4
Elena knew Jayden would be back.
He had sworn it several times before he left.
He would never accept their separation based on a mere letter.
‘He’s surprisingly stubborn.’
While Jayden was generally obedient, he was also fiercely assertive, subtly getting his way in all matters.
“Can I have meat for breakfast?”
Having discovered the joys of meat, Jayden requested it for every meal.
Given how thin he was, and the fact that he hunted it himself, Elena had been indulging him, but it was getting out of hand.
“Jayden, you need to say that correctly.”
He was confused.
“You should be asking if you can have meat for breakfast ‘again’.”
“Can I have meat for breakfast again?”
‘Don’t ask so cheerfully,’ she’d thought, exasperated.
‘That wasn’t my point.’
“You had nothing but meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday, right?”
“Yes.
Meat is delicious.”
“And you only ate meat the day before that?”
“Because meat is delicious.”
“And the day before that—no, you’ve eaten nothing but meat for an entire month, haven’t you?”
“It’s tasty even if I eat it every day!”
The man who had once eaten whatever she served was becoming an incredibly picky eater.
His singular focus on meat convinced Elena she had to intervene.
“You used to eat vegetables.
Why don’t you eat them anymore?”
“Because meat is more delicious.”
“You need a balanced diet.”
“I prefer what is delicious.”
She couldn’t believe she was bickering with a grown man over something so childish.
Seeing the conversation was going nowhere, Elena had cut it short with a brisk conclusion.
“In any case, we’re having salad for breakfast today.”
A look of pure, unadulterated shock had spread across Jayden’s eyes.
His shoulders slumped as he trudged over to the sofa and collapsed onto it.
Elena moved quickly, washing a handful of vegetables and tossing them into a hearty salad.
“Come on, it’s ready.”
Jayden approached with listless steps, his gaze falling upon the table that held nothing but salad.
The corners of his eyes drooped, and when he speared a leaf with his fork and took a bite, the corners of his mouth followed suit.
“…Can’t I have any meat?” he pleaded, his eyes glistening with a pathetic sheen that could put any helpless animal to shame.
Elena let out a sigh.
“You’ll eat the vegetables with it, won’t you?”
“Yes!
I will!” he declared, his face instantly brightening.
When had this man, once as expressionless as a stone mask, learned to display such a wide range of emotions?
A small laugh escaped Elena’s lips as she found herself grilling meat after all.
With a look of pure bliss on his face, he kept his promise, eating the meat and salad together.
His stubbornness only ever surfaced over such trivial matters, so Elena usually let him have his way.
As a result, Jayden had become remarkably adept at reading her moods and wheedling his way into getting what he wanted.
“Elena, I would like this.”
His eyes would sparkle.
“Elena, may I do this?”
They would shine, bright and clear.
“Elena…”
Whenever he wanted something, Jayden’s eyes would practically overflow with light, a tactic she was powerless to resist.
Her heart would soften, and she would almost always give in.
“Alright.”
“Thank you, Elena.”
He had learned that an adorable pout could get him anything, and he wielded that skill with masterful precision.
Looking back, she realized Jayden got his way most of the time.
‘I think I’ve spoiled him rotten…’
In any case, Jayden would demand to hear the words of parting directly from her lips.
And he would use those sparkling eyes to make it impossible for her to refuse.
She knew she would end up caving to his pleading.
To avoid that confrontation, Elena left the village.
She decided to use this opportunity to finally resolve the matter that had been weighing on her mind: the disappearance of her parents.
Not long ago, she had discovered a clue in a most unexpected place.
“Elena, Elena!” Mister Paul, who had been acting strangely for the past few days, called to her in a hushed voice.
He kept glancing nervously toward the bathroom, clearly wary of Jayden, who had just gone in to wash up.
“Why are you being so secretive?” she asked.
“Well, I was debating whether I should even tell you…”
“What is it?”
“I just… I don’t think it’s right to hide this,” he stammered.
Though he had initiated the conversation, the timid man couldn’t seem to get to the point.
“I’m ready to hear whatever it is,” Elena assured him.
