I Tried To Escape Through Death - Chapter 13

Without any delay, I went to the window and opened it wide. Fortunately, the windows were large enough for an adult to pass through freely. I leaned out of the window and looked down, and I could see that the ground was far away from where I was.

 

The room that Calix and I were staying in was located on the 4th floor. That wasn’t a height that you could simply jump down from.

 

Instead of contemplating whether or not to just jump down, I immediately summoned a wind spell and released it into the air.

 

The sound of the wind, which was heard only by me, lingered in my ears.

 

I strengthened my hands and climbed through the window and sat down on the windowsill. I glanced at the bathroom before I jumped. I could still hear the water running, so I knew he wasn’t coming out anytime soon.

 

Only after I had confirmed did I turn around and take a step into the air.

 

***

 

I didn’t know how long it would take for Calix to finish washing up, but I knew that I had to return as soon as possible.

 

As soon as I jumped out the window and left the inn, I entered the nearest store and asked where I could get some hair dye.

 

“Hair dye? Go around the corner, go straight to the end of the alley, and turn left. You’d be able to see it.”

 

“Thank you!”

 

As soon as I heard the directions, I turned around and ran. It felt like people whizzed by me at a high speed. An unrecognizable new energy flowed from my nervous hands and sped up my feet.

 

‘They told me to go to the end of the alley and turn left.’ 

 

There was no time to look around. As soon as I saw the store that I’d been looking for, I didn’t look back and forth the aisles. I ran in and shouted.

 

“Black hair dye, please!”

 

The shopkeeper, who had been dozing off at the counter, stood up in surprise.

 

“H-Hair dye? What colour…”

 

The owner seemed to be only half-awake, so he didn’t fully understand the situation. I called out once more, glancing nervously to the outside of the store.

 

“Black!”

 

“If you want black, here…”

 

“Thank you!”

 

After what had felt like a month, I ran and grabbed the hair dye, hugging it close to me, and took a coin out of my pocket.

 

“Oh, wait a minute…”

 

“Keep the change!”

 

Before the owner had the chance to answer, I ran out again.

 

‘How long has it been?’

 

I needed to refrain from engaging in activities that would draw attention to myself. Otherwise, news of my outing would reach Calix’s ears. My head knew that fact very well, but I was not in a hurry anymore.

 

I ran out of the alley again, making a rough estimate of the distance. If I had lost too much time, I would have used magic to blast myself back to the inn.

 

But at that very moment.

 

“Huk…!”

 

“What the!”

 

Neiiigh!

 

As soon as I turned the corner, a large black object popped out in front of me. I quickly realized it was a horse, but I couldn’t do anything to avoid it.

 

It happened at the same time that my legs gave out and I fell flat on my face, the startled horse lifting up its front legs in response.

 

“Ack!”

 

I saw the man on the horse falling off the horse’s back through a gap in my obscured view.

 

As soon as the horse entered my upside-down view, everything went black.

 

By the time I figured out the situation, it was too late. I closed my eyes reflexively, foreshadowing the pain that would be coming to me.

 

Kwang! I heard the sound of the horse hitting the ground with its front legs.

 

But the pain I anticipated never came. I gingerly pawed at the ground and slightly opened my eyes.

 

The first thing I saw was the hoof of the horse that had narrowly missed me on the ground.

 

If it had come any closer, I would have gotten seriously injured. When I looked up, I saw the owner of the horse, which was now snorting, holding his neck and pointing his finger at me.

 

“Hey! You! You can’t just jump out of such a narrow alley like that!”

 

“…Oh.”

 

“‘Oh’? You almost killed someone just now and all you could say is ‘oh’?”

 

I pushed myself up, my legs shaking. Maybe the shock hadn’t completely left my system yet, but I seemed to have lost all strength in my legs.

 

‘I have to hurry, I have to go back.’ 

 

All I could think about was getting out of this situation as quickly as possible. I clutched onto my hood, which had slid halfway off my head, pulling it back up and bowing my head.

 

“Then, I’m sorry…”

 

I was just going to let it go.

 

The man, huffing and puffing, swung his arms wildly and grabbed me by the shoulders.

 

“‘I’m sorry’, that’s all you have to say for yourself? What are you going to do if you continue acting so recklessly like that!”

 

“…Then what do you want me to do?”

 

“I almost hurt my horse because of you, so you need to compensate for the mental and material damages! Hold on, I’m just…”

 

I frowned, unable to ignore my impatience.

 

“I’m sorry I came out of nowhere. But you also were riding a horse in a narrow alley. We both almost hurt each other, so can we just let this go and go on our way?”

 

While I was talking, I kept glancing at the inn. The building right in front of me was the inn. All I’d have to do was turn and run.

 

But the man didn’t seem to have any intention of letting me go.

 

“You! People are talking to you and you won’t even show your face, and you dare talk back to me. Do you know who I am? I’m the man of this city…!”

