“Why aren’t you answering? I asked if you’re hurt anywhere.”
“...”
“Could it be that you’re scared?”
He had held back as much as he could to avoid displaying any blood.
Cabelenus frowned.
“...Mister, you’re really strong.”
“Looks like you’re not scared then.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Of course it’s your first time seeing it.”
Cabelenus replied gruffly, then shot a sharp glance at Louis.
Louis was so flustered he couldn’t even speak, just opening and closing his lips like a fish out of water.
“What’s the problem that you’re causing all this trouble over a single kid?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s all your fault.”
“My fault?”
Cabelenus raised his head.
“Because of you, my son’s legs—”
“Oh, you mean that guy?”
“Yes! Peter! My son Peter, whose two healthy legs you broke!”
Louis shouted, veins bulging with anger.
When Peter came home in that state, and Maren told him the culprit was that stranger, it felt like the sky was falling.
“Count yourself lucky it’s just that.”
“What?”
“I was about to kill him outright, but I held back.”
“You bastard—”
“And if you wanted revenge, you should’ve taken it out on me.”
Cabelenus stepped forward.
Because of their height difference, even a slight movement made Michael disappear from sight.
“Since you made my son like that, I have the right to do the same to your son! Isn’t that right?”
“Who’s my son…”
Cabelenus stopped mid-sentence.
Michael gripped the hem of his robe tightly.
“…Fine. Let’s just say that’s true, for now.”
‘He said he hated me, so why does he act like this now?'
Cabelenus felt a surge of feelings he couldn’t quite identify — irritation, or maybe something else — and lifted his chin with a crooked expression.
・・・・・
“Go in first.”
“What about you, Mister?”
“I still have things to do.”
Cabelenus turned his head and immediately started walking.
Michael anxiously watched his retreating back, then hurried forward to block his path.
“What?”
“W-well… Ah! So, in the end, you couldn’t catch the wild boar!”
“I caught it.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll have it prepared and bring it over. Your mum looks like she needs some nourishing food.”
If this were Schwarhan, he would have fed her all sorts of delicacies, but this would have to do. A wild boar was better than nothing.
Cabelenus gave a slight nod and continued walking.
Michael nervously chewed on his lips before stepping in front of Cabelenus again.
“Do you have more to say?”
“W-well…”
Michael couldn’t meet Cabelenus's gaze properly, his eyes darting around restlessly.
“If you have something to say, say it properly. I hate it when you stammer.”
“Th… Thank…”
“What was that?”
One of Cabelenus’s eyebrows rose.
Michael took a quick, deep breath and tightly shut his eyes.
“I’m thanking you!”
“What?”
“Thank you for saving me! That’s what I wanted to say!”
Michael shouted it out quickly, then finally exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
His heart trembled.
He wanted to see Cablelenus’s expression, but at the same time, he didn’t want to, so he couldn’t bring himself to open his closed eyes.
"That’s unexpected.”
“...”
“I didn’t think you’d say that.”
“My mum said I should always say thank you properly. And…”
Michael cautiously opened his eyes.
Contrary to his worries, Cabelenus’s expression wasn’t much different from usual.
“I don’t hate you blindly, Mister.”
“...”
“I think you’re okay, even if only just a little.”
Michael mumbled, clenching his fists.
His mum said that the mister could leave anytime, but he didn’t want that.
He didn’t want to suddenly part ways, just like how the mister had suddenly appeared one day out of nowhere.
“So…”
“Don’t leave without telling me.”
Michael cautiously grabbed the hem of Cabelenus’s clothes.
Cabelenus frowned as he looked at the child’s trembling hand.
He couldn’t understand it at all.
He hadn’t done anything particularly kind — so why was the child looking at him with such blind trust?
And why couldn’t he look away from that gaze?
“I—”
“Michael!”
Cabelenus’s face twisted at the voice that suddenly cut in.
Michael blinked a couple of times, then broke into a bright smile as soon as he saw who the voice belonged to.
“Uncle!”
