Chapter 32:
Big Trouble
Riche, awakened from sleep, sat up abruptly in bed and looked around.
“Pythonus? Pythonus?”
But the room remained silent.
It was deep into the night, and outside the dark window, the full moon hung in the sky.
“It was definitely Pythonus.”
Had Hikenka come?
Riche slipped on his slippers and cautiously walked over to the door, opening it just a crack.
But to his surprise, Philip was lying on the living room couch with a sword placed next to his head, seemingly asleep.
“Hikenka…?”
“….”
He called out cautiously, but there was no response or movement.
His heart began to race. Riche closed the door and retrieved the hidden wooden box from under the bed.
Upon opening the lid, he found the squirrel-like body of Pythonus, seemingly asleep.
Riche shook the squirrel gently with trembling fingers. It felt warm.
“Pythonus? Pythonus.”
But there was no response here either.
I definitely heard it. Was it a dream?
“….”
As the momentary anticipation faded away, a pang of disappointment struck him.
There were things he wanted to say when he met Pythonus.
That he had worked hard alone in Pythonus’s absence, and that he would work even harder to bring him back. That he would become a trustworthy contractor for him.
He wanted to say all that, but he still hadn’t met him.
“Do I just have to wait blindly? Until Hikenka comes?”
Riche looked out the window.
In the past, on nights when the full moon shone, Riche had visited the forest of demons several times.
He had sought out the lakeside to seek advice from the stars.
Because he couldn’t use Pythonus’s abilities, sneaking out of the palace was not easy.
But somehow, even when he managed to reach the forest, the tightly closed entrance did not allow him to enter. Clearly, when he had gone with Pythonus, even at night, the entrance had been open.
The same thing happened even when he tried to enter before sunset.
He waited for nightfall in the forest. When the forest of demons began to change its appearance, Riche finally thought he could go to the lakeside.
But after the forest stopped moving, all he saw in front of him, full of anticipation, was the closed entrance of the forest. The forest of demons had chased Riche away.
“The full moon is out! It’s today! Contractor!”
As he looked at the full moon outside the window, the image of Pythonus came vividly to his mind. He felt like he could immediately get up and go to the lakeside.
Feeling melancholic, Riche placed the box with the squirrel’s body on the window sill. He wanted it to be bathed in moonlight.
“….?”
He saw someone leaving the dormitory. Riche pressed his forehead against the window.
It was dark, but the shining blond hair was clearly visible. And the black aura that only Riche could see.
“Ian?”
Where was he going? Student outings at night were prohibited.
He wasn’t the type to break rules.
“What are you doing?”
Startled by the voice from behind, Riche turned his head.
Philip stood leaning against the doorframe, having opened the door.
No, his right eye was golden.
“Hikenka!”
“I didn’t expect Lethiom to welcome me like this.”
Hikenka walked over to Riche.
Seeing Pythonus’s squirrel-like body on the windowsill, he chuckled and asked, “Have you met him?”
“Who?”
“Pythonus. I took him out for a moment.”
Riche’s eyes widened.
He hadn’t misheard. What he heard earlier was Pythonus’s voice.
“Where is he?”
“He’s grown a bit since I last saw him. Still young, though.”
Without answering, Hikenka observed Riche and made another remark.
His hairstyle, which usually Philip left as it was, was different from usual. The color of a pair of eyes, visible under the swept bangs, flashed like prey.
“How about it, Lethiom?”
Although his appearance was Philip’s, strangely, when Hikenka possessed him, he seemed like a completely different person.
A sense of danger permeated the air. Hikenka leaned closer to Riche’s ear and whispered.
“Have you thought about it for three years? By now, you should feel inclined to choose me.”
“Not at all.”
Riche replied firmly.
“Make a promise to let me meet Pythonus. You entered the academy under the conditions you mentioned.”
Hikenka looked at Riche like that and then stood up straight.
“Today is over. I can’t bring him out anymore.”
“What?”
Seeing Riche’s icy stare, Hikenka smirked.
“Have you learned how to throw a tantrum?”
“….”
“I can’t bring out Pythonus because my power hasn’t fully returned yet. Today was just a test.”
“So, I have to wait again-.”
“I’ll bring out Pythonus again soon. Within a month in your time?”
Hikenka said so. Riche reluctantly nodded when the deadline was set.
“But Lethiom.”
As a brief silence fell, Hikenka called out to Riche.
With a stern mouth and chilling gaze.
“Why didn’t you keep your promise?”
Hikenka asked in an angry tone.
Apart from the eerie feeling it brought, it was a ridiculous statement.
Why hadn’t he kept his promise?
Surely Hikenka had bargained with me to release Philip from the dungeon and save Ian Duane.
Riche told Hikenka,
“As you know, Philip stayed in the dungeon, and we have to wait a bit longer for Ian Duane. …Because in the future I experienced, I died at 16.”
Hikenka grabbed Riche by the shoulders.
It hurt. Riche frowned.
“Did you forget what I said? I must have clearly said that I thought you would die soon.”
“So you said I would know. What I heard-.”
“Do you think your future and this life will go the same way? Even you have changed like this?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Lethiom, you should consider it fortunate that I came today. Otherwise, you would never have seen Pythonus.”
