Estelle lowered her eyes.

She looked at me and said with a painful face like she had committed a sin.

Everyone said the same thing when I asked about it. They all said that Lucian had brutally murdered the son of the chief who was taking care of him when he was seven years old.

At that moment, my body faltered.

He is a knight. He appeared on the battlefield many times and killed many people.

But that was different from a seven-year-old child killing a person.

Imagining a little child holding a blood-stained sword with flashing red eyes, my heart sank.

Miss Nia.

Estelle hugged me tightly to comfort me. Then she patted me on the back.

How long has it been?

Carlix spoke.

There's no point in dragging it out here. We need to examine the necklace as soon as possible and find a way to get Kardien back to his senses.

Then he added, making eye contact with me.

Let's all have a drink when Kardien comes back. I'll raid my father's alcohol storage and treat you.

I had no choice but to smile at his words.

I have good friends by my side.

But what about him?

He must have been alone, by himself in the white snow.

.just like when he was here.

My heart swelled up.

* * *

I wanted to go back to the capital right away to examine the necklace, but the sun was down.

Walking on the night road could be dangerous, so we decided to stay overnight in the village.

Susan took us to her house.

The house was small but warm.

I can smell the boiling soup and hear the children's chattering and laughter.

The twin siblings, who looked just like Susan, were excited by the presence of the noble guests.

Mom, who are they?

Aren't they the princess and prince?

Why are there two princesses?

Can't you tell? The prince is a playboy.

Ugh. I hate guys like that.

Surprisingly, Carlix confronted the young siblings who chirped like sparrows.

Hey, kids. Don't recklessly say things about people you don't even know. I am a prince, but I'm not a playboy.

Then why are there two princesses?

You were wrong about that too. They're not princesses.

But in the books, the pretty sister who's with the prince is always a princess.

.Ha. They've read too many cliche fairy tales. The kids are getting the wrong ideas.

Carlix swept his hair with a nervous face and said.

It's very rude to judge people so hastily. If you're so curious, I'll tell you everything.

Carlix sat the children in front of him and began explaining thoroughly.

'My father unexpectedly has a rival. A new too-much-talker has appeared!'

Unlike me, who looked at them with wide eyes, Estelle looked at them with warm eyes and smiled at them.

The kids are so cute, Susan.

Cute, you say. As you can see, they're like disobedient calves.

Despite her words, Susan's eyes were full of affection.

She is a warm and nice person.

But at the same time, she

'She is one of the villagers who assisted in locking up Lucian.'

Now I didn't mean to blame the villagers.

I hated them for harshly treating him, but I knew they had their own reasons.

No. From their point of view, the sinner would be Lucian, not them.

As I struggled to reconcile my thoughts, I managed to sort out the emotions rising in me.

But she didn't seem to be fine with my presence.

As soon as she made eye contact with me, Susan hurriedly turned her eyes away with rigidness.

We don't make eye contact that often, but she always acted like this whenever it happened.

'Is it because she hates me since I'm Lucian's fiancee?'i

However, her eyes had a stranger look to it to think it was hatred she felt for me.

Rather than fear or hatred it felt like she was conscious of me.

As if I had committed a crime.

'What is it?!'

I looked at her with an awkward face.

Around dawn, I lay in bed and fiddled with the silver necklace.

Upon returning to the capital, Estelle said she would study the necklace with the priests.

If the chief's words were true, this necklace would have the ability to purify Lucian's devil power.

So once the necklace's power is confirmed, we'd go to Lucian immediately.

But why?

I found the solution I had wanted, but I had mixed feelings.

Is it because of Lucian's terrible past?

Is it because his past was scarier and sadder than I thought?

Or

Then I heard a knock on the door.

I was wondering who it was, and I heard a small voice.

I-It's Susan.

Why is she here?

Did something urgent happen for her to knock on our door at the crack of dawn?

I turned my head and looked at the bed next to me. Estelle was sleeping soundly.

Surprisingly, she's in deep sleep and did not wake up from the sound.

I opened the door after thinking about what to do in this situation.

Susan's eyes grew bigger as she saw my face behind the open door.

Estelle's asleep right now. Do you want me to wake her up?

Even though I tried to speak in a normal tone, my voice sounded fierce.

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'I probably look like I don't like her.'

