The day wasn’t that much different from usual. Baron Eind woke up in the afternoon, ate a late breakfast, and held meetings with other nobles as usual.
He took a look at the slave girls his close Duke acquaintance newly bought, and then he chatted and joked around with others. Following that, he went home and fell asleep drunk off wine. Until that moment, everything was the same as usual.
“Y-You…”
Baron Eind shuddered as he sat on the floor, his face full of horror. It wasn’t just because he was a more fearful person than others. Everyone would be terrified if an uninvited guest came to their room at night, even more so if the guest was holding a sword.
“Who- who sent you?”
“No idea,” The man in the mask replied coldly. He was standing against the window, and the Baron couldn’t even see his face.
As he approached slowly, the terrified Baron Eind spoke with a trembling voice, “How much- how much did you get? I can give you more than whatever pay they offered!”
Baron Eind thought this was so unfair to him. He had never done anything to earn people’s resentment.
Of course, he treated the lower class terribly and did some awful things to gain power, but that wasn’t a very big fault.
Baron Eind shouted in horror, “Who the hell are you?! Why me?!”
“Why are you so curious?”
At that moment, the man raised his sword. The mask covering his face fell to the floor, and a pair of blood-red irises was the first thing that caught the Baron’s attention.
“You’re going to die anyway.”
Only then did Baron Eind recognize who the man was:
“Prince… Raytan. The cursed-”
But it was too late for his realization.
“Khekh-…”
The sharp sword pierced through his heart. Baron Eind wriggled around in pain like a drowning worm. Soon after, his body stilled.
Raytan slowly pulled out his sword. He could hear the unpleasant sound and feel the unfamiliar texture of the corpse through his sword.
His big, muscular hand wiped away the spattered blood drops on his face. The smell of blood stabbed at his nose. This was already the third time, but he hadn’t yet gotten used to the smell.
“Ha…” Raytan exhaled a faint sigh then looked down at Baron Eind, who had become a dead body.
His name was on Lize’s kill list. The Eind family has supported the Emperor from generation to generation, and it is still the same now. In other words, Baron Eind was one of those who would stand in the way of his mother’s plan.
“Yes, the Cursed Prince…”
The one that all of you harass, ignore, and try to kill.
“I am not the one who started it. It’s not me. It’s you guys who started it first,” Raytan muttered and stared down at the Baron.
‘…Sir.’
Suddenly, there was a strange voice.
‘His Majesty trusts you, and I will too. So, to further solidify that trust…’
Raytan narrowed his eyes. However, Baron Eind’s lips couldn’t move when his body was a corpse quickly cooling down.
‘Seal… The power…’
“…What?”
Ratan suddenly experienced a headache that felt like his head was splitting into two. He stumbled a little, and when he regained his bearings, the unknown voice had stopped. Confusion arose in the pair of red eyes that looked down at Baron Eind’s dead body.
***
The splashing sound of water echoed in the bathroom. Raytan washed his hands expressionlessly. The blood got washed away as if it never existed at all.
“…”
Raytan suddenly looked into the mirror. His reflection looked no different from usual. No one would think that he had killed a person a while ago.
“Right, there’s nothing different…”
But why did he hear such a strange voice? So suddenly too.
Raytan, who stood and stared blankly at the mirror, started to wash his face with cold water.
He must have heard wrong.
There was only him and Baron Eind at the scene. Moreover, the dead Baron Eind could not speak.
“It was nothing,” Raytan turned the faucet off, swept his hair aside, and muttered that.
‘Seal… The power…’
He struggled to ignore the unknown words that seemed to linger in his ears. There was no one in the empty hallway. Around him was the same scenery as usual. However, Raytan hurriedly moved on because Sezh was waiting.
Several days have already passed since he brought Sezh into his palace. Sometimes he was unfamiliar with the fact that someone was waiting for him there. But even if it was different, Raytan thought it wasn’t bad.
His palace, the place he used to be alone and quiet, seemed to feel strangely warm.
This was always Raytan’s routine before going to see her. He will wash his hands and check if there is still a smell of blood. It was also the same today.