Muttering a short curse to himself, Hikenka let go of Riche’s shoulder.
“Come with me. That guy will die tonight.”
* * *
Ian unknowingly left the dormitory at night from time to time.
He first realized it on the day one month after entering the school.
He clearly fell asleep in bed, but when he woke up, he was outside.
After that, such incidents occurred once or twice a month.
Some days on the dormitory rooftop, some days inside the fountain, some days in front of the high stairs going down.
Each time, Ian quietly returned to his room without telling anyone.
As Ian’s attendant was a mere formal servant assigned by the family, he didn’t even notice if Ian went out at night.
“My body is strange. It feels like it wants to die.”
If he could use his ability, he would know the cause of this dreadful nightmare, but he couldn’t because of the artifact that wouldn’t come off.
He thought it was deliberate. Standing still with his eyes covered, gradually pushing him into a corner so that he wouldn’t realize the truth. Just like in the mansion where I was born and raised.
It didn’t take long for speculation to turn into certainty.
There was only one person around Ian who would orchestrate such events.
“My father.”
Even though he knew who the culprit was, Ian didn’t even feel frustrated.
Since he knew he was that kind of person from the beginning, he didn’t even have expectations of collapsing.
In the end, my father will kill me.
But.
It would be nice if I could say a final farewell to that child in the mirror.
“I have no one to care if I’m alive.”
Three years ago, eight-year-old Ian spoke to the invisible child beyond the mirror.
He said so because at that time, Ian’s world consisted only of Gerwer Manor.
In that world, there were only his father, who treated him like a thief, and the people of the manor who saw him as a nuisance.
“I’m here.”
“You?”
“I wish you lived. I hope you see the wide world and meet precious people. It’s not something someone asked me to say.”
So Ian tried to live.
For the sake of the child whose face and name he didn’t know.
Reducing the medicine as advised by the child, he entered Huarin Academy.
Gerwer Duke allowed his admission but with the condition of receiving an artifact.
Feeling healthier, and leaving the manor, he felt a relieved breath.
“I’m alive.”
He wanted to tell the child that he was alive, just as he said. That he had seen a bit of the wider world.
But when Ian returned to the manor for the holidays, he was greeted by a shattered mirror.
“Your mother left something strange. A mirror planted with a divided magic stone. The other half was probably planted in another object. I broke it because I thought spies hidden in the manor might use it.”
Gerwer Duke said to his son, who was desperately picking up the broken mirror pieces.
Ian collapsed in front of the broken mirror.
You don’t even know who you are, and everything is over.
After that, Ian returned to the academy. Unlike before, when he felt a spark of life, he now felt empty.
There was no excitement in anything. But.
“Today was strange.”
Ian recalled the child he met today.
Tharike Ludwick.
Seeing the face of the child who had resolved to become a knight, he felt like his senses were awakening.
Could he feel that way again when they meet again?
“I want to see him again.”
But his body was getting heavier. It felt like he was in a vast swamp swallowing him up.
—
Philip felt as if he had been possessed by a demon.
He was someone. He was Lady Riche’s only knight. He couldn’t allow any intruders to disturb Lady Riche’s safe haven.
So, to prepare for intruders, he slept on the sofa. But when he opened his eyes, Lady Riche was walking outside.
Countless stars in the night sky, a large full moon, the sound of insects from all directions, the rustling of leaves, the midnight correction.
“What’s going on?!”
“….?”
Philip stood up abruptly, surprised. In the meantime, Lady Riche, who had preceded him, turned around.
Why is she like that? Hikenka.
…Or not?
“Philip?”
“I’m Philip.”
Then who am I?
Philip blinked. Both eyes were brown.
‘It seems like the possession has been lifted.’
Lady Riche gestured toward Philip and walked through the bushes.
“Let’s go. We need to find Ian Duane.”
“Ian Duane? The Gerwer young master?”
Why would Lady Riche look for that young master…?
As someone who didn’t know the context, it was a surprising statement for Philip.
Lady Riche searching for a male student in the middle of the night.
In Philip’s mind, the image of Lady Riche, who used to hide behind him and feel embarrassed, was magnified.
It was a joke, partly, that he teased Lady Riche.
‘Was she serious?!’
Philip shuddered.
‘This is bad.’
Who? Himself.
Philip thought of the fools at Ludwick Manor who were manipulating Lady Riche.
And there was someone as high as a king at the top of that hierarchy.
Blake’s red eyes seemed to be staring at him.
That’s not all. Just in that dormitory alone-.
“Respectfully. Spare me. Lord Deon.”
“….”
He saw the future where he would be correct.
The two pairs of red eyes at Ludwick were too harsh on him.
Philip lifted Lady Riche abruptly.
“Why, why are you-”
“It’s not allowed.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not allowed! Lady Riche is only ten years old. It’s absurd to do such a thing!”
“Shh…”
Lady Riche, surprised by Philip’s voice, covered his mouth with both hands.
“…What are you doing? Philip?”
“Mmm (Absolutely) Mm (No).”
Lady Riche looked at Philip, who shook his head, with an incomprehensible expression.
Thud!
Then, an unusual sound of water was heard.
Philip and Lady Riche exchanged a glance with eyes that had changed in an instant.
