TPBDN 09

Chapter 9

Kylian’s eyes were filled with regret as he retraced his memories.
If only he hadn’t pushed her away—if only he had just endured it as before—would his mother still be alive?

‘Yeah… It’s all because of me. I ruined everything.’

The words of people who had blamed him echoed relentlessly in his mind, tearing it apart.

‘No wonder Uncle’s annoyed—he’s stuck with someone who only causes trouble.’

Resentment, guilt, and sorrow. All the tangled emotions he held for the one no longer by his side swirled within him.

“Kylian!”

At the sound of Eloise’s voice calling his name, his steps began to slow.

‘If she finds out the truth… will she despise me too?’

Eloise had come to the room where he locked himself away to escape the pain of that day. Normally, he would have kicked her out immediately, but after so long trapped in his thoughts, Kylian had begun to crave warmth.
Yet, when that warmth unexpectedly reached out to embrace him, anxiety surged instead.

‘Will you come to hate me too…?’

Imagining that possibility made his legs tremble.

“Got you!”

As Kylian’s pace slowed, Eloise caught him and toppled him to the ground. Then, standing over him so he couldn’t run away again, she glared down at him.

“Why…?”

Kylian looked up at Eloise silhouetted against the sky. Her bold stance made him feel a pang of envy.
Come to think of it, even when Eloise spoke about being abandoned by her family, she did so with pride.

‘How can she be like that? Why does she come near me? Doesn’t she know I’m a monster who devours people?’

Yes—otherwise, there was no way she’d come close. Kylian thought Eloise must be foolish not to realize what kind of person he was hiding underneath.

“Are you stupid? Even a small wound can get really bad if you don’t treat it properly!”

“You’re the stupid one!”

“What?”

Fear of rejection and abandonment tangled inside Kylian.
Frustration and concern tangled inside Eloise.
Their emotions were a messy mix—but deep down, both of their faces were flushed with the same color.

“You—!”

“You—!”

Their voices rang out almost at the same time. Faces red with excitement, the two children struggled, rolling together in the grass.
And when Liena saw the scene, she froze.

“My lady! Young master!”

Shouting at the children rolling on the lawn, Liena rushed toward them.

“Honestly!”

Liena’s voice filled Eloise’s room.
Her breathing was ragged, as if she wanted to scold them further, but instead of speaking, she just paced the room like a restless bee.

‘Should I scold them? Maybe treat them like I used to handle my little brother? …No, that won’t do. What should I do?’

The only people she’d ever dealt with were rough ones—and her methods had been just as rough: harsh words and heavy hands.
Even when it came to her younger brother, who was about the same age as Eloise and Kylian, her touch had never been gentle.

‘But… the young lady and young master are different! They’ve both been through so much already. If I talk to them like I did to him, I might really hurt them!’

Weighed down by a kind of worry foreign to her nature, the exhausted Liena decided to escape.

“Um… I’ll go get some ointment. While I’m gone, you two should apologize to each other and apply it, okay?”

The awkwardly tense room emptied as Liena darted out, leaving the two children glancing around.
They tried to avoid looking at each other, tracing the walls with their eyes—until their gazes finally met.

“Kyl—”

“Eloi—”

Startled by the sudden eye contact, Kylian and Eloise both whipped their heads away.

‘What am I even doing! I’m not a child! I may have died young in my previous life—at fifteen—but still, I was more mature than this boy! And now I’m wrestling like a kid?’

Clearing her throat, Eloise tried to apologize again.

“I… I have the ointment…”

But instead of an apology, something completely random came out, and she wanted to smack herself for it.

“Yeah.”

Kylian’s short reply hung in the air, and silence once again filled the room.

‘What do people do after fighting? Or… what am I supposed to do right now?’

Eloise had never gone through the process of fighting and making up before. She had no idea how to start.
In both her previous and current life, she’d never really had what one could call a friend.

‘If only it were one of the kids at the orphanage, or the Head Maid—someone openly malicious—then I wouldn’t have to think so hard.’

Having been exposed to violence from the moment she was born, Eloise was all too familiar with it.
But among children her own age, her familiarity with violence made her seem alien.

“Um, so…”

Kylian, apparently just as lost, stole nervous glances at her.
After hesitating several times, he finally nodded and spoke.

“Ron said Liena’s really scary when she’s angry, so I was worried—but it’s a relief.”

“Ron?”

“You don’t know? That talkative, scatterbrained knight.”

When he said that, Eloise immediately thought of someone who fit that description.

“Oh! I know!”

“Ron said that when Liena gets really angry, her face goes quiet—and that’s when she’s the scariest.”

“Really? Then we’re fine now, right?”

Remembering Liena’s face—more flustered than calm—Eloise’s expression brightened.

“Still, be careful. Ron said he’s nearly died at her hands more than once.”

Startled, Eloise gasped, then tilted her head at something odd.

“Wait, isn’t Liena a maid? Why would a knight be scared—or almost die—because of a maid?”

“Good question.”

Kylian seemed just as unsure, nodding along.

“I never really thought about it when I was with Ron. I was too nervous.”

“You get nervous around Ron?”

“He’s a knight. Every time I see the sword at his side, I feel suffocated.”

“Really?”

Kylian’s face twisted slightly, as if recalling something unpleasant—something heavy with memories.
Watching him quietly, Eloise reached out and took his hand as if to comfort him.

“Ah—!”

Kylian flinched, holding back a small groan at the pain.

“Oh no, I’m sorry! Let me put some ointment on.”

Between the scars that had already begun to heal, new scratches brushed against her hand—marks from their tumble in the grass earlier.
It was obvious these were fresh.

‘I came to help him heal… and ended up hurting him instead.’

Eloise bowed her head.

“I’m sorry…”

Kylian looked quietly at Eloise’s hand as she gently applied the ointment, then lifted his head.

“Huh… what?”

He had been too distracted by the warmth spreading through him at her touch to hear what she said.
Finally realizing what she’d said, he quickly shook his head.

“No, it’s okay! I’m the one who pushed you—sorry!”

Eloise looked up in surprise at the loudest voice she’d ever heard from him.
The midday sunlight reflected on Kylian’s face.

‘So that’s why he’s the male lead, huh?’

His face, framed by softly fluttering hair, looked different from the descriptions in the novel.

[The emperor who wielded the sword mercilessly.

His crimson eyes, indifferent to the corpses of nobles strewn on the ground, glinted as he lazily wiped the blood from his blade.

Black hair steeped in the color of death.

To the people of the Empire, he was the ruthless tyrant.

A maid who witnessed the dreadful scene stared at his face.

“Ah…”

The crimson eyes, once terrifying, were as alluring as night-blooming flowers.

Standing amid the blood-soaked floor, the cruel tyrant seemed almost like a succubus—so intense, he made fear itself melt away.]

Intense—that word fit perfectly.
Yes, it suited him too well.
But the young Kylian before her—before he became that tyrant—looked far closer to an angel than a demon.