Ch.174Pride in Vanity (1)

Ruska couldn’t comprehend the scene before him.

The sudden appearance of Judas and Amelia.

Before he could even question it, the necks of the assassins surrounding them were severed.

Their sliced bodies scattered like sandcastles swept away by waves.

The boy could only stare blankly at the scene.

It was too surreal.

“Are you surprised?”

Squinted eyes approaching with composure.

What had happened?

Ruska pondered briefly, but soon set aside his questions.

At this point, it didn’t matter anymore.

He simply blinked his powerless eyelids.

“……”

The boy’s consciousness seemed ready to snap at any moment.

Winter was that precarious.

His muscles convulsed, making his body twitch occasionally.

Apart from these reactions, Ruska couldn’t move a finger.

He exhaled faintly as he lay collapsed.

“Ruska…!”

Then, a voice touched his ears.

Ruska opened his eyes with difficulty.

Beyond his blurry vision, vivid blue hair fluttered.

Teary blue eyes were looking down at him.

His sister was holding her fallen brother’s body.

“What, what do I do? There’s so much blood…”

Battered and broken.

That description perfectly matched his condition.

The boy stood before his end.

Even without his injuries, he could feel the mana in his heart increasingly overheating.

It seemed the price for violating the contract was about to be paid.

The sensation of his muscles collapsing spread vividly.

“Ha, haha…”

Ruska laughed.

It was to shake off unnecessary thoughts.

In that moment, he pieced together his final moments.

‘How strange.’

This was the end he had prepared for from the beginning, so why was he afraid now?

The boy had to contemplate the reason for his pounding heart.

And soon he realized.

Thump-thump-thump-.

The meaning of this heartbeat was that he was still alive.

His unfocused pupils savored the final moments given to him.

Just then, a precious person appeared in his vision.

“Wait! I’ll, I’ll definitely heal you…!”

A voice trying to reassure her brother.

However, Emilia’s pupils were honestly trembling.

Beyond that blue, numerous emotions could be glimpsed.

Loss.

Sadness.

Anxiety.

Fear.

Even she, who was always so dignified, was clumsy with such farewells.

Ruska tried to hide the pain cutting into his heart.

Thin raindrops flowed down the boy’s cheeks.

‘Finally.’

Finally, it was the end.

This miserable life.

From the beginning, a happy ending was never permitted for them.

Ruska had been avoiding that reality for far too long.

But now, it was time to move on.

“Sis…”

He had always been sorry.

Sorry that she couldn’t leave because he had become her shackle.

Sorry that his existence seemed to have ruined her life.

So someday… he wanted to free her himself.

From this cursed fate.

‘Still, I’m fortunate.’

That the last face he would see was his family’s.

Compared to his firm resolve, this was a good death.

The boy let go of his lingering attachments.

Like a season he couldn’t hold onto.

‘I won’t be in pain anymore.’

There was so much he hadn’t accomplished.

He still hadn’t uncovered the truth about his parents’ deaths.

Nor had he reclaimed the Venatti name stolen by his uncle.

However, he decided to leave those tasks to his reliable family.

His sister would never give up like he had.

He was only sorry for passing on such burdens.

“Sister…”

The boy decided not to cry.

Despite his face pouring with tears like a sudden shower.

In his heart, he wanted to say farewell with a bright smile.

To this world he had loved.

To his precious family.

To his painful life.

To all that was me.

“…You are free now.”

The boy spoke.

About the end.

Slowly-.

His weakened eyelids closed.

And with that, the world went dark.

As night approached, the primordial darkness came for Ruska.

Just as even his faint breathing was about to cease.

“Oh my… excuse me for interrupting.”

Tap-.

Someone placed their hand on the boy’s solar plexus.

Simultaneously, a feeling of buoyancy bloomed outward.

He felt something strange at the point of contact.

Though he couldn’t open his eyes to confirm, he could tell something was happening.

He heard his sister’s surprised voice nearby.

“Ju, Judas…?”

The boy who had been standing beside them all along.

Judas Snakus.

It seemed he was doing something.

Creeping-.

It was a strange sensation.

Something gently penetrating inside, relaxing his muscles.

The mana that had been raging until just now gradually subsided.

The pain that had colored his entire body was being suppressed.

Even his labored breathing began to return.

“Ugh, uh…?”

His vision finally becoming clear.

Ruska noticed the exhaustion weighing on his shoulders had disappeared.

Looking down at his body, not a single wound remained.

His broken left arm, the arrow that had pierced his thigh, his severely torn forehead…

All were clean as if they had never happened.

“What is this…?”

Moreover, despite the designated time having passed, his heart was still beating.

The boy realized his heartbeat hadn’t stopped.

His heart hadn’t exploded.

The oath had been nullified.

“How…?”

Ruska murmured blankly.

Emilia, sitting beside him, was also looking at the snake with surprised eyes.

Despite the twins’ focused gazes, the boy smiled.

With the same mischievousness unchanged since their first meeting.

Judas placed his index finger on his lips.

