Chapter 9 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Volume 1 Extra 1

Agedilus’s earliest memory was darkness. Darkness where no light ever shone. In that memory, he spent his days in that darkness, not knowing what the word black meant. Real black, not the kind you see when you close your eyes. The seal that emitted a purple light sometimes protected his eyesight in exchange for stealing his freedom.

He could cry and scream but no one would come. In the midst of that darkness, he had a thought once. That there couldn’t possibly be a life more meaningless than this. He thought that at least until the day his adoptive father rescued him from that darkness.

Agedilus didn’t know the name of the family he was born in. I don’t think it mattered to him. Since the day his adoptive father appeared, opening the door that had been sealed countless times, held him up and said, 「From today onwards, your name is Agedilus. Agedilus Von Lancent,」 his surname had been Lancent.

He figured out he had been born in a noble family from hearing the whispered rumours and loud backbiting in front of him. His parents were afraid of his jet black hair – in other words, the strength of his magical power – and sealed him off deep within the house. And then, they were pushed by his adoptive father, whose power stood out even among the 「Black Hairs」, or so he heard.

But so what? At a glance, his situation should have been pitied. Or maybe it should have been laughed at. But his adoptive father was wonderful enough to make up for his miserable conditions. Agedilus wasn’t displeased in the slightest when people said 『he’s been abandoned by his real parents』. When he thought of his adoptive father, he was in fact grateful, 『 they abandoned me, thankfully』.

After having been taken out of that room with that strong seal, he was taken just like that to the Lancent Estate. He couldn’t thank his adoptive father enough for patiently teaching him – he, who couldn’t even read the alphabet properly let alone words – the meaning of 『I’m alive』. Although his adoptive father said, 「You learn so well because you have an amazing memory, don’t you?」 he couldn’t help but think he was extraordinarily determined to be a widower raising a malnutritioned child all by himself without any servants or anyone.

And then, Agedilus finally learned letters and words, learned how to talk, and began to mold into 『himself』.

Agedilus met the one who would become his fiancée, Filmina Veer Adina, the first time he visited the Adina Estate with his adoptive father.

If I were to be honest, by that time the feelings of ‘misanthropy’ and disliking humans had already been instilled in him. It might have been different from exact misanthropy, since his foster father was a human, but that still seemed like the most appropriate word for it. It goes without saying why he felt like that. He could never have liked people who always stiffened their face right after they saw him, as if they were looking at something scary….. As if they’d definitely seen a demon of some sort.

The only person who wasn’t afraid of his appearance was his foster father. The only one who would reach out to him unflinchingly was his foster father. The only one who would call out to him without worrying was his foster father.

That’s how he thought it was, and that’s how he thought it was going to be, so he thought he was fine with things staying like that. At this point, Agedilus had long stopped hoping for any better. And yet.