Chapter Text
“No!”
The redhead flinched violently at the small voice screaming that word. His eyes widened the moment he recognized who it belonged to.
On.
For one brief second, everything stopped.
He hated this. Hated the fact that his heart had calmed down at a moment like this. But he also couldn’t deny the twisted sense of relief spreading through him. The horrible thoughts, the memories, the suffocating guilt that had been drowning him for days—everything had finally gone quiet. The pain in his hands was sharp enough to silence it all.
He focused only on that, The burning pain, The warmth of blood running down his fingers, The trembling in his body, So much that he didn’t even realize someone had burst into the bathroom.
Only when he felt small hands grabbing him tightly did he blink slowly. On stood in front of him in her human form, her wide eyes shaking with terror as she pressed a towel against his wrists in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.
She knew about his healing powers. Everyone did But that didn’t change anything Because from her perspective—
it still looked like he had tried to kill himself.
And the worst part?
It wasn’t far from the truth.
Cale felt his chest tighten painfully, worse than any physical injury. He didn’t want On to see him like this. Didn’t want the child who always looked at him with trusting eyes to see him broken on the bathroom floor, surrounded by his own blood.
He promised, He promised them.
The team leader.
His friends.
Even himself.
He promised he wouldn’t do this again, But here he was, Weak, Selfish, Broken.
He didn’t even notice he was no longer on the floor until his body suddenly moved. Someone lifted him carefully, one arm beneath his knees and the other supporting his back.
It took Cale several seconds to realize who was holding him.
Choi Han.
And the realization made nausea rise in his throat faster than the blood, No, Not him!
Anyone else would’ve been better.
Cale didn’t want Choi Han to see him like this, Didn’t want to see disappointment in his eyes Didn’t want to see pain.
His ancient power had already started working violently inside his body. He coughed harshly, dark blood spilling from his mouth onto his shirt. The slashed veins on his wrists had already begun sealing shut, flesh painfully stitching itself back together.
It always hurt, Healing always hurt As if his body was punishing him for still being alive.
Cale trembled slightly, horrible nausea twisting in his stomach, but then he felt it.
The shaking.
The hands holding him were trembling.
Choi Han was shaking.
“Cale-nim…”
The voice cracked.
Cale’s eyes widened slowly.
A warm drop landed on his cheek Then another, Choi Han was crying.
No… no! He wasn’t supposed to cry.
Something twisted viciously inside Cale’s chest. It hurt more than the cuts. More than the healing. More than the blood rising in his throat, He hurt him Again.
He always hurt the people who cared about him.
First it had been his team members back when he was Kim Rok Soo. He still remembered the looks on their faces after the first time they caught him hurting himself—the shock, the fear, the guilt as if they had failed to notice.
After that, they never let him go anywhere alone.
But deep down he always understood why -They were afraid.
Afraid he would disappear the second they looked away.
And now…
He had done the same thing to Choi Han. To On. To everyone.
He hated himself So much.
Cale squeezed his eyes shut because he couldn’t bear looking at Choi Han’s face. Couldn’t bear seeing how hurt he was.
“I’m… sorry…”
The words were barely a whisper.
Weak.
Pathetic.
He leaned limply against Choi Han’s chest, hearing the unstable heartbeat beneath his ear.
He was tired So tired, And the guilt was too heavy.
So he let the darkness take him. Completely unaware of the way Choi Han’s eyes darkened in that moment. Unaware of how tightly Choi Han held him, as if he feared that if he let go—
Cale would disappear.
...........................
“How did this happen?”
Doroth Henituse’s voice sliced through the air like a blade.
The large dining room, usually warm and full of quiet family chatter, had fallen completely silent. Lunch sat untouched on the table, and no one dared to move.
Less than ten minutes ago, everything had been normal.
Then On burst inside.
The small child had been trembling violently, terror filling her eyes as she screamed—
“Cale wants to die!”
And from that moment onward, everything fell apart.
Doroth stood up so quickly his chair crashed backward. His wife immediately paled, while Basen and Lily froze in place, too young to fully understand but old enough to know something terrible had happened.
Ron was supposed to protect him.
All of them were supposed to protect him.
Doroth trusted them.
Trusted them with his son.
“I-I don’t know, my lord…” Rosalyn finally answered quietly. She looked exhausted, as though she had aged years in only a few hours. “But we can’t leave Cale alone right now. Not even for a few minutes. Not even in the bathroom.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
“None of us want to do this… but he has to be supervised.”
The words settled heavily over the room.
Supervised.
As if Cale was a danger to himself.
As if leaving him alone meant he would try again.
Rosalyn hated thinking like that.
She truly hated it.
Part of her was even angry at him. A small, ugly anger she immediately felt ashamed of.
How could he do this to them?
How could he think about leaving them behind?
But the second the thought appeared, guilt crushed it.
No.
That wasn’t fair.
Cale had gone through something horrific.
Something that broke him.
And they… they simply hadn’t realized how bad his condition really was.
His self-destructive tendencies weren’t new to the group. There had always been signs. Small moments. The way he treated injuries carelessly, the way he sometimes looked at himself as if his life had little value.
But now?
Now they could no longer pretend.
Cale was not okay.
“No.” Lady Violan finally spoke, her voice terrifyingly steady. “We’re taking Cale home.”
She glanced at her husband, and he immediately nodded.
There was no need for discussion.
“There is no way we’re leaving him alone in this state.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“We gave him too much freedom.”
Too much space.
Too much responsibility.
And they forgot, for even a moment, that Cale was still a child wounded from the inside.
“He’ll stay home until he proves he can be alone without hurting himself.”
Rosalyn didn’t say aloud what everyone else was thinking.
That maybe Cale would never truly be able to do that.
