* * *
A short, startled breath broke the silence before everything fell still again.
Raizen kept his chin resting on Sean’s shoulder, unable to meet his parents’ gaze directly.
Even he didn’t fully understand why he was acting this way.
“…Hyung?”
Hearing the quiet voice calling him, Raizen lifted his eyes.
Sean’s face was frozen, not just in shock but as if he had completely lost his senses.
His deep blue eyes wavered violently before gradually settling.
Raizen had expected him to ask why, but instead, Sean simply gestured toward their parents with his eyes.
For a fleeting moment, Raizen had the absurd thought that Sean knew everything—the unspoken matters between him and their parents, the years of unresolved misunderstandings.
Though, calling it a misunderstanding was misleading; it had been Raizen alone who had clung to it, letting it fester within him.
Despite Sean’s persistent glances toward their parents, Raizen remained unmoving.
Eventually, Sean sighed and stepped aside, increasing the distance between them—enough that Raizen could no longer lean on him.
So that’s what this was.
A silent command not to hide behind him but to face things properly.
Raizen swallowed down a bitter smirk.
Slowly, he turned his head and met his parents’ gaze.
His brows were slightly furrowed, lips pressed together tightly.
His expression was a mix of shock, concern, and discomfort.
“Young Master Raizen.”
Breaking the heavy silence was none other than Arthur Sothes.
“I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but… may I ask if that power is real?”
Of all people, Arthur Sothes was likely the one he could have a proper conversation with.
Raizen turned his gaze toward him and gave a small nod.
“Yes.”
The blunt affirmation left Arthur Sothes momentarily confused.
Raizen chuckled softly.
“It doesn’t seem to be ordinary divine power, does it? You’ve failed to verify it multiple times.”
“How did you…?”
Arthur Sothes murmured under his breath before his eyes widened in sudden realization.
“You… sensed the miasma.”
A small amount of miasma had been acquired to test Sean’s divine power.
And Raizen had sensed it.
“And yet, you were still certain that Prince Shane possesses divine power. There must be a reason for that.”
His voice was more of a muttered reflection than a question.
Raizen’s smile deepened.
He placed a hand over his chest.
“I tested it myself and saw the effects firsthand.”
“……”
“It might not be divine power as you define it. But what matters is that, whatever it is, it works against my curse.”
Curse.
At that word, the Duke and Duchess, along with Arthur Sothes, all tensed.
Their reaction amused Raizen.
They already thought of it as a curse, but the moment he actually voiced it, they acted as if something terrible had happened.
Still, he couldn’t let his amusement show.
Not when Sean was here.
Raizen let out a deep sigh.
“You already knew, didn’t you? That I’ve been cursed.”
Even to his own ears, his voice sounded steeped in sorrow.
He detested the thought of receiving anyone’s pity, but if it was Sean’s… that didn’t seem so bad.
Being trapped in that space of darkness, waiting only for Sean—perhaps that experience had shifted something inside him.
People instinctively bow before those stronger than them, those more capable, or those who possess something they desperately desire.
Whether by submission or devotion.
‘And Sean is the only one who has what I want.’
Since isolating him to force dependence had failed, he would have to earn his sympathy instead.
He would become a burden—so heavy, so painfully unavoidable—that Sean would never be able to shake him off.
“I understand that you don’t want me to accept this. But… how could I possibly refuse? When the curse never stops tormenting me?”
“……”
“And you knew even that, didn’t you? Did you really think I wouldn’t notice the crow watching me?”
“……”
“That’s—”
Why?
This was nothing more than a show for Sean to see.
And yet, his voice wavered slightly at the end.
Raizen parted his lips as if to speak, but then closed them again.
If he spoke now, his voice would sound pitiful.
He wanted Sean’s sympathy, but he refused to be seen as weak.
That was when Sean suddenly grabbed his hand and lifted it.
“If we hold hands, it works! Hyung and I tested it over and over. And I even infused my power into your birthday gift, and you said it worked! Also—”
Sean’s words spilled out in a rush as he extended his other hand forward.
A soft blue glow gathered in his palm—unblemished, free of even a single callus.
“This! If there’s still miasma, you can test it right now.”
The slight stutter in his words revealed his nervousness, but even so, he didn’t retract his outstretched hand.
“Then, if you’ll allow me.”