The child’s hand, which had seemed like it would never let go, suddenly slipped free.
Cabelenus frowned, staring at the wrinkled hem of his clothes.
Then he slowly turned his head and looked at the child’s retreating back.
“How have you been?”
“Did you bring candy?”
“Of course I did.”
He had a feeling, and sure enough, it was true.
Cabelenus looked at the silver-haired man embracing Michael.
The finely featured man was a face Cabelenus knew well.
“It’s been a while, Your Highness.”
James gave a gentle smile.
Cabelenus stood there in silence, his face unreadable.
He didn’t like how naturally James’s arm was wrapped around Michael.
“Why are you here?”
"I have no reason to explain myself to Your Highness."
"No reason, you say?"
“Because Your Highness lost that right eight years ago.”
James shielded Michael’s face with his shirt sleeve.
The beast-like man’s eyes sent chills down his spine just by looking at them, but he had no intention of backing down.
Eight years ago, when Alicia fled through the snowy fields, bloodied, the relationship between the two had already ended.
He was the one who held Alicia’s dying hand, and the one who knew Michael’s secret.
Cabelenus, who did nothing, could no longer be granted any right.
“Are you saying you qualify?”
“At the very least, I’m more qualified than Your Highness.”
“...”
“I have stayed by her side all along. Not Your Highness, but me.”
James narrowed his eyes.
Eight years ago, Cabelenus was someone James couldn't even dare to face.
Alicia blindly followed Cabelenus, and James’s feelings weren't deep either.
But time changed many things.
Alicia’s priorities changed, and so did James’s feelings.
Just as Cabelenus, who once held Alicia in his arms as if it were only natural while looking at James, could no longer do so.
“How dare a mere painter...”
Cabelenus unconsciously stopped speaking.
He was watching.
Those ash-grey eyes looked at him anxiously.
“...This is maddening.”
Unable to hold back his irritation, Cabelenus roughly swept his hair back.
He didn’t have to look so much alike.
To do that with a face that looked exactly like Alicia’s was unfair.
・・・・・
“So, what were you thinking?”
“...”
"You're not going to answer?
It was as if they had agreed on what to say while he was gone — no one opened their mouth first.
With a short sigh, Cabelenus drew the sword from his waist and swung it.
Even with a light swing, an old tree came crashing down with a thud.
"If you don’t speak, I don't know who’ll be next."
“...”
"I guess it doesn’t matter if you don’t value your life."
"It's just a personal revenge!"
John cried out urgently, his face pale with fear.
“Revenge?”
“The village chief — no, that old man lost his mind because his son was injured and caused all this!”
“You scoundrel, how dare you—”
"Exactly! Even nobles can’t win against a group attacking them, so he planned to deal with it quietly. And as for payment… uh, well… Your Excellency! Yes! He said he’d share Your Excellency’s riches with us!"
“He said your clothes are expensive and your spending is lavish, so you must have hidden wealth!”
Once one spoke, confessions spilled out from everyone without hesitation.
Cabelenus rested his chin on his hand and silently listened while fiddling with the sword’s hilt.
He didn’t think it would be true, but sure enough, it was.
The clumsy attackers didn’t seem likely to have Zerpheus or Herman backing them.
‘Still, it’s about time for them to make a move.’
He didn’t expect the peace to last forever.
Not being protected by Schwarhan was a huge temptation for the enemies.
They wouldn’t let this chance go to waste.
With a short breath, Cabelenus sheathed his sword.
“If you value your lives, keep your heads down and stay quiet. If you try something like this again, I’ll kill you for real.”
“Th-then you’re sparing us?”
“...”
Instead of answering, Cabelenus just stared, making John panic and drop to his knees, hands clasped together.
“I’ll never do this again! I swear!”
“Y-yes, of course! I’d never do something like this—”
"Alright, get lost."
“Y-yes!”
The moment they were permitted to leave, everyone sprang to their feet as if they’d been waiting for it.
"Ah, wait."
“Yes?!”
Startled, the group turned to Cabelenus, their faces pale.
