Chapter Index

    The dawn when stars descended.

    Light seeped through the frosted window, mismatched with the season.

    The scene from the window created a dim background.

    The moonlight, utterly unwavering, and the starlight.

    Beneath them, only the boy possessed vitality.

    Tap tap-.

    The spring breeze gently tapped against the windowpane.

    The brush, soaked in the season, painted strokes across the night sky.

    His blue hair settled gently.

    His eyes gazed only at the scenery outside the window.

    “……”

    Ruska was lost in thought.

    Like winter, lost in an autumn month.

    His blinking eyelids mechanically captured the dense night sky.

    With blurry focus, he was recalling a few days prior.

    None other than the light conversation he had shared with the target.

    -You are someone admired by countless people.

    -More than anything, to me… you are someone I am grateful for, and precious.

    The voice expressed a hint of tenderness.

    As if confessing his naive feelings.

    Ripples formed once again within the boy’s quiet heart.

    Ruska was merely organizing his complicated thoughts.

    Snowflakes bloomed from his twitching fingertips.

    ‘To me… my older sister comes first.’

    His only family.

    Beyond the boy’s winter, shadows surged.

    A certain dawn from which he could never escape.

    -You must think of your sister.

    -At least if you want her to be safe, it would be better to be loyal to the family.

    -Didn’t you follow your uncle from the start with such a contract?

    The adult’s voice was particularly detestable.

    Indeed, choice was about stepping forward from the edge of a cliff.

    Ruska remembered the message from his uncle.

    The command to offer that boy, whom his older sister held dear, as a sacrifice to the cultists.

    Silence settled.

    “I…”

    What remained in the holy night was a confession that would go unheard.

    The voice of the star calling out to him.

    The sins committed by the young lamb were submission and weakness.

    His sense of justice, skewed like a fleeting meteor, churned his heart.

    Because of this, the boy could not sleep even as the night deepened.

    From the chest pain that felt somehow incomplete.

    -Ruska.

    -A hero isn’t necessarily someone who comes with miracles.

    -If you can stand even with trembling legs.

    -It is the stars that give them a name.

    A whisper reached his ears.

    The connection between heroes and stars he had once heard from his father.

    The monarch of winter was proud of his son.

    Ruska’s fist clenched tightly.

    -Become a star like a guide.

    -So that the weak can hide in your shadow, and the strong can find their direction in your light.

    Now, those words felt too distant.

    Heroic tales that embroidered his childhood with longing.

    The wandering knight, the mage of the red-light district, the adventurer of the land… the boy who had found himself in all those stories.

    However, for the greatly grown lamb, fairy tales no longer existed.

    Because he was now at an age where he had stepped into the adult world.

    It was all a lie.

    “Father.”

    A particularly hollow night.

    The boy, unable to resist reality, simply suffered from the disparity with his ideals.

    After all, his life had not become the heroic tale he had dreamed of.

    A sense of loss from an unknown source filled his heart.

    Nevertheless, if only his older sister could be safe, it was a lament that didn’t matter.

    Ruska crushed the snowflake he had conjured with his fingertips.

    A silent prayer slipped through his lips.

    “……What should I do?”

    The boy’s dawn passed like that.

    Holding a resolution at the end.

    ***

    The next day.

    Ruska made contact with the boy designated as the target.

    The execution date had finally arrived.

    He had simply told Yuda that there was a place they needed to go together.

    Perhaps it was due to his unique sly personality, but he obediently followed even when told to just come along.

    Or perhaps it was because he could be trusted as the younger brother of someone precious.

    Either way, it was a regrettable judgment.

    “Hey.”

    Ruska looked back.

    He then held out something shimmering.

    “Wear this.”

    “Hmm?”

    The shimmering object was none other than a necklace.

    A reddish necklace with a star-shaped gem embedded in it.

    Yuda tilted his head.

    “This is… a necklace?”

    “Keep it on.”

    “I’m not particularly fond of attracting attention from men, you know.”

    “Stop talking nonsense. It’s for my older sister.”

    “Hmm… I don’t understand how wearing a necklace is for the Lady.”

    “When we clearly made plans to meet. You promised not to argue with my words.”

    “Of course I’ll follow! I was just curious.”

    “……Fine.”

    After a few sharp words, Yuda soon put on the necklace.

    He didn’t even utter any particular complaints.

    ‘Half success, perhaps.’

    Ruska squinted his eyes.

    What was currently clasped around Yuda’s neck was an artifact.

    It was a device so intricate that it couldn’t be distinguished from a regular necklace with the naked eye.

    Since it had even been finished so that mana wouldn’t leak, its effect wouldn’t be exposed externally.

    Now, with just a signal, the inherent magic would bind him.

    “Keep walking.”

    However, Ruska did not notice.

    The fact that a smile briefly lingered on the snake, who was fiddling with the necklace.

    The two boys’ steps passed through the academy district, accompanied by complex emotions.

