IFLIDD 6

# Chapter 6

That day, after Hiazelki returned to her room, Kael went back to the study. But there was nothing there. No lingering attachments of sinners. No thoughts. Not a single thing.

Kael couldn’t even understand why such things existed in the first place. They commit sins by their own choice—what right do they have to claim injustice?

> *‘Troublesome to the very end.’*

Glancing out the window to confirm Hiazelki in the garden once more, Kael left the room. He walked slightly faster than usual. As soon as Kael left the room, Albert appeared and followed behind him.

> *“Albert, we need to perform a purification ritual.”*

> *“Pardon?”*

At Kael’s words, Albert rolled his eyes. He performed the palace’s purification ritual regularly, typically on a twenty-year cycle.

> *‘It shouldn’t be time yet, though?’*

He found it strange, but Albert did not object.

> *“Yes, I will make the preparations.”*

With that, Albert withdrew, and before Kael stepped outside the palace, he hurriedly sent all the servants out.

In an instant, the palace was emptied, and all the servants, including Hiazelki , came out to the garden.

> *“What’s happening?”*

Yuri asked with a bewildered expression. Lisa stepped in front of Hiazelki and took her small hand.

> *“They say he’s performing a purification ritual.”*

> *“Is that so?”*

> *‘Purification?’*

Hiazelki eyes widened, and she quietly watched Kael’s back as he stood before the palace. As he murmured something, a red-glowing scale appeared in the air. Startled, Hiazelki clutched Lisa’s skirt.

Kael’s low, sinking gaze swept over the palace walls. Then light poured from the scale, enveloping the palace. All the servants turned their heads away slightly to avoid the light. But Hiazelki only blinked for a moment at the brightness when the light first spread, then fixed her gaze on Kael’s back.

The light that had enveloped the palace was slowly sucked back into the red scale.

> *“Lisa, I think it’s okay now.”*

> *“Ah, yes.”*

Hiazelki walked past Lisa and pattered over to Kael, who stood before the palace. The red scale was still floating in front of him.

> *“Master.”*

Kael turned at the calling voice and flinched upon seeing the child. Seeming bothered by how close they were, he turned his head back toward the red scale. As the red light of the scale faded away, Kael stepped back as if he had been waiting.

But Hiazelki , having experienced a chase with him last time, quickly stepped two steps closer. Kael flinched again, but this time he didn’t run away.

> *“What did you do?”*

> *“……I performed a purification.”*

> *“Why? What is that?”*

There was no great meaning in asking why. It was just a small curiosity.

> *“……It’s not specifically for you. This is just something I do regularly. To prevent impure things from entering my palace. Do you understand?”*

> *“Huh? Yes.”*

It felt like an excessive excuse, but Hiazelki  brushed it off lightly.

For some reason… the more she faced him, the less scary Kael became.

Looking up at Kael, who kept avoiding her gaze with a strange expression, the child grabbed his sleeve.

> *“Master, let’s take a walk together.”*

> *“What? Why would I……”*

> *“The flowers are pretty!”*

Kael, who had been about to refuse outright, trailed off as Hiazelki beamed at him. Seeing her bright, smiling face, he couldn’t bring himself to utter words of refusal.

> *‘……Have I really gone mad?’*

Kael wondered if he had lost his mind.

> *“Let’s go!”*

As she, still holding his sleeve, stepped forward, Kael followed as if he had no choice.

> *“……What is there to see in such common flowers anyway?”*

Though he was grumbling, he followed along as Hiazelki led him.

Yuri and Lisa, who had been waiting for the child in the garden, gaped when Hiazelki returned with their master.

They weren’t the only ones shocked.

> *“Master……?”*

Albert, who had spotted Kael in such a state from a short distance away, couldn’t close his mouth.

> *‘This, I absolutely must report this to Lord Ciel.’*

Having made that decision, the butler approached Lisa and urgently told her to take charge. While the two enjoyed walking through the flowers, Albert ran back into the palace to write a letter to send to Ciel.

—

She had already perfectly adapted to life in the palace.

Everyone was kind, and Kael was no longer scary. Far from being scary, the more time she spent with him, the more she felt that something she had desperately longed for was being fulfilled.

And yet—

Inside the room where moonlight seeped in.

Having been deeply asleep, Hiazelki suddenly opened her eyes.

Whether it was a dream or a day from the past, she couldn’t distinguish clearly.

> *‘Wasn’t this house supposed to be empty?’*

The faint sound of scraping wood and hoarse voices echoed in her ears.

> *‘That kid saw my face.’*

Her parents rarely came home.

In the old house, with no one to rely on, the child always suffered from hunger. Still, on the rare days when her mother and father came home, she would approach them with a bright smile. Then, without hiding their annoyance, they would roughly throw her some bread and turn away.

The bread that quelled her hunger was good. But what the child wanted wasn’t bread.

Why won’t you smile at me? Why won’t you hold me?

She longed only for her parents’ affection.

As such days continued, strange men entered the old house. The house was too old for them to have come to steal things. There didn’t seem to be anything worth stealing. They had come looking for a place to hide.

