Chapter 49:
Shamelessly Bold
“I said it would strain Ian if you forcibly remove it!”
“Really? Did it show?”
Hekanka said. Riche, who was trying to check his condition, couldn’t take his eyes off Ian’s face. More precisely, his pupils.
Even his left eye, which was originally black, turned golden. Removing the necklace revealed its original color.
Strange. Despite being the same gold eye, it felt different.
Gerwehr Duke’s gold eye gave chills, Hekanka’s gold eye looked dangerous. Ian’s gold eye, on the other hand, seemed calm and serene, as if just looking at it would bring peace to the mind.
“He probably doesn’t need a lamp at night.”
Pythons muttered on Riche’s shoulder.
It had been a while since he was momentarily distracted by a human’s appearance.
With golden hair and a handsome face to match. The once praised star of beauty seemed to be fleeing without its tail.
But that was just appearance, inside Ian’s body was Hekanka.
Pythons scrutinized Hekanka’s lips with suspicion. Seeing irritation even reaching his philtrum, it was clear that the kid was up to something.
“That necklace, it’s a star fragment. Did you give it to Ian Dwayne?”
Star fragment. Riche also awaited Hekanka’s answer to Pythons’ question. Hekanka casually spoke up.
“No. I just told Gerwehr Duke the location.”
“He gave it to him. Yellow boy.”
“Yellow? Is that my nickname?”
“…Contractor, let’s just send that thing to the grave today. You, just go back to sleep.”
Pythons shivered and shook his fur. Riche asked Hekanka.
“Why did you do that?”
“I needed to seal Ian Dwayne’s abilities.”
“You needed to?”
“He shouldn’t recognize you. Even though Ludwick hid you from Gerwehr Duke, it would be troublesome if Ian Dwayne found out. Riche, you shouldn’t get caught by Gerwehr Duke.”
Not get caught. I wanted to hear more about what that meant, but Hekanka seemed reluctant to give me the chance to ask.
He said he removed the necklace because Gerwehr Duke now knew your identity, so it was unnecessary.
Since he was the original owner, there was no problem removing it. Gerwehr Duke could even manipulate the necklace, including the curse. He couldn’t remove the necklace because he wasn’t its owner.
“But, Richeom, it’s a bit unfair to blame me. I just told Gerwehr Duke the location and how to use the artifact. It’s Gerwehr Duke’s fault for giving it to his son, isn’t it? How could he do such a thing to his son? Anyway, he’s a despicable character.”
Hekanka shook his head as if to say he was innocent, like a third party. Pythons called him despicable, and when Riche asked for clarification, he interrupted her questioning.
“What you just said and what you said before are different. Fool. You said you needed to seal Ian Dwayne’s abilities, didn’t you?”
“There was a need, but I didn’t do that.”
“Don’t dodge the question. It’s all your doing. Gerwehr Duke probably knew he would give the necklace to Ian Dwayne. And then you tell my contractor to save Ian Dwayne? Are you in your right mind?”
“Oh, that.”
Hekanka shrugged his shoulders.
“In the human world, the only thing that seals abilities is a star fragment. I feel sorry for the curse too. That’s why I told Riche to save Ian Dwayne, didn’t I? I did rush out earlier because you almost died recently.”
At this, Riche glared at Hekanka. To think he made Ian like that and now possessed his body, saying such things…
“…You’re really bad.”
“Contractor, did you just swear at me? You can say worse. Go on, try. You yellow boy who’s so stubborn.”
“…This…”
“Enough. Forget it. Hey, yellow-eyed one. Do you even have a conscience? And then you possess Gerwehr’s little boy?”
Pythons protested to Hekanka.
“Don’t be too angry. It’s hurtful. That’s why I gave Ludwick Duke the artifact to prevent madness, remember?”
Hekanka shook the remaining necklace on Ian’s neck. Riche looked at the necklace.
It was the necklace Ian received when he recently got help from Blake.
“You gave that to him?”
Hekanka smirked.
“I was possessed in the information Blake Ludwick’s agent was seeking. I did get some money. But Ludwick has so much money that it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Oh, really? Then Ian Dwayne will pay for it.”
Riche was at a loss for words at Hekanka’s audacity.
But she couldn’t stop going along with Hekanka.
Hekanka was the one who could solve what lay ahead.
Pythons asked Hekanka.
“Are they definitely targeting the abilities of this generation?”
“Definitely. In the future Titara changed, so it’ll happen the same way this time too.”
Riche spoke of the future she had experienced.
The story of the outside world that Agnes trapped in Gerwehr Manor didn’t know.
The great stars awakened from that future came to the human world. And they aimed at the abilities of the humans. Specifically, Deon, Robenhaf, and Zeckbert.
Hekanka said it was a story he heard from Titara, the great star who made Richeom.
“You were the only one who didn’t come to the human world from that future, right? So she proposed to you to stop those kids?”
“It’s more like a deal. I help Titara, and in return, she gives me what I want.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a secret. Pythons.”
Hekanka closed one eye. Pythons shivered, feeling something he couldn’t see.
