TSYMVF 61

Chapter 61

“…It was just a cut, that’s all.”

I said, carefully watching Jin’s expression.

Jin looked very displeased about Evan having hurt me.

Maybe it was because a child of the Taylors had injured a child of the Winchesters—something tied to pride.

But for him to show his emotions so openly like this… this was the first time.

The last time Evan attacked me, he’d been murderous too, but not like this—at least not after seeing my wound.

When I looked at Jin with a hint of fear, I could see his black flames slowly dying down.

“I’m fine, brother.”

The corners of my mouth trembled as I forced a smile.

The air was thick with the killing intent and black fire Jin had released.

He looked at me with dark, dissatisfied eyes, then turned his gaze away.

“I know why you’re being so stubborn.”

“……”

“But in the face of death, excuses don’t matter.”

His low voice struck my ears.

I recalled the warning Riccardo had given me on the last Day of Darkness, showing me the guard dogs.

“Yes… brother.”

I had once told Jin that I was trying because I knew I’d be sick in the future.

He must have thought I knew this through the power I inherited from Mother.

“I’ll do more research about your treatment myself. From now on, stay quiet.”

His sharp eyes bore into me.

“The Taylors’ heir is none of your concern.”

“…I appreciate your words, brother. But…”

At that, Jin’s brow twitched.

On my finger was Lysonia, the link between Evan and me.

“I… have to continue.”

I met Jin’s gaze.

“I won’t stop.”

Whether it was the elixir or a brighter future, I was certain it was something I had to win for myself.

In the vision of the Blue Hawk’s secret, Sasha Winchester had never once acted on her own.

So, the ending had always been the same.

My relationship with Jin seemed to have advanced more than in any other round I’d seen, but I had no intention of entrusting my fate or future to him.

That was why, even though his face froze cold, I didn’t bend my stance.

“Still, from now on, be caref—”

As I lowered my head to speak, Jin’s voice cut me off.

“You…”

His voice was icy.

“…You really don’t care at all about the people beside you, do you, Sasha?”

I stared blankly at him, unsure how to respond.

“…You’ll regret it. Without a doubt.”

I never said things in front of Jin that I couldn’t keep. All I could say was “I’ll be careful.”

But I couldn’t help feeling like I had made a mistake.

Jin cast a heavy glance out the window, then left the room, leaving behind a weighty silence.

I kept looking at him until the door closed and his figure was gone.

“…Is he… really that worried about me?”

The thought lingered as I rose from my seat.

Inside his personal space, the Square.

Evan sat at his desk, reading an old tome.

It was The Origin of the Families, a must-read for every child of the Four Great Houses, whether of direct or collateral line.

Mecius sealed Perzetos and divided his power among four dragons, a story recorded by Köln, the royalty of a ruined kingdom before the Yanute Empire.

The text was made up of nine records and one prophecy.

Full of metaphors and symbols, it had been hard to interpret, but over centuries, most of it had been understood. It became the history of the Four Great Families and the justification for their power.

And about a hundred years ago, when Caissa’s Curse manifested, the families learned that Perzetos would eventually return.

“The silver chalice will shatter, and eternal chaos will mix and spread.”

Mecius’s prophecy in The Origin of the Families included a similar line:

“The blue light will march forward, turning back time, again and again.”

Evan Taylors was the only person in the world who knew the meaning of that phrase.

The book had foretold that he, with the power of Clarity, would endlessly regress.

“Above the black pond, the time of eternal dawn shall fall.”

At first, Evan thought the black pond symbolized the Winchester family.

In the old tome, “pond” referred to a “domain,” and “black” meant black flame.

The “time of dawn falling” was a metaphor for eternal ruin.

But when he saw Perzetos’s revival come from someone outside the Winchesters, he abandoned that interpretation.

After that, the prophecy remained an unsolved mystery.

“……”

Evan’s brows furrowed as he recalled the face of the frail girl who had drawn out his suppressed Clarity.

If the black pond refers to that girl… and if the falling dawn doesn’t mean ruin but hope instead…

In previous regressions, Sasha Winchester’s presence had been insignificant, so he had never once thought the “black pond” could be tied directly to the sickly child.

Until recently, he had brushed it off. But now, his conviction grew stronger.

He had thought he would never again be able to manifest Clarity.

