Chapter 5
I Will Become the Tyrant’s Tutor
“Ugh… what’s wrong with me? This isn’t the time for this.”
Marianne, her face tinged with sorrow as if recalling the past, snapped back to reality at the chime of the clock tower ringing through the air.
She let out a laugh at her own foolishness and hurriedly left the room.
“That smile…”
Prim muttered softly.
It was she who had taken that smile away.
Prim slumped heavily into her seat. The winter sunlight streaming through the window was still warm.
“…I want to help him smile again.”
With that thought, Prim slowly closed her eyes.
“Prim!”
The sudden shout made her jolt awake.
Blinking several times, her blurred vision gradually cleared. It seemed she had dozed off without realizing it. Outside the window, darkness had already started to settle in.
“Why are you sleeping here?”
The person entering the room was Marianne again. She approached Prim with a look of concern.
“Ah… I just dozed off for a moment…”
Prim smiled awkwardly and got up.
“And Lord Raincis…?”
Prim asked, glancing around. Marianne’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What? He’s not back yet?”
“No… I mean, I fell asleep midway, so I’m not sure…”
“Oh no… this is… serious.”
Marianne stomped her foot anxiously. Seeing her so flustered made Prim’s heart race with worry.
“If he went out this afternoon, he wouldn’t have any lanterns with him…!”
“Lanterns?”
Marianne’s face went pale.
“When night falls, he can’t see a thing without light. As you know, at night, it’s difficult for him to distinguish shades—but the prince…”
Her worried voice seemed to fade like an echo.
A man who saw the world only in black and white.
He couldn’t possibly be wandering outside alone at night.
‘Night… steals even Rain’s black-and-white world.’
Prim’s heart pounded loudly in her chest.
‘He went out because he dislikes me… If he’s not coming back because of me…’
There was no time for other thoughts.
“I’ll go look for him!”
“Prim? Wait!”
She didn’t hear Marianne’s shout as she rushed out of the room.
Her footsteps pounded like a heartbeat.
Prim searched everywhere he might be. From the library to the dry well, she checked every corner. Yet Rain was nowhere to be found.
She bit her lip tightly.
The night would fall completely soon.
‘Where on earth did he go?’
Panic grew. She had to find him immediately. Prim ran frantically, holding a lantern.
“Lord Raincis!”
She shouted his name loudly, but no reply came.
‘It’s all my fault.’
A wave of guilt washed over her. If she hadn’t bothered him, he wouldn’t have gone out at all. She had been the one to push Rain outside.
‘And if I hadn’t created this world, he wouldn’t fear the dark.’
All the more reason to find him.
There was no time to stay still. Many places remained unchecked.
The Veles Palace was surrounded by forest. The back of the palace, where the forest touched, was sparsely populated.
‘Wait a moment…’
A sudden uneasy thought made her stomach drop.
‘He’s not… there, is he?’
Prim dashed into the forest.
Using the matches she brought, she managed to light the lantern.
“Lord Raincis!”
No matter how loudly she called, no voice answered. Branches caught on her clothes and hair, making it hard to move forward.
The lantern’s light was barely enough to push back the darkness. Without moonlight, she would be completely lost.
A dark, heavy fear swelled around her. She took another step into the blackness.
After some time, she spotted a few distant lanterns flickering. Narrowing her eyes to see more clearly, she recognized the color reflected in the lantern—platinum blonde hair. Rain.
The figure grew closer. Just as she began to feel relief, her steps froze.
Rain was not alone.
Instinctively, Prim hid behind a large tree. She adjusted the lantern to dim the flame.
Rain was sitting, surrounded by several men, and a man holding a lantern who seemed to be the leader.
Blonde, slightly more orange-toned hair than Rain, a smirking face, eyes full of madness.
That man was Daephs, the sixth prince.
Daephs was favored by the emperor, known for being the most beautiful among the royal family.
But everything changed after Rain was born.
The emperor promised the newborn Rain the crown prince title.
Daephs’ siblings glanced at him. Praise that had once been his alone was now stolen by a newborn.
