Sprint

,When I was 13, my mother finally passed away. There was no funeral either. The doctor came, confirmed her death, took the body away to be cremated, and handed me a box containing her ashes. That was it.”

I could see blood flowing from his clenched fist. It was because he had clenched it so tightly that his fingernails were digging into his palm. Kane continued to speak in a trembling voice.

“I was returning to my room with my mother’s urn when I heard voices coming from the slightly open drawing-room door. My father was drinking with guests. Without a hint of sadness, rather with a joyful voice, I think I stopped walking without realizing it.

Until then, I thought it was natural for my mother and I to be treated like invisible people. I thought it was the price for committing adultery. Even when my father said that the bitch was finally dead and that he could sleep soundly tonight, I thought nothing of it. But I didn’t understand the words my father added, ‘Don’t be greedy in the first place.’ What does he mean by first?”

The guest who was drinking with my father said, ‘That’s why I told you not to be greedy. You should have kept the order. Heh heh, but she got pregnant by the Duke’s heir out of the four of you, so she must have been secretly happy. Thanks to that, she lived comfortably as a commoner and then died. If I had gotten her pregnant, I would have secretly sold her as a prostitute.’

I couldn’t understand the conversation between my father and the guest. My mother clearly told me that she met my father while attending the academy. So, I remembered my mother occasionally writing in her diary and went to the old detached house where we used to live. And I found my mother’s old diary that she had hidden. And I learned the ugly truth.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had a vague idea that Kane had some circumstances, but I never imagined that such deep despair existed.

Kane tried hard to swallow his tears. Kane, who suppressed his emotions by gritting his teeth, looked straight at me with tearful eyes and said.

“It wasn’t adultery. My mother, a commoner, worked part-time during the vacation to pay for her academy tuition, and my drunken father and his friends kidnapped her in a carriage on the street as she was returning home late at night and raped her. And it didn’t end with just one time. They rented a separate house, tied my mother up, and took turns raping her every day. My mother’s diary said it was a terrible memory she didn’t want to recall.”

Two months later, my mother barely escaped and immediately reported this to the guard. But my father was the heir to the Duke’s family. The friends he hung out with were also nobles with high status. When the trial was held, they avoided punishment through force, threats, and bribes, saying that the father of the child in her womb would take responsibility for the mother and child.

After reading the entire diary, I finally understood what my father meant by ‘first.’ He was talking about the order in which he raped my mother. My mother’s parents, who received a huge amount of money, obediently put my mother in a carriage and sent her to the Duke’s family. And from that moment on, my mother became a woman who had an affair with my father, not a victim.”

Kane slightly opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. Kane, who was trying to continue speaking, finally lowered his head and cried silently. His face was distorted by the piercing pain in his heart, and he trembled with unbearable anger as he cried.

“I didn’t know anything and thought my mother deserved to be treated like that. Even though I knew my mother was slowly dying, I thought it couldn’t be helped. No, deep down, I resented my mother. Why did she give birth to me and make me suffer together? I thought it wasn’t my fault, but yours….

My mother loved me like that. For me, who looked exactly like the person who raped her, she bowed her head and begged the person who ruined her life, even though she was constantly ignored. So that I could receive basic education. I was able to leave the detached house, read books, and study thanks to my mother’s sacrifice…! I was such an idiot that I didn’t even know that and only resented my mother!!!”

Kane’s voice echoed in the quiet cafe. Leaving the crying Kane for a moment, I took out a pouch of gold coins from the space warehouse and approached the cafe owner. There were no other customers in the store.

“Excuse me, can I rent the cafe for about an hour?”

As I said that, placing the pouch of gold coins on the table, the cafe owner, after checking the contents, nodded silently without asking why and went to the door to flip the open sign.

I returned to my seat, but Kane was still crying. I sat down silently and waited for Kane to calm down. Finally, as if he had poured out all his emotions, Kane raised his head and looked at me with empty eyes, and said in a heavy voice filled with tears.

“…After my mother died, the people in the family also changed. Beyond treating me like an invisible person, they started to get rid of everything I was interested in. If I was interested in magic, they would get rid of all the books related to magic. If I was interested in cooking, they wouldn’t let me near the kitchen and would only put garbage-like food on my plate. They were planning to turn me into a corpse who just breathed and lived like my mother without any purpose.

So, I wore a mask for my mother’s revenge. I pretended to be annoyed by everything and gave up easily. I showed them the trash-like illegitimate child they wanted, who had no purpose in life. Like a guilty illegitimate child, I tried not to be noticed by others, and I always lived in tension, trying not to make even a small breath.”

Now that I think about it, I could see that Kane had been acting annoyed all along.

