22 - Never Let Go of a Black-Haired Dad

Chapter 22. Ende Kiron Side Story - Why Did You Meet Me (1)

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I lived an ordinary life. From childhood, I had no problem expressing my emotions, and my performance was as good as others.

I was confident that I could fit in anywhere. I even took pride in my ordinariness.

I cried when my parents died. I was angry when I found out it was my uncle's doing. I laughed when I was sent to the Imperial Palace and met Helbatro.

It wasn't a bad childhood.

My uncle had a grudge against my parents. He had a valid reason to kill them. I could understand it.

Even if my uncle died by my hand in the future, I would have a legitimate reason, so my uncle would also understand his death.

The reason I was sent to the Imperial Palace to be Helbatro, the direct line of Kysomarlos, as his attendant and friend, was easy to guess.

From that time on, Helbatro was already famous for being reckless, so being near him meant that I could die at any moment due to his whims.

My uncle's miscalculation was that Helbatro was more of an idiot than he imagined, and a very delicate type of person, and that he was a strange guy who would become attached to you without even being asked.

Of course, at first, I was often bullied with ridiculous excuses, and I was often beaten under the pretext of sparring. I overcame several near-death experiences.

But that was it. I didn't die. Rather, after being together for a few years, Helbatro would beat me up and then bring a healing spirit stone and throw it at me.

He was the one who was eager to become friends with me first. That was probably the day after we were sparring with swords and he insisted that I was going easy on him and beat me up.

"I-It's not like I went out of my way to get a healing spirit stone under my name from the supply office because I was worried you'd be hurt, okay?"

He went out of his way to ask the palace manager to bring a healing spirit stone because he was worried I would be hurt, and threw it at me, telling me to use it.

I thought at that time. This guy is an idiot. I'm in big trouble if I don't take care of him.

The way he was making excuses, saying it wasn't because he was thinking of me, was very, very... unpleasant.

And when I expressed that feeling honestly, I got punched.

After that, I had a fairly comfortable life in the Imperial Palace. I started attending the classes that Helbatro took, and when I followed him around as usual, I was kicked out for not having any hobbies, so I also had leisure time.

As time passed, the capricious Helbatro changed his attitude towards me once again.

I've heard it said that the problem was the classes we took together.

If you teach one thing, I learn one thing. For an ordinary person like me, that was normal.

But Helbatro, who was not ordinary and forgot two things when you taught him one, was different. He tried, but he couldn't narrow the gap between us.

Perhaps that's why Helbatro stopped talking to me at some point. Tania Listo, who was in charge of his education, came to me crying, begging me to leave the Imperial Palace.

After that, I was drafted into the war by my uncle's order and left the Imperial Palace.

Madam Listo had asked me not to meet Helbatro if possible, so it was a good thing.

I never looked for Helbatro after that.

I heard rumors that when I became a prisoner of war, he asked the Emperor to pay a large sum of money to the enemy country to get me out. Of course, it was just a rumor.

That's how I survived the battlefield, and as soon as I became an adult, I officially inherited the title and purged my uncle's family. I tried to eliminate them all, but I couldn't kill the one who was my cousin.

Most people think that I didn't kill him, but that was a big misunderstanding.

It's not that I didn't kill him. I couldn't kill him.

At the time, he was young but had great potential. If I fought with all my might, there was a chance, even a small one, that I would die.

I don't cross dangerous bridges. That was the secret to survival in a harsh world for an ordinary person.

Anyway, it was a necessary sacrifice, but I ended up killing too many people.

I was an ordinary person with a conscience, so I had no intention of sitting on the Duke's seat and living a life of luxury.

So, I planned to entrust the management of the territory to my cousin, and hold the Duke's seat until my dead brother's young son came of age, and then hand it over to him.

Not long after that, the Emperor passed away. Helbatro inherited the throne, and I entered the Imperial Palace's political prison of my own accord, partly to hear news about him from time to time.

The news I heard about him while I was locked up for reflection was all bad. He's obsessed with women, he's an idiot, he's incompetent, etc.

To be honest, I expected that much. He was like that even when he was a boy.

But the news that he was living on drugs was unexpected. The atrocities he committed were so diverse and as numerous as the stars in the sky, but he had never touched drugs.

In the first place, what route did he get them through? The distribution of psychotropic drugs was illegal in the Empire.

No matter how many sycophants were around him, they were still just living within the Empire. To obtain something that had been completely eradicated 50 years ago, you could suspect those who had frequent contact with foreign countries and had a justification for obtaining drugs for some reason.

For example, those who dilute drugs to boost the morale of soldiers.

I was bothered by the fact that he was caught by Lorowi's eldest daughter and married her, but I thought it was irrelevant since she was dead.

Following Madam Listo's advice not to go near Helbatro, I didn't meet Helbatro, but one day, his daughter came to my next room.

I stayed still, but she came to me first.

I didn't do anything wrong.

The little one had a terrible personality, as if I were seeing Helbatro's childhood. Moreover, she had the stamina to cry for 30 minutes straight without getting tired.

Then... wouldn't you usually want to talk to her?

If a miniature version of Helbatro came to the next room, wouldn't it be polite to have a conversation?

Wasn't that the duty of Ende Kiron, who was paid to be Helbatro's friend?

Based on that judgment, I broke down the wall and talked to the little one.

She was a very funny little one.

The level of idiocy of that infant was even worse than Helbatro's in his childhood. She seemed to be exceptionally smart in some areas, but after all, you can't ignore the bloodline, so she was shamelessly revealing her stupidity to the world.

So, when she said she was going back to the Imperial Palace soon after talking for a while, I felt sad.

It was fun for a while, as if I had returned to my childhood. I am an emotional and ordinary person, so I couldn't help but feel sentimental.

But that feeling was only temporary. The little idiot came back soon.

I was amazed and glad that the little one saw through my essence and called me Beomgol at once, but I thought it would be good to warn Helbatro, who had laid a hand on a young child.

I left the political prison, which I had entered of my own accord, and headed to Helbatro. No one stopped me. Those who had been receiving the country's salary for a long time recognized me and even showed signs of joy.

Helbatro, whom I met after a long time, didn't recognize me. He was completely out of his mind on drugs.

I felt sorry for him, so I beat him up and reported to the little one that I had beaten him up.

Thanks to the little idiot, I spent some time laughing.

The little one announced that it was bedtime for children and went to sleep, so the prisoners in the prison had to go to sleep at that time, but that night, even though it wasn't Halloween, for some reason, the family god Kiron appeared in my dream.

Kiron has a human upper body and a horse lower body, and his nature is originally gentle, but sometimes when he gets angry, he appears in my dream and beats me to death.

The first time he appeared was right after I was kicked out of the Imperial Palace. He beat me to death for not playing well with my friend.

The next time was when I purged my uncle's family, and he beat me to death again, asking if I was even human.

Even though it was just a dream, the pain was vivid, and I was in so much pain that I felt like I was going to die. Moreover, I couldn't even guess the reason why I was being beaten this time. I was just having a friendly conversation with a little idiot.

In the past, Madam Listo told me not to go near Helbatro, but she never told me not to go near his daughter.

I resisted, but it was no use. In the end, Kiron explained the situation after beating me up with his front legs.

[You may not be aware of it, but the current world has gone back 16 years in time.]

"Hoo."

[Don't you believe it?]

"Since the great Kiron-nim is saying it, what else can I do but believe it."

Kiron hit my head once more with his front leg and continued.