In this round only, without reason, his energy had been blocked.

It was enough to make him almost glad, thinking this cursed regression was finally ending.

“……”

Evan stared blankly at the book. Meeting that girl and having the flow open up again was no coincidence.

The Clarity coursing through his body now was so powerful he could barely control it.

Even though Jin Winchester had pushed him hard, the strength was still overwhelming, uncontrollable.

And even that frenzy had been…

―This time, I’ll live longer than you.

Evan recalled the red eyes of the girl who had climbed on top of him.

Her voice echoed clearly in his ears.

“……”

That Sasha Winchester—weak wrists like ferns, pale skin that looked deathly ill—yet she forced down those stronger than herself with wisdom, steadily advancing toward her goal.

A completely different girl from before.

A strange, unique existence.

Evan’s brow twitched.

There had been a moment when his gaze had lingered on her, like a lone daffodil blooming in a field of poison.

But he had thought it only a fleeting instant.

Compared to the endless cycles of regression, it was nothing.

When he remembered her sorrowful expression before he cut her throat, Evan felt a pang in his chest.

“……”

He shut the book and rose.

A deep, brilliant Clarity flickered in his eyes.

In his world of black and white, one vivid color began to move.

Evan Taylors owned nothing beyond this small space.

But if he finally came to possess something… he would never let it go.

[Skill: Black Domination (LV.4 / SS)]

I glared at the status window floating before me.

Then I focused with all my might.

I was going to die. Without a doubt, I was going to die.

At some point, a powerful barrier pierced through, and I was thrown backward.

[Black Domination (LV.5 / SS)]

My backside hurt.

Jin’s black flames were merciless, and all I felt was his clear killing intent.

“You’re still unfit to replace Othello.”

Jin’s voice rang out.

I staggered to my feet.

“…Brother.”

“You said you could do it alone. Already tired?”

We were in the training hall. It had been a month since “that incident.”

By “that,” I meant the time I calmed Evan Taylors’s rampage.

Evan’s confinement would end tomorrow, while I had been rolling under Jin’s hand all this time.

―The head entrusted your training to me. Well, I asked for it.

In any case, Jin’s attitude had grown colder than before.

He was busy as the successor, but he often called me out to torment—no, to train me.

There was no way Grandpa Hector had actually entrusted him with this.

Hector had already judged I had no talent for wielding black flame powers. Maybe for strategy and judgment, but not for this.

But Jin’s training was not in the library.

Every few days, he dragged me to the training hall and put me through hell.

Thanks to his brutal training, my “Black Domination” level had risen, but I was still nowhere near able to withstand his flames.

Even if it was an SS-grade skill, I’d probably need level 10 just to last five seconds against his black fire.

“Stand up and prove your will.”

That time when he looked so angry at me being scratched—was that all an illusion?

Jin didn’t even blink when I rolled on the ground.

“You weren’t bluffing when you said you wouldn’t stop, were you?”

“Ugh…”

“You were barely strong enough to endure in Evan’s room.”

Before I could even catch my breath, Jin’s fierce black flames swept at me again.

Jin was a monster. Riccardo was a monster too.

But to survive among monsters, I had to at least defend myself somehow.

“Don’t you think it’d be better to leave it to me, Sasha?”

At the moment I manifested Black Domination against his ferocious flames—

“…Just obediently go into my display case.”

[You have acquired the A-rank skill ‘Damage Reflection (LV.1).’]

Oh, a new skill appeared.

The moment I sensed it, the newly acquired skill activated.

Jin’s black fire, rushing toward me with intense force, bounced back the instant it touched me.

“…!”

Jin’s brow twitched.

Then he smoothly reabsorbed the flames as they came back at him.

As I staggered backward from the recoil, my knees gave way.

Just before I was about to fall hard on my backside again, a firm chest caught me from behind.

Panting, I looked back—and met Jin’s eyes.

“…Just now… are you okay?”

He had been right in front of me just a second ago. How fast was he?

I pulled away and faced him.

“…I’m fine. I can keep going.”

I showed my determination not to give up through my eyes.

The sun was behind him, so I couldn’t see his expression clearly, but for some reason, I felt a tinge of loneliness.

“Of course. You’re always fine.”

And every time, I’m the only one who can’t bear to watch.