Some roofs and walls of houses cracked, while some houses were even overturned from the hot blast of wind.

“SO YOU’RE THE ONE WHO KILLED HIM HADESSSSSS!!!!!”

—-Flora’s emotion exploded as she screamed in anger towards the one who killed her most important, most beloved man in her entire life.