Chapter 25: Jjuni
Thud.
After what felt like an eternity, the door opened and the guard entered. Gamal was huddled against the wall, her shoulders hunched and arms wrapped around herself.
The guard stood before her. Gamal strained to lift her head, forcing out words with a voice devoid of moisture. "Water... please... water... I beg you..."
With each passing moment, her thirst grew unbearable. She felt she could drink an entire ocean right now. No—she couldn't tell if it was thirst or hunger gnawing at her. Her stomach felt hollow as if something were eating her from inside, while her throat was so dry she could barely speak. This overwhelming, eerie dehydration was unlike anything she'd ever experienced.
Yet the guard simply stared down at her without speaking, then knelt on one knee before her.
"......?"
Gamal looked at him in confusion.
Her bridal gown, still caked with swamp filth from when she'd fallen in, had dried stiff and lost its original color, reeking of decay. Yet despite being the impure woman who killed her husband on their wedding night, there was an unbearable luster about her.
The guard grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
Between strands of matted hair, her face was smeared with mud. But beneath his thumb on her cheek, her skin felt cool and soft, and though pain shone in them, her eyes remained clear and pure.
Looking into those eyes made his stomach grow hot. He'd felt desire for her since the wedding ceremony—but now, disheveled as she was, she held an even more unreal allure than when she'd been dressed in finery.
While others had cursed at her, all he could think about was touching her. So he'd waited until things quieted down.
After all, she'd be executed tomorrow anyway.
The guard untied the ropes binding Gamal's arms before climbing atop her. She flinched.
"Stay still and I'll give you water," he said as he grabbed her chest.
"Stop... please..."
"It must have been a demon that hated you that killed Adawi," the guard panted. "How could these slender arms have killed Adawi?"
"Please..."
Gamal opened her mouth to protest when she felt something growing inside it. She didn't know what it was—only that instinct told her how to use it.
The guard's nape was right before her eyes. Neither Gamal nor the panting guard noticed as the pupils of her eyes slowly narrowed like those of an excited predator's. She could see every detail of the hairs on his writhing neck with impossible clarity—as if granted divine vision to see a world previously hidden from her.
Beneath the guard's shifting skin flowed a river.
Swish... swish...
Like turbulent waters rushing after a storm, she could feel the flow beneath his skin. Gamal opened her mouth.
I'm thirsty.
The sound of water within the guard's body grew louder.
I want to drink.
Gamal drove gleaming fangs toward his neck—stopping just short of piercing skin as the oblivious guard continued panting above her.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Gamal pushed against him with both hands. To their mutual shock, the guard went flying through the air as if thrown by a giant before tumbling across the floor like a ragdoll until he hit the wall.
The guard's face turned ghostly pale as he scrambled up screaming: "A demon...! She's a demon!" before fleeing in terror. Dazed, Gamal stared at her own hands.
This power...?
Bang!
The door burst open violently as men charged in with murderous intent—clearly having heard something from the fleeing guard.
"Please tell Tawa it wasn't me! I didn't...!"
Ignoring her pleas, they dragged Gamal out like baggage into blinding sunlight that made her feel like she might combust on the spot.
The entire tribe had gathered in the village center when the elder pronounced judgment:
"Your crime of killing your husband on your wedding night is grave. We sentence you to death."
"No! I didn't—!" Gamal cried out desperately.
"Then who?" The elder asked coldly enough to chill one's heart. "Tell us then—who killed Adawi in that bridal chamber where only you two were present?"
Gamal fell silent as the elder clicked his tongue.
"We accepted you as a symbol of peace and unity. Did your father tell you to kill Adawi and end our tribal line?"
"No!" The denial burst from Gamal unbidden—but naming Kunis, the tribe chief's eldest son as Adawi's killer would only spark war between tribes instead.
Lowering her head, she finally admitted: "I killed Adawi."
"Why?" The elder pressed methodically.
"Because..." She slowly parted her lips. "I didn't love him." The truth came surprisingly easy.
"Was there another man?"
"No."
"Yet you took this risk?"
"I thought I could escape..." Tears finally overflowed despite her efforts to stop them.
Though married just one day, the sight of this widow weeping over a husband murdered by her own hand struck everyone speechless. A heavy silence hung until the elder spoke again:
"Go apologize to Adawi."
