CHAPTER 56………….
“Tell me, you haven’t committed adultery, have you? Otherwise, there’s no way my son could be that weak.”
“What are you saying? Do you plan on dragging me down to your level by accusing me of the same thing?”
In front of others, Noah’s parents looked like a happy couple.
But when they were alone, they almost always raised their voices and fought.
They doubted, despised, and quarreled with each other.
That was the first image Noah always recalled whenever he thought of “parents.”
“Since he was born from your womb, I can at least admit he’s your child. But whether he’s truly my son? That I find doubtful.”
“Why don’t you question the possibility that you’re simply that small of a man? Honestly speaking, compared to other family heads, you are lacking.”
“What? You—!”
At the root of his parents’ fights was always Noah himself. His inadequacy was what made them unhappy.
“If it was for the sake of Ignas, we should have adopted a talented child from a collateral branch!”
“Only the family head and the successor can inherit a divine beast! Are you saying we should have killed our son instead?”
For a new successor to inherit a divine beast, the current successor had to die.
If one was unfit, they were killed, and a new successor was chosen who met the conditions.
That was the cruel truth Duke Ignas spoke aloud.
“He’s your son, then.”
Noah, who had secretly overheard their conversation, staggered back in shock.
Crash!
He accidentally broke a porcelain vase.
Hearing the noise, the Duchess of Ignas rushed out and screamed.
“Oh no! That was an expensive vase I brought from my family home!”
“What does it matter if it was expensive? Now it’s just broken pieces.”
Looking down coldly at Noah, Duke Ignas muttered:
“Just like trash.”
He wasn’t just talking about the vase. He was talking about Noah too.
Trash.
For some reason, that word hurt more than the shards that had cut into his palm.
“Noah, Noah!”
“…August.”
“Your hand—is it hurt? How did this happen?”
August, with whom Noah had been acquainted since childhood because they were both heirs to dukedoms, looked at him with worry as he inspected his hand.
Noah quietly pulled his hand away.
August wouldn’t understand. Noah didn’t want to be near him.
Because whenever he was with August, his own miserable state stood in stark contrast—like shadow against light.
August had warm, harmonious parents.
He was the perfect son who never betrayed their expectations.
He had everything Noah wanted.
And on top of that, he was kind.
Always scattering his radiant smile, as if he’d never known sorrow—Noah hated him for it.
For pretending to understand.
“That’s why you’ll never understand me. Not for as long as you live.”
They argued.
No—Noah simply poured out his emotions while August listened.
Face flushed red, Noah stormed away.
But when he was left alone, instead of feeling relieved, he only felt ashamed.
‘I took my anger out on someone who didn’t deserve it…’
August wasn’t at fault.
Noah felt naked, pitiful, humiliated.
‘I’ll apologize to him next time we meet.’
But he never got the chance.
Because that incident happened.
Not long after, Noah turned thirteen. His birthday celebration was small, with only relatives attending.
“Noah, happy birthday.”
That day was the only day his parents didn’t fight.
Facing his parents’ wide smiles, Noah awkwardly tried to smile back.
Yet a sense of unease gnawed at his chest.
“Noah, eat this.”
“F-Father, what is this?”
At first glance, it looked like fire.
But when he looked closer, it was an egg. An egg engulfed in flames.
“This is Ignas.”
Of course Noah knew Ignas.
Ignas was the divine beast—a great red bird wreathed in flame.
Its massive, majestic murals adorned the halls; there was no way he wouldn’t know.
Which meant this flaming egg wasn’t it.
But since his parents looked so overjoyed, he couldn’t bring himself to say so.
“If you swallow this, you’ll become one with Ignas. You’ll become perfect, Noah.”
“N-no, I don’t want to!”
Noah stepped back.
But both his arms were seized.
Something searing hot was forced past his lips into his mouth.
With no choice, he swallowed—
And his world went black.
When he opened his eyes again—
“Mother? Father?”
Only ashes, carried away by the wind, remained.
“F-Father…”
The father who always accused his wife of infidelity, yet secretly had a mistress of his own.
“M-Mother? Where are you?”
The mother who called him “my son” only when fighting with her husband, though she often admired jewelry saying “this is my child.”
