Ch.52Sky of Sorrow (3)

I felt like I was waking from a nightmare. The fog that had clouded my vision seemed to have completely lifted. And so I walked aimlessly, dragging my body that had been thrown into this harsh reality.

I wished it was a dream. With each step I took, I desperately prayed that the world I was facing was just part of some illusion. But the sticky sensation of rotting flesh remaining on my hands constantly reminded me of reality.

I recalled a fairy tale that Eshtiel once enjoyed reading. It was about how we all have wings that point toward dreams and hope, and how someday everyone would fly toward happiness. Despite knowing it was obviously made up, I wanted to believe it. Not for myself, but for Eshtiel and Rodrick.

But those wings meant to guide us to dreams and hope had snapped and dissolved like cotton candy soaked in rainwater. So I truly decided to fill the sky with dark clouds and make it rain. I wanted to break the wings of everyone who had cursed us and force them to melt away.

Splash.

As my foot stepped into a puddle, water droplets flew up and inconsiderately scattered everywhere.

At the same time, an undignified scream was buried into the ground, drowned out by the sound of pouring rain.

“Hic… ahup…!”

The insect gasped for breath harshly. This insect wearing a human disguise was named Diol Ruat. He was the current Marquis Ruat who had inherited the family after the previous Marquis Ruat had passed away.

“Why, why are you suddenly doing this…”

Cowardice personified and struggled. His pitiful appearance of gasping for breath as if he might die gave off a pathetic impression. Fortunately, his filthy breath seeped into the rainwater and sank into the ground.

If it hadn’t, I would have ground his skull to dust right then and there.

Thanks to that, I regained my senses and remembered the task I needed to carry out immediately. I should have first brought down the evil incarnate who had stolen my precious treasure. Because all the malice I was about to unleash began with her.

“Marquis.”

“Huh… huh…”

“Marquis Ruat.”

“Sp-speak… please…”

I took out a silver button from inside my clothes and showed it to him. A button engraved with the insignia of the Ruat family’s secret organization.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Why do you have that… No, I don’t recognize that symbol…!”

I immediately pressed my thumb against the Marquis’s front teeth, breaking them and forcing them down his throat. A blood-curdling scream followed as the veins in his throat visibly bulged.

“Huheoh…! Huk, eukk…”

“Lying is not a wise choice. Your expression gives everything away.”

“Haa… huik…”

“Do you know where this was found?”

“Ugh… ugh…”

The Marquis shook his head while tears streamed down his face. Soaked and drooping, no one would believe this pathetic figure was the head of a prestigious family.

I was furious at his behavior. I couldn’t accept the reality that we had been played by someone like this, that my family had to die because of him.

So, I looked for someone else who could answer in place of this weak-hearted Marquis.

A woman who had just been forcibly captured by her household servants and made to kneel. The one who was glaring at us venomously. The one who had become my second world—Rashera. I turned my body toward her.

“Rashera.”

“…”

“This is a button engraved with the insignia of the Marquis family’s secret organization.”

“…”

“Would you like to guess where I found this?”

Rashera remained silent. In the past, when I didn’t know the truth, I would have shielded her, saying she didn’t need to know useless things. I would have even kissed the back of her hand, volunteering to find the answer for her.

“Silence. A good tactic to maintain control.”

But that strategy only works between equals.

Now I had no need for patience. Therefore, Rashera’s silence meant she preferred to communicate with hands rather than words.

Rashera only realized her precarious position just before I reached out my hand.

“You…!”

“Stay still.”

I crushed one of her long, slender fingers that I had admired whenever she danced. Her white, delicate hands that had captivated men and women in social circles had thus served their purpose.

“Aaah… AAAAAAHHH!!! Huuup!”

The sharp white bone scraped through the skin and peeked out. The vital fluid from her still beautiful finger glowed crimson before being washed away by the rain. The fact that she maintained her composure was truly like Rashera. Like a tenacious poisonous plant, she glared at me.