“There’s a wild boar I caught earlier in the forest. Butcher it and take it to Alicia’s cabin.”
"A wild boar?"
“Remove the skin, and cleanly take out all the blood and entrails.”
“...”
"Aren't you leaving?"
The casually delivered command momentarily threw them off, but there was no way they could defy those beast-like eyes.
In the first place, facing those fearsome eyes was worse than dealing with a wild boar.
“Le-leaving! Of course, we’re leaving!”
The villagers, all sharing the same thought, scrambled off in a rush — no one waited to be told twice.
Cabelenus watched the scene intently, then sat down on a nearby rock.
"Haa..."
Even though he already knew that Alicia had another man due to Michael’s existence, the reality still made his head spin.
Knowing something already and actually seeing it was quite different, making it impossible to contain his emotions.
At first, he was angry, then came the emptiness, and finally, sorrow.
But the pathetic part was that there was absolutely nothing he could do.
Even as he watched James take Michael into Alicia’s cabin, he couldn’t show a single emotion.
His emotions surged out of control, twisting him up inside over and over — but he could do nothing but stare, helpless, not even able to lift a finger.
“I’m really going insane.”
A vein stood out prominently on the back of Cabelenus’s hand.
He had thought that everything would be okay as long as he met Alicia again.
But the eight-year gap was wider than he imagined, and much had changed.
His time had been frozen in place, preserved like a specimen, while hers had kept flowing forward.
‘But, now’s not the time for this.’
Cabelenus ground his teeth, forcefully swallowing down his jealousy.
Without Schwarhan’s protection, Alicia was easy prey.
Right now, her safety had to come first before anything else.
‘How can I convince her…’
Cabelenus’s eyes narrowed.
Something was glinting between the fallen leaves.
“...It’s that kid’s.”
It looked like the necklace chain had snapped while he was struggling earlier.
Cabelenus examined the worn pendant, then furrowed his brow.
The pendant was dented and misshapen, either from being struck by something or being stepped on.
‘He seemed to treasure this quite a bit…’
If Michael found it like this, he might burst into tears.
Cabelenus clicked his tongue and twisted the pendant.
The warped pendant simply creaked open with effort, and the picture inside, crumpled, was slightly poking out.
“This is troublesome.”
Even when he tried to gently straighten it out with his hands, it was useless — the whole casing was bent out of shape.
He would have to take it to a specialist to be repaired.
Cabelenus stared at the crumpled picture through the gap in the open pendant, then suddenly frowned.
Something was off.
The picture inside the pendant was a portrait of Alicia’s mother.
If the necklace belonged to Alicia, it wouldn’t be a problem, but Michael said it belonged to his biological father.
‘…If this amulet was made for that man, wouldn’t it have a different image inside?’
Cabelenus carefully lifted the picture that was sticking out.
He was only checking, and yet his heart was pounding uncontrollably.
It was the instinct of a man more beast than human.
Like a predator catching scent of its prey, he sensed something, purely on instinct.
Thud—
The pendant slipped from Cabelenus’s hand and dropped to the ground.
But the man didn’t even think to pick it up; he just stood there.
He didn’t know what to think, nor what expression to make.
It was as if someone had poured white paint into his mind — everything had gone completely blank.
Beneath the portrait inside the pendant was a faded piece of paper that looked quite old.
And there, drawn on it, was a man with black hair and golden eyes.
It was a younger version of himself, from eight years ago.
“...”
Cabelenus gripped the picture with his rough hand.
His hand began to tremble unexpectedly, and his grip threatened to slip, but stubbornly, he refused to let go. Or rather, he couldn’t.
He didn’t want to let go of whatever he held in his hands.
If he let go now, he feared he’d lose it just as helplessly as he had eight years ago.
Cabelenus exhaled a ragged breath and turned his head.
The child from eight years ago was alive.
Not as a monster, but as an ordinary child.
Translator's Corner:
Cabel finally found out!! (He went through a rollercoaster of emotions in this chapter!!)
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