"…Dudu will save them!"
Duren managed to finish his words safely.
Even though both his shoulders and waist were being held down by two people.
With solid support in front and back, there was no chance of him falling.
"Let's stop the carriage for now."
Because of Duren nearly toppling over, Estelle felt her heart drop and nodded in agreement.
"Mom, I'll be right back!"
The moment the carriage stopped, Duren tried to leap out.
But Lennox slipped his hands between Duren's ribs on both sides and held him firmly.
"You can't do it alone."
"Then, Mom! Come with me!"
Lennox simply lifted Duren up.
Duren struggled to break free, but failed, and as Lennox carried him through the air, he cried out.
Watching the scene, Estelle tried hard not to laugh and instead put on a deliberately stern expression.
It was because breaking Duren's stubbornness seemed almost impossible.
"Duren, it's dangerous over there."
"It's not dangerous!"
Dudu even protected Grandma!
If Dudu could do that, then Duren could protect Mom while protecting others too.
"Duren is right. You're not in danger."
Why is this man taking my side?
Baffled, Duren stopped struggling in the air and stared at Lennox.
"To be precise, only you and I won't be in danger."
"What about Mom?"
"She'll be in danger."
"Even if Dudu protects her?"
"Yes."
Surprisingly, the two of them seemed to understand each other quite well…
"That's why only you and I will go there."
"Your Grace!"
Estelle was startled by Lennox's bold declaration. She had thought he would stop Duren, but instead, he had firmly stated he would go along with him.
"Anyway, over there…!"
Just as Estelle was about to speak the truth, Lennox shook his head slightly.
He knew it too.
No—he must know it better than anyone.
That there were no living people over there.
That there was no one Duren could possibly help.
"What's over there?"
Estelle had been about to raise her voice, but when she closed her mouth instead, Duren, eyes round and curious, asked.
"…There are monsters there. Huge, terrifying creatures."
That wasn't a lie either.
Wherever there was demonic energy, monsters would appear.
But Lennox dismissed it at once.
"They were subjugated fairly recently. Monsters won't show up there for a while."
Even monsters followed a certain pattern.
If it were truly dangerous enough for monsters to appear again, they would never have allowed them to go at all.
"So come with me."
Lennox couldn't cook up a delicious meal for a hungry child the way a professional chef could.
Nor did he know the trick to making a crying child laugh.
But there was something Lennox could do.
"Only Winterlen can protect people in a place like that."
Since Duren had been ready to bolt out the moment before, Lennox thought he could simply carry the boy outside like this.
But Duren, eyes wide with doubt, stared at him.
It was plain he wasn't convinced at all.
"If you go with me, your mom will feel relieved."
"…Dudu can go alone."
"To save people, you'll need lots of hands, won't you? Two are much better than one."
Him? Really?
Even for Duren, who trusted people by default, there were some whose reliability was at rock bottom.
"Yes. I'll be of help."
Yet even as he said that, the distrust in Duren's eyes didn't fade.
"I'll do everything just as you command, Duren."
"…So be it."
Only when Lennox offered himself up as Duren's subordinate did the boy finally agree to go with him.
As Lennox prepared to step out of the carriage with Duren in his arms, he turned back to Estelle.
"Estelle, you should ride this carriage back to the capital. By the time we return, we won't be able to share the same one with you anyway."
Since they would be exposed to demonic energy, riding in the same carriage afterward would be dangerous.
But Estelle shook her head.
"Even if I ride a different carriage on the way back, I'll stay and watch the two of you return."
There would be no one to save.
It was certain that Duren would be hurt once he realized that truth.
If she weren't there for him at that moment, the wound might remain as a scar forever.
"…Very well."
Seeing Estelle's face so openly filled with worry and concern, Lennox no longer pressed her to leave first.
And not long after—
Estelle would come to realize just how wise a choice it had been not to depart ahead of them.
"Wait here."
Leaving a guard detail at Estelle's side, Lennox naturally scooped Duren up in his arms.
But the problem was—
"How could you carry him like that!"
