Chapter 56: Becoming Adult – 1

I regretted the feelings I belatedly expressed to her.

It bothered me that I had insisted so firmly that I disliked her, that I hated her.

When I thought about it, those weren’t the only feelings I had for her.

I didn’t fully understand my own heart, but I was certain it wasn’t just hatred that resided there.

However, Vivian showed no sign of caring even after that.

“Hurry up, Kailo. The food’s getting cold.”

She treated me just the same as always.

As if to embarrass me for agonizing over it, it seemed my feelings had no impact on her life whatsoever.

…Was I really just that insignificant to her?

***

Sometimes, I wondered.

Could we truly call ourselves close?

Or were we merely bound together by circumstances and duty?

There was no answer.

Life continued as usual.

Even after accepting the role of a witch hunter, nothing major had changed.

The only noticeable difference was the way people looked at me.

In the eyes of the maids, especially, there was a growing sense of fear.

It was as if they believed I might forcibly accuse them of witchcraft.

Occasionally, someone would loudly denounce witches within earshot, declaring their purity to prove they had nothing to hide.

Other times, they would approach me directly, pleading that they weren’t a witch and begging to be left alone.

Even Vivian, who had initially felt uneasy about me taking on the role of an enforcer, started smirking whenever she saw me being shunned around the castle.

“This was your choice, wasn’t it, Kailo?”

She would tease me, clearly amused by the situation.

Time passed in this manner.

Training, instructing the boy soldiers, eating meals with Vivian, staying by her side… sleeping, washing, eating, and continuing my routine.

At times, I carried out executions.

Rapists, murderers, robbers, witches…

I would take the execution orders signed by Vivian and swing my double-handed sword.

The sensation of severing necks became increasingly familiar to me.

And as it did, my name grew more fearsome.

Dragon Slayer.

Witch Hunter.

Eldest son of the Alan family.

Executioner.

Captain of the Boy soldiers.

Vivian’s enemy.

Vivian’s guard.

These titles, combined with my increasingly robust physique, caused even the knights to avoid meeting my gaze.

Especially Todd, Baelor’s adjutant.

When I first became an executioner at fifteen, he mocked and dismissed me.

But by the time I was sixteen and a half, he avoided speaking to me altogether, his eyes often cast downward.

It wasn’t just Todd.

Maids, knights, retainers—all of them showed signs of avoiding me.

What had started as a subtle shift had now become blatantly obvious.

And Vivian seemed to enjoy my predicament.

“They didn’t like you before, but now they outright despise you, huh?”

Her sarcastic remarks didn’t bother me as much as they should have.

Because in her eyes, I could see one undeniable truth.

I gave her a sense of security.

Now that the people she once feared had started to fear me, she seemed to find comfort by my side.

After all, the enemy of her enemies was her ally.

Still, I couldn’t help but think that the fear people had of me was partly Vivian’s doing.

Her closeness to the boy soldiers and the sharp, probing questions she posed to the retainers brought a tense atmosphere to Rondor Castle.

Everyone could sense that a major change was coming.

Like the calm before a storm, the current state of peace felt fragile.

And since it was no secret that Vivian and I had an unofficial alliance, those who held grievances against her seemed to project their fears onto me.

Perhaps that was why the uneasy atmosphere between us fostered a growing affection in my heart.

I called this feeling camaraderie.

Vivian likely felt something similar toward me.

Time passed, and I had been a witch hunter for a little over six months.

We continued to grow up.

***

“Haa… Haa…!”

Vivian, who would soon turn sixteen, exhaled heavily as she tried to muster strength in her arms.

But her movements were sluggish, as if her limbs were submerged in water.

Her desperate will to push back was fading, replaced by a sense of frustration and tension tightening her chest.

“C-can’t you stop?”

Vivian pleaded with a trembling voice.

“I don’t think I can.”

Kailo’s voice was low and deep, a tone that had grown even deeper recently.

His unyielding tone carried a strong sense of conviction.

Vivian didn’t know how she could tell, but she felt certain—

Kailo was hungry for her.

Her outstretched hands pressed against his chest.

The intense heat of his body burned vividly against her palms.

As someone from the cold northern regions, his body temperature was naturally high.

For some reason, Kailo wasn’t wearing his shirt.

“Why… why are you shirtless? Put your clothes back on!!”

“You were the one who touched me first before. Why are you making a fuss now?”

With those words, he continued to close the distance between them.

Vivian pushed against him with all her strength, but Kailo kept advancing closer.

“Ugh!”

Vivian’s arm ultimately couldn’t withstand his approach and gave way.

As the distance closed, Kailo’s strong arms wrapped around her waist.

The intense pressure sparked a sense of déjà vu.

“Ah…!”

Vivian gasped for air as her lungs felt squeezed, hastily inhaling in her confusion.

