TCS - Chapter 13
Desperate not to abandon the little child and run away alone, I ran with all my might, but strange sounds came from behind.
“Ugh!”
“Ack!”
It sounded like something crashing and breaking. I was curious, but there was no time to look back.
I ran as if my heart would burst. Just as my legs grew heavy, as if weighted down by ankle weights, slowing my pace, Ray began to pull ahead of me.
My hand was still firmly held, so I followed Ray, half being dragged along. Thanks to that, it required a bit less effort.
As we fled, we finally met someone who could save us.
“Brother!”
It was the people who had gone hunting. Approaching them like this risked being mistaken for prey and getting hit by arrows, but more frightening pursuers were chasing us from behind, so we had no choice.
Startled, my eldest brother embraced me as if to hide me in his arms. Meanwhile, my father and second brother drew their swords and rushed beside me with the knights.
Only then did a wave of relief wash over me, and my tension eased, my body growing weak. Perhaps I had used all my energy running, because my eyes began to flutter closed.
Just as I was about to fall asleep in my eldest brother’s arms, I realized that one of my hands was still grasped by Ray.
Is he still scared?
Even with an adult's mind, I'd been terrified - how much worse must it have been for Ray, a child? I smiled gently at him.
"It's okay now."
My words meant to reassure him that we were safe. But Ray didn't release my hand. Instead, he gripped it even tighter.
***
It's alright. Seeing Seiana close her eyes after just one word, Ray felt his heart drop like a stone.
Is she feeling unwell? Did she get injured? I blocked all the attacks coming from behind when we were fleeing, but what if...
Someone had cast a curse rather than a physical attack? What if it had bounced off Raymund and hit Seiana instead?
As these possibilities flashed through his mind, Raymund’s mouth went dry. What if that really was the case?
Feeling the warmth from the hand he held, Raymund shivered. The hand of another person felt so warm that he never wanted to let go again.
Unconsciously, he gripped tighter, afraid that if he released her hand, he might never hold it again.
“Your Highness.”
At that moment, someone called to him. It was the man holding Seiana.
Suppressing an emotion that might have been fear or disgust, the man spoke cautiously.
“Please release my sister.”
His gaze fell on the hand Raymund was holding. Had Raymund been of low status, his expression would have shown a desire to brush it off like a bug.
Compared to how he was usually treated, the man’s rude attitude was almost polite, but Raymund felt a sudden surge of anger.
He was trying to take away the warmth he had just found in his hand—naturally, he resented it.
Anger flared in Raymund’s golden eyes. He also disliked how the man was holding Seiana as if she were precious.
Before the dark feelings rising in his chest could surge, the man continued, and Raymund’s anger subsided.
“My sister seems tired and has fallen asleep. She can’t rest properly here, so we should take her to her quarters. If Your Highness keeps holding my sister, I can’t move her.”
He understood that the man’s intent to make him release her hand was for Seiana’s safety.
Though he almost said “I’ll take her,” he held back. Since he was still growing and about the same height, carrying her would only make her drag along. It made more sense for the bigger man to move her.
Reluctantly, Raymund freed the hand he didn’t want to let go of, and the warmth in his palm quickly faded. Not wanting to lose it completely, he clenched his fist tightly, trying to hold onto the last trace of heat.
The man carefully moved with Seiana in his arms, and Raymund silently followed beside him.
When Raymund followed, the man flinched, looking uncomfortable but did not shake him off.
The man’s composed demeanor struck Raymund as refreshing, and he suddenly wondered how this man knew him.
“Do you know me?”
Sensing that Raymund was asking how he knew someone who never revealed himself, the man paused briefly before speaking cautiously.
“I don’t have a knight’s title, so just call me Sinclair. Do I know Your Highness? Yes. I have never met you in person, but I recognized you immediately.”
“...”
“You bear the royal family’s golden eyes... and possess those special abilities as well.”
“...”
“The youngest male in the current royal family is only the youngest prince, isn’t he?”
Raymund silently admired how the man deduced his identity from these few natural clues.
“What on earth is going on here?!”
Someone approaching in a panic saw Raymund with Sinclair and froze.
The familiar expression of having witnessed something forbidden, the spreading disgust - it brought an involuntary smile to Raymund's lips.
When I first met Seiana acting so casually around me, reality seemed to fade away.
But now, seeing this familiar scene, it was as if someone had splashed cold water on me to remind me this was real.
"Wha- what is that! Get rid of that immediately...!"
"Watch your words, Viscount Sachsen. This is His Highness the Prince."
"Hi- Highness? That...? Ugh...!"
The man's revulsion erupted into vomit. He collapsed as if sitting down and retched, throwing up what was inside him.
While vomiting was a bit excessive, Viscount Saxen's behavior was typical of how people reacted when they saw Raymund.
Therefore, one could tell how polite Sinclairs behavior was, suppressing his physiological revulsion towards Raymund.
Viscount Saxen looked very unwell, but no one asked him if he was alright. As they passed by him, pretending not to see anything, he even scooted backward on his bottom when Raymund moved, even though Raymund wasn't approaching him.
"...Monster."
He said it and then had a look of realization, but Raymund had heard it clearly.
Sinclair seemed to have heard it too, as he checked Raymund's expression, but Raymund, being used to such situations, walked past the Viscount with a calm face.
By now, Raymund had experienced too much to be hurt by such words.
***
Three years ago, Raymund's world fell apart. One day, he suddenly became an ability user.
Like all the ability users, it was an ability Raymund did not want. However, there was no way to reverse it.
People who didn't know much about abilities might envy the acquisition of such powerful, magic-like strength through luck without any effort.
But those who knew referred to abilities differently. They called them 'curses passed down through bloodline and surname'.
If swordsmanship was about honing one's inherent skills and strength to become stronger, and magic was the ability to read the flow of the world and create miracles, then abilities were an unclear and incomprehensible force.
And people feared what they could not understand. For people, abilities were like that.
In exchange for being granted ability that surpassed human cognition, ability users gained people's fear.
An unpleasant feeling felt even when the other person did nothing. Uncontrollable revulsion. Fear felt in front of a predator.
Except for other ability users, everyone felt these emotions when they saw one. Even parents feared children born of their own blood.
Those arms that once warmly held him as a child now convulsed and pushed him away.
At first, he was sad, hurt, angry—but as time passed, he resigned himself. The only way to break the curse was death, so he lived on, unable to die.
But sometimes, the emptiness in his heart was unbearable. It was because of memories of being loved in the past.
“Would it have been better not to know such feelings at all?”
Raymund thought. If he had been born with the power and never known affection, maybe things would be a little better.
At least if he didn’t know, he wouldn’t feel the lack.
'It hurts…'
Raymund trembled, feeling the violent pain of the raging power inside him. He had heard that ability users’ bodies hurt until they got used to their powers, but he was special in a bad way.
While others adapted within a month or two, even after three years, he had still not become accustomed.
Because this was unprecedented, other ability users couldn’t help him. Ultimately, Raymund had to overcome it himself.
The luxurious, comfortable room was convenient for living, but no one was there to care for his pain. Disgust toward ability users couldn’t be overcome by orders or money.
Would someone who hates bugs be able to raise a giant bug the size of a person? It was lucky if they didn’t scream and run at the sight.
In the end, Raymund had no choice but to grow up half-abandoned. No care, only guards called “escorts” nearby to intervene only when something went wrong.
But that day was a little different.
His escorts were not there to protect him. In reality, they existed to monitor the powerful Raymund and never approached beyond a certain distance.
But that day, they came within a few steps of him. Not just one or two, but all of them.
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