If the Shattered Realms had a police force, Kaiser’s sins alone would have been enough to throw him into the deepest, darkest cell.

  Let’s start with the illegal adoption of two girls. One had a vision disability so severe that navigating a straight path was a challenge. While the other is a complete mystery, known only as a goddess named Ariella, incapable of speaking with no discernible age or identity... Which is counted as another person with disability. By some twisted logic, this alone painted him as either a saint or an irresponsible criminal.

  And now this.

  Kaiser had just taken unintentional liberties with an unconscious woman who happened to have collapsed onto him. In a moment of sheer awkwardness, he had done the unthinkable: he had partially hugged her. Yes, like a desperate loser clinging to an imaginary girlfriend he would never, ever have.

  'Sh*t the f*ck up! I didn’t mean to…' he groaned inwardly, sitting cross-legged on the stony ground with his face buried in his hands as if he had just committed the most heinous of crimes.

  It wasn’t actually that horrible—at least not in the grand scheme of things—but how in all the realms was he going to explain this to Hazie when she woke up?

  'Hell no, there will be no explaining. I’m taking this secret to the grave!’

  If he will ever get a grave, that is.

  There was no way he was admitting to any of this. No way. No chance. Kaiser could barely stomach the memory of the utterly cringeworthy words that had slipped out of his mouth earlier: “You’re always trying to carry everything on your own. Maybe it’s time someone carried you for a change" Said the stranger to an unconscious girl.

  What the hell was he thinking? What was he, some gallant prince? A hot, romantic lead in a cheap novel, sweeping his tired heroine off her feet? Just the thought made him recoil in disgust. Kaiser was a lot of things, but he sure as hell was not romantic.

  If Hazie ever heard about it, Kai would probably never hear the end of her laughter—or worse, sneer in disdain. “Are you really that desperate?” or “Ew. Seriously, Kai?” he could already imagine her mocking him with those words.

  “Sh*t... I wanna die.”

  His gaze wandered over to Windslayer, the weapon leaning casually against the rocky floor. For a fleeting moment, the thought seemed tempting. And before his self-loathing could spiral any further, a pained grunt came from inside the tent.

  A while later, Kaiser managed to scrub away most of the memory of his humiliating slip-up. He composed himself, pulling the pieces of his fractured dignity back together—whatever dignity he has. His gaze shifted to Hazie, who was still out cold on the makeshift bed she originally crafted for him earlier.

  Her royal blue coat was draped over her as a blanket, its elegant fabric an odd luxury in the bleakness of the barren hellscape. For a moment, Kaiser’s expression softened as he watched Hazie’s tranquil sleep, her chest rising and falling in steady rhythm despite the hardships she had endured.

  It was almost laughable how their roles had reversed in mere minutes. Not long ago, Kaiser had been the bedridden one, on the verge of death from hypothermia. Now, it was Hazie who lay unconscious, her condition far more fragile than his had ever been.

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  Kaiser’s immortality was a cruel gift—a cheat, really. No matter how dire the situation, his body always healed itself, knitting wounds, curing illnesses, and erasing exhaustion as if it were nothing. But had an equally harrowing price to pay, constantly reminding him that survival was its own punishment. Hazie, however, didn’t have that luxury.

  Her body bore the evidence of her struggle: the stains on her skin, the scars of her armor, the way her lips had turned paler from the cold. She didn’t have Kaiser’s unnatural resilience to lean on. Instead, she relied on sheer grit to keep moving, to keep surviving.

  How long has she been running? Kaiser wondered. How long had she been leading that monstrous pursuer away, knowing full well that her death was inevitable? To keep going, knowing there was no salvation, no one was coming to save her... It must have taken a strength far beyond anything Kaiser could comprehend. And now, with her body starved and her strength sapped, the relentless cold had been the final blow that brought her down.

  Kaiser’s gaze somberly settled on the royal blue coat covering her. Guilt twisted in his gut. She had given it to him without hesitation, thinking it was his only chance to fight off hypothermia. She did not even consider her own wellbeing. That selflessness had cost her dearly, leaving her vulnerable to the bitter chill that had seeped through her armor.