Daephs was furious. He swore to make his younger half-brother kneel beneath him.
But a prophecy had been declared, and before he could even confront Rain, Rain was exiled.
Still, Daephs’ anger did not subside. Rain remained the most beautiful of the emperor’s children.
Unable to endure the envy, Daephs, on his 19th birthday, led his hunting party into the forest.
Hunting provided the perfect excuse to enter the forest with bows, arousing no suspicion.
In the dark forest, Rain silently endured his half-brother’s violence.
Why? One reason: his mother’s advice to live quietly and triumph over the prophecy.
Rain’s silence only enraged Daephs more.
After tormenting Rain for a while, Daephs ordered one of the followers:
“Hey, hit him.”
“Uh…?”
“Do it. Let’s see if your eyes or hands break like the others’.”
The follower hesitated—not because he feared hitting a royal, but because he truly feared losing his sight or hands, as the rumors claimed.
‘Not doing it?’
But there was no escape. Torn between master’s orders and his own fear, he acted…
“Ah! I can’t see! My eyes…!”
He threw himself into the performance with all his might.
“Hmm.”
But Daephs was not satisfied—not with the follower’s act, but because it was acting.
He drew his bow and pierced the follower’s eyes with blinding speed.
“Ah!”
The blinded man screamed in agony, staggering and falling onto Rain.
“…!”
Rain’s eyes met the sight of the blinded follower.
He wanted to close his eyes or turn his head, but couldn’t move a finger. Frozen, he watched the man bleed onto his clothes—black, dark blood.
“Poor thing… lost his sight because of Rain’s curse. If it hurts so much, then…”
Daephs whispered with a cruel tenderness and drew his sword.
“It’s the master’s duty to ease their passing.”
As the blade reflected the moonlight, the scream vanished. The darkness of the forest seemed to swallow it whole.
“Brother… you are such a vile creature.”
Wiping blood from his cheek, Daephs looked down at Rain with a satisfied smile. Rain ground his teeth so hard, blood came out.
That night, in dreams, Rain met the dead follower. Rage and resentment surrounded him.
Struggling in fear, he killed the follower as Daephs had done, and eventually killed Daephs as well.
Blood from his neck stained his body red.
For the first time, he could see the color red.
Prim bit her lip tightly as Daephs spoke:
“Now… brother, what shall we play today? Ah, yes.”
“….”
“I’ll put out the lanterns. Can you escape?”
It was a hunting game with Rain as the prey.
Daephs grinned wickedly, shaking the lantern he held. The arrow tips looked sharp enough to pierce Rain at any moment.
Rain stared back unflinchingly, his eyes full of lethal intent.
Daephs smirked, leaned down to Rain’s level, and nudged his head with a finger:
“Oh, right… without light, you can’t even see me, can you?”
A cruel joke.
He shook the lantern, showing off. A crimson heat flickered in Rain’s gray eyes.
Watching this, Prim clenched her fists.
“What a piece of trash.”
One day, he would regret these actions. Prim quietly recalled the story from the novel.
In the coup, Rain first kills the painter Prim before heading to the palace.
He storms into Daephs’ room and blinds him with the same arrows Daephs loved.
Watching Daephs cry in pain, Rain smiles brilliantly and asks:
“How does it feel to be trapped in darkness forever?”
Just as Daephs had done to him.
But that was years later. Right now, Rain was in danger.
And with Daephs holding a bow, Prim couldn’t approach recklessly.
Knowing Daephs’ nature, he wouldn’t tolerate anything that irritated him.
‘I, Prim, the one who claimed I could fix him… would be the most irritating.’
Prim pressed her lips together.
“…Right. Let’s go back first. Once we bring people, even the 6th prince will be cautious of others’ eyes.”
Just as Prim tried to slip away, a sharp clang! pierced the quiet forest.
Immediately after, a dull sound echoed—a frantic beating.
Prim turned in alarm. Though dark, the moonlight revealed it faintly.
Daephs’ fist was hammering Rain’s abdomen with wild force.
‘Rain is being hit.’
There was no time to think. Prim sprang into action, running as fast as she could.
