Crown of Thorns

Team : Cuties, WilsonWilson, Stephanie

The night was bleary. Because of the heavy clouds that reigned these past few days, the sky was so dark that it was hard to see the sun even during the day. With its bright moon concealed, the night sky was black and cold. Hence, the day had little to no difference from the night.

I slowly stepped into the barracks. There, Yohan was sitting in front of a table temporarily set up by him, as if waiting for someone. Because of his cross-legged sitting position, his body was tilted to one side, making him feel very arrogant and confident.

I remembered the first time I saw him. I also regarded him with the same impression as now because of his appearance and tone. But in reality, he was someone with deep thoughts and a brain sharp enough to penetrate lies. In addition, he was good enough of a person to save his colleagues and protect an unknown boy.

He was thinking of making Evan a warrior and was actually rallying to make it happen. Such a man was asking to see me. He said he had something to talk about regarding Evan, not to anyone else, but a witch. His intention was all too unclear.

To discern his motives, I had no choice but to show up.

Yohan got up. His eyes, which had been a little drowsy, opened wide. What used to be a Shadow gradually materialized into a witch in the figure of a human. When I appeared, his eyes lit up with the concentration of a hunter watching his prey. His body tensed up.

“You surprised me.”

“Why did you call for me?”

I stood at a moderate distance from him and asked. His sword could not hurt me, but it would do us no good to make a fuss. Yohan stared at me without saying a word for a long time. Then, he opened his mouth with a wry smile, as if he were dumbfounded.

“I’m embarrassed because you’re so different from what I thought. I didn’t know you were this young. Besides, like this… This is how… Ha.”

He couldn’t spell his words to the end and gave a short sigh in surrender.

“You must have forgotten that I am a witch.”

His behavior suddenly overlapped with Evan’s, and he frowned for a moment. In addition to smiling vaguely and forgetting to be guarded in front of a witch, there were quite a few similarities between the two.

He answered me with a slightly exaggerated nod.

“Right. Witch. Witches can’t be compared to ordinary humans. Well, we’d better sit down. You don’t intend to stand and talk like this, do you?”

“Did you call me here to chat?”

“Did you think I called you here to fight? Alone in the middle of nowhere? No matter how fearless I am, it’s not enough to do so against a witch.”

I made silent eye contact with the intention of gauging his true thoughts. Yohan accepted it without avoiding my gaze. As he said, it was useless for him to attack me. If he heard the rumor, he’d already know. Having a conversation really seemed to be his only purpose, seeing that he brought me to a place where no one was around.

As I walked in front of him and sat down on a chair that seemed to have been put there for me, he slowly sat down, too. His eyes were fixed on me. The barracks were brighter than I thought. Several candles were lit, with their shadows dancing beneath the flames.

I looked around and felt him glaring at me so I turned my head to him. Come to think of it, this was the first time I looked at Yohan in my physical body, not with the eyes of the Shadow. It felt a little strange to see him with color for the first time. Just like he had told me, he was also embarrassed because I was different from how he imagined.

He was a firm, outspoken man. From the perspective of Shadow, I knew that he had a lighter color than others, but he was actually brighter than I thought. His hair was platinum, and his eyes were golden. It was a very vivid amber color.

He wasn’t as bright as Evan, but he still felt as strange as he was. Things about his fate, or his future, came to my mind constantly. As Evan’s present changed, Yohan, who almost died in the forest of monsters, eventually survived. To be exact, he was saved thanks to the witch who sent Evan there. At that time, I thought his fate had changed simply because of Evan, but now I think that might not be the case.

Perhaps, because of Evan, he was also a warrior destined to save the world. I couldn’t help but think of how things would have drastically changed if such a trivial thing had been done differently.

“You look pretty conflicted.”

I came to my senses at Yohan’s voice. He was always a man who gave off a sharp sword-like feeling, but he was so adept that the way he spoke and the atmosphere of the conversation seemed a little familiar.

“Since when did you know I existed?”

“From some time ago.”

He continued as I stared blankly at his unexpected answer, unable to utter anything.

“You didn’t think I’d notice? There were many unnatural things.”

Would Evan have noticed it, too? I got alarmed for a while, but Evan was acting too indifferent for me to say that. Like he really doesn’t know anything.

“What did you want to say to me?”

I didn’t want to drag the conversation for too long, so I directly asked his purpose. However, he immediately answered with a question.

