CH 81

Chapter 81

‘…They lost control.’

Elysia momentarily backed away. Damon seemed fine now, but she didn’t know. He was too calm for someone who had lost control. Still, she never knew when he might lose his temper and harm her.

“Lost control…?”

“Yes.”

Her pupils shook violently at his confirmation. Even though he looked fine, she didn’t know when he would run at her.

“Oh, I made the wife misunderstand.”

“Then…?”

“It’s not about losing your mind. It’s just that they can’t control their powers. So sometimes, people could go crazy.”

Was losing his mind safe? Or not being able to control his power was safe? Listening to his words, both were equally dangerous.

“I tend to be pretty in control.”

…So?

That said, it wasn’t perfect. Damon was a dangerous human, even if he was 100% perfect. He was like a ticking time bomb that didn’t know when it would explode. Elysia’s complexion turned white at his unexpected words.

“I think it’s because I entered the greenhouse at a young age when it was difficult to control. Usually, children lose control and die on the spot.”

“…Di-die?”

Didn’t it end with losing control of power? Besides, she did not know why the first Grand Duke had created such a dangerous place. Did he want to kill all his descendants? Elysia didn’t understand. Just imagining it was terrifying. They were going to die because their power went rampant…

She shuddered at the cruelty.

“Because they can’t stand the rampaging power. It feels like their whole body is exploding, and their blood seems to be running wild.”

He was talking like someone who had been through it all. Because of that, Elysia wondered if Damon had experienced it all, and she didn’t know if he was still feeling the same pain.

“Did Your Grace… ever?”

“I didn’t have too much strength compared to my siblings, so it wasn’t too bad.”

It wasn’t so bad meant that he felt it, too. She couldn’t even imagine how severe the bullying had been and how he would have run away to the greenhouse despite the rampage… what kind of life did he lead?

“Usually, those with a lot of power run amok. Sometimes they lose their power completely.”

The more she heard that they had even lost their power, the more she couldn’t understand why it was made. She didn’t know what went into thought when they created this place. Was the short-lived caused by the greenhouse?

“Is the reason for the short life of the Grand Duke’s family because of the greenhouse?”

“It can’t be. No one enters the greenhouse. I was the only one who came in as an exception. In those days, it was better to end up in the greenhouse than to die at the hands of my siblings.”

“In your siblings’… hand?”

Apparently, he started going to the garden at an early age. But from then on, he would die at the hands of his brothers? She knew, of course, that it was like bullying. How dangerous would it be to hurt each other at that age? She just thought it was just a children’s fight…

It couldn’t even compare to the bullying of Elysia by Rowena and the countess, at least, her life wasn’t threatened.

Even the Countess did not want the stigma of killing her illegitimate daughter.

“You shouldn’t think of them as normal children. They are not as pure as you think.”

Unless they’d been taught something since childhood… they couldn’t have done that at such a young age. It was absurd that even before the death of the previous Grand Duke, his siblings were seeking each other’s lives.

“Didn’t I tell you? The first thing a grand duke’s child does is kill the mother who gave birth to them.”

“Still, that… isn’t that because their power runs amok? The child has no memory.”

It was an accident that happened the moment they were born because they couldn’t control their powers. It was not done with willpower… so how could a newborn child think? Couldn’t they just call it an accident?

“Is it really so? Of course, no memory but the blood remembers. The joy of the first murder.”

Blood remembers.

Damon’s words always scared her, but this one really gave her goosebumps.

“Even a child of the Grand Duke cannot be relieved. Rather more terrifying. Imagine having only aggression when your ego is not fully equipped.”

They were literally a living murder weapon. If they could use the power of the terrifying Grand Duke’s family from a young age.

“They are monsters with nothing but their true nature. They are not the children you think you are.”

“That… I see.”

“All they have in their head is that they have to kill someone. In particular, they recognize those weaker than themselves.”

