CH 70

Click.

As soon as the door closed, the expression on Ezekiel’s face collapsed. He couldn’t let others or Herace see his vulnerable side, but he couldn’t bear it. His body trembled as he looked at the blocks of ice.

“Are you my dad?”

Ezekiel never thought of the child as his own. But he never wanted the child to be here, breathless, just because he dislikes him. It wasn’t on this block of ice where the child was supposed to be. He should be running on a green lawn, sleeping on a fluffy bed, walking on a soft carpet……. These were the things that matched the child well.

Ezekiel, who sat down on his knee, made a strange sound. A low, ringing sound came squeezing out of his throat.

“Come on, what’s the use of regretting now?”

It was when Ezekiel was about to offer his own condolences, which no one would see, the voice of a child rang out from somewhere in the enclosed place.

Small shoes stepped in front of the sight of the kneeling man, and the snowflake that was stepped on split in half and rolled on the floor. Ezekiel, who recognized the owner of the voice, reached out without hesitation.

Bang!

A small body was pushed over the ice right next to Erzen’s coffin. The sound was quite strong and loud, but the child lying on the ice only smiled. Then he began to laugh at Ezekiel’s face, which was full of anguish.

“Because of you, I felt the pain of breaking my bones and my blood bursting from every pore, but why are you the one in this state?”

“……die.”

Ezekiel drew the sword. The long sword moved forward, and in an instant, the blade was stabbed downward. The sword cut through ‘It’s mouth and even broke the thick ice into several fragments. Along with a loud noise, ice cubes broke into small pieces in an instant.

“I like it. It’s so much fun to see your face like that.”

Between the chunks of ice, the face that had been stabbed with a sword melted down into a black liquid. The black liquid, which seemed to be firmly embedded by the sword, separated itself from the blade as if melting, and it regained its face instantaneously.

“I guess your memory hasn’t recovered, right? But seeing you tried to kill me……or is it because you feel sorry for killing the brother you would always be compared to?”

Ezekiel, who again picked up the sword, paused for a moment. His face reflected on the blade of the sword was distorted with guilt. But ‘It’ only opened its eyes wide and watched Ezekiel.

“Poor Charles……. Ezekiel, not only you’ve killed him so brutally, you didn’t even recover his remains.”

Charles’ body was left on the bottom of the cliff that day, mixed with a group of barbarians who died. Ezekiel, who was attacked but survived, called Herace’s name and drove his horse in a state of insanity. Charles’ body must have disappeared by now, buried deep in the snow, since Ezekiel has even lost his memory of his half-brother’s death.

Ezekiel’s hand holding the sword trembled with contempt for himself. But he soon raised the sword once again with his teeth clenched.

‘It’ smiled and rolled over to avoid the blade. The sword lost its target and hit the stone floor. The sword in Ezekiel’s hand touched the ground and made a sharp sound.

“Come to think of it, here is another person who died because of you.”

‘It’ rolled up to Erzen’s coffin. Stroking the child’s black hair who had his eyes closed, and lamented in a sad voice.

“Erzen, my poor brother. He died even before he could grow up properly. Such a cute and lovely kid. Ezekiel, he was the child who meant the whole world to her.”

Ezekiel, who could not bear to wield the sword, stared at Erzen. ‘It’ kept stroking Erzen’s hair, despite Ezekiel’s deathly glare. Unlike the soft touch, its eyes looking down at the child were numb and emotionless.

“But you are doing better than I thought. I thought you would make a disturbance like when you killed your brother last time.”

“Get your hands off him.”

“Is it because he’s not your child? Your wife is about to go crazy but you’re completely fine with him dead? Only because he’s your brother’s child?”

‘It’ touched Ezekiel’s bottomless guilt, riling it up like a twisted vortex. Every word stabbed Ezekiel’s consciousness. His eyes trembled mercilessly at the mention of his sin strucking his ears.

Unlike Ezekiel’s face, which crumpled with anguish, ‘It’ had a face full of joy. ‘It’ moved and stood next to Erzen this time. A small hand crawled near Erzen’s chest, who was wearing a white suit, and slightly raised the clothes.

‘It’ stared at something on the white skin and turned his head toward Ezekiel. The golden eyes similar to Ezekiel narrowed thinly.

“It must be because of this. But what about this, Father? Erzen, this child…….”

A wicked smile bloomed on ‘It’s face that sent a chill down Ezekiel’s spine to the sole of his feet. In a voice full of joy as if ‘It’ had put a lifelong enemy in the quagmire of hell, ‘It’ said.

“……He has the same father as me, literally.”

Thud.

Ezekiel’s heart dropped at the face of the truth that he believed to be false without a single doubt.

“What?”

He thought he couldn’t open his mouth, but the question came out reflexively. Ezekiel stood there and hardened like a statue.

“It’s cruel. Father doesn’t even recognize him as his blood.”

“……Explain clearly.”

It was not a loud voice, but there was a slight tremor in his order. Before he knew it, his emotions flowed out at the words.

