REFDL 84

That night, thunder struck a clear sky.

Derrick poked his head through the door’s gap and claimed it was heaven’s will to reconsider his judgment. Odan kicked him out. He thought back to a day that was similar to today.

It was a day when a storm that didn’t fit the season raged.

They had all gathered at the village chief’s house, and even Mirim was there. It was exactly this time last year.

Rotol hid under her blankets and asked Odan a question.

‘Haven’t you ever imagined it?’

She meant the imagination where a high noble with a lot of money and a hundred servants comes to take him to a castle!

Mirim was restless and tried to stop Rotol, but Odan answered calmly.

‘I haven’t.’

He had never imagined such a thing.

Not even once.

Odan clicked his tongue to show how pathetic he thought she was.

‘Sister. Grow up.’

‘What?! You brat?’

‘Argh, ack!’

The reason was simple. He already knew how unrealistic that story was.

They had talked about those things—.

.

.

.

Odan entered the preparatory academy.

Hair color that didn’t match his eyes could look unnatural. They decided to hide his face as naturally as possible.

It wasn’t very difficult because the season turned cold around the time he entered. The problem would come after the weather warmed up.

‘I shouldn’t worry about it yet.’

He spent some time in a daze. Derrick looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself every time.

Odan couldn’t focus on his classes either. He regained some of his senses only after he almost got seriously hurt in swordsmanship class. He felt as if he lived in a dream every day.

……I really wish it were true.

I wish I were His Majesty’s son.

‘No, it’s not that I want to be someone great! It’s just that everything would be better then…….’

Odan thought to himself and flustered alone before he slowly lowered his arms.

The darkness gradually receded when dawn arrived.

He stared up at the brightening sky. His thoughts were too heavy for a ten-year-old child to handle.

“…….”

They were all good people.

He didn’t want to create a situation that would make them sad.

The duke said it wasn’t Odan’s fault. However, this matter couldn’t be that simple.

Some people cause anxiety and confusion around them just by their existence.

In this case, it was himself.

‘But…….’

He was clever and smart, but he was still only ten.

Odan felt sorrowful and he grew greedy.

‘It’s alright. The duke said it’d be fine! I’ll just hide my face well and be careful!’

He began to hide his face obsessively. He didn’t hang out with friends after academy classes and went straight home. He didn’t leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary.

A day, two days, and several weeks passed. The moon waned.

Even Derrick, who had been opposed to the academy, encouraged him to hang out with friends. He told Odan to look around the shopping district, even if it wasn’t the busy downtown, to comfort the boy’s darkening mood.

The boy refused. It was already too late. Odan’s mind was already mush from the repeated worst-case scenarios.

……The Founding Festival was like his first and last outing. Rotol and Mirim had received a secret hint from Derrick, so they dragged him out of the house. He had no choice but to go with them.

The end came without a sound.

A man who looked like a noble from every angle, with blonde hair and blue eyes, raised an eyebrow at him.

‘……Ah.’

Odan felt like he was being strangled the moment he saw the doubt in that gaze.

Why does history repeat itself? It’s because humans are arrogant and foolish. They easily delude themselves into thinking they won’t repeat past mistakes even after they see the precedents.

……Odan was the same.

It was already too late.

The boy froze.

He thought he understood and accepted the situation, but he didn’t. He knew nothing.

Odan felt his existence’s weight for the first time.

It was his problem, but the lives at stake weren’t just his own.

“…….”

Ten years old.

Odan learned how it felt to want to die.

 ***

Kaelus’s anger was as bleak as a graveyard at dawn and as heavy as the deep sea where light doesn’t reach.

He didn’t say a single word while we returned to the mansion.

I turned into a small dragon while he held me. He held my body neither too hard nor too soft and rode his horse in silence.

He went straight to his office after we reached Duke Irelion’s mansion.

“Do you…… even have a brain?”

Those were his first words after the long silence.

His forearms’ veins pulsed with anger, but his gesture was soft when he finally set me down on the table in front of the sofa.

That’s why I couldn’t lift my head. I realized how much trouble I had caused only then.

I didn’t know it’d turn out like this. I wouldn’t have gone out if I had known. ……Kaelus might be right since I’m thinking like this.

I caused trouble without considering the consequences.

Why did I do that?

Did my brain capacity shrink along with my size?

[…….]

I just thought it’d be okay.

My outings with him were always peaceful.

I thought it’d be okay for the kids and me to go out alone if the place was this safe.

The capital’s streets that I saw from the carriage by his side were always lively. People all looked kind and there weren’t even small fights.

Kaelus pressed his palm against his forehead as if he had a headache when he heard that.

“That’s because those were the main streets or commercial districts. Those places manage the streets themselves since nobles visit them often. The guards stop anyone who causes trouble and kick them out.”

He said they can’t enter that street or do business there again if they get kicked out.

That’s why everyone was careful. I even accompanied Kaelus every time, and he clearly looked like a noble. No one was brave enough to cause trouble in front of him.

They probably tried to look gentle on purpose even when the duke’s carriage just passed by.

I had nothing to say even if I had ten mouths once my thoughts reached that point.

Kaelus’s hand moved from his forehead and rubbed his face. His gray eyes, which were colder than ever, glared at me.

“Please. Realize your position. Do you think you’re the same as ordinary Pensiltas? You are……”

I knew I wasn’t in a position to be angry, but something snapped the moment I heard those words.

[I’m a Kremlis.]

Whoosh.

I changed into my human form as naturally as breathing and sat on the table where I had been lying just a moment ago.

“Yes. I know.”

“……Why are you suddenly so confident?”

Kaelus raised an eyebrow. A chilly aura that hadn’t been there before radiated from him.

I was scared.

I was scared, but!

Bug I’m not the old me who trembled because I thought I’d be killed for every little thing anymore!

“I-I’m not being confident……”

“You should definitely be like that.”

“…….”

It seems it wouldn’t be bad to just stay scared forever. I shriveled up.

However, Kaelus didn’t seem like he’d let this matter go easily no matter how scared I was.

“I can only say these things because I found you before it was too late. What would’ve happened if I were a step or a moment late?”

“…….”

“The Fourth Prince. That guy acts like he isn’t, but he’s ambitious. He has a severe inferiority complex toward Firmus and Tortan…… His Majesty the Emperor, and he’s obsessed with dragons.”

This was the conclusion he reached after he investigated the Fourth Prince in secret because the prince’s behavior was strange during last year’s birthday banquet.

The spies planted in Denos are all talented people, but they couldn’t penetrate deep into the imperial palace.

Because of that, they could only find out the Denos imperial family’s general policies and movements, but that was more than enough to understand a human like Valita’s greed for power.

He was a hidden awl. He was a blade forged beneath an anvil and a secretly prepared poison.

But did he think the time had finally come? He acted very blatantly recently.

The Fourth Prince’s popularity in Denos skyrocketed after the last Monster Wave.

In contrast, the Crown Prince was quiet. It was strange. Usually, an imperial family member, especially one in the heir’s position, reacts very sensitively to threats that come from below.

There’s something.

There was no way to not know that.

“…….”

Of course, I know he’s a bad guy since I suffered humiliation from the Fourth Prince. ……I also just learned that he’s crazy enough to raise a demon in his left leg.

But.

I thought he’d stay quietly in the imperial palace since he came as part of a delegation. How could I have known he’d wander around the crowded downtown!

Kaelus asked after he was silent for a moment.