/
Although the spies in the family have yet to be singled out, he used his abilities.
Raven bit his lips, but he had no regrets.
The afterimage of the golden magic circle dazzled in his eyes.
‘An old curse.’
At the same time, it is a mark that anyone from the North family could recognize.
‘It’s safer to go back after the spies are caught.’
They infiltrated too deep and covertly. At that level, It could only be the Emperor’s work. As long as the Head of the family was down, Raven couldn’t withstand the situation on his own.
‘That’s why it would be best to remain missing until the situation is fixed, but…’
The old curse melted away without leaving a single spec of ash behind.
Will it be a person of the North family or the Emperor’s to discover those traces first?
‘Either way, I’ll have to go my way.’
Raven looked at it with cold eyes, then suddenly turned his head to the side.
Still, nevertheless, he had no regrets.
Raven was captivated by a strange emotion looking at Evelyn, whose eyes gazed at the curse as if it was a dazzling spectacle.
Like a small candle, she was serene and weak, but above all else, she resembles that feeble flame, about to go out any minute, that firmly captures the heart of the viewer.
He hasn’t given that feeling a name yet, but Raven instinctively recognized one thing.
That he doesn’t want to lose Evelyn.
No, he wants to catch it.
“It’s not bad that it happened like this.”
Only then did Raven say so, smiling with relief.
I’m glad Evelyn is safe.
Yes, that was it. That’s fine.
He knew Evelyn would probably be upset about Raven’s pain after she came to her senses, so he spoke out loud.
“I have no regrets.”
The trembling of Evelyn’s hands has diminished and Raven raised the corners of his lips with satisfaction.
And he mentioned the two humans who were the culprits behind this.
Now it was time for post-processing.
* * *
Sera and Jack were dragged into the backyard of Evelyn’s house, where she stocks up water rain in winter.
It was in the direction of the forest, so there were almost no people there.
Raven said.
“There are not many people passing by, so I sometimes warm up here.”
Sera and Jack trembled without saying a word while bathing in Raven’s violent aura. They both cringed up because they knew it was killing intent.
Sniff.
Unlike Jack who cried, Sera tried not to lose by holding out will all her might.
“What did I do so wrong?”
Raven slowly tilted his head.
The creature in front of him was just plain amazing at this point. Raven, who was quietly looking at Sera, asked Evelyn.
“I really can’t?”
He was asking if he can kill. Evelyn, who had been watching with crossed arms, slightly shook her head and asked.
“You don’t know what you did wrong?”
Evelyn’s voice, which had always been warm these days, was cooling down with a chilling tone.
Sera somehow became a little sad at the cold voice she heard after a long time.
She wanted to deny it. And as if trying to do it, Sera forgot her fear and began to scream.
“What’s so wrong about it!? It’s just going inside there and sleeping a little bit, that way you will know it’s not a place you should go to!”
“…….What?”
“Look. You are not even hurt! I knew it! Was it so embarrassing to have slept a little?”
Jack grabbed her arm as if to stop her, but Sera couldn’t stop. It felt like she wouldn’t be able to endure not spilling out the words which she had barely been able to keep inside her heart.
“Yo- you! If you don’t want me to mess with you, you can leave!”
“…What?”
“If you don’t like this place, you can leave, and if you don’t have money, you can earn it!”
Sera´s words grew faster and louder. Her despair was deeply ingrained in her voice.
Evelyn looked at Sera without saying a word.
“You are pretty even if you look odd! You can read too! You can do it all! But what did I do so wrong?”
She wasn’t going to die or get hurt.
“Why do I have to die in this place?”
At those words, Raven’s eyes lit up.
They noticed he was really trying to kill them, and this time he wasn’t inclined to listen to Evelyn’s nagging.
Evelyn, who was quietly listening, said.
“Don’t be crazy. Why would I kill you? Apart from all that, I’m the one who almost died earlier!”
Then Sera said, “What?” in surprise.
“If it weren’t for Raven, I would have been asleep and would have become prey for the monsters.”
Sera was so much at a loss for words she spoke calmly.
“What?”
“Monster! I almost became food. You drove me almost to death.”
“There was such a thing there?”
“Yes, it’s a place like that, and even if you didn’t know it, it doesn’t change the fact that I almost died there.”
Sera seemed to have cooled down in an instant. She barely spoke, looking cold and frozen.
“I, I…I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
She has never tried to kill anyone even if she hated them to death.
Raven looked at Sera and Jack who were turning blue and silently looked at Evelyn.
‘I knew this would happen.’
She had maintained a cold look, but in fact, it was clear that Evelyn’s anger had almost completely cooled down because of the words Sera had been screaming just before.
‘I said you were definitely a sweet potato*.’
(Note: Writing sweet potato because he didn’t know the Korean slang per say, **it means pushover for those who do not read TP.)
Evelyn once told me what a sweet potato was.
In the future, whenever Raven thinks of that word he would eventually think of Evelyn, too.
‘How can I leave her, when she’s like that?’
He made a pleasantly grumbling face while thinking Evelyn would be dumbfounded if she had heard it.
And Raven, who coldly looked at the children, began to quietly plan to end them both as revenge in place of Evelyn.
‘Because a North never forgets grudges and favors.’
In the end, the two children who were unable to protest nor cry after that were properly scolded.
Thanks to Evelyn, the aftermath ended with finger flicks on the forehead with no broken bones. But rather than being beaten lightly, the damage on the children came from their hearts, which fell for Raven’s murdering aura itself.
Now that Evelyn was seen as their savior.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry……”
“Uh-sniff, I was wrong.”
Jack, who was always timid and didn’t talk much, cried a lot and apologized. Sera was still pale blue and Raven was relieved that Evelyn didn’t say anything about teaching the two of them to read and write again.
‘I mean, that was quite the possibility after all.’
After the two of them went back, Evelyn asked.
“Am I a pushover?”
Raven tilted his head and said with a smirk.
“You don’t know much about yourself.”
Evelyn was really upset. Sheathing anger, she said she was going to use the bed today and Raven replied with a puzzled face.
“That’s a good idea. You should continue to use it, but I thought this story was already over.”
Then Evelyn let out a huff while turing her back and went inside the room.
Raven smiled quietly without showing that he was feeling pain with a pale face. His golden eyes were shining more peacefully than ever.
But right then.
“Evelyn?”
Evelyn, whom he thought had gone away, came out and put a chair next to Raven. Then she laid down all the cloths she could find, made it into a sofa, and sat him there.
She seemed to notice that the pain made it more difficult for him to move.
Raven, who looked at it with strange eyes, was startled by the cold cloth touching his forehead and looked at Evelyn who was wiping his forehead.
She had a sullen face.
“Bell.”
When he called her, she looked sad for a moment, and after a while, she hugged Raven.
“……!”
Raven, which had hardened in place with wide eyes, heard a small whisper in his ear.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Ray.”
In a slightly trembling body, Raven slowly raised his awkward hands and hugged her back.
And with a reddened face, he awkwardly patted her back. His crazy heart didn’t listen to his intentions and was beating so loud that even Evelyn might hear it.
However,
‘I want to stay like this.’
Ray could not forget that quiet but very noisy moment.
Such a peaceful time passed by.
Like the calm before the storm.