/
Finally, he had the opportunity to annihilate the loathsome Akkard Valerian. Excited by the prospect of murder, Cesare coldly commanded the paladin.
“Finish him.”
“No—Cesare!! Don’t do it!!”
Damia cried out desperately. She didn’t want to see someone die in front of her. Even more, if it was Akkard Valerian.
But no one would heed her desperate cry. Upon receiving Cesare’s glance, the paladin trampled on Akkard’s back and raised his bloody sword.
The dreadful blade was about to slash Akkard’s neck when an unexpected savior appeared and stopped it.
“What the hell are you doing in the Sacred Prayer Room!!”
shouted a man with blue hair appearing through the half-broken door of the prayer room. Damia saw who it was, and her eyes grew wide in surprise.
“Kael? Is that you?”
Kael should have left for the North by now since he was fired this morning.
But he could not comprehend why he was dismissed. Thus, he had been ready to accept any sentence when he decided to turn around and ask the Saint to reconsider his discharge. However, he was confronted with an unimaginable scene when he came to find Callistea.
“Oh my Goddess— Dami!!”
Horrified, Kael saw the blade with blood dripping from Damia’s neck with shock. But there was more to be surprised by.
“Cesare-hyung*!! How could hyung* do this—” [*big brother]
Astonished, Kael realized the identity of the villain that was pointing the blade at Damia’s neck. The Cesare he knew was a thoughtful and reliable older brother he wanted to trust and follow.
“Why are you doing this, Cesare? Release Damia right now!!”
he shouted, turning pale. But Cesare looked bored and paid him no mind, as if he was a dog barking in the distance.
“Hey, Kael.”
On his achromatic face, only the tongue of the snake fluttered red.
“Why didn’t you cry out for the Saint like that? Are you bored of them now? That’s why you didn’t see them dying so pitifully.”
What was he saying? Kael was bewildered but slowly turned in the direction of Cesare’s wink. And found Callistea lying on the floor… … No—Calix.
“Oh my, my lady… … !!”
This time, Kael was in great shock and cried out with a stifled exclamation. He recklessly slammed his knees on the marble floor without feeling pain.
Kael crawled towards Calix and hastily checked his condition. Fortunately, since Lessid had poured out an abundance of the precious potion, so he didn’t look like he was going to die.
Still, he was wrought with worry. Callistea’s body was so weak Kael hugged her with an anxious heart.
Then he suddenly realized.
‘The Saint’s shoulders… … Were they this wide?’
Not only that, but…. her body was too stiff, angular, and hard. He wasn’t able to discern as such with his eyes, but he knew it when he touched it. The feeling of the bones and muscles was far from the softness of a woman.
Kael lowered his gaze with a sense of dread that he could not turn away from. The Callistea’s chest was soaked in blood, with clothes clinging to the skin.
Kael couldn’t help but stare, trying to comprehend what he was looking at. And belatedly, he realized: that the Saint’s chest curves were too flat.
No matter how slender a woman was, even with the smallest breasts there was at least a dent but instead it was hollow there. Like… … Like a skinny, skinny man.
“It can’t be… … .”
Gradually an understanding dawned on Kael, greatly shocking him. Taking advantage of his unguarded, astonished, stiff self, Cesare gave a sign quietly.
Then, the paladin suddenly swung his scabbard and struck Kael in the back of the head.
“Kael!!”
Along with Damia’s brief scream, he was knocked out without the chance to register her cry. Instead, Cesare looked down at his limp body on the floor with a contemptuous regard.
“You know what, Kael Roysten?”
I always hated you. Cesare snorted with a scornful tone.
How disgusting it was to endure when this preciously raised nobleman confided and shared his worries with him. It had been particularly arduous having to put up with him while donning the ‘good older brother’ mask while holding back his nausea.
He was exceedingly outraged that Kael did not know how lucky he was nor know grace, even though he dared to receive Damia’s love.
‘What are you doing?’
Kael didn’t know that Damia’s unconditional love for him was precious. Instead, he took it for granted and saw it as a course of nature, such as the principle of the sunrise in the morning and the moonrise at night.
In Cesare’s eyes, Kael Roysten was no different from a fat, lazy cat without any worries in life. But, because of his peaceful life, boredom was the curse that made him crawl after the flower, the Saint, off the top of the cliff, also known as the High Temple, where his life crumbled beneath his feet.
In fact, he had no idea that he had been pursuing a fraud, just like the shadow of the moon reflected in the water.
“What a fool.”
His eyes showed cold hatred and disgust as he looked down at the passed-out Kael. How he had chortled and laughed when he confessed that the person he had in his heart was Callistea!
‘He would have never dreamed she was my aunt.’
At first, he struggled to hold back his laughter when Kael consulted him. His guts had twisted with the strain and effort to hold it together.
But he hadn’t expected that there was even more to laugh about. Callistea, who he had believed to be his aunt, turned out to be his biological father!
Nonetheless, it was a part of the High Temple’s insidious conspiracy. How he wished he had been tipped off about something this amusing earlier on!
Regardless, Kael Roysten had an extraordinary knack for making him cackle.
Cesare gave the brutal order, all while smiling brightly as a fresh flower on a lake.
“Kill them. All of them.”
All he had to do was eliminate Akkard, who had Damia’s body, and Kael, who had her heart. It was enough just to wipe them off the face of the world.
“If I kill everything, then, won’t I be the only one left for you? Isn’t that right? My…lovely … Dear Damia.”