CH 132

“…Hate you?”

Annette asked.

‘Heinrich, what’s with those hurt eyes when you tell me to hate you?’

Those eyes that seemed to be maimed by his own words.

“Yes.”

Heinrich’s lips moved firmly.

Like the shades of a lonely winter dawn, tears flowed silently from the empty purple eyes.

“I’d rather you hate me.”

Let’s get it back to normal.

In a world without her, in the first place, everyone hated and didn’t want him.

His biological father and mother had abandoned him, and all the teachers in the Forest gave up on him. A world without even a handful of warmth.

‘If only I had gotten used to that world…’

He wouldn’t have suffered such pain that was as if his whole body was being torn to pieces.

“Hate me.”

The corners of Heinrich’s lips rose.

‘Even now, if I could have you, I would do anything, so consider me terrible, Sister.’

‘Steal you right now, lock you in my own room, so that no one sees you…’

‘I will mock you for saying that you want to see Sislin and make a doll just like you and kiss it in front of you.’

‘Like my world where you’re the only one existing…’

‘I will burn everything in your world, leaving only me.’

‘I will tease you by kissing you nonstop from morning to night and until dawn.’

‘Until you succumb to my love and end up crying, saying that you love me.’

‘I am such a human being, Annette.’

‘No, it’s trash.’

‘My head is full of terrible thoughts.’

‘I’m pretending to be nice. The truth is, I’ve never been like that.’

‘So, I…’

‘Rather, you…’

“…….”

At that moment, a warm hand touched Heinrich’s cheek.

Annette whispered softly.

“You don’t mean it.”

You look like you’re going to die, if I hate you even a little bit.

“……!”

Transparent tears flowed from Heinrich’s widened eyes.

Those hot tears wet Annette’s hands.

Annette thought as she looked at the man crying like a child.

‘Why did this happen?’

‘I only wished for your happiness.’

She looked at the collapsing Heinrich with painful eyes.

However…

“Heinrich, I can’t forgive you.”

Slowly, her warm hand fell.

Heinrich’s hand, which appeared as if he was trying to catch her belatedly, had no choice but to hang aimlessly in the air.

“…….”

‘If I forgive you easily, I will feel sorry for the people of Bayonaire. Those who lost their lives were also precious to someone.’

“Goodbye, Heinrich.”

The warmth was completely gone.

Annette was the first to turn, completely out of her own will, leaving Heinrich behind.

The cold wind blew and the trees trembled violently.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

“…….”

The man in the mirror was unfamiliar.

A white mask was attached on the left side of his face and he was wearing gloves, but he was conscious of the ugly distorted skin inside.

As a result of the failed curse, Gerard was half-broken and insane.

“Only one step. Just one span.”

A low-pitched voice spread eerily.

“If only I could move forward.”

His red eyes were looking through the mirror into an abyss.

“…I could have everything in my hands.”

Why did this happen?

Obviously, everything was going well until the moment he decided to adopt Annette as his daughter.

From the day she left his arms, everything seemed to be ruined for him.

He always had to struggle to get her, and he always missed what he wanted despite it being right before his nose.

So, was the girl the culprit?

“No.”

An empty voice rang out.

“It’s not just the girl. At that time… I should have killed that bastard!”

Bang.

He couldn’t beat the person who was hit sharply and his fists were clenched! He punched the mirror fiercely.

The masked face was horribly shattered.

“The day Sislin was born, I shouldn’t have let him leave the Imperial Palace alive…”

After all, it was from the day Sislin was born that his plans failed.

The culprit was the one who took the newborn that was supposed to be a stillborn away.

The newborn was the main culprit.

Had Sislin not returned to become the crown prince and hadn’t protected Annette, Gerard would have healed the body that was now collapsing with Annette’s power and become the crown prince.

No, he might have already become the emperor.

‘If only I could correct the mistakes of that day!’

Then, like a lightning bolt, a good idea came to his mind. The red eyes glistened.

Venénum.

It’s powers were ‘mind control’ and ‘time’.

What if he could turn back time and go back to that day?

What if he could kill Sislin with his own hands, when he’s a newborn and couldn’t resist?

What would happen if he removed the ‘main culprit’?

‘Isn’t this a genius idea?’

The mere thought of it was ecstatic, and a paroxysmal laugh erupted from Gerard’s mouth.

He headed straight for the palace. And he called Venénum, pouring out his plans.

A black snake slowly appeared and spun around in that dreary space.

Venénum heard Gerard’s plan and said.

[Keke, you’re thinking is quite clever and fun! You stupid human contractor.]

“Take me! To the day Sislin was born!”

Gerard exclaimed with his arms wide open in excitement.

“I can feel the magical power overflowing in my body now!”

