The Cracking Mirror
“······Wh-what.”
An utterly unbelievable scene unfolded before him. His mother was gazing at Edga Fix with that suggestive expression. And calling him her husband, urging Lucas to greet his new father.
“Khihihihik··· Honey. It seems our son still lacks proper education?”
At that moment, Edga Fix curled his lips into a wicked smirk and spoke. Then he leaned in close to Adela, whispering into her ear as though breathing the words directly into it: “You should discipline him a bit.”
Adela nodded, her face flushed crimson, and turned to Lucas.
“Lucas. Did I raise you to behave this way? Staring at your new stepfather like that is no different from rebelling against me. Greet him properly at once.”
Spin-spin— The world reeled. Strength drained from his legs; his stomach lurched. What in the world was this absurd situation······?
“Lucas! Are you going to defy me to the very end? Apologize to your new stepfather this instant! He is the man I love—the only one I have ever acknowledged as my partner!”
His perception twisted. Just as one accepts a dream as reality while dreaming, Lucas found himself treating this impossible scene as truth. In the end, that bastard Edga Fix had even stolen his mother.
“Khihihihik··· Lucas, you’d better start behaving yourself from now on. Unless you want to be pushed out of the line of succession. Right now, inside Adela’s womb, a new heir to the Elmar family is growing.”
“······What? What did you just say?”
“Ah, should I say Fix instead of Elmar? My apologies.”
Lucas’s entire body began to tremble. In his mother’s womb······ Edga Fix’s child? Did that mean he would be cast aside? Why did his mother always choose worthless commoners as partners and bring about such disasters—
—Lucas.
But suddenly, Adela’s voice echoed inside his mind. The same deep, clear tone he had always known.
—I loved your father with all my heart. So pay no mind to the chatter of those frivolous sparrows.
In his childhood, Lucas recalled the words Adela had once spoken to him—the story she told when rumors claimed he was the “child of a rapist,” assuring him he was the result of true love.
‘This is fake.’
As the memory surfaced, everything snapped into focus. He could feel, with absolute certainty, that the scene before him could never be real. His mother would never act so vulgar.
‘The powder Charlotte Verdian used······.’
Instead, Lucas remembered the battle between Charlotte and Cardmus. The hallucinatory dust that had driven Cardmus into madness. And the illusion spell layered atop it, designed to provoke fear.
‘So that’s what this is.’
Everything became clear. Ed and Charlotte’s relationship. The strange powder that had been scattered on him during the fight. What he was seeing now was nothing more than a manifestation of the fears buried deep in his subconscious—his terror that his mother would abandon his mercenary father for a superior man, his inferiority over his origins, his desperate craving for her approval, the crushing pressure to be the perfect son. All of it had twisted together to create this grotesque nightmare. Because of the weakness he had never overcome.
‘Was I the one consumed by vanity······?’
He had believed he was moving forward. When nobles began approaching him at social gatherings. When he was chosen as the freshman representative at the academy entrance ceremony. When he walked the halls surrounded by followers. In every one of those moments, he hadn’t grown—he had only been feeding the inferiority complex about his commoner blood that lurked in his heart.
Look. I am Lucas Elmar. The true noble who inherited the Elmar name. I carry the strongest bloodline, worthy of my mother’s reputation.
—That was what he had shouted to the world, like a child showing off.
Even though his mother had never once been ashamed of his father’s existence, he, drowning in self-doubt, had used the excuse of upholding her honor to inflate his own ego.
‘What matters isn’t how others see you······.’
His mother had always remained composed in the face of public opinion. She had set clear standards for what she valued and focused solely on them. But he had been desperate to fill his vanity. The more nobles followed him, the more he convinced himself he had grown.
‘······I was no different from a child. How shameful.’
He had wanted to hear those words from her someday. You’ve become a man now. He had longed for her warm acknowledgment along with that phrase.
But his mother had never once called him a “man” or a “gentleman.” Whenever she spoke of him to others, she always referred to him as “the child.”
‘Of course.’
Now Lucas understood what his mother considered a true man. Someone who forged his own path. Someone who could uphold his beliefs and principles no matter the hardship. Someone who didn’t chase after the approval of those around him, but drew people to him through his own strength alone.
That was the kind of man she respected.
And Edga Fix met every single one of those conditions. His vessel was simply different.
‘I was jealous of him.’
Once he admitted his own weakness, the truth became visible. He had been jealous of Ed ever since the entrance ceremony speech. The words “There’s nothing shameful about the name Fix” had struck him like a blow—because he himself had never even tried to learn his real father’s name, desperate only to hide it. He had clung to being “the child of Elmar” and ignored the other half of himself.
‘I denied my own roots······.’
Ed had embraced his origins. On the day of the entrance ceremony, he openly declared to everyone that he was a blacksmith. Even after receiving his title, he kept the commoner surname “Fix.” He was never ashamed of his father and always put him first. Even after gaining fame and wealth, he never grew arrogant, and instead taught those who slandered him. He spread positive influence across the entire empire.
‘That is not Edga Fix.’
Therefore, the thug swaggering before his eyes was not Edga Fix. It was merely a mirror reflecting his own ugly inner self. His weak heart, unwilling to acknowledge Ed, had turned him into a demon.
“Huu······.”
It was time to return. Lucas exhaled and refined his mana. Even when the “thug Ed” muttered a line that made his blood boil—“Adela’s night techniques were unbeatable, but my hand techniques are no slouch either”—he paid it no mind. That, too, was an illusion born from his own weak desire to demonize Edga Fix.
—Paat!
Lucas released his mana in a single burst, expelling the malicious energy within him. Like paint hardened under the scorching sun beginning to melt, the illusion he had created started to dissolve.
***
Adela’s expression hardened as she watched the arena. Her son, who had been attacking as though driven by some unseen pursuer, was now trapped in the hallucinatory powder, unable to break free.
‘He lost his composure······.’
Though flashy on the surface, his duel had been full of flaws. He had let emotion lead him and attacked while underestimating his opponent.
—Waaaaaaaah!!
—He’s finally out! Let’s gooooo!!!
As a result, he had given his opponent the opening needed to arm himself. While Lucas staggered under the effects of the powder, Ed began summoning and equipping his suit.
—Ooooooh!!
—That’s the one everyone’s been talking about······!
Ed aimed the repulsor beam at Lucas while the suit began attaching itself to him. As though magnetized, the pieces flew toward him and locked into place. The boots that had been knocked far away soared back the instant Ed glanced at them, fastening onto his legs.
—Wiiiiiing··· Chrrrrrk···
The rest followed. Parts emerging from cracks in the air simultaneously launched themselves at Ed, assembling on their own. Lasers scanned, gears shifted, screws loosened and tightened at blinding speed as each segment connected.
—Pshhhhhhh····.
Steam billowed out. The suit was complete—save for the helmet. The academy’s strongest student had returned.