~Chapter 106~
After that day, Gerard stopped acting obedient.
“Gerard, today we’ll train to kill surprise enemies more efficiently…”
“I’m not doing it.”
He started skipping all the training classes he used to attend and only looked for ways to escape. He was even less interested in training because it was always about killing someone.
‘He wants to raise me as a weapon. I won’t let him.’
He tried talking to the Count’s son, digging a hole in the wall—he tried everything. All his attempts failed, but in the end, he managed to get out of the Siad estate.
“Ugh, mmph!”
“Be quiet, you!”
He was caught by big men, blindfolded and gagged, then thrown onto a wagon and taken somewhere. The people decided he was too hard to handle because he wasn’t obedient anymore.
Gerard’s power only worked if he could make eye contact, so he was helpless.
After days of travel, they dumped Gerard in the middle of nowhere, still blindfolded and gagged.
Maybe they were scared to kill a demon inside the estate, so they left him to die outside. Gerard laughed inside, thinking, “You’re making a big mistake… I don’t have any hidden powers like that…”
But his laugh quickly faded. Even a highest-level demon could not survive, tied up and abandoned in a wild field.
He was about to give up, thinking this was the end, and closed his eyes under the blindfold.
At that moment, the dying demon was saved by a man who was hunting demons nearby.
“That’s how I met the Grand Duke by accident, and he took me in as his aide.”
After that, things happened as anyone might expect. People believed Gerard was Count Siad’s secret son and thought he had become Christan’s aide while hiding his true identity.
“…”
While everyone was silent, someone said,
“But when we went to Bellerophon before, the aide looked different…”
“Oh, that?” Gerard shrugged.
“Of course, I changed my appearance with hair dye. If someone recognized me, it’d be a disaster, right?”
His eyes, usually curved in a smile, turned cold as he looked at Count Siad.
“I had to hide for years, afraid my adoptive father—the one who summoned me with evil magic and abandoned me as a child—would find out I was still alive…”
At that moment, Count Siad, whose face was now white, shouted,
“Why are you just listening?! I don’t even know who this person is—I just saw him today for the first time—ugh!”
“Can you really say you don’t know me? You promised to add me to your family. Have you forgotten?”
Gerard’s dark eyes grew even darker, and the Count was so terrified that he could barely breathe.
“Y-yes, it’s true.”
“Everything he says is right. For the Siad family’s future… I lost my head for a moment…”
“Is that all?”
Gerard sighed and stopped using his power. He walked over and picked something up from the Count’s seat.
“W-wait!”
The Count reached out in panic, but it was too late.
“‘Count Siad, make sure to destroy the research papers about the artificial crack by next week. Don’t let Esmeralda’s name be mentioned anywhere.’”
It was a letter Count Siad had used as evidence against Marquis Esmeralda.
No one but the Count should have been able to read it, but Gerard read it easily.
“…So it wasn’t blank paper after all?”
“Is that a letter between the Marquis and the Count?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Gerard smiled brightly.
“The Marquis used a security spell so only people from certain families could read it. Since my name ends with ‘Siad’, I can read it too. Even verbal contracts affect magic a lot~!”
The Count looked defeated.
He was worried about the next page of the letter. If Gerard read it, it would be like pressing a self-destruct button—especially now that the Marquis had already been exposed.
He tried to stop Gerard, but—
“‘Sorry the plan to assassinate the Grand Duke failed. I guess the assassins you trained weren’t good enough. I’ll give you another job. I heard the Crown Prince is interested in that witch. I’ll leave a spot among his guards, so put in someone useful. When the witch and the Crown Prince are alone, make it look like the witch kills him…’”
“Stop—!!”
Losing control, Count Siad attacked Gerard. With all the secrets revealed, he lost all reason.
‘After everything I did for him—feeding him, giving him a home, even teaching him magic—he betrayed me…!’
People tried to hold back the raging Count. He was so out of control that Gerard’s powers wouldn’t even work.
Someone shouted at Gaspar,
“Your Majesty! Please order the guards!”
Only a royal could command the guards, but Gaspar just stood there, unmoving. In the end, Christan spoke coldly.
“Lock Count Siad in the tower. Keep him far away from Marquis Esmeralda.”
The guards moved at once.
Everyone watched Count Siad being dragged away. Only Gaspar’s eyes looked somewhere else.
“You…”
Gaspar stared at his brother, Christan, with shaking eyes. Christan smiled coldly. Gaspar had never seen that expression on him before.
“No matter how high a noble is, if they threaten Verderio’s safety, this is what happens. You already know that, Your Majesty.”
“Why are you suddenly saying all this?”
Gaspar turned away, not wanting to talk, but Christan’s next word stopped him.
“Brother.”
That single word made time seem to stop. Gaspar turned back. Christan spoke softly.
“Because Count Siad rushed ahead, I could only bring down those two. I’m not strong enough to bring you down yet.”
“Do you think it’s easy? And don’t forget, I’m not just a high noble—I’m royalty, on a different level from them.”
Gaspar forced a smile, but Christan’s was smooth and calm.
“Royal or not, just remember—your time is coming soon, too.”
Christan left.
Gaspar’s face stayed hard as stone. He hurried to end the meeting, never relaxing his face once.
Amel, who had been watching with her broom outside the window, saw Christan through the glass. But the invisibility potion was about to run out, so she had to leave.
Her lips drooped, and her usually bright eyes lost their shine.
She felt down because of Gerard’s story.
‘His Highness and Gerard are so close…’
Gerard and Cynthia. They were people who couldn’t be separated from Christan’s life.
Compared to them, Amel—who could only watch from far away through a window—felt she could never reach his side, no matter how hard she tried.
