Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 665

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 664. The Nightmare Cabin
Creak!
Berik pushed open the cabin door.
Outside didn’t exist. Neither did the windows. The sound of rain pattering down was so vivid, yet when I opened a window, there was nothing to see.
Berik slammed his head against the wall and cursed. Damn that dog of a Mage, showing me this garbage of all things.
Hearing a sound, I turned around to find Young Beric staring at me.
“Tch—”
Short, fiery red hair, eyes slitted with stubborn determination. Was I really like that as a child? Berik searched his memories, but couldn’t quite grasp it. Not many people remember their younger selves clearly and completely, after all.
“…Get out.”
“What?”
“Get out of our house!”
Young Beric pulled out a dull sickle and charged at me.
In that moment, a vivid afterimage flashed through my mind.
Yes. I remember that. The weapon I pulled from the storage shed as a child and wielded. This broken sickle, so dull it couldn’t even cut a single blade of grass.
Whoosh! Swish!
The boy clumsily swung the sickle and lunged at Berik. Dodging was nothing. He was far too young, too small, and far too frenzied.
As Berik sidestepped, evading completely, the boy’s face reddened as he shrieked desperately.
“Aaaaah! Aaah!”
Berik bit his lower lip. He understood better than anyone what that scream meant.
The fear that if he didn’t kill the intruder, he would die. The despair that if he didn’t stop the intruder, his mother and sisters would die.
Berik ignored the ache in his chest and grabbed the boy’s wrist.
“Why did you come here! Get out, get out of our house!”
“Calm down. It’s me. Me—you.”
“Stop spouting nonsense! Give it back! Give it back and get out right now!”
Thud! Smack!
Young Beric flailed his arms and legs wildly.
Through the boy’s thrashing, Berik suddenly understood how to escape this place. The Mage was using this dog-cursed illusion to discover his purpose. Why he came here alone without Ian, what he did when he arrived, and what he carried in his pocket.
Crack!
Berik set his jaw and roughly tore the young version of himself away. He was so light. Too light, and it made my heart heavy.
I watched the boy tumble into the corner, crumpled on the ground. Blood dripped from his nose onto the wooden floor.
“Stop it. You damn dog of a Mage. I’ll really tear you apart with my own hands.”
“Haaaah!”
Young Beric didn’t give up. Just like I had been then, he fell and rose again, charging and clinging with stubborn persistence.
Berik grabbed the boy’s collar with one hand, his brow furrowed. Did I really have no choice but to kill this child with my own hands?
“Ugh….”
The boy, dangling by his feet, let out a whimper.
‘If I cut you down, I’ll be stained with defeat again. Like that stormy night.’
But there’s no helping it. I’ve already lived through it, and it’s left deep scars that brought me here. So you too, I hope it doesn’t hurt too much.
The moment Berik drew his sword with his other hand—
“No!”
“…!”
Berik’s eyes widened. The Girls who had been hiding beneath the bed came rushing out, their faces streaked with tears. His heart sank.
“No! Please, save us!”
“Don’t kill Berik, please, take us instead! Yes? Don’t do this, sob—!”
“Save us, save us….”
The blurred faces of my Sisters from memory became vivid and clear. My precious older sister and younger sister, so endearingly small. As Berik hesitated, the Young Boy seized the moment and raked a sickle across his face.
Slash!
Though dull, it cut flesh without difficulty. A long wound opened beneath Berik’s jaw, and blood streamed down. It was hot and wet. This was no illusion.
“Haa, haa—”
“Berik, are you alright?”
“Brother, don’t die. Waahhh!”
Berik stumbled backward, clutching beneath his jaw. It was suffocating, maddening. Part of him knew these were merely phantoms, nothing at all—
“Damn it.”
Even if he could justify it to himself, how could he kill his own Sisters with his own hands? Failing to protect his older sister and younger sister in childhood had been a burden his entire life, and now he was supposed to cut them down? Their screams and cries still echoed vividly in his ears?
“Berik!”
“No, don’t go!”
“Die!”
Young Beric charged again the moment he caught his breath.
“Why did you come here!”
As Berik seized the Young Boy’s hair, his Sisters gasped and rushed at him together. They were equally light, fragile, and warm.
The children clung to Berik’s waist, shaking him and wailing for him to stop, while Young Beric seized the opening and swung the sickle straight down.
Thwack!
But that was all.
Berik clenched his teeth and drove his fist into the Young Boy’s abdomen. As Young Beric collapsed with a gasp, Berik’s heart suddenly pounded violently. This was strange.
Thump, thump-thump, thump….
Berik placed a hand near his chest and hesitated. It was familiar, but what was this? This feeling, so deeply unpleasant and vile….
‘Despair.’
That sensation he had felt when struck down by the Thugs in childhood. The moment Young Beric fell from his blow, the emotions merged and flooded through him all at once.
Berik gripped the wall and retched.
“Retch—!”
His stomach churned violently. Anxiety and fear caused his body’s organs to react abnormally.
As Berik stepped back, his Sisters picked up the sickle from the floor.
“Please, don’t do this.”
Berik pleaded with a furrowed brow. But his Sisters cried out through streaming tears.
“You do it, don’t do this. Please. Leave here. Let us live.”
“Please, there’s nothing here.”
“I know! I know too. I know this place was so poor it was falling apart!”
“Then why did you come here!”
