* * *
To be honest, up until the moment he asked, Raizen hadn’t taken it that seriously.
What Sean was determined to say didn’t match what he’d expected, and the story’s conclusion was so wildly unrealistic it barely registered as truth.
To Raizen, the story sounded less like reality and more like, quite literally, a novel.
Sure, the protagonist was a man from another world, but the body he possessed belonged to Karon Luavis.
In the end, it was a story where the House of Luavis came out victorious.
Naturally, then, its opposition—the House of Pantheon—was likely depicted as evil.
And, if he really thought about it, his cursed existence probably was closer to evil.
Unlike him, Sean looked like he might cry at any moment, his face torn with anxiety and distress.
“It’s okay, Sei. Just tell me the truth.”
Raizen smiled gently, trying to reassure him.
“…If I had to say it plainly… I’m the final villain.”
Just as he’d expected.
“In the story, you become the villain because of the curse…”
Even that part about being cursed was in there. If not for the ending, the whole thing would’ve seemed like a straight-up copy of reality.
Raizen had even felt it himself—the presence of someone possessing Karon Luavis’ body.
Maybe that’s why it wasn’t hard for Raizen to guess how his character played out in the novel.
“So the one who revived the Demon King… was me. Not exactly a happy ending. For me, or the House of Pantheon.”
“…Yeah.”
It wasn’t all that surprising to Raizen.
Honestly, what did surprise him a little was how calmly he accepted it all—like it was the most natural thing in the world.
But it wasn’t something he felt the need to dwell on too deeply.
After all, the version of himself that never met Sean would have ended up utterly destroyed.
And when that thought hit him, Raizen realized something.
In the story Sean had told him, Sean Kreveta himself never appeared.
“Sei… what about you?”
“….”
“What kind of role do you play in that story?”
Had Sean stayed by his side in the story, as Shane Pantheon?
But if he had, Raizen wouldn’t have fallen apart that badly.
And having another possessor show up when there was already a protagonist seemed kind of off too.
‘Then… was Sean just living an ordinary life as Sean Kreveta?’
That is, if the Marquis and Marchioness of Kreveta hadn’t died.
The idea of Sean not being by his side wasn’t exactly a pleasant one, but it was just a story.
For a peaceful life, it was best not to be involved with the Pantheon family and their wild plan to resurrect the Demon King.
But what came out of Sean’s mouth next was completely unexpected.
“I… don’t appear in the story.”
“…? What do you mean, you don’t appear?”
Raizen asked again in disbelief, and Sean gave a pained little smile.
“I died before the story began.”
“Died? Why?”
No way… did he also die in the same carriage accident that killed the Kreveta couple in the story?
That must’ve been it.
Nothing else could’ve possibly threatened Sean’s life.
Sean’s gaze dropped downward.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, then sighed softly.
“The first person Raizen Pantheon kills in the novel… is Sean Kreveta, adopted as his younger brother.”
His heart—or no, the entire world—seemed to tremble with a thunderous sound.
Everything that had sounded so contrived up until now came crashing down as harsh reality.
The scene formed in his mind with disturbing ease.
Raizen Pantheon, cursed.
Sean Kreveta, adopted into the ducal house for protection after losing his parents.
Sean feared Raizen.
Raizen, endlessly irritated by him, eventually…
“…No, right?”
“……”
“Sei, tell me it’s not true.”
‘Why would I kill you? With my own hands?’
That couldn’t be.
Without Sean, it was the same as him dying too.
The Raizen Pantheon in the novel must’ve been incredibly, tragically stupid.
Putting aside everything else, killing the real, divine-powered Sean Kreveta with his own hands?
And then, one hypothesis crossed Raizen’s mind.
‘What if Sean Kreveta didn’t have divine power?’
That thought led to another, and another, until vague and unfamiliar memories began to unfold.
Or maybe not memories—too hazy for that.
More like… illusions.
He wasn’t sure, but he remembered disliking someone intensely.
He wasn’t sure, but he remembered deciding he had to get rid of something that kept bothering him.
He wasn’t sure, but he remembered cutting down a human being, not a monster, with a sword.
That sensation. The blood that surged.
The strange relief he felt as the body stopped breathing.
The cold realization that once dead, a person is just a lump of meat.
These fragments pierced through Raizen’s awareness.
“Hyung?! Are you okay?”
Sean’s voice snapped him back.
Raizen realized he was dry heaving.
And in that moment, he imagined blood on his hands—thick, dark red.
He barely held back a scream.
Bit down hard on his lip until the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth—but he didn’t care.
“Hyung, your mouth… you’re bleeding—!”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
This really was nothing.
The problem was this persistent, disgusting feeling that refused to fade.
He could just call it an illusion and move on—but somehow, it wasn’t that easy.
Maybe because it felt too real.
“Hyung… it’s just a story.”
No—it was a lie.
Raizen was certain.
But he couldn’t say it out loud. He could tell Sean was trying everything he could to comfort him.
And that’s what made it all the more confusing.
Before Sean had realized he was the real Sean Kreveta—when he thought he was just someone possessing this body—he couldn’t even hide his fear when looking at Raizen.
He’d been so anxious that he shattered a teacup during teatime.
He’d been terrified of him.
Raizen could finally understand why he’d clung to him, suddenly calling him Hyung.
It had been about survival.
Trying to appear harmless.
Sean’s early behavior hadn’t been based on affection, and knowing the truth now didn’t particularly hurt.
What Raizen couldn’t understand was what came after.
When the divine message was delivered during the awakening ceremony, even in the chaos, why did Sean try to approach him to calm him down?
He must’ve realized right away that he was the seed of calamity mentioned in the message.
So then, why…
‘Why didn’t you run away?’
What on earth were you thinking… when you said,
‘No one knows how that seed will grow.’
Raizen lifted his gaze to meet Sean’s.
The blue eyes that stared quietly back at him held nothing but concern.
He didn’t know when it happened.
But one thing was clear—those eyes no longer held any fear of him.
“Sei.”
“Hyung… really, it’s just a story. I’m alive, aren’t I? And now that I’ve possessed this body—or rather, now that I’ve realized I am the real Sean Kreveta—so much has already changed from the novel. But… Karon Luavis knows I’m a transmigrator.”
“……”
“That’s why. That’s why Karon Luavis keeps clinging to me.”
Sean, growing more and more restless under Raizen’s silence, continued to speak.
“So, what I’m trying to say is… there really is nothing going on between me and Karon Luavis.”
“I believe you, Sei.”
Raizen spoke in a voice filled with certainty.
Only then did Sean’s expression brighten a little.
“Sei, what about you?”
“Hm?”
“Do you… believe me?”
That I won’t kill you. That I won’t become a disaster.
Sean’s face turned serious, as if he understood the deeper meaning behind those words.
“Yeah. I believe you.”
He said it without a single trace of hesitation.
‘Ah…’
It was one of those moments.
The kind of moment where a soul, believed by many to be irreparably empty, started to be filled—proof against the long-standing cracks that had remained open for so long.
* * *
