Chapter 29

After rinsing her mouth, Hillise raised her head and looked at the mirror in front of her. When the power was expressed, a golden pattern appeared on her skin again.

Perhaps there was a stigma going down on her left shoulder and arm that was hidden by her clothes.

As soon as the power was withdrawn, it slowly disappeared. Now that she has more power than Diego and became the head, her authority has also expanded.

So she was going to finish what she couldn’t do in her last life. Hillise planned to visit a place where only the heads of the four great families, who had ancient blood, could enter.

I was told that there were old and top-secret documents about the four families secretly kept in here.

What Hillise ultimately wanted in this life was simple.

It was her own complete death.

The eternal disappearance of her existence itself, so she does not repeat this tedious life again.

Hillise wanted to find the way this time.

With a crunching sound, her wet hands distorted the image in front of her.

Being alone in a quiet place, what happened this evening replayed in her mind.

What happened just a moment ago at the restaurant.

The first time she showed her power was in the ballroom where there were countless people.

And taking the child there and giving it to Violetta Kallikia….

Meeting Axion Berzette in the basement of the back alley, etc.

I knew I’d inevitably run into him if I went to save the child, but I couldn’t help it.

The gang who was carrying the child kept changing locations to avoid getting caught.

So it was around the evening when the child was moved to the latest location.

Hillise didn’t know where the child had been before that. So she had to go find the child today.

“……..”

Her starlight eyes that were wet looked into the mirror, which looked distorted.

“Do you know why I’ve left my father and you alone until now?”

“The people in this house are already dead to me.”

Could it be that the events that took place outside this evening, at least faintly, were engraved into my mind?

I said unnecessary things at the restaurant.

Of course, no matter what she said, the other person would not be able to understand the meaning behind it.

In particular, what Hillise said to Ricardo earlier was not a metaphor or parable, but the literal meaning.

◆ In fact, Hillise…

Before the end of her seventh life, she killed everyone in Inoaden with her own hands.

“Hillise, please.”

“Die for Gabrielle.”

It was after Ricardo knelt down before her, pleading.

Then Hillise regretted it.

‘Why did I dedicate my whole life to those who have never cherished me?’

So Hillise escaped from prison, killed Ricardo, Gabrielle, and her father. She also killed everyone who stood in her way. The horrors of that time still seemed to haunt her eyes.

The reason Hillise was imprisoned in her last life was because of committing a crime instead of Gabriel. But it also had something to do with the child she met today, ‘Margot Kallikia’.

Margot would later become the head of Kallikia. Hillise was framed for his murder.

And the one who came to deal with Hillise, who escaped from prison and committed another murder. He was Axion Berzette. The last person Hillise saw in her last life was also that man.

The expressionless woman reflected in the mirror slowly closed her eyes once. Then, the scene that came to mind as vivid as if it happened yesterday was blurred beyond the distant memory.

Hillise looked away from the mirror and turned around.

Squeak. 

Soon her hand opened the bathroom door. She was more tired today than other days because she moved quite a lot. She thought it would be better to go back to her room and rest.

After a while, Hillise walked alone in the desolate hallway. Looking out the window, there was not a single star in the dark night sky today. It’s already late. The long day was finally coming to an end.

* * *

A warm spring breeze blew from afar in the night sky. As the clouds over his head receded, the moon split in half appeared in the still night scene.

“The old raccoons are going to be loud again.”

(PR: Raccoons = the elders of Berzette)

Axion, who had just come out of Kallikia, shook his head slowly as if he had been bothered. He frowned and took off the glove he was wearing with his teeth.

Suleiman, who joined late, spoke after stuffing a cookie he had picked up from the ballroom in Kallikia in his mouth.

“Aye, what are you doing all of a sudden. You don’t care about what the elders say anyway.”

“Still, it’s always a bit of a pain in the ears.”

“Well…. that’s true.”

Blood was all over Suleiman’s body, which had been cleaned by Axion’s orders. However, he was dressed in black from head to toe, so not much was shown except for the faint smell of blood.

Axion clicked his tongue once, looking at Suleiman, who picked up a handful of snacks while still wearing blood-stained gloves and ate them.

“What about the auction house?”

“We have removed all the twelve.”

“What was sold first?”

“We’re still tracking it.” 

Axion also left the place where the descendants of Kallikia stayed in complete ruins.

There were more illegally abducted children and women imprisoned there, so they called other men to set them free and melt the ‘underground’ as a whole.

The treasure of Kallikia was sold by people who were blinded by money because they thought it was just cheap jewelry. In fact, it was a treasure of infinite value for those who inherited the ancient blood. Of course, tears were the only thing they considered as treasure, but they couldn’t let the jewels made out of blood be spread out.

“Find them all. You must not miss a single one.”

“Yes!”

Suleiman, who had just finished eating all the cookies, answered quickly, wiping the crumbs off his gloves. However, the pieces of cookies that were clumped in the blood did not come off easily. Axion’s blue eyes glanced at Suleiman with a dirty look.

“Does that work for you? It’s disgusting.”

“It doesn’t make much difference if it’s digested in your stomach anyway. Besides, it’s all because of you that I haven’t eaten and starved all this time.”

Unlike Suleiman, Axion’s gloves were not stained with dust. But he threw it at Suleiman as if it were garbage.

“Change it or throw it away.”

“Oh, is this a gift? Thank you.”

Still, Suleiman grinned and accepted it.

Axion went first, leaving Suleiman who was changing his gloves behind him.

Today’s Kallikia’s ball was also canceled early. Axion didn’t stay there long and left first. There was still a discussion needed with Kallikia about today’s affairs, but the Summer clan didn’t seem to be in a good mood, so he decided to postpone the conversation with them for a while.

As a descendant from Kallikia with a supernatural power that appears only in a few generations, it was obvious that all fifty-two families would cause an uproar. In particular, the four largest families will have no choice but to keep an eye on the trends of Kallikia in the future.

“Oh, by the way, Chief.”

Suddenly, Suleiman, who was following Axion’s side and talking about how fantastic the feel of the gloves he gave him, asked.

“Seeing you like this, you look so pale. It looks like you’ve been up all night for a few days.” 

If he was someone who did not know Axion well, he would have thought that he was being unreasonable because of this incident. But that wouldn’t be the case either. 

“It’s probably because I’m having a bad dream these days.”

As Axion passed by, Suleiman’s eyes widened when he heard the unexpected remark.

“Why do you have nightmares every night?”

“There’s just a ghostly woman in my dream.”

“What does she do?”

“Laughing while killing people.” 

“Uh, that’s definitely a bit creepy.”

But when Axion heard those words, his eyes narrowed.

It wasn’t. Rather than creepy….

Then he remembered what he had thought earlier.

‘It kind of resembles her.’