Kane always hated moving his body, pretending to be annoyed, but he was more passionate than anyone else about the things he liked.

If he was really annoyed by everything, he wouldn’t have joined the Messiah club in the first place. He wouldn’t have hung out with the energetic Aria while grumbling.

Suddenly, I had this thought. Maybe Aria had noticed Kane’s lie.

Maybe she was comforting Kane, who was wearing a mask of annoyance, in her own way.

Kane continued to speak.

“After spending a few years like that, everyone started to forget about my existence. Thanks to that, I was able to study alchemy in the study, which no one in the family was interested in. If I had tried to learn swordsmanship or magic, the family would have definitely stopped me from even starting. But it was just a few old alchemy books at best, so everyone just thought it was a waste of time and left me alone.

I desperately studied alchemy and secretly left the family to take the Transcendence Academy entrance exam. I was away for a few days, but no one noticed that I was gone. After passing the entrance exam, I announced the fact to everyone at my second older brother’s wedding.

The guests who didn’t know the situation congratulated me on my admission, and the family members had to congratulate me on my admission with a shit-eating expression. They couldn’t act differently in front of other people’s eyes. After the wedding, I was dragged into the family head’s room and beaten to death. But thanks to the fact that the Yousef family’s first alchemy student came out, the rumor spread and I was finally able to enter Transcendence Academy.”

Kane laughed softly. He had been suffering all his life and finally got one over on them, so he couldn’t help but laugh.

“And I met you guys by chance. It was really fun. A club president who pretends to have a bad personality but does all the good deeds, Luna who has a kinder heart than anyone else, Lacar who is sincere and reliable but somewhat lacking, and even Aria, the idiot who annoyed me the most. I was really happy to be with everyone. I was so grateful to be able to make precious friends.”

“…You can keep doing that if you want.”

Kane gave a bitter smile at my words.

“I thought I could too. I thought it would be okay to forget about my mother’s revenge and just live happily like this. Because every moment I spent with you was really enjoyable.”

Kane’s words gave me hope that I could still persuade him. I could easily solve the problem of academy tuition.

But Kane shook his head slightly at my suggestion.

“I was greedy. I got such high grades because I wanted to live in the hideout with you guys. So, the Yousef family found out. They found out what I’m interested in now. So, they submitted a withdrawal form to the academy as the guardian’s right, against my will. The letter you gave me a few days ago is about that. It’s a unilateral notice telling me to clean up and return to the family.”

So that’s what the letter was about…. Thinking about it, Kane’s expression seemed dark since then. I leaned my upper body towards Kane and said persuasively.

“You can tell the academy that it wasn’t what you wanted. No. I’ll explain the situation to Headmaster Nelson myself. Then it’ll be okay. It’s not too late yet.”

Kane gave a sad smile at my persuasion and said.

“I told you. The family gets rid of everything I’m interested in. My father will definitely pull some strings secretly. I couldn’t put all the club members, who have done nothing wrong, in danger just because of me. So, I stole the root of Kalikum. There’s a tradition of drinking wine together at the beginning of a family dinner. Everyone won’t care even if I hang around in the kitchen, so it’ll be easy to put poison in the wine bottle in advance. If I drink the wine there too, they won’t suspect that the wine is poisoned, right? I’ll succeed in my mother’s revenge with my life.”

I was overwhelmed by Kane’s relieved expression and said.

“If you do that, you’ll die, what’s the point of revenge?”

“…At least I can apologize to my mother for being a bad son. Okay, story’s over.”

Kane, who said that, hurriedly got up from his seat. As he was packing his carrier, I got up without realizing it and grabbed his arm.

Kane said with a bitter smile.

“You promised. You wouldn’t stop me.”

At those words, the emotions I had been suppressing exploded.

I didn’t let go of the hand holding his arm and said in a firm voice.

“Yeah, I promised. I wouldn’t stop you.”

I twisted one corner of my mouth and said in a low voice.

“Yeah, I have no intention of stopping you. If you want to take revenge on your family, do it. But I’m not going to let you do it alone. Your plan is so terrible and stupid that I can’t help but interfere. I have no choice but to help you.”

You can say it’s an excuse, you can say I’m being stubborn. Whatever it is, I’m going to stop Kane’s suicide plan.

Kane distorted his face at my words.

“Don’t you still understand? Even if I drop out, the Yousef Duke family won’t leave the Messiah members alone! If I, if I don’t stop it… you guys will get hurt!”

I knew what Kane was really worried about. He didn’t set up a suicide plan just out of revenge for the family that ruined his mother’s life. It was the worry that his precious friends would get hurt because of him.

