Chapter : 02
How did the eldest brother die again?
Back in the attic, Elena sat down on the creaking bed and thought.
He had gone out alone to hunt monsters in the dead of winter, when icy winds sliced into flesh. But he never returned.
He remained missing for a long time, and when spring came and the snow melted, he was found as a corpse.
At the time, the eldest brother had been only fifteen years old.
“I thought he could at least handle a sword, but I guess not.”
That was all Duke Rode—her father—had said, before calmly returning his gaze to the book he had been reading.
It was a level of indifference that made it hard to believe his biological son had died while taking a test imposed by him.
As for the second brother, he died around the age of twelve after drinking poison.
He had been trying to build resistance by ingesting small amounts, but something went wrong.
The Duke merely frowned at the second brother’s foolishness and didn’t properly comment on his death at all.
But even the third sister, who had shown exceptional talent unlike the others, met the same fate.
She took her own life under the pressure of the Duke’s tests.
It happened two days before she was to turn nineteen.
When the child he had placed the most expectations on left of her own accord, the Duke let out a rare, heavy sigh.
“Disappointing.”
The third sister, who had lived in a constant state of extreme tension out of fear of disappointing him, was already gone from the world.
All that remained for Elena were her fourth sister, Courtney, and her fifth brother, Joseph.
The sixth brother, who had been just above Elena, had died of a cold at around five years old and wasn’t even buried in the family grave.
“Compassion makes people weak. Erase useless emotions. Then you will move closer to the position of heir.”
At Duke Rode’s words, no one mourned their deaths.
Those words were the sole truth of this household—and a tool that allowed everyone to pretend not to see the cruelty.
In Elena’s eyes, this place was nothing but a den of sociopaths and lunatics.
But is that man the only one?
A monster who tore people apart like a bear—though he wasn’t one—had arrived at the castle.
Thinking of Sirius, Elena stood up. Sitting calmly wasn’t an option when the future looked so bleak.
The official reason Sirius had come to the Rode duchy was that the Emperor had appointed Duke Rode as his mentor.
But in reality, the Emperor was hoping Sirius would be worked to death under the cruel Duke.
After all, he couldn’t kill Sirius directly—the incarnation of a wolf.
From that perspective, the current Emperor was a truly despicable man.
Still, Elena could understand his feelings just a tiny bit.
How unsettling must a ten-year-old boy have felt even to a grown adult, to drive him to such lengths?
Even back then, Sirius had an aura that made him hard to approach.
So the Emperor must have sent him here while clinging to a thread of hope.
Of course, it was a foolish hope.
Not only did Sirius survive under Duke Rode, he even met the Duke’s impossibly high expectations.
That was why the Duke had even considered making him the heir—and had arranged his engagement to Courtney, the fourth daughter.
But that was unfortunate for Courtney.
Because Sirius would go on to kill more than ten fiancées, including her.
“Just thinking about it is terrifying.”
Elena shivered as she changed her clothes.
Killing the women he had promised to become closest to, with his own hands—it was far too cruel.
Though, Sirius did have his own circumstances.
Simply by existing, Sirius was special, and that meant he had many enemies.
Being a fiancée was no exception.
Some of them had approached him deliberately as spies or assassins sent by the Emperor.
Others tried to use him for their own gain.
Some, greedy like Courtney, attempted to turn Sirius into a puppet to satisfy their ambitions.
There were even cases where they meticulously planned everything, preparing poisons that would erode his nerves.
In the end, they were all personally executed by Sirius.
In cases like those, even Elena could understand him.
But still—killing every single fiancée was a bit much.
Among them were women with unavoidable circumstances.
Was it the eighth fiancée?
She had leaked information about Sirius because she couldn’t withstand her father’s threats.
If she didn’t act as a spy, the nurse who had raised her since childhood would be killed.
But even after learning the full story, Sirius didn’t forgive her even slightly.
In other words, her end was the same as the others—death as repayment for her crime.
No wonder Elena could only see Sirius as a cold and merciless man.
If there were mitigating circumstances, couldn’t he have given an appropriate punishment and then broken the engagement?
Isn’t that what protagonists usually do?
Well… what could you expect from a lunatic?
She shouldn’t expect kindness, mercy, or anything of that sort from Sirius.
Feeling goosebumps rise all over her body, Elena finished getting ready.