“Please, just say it.”
“This…” He pulled a folded handkerchief from his coat.
At first, she thought nothing of it.
But when he unfolded it, her heart plummeted.
Inside lay a small, tattered piece of blue cloth, worn thin and seemingly ripped from a garment.
She snatched it, her fingers tracing the clumsy silver embroidery.
She was certain.
“Where?
Where did you find this?”
“There’s a place we call the Demonic Beast Boundary.
It’s…”
“I know where it is.” Elena had never climbed the mountain herself, but she had studied the map her father had drawn and knew the general location.
It was a place with no real path, where the risk of demonic beasts was so high that even seasoned hunters rarely ventured there.
“What were you doing all the way out there, Mister Paul?
It’s dangerous.”
There was no reason for him or any of the other village hunters to take such a risk.
“I found it when I went with Jayden the other day.
We hunters don’t normally go there.” Mister Paul was the one who had taught Jayden how to hunt.
Having spent time with him in the wilderness, he was well aware of Jayden’s exceptional skills.
‘I had a feeling they were venturing into more dangerous areas lately.’ She just hadn’t imagined they would recklessly go as far as the Demonic Beast Boundary.
And the fact that this scrap of fabric was found in such a perilous place…
“It’s theirs, isn’t it?” Mister Paul asked cautiously, his careful tone betraying that he already suspected the truth.
“Yes,” she confirmed, her voice tight.
“It’s from the clothes my father was wearing when my parents disappeared.”
“I-I see.” Even though he had brought it to her expecting this, hearing the confirmation left Mister Paul at a loss for words.
“Why are you so flustered?
I told you before—my parents are probably still alive.”
“Ah, right.
But…” None of the villagers believed her.
Only Elena held onto the hope that they were merely missing.
Two years ago, her parents had vanished.
“We’ll be back soon.”
“Have a safe trip.”
When they left the village together, everything had seemed perfectly normal.
They often traveled to purchase supplies for the general store, so it was nothing out of the ordinary.
But the day they were due to return came and went, and they never appeared.
Their prolonged absence stirred concern among the villagers, and Elena finally asked the hunters to form a search party.
Not far from the village, they discovered a chaotic scene.
The ground was torn up, clear evidence of a struggle.
Her father’s self-defense dagger lay on the ground, along with torn pieces of clothing and spatters of blood.
Anyone could see that something terrible had happened.
“Elena, it looks like your parents were met with a terrible fate.”
“We’ll never find the bodies.
We should hold a service with what we’ve found.”
“We’ll help you with the funeral.”
Every hunter at the scene had spoken with grim finality.
“No,” Elena had insisted.
“My parents are safe.
They’ll be back soon.”
“Elena, I know you’re holding onto hope because there are no bodies, but you have to accept reality.”
“No one survives something like this.
Do you think this is the first time we’ve seen such a scene?”
“No matter how capable your parents were, they couldn’t have survived this.
The demonic beasts have been especially vicious lately.”
The villagers were convinced they were dead.
But Elena refused to believe it.
‘It isn’t just wishful thinking.’
From a young age, she had possessed inhuman strength.
Back then, she was too little to control it.
Could ordinary parents have raised a child like her?
She thought not.
Her parents had to be more capable than anyone in the village knew.
‘In fact, traveling to the next town and back, just the two of them, isn’t something ordinary people can do.’ Even the hunters moved in groups of at least three when they left the village.
Because her parents made the journey so often, the villagers had become blind to how extraordinary it truly was.
“Anyway, I don’t believe my parents are gone,” she had declared.
“They’ll come back someday.”
That was why she could speak with such confidence.
The villagers had only offered pitiful glances, their disbelief plain on their faces.
Everyone had assumed the worst, but now, two years later, a clue had surfaced in the last place anyone would have looked.
“This means my parents passed through there that day, doesn’t it?”
“It does.
But…” Mister Paul hesitated, unable to meet her eyes.
“I know,” she said, finishing his thought.
“It might not have been of their own free will.” If they had been attacked and dragged away by a monster, they would have still passed through that area.