Even If You Tear Me Apart - Chapter 17
The chapters are split like this so that the TL can update more consistently over time (✿ ＞◡❛)
Perhaps because of the rain, the river had swollen. On the other side stood a small village, but the only stone bridge leading to it had, tragically, collapsed. Ezekiel swallowed hard.
“What do we do now?”
Étienne’s voice was filled with dismay.
Understandably so. There wasn’t much time left before sunset.
The knights might find them before then, but they had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Two princes spending the night beside a river would be reckless. That simply wasn’t an option.
Étienne grumbled again.
“Isn’t there another way back? Like a mountain trail or something?”
To that, Ezekiel sighed as he answered.
“I can’t see clearly, but whatever paths might be over there probably aren’t in better condition than this bridge, not after that storm.”
“My little brother, you’re so clever. A real pillar of strength.”
Étienne gave another thumbs-up.
Ezekiel sighed again instead of replying and dismounted. Étienne flinched.
“What are you doing?”
“If we had time, we could wait for someone to come by, or for the knights to rescue us… but if it gets too late, that’ll be a problem.”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to cross that river?”
“I was thinking of trying to use the collapsed bridge as a foothold to get across and come back.”
“Ezekiel!”
Étienne shouted in alarm.
But Ezekiel felt somewhat confident.
The collapsed bridge looked terrible, but it wasn’t completely submerged.
He planned to somehow step across it, reach the village, and request help.
“Judging by the condition of the bridge, it seems like it collapses often. If so, there might be ropes or some other means of crossing over there.”
“Ezekiel, I’d rather you and I stay up all night here with our eyes wide open than do that.”
“Brother. You’re shivering.”
Étienne, trying to stop him, flinched.
It was true.
Soaked by the rain and chilled from the wild ride earlier, Étienne’s body temperature had dropped, and he’d been chattering his teeth for a while.
“I’ll stop right away if it seems too dangerous.”
With that, Ezekiel quickly took off his boots. Étienne only sighed now and didn’t try to stop him further.
Soon, Ezekiel stood ready at the edge of the collapsed bridge.
Then it happened.
“Excuse me!”
From the other side of the ruined bridge, someone called out loudly. Ezekiel jerked his head up in surprise.
The river was wide, and the current had grown fierce from the rain.
But even over that distance, Ezekiel understood the voice calling out.
A small figure, barely visible through narrowed eyes.
A young woman was standing beside a pile of stones across the bridge, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting with all her strength.
“Can you hear me? Hey!”
Ezekiel immediately responded.
“I can hear you!”
Étienne, startled by Ezekiel’s uncharacteristically loud voice, looked toward the sound as well.
Though they couldn’t see clearly, the woman’s shabby appearance suggested she was a local from Quilluxia, likely checking on the state of the bridge.
“You can’t cross that bridge! It’ll collapse!”
Étienne and Ezekiel exchanged glances, then looked again toward the pile of stones rising like a hill above the river’s surface.
The young woman, still shouting with all her might, cried out again.
“The stones themselves… they’re weak… and light!”
Her words were hard to catch over the roar of the current, but Ezekiel managed to piece together her warning.
In short, the stones that made up the bridge were more fragile and lighter than they appeared.
There had been incidents where outsiders tried to cross the broken bridge, only to be swept away by the current.
Does this happen often?
Ezekiel wondered, then shouted again.
“Is there another way?”
The woman raised her arms in front of her chest and crossed them, indicating that there wasn’t.
“We have to enter Quilluxia today, no matter what! We’re lost! Is there no other way?”
At his continued shouting, the woman seemed to hesitate for a long time. Then, she suddenly did something unexpected.
She began undressing.
Étienne’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
But unlike Étienne, Ezekiel didn’t panic—he shouted urgently instead.
“Don’t! Don’t go into the water!”
But by then, the woman had already removed everything except a worn undergarment.