Now that preparations were complete, it was time to do what she had to do.
“First, I hide.”
The other siblings would be loitering in the corridors out of curiosity about Sirius, but Elena wanted no part in catching his eye.
That was why she had changed clothes in advance—to minimize noise as much as possible.
We’ll see each other anyway when we’re formally introduced later, so what does it matter?
Except when unavoidable, she wanted to avoid running into Sirius.
No matter how handsome the book described him as, there was no way she wanted to meet a madman who would kill over ten fiancées.
Elena reviewed her plan once more.
Stay still. Do nothing.
The strategy was to cling to Sirius’s side so faintly it was like she wasn’t even there.
He would handle everything on his own, and she would simply get off when the Rode family collapsed.
If her presence was faint enough, he might not even notice when she disappeared.
Her heart began to race at the thought that something was finally starting.
Elena quietly held her breath and hid herself in the attic.
But that peace didn’t last long.
* * *
“What’s that sound…?”
Hidden in the attic, Elena perked up her ears as the noise gradually grew louder.
Something felt ominous. It seemed like someone was approaching.
Should I go out now?
No. It was too late.
And judging by the footsteps, it wasn’t just one person.
Moving as quietly as possible, Elena paced the room in anxiety before finally pressing her ear to the door.
It was impossible to move somewhere else now.
All she could do was pray that the person outside wasn’t Sirius.
“Why have you brought me here?”
But the voice outside belonged to a young boy.
And it was a clear, protagonist-like voice.
It was definitely Sirius.
Elena clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from groaning.
This was bad.
Her body tensed on its own. Her hair stood on end, and her heart began pounding.
Her toes tingled so badly she wanted to stomp her feet.
But I can’t actually do that. Get a grip!
Fortunately, there was a wall between them.
As long as she stayed quiet, no one would notice there was someone in this room.
Elena stepped back as softly as she could.
She was curious about what they were saying outside, but if she pressed her ear to the door and it suddenly opened, she’d be completely doomed.
It would make quite the first impression—on Sirius, or anyone else.
And she wanted no part of that.
Suppressing her curiosity, she waited silently.
“…Have they gone?”
Eventually, even the faint sounds disappeared completely.
Even though it felt tedious, Elena carefully counted to one hundred.
Phew.
The tension drained from her body.
She crept toward the door and placed her hand on the doorknob.
Creak.
Holding the knob tightly with her small hand, she cautiously pushed the door open.
But at almost the same moment, she let out a startled scream.
“Ah!”
Pulled forward by a force from the opposite side, Elena stumbled.
But instead of the floor, she collided with someone’s chest.
“…I thought it was just the wind.”
If she’d fallen into his chest, that meant they were about the same height…
Elena stiffly lifted her head.
A boy’s face came into view.
No matter how she looked at him, he was undeniably handsome.
And with time, he would grow even more captivating—enough to charm countless people.
People would praise him as a stunning beauty, even while calling him a lunatic.
With his icy silver hair and violet eyes, it was unmistakably Sirius.
Elena’s eyes widened in shock.
…Maybe she should’ve just closed her eyes. That would’ve been better for escaping reality.
For some reason, Sirius had dismissed the others and remained alone in the corridor.
Right in front of the attic where Elena lived.
“Excuse me. Thanks to you, I wasn’t hurt.”
Though she felt on the verge of losing her mind, she somehow managed to speak properly.
Thanks to Sirius, her knees weren’t smashed—but maybe it would’ve been better if she’d just fallen.
She lightly pushed against him, trying to free herself from his arms.
“Pretty.”
But Sirius didn’t let go.
Instead, he even pulled her slightly closer, as if he had no intention of releasing her.
“…What?”
“I said you’re pretty.”
Elena stared blankly from within his arms.
Sirius was looking down at her, examining her closely.
The compliment didn’t even linger in her ears—it passed right through.
She couldn’t immediately process what he had said.
Was it even a compliment to begin with?
His tone was detached, as though he were simply stating an objective fact.
“You resemble Duke Rode. Who are you?”
Startled by the sudden question, Elena hurriedly straightened up.
This time, he let her go easily—but the eyes pressing her for an answer were cold beyond his years.
“Elena Rode.”
“So you’re the youngest daughter of the Rode family.”
Elena nodded, hiding her surprise at his familiarity.
