* * *
Did he figure out his identity and leave earlier than before the regression?
If that’s the case, at this point where I haven’t cleared the family’s karma, things won’t go according to plan at all…
‘What should I do? If things go wrong again… No. It’s too early to be anxious. I treated him well this time, didn’t I? I tried to clear up the misunderstandings. Even if he kills someone, he’ll only kill that jerk Cassian. Yeah, that’s right.’
My heart is still alive. In fact, Locke being away from me might be the way for me to survive longer.
If he isn’t in my sight, no missions will pop up.
If this prediction was correct, I should have felt relieved.
But why?
Even after finishing that thought, a cold wind seemed to blow through a hole in my heart.
As I stood there with a blank face, the Bael Wolf growled, baring its white fangs.
I froze in sudden fear, terrified it might pounce.
“I understand. I’ll go back to my room, so you should rest too, Brother…”
Crunch.
“Ah!”
As I was creeping backward, I stepped on something.
With a sound like fine grains of sand crushing, something sharp pierced through my leather slipper and into my sole.
A stinging pain shot up to the top of my foot.
Unable to walk like that, I leaned over and pulled out a small shard of glass stuck in the bottom of the slipper.
A transparent shard with a pale blue tint.
It was the same color as the vase that had been in my room.
The moment I saw it, the conversation I had with Anna flashed through my mind.
‘How did you hurt your hand?’
‘While clearing away glass…’
‘You cleared broken glass with your bare hands? Why?’
Something felt off.
As I stared intently at the floor, I spotted something mangled at the edge of the rug.
It was a crushed rose petal.
Instantly, I remembered the pink rose that had been sitting in that blue-tinted vase.
Seeing the thing that had whispered hope to me so cruelly crushed, a cold calm settled over me.
I quietly asked Cassian.
“The rose that was on my table… did you take it, Brother?”
“Ah, that?”
Cassian didn’t even avoid my gaze; he leaned his chin on his hand and chuckled.
I felt a surge of emotion.
‘That?’
That rose might have looked insignificant to others.
Roses are everywhere in the garden.
But to me, it was a small light of hope—the energy that helped me endure each day.
I slowly straightened my back.
Cassian hadn’t just touched my things without permission; he had taken my personal servant to the hunting grounds on a whim.
Yet, far from apologizing, he didn’t even bother to make a shameless excuse, showing exactly what he thought of me.
Something less than the monster he kept as a pet.
‘Right, you always valued human life less than a bug’s. I must have momentarily forgotten because I was too busy trying to survive.’
His wickedness, controlling the household as if it were his own even before becoming the head, only worsened after he took the title in the past.
The servants were his toys, and he made even the wife he supposedly loved feel lonely and miserable.
The nauseating emotions from the past, which I had briefly forgotten, welled up.
I said I would try to change the misfortunes around me if possible, yet here I was again, so preoccupied with avoiding missions that I wasn’t looking at what was happening around me.
Even knowing what kind of man Cassian was, I only wanted minimal friction; because I thought my relationship with Locke had improved, I turned a blind eye to the rotting roots of this house.
At this rate, nothing would be different from the past.
It felt like I had been hit over the head.
As I stood there lost in thought, Cassian said something strange.
“A mere servant dared to make an advance, and since you were just quietly putting up with it instead of feeling ashamed and punishing him, I ordered it to be cleared away. What, is something wrong?”
I tilted my head.
“An advance?”
“What else would you call it? Does this mean you actually had feelings for Locke too?”
‘What is he talking about? Why is Locke’s name coming up here?’
“Looking at your face, you didn’t even know he was the one who brought the roses. Is that a relief? The fact that you liked the gift without knowing it came from such a filthy source?”
His tone held no hint of guessing or accusing; he spoke as if it were a plain fact.
Which meant it really was Locke who gave me the roses.
‘That’s impossible…’
The Locke I knew was more cruel and cold than anyone, a man who enjoyed bloodbaths.
He was never someone considerate or delicate enough to care for another.
…At least, the Locke who became Emperor was like that.
Suddenly, I realized I had made a massive error.
Before returning to the past, I was just struggling to live.
I ran into Locke often because of the missions, but I never truly knew what kind of person he was.
That cruelty could have been forged here in the Hestian house, or while seizing the throne—yet I had mistakenly assumed it was his innate nature.