“The children—!”
Berik nearly answered without thinking, about to say he came to help the Bariel Mages, to retrieve something.
But I barely regained my senses and cut myself short, clamping my own mouth shut. It was dangerous.
‘If things go wrong, I might actually set fire to everything.’
Get a grip. I clenched my teeth and glared at my sisters. Two small girls. Creatures I could kill with a single hand.
It’s fine. They’re illusions.
“Kyaaaah!”
My rough grip seized my older sister’s throat. The child thrashed and tried to escape, but it was impossible. Horrifyingly, I felt the small pulse beating vividly beneath my palm.
“Gah, gah.”
Eyes pleading for mercy. Yet the only sound actually escaping was a whimper as I squeezed her windpipe.
I felt it all. The warmth of her skin, sleeves wet with tears, unkempt fingernails, each strand of hair gleaming with luster, two eyes bloodshot and swollen as if about to burst….
I shut my eyes tightly. Better not to see—it would hurt less that way. I didn’t even notice I was crying. They were desperate to live, but I was desperate to kill.
“Please, please….”
Disappear.
I continued strangling my older sister while pleading. Beyond guilt, self-loathing boiled within me.
When a single tear dropped from my sister’s eye, only then did I hesitate and release the pressure from my hand.
“Haa, ha, cough-!”
The child gasped roughly and wailed, and I simply collapsed. There was no way for me to resolve this situation except to strike the ground repeatedly.
“You damn bastard!”
I hurled curses at the Mage listening from somewhere. That I had never felt such murderous intent in my life, that you truly were, that I would kill you in agony.
Then my younger sibling cautiously approached me.
“Um-”
The child begged with trembling hands.
“Could you please just let us go like this?”
“…Yeah, just go. I can’t even stand to look at you.”
“But we don’t, don’t know where to go.”
“…Somewhere safe and warm.”
“Where is that?”
Exhausted, I muttered with my eyes closed. The only safe place I could think of was where my Colleagues were.
My younger sibling gently grasped the back of my hand.
“Where are we going?”
A voice droning endlessly in my ears—
I muttered without realizing it.
“Hielo.”
“Hielo? But we’re already in Hielo.”
The child whispered. Asking what part of Hielo was the safe and warm place I had mentioned.
I, sprawled out with my body limp, slowly lifted my head. Fierce eyes and deeply furrowed brows. With my large palm, I roughly grabbed my younger sibling’s face.
“…Stop playing games.”
You’re asking where Ian and the Mages went, aren’t you, you damn bastard? Damn it!
As I made a menacing expression, my younger sibling cried again. It was a night in the cabin that would never end unless one of us died.
* * *
Ian opened his eyes. He was on the sofa. He had fallen asleep without realizing it. Five blankets covered his body. Was that why he was sweating?
As Ian gradually stirred and rose, the Mages sensed his movement and approached one by one. All of them were resting—receiving first aid or taking meals.
“Ian. My goodness, you’re sweating so much….”
“Wait, who piled the blankets like this? I said only three layers, but you’re not listening at all, are you?”
“Was your sleeping arrangement uncomfortable? I apologize. You were sleeping so soundly that I couldn’t move you. You collapsed earlier as if you’d lost consciousness.”
“No, it’s fine. How long did I sleep?”
“Not very long. Barely an hour or two now?”
“Yes. Would you like to eat? That Butler seems quite meticulous. There’s quite a bit of food left to fill your stomach. This is Gula stir-fry, isn’t it?”
Ian paused to catch his breath and looked around. Whether it was because his body was exhausted, he couldn’t say, but even after closing his eyes, he didn’t feel refreshed.
Rather, as if he’d had a nightmare he couldn’t remember, his heart was pounding heavily and he felt anxious.
“…Where’s Berik?”
Everyone was beside him without exception, but there was one person whose face he couldn’t see—Berik. The Mages informed him as they cleared away his blankets.
“He went to the Mage’s Forest. He said he’d retrieve something he saw earlier.”
“Ah, that.”
“We thought about going with him, but Berik refused, saying everyone’s condition was too poor. We’re worried since he has no sense of direction, but he seemed confident, talking about Dragon blood scent and this and that… If he doesn’t return by dawn, that friend over there plans to go fetch him.”
The Mage pointed to a Luswenan Mage curled up in the corner, snoring away. Given his origins, he would know the forest paths better than anyone.
Ian rose from his seat and straightened his clothes.
“Did that Mage say he didn’t understand what Berik was talking about?”
“Yes, it seems he didn’t understand, probably because it’s been over ten years since he left. We suspect it might be related to the second generation—the Mages newly produced from Ruswena.”
“But Ian, why are you sweating so much….”
“I don’t know.”
Ian sighed softly and peered out the window. The darkness was complete. It meant they were the only living souls in Hielo.
“…Something feels wrong. I’m uneasy.”
“Are you worried about Berik?”
Ian nodded slightly. He drew the window curtains closed and turned to face the Mages.
“You all stay here. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Absolutely not! You haven’t fully recovered!”
“Yes, and if you’re going, we should go with you-”
He needed to confirm what this unease meant. Ian soothed and comforted the Mages who insisted on following him.
“I swear I’ll meet Berik and return quickly. When I come back, I’ll lie down in that spot again and rest with you all. So you recover your magical power until I return. That is how you help me.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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