CH 48

“……Sir Diego.”

In contrast to her tear-stained face, Arinel’s voice was dry as she spoke the Duke of Marsen’s name.

Arinel’s hand dropped down, and the Duke of Marsen’s eyes naturally fell on Liel, who was clutching his head.

Instantly, his sharp eyes narrowed.

“I’ve been …… waiting for you, Sir Diego.”

Arinel greeted him in a husky voice. It was difficult to believe this was the same Arinel who had been on the run from him since before Liel was born.

“He’s your child.”

Arinel said.

“My child?”

The questioning gaze of Duke Marsen was fixed on Liel, who still had black hair.

“Look at him. He looks just like you, doesn’t he?”

Arinel forced Liel to his feet and dragged him toward the Duke of Marsen. For a brief moment, her careless strength caused Liel to stumble a few times and nearly fall.

“Just when I thought you’d ……given up on running away, you come up with this nonsense—.”

He trailed off.

Gold eyes on black hair.

She was right, Liel’s hair color and eyes were the same as his.

The Duke and the man who had abandoned Arinel in the first place had the same eye color, so it was impossible to tell them apart.

But the hair color—.

The Duke of Marsen shook his head in denial.

Given the timing, Liel could never be his child. Arinel must have done something to him.

Even the Duke of Marsen was not so stupid as to be fooled by her words.

Still, he’d be lying if he said his eyes weren’t drawn to Liel, who had Arinel’s looks and his hair color.

Clenching his eyes tightly to keep his composure, Diego’s gaze slowly drifted to Arinel.

Arinel glared at the Duke of Marsen, her face cold.

“He’s your child! Your child!”

The Duke of Marsen’s denial was brutal, so Arinel let go of Liel’s wrist roughly, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and yelled.

Liel’s body slumped to the cold floor. Duke Marsen, on the other hand, did not move.

His eyes slid down to the slender wrists of Arinel, who was still clutching his throat. Naturally, his brow furrowed.

“Hey, what the hell are you…….”

Arinel seemed the kind of woman who could die at any moment. Duke Marsen gripped her shoulder painfully and tried to nudge her backwards.

Sensing his intentions, Arinel stamped her foot and refused to back down.

“So take responsibility. He’s your child, be a parent!”

This is crazy.

The Duke of Marsen made a quick assessment of Arinel in his mind. Still, he didn’t despise her, not even by the way she looked at him.

If she was crazy, he would keep her around. It was enough to lock her away, out of reach, so that she could no longer escape to other places.

When he had finished his calculations, the Duke of Marsen asked.

“If I recognize this child as mine, will you also be mine?”

Arinel staggered like a branch swaying in the wind.

“Haha, hahahaha!”

Arinel suddenly laughed out loud. Duke Marsen stood still, waiting for her to stop laughing.

“If you want my corpse, I’ll gladly give it to you.”

The Duke of Marsen’s expressionless face crumpled.

“If there’s anything else you need, just ask. I’ll listen before I die.”

Arinel seemed already certain of her death.

He thought she seemed to be dying, but he never realized it was actually true.

The Duke of Marsen’s grip on her shoulders tightened. Despite his strong grip, she didn’t make a single sound of pain.

Instead, she simply held Liel, who was sitting on the floor, looking up at her and the Duke of Marsen, in a soothing voice.

“Liel, the floor is rough. Come on, get up.”

Unfazed by Arinel’s change of mood, Liel did as his mother said and stood up.

“You’re crazy.”

The Duke of Marsen finally said impatiently.

“Maybe I am, and isn’t that the same for you?”

“I’m not intending to waste my time arguing with you here ……. Come with me, and I’ll take you to where you’re going to live.”

The Duke of Marsen threw his cloak over Arinel’s shoulders. Liel glared at him.

“Come with me, child.”

Arinel held out her hand to Liel. Liel nodded his head and took her hand.

Soon the three of them were in the Duke of Marsen’s carriage.

“You are very persistent, my Lord.”

As the carriage pulled away, Arinel spoke in a low voice. She had returned to her senses.

“If only you hadn’t run away.”

He replied with a shameless smirk, which caused her brow to crinkle into a grim line.

“This is the result of choosing that bastard. It’s beyond disastrous.”

“Disastrous? He wouldn’t have abandoned me if you hadn’t been such a bastard, no, huh……. Yes, you’re right, I didn’t realize, as I said, that this child is yours.”

A shadow of death passed over Arinel’s face as she said it.

“…….”

For a moment, there was stark silence between them. Liel held his breath and watched the Duke of Marsen in silence.

After a long moment, the Duke spoke again.

“Earlier, you told me to let you know if I needed anything else.”

“…….”

“Tell me you love me.”

A twisted desire flared in the Duke’s eyes.