Even now, while I was being cautious and avoiding him, I simply thought I was treating him well and that the future would change.
When he might have been in real danger, I just felt relieved that no “mission” appeared.
My own foolishness made my skin crawl.
“Why are you standing there looking like an idiot? Aren’t you leaving?”
I felt like I finally saw the path I needed to take. I forced a smile onto my lips.
“You’re right, Brother. I’ve been very foolish. Thank you for making me realize that.”
“I heard your condition was worsening, so I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your mind yet. If you understand, then behave yourself so you don’t tarnish the family name anymore. And—”
“Yes, Brother. Thanks to you, I know exactly how I should behave now.”
“…Are you being sarcastic with me right now?”
“How could I possibly be sarcastic to you? It’s just that I thought of something I need to do.”
“What could someone like you, who’s half-dead anyway, possibly do? Don’t make me laugh.”
“Indeed. I’m curious myself—just how I might make you laugh, Brother.”
“I’m starting to think you’re getting a bit arrogant.”
Cassian’s lip twitched.
Seeing the eyes that always looked down on me tremble with agitation felt quite good.
Cassian gripped his bronze brush tightly again.
If I provoked him one more time, that thing was definitely going to fly at me.
There was nothing more to hear by staying.
“I apologize if it sounded that way, Brother. Please, rest well.”
I provoked him to the very end and left the room without a second thought.
Thud!
As soon as I closed the door, something heavy hit it.
He really threw the brush.
I felt a thrill of electricity in my fingertips as I held the doorknob.
“Ha, that jerk. What a temper.”
I had no reason to bow down to Cassian.
If I didn’t die and survived, I would definitely manifest.
The first condition for becoming the head of the house was manifestation.
Therefore, if I lived longer than the original story, the one to become the head of Hestian wouldn’t be Cassian—it would be me.
‘The goal is set.’
I will become the head and protect my people from his violent nature.
Just then, I felt someone watching me.
I looked around and spotted Anna standing at the end of the hallway.
She looked at me with an anxious gaze and then hurried down the stairs.
‘That looks like a signal to follow.’
It might be about Locke.
I quietly followed behind Anna.
Splatter, splash.
My white trousers were covered in mud from kicking up the wet ground.
Because my mind was so frantic, I completely forgot I was even sick.
I ran and ran toward the Allure Domain until I was gasping for air.
‘I shouldn’t have been lying around sleeping so carelessly!’
It was only after my legs gave out and I tumbled into the muddy water several times that I remembered my body wasn’t normal.
Even so, I couldn’t stop running.
It had happened just ten minutes ago.
I had followed Anna into the dining hall.
The servant who had given the grapes to Locke was there.
“Sob, Young Master Cedric!”
The moment she saw me, she collapsed to the floor, begging me through tears to find Locke.
She sobbed that Cassian had taken him to the Allure Domain, but only the noble young masters had returned.
I intended to inform my mother immediately and take knights to find them.
But why do bad things always happen all at once?
“Pardon? The Madam is not at the mansion right now.”
Since Mother’s room was empty, I went to the butler, who told me that Mother and Ciel had left for Count Bernden’s estate with Aiden.
A message had arrived this evening saying the Count, who suffered from the same illness as me, had passed away.
Because Aiden and Ciel were close with the Count, they had all left together.
As a result, only Cassian and I were left in the mansion.
With both Father and Mother away, I needed Cassian’s permission to take the knights.
But the Hestian knights were already on Cassian’s side; no matter what I did, they wouldn’t follow my orders.
And I couldn’t exactly take Anna or the other servant into a mountain crawling with monsters, could I?
“This is driving me crazy.”
My heart was racing, but I had no choice but to wait until morning when Mother returned.
Returning to my room, I sat on the bed and tugged at my hair.
Then I looked at the empty table.
I kept thinking of the pink rose that had greeted me every morning.
I hadn’t even said thank you.
If something happened to him tonight, I would never be able to say those words…
“Damn it.”
I immediately opened the drawer.
I grabbed the dagger I had received as a gift from Aiden.
Leading a body burning with high fever into a monster’s domain on a night of pouring rain—anyone who heard would think I was telling a bad joke.
It was an action that made no sense rationally unless I was insane.
I know. I know all that, but what on earth was that rose to me?
By the time I regained my senses, my legs were already carrying me toward the Allure Domain.
* * *
