Translator: Nox

Chapter 35

At the cute cry that didn’t suit the situation at all, both men turned their heads at the same time.

“What is that? A divine beast?”

“It seems to be the child’s divine beast.”

“That fluffy little thing?”

“Yes.”

Kiriel answered curtly.

“Not the Black Flame Dragon, then. What a letdown.”

The moment Kiriel looked at him with bewildered eyes at Rudbride’s words—

“Peep!”

The red chick kicked off Kiriel’s shoulder with its tiny legs and flew up, flapping its small wings furiously.

Plop.

Roll roll.

Then it plummeted straight down, landing right on Bunny’s stomach with a thud. Its frantic wing flaps looked so pitiful.

“……”

“……”

“…Cheep.”

The red chick, which had rolled once, suddenly stood right up as if nothing had happened.

It was a moment of heavy silence.

Suddenly, the red chick plopped down onto Bunny’s chest.

“That came from that huge egg? This is what hatched?”

“Yes. My son brought it. He said to deliver it to Bunny. And he did a fine job keeping his mouth shut, too. The kid who was in class came running over pale as a ghost.”

Kiriel’s flat, drawling voice carried a faint note of reproach, delivered with an expressionless face.

Rudbride caught on and paused for a moment before his eyes widened.

“…Are you blaming me?”

“Who else should I blame for not keeping quiet?”

“Last time and now this… When have you ever gotten angry like this?”

“……”

Kiriel’s eyes narrowed at Rudbride’s words.

He was the youngest son who, despite being alive in Rudbride’s memories, had lived as if he were dead.

After the death of his eldest son, it was as if he’d lost all will to live, turning his back on the world, barely breathing, scraping by on the tasks given to him.

Kiriel had always been poor at expressing emotions.

As if something inside him was broken, he almost never spoke of likes or dislikes, and he was largely indifferent to others’ pain.

He didn’t know empathy, and he’d casually say things that hurt people without a second thought.

Even so, his combat sense was innate genius, and his intellect was heaven-given.

But from the moment he was born, he felt exactly like a machine churned out from a factory. Not human at all.

There was one obvious reason.

Black hair.

Red eyes.

Those were the colors of the demon race.

In other words, for a human to have those colors was proof of a demon’s curse.

Typically, those cursed by demons had their eyes turn red.

But Kiriel was a bit unusual; his mother had been cursed by a demon early in her pregnancy, so he was born with jet-black hair as well.

She held on until he was born but died shortly after.

Thus, Kiriel Yudia, who had barely emerged from the brink of death, was born with jet-black hair and red eyes—clear signs of the demon race.

Without inheriting even one of the blue eyes or silver hair that every direct descendant of the Yudia Ducal Family possessed.

So in his childhood, everyone who encountered Kiriel unanimously called him creepy, unsettling, and repulsive.

Fortunately, his brothers Klein and Salame, being family, just shrugged it off as his usual rude personality and treated him as if he were there or not.

Even so, there was one person who grabbed Kiriel and taught him: pain hurts, bad is bad, sad is sad.

Dios Udia.

The fact that he could now interact with people somewhat humanely was all thanks to Dios’s efforts.

Efforts even Ludbrid Yudia himself hadn’t made.

He approached Kiriel relentlessly and somehow molded him into something human-like.

Kiriel, who had zero interest in war or battle, joined the Holy-Demon War only after his eldest brother, Dios Udia, went missing in battle against the demons.

His sole purpose was to find Dios.

Once Kiriel enlisted, the tide of the Holy-Demon War turned.

And Kiriel ultimately severed the Demon King’s head. He was the only one to face the Demon King’s true form and converse with him.

“You’re… really planning to play house like that? I thought you…”

“I can’t raise a child, you say.”

Before Rudbride could finish, Kiriel spoke in his usual flat voice.

Rudbride faltered.

“Why? Because I’m the ill-omened wretch who killed my mother coming into the world? Or because I’m a monster born under a demon’s curse who doesn’t know emotions?”

“Hah… That’s not it. It’s because you can’t even take care of yourself properly…!”

“But you’re still resenting me for Mother’s death. She might have gotten treatment if it weren’t for me.”

“Kiriel! You really…”

Kiriel looked at Rudbride with emotionless eyes.

Rudbride faltered.

These eyes. The eyes he’d seen ad nauseam since childhood.

Eyes indifferent to others, uninterested in himself, desiring nothing—not human at all.

“You’re resenting me. And deep down, you fear me. Because I’m a monster who might go berserk and turn demonic at any moment.”

“What the hell have you been saying since earlier? I’ve never once…!”

Kiriel Yudia met Rudbride’s gaze head-on. Rudbride faltered, his eyes widening.

Kiriel’s eyes conveyed reproach toward him.

“Let’s leave it at that. For now, the issue is Bunny.”

The moment Rudbride lowered his gaze at Kiriel’s words—

Pop!

At the strange sound, their eyes dropped to see a single red feather, fluttering like flame, settling onto Bunny’s chest.

It was far larger than the red chick.

Turning his head, he saw the red chick had apparently rolled off sometime ago and was now nestled beside Bunny’s face, its face buried between its tiny wings.

“A feather?”

Shimmer.

The feather gleamed once before dissolving like melting, slowly seeping into Bunny’s chest.

“…Wait, this is!”

Kiriel, uncharacteristically flustered, hurriedly reached out, but the feather had already fully absorbed into Bunny’s body.

At the same moment, Bunny’s ragged breathing began to steady bit by bit. The wildly surging Demonic Qi emanating from the child was fading away.

The three men present all sensed it, their eyes widening.

“…The Demonic Qi.”

As Rudbride murmured softly, Kiriel grabbed the child’s hand and urgently poured in more of his Holy Power.

“Is Miss Bunny alright, Young Master?”

Levon asked, approaching from the side.

“…It’s gone.”

“Gone? You mean…”

“The Demonic Qi is dispersing little by little.”

He didn’t know what that feather that had seeped in was, but it was clearly having an effect.

‘A red feather?’

Kiriel’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at the red chick beside Bunny, which had curled its wings into a round nest and was sleeping soundly just like her, snoring softly.

The red feather that had appeared out of nowhere.

And the red chick that had landed specifically on Bunny.

The feather seemed two or three times larger than the chick, but given it was also red, it was highly likely from that bird—or one it had brought.

‘Divine beasts’ sizes don’t always correlate to their power, though.’

It was his first time seeing such a tiny divine beast, but still.

Seeing the child’s breathing stabilize and her fever drop little by little, Kiriel scooped her into his arms.

“She seems stable for now, so I’ll take the child. What did the Emperor say?”

“He said to meet again once Bunny’s situation is resolved.”

“I’m warning you ahead of time: don’t force anything on the child.”

Kiriel replied indifferently and flatly, then slowly turned away.

Levon also bowed politely in greeting before following behind Kiriel.

“Raising a child isn’t easy. I’m saying this out of concern, so think it over carefully.”

Kiriel left the temple without responding to Rudbride’s words.

“Levon.”

“Yes.”

“We need to move rooms.”

“Pardon???”

Levon raised his voice in blank confusion.

“We’ll use the annex, so prepare it.”

“The annex…”

“The estate Mother left me. I mean that one.”

At Kiriel’s words, Levon’s eyes widened in surprise before slowly returning to normal.

He glanced at Bunny cradled in Kiriel’s arms, then slowly bowed.

“I’ll prepare it right away.”

A faint, brief smile flickered on Levon’s lips before vanishing.