    A path that had now reached the outskirts of the academy.

    “Hmm… we’re moving quite deep.”

    “Quiet.”

    Foot traffic had been rare recently due to the lockdown order.

    Now, not even a human presence could be heard.

    Was it because of the suddenly eerie atmosphere?

    A faint tension hovered between the two of them.

    “……My legs are getting tired, you know.”

    “We’ve arrived anyway.”

    Suddenly, Ruska’s leading steps stopped.

    A dead end reached at the end of a complicated alleyway.

    There were a few shadows, and a single carriage waiting.

    All of the strangers were cloaked in robes.

    Ruska recognized them.

    ‘Awl.’

    The Benity family… specifically, the Duke’s direct assassination unit.

    These were the killers mobilized for this operation.

    If they incapacitated Yuda with the necklace, they would put him unconscious into the carriage.

    No one would have suspected that those who visited under the Benity family’s authority would commit kidnapping.

    It was an operation that both the cultists and Benity had plunged into without looking back.

    Ruska looked back.

    “A dead end…”

    Had he sensed a faint murderous intent?

    Yuda also seemed to have noticed that the situation was unusual.

    The boy shifted his gaze, surveying his surroundings.

    He bore a look of bewilderment, then soon stared at Ruska, who had led him there.

    A faint echo spread beyond the alleyway.

    “……To think, I’d fall into a trap.”

    That voice held no resentment.

    Only a calm realization.

    Only a somewhat bitter smile lingered on the boy’s lips.

    Unable to endure such a moment, Ruska spoke.

    Words that, even to his own ears, were nothing more than excuses.

    “It couldn’t be helped.”

    “……”

    “I don’t expect you to understand, but I hope you don’t think too badly of me.”

    “I never particularly thought badly of you, Young Master.”

    “At least what I’m about to do now… it’s all for my older sister.”

    “The Lady must be truly fortunate. To have such a devoted younger brother.”

    “……If it’s sarcasm, I’ll gladly listen to it.”

    The cloaked figures standing far off approached step by step.

    Their eyes were like those of predators eyeing trapped prey.

    Even with such monsters in the background, Ruska’s expression was completely hidden.

    Because he had his head bowed, perhaps to prevent his resolve from wavering.

    Yuda silently gazed at the blue hair fluttering in the wind.

    The assassins, as they drew closer, added a few words.

    “So you brought him after all… Well done, Young Master.”

    “The Head-nim wants to see that pale-faced fellow, right?”

    “Well… if we’re going to hand him over to the demon worshipers anyway, it doesn’t matter if he’s a little broken, does it?”

    “I’ll go first! That pretty face of his annoyed me so much I wanted to tear it off!”

    “Alright~ Shall we have some fun?”

    Murderous intent slowly emanated.

    Each of the strangers drew their swords, closing the distance.

    Yuda was frozen, unable to resist.

    As if the sight of the boy bothered him, Ruska stepped beside him first.

    “Yuda Snakers.”

    Pat pat-.

    The blue-haired boy patted the snake’s shoulder.

    Then he whispered a few words into his ear.

    So the strangers wouldn’t hear.

    “I’m sorry for deceiving you.”

    And.

    “My older sister… please take care of her.”

    Snap-!

    Ruska snapped his fingers without hesitation.

    The conclusion he had reached after spending the previous dawn sleepless.

    Immediately after, the necklace wrapped around Yuda’s neck began to glow.

    A bluish light enveloped the boy softly.

    Only then did its form become visible.

    -This is an item provided by the merchants.

    -An artifact that suppresses the wearer’s mana… more accurately, it should be called a restraint.

    -Yes… if you put the restraint on him and lure him to the designated spot, the family’s mages will step in.

    The necklace his uncle had handed over.

    Unlike the one with a hexagonal gem, the snake’s necklace had a star shape embedded in it.

    Furthermore, the reddish hue, which had been applied as a deception, peeled away.

    The true surface revealed underneath was pure white.

    “This is…?”

    Before everyone could even realize.

    The magic contained within the artifact swallowed the boy whole.

    A brilliant flash filled the alleyway.

    The next moment.

    “……”

    The snake vanished from the alleyway.

    Mid-range teleportation magic.

    The necklace had transported Yuda to a safe zone.

    What remained in that spot was only Ruska and the assassins, who were now like dogs chasing a chicken [meaning they had lost their target].

    His slanted blue eyes held a clear sneer.

    The boy spoke as if relieved.

    “What’s wrong?”

    Traitors who had turned their backs on the family.

    It was contempt directed at the guard dogs who had, at some point, become his uncle’s dogs.

    “Did you really think I’d dance to your tune until the very end?”

    Ruska gripped his sword.

    The blade, forged from carved ice, was pointed towards justice.

    Behind the boy, a faint light spread.

    Meanwhile.

    The squinting eyes watched all these scenes.

    As if it found it insanely amusing.

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