Estelle gasped in shock.
For Lennox had tucked Duren under his arm, as though he were carrying a sack.
He's not a handbag—why was he carrying a child like that?
"To minimize contact with demonic energy, this is the best way."
"If that's your reasoning, then at least give him a piggyback ride."
He had never given anyone a piggyback in his life.
How was he supposed to do it?
After a moment's hesitation, Lennox awkwardly set Duren on his shoulders.
"Uh, uh?"
As his view suddenly rose so high, Duren's mouth rounded into a perfect "O."
"Hold on tight so you don't fall."
"O-okay!"
Nodding, Duren searched for something to grab and clutched Lennox's hair.
"Got it!"
With both hands gripping fistfuls of his hair, Duren made it look as though Lennox was wearing pigtails.
Estelle couldn't help it—she burst out laughing.
"…."
Even without a mirror, Lennox knew exactly how ridiculous he must look.
For a burly man to appear as though he had childish pigtails—it was utterly humiliating.
But what could he do?
It might look a little ridiculous, but it was still a reasonable way to keep the boy secure.
A man who valued efficiency over appearances, Lennox raised no objections.
Still wearing his usual stony expression, he spoke.
"Is there somewhere you want to go?"
"Over there!"
Clutching Lennox's hair like a set of reins, Duren gave directions.
When he tugged hard on the right side, Lennox flinched.
"…Only grab my hair if you think you're about to fall. For pointing directions, your finger will do just fine."
"Mm? You mean like this, like this!"
Duren yanked sharply on the right side of his hair again.
At the same time, his little finger pointed firmly in that direction. He hadn't let go of the fistfuls of hair—he had simply raised one finger while still gripping tightly.
Lennox had told him to point with his finger, so this must be the right way!
Pride was written all over the child's face.
Watching alongside Estelle, Pippin and the guards finally failed to stifle their laughter and hurriedly turned their heads away.
"…Very well."
The longer they lingered, the more ridiculous he was bound to look.
At last, Lennox gave in and started walking in the direction Duren was pointing.
Beneath his feet, the ground squelched with sticky demonic energy, and his brow furrowed instinctively.
Filthy.
His mind was flooded with countless resentful cries.
If he had been a more sensitive man, he might have gone mad on the spot. Enduring the cacophony in silence inevitably weighed down his mood.
Still, he forced himself not to show it and moved steadily in the direction Duren indicated.
"The world is all black."
"That blackness is demonic energy."
Grrr—
Duren bared his teeth slightly.
Strange.
When he'd saved Grandma, fear had dominated his mind, screaming at him to run.
But now, the blackness no longer frightened him.
Instead, it felt like something he had to fight against.
"Where are the hurt people?"
Duren glanced around as he asked.
"There are none."
"Why not?"
"Because they were all eaten."
Lennox answered flatly.
If Estelle had been there to hear their exchange, she would have clamped a hand over his mouth—but unfortunately, it was only the two of them.
Whenever a rift occurred, the entire area would inevitably be swallowed by demonic energy.
And where demonic energy spread, monsters would inevitably emerge, turning it into nothing less than hell.
A hell no one could return from alive.
"Dudu will get them out!"
Duren yanked Lennox's hair with all his strength—so hard that Lennox's head jerked to the side.
"Wait."
When Lennox refused to move according to his tugging, Duren would no longer sit still.
"Then I'll just—!"
At last, he tried to jump down himself, as if he meant to check the ground directly.
Lennox barely caught him before he could plummet into a pool of demonic energy, speaking in rapid-fire words.
Otherwise, the boy would surely keep struggling to go down again.
"Listen carefully. If you touch that blackness, everything disappears. Your grandmother, your mother—whether it's precious or not, it all vanishes."
"But Dudu's okay, right?"
Lennox tightened his grip on the child, making sure he wouldn't slip away.
Even if he slipped away, Duren wouldn't die—but he would be plagued by terrible nightmares.
And if the exposure kept increasing, he'd end up living with chronic insomnia.
It was far too soon for him to come into contact with demonic energy.
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