After unleashing the power of Venénum, Gerard could feel his magical power getting stronger day by day.

He felt himself assimilating with Venénum, to the point where he could use more and more evil magic.

Of course, his life was doomed to a similar extent.

With narrowed black eyes, Venénum informed.

[Regression is a high-level magic. In your current state, it’ll be a close call.]

Kuuugh—

The fists covered by gloves that concealed the ugly scars clenched slowly.

Gerard laughed.

“I have a feeling it will be possible.”

[It’s not possible.]

“…….”

[For the magic of returning to the past, the ‘retention power’ is the key.]

Gerrard’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Retention?”

[Yes.]

Slowly…

The black snake slowly climbed up Gerard’s trousers.

Then, in an instant, it wrapped around his body and came up to his neck.

Gerard was horrified. The snake perched on the nape of his neck laughed strangely.

Secretly squeezing its contractor’s breath, the snake revealed.

[Even if you succeed in regressing, if you do not have enough power, you’ll come back to reality.] 

“…….”

[It seems to me that you don’t have the strength to keep up yet.]

“…Then, what should I do?”

[Exordium’s amplification is required.]

“……!!!”

Damn, back to square one again?

Does this game end only when he really has that girl?

It meant the target should be modified from Sislin to Annette.

[I can feel the power of Exordium getting stronger. The child will soon go through ‘flowering’.]

“Flowering?”

[Yes. It’s the moment when Exordium’s power is complete. By then, she will become so strong that it’ll be out of our hands. So…]

“…….”

[Before that, make her like Derkis.]

“……!”

The snake whispered wickedly.

[It’s very easy to extract power from an unconscious body. You know that, don’t you?]

The distorted eyes under the white mask were as red as blood.

[After that, turn back time and defeat Sislin.]

“…….”

[This world…]

Oh, how sweet was the whisper…

[Will be yours.]

…Of the snake’s tongue.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

The moon was red today.

I sighed as I looked at the moonlight while fiddling with my mother’s handkerchiefs that I took out of the chest of drawers.

The events of the day were not easily erased from my mind.

“If you don’t love me the most, I’d rather you hate me the most…”

Words full of thorns. Words that stabbed himself as he exhaled them.

‘Heinrich… Why did you say that?’

Did you happen to know what happened with Sislin?

I was always the one who comforted Heinrich, but I couldn’t say it in front of him.

‘No, it’s you that I love the most, Heinrich.’

Regardless of what Heinrich had done to me.

My heart said it was a lie.

I remembered something Heinrich told me.

“I got an invitation from my biological father.”

And when I went to the grand ducal mansion, I also heard that Heinrich had gone to the Magic Tower.

Seeing that he had not gone back to his house for several days, it was clear that something had happened when he went to visit his biological father.

“…It must be very difficult.”

Blankly, I licked my lips.

‘You wouldn’t still be standing on that cold lake shore under the red moonlight, right, Heinrich?’

“I would rather you hate me.”

Tears welled up in my eyes as I recalled the wounded and sadly crying face.

The tears I held back in front of Heinrich.

Then, tok tok—

Victoria’s voice came from outside the door.

“The Crown Prince wants to meet you.”

“……!”

I quickly cleared my throat and replied,

“Tell him to go back.”

I couldn’t meet him now.

“Yes.” With the response, Victoria’s footsteps faded away.

After a while…

In front of the chair I was sitting on, the window that projected the red moonlight flew wide open.

“……!”

The red robe fluttered in the wind. Sislin calmly reached out and grabbed my chin as soon as he emerged through the window.

“Sislin…?!”

Seeing the tear-soaked face, Sislin’s lips twisted.

“You’re crying.”

‘You refused to meet me because you were crying alone with such a pretty face. Annette.’

‘Maybe I’ve finally gone crazy, I’ve been thinking about you all day, but I couldn’t stand it and ended up coming.’

“…….”

His sharp eyes narrowed as he looked down at that small, pale face glistening with tears in the moonlight.

“You’re not crying because of me.”

Sighing, he squeezed her cute lower lip with the hand holding her chin.

He lowered his head and whispered as he wiped away the tears with his lips.

“I’m jealous.”

TAKE NOTE!!! We will be taking about a week’s break from updating this project. Both the translator and proofreader (aka, me and Tassie) are travelling and either still recovering from illness or currently sick. We decided to not push ourselves. See you around the end of this month!

Ame: Gerard, I bet a nice quiet life in the countryside is better than being six feet under? And author, after crushing our hearts with that Heinrich scene, I see you trying to do damage control with that last scene… *stares* not complaining though keke

Tassie: Poor Heinri…. BUT SISLIN!!!! ILL LEAVE MY WINDOW OPEN TOO BBY BOY