  He sighed heavily, feeding more discarded pieces of fabric into the flickering fire.

  Their situation could have been disastrous if not for his immortality. If they had both succumbed to weakness at the same time, it would have been a death sentence. One of them would have to rise first, to fend off the relentless dangers of this realm. And if neither could provide, the stronger one would be forced to leave the weaker behind, sacrificing them to buy time for survival.

  Was that Hazie’s plan all along? To ensure he recovered, even if it meant her own life? The thought made his stomach churn. She might have already resigned herself to death, assuming he would abandon her once she became a burden.

  'Oh, great. Another beauty in distress,'

  He had already dealt with the weight of responsibility for two girls back in Greenland. And now, here he was, saddled with another one. But even in her weakened state, Hazie was not just anyone. She was far from ordinary. Beneath her exhaustion and vulnerability, she possessed a will of steel and decisive mind. Hazie was no mundane human and was someone he could rely on when push came to shove as a capable companion.

  Besides, her accumulated knowledge might prove invaluable.

  However, Kaiser was deeply conflicted. He had a clear goal in mind: to return to Greenland as quickly as possible. The only way back was to climb the great cliff he had fallen from, scale its jagged heights, and pass through the Boundary at the summit to meet Ariella and Cia again, which is easier said than done, but doing so meant leaving Hazie behind.

  His gaze drifted back to her face. In sleep, her features were peaceful, her vulnerability laid bare. She looked like a sleeping beauty trapped in a tale with no prince to wake her. Leaving her here would lead to only one outcome—and it was not one he could stomach, despite knowing she's a mere incarnation, incomplete and expendable just like everyone views her, including her own selves.

  If he left her here, the "real" Hazie would lose only a piece of herself. She wouldn’t even falter in her mission to lead her group to their destination. The Hazie before him was created to serve a purpose, and that purpose would inevitably end in her death, as expected.

  Still… still…

  His fists clenched tightly, his nails digging into his palms.

  He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to leave her behind to her grim fate, no matter how inevitable it seemed. Because everyone else had ignored one undeniable truth about her: despite being just a fragment, the lowest kind of them all, she was still human. And, in fact, she was more human than most people he had ever known back on Earth.

  Truth be told, this girl—this incomplete, cast-off version of Hazie—was probably the only person who had ever genuinely cared for him as a person in need, not as a warrior or brat. She had come to him when he was at his lowest, offering a brief but profound warmth that he had not even realized he desperately needed. She had been a comforting presence in a sea of chaos, making him feel, for the first time in what felt like forever, as though he could simply exist without the crushing weight of fear and responsibility. Without pain, worries and enemies like a child in his bed under his mother's care.

  Her care had been brief, but it had been real. She had smiled through his awkwardness and tried to bring him comfort in her own earnest way on making him smile. In which she succeeded in making him laugh and forget the tragedies he experienced. It was such a rare, fleeting thing that it made him wonder why Hazie had forsaken this version of herself.

  Perhaps that was why he had subconsciously reached out, why he pulled her close earlier and muttered those absurdly cheesy words he would rather bury in the deepest pit of his memory.

  But no amount of sentiment could delay the inevitable. A choice would have to be made, sooner or later.

  Eventually, Kaiser let out a heavy sigh, running his hands up his hair.

  "I’ll think about it later..." he muttered, his voice low and resigned.

  Then, shaking off any lingering traces of his earlier meltdown, he stood tall, his calm, stoic demeanor returning like a fortress wall slammed back into place. Whatever had happened, whatever cringe-worthy words had been spoken, they were buried now. And for god's sake, as the only man here, he needs to provide for the unconscious lady.

  Pulling his uniform tighter around himself, he stepped out of the tent. The cold bit at his exposed skin, the chill seeping through even the thick fabric of his clothing. Fortunately, it still offered some protection.

  The dim barren world beyond the tent stretched endlessly, its black jagged mountains and breathtaking oceanic sky above ominously hung.