CH 45

Duke Catlan looked at me affectionately.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I turned to him and asked, ‘It seems like someone has been calling from the side for a while now. Is everything okay?’ My father glanced sideways with a displeased expression before cutting off the communication, saying he would contact again.

As I sat there staring at the darkened communication device with a strange sense of powerlessness, I took a deep breath and stood up from my seat.

I could feel various situations gradually closing in on me, but it wasn’t the kind of situation that would be resolved by sitting still and doing nothing.

Whatever it was, now is the time to act.

The man always feared his own power.

For example, he could make someone he disliked disappear from the world if he wanted to, and he had actually done it before.

You may wonder why he did it.

But no matter how vaguely it’s described, he still killed someone.

You might have expected him to have some great reason.

For instance, he might have avenged his family who were killed. Or maybe he simply dealt with a brute who attacked him.

Anyway, he was a nobleman. In this world, murder was tolerated for just that reason.

The age when Hisch Riot first became aware of his ability was only ten years old.

It was when he saw his older brother being beaten by a boy his own age.

‘What makes you a noble? You’re poorer than our family!’

In Hisch’s eyes, he saw his brother getting punched in the stomach, bleeding from the nose, and looking at the ground with a blank expression.

He could also see a shadow with a hand raised high above him.

If only he’d simply pushed that shadow away.

So if Hisch’s parents had come running to his cries, and the socially mandated corporal punishment had been administered, the incident might have merely strengthened their family bond.

But Hisch pushed the boy who was harming his brother, and the boy couldn’t even say a word.

‘Hisch.’

Through the swirling ash flying away, he met the wide-open eyes that seemed to still hold the posture of being pushed away.

Hisch’s family was in shock. The boy who disappeared was simply treated as missing.

‘That bastard is the culprit who killed my son!’

The image of the mother of the boy who disappeared into ashes, screaming at his older brother with a voice full of despair, still lingered in Hisch’s mind.

But with virtually no evidence and no witnesses, the case was eventually closed.

Hisch never faced any criticism for what he had done. His family could not bring themselves to accuse their young son.

His parents, devastated that their son had killed a man, tried to deny the reality of what had happened by pretending it never happened.

Hisch’s older brother, whom he had saved, hugged him and shed tears.

‘I’m sorry that I had to show you such a terrifying sight, that you had no choice but to act the way you did.’

Hugging the much smaller Hisch, his brother buried his face in his shoulder and whispered.

Feeling the warmth, Hisch suddenly felt an indescribable chill seeping deep into his heart.

It was true.

In that moment, Hisch realized that even the warmth he was feeling in the embrace could disappear if he wanted it to.

Furthermore, Hisch still couldn’t believe that he had actually killed that boy.

To begin with… it didn’t take any effort to ‘kill’ him. If he had felt any sensation that made him think he had killed someone, it would have been different.

Everything was frightening and unsettling. Sometimes, cries could be heard in the master bedroom.

Hisch listened to his mother crying and reciting his name outside the door and his father’s voice comforting her.

His older brother, who had a kind of indebtedness towards Hisch, made efforts to turn him into an upright person to the point of being somewhat intimidating.

Perhaps it was not an exaggeration to say that he educated Hisch on behalf of their parents. However, amidst all these situations, no one, absolutely no one, was there to scold the frightened young Hisch for what he had done and urge him to move forward.

No one blamed him, but conversely, everyone was turning their backs on him.

And Hisch had a feeling that no one would ever understand him for the rest of his life.

When even the relationship between him and his family, who could have been happy if it weren’t for him, became strange, Hisch left home alone.

He thought that if it weren’t for him, his family would have been happy and would find their place now.

On the way out, Hisch left a letter and for some reason, tears came out.

No matter how hard he tried to be composed, no matter how hard he tried to be indifferent, he just couldn’t. Tears fell from his eyes miserably.

He wanted someone to understand him. He hoped that someone else would know this fear.

But who?

Who on earth…

Maybe it was arrogant to even think about it. He was a murderer. He deserved to be punished, but he managed to live on without facing the consequences.

It was fortunate that he did not harm anyone else. Hisch thought so while holding back his overflowing tears.

He was different from other people.

So, once again. Don’t hurt someone or make them disappear without realizing it.

Let’s just live alone and quietly. I will spend my life repenting to the people I’ve hurt and trying not to hurt others the same way.

But then.

But then…

Hisch Riot stared blankly at the ash slipping through his fingers, as if crumbling a sandcastle, making his commitment of that day meaningless.

The eerie feeling never seemed to go away, no matter how much time passed. As he looked closer, he realized his fingertips were trembling without his knowledge.

Hisch clenched his hand tightly, and looked up and surveyed his surroundings. The area was covered in a layer of gray ashes.

At first, the sight of it all was disgusting and scary, but as he killed off more of these things, he became more and more numb to it.

After all, humans eat things that have life in them too. Like animals and fish. He thought of these things as similar and gradually became more indifferent to them.

No, was he really indifferent?

“…….”

Suddenly, he heard a low sobbing sound from somewhere. It sounded like a child’s cry, and Hisch was startled into action, thoroughly searching through the bushes.

It wasn’t long before he spotted a crouching child.

The child was shaking and looking up at him, clearly frightened.

“…Are you okay?”

The man reached out his hand and spoke softly, but the child was startled and avoided his touch.

Hisch wondered if the child was frightened because of the monsters or because of the unfamiliar adult man.

…Or maybe because he saw him using his ability and felt scared.

He had made several guesses, but he thought it wouldn’t really matter even if he found out the real reason.

“Uwaaaah!”

Almost as if on cue, Hisch saw the child fleeing in the opposite direction of him, running with all his might as if he would die. Hisch thought in haste without even bothering to retract his outstretched hand.

His knee was grazed.

“If you don’t treat the wound, it’ll get infected…”

Ignoring Hisch’s feeble voice, the child disappeared in a flash.

The man, who had been watching the scene quietly, turned around and accepted it.

In fact, there were no monsters.

Hisch silently clasped his hand. But now there was a reason he could not back down.

Liddell had once expressed that he had chosen the person she needed the most, and had referred to marriage to him in that way.

Of course, he didn’t think that Liddell had chosen him only with that in mind.

He knew that Liddell would look at him and smile, as if she saw something lovely.

But even so, he was vaguely aware that the marriage was not solely based on her love for him.

And…

‘…Hisch. I felt like I saw the whole of my life when I married Hisch.’

‘So maybe it wasn’t a choice, it was inevitable. That’s how I see it.’

… And just like that, he wanted to be helpful to Liddell, leaving everything else behind.

He wanted to be some kind of strength to her who held the hand of a man who had nothing.

So, even if it’s something like this. Even if it’s something like this, I don’t mind doing this…

“…….”

He was really scared, frightened. But despite that, Hisch Riot opened his eyes, still and calm, the tremor on his hands subsided.

His pupils had turned surprisingly tranquil, gleaming with a deep black color.

After receiving a call from my father, as if on cue, a letter arrived from the palace. Not long after that, Edwin Roelich came to my territory.

As soon as he arrived, one of the mansion’s employees took Edwin’s horse, which had been neighing continuously, to the stable.

Next to me, the Roelich brothers, who had met for the first time in a while, chatted.

Edwin was dressed simply, but his expression was so full of vitality that one could not believe he had just arrived on horseback.

His chocolate-colored hair, a shade lighter than his younger brother’s, seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

Looking at his soft, curved eyes and sharp, prominent nose, I couldn’t help but think that he had the appearance that could fight with the male lead for the female lead.

He’s so handsome that it makes me want to curse every time I see him.