He called again and again, but there was no reply.
His parents were gone. Dead.
After a brief period, a funeral was held. And Noah, still only a boy, was made Duke.
“Noah, it wasn’t your fault.”
August said that to him at the funeral.
But it wasn’t true.
It was all my fault.
Because it was Noah who had killed his parents.
So Noah ran.
From his parents’ deaths.
From the title “Duke of Ignas” that had been thrust upon him.
And from the divine beast Ignas.
“Ahhh! Close the curtains! Hurry!”
“Y-Yes, my lord!”
His parents had said he’d become perfect.
But Noah was incomplete.
He almost preferred the days when people sneered at him as unworthy of being heir. At least back then, he hadn’t hurt anyone.
Now, everything around him burned simply because he breathed. He couldn’t control the power.
No matter how often he washed his hands, soot always clung again.
It’s my fault.
Sometimes, he felt like he wasn’t even himself anymore. Like that day he swallowed the egg and killed his parents.
Terrified, Noah shut himself in a dark room. Without light, the flames seemed to calm, even if only slightly.
That day, I should have died instead.
He never knew when his surroundings would turn to ash again.
For him, “fire” was not red. It was gray.
Because fire left behind nothing but ashes.
So he chose isolation.
One day passed. Then a year. Then the age of adulthood approached.
But Noah remained the same as he had been at thirteen.
As though time itself had stopped for him.
fin.
“You, at your age, sneaking around like a thief!”
Magnus groaned, knocking his fist against his back though he wasn’t nearly old enough to have back pain.
“Live long enough, and you end up doing all sorts of things.”
“Strictly speaking, this isn’t thievery, so don’t beat yourself up too much.”
“Is that what you call this? Hah, I’ve been completely roped in.”
Thanks to Magnus’s magic tool, Linaria had managed to climb to the third floor.
It was late at night, when everyone was asleep.
The place: the Ignas estate.
The window they were opening from outside led directly to Noah’s room.
“I’m only here to check the boy’s condition. I never promised I’d cure him completely!”
“Yes, yes. You mean, since you’re not a god, you can’t guarantee a full recovery, right?”
That was the same thing he’d said when he treated her father.
They drew aside the curtains and slipped inside, greeted by pitch-black darkness.
Kaaz, who went in first, offered his hand to help Linaria step down from the window.
Once Magnus was inside too, Kaaz pulled a small lantern from his cloak.
Light spread through the dark room.
“U-ugh! Aaah!”
As the darkness retreated, a scream rang out.
Noah’s voice.
Before Linaria could react, Kaaz rushed forward and clamped a hand over Noah’s mouth.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
“Kaaz. Put the light out.”
With his free hand, Kaaz extinguished the lantern, leaving only faint moonlight.
Two shadowy figures were faintly outlined.
The more Noah struggled, the more forcefully Kaaz pinned him down.
To Noah, unable to see clearly, it must have felt like a violent home invasion.
As if expecting this, Linaria quickly pulled a glowstone from her bag.
A soft bluish light filled the room.
Unlike the lantern, it wasn’t harsh, but gentle. Noah blinked at it, fascinated, his resistance gradually subsiding.
Whether in darkness or light, this still looks like a robbery…
Meanwhile, Magnus studied Noah with a deeply serious expression.
Watching him, Linaria recalled what Magnus had told her before they came.
“Linaria, do you know what happens to those who covet the power of a divine beast?”
“They’re punished?”
“They die—so horribly, you couldn’t even call it simple ‘punishment.’ The worst death imaginable.”
His face had been grim as he said it.
“I usually never interfere in things like this. Not because I have some lofty reason, but because I’m afraid I’ll be harmed if I get involved in the wrong matter.”
Magnus had looked straight at her.
“Linaria. I am a coward. And yet, do you know why I’m helping the Duke of Ignas?”
“…No.”
“Because I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“….”
“Never forget that. The last thing I want is for you to end up begging for death—after dying, and dying, and dying again, in some place I’ll never know.”
And now, that very same Magnus—
“This will be over quickly. Open his throat.”
He pulled out a thumb-sized vial and began breaking its seal.
