Chapter 13
Emilyna gasped as though she were about to collapse, and Kir stopped her with a voice filled with worry.
After steadying her breath, Emilyna turned to him and said,
“I lost, Kir. So, what’s your wish?”
“Can I tell you later?”
“Later? When exactly?”
“Hmm… I can’t really think of one yet.”
Emilyna nodded.
It was understandable. Sometimes you couldn’t decide on a wish right away.
“Alright. But it has to be something I can actually grant, okay?”
“Yeah!”
Kir answered with such energy, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
Somehow, she felt like she was being tricked. Emilyna couldn’t shake the unease, but decided to let it slide.
There was something more urgent to take care of anyway.
“Good. Then let’s go collect the Paya fruits now!”
“Paya fruits?”
“Yeah. Hurry. If they fall into the shade, they’ll disappear.”
Emilyna pulled Kir by the hand.
The forest seemed quiet today, not many people around.
Relieved that there wouldn’t be a scramble for spots, Emilyna decided to take her time looking through the trees.
Having finished collecting, Emilyna and Kir were now relaxing.
They lay on the grass, using it as a pillow, basking in the warm sunlight under the flawless blue sky.
“Kir. Do you remember?”
“Hm?”
“This is where we first met.”
“…Yeah.”
Emilyna closed her eyes, as if lost in memory.
Time had passed, but she still couldn’t forget that first meeting.
Because it had been that intense.
Kir’s wounds… the unspeakable state he had been in.
“Can you tell me why? Back then, those wounds.”
“Oh… that. It was nothing. Just someone chasing me, saying I was the cause of their misfortune.”
Emilyna was speechless.
To suffer such cruelty for a reason that absurd—and call it nothing?
But she couldn’t bring herself to press further.
Kir spoke so nonchalantly, as though it truly didn’t matter, and that only made her heart ache.
He must’ve been hurt deeply…
Emilyna regretted bringing it up.
Then, she heard his small voice.
“Thank you, noona.”
“Hm?”
“I just… I never got to thank you properly.”
That was unexpected. Emilyna chuckled, embarrassed by the sudden sentiment.
Turning her head, she noticed Kir’s face looked rounder than before, healthier.
Even his height seemed to have grown.
Well, he’s at that age after all.
A warm, swelling feeling filled her chest. It was rewarding—seeing him grow well after she’d fed and cared for him.
Right. Why should I dwell on Kir’s past?
All she needed to do was keep supporting him, helping him grow like this.
“Alright then! From now on, this big sister will take responsibility for you!”
“Big sister?”
“Yeah. Don’t like it?”
“Then… should I start calling you that from now on?”
Kir looked her in the eye, asking seriously.
Their gazes met in the air, neither speaking for a moment.
Finally, Emilyna broke the silence with a laugh.
“Pfft. What was that?”
Kir gave her a sheepish smile.
It was such a happy time.
Stretching her arms wide, Emilyna said,
“I wish things could always be like this.”
“Like what?”
“Just… living together peacefully, with nothing happening.”
“…Yeah.”
Kir smiled, but it was tinged with sadness.
Emilyna tilted her head.
Why was he making that face?
“Do you… not want that?”
“No! Not at all. I want to stay with you too.”
Kir shook his head firmly.
A smile spread across Emilyna’s lips.
“Mm. Me too.”
She meant it.
She wanted nothing more than to continue living peacefully, without incidents or accidents.
To keep savoring this simple happiness.
And to protect this tranquility, she reminded herself again:
Live as quietly as if dead.
Never cross paths with the protagonists. Never get involved with them.
Emilyna wished only for good days to come.
…But only a few days later, Kir collapsed.
It was a severe fever.
An empty corridor. Two maids, neatly dressed with aprons, walked silently.
One finally broke the silence.
“Hey… you know the room at the end of this hall? They say a monster lives there.”
“Really? But isn’t food brought there every day?”
Looking around to make sure no one was near, one maid put a finger to her lips.
“Shh. It’s a secret, but inside that room—”
In a room steeped in darkness, muffled voices could be heard faintly through the door.
In one corner, a child sat with knees drawn up, hands pressed tightly over his ears.
“I… I’m not a monster.”
But no matter how hard he pressed, he couldn’t completely block the words.
Monster.
Black beast.
Child who brings misfortune.
At some point, that was what people had begun to call him.
As the voices faded and silence returned, the child finally lowered his hands.
“Mother…”
His trembling voice echoed in the room, and he buried his face in his knees, sobbing.
He didn’t understand why he was here.
The chilling silence of the room terrified him.
But what lay beyond the door was even more frightening.
Those people who treated him as something alien.
Those who approached him reluctantly, faces twisted in fear.
It was unbearable.
The child thought endlessly.
When had it all gone wrong?
Why had he been called a monster?
Perhaps it started then…
His gaze drifted into the void, eyelids slowly growing heavy.
“Mother!”
A pale-faced woman collapsed to the ground.
The boy tried to rush to her, but was stopped.
Large hands gripped his arms tightly.
“Let me go!”
“Young master, if you do this, the madam will be in greater danger!”
It was his mother’s maid, desperately holding him back.
She knew. She knew well about her lady’s condition.
And she knew, too, that the threat to her lady’s life was none other than the young master himself.
That was why she held him back, keeping him away.
But Kirzen would not listen.
All he wanted was to reach his mother, and being restrained without reason only filled him with anger.
“Let me go, I said!”
In that moment, a flash of light burst, blinding his vision white.
When he came to, panting in shock, he saw terrified servants around him.
At the center, the maid who had blocked him so firmly lay bleeding on the ground.
Kirzen instinctively realized.
This was his doing.
“I-I didn’t mean to…!”
But it was too late. That single act became a signal flare of terror for the servants.
“Kyaaa! A… a monster!”
When Kirzen reached out a hand, one maid screamed.
Another collapsed backward, trembling like she faced some unspeakable horror.
His small hand froze in the air.
“A… monster? Me?”
The word lodged in his throat, leaving him dazed, as if struck in the head.
By the time he blinked himself back to awareness, he was already in a dark room.
And through the narrow crack of the closing door, he saw his father’s cold eyes.
Without hesitation, his father pulled the door shut. There was no trace of reluctance.
The heavy thud of the door echoed like a hammer to his chest.
“F-Father…!”
Kirzen ran desperately to the door, pounding on it.
“Father! I didn’t mean to! It wasn’t on purpose!”
Tears streamed down his face as he shouted again and again, but the silence beyond the door never broke.
He feared it might never open again.
“Father! Please…!”
Please listen to me. His cries echoed, but no answer came.
The hallway was silent, his voice the only thing resounding endlessly.
He pounded until his hands bled, but he couldn’t stop.
Because he was afraid of his own existence.
“I’m not… a monster.”
Not a monster…
Kirzen stared blankly at his bloodstained hands, muttering the words over and over.
At dawn, Emilyna stirred awake, rubbing her bleary eyes.
“Hhh… n-no…!”
“Mm? Kir?”
“Huff… I… I’m not… that…!”
Rubbing her eyes, Emilyna lifted her head.
Kir was groaning in his sleep, drenched in cold sweat.
His breathing grew harsher, more painful. Alarmed, Emilyna reached out and touched his forehead.
He’s burning up!
The fever was even worse than last night.
Kir’s forehead was scorching hot, like molten lava.