The executioner stepped forward, raising his blade. The moment arrived—
Thunk!
The blade pierced flesh—but the executioner collapsed sideways instead.
Thud!
Where the executioner had stood, Kunis now stood, his blade dripping blood.
Her appearance was unrecognizable, as if she'd been dragged through a swamp. Covered in so much mud that one couldn't tell if she was human or just a lump of earth, only her eyes shone brightly.
A tremor rose from Gamal's toes, shaking her entire body. She flailed her arms trying to break free from the aura binding her, but not understanding how to use her strength yet, she remained trapped.
Kunis collapsed to his knees before Gamal. His eyes, which had been looking at the executioner as one might regard an insect, now trembled with anguish.
"Gamal."
He raised his hands and cupped her face.
"You're safe. Thank goodness. I was so worried. I just... lost my temper for a moment... I'm sorry. Truly. You'll forgive me, won't you?"
Gamal couldn't control her trembling body.
"Kuni...!"
A warrior swung his sword from behind.
Thud.
But the blade didn't pierce Kunis.
Everyone gasped in shock—this was impossible. Gamal didn't understand either. But unlike the others, she could see one thing clearly: the murderous rage exploding in Kunis's eyes.
Instinctively, Gamal screamed:
"No!"
But Kunis plunged his hand straight through the warrior's chest. A wet thud sounded as blood and viscera sprayed out.
His bulging eyes reflected the warrior convulsing as he fell. Kunis said calmly:
"Matiwa and Tawa are dead."
"What...?"
"They said you killed Adawi and ruined the peace talks... so I went and slaughtered them all."
Gamal shook her head violently.
"Lies... these are lies..."
Whether Gamal understood or not no longer mattered. Covered in blood, Kunis turned and smiled.
"The gods have given me the power for vengeance."
"Demon! You demon...!"
The crowd began screaming and fleeing in all directions. Kunis's entire body pulsed with anticipation for more bloodshed.
"Stop! Kunis, stop...!"
The massacre began. Gamal couldn't even scream anymore.
Amidst the chaos, an orphaned child opened its mouth to wail. Gamal frantically shook her head. The child instinctively covered its mouth, stifling its cries.
Ignoring the child, Kunis approached Gamal and led her into a nearby tent—the very bridal chamber where she had spent her wedding night with Adawi. Though they'd cleared away the bodies and bloodstains, traces of that night remained untouched.
Kunis embraced Gamal tightly.
"Gamal. I was so terrified. For a moment I thought I'd lost you forever."
His body trembled against hers.
The next instant, Gamal twisted free and pinned him down by the throat. Kunis didn't resist. Looking up at her with pitiful eyes, he whispered:
"If this eases your anger... do whatever you must."
Crack—
Gamal increased the pressure until Kunis stiffened—realizing too late that her strength now matched his supernatural power. While being held captive, though struggling wildly, she had gained equal force. It had been Gamal who dragged him into that swamp first.
"Gamal... Gamal...!"
Kunis gasped through constricted airways.
"Stop...! Gamal...! I can't... breathe!"
Seizing a momentary weakness, Kunis flipped their positions. Unable to restrain himself, he swung.
The slap connected like a thunderclap—force enough to decapitate normal humans. Gamal's enhanced body merely whipped sideways, her head snapping round.
Kunis barely registered horror before Gamal's gaze impaled him skull to heart. In those eyes burned fury and venom she'd never shown before.
Gamal's kick sent Kunis flying through the wall, collapsing the structure entirely—revealing how lightly she'd actually pushed that would-be rapist guard earlier.
In that heartbeat, Gamal moved. Sprinting through corpses, she snatched up a sobbing child and ran.
A deafening crash sounded as Kunis burst from rubble, screaming:
"GAMAL-----!!!"
His voice shook the heavens. The child convulsed at the sound, eyes rolling back as it lost consciousness.
Gamal never stopped running.
On a hilltop, Gamal set the child down.
"Villages are just downhill."
The tear-streaked child nodded, calmer now. As it turned to leave, it hesitated:
"Adawi... Gamal didn't kill him, right?"
Even this toddler knew the truth Adawi's tribe had willfully ignored.
Gamal's face twisted into something like a smile.
"Run."
The child swallowed its tears and ran.