 

As the raging man tried to pull my hood down by twisting the base of the neckline, I couldn’t take it anymore and scattered the feeble energy of my magic.

 

“Ow, it stings!”

 

I twisted and turned, taking advantage of the man’s anger and shock to escape. My shoulder throbbed from the force of his grip.

 

“I’m sorry that I came out of nowhere. I’ll be more careful next time. Then.”

 

I ran as hard as I could without looking back. I heard a loud voice behind me, but I pretended not to notice and ran. I thought I heard the words, “Union leader”, or something similar.

 

When I reached the inn building, I turned around. I looked up and saw that the window I had left open when I left was thankfully still open.

 

After making sure that the man wasn’t following me, I released wind magic without any delay. Fortunately, I didn’t see anyone. As soon as I stepped foot into the air current I had just created, I soared up to the fourth floor immediately and climbed through the window, back into the room.

 

Ta-dak.

 

The room looked exactly as it did when I left earlier. That was what was expected, of course, since it hadn’t been long since then.

 

As soon as I stepped on the floor, I diverted my attention to the bathroom and listened. There was no sound coming from there.

 

Did he come out already? Did he go out to look for me because he knew I was gone?

 

My heart was racing. My legs were still trembling from the shock of almost getting kicked by a horse’s hooves.

 

I was wondering whether I should just stay in the room and pretend not to know anything.

 

Then, the bathroom door creaked open. My legs relaxed with relief when I saw Calix coming out, lightly dressed and drying his hair with a towel.

 

I held onto the window sill behind my back, feeling slightly dizzy.

 

“Rena?”

 

My eyes met with Calix’s as he walked out of the bathroom. As soon as he saw me, he strode across the room with a worried expression on his face.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“…”

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

I shook my head, my lips closed. My grip on the window sill was tight.

 

“Why is the window open? You’ll catch a cold.”

 

Calix came close, took my hand off of the window sill, and closed the window. I looked up at him, straining against my legs which were on the verge of collapse.

 

“Rena…?”

 

A drop of water from the tips of Calix’s hair dropped onto the wooden floor, creating a dark circle as it did.

 

As he hovered over me, the water droplets fell onto the tip of my nose, then onto Calix’s shirt, and it continued doing so.

 

Drip.

 

I stared, mesmerized, at the water dripping from him and bit my lip. The sight of his damp hair, his shirt becoming increasingly soaking wet around his shoulders, and the scent of soap wafting from his body that confirmed that he’d just washed… all of my nerves disappeared and it felt like my soul ascended.

 

Calix’s face stiffened when he saw my unusual expression.

 

“…Rena.”

 

He called my name and naturally reached out to take off the hood I was still wearing. Following his touch, the hood, which had been covering half of my face, came off.

 

When Calix’s hand brushed over my cheek and his other hand held onto my neck, I couldn’t take it anymore and buried my face in his hand.

 

I glanced up and my eyes locked with Calix’s. I could see his eyes stiffen, fixated on me. His other hand cupped my cheek and neck as if it was natural for him to do so.

 

I didn’t know what type of expression I was looking at him with.

 

However, one thing was clear: his face, with his eyes filled with hidden longing, and my own expression could not have been very different.

 

I’m sure I wanted the same thing as he did.

 

As Calix tilted his head and came towards me, I closed my eyes tightly in anticipation of what was to come next.

 

The lips that had hovered until the last moment soon met mine. Calix’s lips were warm and dry, proving even more that he’d just gotten out of the shower. I reached out and grabbed onto his shirt. I opened my mouth obediently shortly after.

 

When I did, at that moment, Calix stiffened, having expected me to not be as cooperative, before becoming aggressive. He turned his head and began kissing me deeply. In a flash, his tongue slid in.

 

I leaned back, deepening the kiss, and embraced his broad shoulders.

 

It was like he knew exactly which spots to touch me to make me feel pleasure. Otherwise, there would be no way my body would be trembling this much, it felt like I’d been struck by lightning, every time he moved his lips.

 

Our breaths mixed, but we were soon breathless. The room was blazing with heat. I couldn’t tell whether the beat I felt was coming from my heart or his heart.

 

Every time Calix turned his head, I felt his nose pressing against my cheek. It made the heat unbearable, so I took a step back.

 

The window sill brushed against my back. At the same time, my legs, which had given up trying to hold on, lost their strength and I slipped.

 

I was too dazed to notice my body faltering. My oxygen-deprived brain was blank. I looked up at him with hazy eyes.

 

Catching me by the waist as I was slipping, Calix smiled and pressed his lips to my temple.

 

“Come on, what happened?”

 

[TL/N]: was not sure If she buried her face in his hand or her hand but for all of our sakes I said it was his hand : ) also, it said she opened her mouth obediently, **like a baby bird accepting a feeding**, but I felt like it ruined the moment so I removed it

***