The Seed Thief

The enemy, having gathered every mage they could find, succeeded in trapping Ervandas’s army within a city, using a powerful magical barrier.

He was now a rat trapped in a cage. They believed that once they overwhelmed and subjugated him with their superior forces, they could sever Ervandas’s head and display it as a trophy, demoralizing the kingdom’s army.

They were wrong.

The siege lasted for months. Not only did the enemy fail to break through Ervandas’s defenses, but he eventually found a way to shatter the magical barrier, leading his army out of the city.

From then on, Ervandas slaughtered every enemy he encountered. He didn’t even attempt negotiations. He kept killing as if his goal was annihilation.

Even the kingdom’s army that followed him feared his ruthlessness.

Thus, the war that had spanned nearly half a year came to an end. Ervandas entrusted the remaining matters to Calendus and immediately set off for his destination.

‘Lulu.’

He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since he left.

‘I promised to return soon.’

He had promised to return before thirty nights passed. But he hadn’t returned even after many more nights had passed. He remembered Lulu’s farewell when he left the forest.

She had refused to see him off properly. She knew that a long goodbye would only make the parting more painful. She had watched him go as if he were simply heading to the nearby stream or tending to the garden.

He had believed he’d be back soon, sooner than promised. He had imagined surprising her, telling her he couldn’t bear to be away any longer.

He’d planned to listen to her tales of loneliness, to bring her to the capital, to introduce her to his family. He would give her the large family she had always longed for.

But all that remained was Lulu, alone in the forest for over half a year.

As he raced towards the forest, he received the news. Remnants of the enemy army had learned of his whereabouts and were heading towards the forest where Lulu was.

Spurring his horse onward, he rode with a desperation that bordered on madness. He crossed the distance that would normally take others more than two weeks in just a few days, riding without rest.

He couldn’t afford to waste a single moment.

What would Lulu say when he returned? Would she be angry that he was so late? Would she turn her back on him, refusing to see him? No, she might even order the golem to throw him out of the forest.

He didn’t care what she would say. He just wanted to return quickly, apologize for being so late, embrace her.

‘She must be nearing the end of her pregnancy.’

He imagined her, alone in their home, her hand resting on her swollen belly, her heart filled with anxiety. Or worse… what if the baby had arrived already? Could she handle it alone, in the middle of the forest?

As strong as she was, as powerful a mage as she was, childbirth was a different kind of challenge.

‘Please, let her be alright.’

He clung to the hope of her magic. With her magic, she could easily handle even a small army. And she had mentioned the Forest Witch’s protective barrier.

However, his anxiety grew with every passing moment.

‘It’s because of the dream.’

Recently, he had been plagued by strange dreams. Dreams of Lulu running through the forest, pursued by someone. She was gaunt, her swollen belly dragging her down. In the dream, she stumbled and fell, captured by her pursuers.

When he woke up, he couldn’t erase the image of Lulu, who seemed to have given up on everything, from his mind.

The Lulu in his dreams was growing thinner and paler with each passing day as if it were reality. 

Ervandas rode harder, desperate to reach the forest and see Lulu.

Finally, he would reach her today. He would see her again. He would hold her, tell her he was sorry, and erase this terrible anxiety.

“How much longer?”

His voice, sharp with impatience, broke the silence. The lord, fidgeting nervously, glanced towards the stables before answering.

“Th-The horse will be here any minute, Your Highness. More importantly, we found the bodies of what appeared to be enemy guards in the forest you mentioned, and we’re about to execute the person associated with them. By burning at the stake…”

At the mention of burning at the stake, Ervandas turned his head. He noticed black smoke rising from within the castle, and it seemed they were about to begin someone’s execution.

“Do as you see fit.”

He replied curtly, and then Ervandas felt an inexplicable unease. As if he had made a grave mistake…

Just then, a servant appeared with a healthy warhorse. Ervandas, unable to wait any longer, rushed towards it, grabbed the reins, and mounted the horse.

He had wasted enough time. He had to get to Lulu.

Ignoring the lord’s calls, Ervandas galloped towards the castle gate. As he was about to exit, he saw a group of people arguing with the guards at the gate.

The guards, flustered by Ervandas’s appearance, pushed back the rural villagers who were raising their voices at them with their spears.

“Apologies, Your Highness. Please, proceed.”

At that moment, a countryman, hearing the word ‘Your Royal Highness’, opened his eyes wide and shouted at Ervandas.

“Your Highness? Your Highness! Please hear me out! They’ve stolen my belongings! The Forest Witch took it, and now these men have swapped it for a worthless fake!”

Ervandas tried to ignore the petty dispute, but the words “forest witch” caught his attention. He immediately halted his horse.

“What did you say?”