Arthur Sothes was not the type to refuse.
From his bag, he retrieved a small sphere containing miasma.
He brought it close to Sean’s glowing palm—but nothing happened.
Everyone except Raizen reacted with unease.
“What…?”
Sean’s blue eyes trembled.
Just as Raizen was about to call out to him, Sean spoke first.
“Wait! Please don’t move it away!”
His voice wavered slightly, but there was determination in his eyes.
Though the blue glow in his palm remained unchanged, the miasma inside the sphere vanished in an instant.
Raizen’s eyes narrowed.
‘So, that’s how it works.’
Sean did indeed have divine power.
But…
“It seems Prince Shane’s divine power only takes effect when he consciously recognizes his target.”
Arthur Sothes voiced the same conclusion.
He adjusted his glasses before letting out a short chuckle.
“No wonder the miasma I had prepared wasn’t purified.”
“Seeing it firsthand, I can’t deny it.”
The Duke muttered under his breath, exchanging glances with the Duchess.
Raizen observed them quietly before shifting his gaze just as their eyes turned to Sean.
“There are records of similar cases. In ancient times, all blessings bestowed by the gods upon humans were referred to as divine power. The nature of the blessing varied depending on the god’s domain. Though, this isn’t from the scriptures, but rather from ancient mythology.”
‘Ancient mythology?’
Something about that unsettled him.
For Arthur Sothes, a theologian, to reference mythology—a body of work historically dismissed as human imagination—felt oddly out of place.
Yet, his parents showed no sign of doubt, accepting his words at face value.
They knew something he didn’t.
Arthur Sothes and his parents were sharing knowledge he was not privy to.
‘No way.’
A theologian like Arthur Sothes.
Parents who knew their son was cursed.
Considering only those two facts, a single possibility became glaringly clear.
‘That’s impossible.’
Raizen forced himself to reject the thought.
It couldn’t be.
His parents had been too preoccupied with concealing his curse.
They had enlisted Arthur Sothes and the crow only to keep watch, just in case something happened…
‘…Am I wrong?’
Since when had these thoughts crept into his mind?
Tracing them back, all he could recall was the whisper of that black mass.
Had he been swayed by its nonsense?
If so, why did he find it so difficult to dismiss?
‘Stay silent.’
Raizen thought to himself.
Don’t ask.
Just let it go.
That way, he could resent his parents just a little longer.
Just a little more… just a little more…
“Huh? Huh? Then, does that mean you were looking into divine power separately from the teacher?”
“Sey…!”
Before he realized it, Raizen had called out to Sean.
Sean looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if wondering what the problem was.
“Hyung, why?”
Sean asked, seeking an explanation, but Raizen couldn’t say a word.
Instead, the ones who spoke were the Duke and Duchess of Pantheon.
“That’s right.”
“Yes. All this time, we’ve been searching for a way on our own.”
“Lies.”
The words slipped out before he could even organize his thoughts.
A surge of frustration welled up inside him, making him want to tear his own lips apart for speaking without restraint.
“No… I misspoke.”
Lowering his gaze, Raizen desperately tried to smooth over the situation.
But there was nothing he could do about his heart, which had begun to pound violently.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of his heartbeat rang in his ears.
‘That’s a lie.’
They were searching for a way?
If that were true, then why had they so firmly rejected his request to visit the temple?
The former duchess had been such a devout believer!
Yet instead of holding onto anything related to the gods, they had erased every trace of them from the estate.
To the young Raizen, it had felt like both an act of consideration—an attempt to prevent him from recalling painful memories of the late duchess—and a deliberate refusal to acknowledge the curse he bore.
‘Did they think something terrible would happen if I so much as touched a divine artifact?’
So to them… the fact that I’m cursed is something too awful to bear.
That was the only conclusion he could come to.
He had no choice but to think that way.
“Rai.”
At the soft voice calling his name, Raizen clutched both of his ears.
“Mother, please…”
The duchess, seeing the plea in her son’s eyes, couldn’t bring herself to continue.
Instead, the duke spoke in her place.
“We searched for a way to lift your curse… and we came to a single conclusion. That is—”
The duchess placed her hand atop the duke’s, finishing his words for him.
“…that divine power no longer exists in this world.”
* * *
Aaaaaaaaaaaas finalmente