#45
And it was closer to homogeneity than heterogeneity…
The trembling of mana felt up close, the responding physiological sympathy, body temperature and sensations. Everything was unfamiliar yet strangely familiar.
Thus he became curious about him.
He wanted to know what that existence itself was made of, why such emotions arose.
Skyle, who had suppressed his emotions and impulses desperately earlier than anyone else, could understand this even better.
He always pre-selected and filtered all emotions. He was someone who had set up boundaries before anyone else, determined response levels, and even managed emotions that would arise.
This was not natural.
The speed, intensity, and direction of the reaction all flowed differently than expected.
‘This is close to magic.’
Memory clearly flowed to that conclusion.
Or it could be constitution.
Or perhaps—something deeper that was still unknown.
‘If only I had been the strange one, I could have thought about it in a different direction.’
He could have closed off room for thought. If he had considered it an error of his alone.
Coincidentally, he wasn’t the only one who had become strange.
There was one more person who had become noticeably disheveled.
“What are you talking about?”
Theodore asked briefly. He lowered his arms properly and tilted his head back slightly.
“I’m not certain about it. However.”
Skyle trailed off and lowered his head before slowly raising it again. His eyes were calm, but his lips opened slightly heavily.
Thoughts followed one after another.
One piece pulled another piece, and those pieces quickly formed a puzzle.
Seeing the Crown Prince’s attitude, Skyle had become more certain.
Theodore is someone who doesn’t express emotions outwardly well. To anyone, even to family.
Unlike Theodore, who was accustomed to imperial formalities and never showed an easy attitude to anyone except friends, today he had naturally enjoyed himself.
His smile wasn’t forced. The corners of his eyes folded softly, and his gait had become much more relaxed.
That was definitely not acting.
Every expression, every gesture was sincere.
“Theo. You enjoyed yourself today, didn’t you?”
Skyle threw out the words in an indifferent tone. He asked without tilting his head, with his gaze half-lowered.
“…Well, a little.”
A short answer came back.
“Isn’t that strange?”
Skyle reacted immediately. After taking a short breath, he adjusted his speech again.
“Why is that?”
Theodore seemed to have something to say, but crossed his arms as if he would listen first.
His posture was somewhat tense, and his pupils shook left and right once.
“Think about it carefully. If it were your usual self, even if you had really enjoyed yourself, you wouldn’t have moved so freely according to your whims.”
Skyle continued speaking at a precise pace. His sentences were calm but solid, logically organized.
“…Was I that bad?”
Theodore said quietly. He closed his mouth as if biting his lips and lowered his eyes to the floor.
“Yes.”
Skyle said firmly. And he nodded his head very slightly.
Perhaps because it was embarrassing to respond, Theodore didn’t say more and turned his gaze away.
In fact, he had thought that he had maintained a clear line with Ersen in his own way.
But thinking about it, it seemed he hadn’t done so since the middle of the ball.
At first, he had definitely maintained distance.
Neat posture, expressionless face, making eye contact but with an attitude that couldn’t be read deeply.
However, right after the dance on stage began, cracks started to appear little by little.
Small movements, softened speech, and smiles—.
All of those were things that Theodore himself had relaxed without knowing.
“Hmm.”
A sound that fell like a short groan filled the silence.
Theodore seemed lost in thought as he lightly stroked his chin. Deep wrinkles formed on his forehead, and his pupils moved slowly in the murky darkness.
But was that really something to be wary of?
His thoughts flowed as if asking himself.
It had just been a good time. Perhaps his emotions had been stirred, but was there a need to interpret that strangely?
“You might think that was natural, but I think differently.”
Skyle’s voice was evenly subdued.
Quiet but neat, a tone that didn’t demand explanation. At those words that seemed to simply state facts, Theodore lightly lowered his eyes.
“What part was unnatural? Seeing something that isn’t human as human?”
He briefly asked back. Though his words lacked force, wariness seeped through.
“That’s also a problem, but more importantly, you protected him.”
Skyle spoke calmly with a posture that didn’t waver at all. The lingering tone left at the end of his words was brief but clear.
