Chapter 26 (1/2)

Inside a shadowy room on the upper stories of the Magic Tower, Ryan sat bolt upright in his bed with a shriek.

“Uwaaaargh!”

“Huff, huff—”

His breath came in laboured pants as he wiped the cold sweat off his neck, chin and temple, and when his hand reached his eyes, curses naturally welled up within him.

“Fuck…!”

He bit out through clenched teeth while stroking his eyes, one of which was emptied of its organ. He turned to the fog-dimmed windows where the reflection of a mage with one reddish-brown eye stared back at him.

‘Damn it.’ His hollow right eye socket was stinging so much, it rendered sound sleep impossible.

That’s right, it all started from that day…

“You’re too easy to kill.”

He was experiencing hallucinations of hearing a devil’s laughter. Everyone presumed that Ryan had fled from Eian, but nothing could be further from the truth.

“Just kill me!”

Ryan would rather plead for death since he no longer had any desire to live in a world where Eian Krosch existed. Even after he had shouted himself hoarse to the point of wanting to throw up blood, the devil merely snickered; he would never grant Ryan his wish.

“Right, let’s do it this way.”

Eian made his way towards Ryan.

“W-What are you gonna do…!”

Grinning viciously, Eian stretched out his fair-skinned hand towards Ryan’s right eye. He was about to take a step back but stood rooted to the spot as if something was pinning him down. Perspiration gathered thick on his back.

“D-Don’t!”

“Ryan, you should’ve said that before you punctured my sides.”

With those words, an excruciating pain skewered his right eye.

“N-No! Ughh! Uwaaaargh!”

“This is the mark of your foolhardiness that emboldened you to finish me off.”

“Aaaaaargh!”

The smirking devil held a reddish-brown orb in his hand which he mockingly swung before Ryan’s left eye.

“Now, you’ll reflect every time you see your empty eye socket.”

Eian dangled the eyeball in Ryan’s tear-stained line of sight, provoking in him a gut-churning reaction fiercer than the ache in his missing eye. The corners of Eian’s mouth kicked up.

“This is compensation for the present you gifted me, Ryan.”

He dropped the eyeball to the ground then pulverised it beneath his boots.

“Eiaaaaaaan—!”

SMASH—!

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

SMASH—!

Ryan’s ensuing bellow shattered every last mirror in the room.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

His hand brushed his empty eye socket now.‘Reflect?! Don’t make me laugh. I’m going to settle the score no matter what I have to resort to! Even if I have to bet my life!’

Black butterflies sprang out of Ryan’s palm. One of them was assigned to locate Eian.

“Search for Eian Krosch in every nook and cranny, find out who he’s with, and what he’s up to.”

He ground his teeth as he barked the order at his familiars.

“Ferret out what that bastard holds most precious.”

Because even an inhuman bastard like him had to have an Achilles’ heel.

* * *

‘Winter is drawing to a close already.’

Somehow without her realising it, the sun had set on her 11th year and it was already the first month that marked her twelfth year.

‘Though it’s still freezing as ever.’

She pulled a blanket over her head, shielding herself from the gelid blasts of winter air. Seeing her all cocooned in a blanket with only her face showing, her nanny Vanessa asked,

“Are you feeling very cold?”

“A biiit?”

“Only a bit cold?”

Kynemeia tried to be evasive, but she wasn’t fooling Vanessa.

“Mhmm, ice-cold.”