I stepped into a dimly lit underground laboratory.
“Ci etera.”
As I recited the spell, a white mass of light appeared above my palm.
I made my way through the room filled with specimens and experiments of all kinds and soon I found what I was looking for.
A black-haired boy who looked about my age was trapped in a cage as tall as me.
The boy curled up to sleep with shackles on his limbs.
I brought the light close to him to take a closer look, the boy opened his eyes with a small groan.
He scrambled to his feet and pushed himself away from me.
Even though he was injured and covered in dirt, he had a beautiful face that took my breath away.
Due to his young age, Clyde was more pretty than handsome, but his beauty was undoubtedly indicative of him growing into a remarkably handsome man.
The clear bright red eyes glared at me. His exposed fangs, like those of a beast, were sharp. Both were undeniable evidence of his demonic heritage.
‘……it’s real.’
I had hoped it wasn’t.
Even though I knew it was in vain, the hope I couldn’t let go of shattered within my heart..
I looked at the person who would kill me seven years from now with a troubled mind.
The boy’s name is Clyde Mezzer.
He was the protagonist and final boss of the novel “The Blood-soaked Beast,” who would take the lives of millions of people, including me, and destroy the empire.
It was on my eighth birthday that I realized that I had been reincarnated as a character in a novel.
The memories of my past life came back with a bang, without any sign or context.
Originally, I was a college student in South Korea. One night, while walking home, I was stabbed to death by someone unknown.
It seemed to be what they call a “random murder.” Of course, it’s just speculation. Since I was already dead, there was no way to confirm.
‘Reincarnated as a fictional character, I’ve seen it a lot on Rofan, but I never thought it would actually happen in real life….’
The character I was reincarnated as was Eila, the famous daughter of Julion Rojasis, the greatest archmage of the Palma Empire.
In the novel, she was an extra who only appeared in one scene. And in that scene, she was brutally murdered by Clyde in front of her father, Julion.
Clyde, a hybrid of human and demon, was born to a mother who concealed his existence. However, Julion discovered their secret and subsequently subjected Clyde to be used as an experimental subject.
After years of suffering from all kinds of inhumane experiments, Clyde eventually awakened his magical power and succeeded in escaping.
Years later, he returned as the new king of the demonic world and invaded the Palma Empire.
After successfully conquering the capital city of Trachen, the first thing Clyde did was to seek revenge on Julion.
He slaughtered Eila and her entire family, and as if that wasn’t enough, he wiped the Palma Empire off the map.
The heroine of the novel was Princess Sylphia of the Palma Empire, and Clyde captured her and used her as a tool for his desires.
More than half of the novel is devoted to Clyde’s desire for Sylphia’s flesh in all sorts of sadistic and lustful ways.
That’s right. <The Blood-soaked Beast> was an R-19 gore novel.
…and it was also my favorite.
‘Of all the novels, why was I drawn to that one in particular?’
I cursed and resent my tastes in my previous life, but it was too late to regret it.
However, I had no intention of waiting for my death quietly just because my fate was predetermined.
‘It’s enough to die so unjustly once.’
I began devising a plan to survive.
Fortunately, I had inherited my father’s talent for magic.
It also helped that I had regained my memories of my previous life, and my mental age had grown rapidly, similar to back then.
So, day and night, I dedicated myself to studying. And at the age of thirteen, I had already achieved accomplishments comparable to a graduate of the academy.
Needless to say, the reason I was so dedicated to my magical studies was so that I could ensure a swift escape for Clyde if he was ever captured.
But….
‘It wasn’t as easy as I thought.’
I frowned as I carefully examined the cell where Clyde was trapped. The cage had multiple layers of strong and secure magical barriers.
Clyde’s body was already filled with restraints suppressing his magical power, but additional stringent seals were placed on him separately.”
“Did Father know in advance that Clyde would awaken his tremendous magical power? If he did, he shouldn’t have done such an outrageous act. Stupid, foolish Father!”
I inwardly shouted the countless words of resentment I had been uttering for the past five years.
“What are you doing?”
Clyde growled in a cracked voice.
His red eyes were full of hostility and vigilance against me.
“Don’t worry, I’ve come to rescue you.”
“Rescue me? Me?”
“Uh. Don’t talk to me, just be quiet.”
“…….”
I tried several different methods of dispelling methods that I knew.
But none of them were enough to break my father’s barriers.
I can’t do it the normal way. To break the seal, I first need to find out what kind of magic was used.”
I sighed and stretched out my legs.
“I can’t do it right now. I think it’s going to take a while.”
“…How long?”
“I don’t know. It could be as early as a few days, maybe a few weeks…, It could be over a month.”
“…….”
In the novel, there was no information at all about when Clyde was captured and brought in.
In the scene where he killed Eila, the only description was ‘Eila had just turned twenty.’
With that information, I could only make a rough guess that she was in her early to mid-teens when Clyde was captured.
If I’d known the exact time, I could have prevented Clyde’s capture in the first place.
Of course, there was no point in thinking about it now.
“So just trust me and hang in there. I’ll get you out of here, no matter how long it takes.”
“But what about my mom? Do you know where she is?”
Clyde asked urgently.
Clyde’s mother, Hena Mezzer, was sentenced to death for the sin of giving birth to a child with the blood of a demon.
She was the only thing he loved besides the heroine, Sylphia, and the one thing that drove him to seek blood-bathing revenge.
I became aware of Clyde’s capture when I heard about Hena’s imprisonment.
“Don’t worry, she’s still alive.”
“Still? What does that even mean? Ugh…!”
Clyde gripped the bars with both hands, then pulled back with a pained groan.
It appeared that a magic spell was in effect, causing pain upon touching the bars as a measure to prevent him from escaping.
“Calm down. It just means that her sentence hasn’t been carried out yet. I’ll rescue her in time, so don’t worry.”
“Really? Do you mean that?”
“Yes. But there’s one condition.”
“Condition?”
“Yeah. The condition is in return for rescuing you and your mother. Promise me, if you ever get out of here, you will never think of taking revenge.”
“…….”
Clyde looked at me with an expression that seemed to question why I was making such a demand. Probably because the real experiments and torture have yet to begin.
“What are you going to do? Are you going to promise me or not?”
Clyde hesitated, then nodded.
“…Okay, I promise. But only if I get out of here alive and see my mother.”
“Good.”
I stuck out my pinky.
Clyde narrowed his eyebrows and looked at it.
“What are you doing?”
Oops, I’ve inadvertently brought up a habit from my previous life.
This world didn’t have a culture of giving the pinky finger when making promises.
Still, it was a little embarrassing to put it back, so I pushed on.
“Mages link their pinky fingers in making important promises. If you break your promise, you’ll lose your life immediately.”
I smoothly lied, trying to make it sound natural.
At the mention of death, Clyde hesitated for a moment, but then he stretched his pinky over the bar as if he had made up his mind.
I linked my little finger to Clyde’s and shook it up and down three times.
“The person who brought you here will start conducting experiments on you from tomorrow. Some of them might be difficult and painful.”
I pulled a handful of pills out of the pocket I’d packed and held them out.
