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chapter 13
The hot, humid summer sea breeze was scattering white hair in all directions.
It had already been thirty minutes.
Without a word, Rivan had left the guest room and was staring at the sea from the deck, while I stood at a distance, debating whether or not I should go comfort him.
“Leave him alone. The shock will be too great.”
Ryan spoke from beside me.
“When he was young, they took him in even though he was an orphan and raised him like their real child.”
“The professors?” I asked.
“Yeah. Among them, some even gave him their family name. They were good people—but imagine how shocking it must be to hear they did human experiments.”
“But you believe everything I say?”
“Honestly, I have no choice but to.”
Ryan sighed.
“There were plenty of strange things. Those professors, who died unjustly… you’d think they’d curse Duke Vassenberg as they died, but strangely, they were calm about it.”
“……”
“If what you’re saying is true, everything adds up. A father who normally does insane things only after careful consideration deliberately ruined an entire estate. There must have been a reason for it.”
Ryan glanced at me and added,
“And since you know so much about events that happened before you were even born, the only explanation is that you overheard things at home somehow.”
I nodded. Ryan looked at me steadily.
…Suspicious, right?
“You find me suspicious, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
“I have a lot I want to interrogate you about right now. But I’m not. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because it would be cowardly to push around a little girl.”
Wow. That’s surprisingly considerate….
“I won’t yell at you or threaten you to force you to talk—it’d be child abuse. I can’t risk going to jail twice.”
“Y-yes.”
I smiled faintly.
From the start, I had trusted that Ryan wouldn’t shake me by the collar or intimidate me, so I had opened my mouth.
“Please keep taking me along. Then I’ll tell everything… slowly.”
In truth, if I wanted to avoid unnecessary questioning, it would be wiser to keep my mouth shut for now.
‘But there’s no time for that.’
Since we were on the same ship, there was a lot of information we needed to share. And if he tried to separate me, that could be dangerous, so I had to reveal information in a useful way.
“What? Were you scared I’d leave you behind?”
“……”
“Don’t worry. I’m planning to stick with you. No matter how you look at it, it’s suspicious that you know so much. You’re definitely my father’s lackey.”
“Huh?”
I was startled, and Ryan scratched his forehead.
“…Anyway.”
He spoke with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“Actually, that Bless of yours? I desperately need it right now.”
“Oh.”
“Desperately enough that I even considered kidnapping my third sister who has the Bless.”
“That’s a crime…”
“I know. But then, unexpectedly, my own daughter shows up before me with the Bless on her own feet, right?”
“……”
“If I say I’m using you, it sounds too heartless, so let’s say we’re helping each other as father and daughter. I, the father, take responsibility for my young and powerless daughter, and you fulfill your duties to your father. How about that?”
“Oh? Sounds good! I love it!”
“Then it’s a deal?”
Ryan smiled and extended his fist. I mirrored him and bumped my fist against his.
“Deal!”
Wow.
Plan A:
- Pretend to be incompetent and get kicked out of the family → Success!
- Meet Ryan and follow him → Success!
- Understand Ryan’s true intentions → Success!
- Form an alliance with Ryan → Success!
Finally, the last step of Plan A had been completed!
I laughed for a long while and then cautiously asked,
“But at the inn earlier… you asked if I was a mutant?”
“Yeah.”
“The Bless doesn’t overlap.”
That’s what Ryan had said.
Even after witnessing the healing Bless <Restoration of Light>, he suspected that two people couldn’t possess the same power….
‘No, it wasn’t just suspicion—he seemed almost certain.’
I wondered why he was so sure.
“Well, since my father doesn’t understand, I’ll tell you my experience: one day, suddenly—Ah! I can use abilities!—I realized it myself.”
“Mm. Right, that’s usually how it happens.”
…Pretending not to know.
“I naturally knew my Bless was a healing type and how to use it.”
“Yeah. That makes sense.”
“I also knew my third sister had the same Bless, but I never thought it was strange…”
I glanced at Ryan and asked,
“Is it really strange?”
“……”
Ryan fiddled with his mouth for a moment, then looked at me and said,
“Yes. By my understanding, it is. Blesses can’t overlap.”
“Could I ask why you’re so certain?”
“Curious?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Ryan nodded and gestured for me to come closer. Nervously, I stepped forward.
He leaned down and whispered secretly into my ear.
“…If you want to know, five hundred gold.”
“Ack.”
Imperial Year 922, August 5th.
In the pouring rain of early dawn, the fifth prince of the Vassenberg family, twelve-year-old Ryan, suddenly woke from a deep sleep.
“Ah!”
A short exclamation. And delight.
The boy sat up abruptly, exhaling harsh breaths, laughing.
‘Me too…’
He shook his trembling hands in front of his eyes again and again, shivering with excitement.
‘I’m also an Ability User.’
That dawn, Ryan realized it like a lightning bolt.
“Blesses just manifest suddenly.”
“You just suddenly realize what your Bless is, how to use it, and how strong it can become with training.”
His uncle had been right.
Until he turned twelve, Ryan had been unable to manifest his ability and was becoming alienated in the family. Yet the only person who treated him kindly was his uncle.
And what his uncle had taught him was correct.
Even more so—
‘It’s the same ability as my uncle’s!’
If Ryan revealed this, he would once again be welcomed in the family.
His father would no longer ignore or scold him.
The boy ran forward with a heart full of anticipation.
He would announce to everyone: I’m an Ability User too. I was not a disgrace to my father.
“Father…!”
Ryan froze.
His father, who had gone to inspect the estate, had returned with his two older brothers.
For some reason, his entire body was smeared with blood, and he was stepping on something…
“Ah.”
What lay on the floor in a horrifying mess was none other than his uncle’s corpse.
“AAAAAAH!”
Startled, Ryan fell back and trembled violently.
As always, his father looked at him as though he were a bug.
“Why, why, why… Uncle?”
Ryan asked.
“Why did you kill him…?”
A truly foolish question.
He knew what kind of man his father was.
“Little brother. Why do you always ask useless questions that irritate your father? Can’t you tell? Your uncle kept defying my orders, so this had to happen.”
His second brother, Elliot, answered for him.
Leaving the shocked Ryan behind, their father and two brothers continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.
Ryan stared blankly at his uncle’s lifeless body.
Then,
‘Ah.’
He realized instinctively.
‘It’s because my uncle died.’
The law of Abilities.
‘That’s why my ability manifested.’
Why an ability that had troubled him for twelve years suddenly awakened that dawn while he was sleeping.
Why it manifested in the same type as his uncle’s.
There was only one answer.
‘Blesses cannot overlap.’
Ryan judged instinctively.
Abilities, a mysterious power even the family’s own Ability Users did not fully understand, probably passed down in the form of inheritance.
If his uncle hadn’t died, Ryan would have continued to think he was powerless.
“By the way, Father, since you recklessly destroyed the Konrad estate, the aftermath will be a bit complicated.”
“That’s right. Only an Ability User could do something like this. There should be at least some excuse for why the estate’s people all died…”
A conversation Ryan couldn’t understand between his two older brothers.
“Oh, don’t worry.”
And Father.
He pointed at Ryan, who was sitting pale and stunned, and said,
“Everything that happened today will be blamed on him.”