Damon’s explanation sent a chill down Elysia’s spine. They really weren’t the children she thought they were. The previous Grand Duke did not give birth to children. He was just fostering murder weapons.

“In the beginning, there were more children. They just disappear one by one as the days go by.”

She realized that disappearing didn’t just mean to disappear.

Damon, who must have grown up between them, looked even great. If it were her, she would have been eaten right away. Elysia realized that every day of his life was a battlefield beyond imagination. You couldn’t live without killing first.

“For some reason, as I went to the greenhouse often, I began to gain strength… or it could be that I grew up later than my siblings.”

“Is it okay if you come into the greenhouse now? Maybe there’s an immunity….”

“There is only one way to keep your sanity in the greenhouse. There is no such thing as immunity.”

When he said there was no such thing as immunity, Elysia realized that he was still fighting his instincts. However, from the outside, Damon seemed perfectly fine.

“As a result, when I started beating my siblings, I stopped coming into the greenhouse.”

She understands that this greenhouse is a place that has bad memories for him. Why did he bring her to this place? Even where he can’t even control himself.

“Wouldn’t it be better to leave now?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Even if he was okay, this one isn’t okay at all.

Even after hearing this dangerous story, Elysia didn’t have the confidence to stay here any longer. She didn’t want to take a life-and-death walk. Why was her life with him always so unpredictable… it felt like walking on a single wooden bridge.

“I still have time to look around.”

Of course, seeing Damon’s appearance, he was overflowing with composure. But even then, there was no way it would be a proper walk, even if she kept fearing that he might suddenly change.

Having to walk with the scariest beast in a place that stimulated his animal’s instincts…

“If the wife would hold my hand, that wouldn’t happen. Don’t worry.”

“Ah… yes.”

Elysia nodded her head with a half-disenchanted face. She didn’t even know what to answer him as she just begged him fervently that her hand would not fall from his grip.

“….”

The more she walked in, the more unorganized the inside was. It had been abandoned for a long time, so it was unlikely that everything would be cleaned up in a short time. Looking at it, it seemed that only the overgrown grass was being roughly arranged.

“It’s… a lot.”

Let alone flowers, it was all grass. She couldn’t believe that even this was cut a lot.

It seemed that after he told her the secrets about the greenhouse, she disliked it even more. She wanted to run away from such a scary place. Elysia could understand why everyone wanted to get rid of this greenhouse.

“Are you afraid of being the Grand Duchy?”

…Was she scared?

Even before hearing the story, Elysia was afraid of the Grand Duchy. Who could not be afraid of the Grand Duchy? Damon was probably feared by everyone but himself. In the Caesar Empire, Grand Duke Raphael was such a being.

He was feared and appalled, as well as admired.

“Your Highness, what answer do you want from me?”

“Well. I don’t know, either. What answer do I want from the wife?”

Originally, there was a difference between fear and respect.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal even if everyone in the world is afraid of me, but strangely, if the wife says that she is afraid of me, I will feel strange.”

It would be lying to say she wasn’t afraid. Even now, her heart pounded and her body trembled with fear. It was like being in a cage with a ferocious beast that could bite her at any moment. Strangely, though, she didn’t think he was going to hurt her.

Elysia knew it was nonsense, and she didn’t know if reassurance was what he wanted.

…Though why did she keep believing in him?

“I’m scared.”

“….”

“Still, I have no intention of running away.”

She didn’t know why she said that. Even though she said her goal was to get away from him, she had no intention of running away.

It was words that just came out without her knowledge.

“That’s a relief.”

Elysia didn’t even have time to correct her words again as she was distracted by the way he raised his lips and smiled until his teeth were exposed. Her heart started beating fast. She closed her eyes tightly to the sound of her heart beating.

It was a smile that truly could not be denied.

It was impossible to reject Damon in the first place. If that were possible, she wouldn’t have come this far. Perhaps already, the venom had seeped into her completely because she was so addicted that she couldn’t distinguish a threat.

“I have no intention of letting you go either.”

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