“Creepy. Why aren’t you acting with those kids this time? Why? They must have approached you while you were asleep too.”
The sleep of the great stars was different from ordinary sleep.
When they fell asleep, their bodies were restrained from all actions, but their minds repeatedly woke up and fell asleep.
If they could see and hear outside events and if their strength was somewhat replenished, they could even converse with other sleeping stars.
So this plan must have entered Hekanka’s ears too. Hekanka was one of the four stars who came to the human world hundreds of years ago.
“The plan wasn’t great.”
Hekanka chuckled lightly as if it were childish.
The proposal the three stars made to Hekanka was to start a war in the human world.
“Your four noble families will start a war. Only one family needs to win. What they want is a hero to emerge among humans. Someone who shows power strong enough to rule the human world.”
“Does it work as you say?”
“It sounds childish, but it seems they’ve succeeded in actually starting a war. In the future where Richeom was.”
It was a war among dukes with power greater than emperors.
Naturally, there was no bloodless incident. The Roksha Empire was soaked in blood, and countless lives were sacrificed. The heroes that the great stars were trying to create required such a process.
To become an irresistibly powerful existence. To dominate the human world and make humans worship the stars.
As the praise they received increased, the stars became gods again. That was the plan to bring the stars back to the human world.
“Enough with the boring talk. Let’s go find the squirrel in Richeom’s room. Pythons, your strength is needed to stop them, so I’ll turn the astral body back into a soul and put it back into its original body.”
* * *
But not everything went according to plan.
Riche’s dormitory.
“You look better as a squirrel, don’t you? Contractor.”
“Yeah. It’s cute.”
“…Hekanka?”
Pythons, Riche, and Ian looked at a trembling squirrel.
It looked exactly like Pythons but had golden eyes.
Pythons chuckled.
“Be grateful, yellow boy. I lent my body to you for Ian Dwayne’s soul that bounced out.”
Hekanka’s soul couldn’t withstand the environment of the human world.
If it was a possession like what happened to Phillip, the soul should return to the original body once the astral body returned to the grave.
But this time, Hekanka directly came to the human world and used Ian’s body as a vessel.
Hekanka, who was trying to change Pythons’s astral body into a soul and put it back into the body, instead bounced out of Ian’s body and entered Pythons’s body.
“I’m just a lowly squirrel.”
To comfort the disheartened Hekanka, Riche spoke.
“Why not just come out?”
“…I can’t.”
Hekanka shook his head.
“Richeom, do you know what this is called? It’s the fusion of stars. Once the body and soul are fused, they can only be separated in the grave. Why did I fuse with a guy who only knows muscles…”
The fusion of stars required a close relationship even in spirit.
Hekanka seemed quite hurt to recognize Pythons’s appearance enough to recognize him at a glance.
Riche asked Pythons, who was laughing at Hekanka.
“Pythons, are you okay? Hekanka entered your body.”
“Huh? Well, once I visit the grave, it’ll fall off anyway.”
Pythons replied nonchalantly.
At first, Pythons screamed with Hekanka. But after seeing Hekanka suffering, he seemed to enjoy the situation, saying it’s okay to lend his body for an admission fee.
“Then let’s go now.”
Restless Riche urged to go to the guesthouse where Hibernum Duke stays.
It worried her that the stars coming to the human world soon would target the ability users.
Ian spoke to Riche.
“Riche, if you go, you’ll reveal your identity to father. I’d rather just go with Hekanka-”
“No. Ian. I’ll go.”
Riche firmly shook her head. She now had a feeling she couldn’t hide anymore.
Even if Gerwehr Duke knew, or Blake, Deon, or Robenhaf knew and felt betrayed, she might be able to accept it.
‘It’s dangerous to let the stars occupy the bodies of three people.’
Riche recalled the three dukes she had seen before her breath was cut off.
The abnormally accumulated energy. Now she could vaguely guess the reason.
“War is about to begin.”
The war Gerwehr Duke mentioned. In that war, Gerwehr Duke didn’t return alive.
The three remaining dukes came with a huge surge of energy to the underground cell where they were trapped. At the age of only 20 and 21.
Was using their abilities to that extent their intention? Perhaps the three were also used as tools of the stars.
Like she was used as a purification tool by Gerwehr Duke.
“I have to go save them.”
Ian’s shining golden eyes recognized Riche’s words as sincere. If you want that, then. Ian nodded his head.
“I’ll help. Riche.”
* * *
The guesthouse where Hibernum Duke stays.
And the frozen Gerwehr Duke.
“….”
Ian looked at his father, who reached out with a greedy face.
He had always been terrifying, but now he just looked like a greedy human being.
“You’re a thief. Trying to take what’s mine just because you inherited my blood.”
Every time Ian heard Gerwehr Duke’s words, he denied them.
He said he wouldn’t take what belonged to his father. So, don’t just hate him.
But now, for the first time, Ian thought that might happen.
Father’s possessions might someday become mine.
“Let’s go inside.”
Riche’s voice was heard in Ian’s ear, lost in thought.
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