Perhaps because of my harsh tone, Susan didn't answer and kept silent.

As she stared at her in the awkward silence, she opened her mouth.

You are Miss Pernia, right? I want to tell you something.

Me?

It's about the child, the incident that Lucian had when he was seven.

My eyebrows rose.

Why does she suddenly want to talk to me about Lucian?

Does she have a grudge against me? Or does she want to let me know how terrible he was?

For some reason, my face turned cold because I didn't want to hear any of that.

I know roughly what happened in that incident.

No. I have something different to tell you. So please hear me out.

She started talking with her eyes lowered.

As if she's confessing to a sin she committed long ago.

* * *

A baby with red eyes was born in the village.

No one knows who the father is, and not long after giving birth to him, his biological mother died after not being able to recover.

Leaving the baby with the name, Lucian.

Lucian was left unattended in the small house where his biological mother lived.

It was thanks to the villagers that the baby, who couldn't possibly take care of himself alone, did not die.

A few people took turns taking care of the baby.

It wasn't compassion.

It was because of the fear that if they left the baby with red eyes to die, a curse might be issued upon them.

Among them, there was John, the son of the chief, who took care of Lucian with the most care.

People praised the boy for taking over the job everyone was afraid to do.

As expected, the chief's son is something else.

But John's visit to the small house was not purely to take care of Lucian.

Half was because of his father's order, and the other half

Does his wounds heal by itself?

John nodded at Susan's words.

Yeah. He's a real devil. No matter how severe the wound is, it will heal after a day.

Susan furrowed her eyebrows.

She's never heard a word about the red-eyed child having such a special ability.

John held Susan's hand, not wanting to be accused of lying.

Don't believe me? Then follow me. I'll let you see it with your own eyes.

In fact, Susan didn't want to follow John.

'Who would want to go into a scary place when no one ordered you to?'

But Susan couldn't say anything and headed for the small house with John.

In front of other people, John showed them his best personality, but in front of his childhood friend, John, he sometimes would get angry like a burning fire.

As soon as she entered the small house, Susan covered her nose.

'This smell.'

A child sat in the midst of all the garbage since the place had not been properly cleaned up.

How have you been?

The child flinched at John's voice and turned his head.

Susan's eyes widened after seeing the child.

Susan had never come to this house due to the fear that something bad might happen to her if she went to the house with the red-eyed child.

So it was the first time she saw Lucian.

Lucian, who is much smaller than his peers and holds a small doll in one hand, looked docile.

'He looks like a normal child. I think he's kind of cute.'

He was dirty, but at least he didn't look as scary as she had envisioned.

Aren't you going to say hi?

But the moment John said that, Lucian's face changed.

There was fear in his big red eyes. Lucian bowed his head with an awkward gesture.

John giggled as if the sight amused him and walked over to Lucian.

Then he snatched Lucian's wrist, which was really thin, and held it out to Susan.

Look at this. I cut the back of his hand with glass yesterday. But there are no scar from the cut.

.!

As John said, Lucian's hand was stained with dirt, but there was no scar.

John smirked.

I wondered how he had been able to survive all this time, but it was because of this ability.

Seeing this, Susan nervously gulped.

She was not afraid of Lucian's hidden ability.

She was afraid of John.

He was not the John she knew.

This wasn't the first time Susan had seen John like this. John's gentle appearance to others was just a mask.

John was hiding his cruel nature.

Since his father is respected by the villagers who are all very devout believers, John grew up unable to express his true desires.

He was so angry when he was first ordered to feed Lucian.

However, on the first day John gave Lucian his meal, he found fun in this troublesome act.

John put his mother's soup on the floor and looked at Lucian, annoyed.

Sitting in an old chair, he stared at Lucian, and what he did was a spectacle.

Seeing the soup, the child panted and approached it like an animal.

In his somewhat urgent seizure of the soup, the child's feet got cut by the shards of broken bowls on the floor.

John thought as he watched the child eat the soup while the soles of his feet bled.

'This sucks. I wish it would die. Then the villagers and I can live comfortably.'

So John left Lucian.

'Would he still be alive?'

John, who came to the house the next day, was surprised.

Lucian looked fine as if nothing happened yesterday.

The scars on the sole of his small feet disappeared without a trace.

At that moment, John felt scared.

'He really is the devil's child.'