.............
“You unlucky bastard…”
Eruhaben sighed softly from where he sat beside the bed Cale was awake now.
Technically.
But he barely reacted.
His eyes were empty, staring at nothing as though his soul hadn’t fully returned to his body yet.
The ancient dragon hated that look.
“How is On…?”
Cale’s voice was weak and hoarse.
He didn’t even lift his head.
Couldn’t force himself to look at Eruhaben.
The guilt was devouring him alive.
“She’s not okay,” Eruhaben answered simply.
And that was enough.
Because who would be okay after something like that?
Who would be okay after seeing someone they loved sitting in a pool of blood?
Cale swallowed painfully.
“I wasn’t trying to die, I just—”
“No.”
Eruhaben cut him off immediately.
His voice was sharper than usual.
“You may not understand this, but the fact that you felt the need to hurt yourself means you are not okay.”
The dragon rubbed his face tiredly.
“And we can’t leave you alone.”
Why couldn’t his foolish son understand how precious he was to them?
“I-I just had a weak moment…” Cale whispered. “Please… can we just forget about it? We still have a war to finish.”
Eruhaben nearly laughed from sheer frustration.
Did this child seriously think they were going to let him anywhere near a battlefield now?
“The Count and Countess are currently preparing to take you back to Henituse territory.”
Cale’s eyes widened in horror.
He really ruined everything this time.
“I’m fine and—”
He tried to sit up.
A hand immediately stopped him and pushed him back onto the bed.
“No.”
This time Eruhaben’s voice was dangerous.
“You are not leaving our sight.”
He sighed.
“Do I need to tie you to the bed?”
The second the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake.
Cale’s eyes widened with pure terror.
He stopped breathing.
No.
No restraints.
Not again.
His body reacted before his mind could think. Flames burst from his hand instinctively and burned Eruhaben’s wrist.
The dragon immediately let go in shock.
And Cale broke.
“Please don’t—!”
His voice shook horribly.
He curled beneath the blanket as if trying to disappear, his entire body trembling as he recoiled from Eruhaben approaching him again.
The flashback had already seized him.
His terrified eyes weren’t truly seeing the room anymore.
“I’m sorry.” Eruhaben’s voice softened instantly. “I didn’t mean it.”
Damn it.
Damn it.
He had only made things worse.
They truly didn’t know how to handle Cale.
This child was far more fragile than they had realized.
Maybe a few days with his family would help.
Maybe if he stayed home, surrounded by people who loved him, he could breathe again.
And during that time…
The rest of the group would find the bastards who did this to him.
And they would suffer.
Eruhaben contacted Raon telepathically, asking him to stay with Cale and not leave him alone for even a second.
They had already removed every sharp object from the room.
Every rope.
Even candles.
They weren’t taking any risks.
When Raon entered the room and quietly sat beside the bed, Eruhaben left with a heavy sigh.
If only they could turn back time.
He stopped when he saw On standing in the hallway.
The silver-haired cat child looked awful.
Her eyes were red and exhausted, as though she hadn’t stopped crying.
Which didn’t surprise him at all.
“How is he?” she asked quietly.
But she didn’t approach the door.
Didn’t enter.
As if she was afraid of what she’d see inside.
Or maybe afraid of the memory.
The blood.
“He’s okay,” Eruhaben answered softly. “He just… feels guilty.”
On stayed silent.
“Do you want to go in?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
She lowered her gaze.
“Not now.”
Because every time she closed her eyes, she still saw the blood on the floor.
.............
“My son…”
Doroth smiled sadly.
They stood inside the villa’s library while Rosalyn finished preparing the teleportation circle back to Henituse territory.
Cale stood in front of them quietly.
Pale.
Exhausted.
Smaller somehow.
He wore dark long-sleeved clothes that completely covered his arms, and he couldn’t lift his gaze even once.
He simply couldn’t.
He felt like a failure.
His group had watched him constantly since he woke up. Nobody allowed him to be alone for even a minute.
And it was humiliating.
Embarrassing.
Suffocating.
But more than anything—
it made him realize how afraid of him they were now.
“I’m done,” Rosalyn said gently. “You can step into the circle now.”
“Cale?” his stepmother called worriedly.
Because Cale was simply standing there staring at the wall.
He didn’t want to go.
Didn’t want to see Basen and Lily.
He hated himself enough already without seeing how worried they were.
They weren’t supposed to love him this much.
They weren’t supposed to care this much.
He wasn’t the real Cale Henituse.
They were giving all this love to the wrong person.
“…Yeah.”
He stepped into the teleportation circle without looking at anyone.
Basen was tense.
He was smart enough to understand something terrible had happened.
The fact that his father ordered every sharp object removed from Cale’s old room… the fact that guards had been stationed nearby…
He understood.
Even if nobody said it aloud.
His role now was to help his hyung recover.
Meanwhile Lily simply waited excitedly beside him. She didn’t understand everything, but she knew Cale was sad.
And she wanted to make him smile again.
“Lily,” Basen whispered, “don’t overwhelm him too much, okay? He needs rest.”
“I know!” she immediately answered.
Then the teleportation circle lit up.
And they arrived.
Basen held his breath.
Cale looked… terrible.
Not ugly.
Cale was always unfairly beautiful.
But now?
He looked broken.
Exhausted to the bone.
As if all energy had been drained from him.
“I’m going to my room.”
He didn’t even look at them.
“I’m coming with you,” Doroth immediately said.
Father and son left the room together.
“Why didn’t he come say goodbye…?” Lily asked quietly, close to tears.
Their mother wrapped her arms around both of them.
“Cale is very tired,” she said gently. “And right now, our job as his family is to be there for him.”
And they would be.
No matter how long it took.