In front of none other than Isabella Marsien.
After those words ended, a brief silence circulated in the room.
Theodore slightly frowned, and his fingertips quietly flinched on his knees.
Regardless of likes or dislikes, in a relationship entangled with political elements, Theodore had shown an emotional side today.
That was rare and something that didn’t usually appear in his normal self.
Moving emotions within a range that didn’t cross invisible lines was Theodore’s style of control.
It couldn’t be seen as problematic behavior.
The ball was a formal banquet, and what Theodore had shown was ultimately within a certain range.
It was also something they had originally promised among themselves.
To protect Ersen, to monitor him, and sometimes to be able to use him.
But…
From the fact that those actions had mixed unexpectedly deeply, Skyle harbored doubts.
“…That child is royalty. And he has useful abilities.”
Theodore answered while turning his gaze toward the ceiling. His voice was quiet but firm.
That child.
Skyle tilted his head at that strangely affectionate term.
The texture of the expression wasn’t different. However, meaning was attached to that designation.
And without bothering to point that out, he continued speaking in a plain tone.
He quietly folded his hands and placed them on his knees, fixing his gaze on Theodore.
“You know there was a part different from such things.”
A short sentence. But it rang heavily.
“Damn, is that what Marcus said?”
At the same time as speaking, he pressed his forehead with his hand. Theodore’s voice rose briefly, and his fingertips trembled for a moment.
“Yes.”
When Skyle chuckled and nodded, Theodore rarely cursed and sighed.
A long breath came out through his nose. His shoulders sank.
If it was words that flowed from Marcus, who had good intuition about such things, he had to listen carefully.
He was always someone who quietly observed and read the texture of emotions well.
“You think that strange part is because of that bastard’s constitution.”
Theodore lowered his gaze slightly.
“As I mentioned earlier, I’m not certain about it.”
Skyle continued speaking while lowering his voice further.
He caught his breath and continued.
He closed his lips once, then opened them again.
“It’s just that the curse my family suffered that day came to mind.”
Skyle closed his eyes and slowly opened them.
Instantly, the air in the room became chilly.
After those words fell, all sounds seemed to stop. Even the candle flame that had been quietly burning felt unfamiliar at this moment.
‘That day.’
Theodore briefly repeated inwardly.
Memories that couldn’t be erased no matter how hard he tried.
When Theodore silently looked at him, Skyle indifferently continued speaking.
He raised his head slightly and continued in a low tone with his gaze fixed somewhere in the air.
“Everyone in the mansion suddenly changed. People who had been laughing bared their teeth in an instant. Hands that had been giving candy to children picked up knives.”
With that single sentence, the scenery of that day seemed to be recreated in the room.
In memory, knife tips flashed and laughter changed as if being torn.
People’s faces contorted, and moments when gestures of love turned to violence.
Red blood, bursting hearts, memories of a night when even tears couldn’t burst came flooding back.
That day was a soundless hell.
Even screams got stuck in throats, and the sound of hearts beating two, three times thundered like lightning in their ears. Thud, thud, the dull sound of someone collapsing at the end of the corridor. Red lines spreading along the floor. Blood stains seeping between the floor materials.
That day, the name of the curse that had brought down the Archduke Rodias family in one night was <Bond>.
It was literally a curse that used ‘bonds.’
It shook connections thicker than blood from the roots and ruptured them in an irreversible way.
Those who had been closest raised knives first, and those who had been most loved spoke the most cruel words.
What were the results of that absurd curse that literally used bonds between people as a medium for the curse?
Everything collapsed in an instant. Blood and tears and screams, and expressionlessness. Someone collapsed, someone watched it, and in the end, only one person survived.
The corners of Theodore’s eyes trembled slightly for a moment.
That tremor of emotion was very brief, but it was a minute vibration that couldn’t be missed from Skyle’s perspective.
“Half-demon curses are extraordinary. They read emotions like mirrors, distort them, and amplify them. It’s not like there are set phenomena like magic, and in a way, you could say they’re optimized for using people.”
Skyle continued speaking slowly. With each stream of words seeming to have organized logic and clear examples, his tone was calm.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