“Rahilt, do you realize what you’re doing to me…!”

“Don’t be like this, Rashera. You still haven’t answered my question.”

“What…?”

Perhaps the breathtaking pain had given her temporary amnesia. Can’t be helped. What difficulty could there be in me, who had served her, asking one more question?

“This button belonged to Eshtiel, bearing the insignia of the Marquis family’s secret organization. Where exactly was Eshtiel keeping this?”

“Hahaa…”

“Do you need time to think? I’ll give you some, as long as it’s not too long. Rashera is clever, so you’ll figure out the answer soon.”

“Ugh… ugh…”

Rashera opened her mouth wide as if to shout at me, but then closed it without making even the faintest sound.

“A wise choice. It would have been difficult to pronounce words with all your teeth shattered.”

“…”

Rashera froze. It was as if a cold wave had swept in, freezing even time itself. After understanding my intentions, Rashera gave an answer after long deliberation.

“… In his hand.”

“Do you mean the right hand? Or the left hand?”

“The right hand.”

“I see.”

At my calm response, Rashera’s expression momentarily brightened. But as much as hope had risen, despair crushed her painfully.

“Wrong answer.”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

“AAAAAAAAHHH!!! Huik… keuup, haaap…!!!”

And so I broke Rashera’s right hand piece by piece, just as she had given the wrong answer. Blood vessels burst, and sticky blood sprayed everywhere. The once warm blood mixed with rainwater, moistening the garden, soon becoming cold nourishment for the grass.

“Let me ask you again. Where do you think this button was found on Eshtiel?”

This time her answer was immediate.

“Le-left hand! Left hand!”

“That’s fortunate.”

I smiled kindly. However she interpreted it, Rashera looked relieved.

“Wrong answer.”

Fortunately, I didn’t have to let her go yet.

I crushed her left hand as she had ordered.

“Ugh, AAAAAAHHH!!! Please, please, Rahilt. Please…! Stop…!”

During the crushing of her left hand, a couple of fingers detached and fell onto the grass with a thud. They were such fresh fingers that they seemed like they would twitch if gently stroked. It was an illusion caused by Rashera’s beautiful exterior.

“Rashera.”

“Ahuik… haa…”

“Give me the correct answer. Then you’ll feel much better. I promise.”

“…… Clothes. Somewhere on the upper body…”

“Wrong answer.”

Riiip!

I tore the upper part of Rashera’s dress. Raindrops fell seductively on her fair skin, pooling in her cleavage. The sexual appeal that had unknowingly captivated gentlemen’s gazes, which she herself had enjoyed, was now exposed to the world.

She shrank her body, perhaps feeling shame. However, this posture only accentuated her breasts, further highlighting Rashera’s bewitching figure.

“Tell me again. Where did Eshtiel, that child, keep this?”

“Lower body… in the lower body…”

“…”

“Is that… the right answer? No, your silence means it is, right? That’s it, isn’t it? Rahilt…”

“You know, Rashera.”

I honestly tell her the truth.

“Wrong answer.”

Riiiiip!

Rashera’s lower garments were torn away. Now only thin undergarments barely maintained her slight humanity. Looking at her like this, the difference between Rashera rolling on the grass nearly naked and a captive animal began to disappear.

“Do you see? All the members of the Marquis household are watching Rashera.”

“No… no… huik…”

“What do you mean, no?”

If she meant that the Marquis’s household members weren’t deliberately watching, then she was correct. They were terrified by my declaration that I would annihilate them if they didn’t watch their masters until the end.

“Well, you’re right. That’s not important. What’s truly important is the answer to my question.”

“Underwear…”

“My, how could the clever Rashera be so obtuse…”

There’s no way someone would hide something in underwear when facing death. Truly heartless people would eliminate traces even by desecrating corpses.

“Knowing you’re not being sincere, I’ll preserve your dignity just this once.”

“Rahilt… don’t do this…”

“Rashera.”

