Chapter 55: Wash Away the Sins

Zayn wanted to cry tears of relief as he slid the key into the lock and heard a slight click.

However, whatever Zayn had expected to see on the other side, it wasn’t this...

The room looked modern, except there were no overhead lights. Instead, a single lamp sat on a nightstand between the two beds. A window overlooked the street, and another door led to a bathroom.

Inside was a surprisingly modern overhead shower with complimentary soap, shampoo, and towels, as well as a sink with a small mirror above it and a porcelain toilet.

Zayn was happy to finally escape everything, even if only for a moment. But both he and Maks knew the reprieve wouldn’t last.

It wouldn’t be long before the regret and sadness began to flow.

Zayn asked:

"Do you want to shower first?"

"No, you can."

Maks closed and locked the room’s door behind him while Zayn walked into the bathroom.

Zayn shut the door behind him, looked up, and instantly locked eyes with his reflection in the mirror...

’I look like shit.’

Zayn’s dark, wavy hair was matted and oily. His once-sharp features looked hollow and sunken. The peach fuzz above his lip was starting to become visible. His eyes usually lacked luster, but now they looked like he’d been punched in both.

Not to mention the blood...

His entire face was covered in a mixture of dried green and red blood. The worst part was that not a single drop of it was his own...

As Zayn stared at himself, he didn’t cry. Nor did he move.

He simply stared. As if locked in a staring contest with his reflection.

A contest he could only ever lose.

Zayn quietly stepped back, slid off his tattered clothes, and looked at his naked body.

For the most part, he didn’t look too bad. He had no scars, most of the blood was confined to his arms, and there was only some splatter on his ankles.

Physically, he looked to be in good condition.

His mental condition, on the other hand...

Zayn had had better days, even after losing his family.

Turning away from the mirror, Zayn trudged toward the shower and fumbled with the knob. After experimenting with it, he figured out how it worked — and discovered that this place had hot water.

Once the water warmed up, he stepped in.

The dried blood on his feet was the first to wash off, spiraling toward the drain in thin red trails.

As he watched the blood flow...

’W-what have I done?!’

He wanted to throw up.

Murder. Zayn had just murdered two people with his own hands. Two more through his machinations.

Gripping his stomach with one hand and covering his mouth with the other, Zayn sank to the ground.

It didn’t take long for the tears to flow alongside his regret.

And worse still...

He would have to keep living in constant fear of his deeds being exposed.

Zayn began pulling at his wet hair, dislodging clumps of goblin flesh and untangling strands that had become matted together. He clawed at his skin as if he could tear it off and replace it.

’Damn it!’

Zayn nearly fell onto his side. He couldn’t stop himself from yelling.

With a breaking voice, he screamed:

"Damn it all!"

How... how many more times would Zayn have to go through this?

"How many more innocent people?!"

Clutching at his shoulder, Zayn tried to rip the black vine tattoo from his skin.

"I hate you!"

Although Zayn was yelling at the task, those words echoed back at him.

After all, he’d realized it earlier. Nothing was forcing him. His hand had shoved the sword into Axel’s chest under no guidance but his own. He hadn’t been forced to kill.

What was done was done, yes.

Zayn had vowed to walk this path of blood, yes.

To be the necessary villain. To kill again.

But that was precisely the problem: he’d chosen this.

Saying he was forced into anything was simply a lie. One he could only cling to for so long before it shattered beneath the weight of truth.

For nearly half an hour, Zayn sat in the shower, mostly unmoving. Eventually, though, he remembered Maks was waiting for him. Slowly, he calmed down and began to wash himself properly.

In the end, he couldn’t get all of the blood off, but he’d removed most of it.

After drying off with one of the complimentary towels, he stepped out and reluctantly put on the clothes he’d been wearing for the past month, having bought no new ones. Now that he was mostly clean, he could tell how much they smelled. In the end, he opted to wear only the pants.

They could go clothes shopping tomorrow.

’Clothes shopping...’

He’d murdered two people and was thinking about shopping for clothes in the same day.

’Despicable.’

Maks spent a long time in the shower as well. Perhaps even longer than Zayn had. But instead of screams of rage, Zayn heard only muted cries.

Maks and Claire hadn’t been together long, but that month they’d shared carried the weight of a lifetime.

Zayn now had to live with the fact that he had enlisted the help of the boyfriend of the woman he had killed — and had even used her death as a catalyst to earn his compliance.

When Maks reemerged from the shower, he and Zayn sat on opposite beds. For a while, neither spoke.

Until...

His eyes trained on the window, Maks ended the silence:

"It was all real, right? They’re all dead."

"Yeah..."

Zayn wished he could say more, but words were hard to come by. He’d caused everything. He was the reason those four had died.

"I-I’m sorry."

Maks looked away from the window and over at Zayn.

"I thought I said there’s no need for that."

Zayn gave a wry smile.

"That apology... was to myself."

For the rest of the evening, the two men spoke sparingly. Once night fell, they briefly discussed a cover story.

In the end, their story was that Axel and the others had died during the fight against the Goblin King. Overcome with grief, Claire had fled after spotting the group.

They would have claimed that Claire never found them, but for all they knew, someone could have seen her enter the throne room.

Maks obviously wasn’t too pleased about lying regarding his lover’s death, but he also wanted to protect Axel’s legacy. They hadn’t been close or anything, but if they told everyone the ’truth’, it would be difficult to believe.

Worse, Axel would be remembered as the villain.

Finally, they decided to rest. Yet...

Despite their weariness, Zayn and Maks found it incredibly difficult to sleep.