‘It’ pulled up Erzen’s clothes and straightened out the wrinkles. After placing Erzen’s hand slightly on his side, ‘It’ gently stroked his head again and said.

“The day Erzen was born, you were sure when you saw the birthmark on him that he’s not your child, right?”

Ezekiel hardened his face. It was true. He changed his doubts to conviction when he saw the red dot on Erzen’s side. The unique shape was the only flaw on the skin. He doesn’t have it, neither does his  Father. It was a characteristic that belonged solely to his dead brother…….

“Why did you think that the child was your brother’s? Just because you saw him hugging Herace, you began to doubt her? But what if your brother wasn’t the only one who had the birthmark? What if your father had it too? What do you think?”

“Lie! He didn’t have it. I saw it with my own eyes. My father…….”

“Just because you didn’t see it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. I saw it.”

Ezekiel’s words were cut off. The mocking tone did not match the innocent child’s face. When Ezekiel finally looked at him with a disbelieving face, ‘It’ sighed deeply and said in an exaggerated voice as if he were reading a fairy tale book with his arms folded.

“It was before you were born. It was very snowy that day, wasn’t it? Your father was crawling through the snow, barely surviving the wolves that were about to bite him off. I wish he had died like that but..….”

A strange light flashed in the golden pupils. ‘It’ was silent for a very short time, but soon,’It’ narrowed its eyes, blurring the end of the sentence.

“……He was lucky. He met your mother, Medea. Your mother breathed life in your father and wiped his blood. She, who had never held a needle before, sewed all the wounds of the man carefully. But that day part of your father disappeared forever into the wolf’s belly*.”

[T/N: This sentence is a bit tricky. I believe the author meant that the place where the birthmark was must be bitten off by the wolves. That’s why Ezekiel never knew his father also had a birthmark similar to his brother.]

“…….”

“When your mother cured your father without leaving a trace, I thought it was unnecessary…. but I didn’t even know that it would lead to this situation.”

Ezekiel’s hands lost their strength. The sword fell to the floor with a shrill sound.

‘It’ stroked Erzen’s head. His black hair resembling Herace looked as soft as when he was alive.

“Majority of the children of Serpence had been born with the birthmark. It’s a characteristic of Serpence’s children, like your brother’s blonde hair or your golden eyes. If you were born with it, then you would have been praised for having the characteristics of the child of Serpence. Because to humans, lineage is important.”

“…….”

“But unfortunately you weren’t. It’s a matter of course. Just looking at the previous dukes…… Your grandfather and his father didn’t have the same appearance, but at least they were born with the birthmark. But you were different. Maybe because you only inherited about half of these Serpence’s blood?”

“…….”

“It’s very selfish to have a mistress. It’s rare for the relationship between father and son to be that bad like your father and brother just because he wasn’t the son of the woman he loved. But what’s certain is that most of your ancestors didn’t regard it as important as being selfish. It wasn’t like they were sinning. They were playing around with a lover or mistress in bed.”

Ezekiel’s eyes darkened, and in his ears came the crack of the ice that he heard on the cliff that day. Ezekiel breathed heavily. He felt so dizzy that he couldn’t think properly.

“By the way, Ezekiel, you were convinced of your wife’s adultery that none of your ancestors cared about…… You used it as an excuse to insult and abuse her. In addition, without even recognizing her child as your own, you justified your hatred by separating the child from his mother.”

When ‘It’ saw Ezekiel struggling, ‘It’ smiled and continued. ‘It’ was so outspoken as if it was going to end it altogether.

“The perpetrator pretended to be a victim and wanted revenge. What a joke. If you had thought about it a little bit and investigated it, you would have known how sloppy your excuses were to cover your eyes…….”

Ezekiel couldn’t stand it and collapsed on the ground. The image he never wanted to lose was now collapsing. He wanted to believe that the monster was lying, but he could tell it instinctively. That monster was brutally telling the truth.

‘It’ removed its hand from Erzen’s head. Then it approached Ezekiel and asked him.

“Why do you have that face? Do you realise now it’s your child? Do you regret it? Because you didn’t want to lose your wife to a child? Because you were jealous like a sour and inferior father?”

Ezekiel lowered his head and covered his face with his palm. So his expression could not have been seen. But ‘It’ showed a relaxed attitude as if it knew Ezekiel’s face. His face was filled with guilt, his eyes bloodshot.

“You seem to think I’ve tricked you, but it’s no use to blame me. I’ve never lied once. Did I ever tell you that Erzen isn’t your child?”

“You… I’m sure you were…….”

A voice that gnawed at itself in the ear countless times. The sound that broke his hazy mind. The voice ignited doubt and eventually convinced him.

“I’ve always asked you. You’re the one who gave the answer.”

However, even if he tried to think it was unfair, he couldn’t bear to accept it. That thing was right. It was he who twisted her desire to live and put her in despair, and it was also him who put the child on that cold ice.

T/N: April is ending! Your extra chapters are waiting for you! You can also read advance chapters for free! Just click the link below and be a member to read advance chapters for free!