GDWY 11

Chapter 11

As if refusing any other intruder entry, the Count stepped aside just enough for Rosha to pass. When the old woman entered as well, he immediately closed the door.

Rosha, surveying the dimly lit room with only the fireplace burning, turned at the sound of chains moving. The Count had securely locked his room with chains.

“Count…?”

Cautiously calling him out for his strange behavior, Rosha saw the Count wave his hand, as if to say not to misunderstand.

“Do not worry. Once our conversation ends, I will let you out immediately. It’s just that something other than a human might intrude—that’s why I locked the door…”

“I understand.”

Although Rosha couldn’t yet comprehend such peculiar behavior, perhaps the conversation would shed light on it.

She sat in the seat the old woman indicated. For a moment, Sadrak in her arms wriggled, but Rosha patted him inside her coat and waited for the Count to take his seat.

“Then… um, where should I start…?”

The Duke, sitting on the sofa guarded by the old woman, nervously darted his eyes around. Rosha observed him carefully, guiding the conversation naturally.

“I understand that you adopted your current son.”

“Y-Yes. She is still a young lady, but you must have heard about the Beria incident. At the time, I had lost my wife during childbirth and thus both my wife and child. While wandering in grief, I heard of the story of orphans who had lost their parents in Beria.”

“So you went to meet those orphans.”

“At first, I visited to support them… but there was a newborn, not even a year old. Those golden eyes were truly adorable.”

“Is that child now your son, Your Grace?”

His eyes, briefly lost in memory, soon returned to fear.

“Yes. Moreover, the person in charge of the adoption agency strongly recommended that I adopt the child, and since I felt pity and love for him, I ultimately chose to adopt him.”

“But did the strange occurrences begin immediately after you adopted your son?”

The Count shook his head.

“They could be called strange, perhaps, but after bringing him home… I was able to sleep well.”

“……”

“The sleepless nights that followed my wife’s death vanished. Even without lighting the fireplace, warmth permeated the house. And it seemed to center around wherever the child stayed.”

“Then, when did your son begin to frighten you?”

“Probably when he was around three years old. He began to draw.”

Before Rosha even asked to see them, the Count gestured, and the old woman hurriedly brought a bundle of papers from a drawer.

“These are the drawings he began at age three.”

Rosha took the drawings and calmly examined them.

Indeed, for a child’s drawings, they were rather unsettling.

The pages were blackened almost entirely, leaving no white space, and dozens of gleaming eyes stared out, giving an eerie sense as if someone were truly watching. Rosha turned the page.

In the second drawing, red rain engulfed the land. People drowned in the crimson water.

The third depicted several people seated, removing their hearts with knives. The fourth showed a tall tower; so high it touched the clouds, and on closer inspection, it was built from the piled bones of humans.

Rosha flipped through the pages faster and faster.

The fifth drawing depicted a boy and a girl of noticeably different heights. Both had brown hair; the girl’s hair was braided into pigtails, holding the boy’s hand. Surprisingly ordinary, yet the unease remained. Turning to the next page, the boy from the previous drawing was bleeding alone. Red entrails spilled from his abdomen.

For some reason, the boy in the drawing seemed familiar to Rosha.

Rosha attempted to turn to the next page. But seeing the bottom of the drawing, she hesitated to see the full image.

…A snake’s tail was visible.

“Is there a problem?”

“…No. It’s nothing.”

Momentarily hesitant, Rosha feigned nonchalance and flipped the page.

As expected, a demon appeared—a lamia, with a woman’s upper body and a snake’s lower half.

“……”

Her fingertips trembled. Yet Rosha forcibly restrained the shaking and turned to the next page.

The brown-pigtail girl and a long-blonde girl were holding hands, running from the lamia.

And on the next page…

The pigtail girl was dead.

Rosha, unable to hide her anxiety, flipped frantically. The following page showed the blonde girl smiling as if her mouth would tear.

Rosha continued flipping through the drawings. One after another, grotesque images remained, but no more drawings of the lamia, the boy, or the girls appeared.

“Doesn’t it give you chills?”

“……”

“At first, I thought he did it for attention… but at some point, those around him began to die. The reasons varied. Someone happy and laughing one day would commit suicide the next. Others would fall on flat ground and die… Not just people; even animals, touched by him, would stop eating, fall ill, and starve to death shortly after…”

“…I also heard about the demon attacks.”

“You know, then.”

“I heard everything from our leader.”

“…Still, I didn’t think that was the child’s fault. Though our forces were diminished by the monsters’ attacks. But what I cannot endure is when I sense a problem in the child himself.”

“Was there another incident?”

At Rosha’s question, the Count wrapped his arms around himself, trembling.

“Once, I became angry at the child’s disturbing behavior. That night… while sleeping, I felt something strange. When I looked up, my long-time subordinate drove a knife into me.”

With trembling hands, the Count unbuttoned his shirt near his shoulder.