After meticulously checking himself almost a thousand times, Raytan opened the door.
“Brother,” Sezh, who sat at the table, smiled brightly and got up from her seat. “Isn’t this a good night? The weather is so nice.”
“That’s right,” Raytan also replied with a faint smile and took a seat on the long chair.
“Where should we start today? A homework check? Or solving some problems?” Sezh asked.
“Do whatever you like.”
“Whatever I like?”
“You’re going to fall asleep anyway. So why does the order matter?”
“I’m not, okay. I really won’t fall asleep today.”
Sezh made a cheeky sound, and Raytan chuckled a little.
He no longer heard the unknown voice.
***
“Elderly, please give me a penny. Only one penny… Please, show me some benevolence….”
Was the kid even six or seven years old at best?
A young child with a dirty face and dirty clothes was begging for a while. Unfortunately, he yielded no results.
“You filthy bastard! Where are you holding onto!”
Far from receiving money, the child got kicked like a dog. A middle-aged man, who seemed extravagant at first glance, struck the child on the floor with all his might.
“I, I was wro-…”
“My clothes got dirty because of you! You damn beggar!”
“Priest…”
The person standing next to him held the man back. Priest? He really said ‘Priest’? Eton was truly amazed. Things were also like this when he went to the Iyont Empire.
Eton laughed.
“Elderly… please….”
As if his anger had not been relieved yet, the ‘priest’ wildly kicked the child. Once, twice…
And just right before the third kick, the priest fell and rolled over on the floor like the kid he had just been kicking.
“Kid, are you okay?” Eton carefully helped the collapsed child to stand up. The child didn’t answer him and looked frightened.
“This- this guy you dare- do you know who I am-”
Eton looked up with an annoyed face. After that, he looked at the child who hurriedly hid behind his back.
“You are a priest, aren’t you? The kid next to you said that.”
“A bastard who knows that- get him right now!”
When the priest gave the command, the onlooking crowd surrounded Eton. But, unlike the priest’s orders, they couldn’t seize him. It was because their clothes suddenly caught on fire.
“Eu- Ak-Akh!”
The street quickly became a mess. The priest didn’t seem to understand what was happening right before his eyes. Eton glared at him for a moment and slapped his cheek hard.
It was exactly three times.
“You kicked that child three times, so you have to be hit three times.”
“Khekh… This, this…”
The priest couldn’t speak properly with his bloated mouth.
“H-He kicked me only- only twice….”
“Hm?” Eton looked down.
“Not three times…” The child spoke hesitantly.
Eton smirked, then laughed, “You are a very kind child. You’re even worried about him in this situation.”
“That-that’s not it, but…”
“Then let’s say the third one was my personal vendetta. Even if it wasn’t three times, it still annoyed me.”
Eton muttered something that couldn’t be understood while searching through the clothes of the priest who sat on the floor. Soon, he took out a few gold coins from the pocket.
“Here, with this, you don’t have to beg for a while, do you?”
“B-but…”
“Come on, take it and go home. Don’t worry about the future.”
Eton put the gold coins in the child’s hand. The child hesitated for a while but eventually took them and left.
After confirming that the child was leaving, Eton bent his waist and held the priest’s wrist. He grabbed it tightly.
“Eu- Ak-Akh!” the man screamed.
“Is it hot? If I don’t loosen my grip like this, you’ll be well cooked to the bones.”
It wasn’t a lie. The priest’s wrist slowly turned red. Soon, there was an unsightly blister. Now it was a burn.
“This, this… I won’t let you get away with this!”
“Beg me. Say, ‘Please let it go’.”
“Eu, Ugh…”
“You won’t?”
Eton increased his power. The priest, with his piercing cries, began to scream and beg.
“Please, please let it go… please….”
“If you do something like this one more time, there will be no mercy. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Yes…” The priest sobbed.
Eton finally let go of his wrist. Then, as if he had touched something dirty, he wiped off his hands and walked out the place leisurely.
“… In the end, it’s a shithole both here and there.” Eton shook his head.
“That’s a priest. What the hell happened to priests…”
Well, he had wanted to do more than that.
“Tch.”
Eton began to walk away.