The Brother’s Embrace

Mejga’s icy blue eyes blinked slowly. His pale fingertips hovered just above the wound on her abdomen, then lightly tapped it.

Saranya’s throat spasmed, and a rapid hiss escaped her lips.

The terror gripping her heart far surpassed the pain her brother inflicted.

“Shhh… don’t look at them, don’t think about anything else. Just look at your brother, like this… such a good girl~”

Mejga forcefully stroked the top of Saranya’s head, then reached out to push aside her tattered upper garment, retrieving a roll of bandage soaked in green medicinal liquid from his embrace.

“Do you remember the first time we hunted a deer together?”

Saranya remembered it, of course. She had been only eleven that year, and her brother had sneaked her into the woods to raid bird nests. They had no intention of hunting until a crazed doe burst from the bushes, attacking her and breaking her ribs on the spot.

“You were just like this then too, sobbing, trembling…”

A chill swept over Saranya as Mejga unfastened her blood-stained waist sash. She lowered her gaze, seeing her chest already mottled with blood, her broken ribs protruding unnaturally beneath the skin, forming several grotesque bulges.

“You see, you’re always so easily hurt. A sister like you, if she isn’t always by her brother’s side… that simply won’t do.”

Mejga tore open the bandage, gently wrapping the strips of cloth around Saranya.

“Brother, you’re going to Kaelan… Mngh—!”

Mejga’s facial muscles twitched. His previously gentle expression abruptly contorted into a monstrous grimace as he violently clamped his hand over Saranya’s chin, using his cold leather-gloved hand to brutally seal her mouth, forcing her broken whimpers back down her throat.

“Mmh… Mmmph—”

“You mustn’t speak that person’s name… you mustn’t… Brother is going to heal your wounds now. Once your ribs are set, Brother will have to straighten you out, step by step…”

Mejga abruptly tightened his grip, clamping around Saranya’s ribcage, forcibly pressing her protruding ribs back into her chest.

Saranya heard the wet, sticky grinding of her own bones. Unbearable pain surged over her like a tidal wave, and she wept torrentially, unable to even utter a sound.

Her brother had been the same all those years ago. He had covered her with his cloak, carrying her through the snow, stumbling through the deep drifts to a tree, where he had reset her ribs with his frozen hands.

Now, however, the brother before her could no longer offer the same sense of security. A terrifying, bottomless chasm had opened in his heart, compelling him to fill it by any means necessary.

“Saranya… Brother only has you… Brother will make you his little snowflake again, his most obedient sister…”

To her brother now, she, his sister, was likely nothing more than material to mend his fractured soul…

‘Brother… what exactly did you go through…?’

“Do you remember? The time you were injured by the doe, that was the first time Brother killed prey with his own hands.”

Saranya’s face paled further.

After killing the doe, her brother had cut open its womb, and with a face streaked with blood and tears, he had pulled out a wet, tiny deer embryo, tucking it into her arms for warmth…

That’s right… From that moment on, her brother had learned to use violence, becoming exceptionally concerned with her safety and plight. Then, when the northern lands were ravaged by demonic scourges, she had been entrusted by their father and brother to the Black Armored Divine Guards to escape their home. They had lost contact, and when they met again, her brother had already become this… this broken thing.

Upon closer reflection, she realized that her own existence as his sister might have been one of the reasons for his gradual transformation into this state…

“Let’s do what we did back then, again… shall we?”

“Again…?”

“Yes, let’s turn those who hurt us into warm, shredded flesh…”

“No… no…”

Saranya was utterly terrified, her body trembling as she averted Mejga’s gaze. She rolled over onto the ground, burying her face and head into her chest like an ostrich.

Mejga rose, meticulously smoothing his dark red formal gown and fastening the leather straps on his gloves, each movement deliberate and unhurried.

His lace-trimmed skirt hem swayed gently, occasionally revealing two black patent leather over-the-knee boots. Above them, his porcelain-white thighs were faintly visible, and around the tops of his thighs, several eerie red marks twisted, appearing to be scars left by abuse.

Mejga uttered a spell, and a ghostly blue ice blade materialized by his hand. Layers of chilling mist coiled around its tip as he aimed it at Haru.

“Lord Mejga, I—I didn’t know she was your sister!”

Haru, realizing the catastrophe looming over him, felt his legs give out. He dropped to his knees with a thud, his face contorted with terror.

“My lord, I was wrong, I didn’t mean it!”

Mejga’s lips curved upward, his beautiful tear mole shimmering by his eye. The ice blade shot out abruptly, plunging directly into Haru’s hairy belly—

“Aaaahhh—”

Haru’s screams seemed to inject Mejga with a powerful stimulant. His eyes widened with fervent zeal, and he sucked in his lower lip. Swiftly, he lifted his fingertips, guiding the ice blade to carve a straight line across Haru’s abdomen.

Blood gushed from Haru’s abdominal cavity, spilling over layers of pale yellow fat, crystallizing into countless frost flowers along its path. The frozen, ruptured flesh slid to the ground, producing a brittle sound like shattering glass.

Saranya’s eyes widened in horror, just in time to see Mejga use an ice pick to pull out the victim’s small intestine. The coiled intestines flew through the air, still slowly writhing, before freezing into a crystalline, pale blue chain of ice. It ultimately curled into a thick mass and dropped beside her, the pinkish flesh lightly brushing her nose and leaving a faint bloodstain.

Haru’s eyeballs spun wildly in their sockets, and a withered cry escaped his mouth. Warm white vapor rose from between his legs, followed by streams of dark yellow urine.

From nearby, Aquilis’s terrified whimpers reached her ears. Seeing the gruesome state of their leader, the gang members dropped their weapons one by one, their bodies shaking like sieves.

“Look, little snowflake… isn’t it beautiful… This is Brother’s first gift to you…”

In an instant, Mejga had moved before Haru. He plunged his hand into the shattered chest cavity, and with a squelching sound of flesh being squeezed, he tugged forcefully, extracting a complete heart from Haru’s body.

This nightmarish scene delivered a profound shock to Saranya. Her consciousness grew hazy, and somehow, that heart fell from her brother’s grasp into her own arms.

Saranya’s expression shattered, her pupils unfocused. She cradled the still-beating organ unconsciously, having almost completely lost the ability to think.

A short distance away, Mejga extended his arm and pushed over Haru’s mangled remains. Discovering that the body was still twitching, still possessed a faint spark of life, a twisted flicker of interest rekindled in his eyes.

Mejga stepped forward with a long, slender leg, using the tip of his boot to prod Haru’s severed jaw. He bent down, pressing on his prey. After repeatedly toying with the body, he lifted one foot, then brought it down sharply, smashing the victim’s throat with his boot heel.

“Come…”

Mejga turned, leaving a long trail of bloody footprints on the ground as he returned to Saranya’s side, extending a hand to his sister.

Saranya did not flinch or evade, allowing her brother to take her hand and force her to crush Haru’s heart.

“Mngh… Ugh… Brother…”

She gazed at her blood-soaked hands, then at Haru’s horrific state on the ground, letting out a barely audible lament.

“Just take me… just taking me should be enough, shouldn’t it…?”

“Please… let Kaelan go… Don’t… don’t do this to her…”