“I’ll ask first. What the hell are you thinking?”

His expression became serious. His deep, focused eyes were reminiscent of a predator’s who, if simply not pleased, would rush in and bite. I thought for a moment and decided to reveal the truth, whether he believed it or not. If we are of the same mind, it’s better to act together anyway.

“I want to change the world.”

Yohan’s face visibly flinched as if he had heard an absurd answer. And soon, he asked hesitantly.

“What does that mean?”

“Literally that, I’m trying to change the world. I want to end this Darkness now. To do so, Evan is needed. Evan is the only hope and Light. You already know that, don’t you?”

“I just don’t understand.”

Bewilderedly, he continued again after a short contemplative pause.

“So? What are you going to do?”

“I intend to crown Evan.”

Yohan’s face hardened. His eyes cooled rapidly. The man, who was bright in vivid colors, looked cold with his chilling gaze.

“No matter what you think, Yohan, I want to end this Darkness. I’m thinking of it. If the warrior, Evan, wears the crown, a new era will begin. Don’t you agree?”

Yohan, who had been staring at me with a stiff face for a long time, closed his eyes, heaving a small sigh. When he opened them back up, he looked as stern as usual. He folded his arms against the chair and squinted his eyes as if to measure me.

“I’d like to know why you want to do that.”

“There’s no reason for me to tell you.”

Yohan leaned his upper body again, with his arms on the table, shortening the distance between him and me. He said with a mischievous smile.

“Is it because your blood is mixed with Light? Is that why you crave the Light?”

This time I was the one shocked. Unable to conceal his astonishment, Yohan said with a feisty smile.

“I can’t believe it. The witch, the one who covered the world with Darkness, is not fully made of the Dark. How can Darkness and Light coexist in one body at the same time?”

“…how did you…?”

“There’s no reason for me to tell you that.”

I felt my fingertips tremble. I hurriedly hid them under my clothes, but his sharp gaze did not miss that small action and followed it.

“I should thank you anyway. You gave Evan the Emperor’s trust when you handed him the Imperial Sorcerer’s seal. That’s probably why you gave it to Evan, no? I can’t doubt your true intentions. Even you wouldn’t have given away your father’s belongings that easily.”

“Just how?”

In the end, I couldn’t restrain myself. I stood up and asked him impatiently.

“How the hell did you know all that?”

And with a cold smile, Yohan said.

“You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to tell anyone. Isn’t that what you’re worried about?”

That’s right. I was extremely afraid of news of my family being revealed. My lovely and strong family members, my family that used to use bright Light and was envied for it. Now that their lives had been sacrificed for the world, they had been forgotten. However, their honor would still be tarnished if it was revealed that they were the witch’s family.

The Light would not exist as beautifully and as vividly now as it was then. The people craved Light because what my family had done was so bright and beautiful. Evan could only be welcomed by them if my family did not exist as the sun and hope in their memories.

When I looked at Yohan without saying anything, he waved a hand and urged me to sit back down. He looked at me with his chin up, his head tilted slightly, and hair that was woven into a thin, shiny gold thread trickling down his forehead. He had delicate and beautiful hair that didn’t match his manly, scarred face.

“I hear the Imperial Palace Sorcerer also had an affinity for both Light and Darkness. Is that what made you? Are the stories of your mother being a witch and controlling the monsters just a lie?”

After sitting down, I couldn’t open my mouth for a long time, and I barely answered.

“No, it’s all true. Therefore, I am a witch. I’ve been cursed.”

“Cursed. Do you mean cursed to be immortal?”

“Yes.”

Yohan looked down at the table. As if deep in thought, he was unable to speak. I didn’t feel like having any more of this conversation. I wanted to evade this situation quickly.

“In any case, I just want to help Evan change the world.”

“Do you want to change your perception?”

“No.”

Yohan looked at me with a frown, unbelieving. Perception? I didn’t want such grandeur. For it was an impossible feat using the power of Evan alone.

“All I want is a new world. Perception does not change easily, and for the Light to shine brighter, Darkness must exist, and if needed, evil deeds must be committed. Of course, only by me. By the witch alone.”

I didn’t want the other Darkness wielders to be harmed because of me. It was fortunate that Yohan knew better that no one else was at fault.

“What the hell can you get by doing that?”

“What?”

I asked him back. After sitting in silence for a long time, deep in thought, Yohan raised his head.

“If we have the same goal, we can work together. So what’s your plan?”

*

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