TIDSF 45

TIDSF

Posted by Zoe, Released on June 26, 2025

Chapter 45

Of course I recognized this kid!

Erion Granche.

A prince born of the Granche Empire, but abandoned at birth because he carried the curse passed down through the imperial bloodline—a prince of misfortune.

To be precise, they threw him into the Dark Zone to kill him, but he survived.

I clenched my jaw to keep it from dropping in shock.

“Who is he, Dad?”

I pretended not to know and asked.

“I was thinking of bringing him in as a soldier. He handles a sword pretty well.”

“…….”

He’s… what, five years old?

He’d get crushed under a sword, let alone swing one!

Is my dad high or something?!

As I stared at him skeptically, my dad looked away, a bit guilty.

“He seemed to have talent. I thought I’d raise him and get him to take the knight exam.”

I guess protagonists have to be nosy by default.

Dad was like this in my previous life too.

It gave me a strange, creeping sense of PTSD.

Dad told me to wait a moment, then scooped me up and carried me into the break room.

“Recently, I went with the retainers to inspect Rogas. They say now that the duchy is functioning, we need to start collecting taxes properly, or whatever…”

He scratched the back of his head.

“Anyway, I caught him stealing food in some village, and his situation seemed pretty desperate, so I brought him back.”

“I see.”

I nodded for now.

I don’t want to end up on his revenge list later, after all.

Well, aside from that, Dad took him in in the original story too, so I hadn’t planned to abandon him anyway…

Originally, we were supposed to meet during a journey… but I guess it worked out like this.

After leaving the break room, I stood in front of Erion.

“Hi?”

Flinch.

Erion’s ears pinned tightly back as he gave a small nod.

He looked like he wanted to disappear into a mouse hole right that second.

This kid becomes a cruel tyrant later, huh?

A history the imperial family wants to erase.

That was Erion—beastlike in appearance.

The Granche Empire has an ancient founding myth.

**【In the beginning, only darkness, chaos, and disorder existed. The god Rohel, saddened by this, created a human and sent him to the earth with a seed of purification.
This child of the god, tasked with a noble mission, traveled the land shrouded in darkness.

One day, he encountered a beast that ruled chaos and disorder through fear.
The beast’s gaping jaws stretched from the sky to the ground, and its teeth were sharp enough to crunch massive boulders like cookies.

The beast called itself “Fenrir.”
The child of the god realized the world was dark because Fenrir blocked the sun with his massive body. So, to lure the beast, he visited him every day.

Eventually, the child learned that Fenrir was lonely.
He gave Fenrir a sweet fruit he had brought from the heavens.
Though Fenrir was a ruler, he was also fear itself—revered, feared, and dreaded by all.

But Fenrir was deeply moved by the child who approached without fear, spoke kindly, and gave gifts.
He welcomed the child.

As time passed, the two grew close.
Fenrir gave the child the name “Lumen” and spent nearly all his time with him, happily fulfilling any of his requests.

“Let’s be friends forever,” Lumen said.

The god’s child noticed that Fenrir had fallen completely for him, and one day said:

“Fenrir, I’m so lonely. I think it would be nice if there were more humans in the world. Why don’t we build a country together? Everyone will love you too.”

Fenrir, wanting to please his friend, readily agreed.

“Fenrir, your claws and fangs are too threatening for humans.”

So Fenrir plucked out his claws and broke off his fangs for the tiny child.
They planted the seed of purification in the sunniest spot and worked together to build a nation.

“When monsters roam, weak humans like me can’t survive.”

Fenrir crushed and devoured his followers and drove the monsters into a single region so they wouldn’t freely roam the earth.
That became today’s Dark Zone.

As time passed, the number of humans grew, and a great empire was formed.
Meanwhile, Fenrir’s strength diminished due to the seed of purification, and even the monsters shrank to human size or were killed or exiled to the Dark Zone.

“We can finally be together!”

The child of the god held a grand festival. Fenrir was overjoyed.
Drunk on celebration and wine, Fenrir fell asleep.
And in that moment, the child of the god killed him.

Before he died, Fenrir lunged at the child, fed him his own blood, and cursed him horribly:

I will exist beside you forever. Even if you die, and your child is born, and their child is born again—I will exist in your blood and curse you for all eternity…!

Leaving that curse behind, Fenrir died.
The child of the god threw his corpse into the Dark Zone, became the first and only emperor of the Granche Empire, and under the guidance of the great god Rohel, peace came to the land.】**

That was the rough content of the myth.

Because of that curse, children with beastly appearances would sometimes be born to the imperial family.

The family quietly eliminated them, not wanting anyone to know the curse still lingered.

Erion was one such child—born bearing the beast’s curse.

His mother threw him to the ground the moment she saw him.

And because killing within the empire would taint the land, they threw Erion into the Dark Zone, where he was supposed to die.

But…

He survived.

Someone cared for the abandoned child just enough to keep him alive in the Dark Zone.

…Well, that’s all part of Volume 3. Not my concern right now.

Some even argued the curse came because the “child of the god” broke his promise to Fenrir.

So the myth itself may have been heavily rewritten over time.