When Ervandas questioned him, the guards replied with troubled expressions.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about, Your Highness. They’re just making absurd claims. Why would we touch a witch’s belongings? They asked us to bring them a ring, and we did, but they’re insisting it’s not the gold ring they saw…”

“A witch?”

“Yes. A witch who lived in the forest in the nearby mountains.  She was found recently, along with the bodies of enemy guards.”

A witch living in the forest. Those words struck Ervandas like lightning. The old woman’s son, thinking that Ervandas was taking his side, held up the ring he had received and shouted.

“This is it, Your Highness! Mine was clearly a gold ring, but these people gave me this old fake! Look!”

He pushed past the guards, thrusting the ring towards Ervandas.

Ervandas looked at the ring he had been given. It was a worn ring, just as the man had said. Not gold.  A ring made of a cheap metal, not even copper, covered in scratches and dents. But the moment he saw the ornament attached to it, Ervandas felt his breath catch in his throat.

A small, intricately crafted flame, barely visible against the tarnished metal, but unmistakable. It was the crest of his family, given only to members of the royal family.

“…Where is she?”

His voice trembled. This ring was undoubtedly Lulu’s. But why, why was it in their hands?

“Your… Your Highness?”

“Where is the owner of this ring?!”

The old woman’s son, startled by the thunderous roar, covered his ears and collapsed to the ground.  The guards standing nearby also turned pale and stumbled back. One of them, barely managing to collect himself, replied.

“Th-The forest witch… she’s being burned at the stake in the plaza…”

Ervandas turned his head. He remembered the black smoke he had glanced at indifferently before receiving his horse.

There, Lulu was…

Immediately, he galloped towards where the smoke was rising.

* * *

The flames, which had begun to flicker, soon grew into a raging inferno, engulfing the firewood. Lulu, bound to the pillar, watched the approaching fire consume everything around her.

Perhaps it was a last act of protection. The magic left by the crow fought desperately to shield Lulu until the very end. Thanks to this, Lulu could withstand the heat of the approaching flames, at least for a while. However, even that was slowly reaching its limit.

Sweat dripped from her forehead as the heat of the surging flames intensified. The scorching heat began to singe the edges of the clothes Ervandas had carefully prepared for her long ago.

She had escaped the forest, failed to find Ervandas, and now, hated and reviled, she was going to die.

She didn’t even feel a sense of injustice. But if this was the end of her life, there was one last thing she wished for.

“I just want to see him one more time.”

The human who had captured her, the human who had despised her, the human who had stayed by her side, the human who had promised to be her family. The only human, aside from the Forest Witch, she had ever wanted in her life.

“…Er.”

Tears streamed down Lulu’s cheeks.

“It’s… so scary here.”

It wasn’t scary because she was outside the forest. It wasn’t scary because there were so many humans around. It was scary because he wasn’t by her side.

Her skin prickled, and her hair shriveled.

Even while bound, Lulu curled into herself as much as possible. Then she whispered to the child in her womb,

“I’m sorry. For hurting you too.”

She couldn’t stop the flames. But if she shielded the child with her own body until the very end, maybe the child would suffer less. 

The fire finally caught on to Lulu’s clothes as she crouched down.

Bracing herself for the prolonged agony and the inevitable death, Lulu closed her eyes.

Lulu counted in her mind. One, two, three. She felt that if she counted to 100, everything would be over as if her waiting had finally come to an end.

The pain intensified, but she counted on, each number a step closer to the end.

97, 98, 99…

It was finally over.

The moment she thought so.

“Lulu!”

The sound that marked the end of her longing reached her ears. Er’s voice, which she hadn’t heard for so long. At that moment, Lulu thought she had finally died. Otherwise, how could the voice she hadn’t heard for months reach her now?

“Lulu!  Answer me! Lulu!”

The desperate voice was almost a wail. She could tell just by hearing it. How much the other person was screaming, tearing his throat raw. A desperate voice as if blood had soaked through it.

Sensing his anguish, Lulu choked back a sob. She had wanted to see Er. But would Er want to see her too?

In the forest, she had never doubted his affection for her. They were the only two beings there, and it was only natural to love the only other being besides herself. But the world outside the forest was different.

There were too many people, and here, Lulu was nothing, or rather, less than nothing. The woman in the prison had said that Er wouldn’t come looking for her.

There was no mockery or sarcasm in the woman’s words. Only pity and sympathy. And Lulu had known, deep down, that she was right.

Even as she tried to deny it, a part of her had accepted the truth.

She wanted to hate him, to resent him. She wanted to confront him, asking why he made a promise and didn’t return. She wanted to curse him and spit at him like the other humans. But whenever she closed her eyes, all she saw was his smile, the warmth in his eyes. Even though she knew she was deceived, she wanted to pretend she didn’t know, to die in that delusion… 

That way, he would remain her Er until the very end…