His deep scent, once familiar from lying in his bed, struck her even more strongly now.

The dense, familiar fragrance emptied her mind.

When she came to her senses, Vivian found herself lying on a bed.

She was breathing heavily, as if something had caught in her throat, her gaze fixed upward.

Kailo had laid her on the bed and was now looking down at her.

Her heart pounded as if it were about to burst.

She couldn’t meet his dark gaze, nor could she muster the strength to push him away.

Completely overwhelmed, Vivian could only freeze in place.

“K-Kailo… Why…why are you doing this?”

Her voice trembled involuntarily, her words faltering as she spoke.

Her tone was pitiful, almost begging for mercy—utterly unlike what she was accustomed to.

But given the unusual situation, her behavior was equally uncharacteristic.

The more she realized how helpless she sounded, the more an overwhelming sense of powerlessness consumed her.

Fear mingled with a strange excitement, along with the unbearable sensation that this was something she should never let happen.

Before she knew it, her upper garment was gone.

“D-don’t look!”

Snapping out of it, Vivian quickly covered her chest, but Kailo didn’t flinch.

—Thud.

Instead, he grabbed her wrists, attempting to uncover what she was hiding.

Vivian shook her head, closing her eyes in embarrassment as if denying the situation.

“I-I told you no…!”

Even with her eyes closed, his face was vividly etched in her mind.

“Relax.”

He commanded firmly.

Vivian felt her body stiffen at his words.

Her confused thoughts swirled around her.

She had to refuse.

She knew that much… but hesitation crept in.

She was rejecting him, but the idea of him leaving made her feel empty.

“Relax, Vivian.”

He repeated the order.

Slowly, the tension drained from her body.

—Slide.

Like a well-trained puppy, she obeyed his demand.

She didn’t want to surrender, yet the act of giving in didn’t feel entirely unpleasant.

Unable to understand her impulses, Vivian began to submit to them.

Tightly closing her eyes, she revealed her left breast to Kailo.

Shame surged over her, an overwhelming wave of embarrassment that made her want to disappear.

Yet, at the same time, a peculiar curiosity bubbled up within her.

‘Would he think it’s pretty? Or would he find it unattractive?’

Madame Linne had once reassured her that at least her chest was beautifully shaped.

Kailo’s hand reached toward her chest.

It had grown noticeably fuller lately.

Vivian panted, struggling to breathe, but it felt suffocating.

Finally, his hand touched her breast—

“Ah!”

Vivian exhaled the breath she had been holding and abruptly sat up in bed.

“Haah…! Haah…!”

Her ragged breathing filled the room as her eyes darted around in confusion.

Kailo had vanished like a mirage.

Vivian, too, found herself back in her nightclothes.

Soft moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting a gentle glow, while cool, refreshing air filled the room.

Blinking repeatedly, Vivian tried to make sense of the situation.

“…Ha.”

Realizing what had happened, she let out a hollow laugh, her expression blank with disbelief.

Had she just had a dirty dream?

Madame Linne had mentioned that such things could happen.

She had said it was natural, a part of growing up, and that such desires were inevitable.

But Vivian had never imagined something like this happening to her.

She had never thought of herself as particularly lustful or even interested in such things.

…Yet her dream was telling a different story.

Her body was telling her that she was steadily maturing into an adult.

But Kailo?

Kailo Alan appearing in a dream like that?

Vivian clutched her burning cheeks, overwhelmed by an uncontrollable mix of embarrassment and confusion.

If there was one person in the world she absolutely could not have that kind of relationship with, it was Kailo Alan.

The son of the man who had killed her parents and siblings.

Even if it meant dying, she couldn’t share a bed with him.

What would her family, watching from above, think of her?

And yet, she had dreamed it.

“…Ah…ah…! Am I crazy?”

The most bewildering part for Vivian amidst all this was…her racing heart still hadn’t calmed down.

The excitement that had surged once refused to subside, leaving her in turmoil.

The revulsion of having such a dream clashed with an unsettling curiosity about what might have happened if the dream had gone on just a little longer.

That curiosity gripped her, even as she slapped herself on the head.

No matter how much she tried to shake it off, her overly sensitive body wouldn’t cool down.

And then, one thought shook her to her core.

This was just a dream, and she could dismiss it as such.

…But what if the same thing happened in reality?

Could she reject him as firmly as her rational mind was telling her to?

She had a faint understanding now of the thrill that twisted her emotions in that depraved, shameful scenario.

“…It’s a nightmare… It’s just a nightmare…”

Vivian muttered to herself as if to brainwash her mind.

But deep down, she knew the truth.

She had experienced nightmares countless times before and knew how her body reacted to them.

Nightmares left her drenched in cold sweat, her body icy to the touch, chilled to the bone.

But now, it was the opposite.

Her body was burning, like a blazing ember that had just been stoked awake.