“Shh.”

As if even such a miracle.

Was nothing to him.

“Didn’t I tell you to rest assured?”

A strangely reassuring resonance.

Staring blankly up at him, Ruska soon lost consciousness, drained.

It was none other than his sister who supported the boy’s head.

***

The commotion was settled afterward.

Ruska, having exhausted his strength, lost consciousness.

Emilia and I moved him to the academy infirmary.

The messy scene was left to the faculty members who arrived just in time.

The Venatti family… the chaos stemming from their betrayal.

I felt the need to organize the situation.

Although I had saved Ruska and put out the urgent fire, this was just the beginning.

Now that this operation had failed, their movements would become even clearer.

There was nothing to hide anyway, as we were approaching the final chapter.

‘This is going to be troublesome.’

A beast caught in a trap is always dangerous.

You never know what fangs it might be hiding.

As such, swift suppression was key in this matter.

But before taking action, I needed to understand the situation thoroughly.

I was planning to overturn the board from now on.

‘Venatti.’

I needed to know about them.

Not just knowledge from the original work, but the voice of the person involved.

So I talked with Emilia for a while.

About all the pain and burdens she had been hiding until now.

“…Everything has fallen apart.”

The vain one confessed.

The thorny path they had to walk.

The family stolen by traitors.

The grip of their uncle that always bound them.

Finally, her brother’s sacrifice to free his sister.

The girl’s sunken eyes were shadowed.

As if representing life itself.

‘I see.’

Emilia Venatti, an extra from the original work.

Behind the villainess was such a story.

A person who had walked a precarious life surrounded by traitors on all sides.

I could somewhat understand her originally vicious personality.

The girl was simply afraid.

“Because I had nowhere to turn to.”

A hint of emptiness in her blue eyes.

The vain one’s hand was holding her brother’s, who lay in the hospital bed.

For a moment, I thought I saw her shoulders tremble.

I gently stroked her blue hair.

Adding a quiet whisper.

“You can rest easy now.”

“……”

“I’ve completely released the oath that bound the young master.”

They had no reason to be bound anymore.

Because my hand had reached them.

Ruska’s leash was untied, and Emilia remained at the academy.

In the original work, everyone met with destruction, but the story of this world was quite different.

I smile gently.

“You are both free now.”

“Why do you, for what reason, go this far for me…”

“Because I promised.”

I answer firmly.

The promise I made to the boy just a few days ago.

“That when you’re in trouble, I’ll be there to support you.”

“……”

Emilia couldn’t give any particular answer.

She just held onto my sleeve, desperately trying to hold back her tears.

I quietly embraced the girl.

Until her faint trembling stopped.

“I will stay by your side.”

Silence settled in the infirmary for a while.

***

Night had fallen.

Leaving Emilia asleep while watching over the infirmary, I left the room.

The pitch-black corridor was dark without even a hint of moonlight.

Just then, my hand rummaging through my pocket pulled something out.

“Hmm.”

It was a communication crystal.

I had picked one up at the scene earlier, and it seemed to belong to the assassins.

Perhaps because it had been caught in the commotion, it was half-broken.

Moreover, the other side had confirmed the mission failure and blocked the connection between the crystals.

I condense shadows at my fingertips and coat the smooth surface.

The cracks that covered the exterior gradually filled in.

The light that had gone out comes back on with a signal.

-{Woong.}

The crystal working again.

I weave the blocked signal and connect the communication to the other side.

After several dial tones, the screen flashes blue.

Simultaneously, an alarm confirming reception rings.

Ding-.

-{……}

Only silence flows from the receiving end.

But I was certain.

Those guys were just not speaking, but they were listening to my signal.

I wanted each of them to hear what I had to say.

They were the main forces behind this attempted kidnapping.

“Businessman, Baob, Venatti.”

My voice carries killing intent.

With half-opened eyes, I walk under the dawn.

My hastily thrown-on coat flutters in the gusting wind.

“You have touched things that should not have been touched.”

My people.

The place where I stay.

The story I love.

I had been biding my time, but now I finally had a lead.

A lead to erase you from this world.

“I’ll leave it to your imagination. What price you’ll pay.”

Whatever you imagine, I’ll return more than that.

I end the communication with a plain sentence.

Then I crush the crystal with my grip.

Crash-!

Fragments scattering into pieces.

They were perhaps the hell that certain sinners would face.

I take a deep breath and turn around.

At the end of my gaze, familiar silver hair was waiting.

“Commander.”

It was none other than the Vice Commander, Neria.

In the deathly silence, she flickered like a beautiful reaper.

Beyond her transparent pupils, a cold winter surged.

“All members are ready.”

“Your work is as efficient as always.”

“If you give the order, we can proceed with the execution immediately.”

“Venatti… it’s time for that name to be erased from the continent.”

I wear an ominous smile.

Just like four years ago, when I slaughtered the underworld.

“It’s the season of extermination.”

A brief scornful laugh.

I took my next step in the darkened world.

Trying hard to swallow the exhilaration boiling inside me.