“Yes? I’ll be good… I’ll give you everything, body and soul. If you want, I’ll act like a whore to satisfy you… please… Rahilt…”

“Rashera.”

“…”

“I couldn’t help but love you.”

“Yes…! That’s right, you did!”

“I thought you were fortune’s devotion, coming to me again with wings spread.”

“Mmm…”

“Even if your heart leaned toward the First Prince of Carnar Kingdom. I only wished for your happiness. I merely dared to hope to be used as a tool.”

“…”

“But there existed two miraculous people who stayed by my side with even more noble hearts.”

I held the button in front of Rashera’s trembling pupils. Perhaps my unwavering determination was conveyed, as Rashera’s tears fell and disappeared, swept away by the rain.

“Now, let me ask again. Where do you think that miraculous child kept this?”

Rashera answered with features contorted from holding back tears.

“Oral cavity… inside the mouth…”

“Wrong answer.”

“Ah… aah…!”

“Hmm.”

This is quite troublesome. If I blindly crush her oral cavity for a wrong answer, it would be problematic. She wouldn’t be able to answer my questions anymore.

I pondered deeply for an alternative.

The decision I came to was to extract all her teeth.

“Kahuk… kehuk…!”

Click. Crack.

“Eheek… haak…”

Crunch.

“Kak, kehek, hahak…”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Her moist breath clung to my fingers. She desperately called out to me with tear-filled eyes. But her silent screams were swept away by the merciless force of the heavy rain.

Front teeth. Then canines. Slightly pointed wisdom teeth. And finally, the molars that would have chewed sweet pudding.

One.

Two.

Four.

Six.

Ten.

White, even teeth were sucked into the back of Rashera’s throat. And as the gaps in her teeth increased, the memories I had with Rashera were gradually filled with emptiness. I felt Rashera’s existence, which had been clinging desperately, become infinitely lighter.

“Hahu… hu… haak… heaa…!”

Even her rough breathing made me newly realize that pronunciation exists. With all her teeth gone, the blood clots pressed against the inside of her lips were stuck to her tongue and palate. It’s not surprising that pronunciation is difficult in such a state.

“Rashera.”

“Heaa…”

“I’ve given you a hint.”

“Pleash… Rahilt…”

“Rashera will surely figure it out. After all, Rashera is smart.”

“…”

It’s useless.

Even begging for mercy won’t work with this person.

Judging so, Rashera rolled her eyes downward. She seemed to be staring at her abdomen area, hidden by her chest. Then she rolled her eyes back to me.

After repeating this a couple of times, Rashera’s body trembled violently.

Her lips moved.

But she made no sound.

Then what she said was a plea for her life.

“Pleash…”

I tilted my head.

A gesture of curiosity.

She herself would know best what I was curious about.

A long silence followed.

The heavy rain beat down on her mercilessly, stealing her body heat.

Perhaps her judgment was clouded due to hypothermia.

She opened her mouth as if giving up.

“Stomach…”

Rashera’s very small voice was buried and disappeared in the heavy rain.

Only then did I narrow my eyes kindly.

“Correct answer.”

Immediately after, I tore through Rashera’s abdomen with my bare hands.

“Kuk…”

An extremely quiet death rattle emerged. It sounded almost like quiet sleep-talking on a soft bed, a quiet and low exclamation.

Savoring that breaking moan, I stirred Rashera’s insides to my heart’s content.

As ruthlessly and cruelly as when I had found the button by damaging Eshtiel’s corpse.

Thinking only of Eshtiel, who had to suffer from her brother even in death.

I crushed and mangled Rashera’s thread-like life.

“…”

The rain falls.

It endlessly soaks the earth.

The red blood that carried Rashera’s life mixes completely with the rainwater and seeps into the ground.

Hoping that trace of life would reach the underground where Rodrick and Eshtiel sleep,

I watched the world perish.

The sky colored with tragedy was a cruel black.