“This wound is from that day. His eyes were vacant, as if controlled by something. When I tried to avoid him… he… jumped out the window and committed suicide.”

“……”

“The moment I realized that the child’s special ability could turn against me, I became utterly afraid of him.”

Rosha listened intently, though inside she silently reassured herself:

It’s just a coincidence. Noah said the evil god will test us to prevent us from finding the child of God. Perhaps these drawings are just one of those tests. I’ll soon find Lily. I cannot be toyed with by demons.

Observing and protecting the candidate who could be God’s child was her priority. Only by completing her mission could she find Lily. She would not allow herself to be manipulated by demons.

“Nothing else happened?”

The Count’s face flushed red. Likely, he hesitated to tell the story he most dreaded.

Rosha strengthened her voice.

“You must tell me everything, without omission.”

Finally, the Duke spoke, almost as if crying, in a bizarre voice.

“My dead wife visits me every night…!”

“……”

“The subordinate who stabbed me and committed suicide roams the hallways. My dead wife lies beside me every night… I haven’t had a single peaceful night’s sleep!”

No more delay was needed.

Rosha requested to meet the boy. The Count, a mixture of fear and hope on his face, nodded and gestured to the old woman.

“You will guide him to this child.”

“Yes, Master.”

As Rosha rose to follow the old woman, the Count hurried ahead to unlock the chains and door. Out of courtesy, Rosha bowed and left the room.

“The child…!”

Just as she was about to walk down the corridor, she heard a voice calling from behind. The Count murmured in fear.

“…Take good care of him.”

It might have been a misperception, but Rosha felt as if he had said to kill the child.

Rosha remained silent. The Count interpreted her silence as consent, closing the door urgently. Chains rattled inside. Rosha followed the old woman, leaving the self-imprisoned Count behind.

“Is the lack of people in this castle because of rumors about the young master?”

“Yes. Currently, only I and the long-serving retainers remain.”

“You’ve served this family a long time, haven’t you, Grandmother?”

Since the path to meet the Count’s son was long, Rosha tried to ease the awkwardness by talking first. The old woman responded willingly, though with a bland expression.

“I’m just an old woman with no work elsewhere. By chance, I ended up here. But I’ve been working here since the young master was adopted—about ten years now.”

“Were you ever afraid of the young master?”

“Pfft!”

“…Grandmother?”

Suddenly bursting into laughter, the old woman startled Rosha. Her laughter was almost mocking.

What is so amusing about this story?

“…The young master…”

The laughter abruptly stopped, unnaturally. The previously laughing woman now stared expressionlessly at Rosha.

“He is the most beautiful, noble, and sacred being in this world.”

…What?

“Follow this path along the estate, and you’ll reach the annex. From here, go alone.”

“……”

“The young master is sensitive and does not like many people approaching, so I will leave now.”

Rosha, still stunned by the old woman’s sudden change, watched as she left laughing.

The candidates born in Beria that year all possess strange powers. I mustn’t be fooled into thinking this child is special just because of that.

Perhaps even this old woman was being manipulated by demons using the child.

Shaking off the emotional disturbance from the first day, Rosha followed the path to the annex.

She left footprints in the deep snow. The sky and ground were entirely white, a dazzling landscape. While admiring it, a small shadow passed over her head.

Looking up, she saw a snow-white dove flying past. The sight was picturesque.

Sadrak, buried in Rosha’s coat all day, poked his head out.

“Sadrak!”

Before Rosha could catch him, he leapt out, running across the snow. Perhaps he enjoyed feeling the ground, or maybe the snow was fascinating. Ignoring Rosha’s calls, he bounded along.

Coincidentally, Sadrak headed to the back of the annex with the dove.

“Wait, Sadrak!”

Rosha had no choice but to run after him. They finally reached the back of the annex, and Rosha’s legs naturally stopped.

A group of doves had gathered in a circle, surrounding a boy.

One dove perched on the boy’s head fell, yet the others nestled into his hands and rubbed their beaks against his cheek.

A boy with silver hair and golden eyes smiled warmly at the small creatures.

Like a baby angel in a sacred painting.

Not only doves approached the angelic boy—Sadrak, the white wolf, was there too. The boy tilted his head at the strange creature, cautiously reaching out.

At that moment, Rosha recalled the Count’s words:

“Not only people, but animals touched by him stop eating, grow weak, and starve…”

“No, Sadrak!”

At Rosha’s desperate shout, the boy’s hand froze.

Instead, his golden eyes met hers.

Startled, their eyes widened in recognition.

Then,

“Rosha!”

He sprang forward and ran to her, calling a name she had never introduced herself by.

Rosha tried to step back, but the boy was faster.

He clung tightly to her waist.

“I really wanted to see you!”

Rosha swore to the heavens—she had met this boy for the first time today.

Yet, the boy, knowing her name immediately upon meeting her, whispered in a voice full of affection.

“I always believed that someday, you would come to see me…