10.

Chapter 4. Snow and Butterfly

Evren smiled bitterly.

It naturally made him think of the Second Prince, Kyle Tarandia, who should be in the Imperial Palace.

Kyle had a little more dignity, but when it came to being irritating, the two of them were cut from a similar cloth.

Evren glanced sideways at the knights who had followed them, supporting Lilian.

Lilian was a mess.

Thump, thump…….

The sound of hell’s drums kept echoing from his heart.

Ramio Tillard.

‘How would be the most fun way to break him?’

Shadows flickered in his eyes, from which all light had disappeared.

The ‘Power of Annihilation’ whispered dangerously to him.

He’s the one who tried to break ours first.

Let’s experiment and see just how far a human being can be broken.

We’ve never tried it on a human before.

No matter how much his body rattled and creaked, Evren had never once lost to this voice.

Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to submit to an invisible existence?

“……Shall I?”

Until this very moment, that had been the case.

The power cheered.

Very good! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for something I’m allowed to break?

Live according to your nature, Evren Tarandia.

And breaking things feels good.

Thump.

As the sound of hell’s drums once again rang from his heart—

“……Ah.”

His rampage erupted.

A pure white space began spreading outward from where he stood.

The trees collapsed in an instant, crumbling like flakes of snow.

It was truly a hell without even a speck of dust.

Evren smiled in satisfaction.

It’s easy when you hit rock bottom like this.

And yet you struggle so desperately just because you don’t want to do it…….

‘How should I play with him?’

Evren calculated as he looked at the living creature caught in his grasp.

But then, an afterimage flashed before his eyes.

It was an illusion like a sparkling, pale-pink butterfly.

‘What is this?’

He stretched out both arms and enclosed the illusion in his hands.

The butterfly scattered a clear, sweet, translucent fragrance.

Even the power that had been about to run wild hesitated.

After making such a good scent, after saying it wanted to break everything, what was this?

The world that had been turning white gradually began to come back into focus.

And when he opened his eyes—

Evren was holding both arms of a pink-haired woman.

“Your Highness, the Prince.”

“……Tillard?”

Lilian was being held by him.

Ramio had been thrown to the ground, and the world that had been turning white returned to normal.

Lilian ground her teeth and gasped for breath.

“My damn little brother…… If you kill Ramio Tillard here……”

Lilian, who had barely been standing, slowly sank to the ground.

“Who’s really going to deal with the consequences……?”

“Wait, you.”

Evren hurriedly caught Lilian.

Her body was burning hot, like a ball of fire.

“Your Highness……. Me…….”

“Tillard? Open your eyes—”

“I’m just going to faint.”

The moment Lilian finished announcing it, she closed her eyes.

A few hours later.

All the unconscious Tillard knights, including Ramio, were bound.

After gathering them in the middle of the encampment, they cast a spell to erase their memories.

“Trash.”

The sound of spitting could occasionally be heard.

They were the shadows.

And the one who received the most spit was Ramio.

“Hey, did you hear what this bastard was saying?”

“I’ve never seen someone whose outside and inside were this different.”

“As expected of those hypocritical Tillard bastards…….”

“This is why the main-family knights are trash too!”

Ramio Tillard’s reputation had been exceptionally good.

A cheerful and dignified young knight who was popular with both ladies and gentlemen.

He was also known for being kind to Lilian.

‘Actually, Sister Lilian is such a pitiful person. Even if she doesn’t have any abilities, it would be nice if she tried a little harder.’

That was why Lilian Tillard stood out even more as the ‘blemish on the family.’

However, through the communication artifact he possessed, the shadows had also overheard some of their conversations.

‘You went wandering around outside and lost your mind? Get over here right now!’

‘Why? So you can take me back and make me work as your maid again? Isn’t the reason you came to “get me” even now because your work has piled up?’

‘You’re happy to see this monster again after such a long time, aren’t you? He likes Sister the most.’

The Creator God had created ability users for the purpose of subjugating monsters.

In the present day, there were even people who summoned monsters into the entertainment districts hidden in the shadows.

But for someone who was even an Imperial Palace knight to do such a thing was beyond outrageous.

And to use one against his own blood relative, at that.

‘If the youngest one in the family is like this……’

Didn’t that mean that the eldest son, Young Duke Quern, and Iris had also been complicit?

Even the family’s knights did not hesitate to insult her so openly.

Elias crossed his arms and muttered.

“……And she said she ran away from home.”

When he had heard it while serving as an escort beside the Prince, he had inwardly laughed at Lilian’s words.

He had thought that she must be the kind of person who made such a fuss over other people’s attention that she would go this far.

But that wasn’t it.

Perhaps, truly……

‘Running away from home was just an excuse, and she really wanted to die……?’

Lilian’s chilling decision was frightening enough.

But—

‘His Highness’s rampage subsided.’

It couldn’t be that he had learned how to control it.

The Power of Annihilation wasn’t even capable of that.

Then, as expected—

“……Could it be thanks to Lilian Tillard?”

That woman who was still burning with fever inside the tent.

The tent where the Prince’s party was staying.

The physician who had accompanied them on this journey repeated Lilian’s diagnosis once more.

“I’m afraid this appears to be Awakening Fever.”

“I’m not asking because I don’t know what that is.”

“I-I apologize, Your Highness.”

The Prince’s rampage had subsided.

Though it did not show on the outside, the inside that had been torn to shreds had recovered.

But there was no time to feel relieved.

Evren quietly listened to the sounds leaking from the adjoining room behind the curtain.

Groans of someone in such pain that they could barely breathe kept reaching his ears.

Awakening Fever.

As the name suggested, it was a fever that ability users and controllers went through when awakening their powers.

Around the age of three or four, it passed like a short-lived cold.

But……

“Tillard is far too old to be going through Awakening Fever. And it normally shouldn’t be this painful.”

“Wasn’t Lady Tillard without abilities for a long time?”

The fever that should have been experienced in childhood had remained condensed within her, only to erupt now.

That was why the backlash had to be just as severe, the physician explained.

“Is such a thing actually possible?”

“It is extremely rare, but there have been cases like this once every few decades, Your Highness.”

The physician narrowed his brow at Evren’s expression.

‘Truly astonishing.’

He had served the First Prince for quite some time.

His Highness was not cold toward those beneath him, but he was indifferent.

After all, if he showed too much interest, the Power of Annihilation would provoke him into destroying them.

‘But was he really this close to Lilian Tillard……?’

This was hardly the time to wonder about such a thing.

“Your Highness, for now, I will arrange for female ability users to provide her care.”

Awakening Fever occurred because of excessive power, so an ability user could absorb some of the control power through physical contact.

However, he could not allow a member of the opposite sex to touch her without permission.

“Do that.”

“Yes. Understood.”

The physician was relieved.

After the rampage, Evren’s condition was much better than expected.

‘He always suffered because of that destructive power.’

There was no doubt that he could no longer hear the voice opposing his reason.

Evren answered, then silently stared only at the tent flap of the room where Lilian was.

Contrary to the physician’s thoughts, it wasn’t that the voice of the power had stopped being heard.

They had become one completely.

A red spiderweb pattern glowed faintly before disappearing.