Silver Lining Yesterday - Chapter 2
Nix gazed blankly at the dim sunlight filtering through the leaves.
If he checked even this small uncharted island, he might truly be able to give up. After all, he had searched desperately, and now he just wanted to be free from the damned witch.
Thin, dark clouds covered the sky, casting everything in a dull, gray haze.
The dense forest ended, revealing a stone path scattered with withered weeds. Fragments of marble sculptures, barely recognizable in their original form, were strewn along the roadside, looking like ancient ruins of an unknown age.
As he passed the desolate surroundings, Nix climbed the stone steps.
A lone bird had been chirping, but as it flew off, only the sound of the wind and footsteps remained. Passing under a half-collapsed archway, Nix squinted against the sudden sunlight that hit him.
When he stepped onto the final step, his view suddenly opened up.
It was an open space, resembling an ancient altar.
The vast sky stretched above him, and all around, the endless sea seemed to spread out.
From this highest point beneath the sky, it felt as though he could connect with heaven itself. It was as if, on a clear night, he could dip his fingers into the dazzling sea of stars…
In the center of the space stood a massive ice pillar.
Nix, who had been eyeing it with suspicion, found himself stopping without realizing it.
In the ice, someone was stuck inside, as if ripped from another dimension.
The image flickered in his retina, and his heart began to pound loudly.
He could distinctly feel the blood rushing to his head.
“Please, please look! I’m not lying!”
The pirate who had hurried up to him was causing a commotion.
“You’ll spare me now that you’ve seen this, right? I, I swear I’ll never pirate again. I’ll hide in the mountains for the rest of my life, living like a dead rat. I’m wanted for killing my wife, but I’m not a bad guy, really. If that crazy woman hadn’t told me to bring back money …!”
The pirate muttered curses and glanced around nervously.
But Nix, captivated by the sight before him, seemed to have completely forgotten about the pirate.
The pirate, seized by a sliver of hope, hesitated before speaking again.
“Can I leave now…?”
“……”
“I’ve shown you the witch, so… I’ll be going now. Be careful not to get burned by the witch when she wakes up…”
As the pirate slowly began to back away, the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
The pirate thought it would be perfect if the witch and the madman fought each other to the death on this isolated island. He spat a curse as he quickly turned away.
But before he could even react, a strong grip suddenly seized his face.
Before he could even process the situation, sharp flashes of light slipped between Nix’s fingers. Realizing the danger, the pirate’s eyes widened in terror.
Bang!
The pirate’s head exploded, its contents splattering out as his limbs twisted limply like paper.
Nix, with his worn-out leather gloves, brushed the pirate’s flesh off as he moved forward, almost hypnotically. With each step, the silhouette frozen inside the ice became clearer.
Hair that curved like the night sky, two eyes carefully closed, and a delicate, almost frozen pale color as if time itself had stopped…
Finally, standing before the pillar, Nix roughly grasped the ice with his bloodstained bare hands.
“I found you, Jean Rohrbach…”
His eyes, burning with indescribable joy, focused on the woman peacefully sleeping inside the ice.
The heat rushing to the top of his head overwhelmed his skull, making rational thought impossible. Only the shape of the woman pounded in his mind at every moment.
He touched it.
The star in the sky.
Nix, struggling to process the surreal reality, suddenly let out a short groan. The icy area his hand had touched began to vaporize, turning white with heat.
In a panic, Nix quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back.
The smoke rising from the ice began to spread thickly, and as the ice cracked, the woman’s body slowly began to reveal itself.
Then, the woman broke free from the ice and fell without warning.
Nix instinctively threw himself forward.
The woman’s body fell into his arms, feeling astonishingly slender. Her pale complexion and unmoving body seemed like that of a corpse.
But between her wet, hanging seaweed-like hair, her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Nix unconsciously swallowed dryly. His pupils, filled with tension and joy, quivered faintly.
Through her barely opening eyes, a beam of light began to seep in, cutting through the murky depths.
“…Ernest?”
A whisper barely escaped her trembling lips.
Her unfocused gaze wandered across his face, and Nix, feeling as though he’d been splashed with cold water, clenched his teeth tightly.
The faint spark of hope in his eyes faded, and a cold, lifeless expression, like the glaciers of the North Sea, overtook his face.
After a long pause, Nix silently lowered her down. A sharp, almost mocking smile seemed to flicker at the corner of his lips.
But that self-deprecating silence didn’t last long.
Nix suddenly placed his elbow firmly on his taut thigh, leaning over her as though he was about to pounce.
His red shadowed and chilling eyes pierced through her like a dagger.
“Jean Rohrbach.”
“…….”
“Do I resemble my father that much?”
Ernest Garland, ‘the lover of the century,’ who had run away with Jean Rohrbach.
Nix was the son that he had left behind after a one night stand.
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