Then isn’t it natural for me, as the club president, to step up for a struggling member? I took a deep breath and said.

“I told you before. My dream is to protect what’s precious to me and to make everyone happy. Kane, you’re included in that everyone. I won’t allow your ending like this… as the club president.”

Kane bit his lip. Kane was glaring at me with a firm expression that he couldn’t accept anything I said, but I could tell. Like I did, he was hoping that someone would grab him before he collapsed, before it was too late.

I let go of Kane’s arm. And I grabbed his shoulders so he couldn’t run away and looked straight into his eyes and said.

“I also promised you growth. Don’t you remember? I said that becoming my friend would be the best thing you did after entering the academy. I didn’t say that to show off. It’s because I have that much confidence. You seem to have forgotten, so I’ll tell you again. In a few years, you’ll regret it like this. How stupid it was to worry about death because of a mere Duke family when you’re friends with Ross.”

Kane ground his teeth.

“A mere Duke…? Ross, you’re a commoner, so you probably don’t know the horror of nobles properly. Duke Yousef is a great noble of the South. A real noble with a history that even influential nobles in the capital find difficult! They’re the ones who boldly commit murder on the street in broad daylight and create non-existent crimes for the dead!”

Kane grabbed my collar and vented his anger.

“The academy’s make-believe and the outside world are completely different! There’s a class system! Commoners and nobles. An absolute difference in status that can never be reached…!”

I roughly knocked away Kane’s hand that was grabbing my collar.

“So, you can’t throw away that noble title until you die?”

At those words, Kane’s pupils widened for a moment.

“What…?”

“Don’t you have a dream of succeeding with just the name Kane, abandoning the hateful surname Yousef, and taking revenge with dignity!”

“That’s….”

Kane trailed off, as if he was speechless. I shouted loudly at Kane like that.

“Yeah, I’m a commoner. I was also a mediocre student who entered Transcendence Academy with a special admission. But I worked hard every day to the point of death. I overcame several life-threatening moments. But thanks to that, I became the top of the combat department and the second-highest student in the first year. While you were trapped in the shackles of Yousef, the commoner you ignored worked endlessly and put all the great guys on the continent under my feet!”

Kane shouted, as if he was overwhelmed by my words.

“I worked hard too! I worried and worked hard every day to find a way to escape from these damn shackles!”

I sneered at Kane, who was glaring at me.

“Is the result of that just a suicide plan? That’s just a coward’s escape. It’s a stupid act of setting yourself on fire because you don’t want to fight the opponent.”

“Fuck! Don’t talk like that when you don’t know anything! I made a choice for everyone!”

Looking at Kane, who was glaring at me with an angry face, I remembered the advice Estelle gave me. I guess similar guys are friends after all.

I asked Kane, who was repeating the same mistake I made, in a low voice.

“Is ‘you’ included in the choice for everyone you mentioned?”

Just like I was asked this question, Kane gaped with a dumbfounded face.

“I, I….”

I said to Kane, who was speechless.

“I’m your friend, so I have no intention of forcing you to choose. But I can help you make the right choice. Follow me, I’ll show you. See with your own eyes how great I am and decide. Whether you die as Kane Van Yousef or remain as my friend Kane.”

I threw Kane’s carrier into the space warehouse and gestured for him to follow me. Kane, who roughly wiped his face once, followed me with a sigh and a face full of annoyance.

My heart was full of anger, but for some reason, my head felt like it was turning faster than usual. I could clearly picture what I had to do right away in my head.

I returned to the academy with Kane. Unlike usual, I didn’t go to the club room, but headed to Bella’s personal laboratory. When I knocked on the door roughly, Leo opened the door as always.

Leo, who had a kind smile, scanned me and Kane standing outside the door and said with a flustered face.

“I, I’m sorry, but the Princess is scheduled to meet a very important guest in the afternoon. It seems a little difficult to meet today-“

I handed Leo the bizarre lily mask that I had taken out of the space warehouse in advance.

“Tell Bella. Tell her to come out quickly.”

Leo and Kane looked at me with a flustered expression at my words, but I crossed my arms with a stiff expression without saying anything. Leo, who swallowed his saliva, looked around and went into the laboratory.

After waiting for a while, I heard the sound of footsteps running. Bella, who opened the door, looked at my face with a flustered face while breathing roughly.

Bella, who looked back and forth between the lily mask she was holding in her hand and me, asked stammeringly with an unbelievable expression.

“You, you mean… White…. How, how…? Ah, no… that can’t be… I, I didn’t know… no way… *hiccup*…!”

I smiled at Bella, who had a brain freeze.

“Let’s make use of your strengths for once in a while. I really need some trash-talking right now.”