Confronting the men in the darkness, the child trembled with fear. Unable to even get up from the bed where she had been sleeping soundly, she froze.

Strangers who had entered the house, and the terror of being in darkness.

Holding her breath to avoid being discovered by them, the child carefully got down from the bed.

*Creak—*

What she hadn’t expected was the sound the old house made.

It wasn’t a very loud noise, but it was more than enough to draw attention.

After that, she couldn’t properly comprehend what happened. Her whole body burned with pain, and everything before her eyes was dark. Tears kept streaming down endlessly, and no matter how much she begged to be saved, the kicks and punches raining down on her did not stop.

Until finally, that breath ceased.

Gasping for air, Hiazelki woke from her sleep, breathing heavily.

> *‘Someone……’*

A soft, small hand groped through the air.

> *“Ahuh……”*

Someone, please save me.

Though the pain from back then had faded, the tears kept coming.

Stop it, please don’t hit me anymore. The memory of trying to escape the violence that wouldn’t stop no matter how much she begged was so vivid.

Just as the sobs were about to burst from her throat, which had felt blocked—

> *“Hiazelki ?”*

Her vision, blurred with tears, finally cleared.

In the darkness, red eyes were looking down at her.

Another silhouette that had approached quickly grasped the small hand reaching into the air.

> *“Young lady, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”*

It was Yuri’s voice.

> *“Yuri……?”*

Her voice came out hoarse from her throat, blocked by swallowed sobs.

> *“Master……?”*

In the dark room, for some reason, Kael and Yuri were there. In Yuri’s case, she was probably there taking turns with the other maids to watch over Hiazelki while she slept. But she couldn’t understand why Kael was in her room.

Slowly raising her body, Hiazelki blankly stared at Kael. The tears that had welled up in her eyes in her drowsy state fell—*plop*. Kael’s gaze sank upon noticing those tears.

> *“Why are you crying?”*

> *“Ah……”*

Hiazelki roughly rubbed her eyes with her sleeve.

> *“I had a…… dream……”*

> *“So you did have a nightmare. Shall I bring you some warm milk?”*

> *“That would be good.”*

> *“I’ll prepare it right away.”*

Hiashel didn’t feel like swallowing anything. But before she could shake her head, Yuri left the room.

> *“…….”*

In the brief silence, Hiazelki quietly gazed at Kael. He too looked at the child with his glowing red eyes, then tilted his wine glass. Even though it was clearly wine, he gave off an atmosphere as if he were drinking blood.

> *“Shall I give you a glass too?”*

> *“Huh?”*

Taking her quiet staring as meaning she also wanted some, Kael asked.

> *“I hear that when humans drink this, they sleep well.”*

> *“……Master, children shouldn’t drink alcohol.”*

> *“Is that so? How troublesome.”*

Answering with a sullen face, he wet his throat with wine again.

> *‘Offering alcohol to a child…… He really is an unusual dragon.’*

Thinking that he really didn’t know much about humans, she felt her tension gradually easing. The absurdity of being offered alcohol by a dragon made her feel like she could go back to sleep.

Even after seeing such horrific memories in a dream, hearing that voice made her feel sleepy.

> *“……What kind of dream did you have?”*

Watching the wine slosh in his glass, Kael asked flatly.

Hiazelki  hesitated for a moment about how to answer. Remembering how she had been severely scolded by her parents for talking about the past and her previous lives, she couldn’t speak easily.

> *“……Just…… a scary dream.”*

His eyes, gazing at her lips as they mumbled, held a glimmer of light.

> *“That’s not entirely wrong.”*

> *“Pardon?”*

> *“Ciel said it. That I must care for you. That you were born with a different destiny from ordinary humans.”*

Kael’s gaze was now fixed on some unknown point in the distance. Come to think of it, Hiazelki seemed to have heard similar words. That she would be safe by the Dragon of Judgment’s side. That it was her destiny. Mentioning a curse, at that.

> *“Nonsense.”*

> *‘Nonsense, right…… Huh?’*

Hiazelki , who had been nodding as she recalled Ciel’s words, tilted her head at Kael’s next words.

> *“Do you really think there are humans whose fate is predetermined? I don’t think so.”*

> *“Why not?”*

> *“If all humans lived only according to a predetermined fate, then there should be no one who commits sins either.”*

Humans whom the god loved dearly. There’s no way the god would have deliberately placed sin into the destiny of those he loved so much.

> *‘In other words, committing sin is that human’s own choice.’*

Closing his eyes to hide his deeply sinking gaze, Kael poured the remaining wine into his mouth.

> *“So you too should tell fate to go to hell.”*

The ‘curse’ Ciel had casually mentioned.

> *‘Was he talking about that?’*

Living a different destiny from ordinary people.

Hiazelki didn’t know exactly what the curse placed upon her was. The constant reincarnation? That each life ended futilely? If not that, then never being loved by her parents even once?

But even if that were the case, it no longer felt important. Because Kael’s words kept circling in her head.

> *‘Tell fate to go to hell.’*

Hiazelki stared blankly into the air, rolling those words on her tongue.