Chapter – 10
Eyes and Butterflies
Evren smiled bitterly.
He couldn’t help but think of the Second Prince at the palace, Kyle Tarandia.
Kyle was a bit more refined, but in terms of being irritating, he was similar to this one.
Evren glanced sideways at the knights who had followed, helping Lerit along.
Lerit was a mess.
Thump, thump…
From his chest, the drumbeats of hell kept sounding.
Ramio Tillard.
“How should I break him for fun?”
Shadows flickered in his lightless eyes.
The “ability of annihilation” stirred dangerously within him.
He was the one who tried to destroy ours first.
Let’s experiment on just how far a human can fall.
We’ve never tried it on a human before.
Even though his body trembled, Evren had never lost to this voice.
Isn’t it ridiculous to submit to an invisible presence?
“…Shall we?”
Until this very moment, that had been the case.
The ability cheered.
Yes! How long I’ve waited to destroy something that can be destroyed! Live according to your nature, Evren Tarandia. And breaking things feels good.
Thump.
Again, the drums of hell sounded in his chest.
“…Ah.”
The rampage erupted.
The space around him expanded into a blinding white.
The trees collapsed instantly, like snow falling.
It was truly a spotless hell.
Evren smiled in satisfaction.
It’s easy once it hits rock bottom. And they struggle, saying they won’t do it…
How should I play with them?
Evren considered the life trapped in his hands.
But then, a lingering image flashed before his eyes.
A sparkling, pale pink butterfly-like vision.
“What is this?”
He reached out and clasped the vision in his hands.
The butterfly scattered a clear, sweet, and transparent fragrance.
Even the rampaging ability faltered.
When did it go from “I want to destroy” to “this smells so good”?
The whitened vision began to clear bit by bit.
And when he opened his eyes,
Evren was holding the arms of the pink-haired woman.
“Your Highness, Prince.”
“…Tillard?”
Lerit was being held by him.
Ramio had collapsed on the floor, and the world that had been turning white returned to normal.
Lerit clenched her teeth, panting.
“If my younger brother… here, if Ramio Tillard dies…”
She sank to the ground, barely able to stand.
“Who would really deal with the aftermath…?”
“Wait, you.”
Evren quickly held Lerit.
His body felt like it was on fire.
“Your Highness… it’s me…”
“Tillard? Your eyes—”
“I’ll just faint.”
As soon as Lerit finished informing him, she closed her eyes.
Several hours later.
Ramio and the other Tillard knights who had fainted were all restrained.
They were gathered in the middle of the camp, and a spell was cast to erase their memories.
“Trash.”
Spitting sounds could occasionally be heard.
It was the shadows making the noise.
The one who got the most spit was Ramio.
“Did you hear what this guy said?”
“I’ve never seen someone so different on the outside and inside.”
“Typical Tillard pretentiousness…”
“No wonder even the base knights are trash!”
Ramio Tillard’s reputation was impeccable.
A cheerful, noble young knight popular with ladies and gentlemen alike.
Even Lerit knew him as kind.
“Actually, Sister Lerit is really unfortunate. Even without abilities, if she tried a little more…”
That’s why Lerit Tillard stood out as the “blemish of the family.”
However, through the communication artifact he carried, the shadows had overheard some conversations.
“Did your head spin running around outside? Come here at once!”
“Why? To make me serve as a maid again? Isn’t the reason you came to fetch me just because your own work is late?”
“This monster, long time no see, right? I’m the one who likes Sister the most.”
The Creator God had made ability users to hunt monsters.
Nowadays, some people even summoned monsters for underground entertainment.
But for someone who served as a royal knight to act this way was absurd.
And to use it on his own blood?
“If the youngest in the family is like this…”
Could it mean that the eldest, Viscount Quern, and Iris agreed?
Even the family’s knights did not hesitate to insult him this way.
Elias crossed his arms and murmured,
“…So it’s a runaway.”
When he had been guarding the prince and heard Lerit’s words, he had laughed inwardly.
How bold would someone have to be to cause such a scene just to get attention?
But it wasn’t that.
Perhaps the truth…
“The runaway was an excuse, and she really intended to die…?”
Chilling as Lerit’s decision was,
“Your Highness’ rampage has subsided.”
He had not yet learned to control it.
The ability of annihilation could not allow that.
Then, indeed,
“…Thanks to Lerit Tillard, perhaps.”
That woman, still feverishly awake in the barracks.
In the prince’s barracks.
The physician accompanying them repeated Lerit’s diagnosis.
“This appears to be the fever of awakening.”
“It’s not that I don’t know what that is, I’m asking.”
“Apologies, Your Highness.”
The prince’s rampage had subsided.
Externally, it showed nothing, but his torn-up insides had recovered.
Yet there was no time to relax.
Evren listened quietly to the sounds coming from the adjacent tent.
Moans of pain and struggling breath kept coming.
The fever of awakening.
As the term implies, it is the fever experienced when an ability user and a controller awaken their powers.
Like a short cold, it usually passes around age three.
But…
“Tillard isn’t at the age to go through this, right? And it shouldn’t hurt this much.”
“Miss Tillard was long considered an unawakened,” the physician said.
The fever she should have experienced in childhood had condensed and erupted now.
Hence, the rebound was inevitably severe.
“…Is that really possible?”
“It’s rare, but it happens once every few decades, Your Highness.”
The physician furrowed his brow at Evren’s expression.
Truly astonishing.
He had served the First Prince for quite a while.
Though not cruel to his subordinates, he was indifferent.
Excessive attention would trigger the ability of annihilation to destroy.
But were you really that close to Lerit Tillard…?
This was not the time to wonder about that.
“Your Highness, I will arrange for female ability users to assist in her care.”
The fever of awakening occurs due to excessive power, so a controller can absorb control through contact.
However, no one of the opposite sex could touch her without permission.
“Do that.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The physician sighed in relief.
After the rampage, Evren’s condition was much better than expected.
You have always suffered from destructive powers…
No opposing voices from the opposite sex could be heard anymore.
Evren silently stared at the tent where Lerit was.
Contrary to the physician’s thoughts, the voice of the ability was not gone.
It had perfectly merged with him.
The red spiderweb pattern glimmered faintly and then disappeared.