“Tell me that I will be the only one you love until the day you die, nay, even after you die, and then I swear to the Goddess Ophelia that I will grant you your request.”

The moment the name of the one true God flowed from the Duke of Marsen’s lips, Arinel’s face turned icy cold.

Until the day she dies, he will never know what she has done.

At this moment, Arinel wondered if she was still sane, but it wasn’t difficult to lie.

“I love you.”

She would do anything for her child.

“You’re the only person I’ve ever loved, not him.”

Arinel’s voice matched her expression. A flat, dry voice. The tone of Arinel’s voice was icy cold, unlike someone who speaks of heated emotions.

“So protect my child.”

If she sold her soul to the devil, would it be so difficult to sell her love?

“…….”

Duke Marsen crossed his legs. He looked quite pleased with himself.

But his arrogance didn’t last long. Arinel died in his arms before she could reach the manor.

The Duke of Marsen put his arm around Arinel’s thin shoulders. It was the moment his nobleness crumbled.

He doesn’t know exactly what was running through the Duke’s mind at the time of Arinel’s death.

What is certain is that two misfortunes befell Liel at this time.

He had lost his beloved mother, and he had learned the wrong way to love from the Duke of Marsen, not from his mother.

***

Liel loved his dead mother. Even after learning the definition of insanity, he had no doubt that she had loved him.

But why—

“When an attack imbued with divine power touches demons and fiends, it can blacken them, maximizing the damage.”

Not long after entering the academy, Liel had gotten one step closer to the truth, whether he wanted to or not.

Liel’s heart beat fast.

“But holy power doesn’t work on humans, only on demons and demon beasts, which is why we also call it the gift of the gods.”

As he listened to the instructor in charge of the afternoon’s training, Liel recalled the light that had flowed from Arinel’s hand. And how it had turned his white hair black.

The Duke of Marsen’s words flashed through his mind.

“If you go out, stay out of the way of the priests.”

Soon an unthinkable assumption was formed in his mind. Feeling helpless, Liel told himself over and over that it was impossible.

But at the event where he followed Hemil, he was forced to face the truth.

It was here that he encountered two kinds of demons.

Those that attacked him, and those that didn’t.

And only once, after the battle, did he speak to the one that had crumbled to ash and disappeared.

It occurred the night before they reached the Empire.

[King, are you safe…….?]

The beast’s eyes focused on Liel.

“Why do you ask me that?”

He wished he could speak.

“Forgive us our sins. Forgive my foolishness.”

He hoped his mother hadn’t made him a monster.

[You are of the king, like us……. No, you are different. You are not like us. You are just like the king.]

But as if to mock him, the demon confirmed the truth he had suspected all along.

In his memories, his mother acted as if she was being hunted, not him. Was it really the Duke of Marsen she feared?

No, she would not have left him in his hands.

Liel looked up at the sky in despair. Just then, the wind picked up. The branches swayed in the strong wind.

Leaves fell at Liel’s feet.

[Resurrection of the King…….]

Before he could utter his last words, the demon was reduced to ash. The hollow winds soon swept away his remains.

Liel’s gaze shifted to the leaves at his feet, his cloudy eyes catching the freshness of them.

He stepped forward and crushed the leaf.

Not like us. Just like the king.

The snake at his ankle moved.

As if it knew what he was thinking, the snake flaunted its presence and wrapped itself around Liel’s ankle.

***.

Rustle—

The sensation of heat next to him snapped him out of his reverie.

The first thing he saw was the charred remains of the firewood. The color of the blackened firewood resembled that of the dying demon.

Just then, Lucy’s tiny back blocked Liel’s view.

“Aah!”

Sparks flew in front of Lucy as she tossed a log into the fireplace. Startled, Lucy jerked back, whimpering.

Then she glanced back and caught Liel’s eye. Sure enough, Lucy’s line of sight caught Liel looking at her.

“Ha, ha, ha.”

Lucy laughed and backpedaled to sit next to him. Liel stared at her without saying a word.

“Have you solved your problem, or do you want to wait a bit longer? I can wait!”

Lucy exaggeratedly snorted with determination. Instantly, the stony expression on Liel’s face softened.

But only for a moment, as he buried his face in his knees to hide the hardening of his features.

Before she died, Arinel assured him that no one else would stand up for him.

Maybe that is why.

‘That’s why it’s a secret.’

Deliberately going against his mother’s words, risking giving away his own secret—

‘That I heal faster than everyone else.’

He turned to watch her reaction.

He hoped that at least Lucy would be on his side.

But today, with his identity so clearly defined, he has a secret he can’t tell her.

Closing his eyes tightly, Liel could see his mother twirling a lock of his younger self’s hair.

‘Even God will not forgive us for our sins.’

That’s because she made him a demon.

(T/N: I’m crying for Liel, my poor bb boi ಥ_ಥ)