Chapter 142
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Secret from 10 Years Ago (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"M-Mother."
"……."
"Who... is that person?"
Gauging his mother's expression, which was on the verge of crumbling as tears welled up in her eyes, Kairen suddenly tossed out the question casually.
"He wasn't someone you loved, was he...?"
Of course, he doubted it, but he had to confirm this one point before moving on.
"My guardian angel and my first..."
Astridje, who had begun answering Kairen's question, trailed off for a moment.
"...friend."
Only then did Kairen finally start to relax, a relieved expression forming on his face at her response.
"Anyway, he was truly a mysterious being."
"……."
"When I was young, whenever I was in trouble, this enigmatic figure would appear and help me."
Astridje's complexion began to darken gradually as she gazed quietly at Kairen.
"...But then, one day, he suddenly stopped appearing. Right around when I entered the academy, I think."
"The academy?"
"Yes, about ten years ago now."
Her slightly wistful expression hardened rigidly, as if she'd recalled something she didn't want to remember.
"To be honest, until I faced that incident, I'd thought of him as something like an imaginary friend from my childhood."
"……."
"But... the one who stopped me when I went berserk that day was none other than my guardian angel."
Kairen's expression stiffened in tandem with her confession.
"M-Maybe it was a misunderstanding or something?"
"……."
"L-Like, someone else helped you... and you mistook it for your imaginary friend..."
If that were true, then it would mean he himself had been the one to stop his rampaging mother in the past—suddenly, it felt like hot coals were burning at his feet.
"...Kairen, I know it's hard, but please hear me out to the end."
Misinterpreting Kairen's reaction somewhat differently, Astridje hesitated with slightly fearful eyes before opening her mouth again.
"No matter what expression you make at the end, I'll accept it."
Kairen nodded quietly at her plea.
"When I snapped out of the rampage, there wasn't a single living Belverk left."
Hearing Astridje begin her confession, Kairen couldn't help but bite his lip.
"That day, I devoured the Belverk elders, my parents, and every last one of my siblings without mercy."
"Ah..."
"With these two hands, killing them one by one and feasting on their blood."
Since Kairen knew well the catastrophe that had nearly occurred two years ago when she rampaged, imagining that day's bloodbath wasn't particularly difficult.
According to the maids, even the elders—who were supposedly away on a trip—hadn't been able to prevent it. Had they failed, the horror would have been several times worse.
"...Just as those filthy hands of mine were about to reach the servants, my guardian angel appeared after years and stood in my way."
Kairen, holding his breath amid such thoughts, perked up his ears at the mention of the guardian angel.
"It was a fierce battle."
"……."
"The aftermath left the Belverk estate half-destroyed."
Meanwhile, Astridje, forcing herself to continue, felt overwhelmed to the point she could barely go on.
"And in the final moment, I devoured even my last remaining friend."
Yet she didn't stop her confession.
"When I finally came back to my senses..."
She probably sensed that if she missed this chance, she'd never have another opportunity to fully reveal the truth.
"All that was left in my arms was... a single hydrangea."
"...A forget-me-not."
"Yes, just a forget-me-not."
Correcting herself at Kairen's point, Astridje closed her eyes tightly for a moment before opening them again, her voice growing even more composed as she faced the truth squarely.
"...No one remained by my side."
But in that composed tone lingered an inescapable, viscous darkness.
"Even the only proof that my sole little sister had ever existed in this world had left me."
"……."
"The first report I received after regaining my senses was that Marquis Opstein and his knights, arriving late, had recovered your remains from Schwarz, who had been buried unconscious in the rubble."
What must Astridje have felt, having exterminated her own clan with her own hands, sent away the sister she loved, and failed to protect even the last blood relative entrusted to her by that sister?
"If I'd been there at the time... I would have realized you were still alive..."
Not just Kairen, but probably no one could understand.
"From that day on, I took over as the new head of the Belverk family."
"……."
"There had been plenty of cases where someone massacred their siblings or parents before, but wiping out the elders too was unprecedented, so there were many trial and errors."
Aside from Astridje herself, the person involved.
"...Once things settled down somewhat, I left the ducal house and threw myself madly into the wars."
Kairen listened quietly to this firsthand confession without interjecting a word.
"Whether I wanted to erase the memories with an even thicker blood scent, or just flee from my sins, I can hardly remember now."
"……."
"But having inherited the clan's sins and powers of the Demon King all at once, I had become too strong to die on the battlefield."
The weight of guilt Astridje bore was too immense for Kairen to casually interject.
"It was for that reason I began sharing my power with the war orphans I encountered on the battlefield."
"Ah."
"Do you understand now, Kairen? Why your three older sisters don't share blood with you."
Though Kairen nodded diligently, he couldn't help widening his eyes at those words.
"They are all new vampires born from contracts with me."
Though he'd realized it long ago, hearing their secret directly from his mother's lips stirred something strangely profound in him.
"...Without you, they would have become new vessels for the Demon King's power and repeated this tragedy."
He might have even clashed with those sisters in a bloody slaughter.
No—in the original story, where Astridje died, he might never have met them at all.
But offering such comfort would still be overshadowed by the crushing weight of her original sin.
"If the Demon King's power isn't passed on, we can't protect the world from rampaging monsters."
"……."
"Or... is that just an excuse now..."
The burden of sin she'd abandoned even excusing herself was too much for even Kairen to share.
"Until I found you again, I was always running from that incident ten years ago."
Thus, all Kairen could do was listen calmly to her confession.
"Selfish, incompetent, and filthy to boot."
"……."
"The mother you've respected and loved all this time was actually this monstrous."
But as Astridje's confession devolved into self-loathing, Kairen's eyes began to well up.
"Even so, can you still say you love me?"
Gazing at Kairen, she ended her confession with a sorrowful smile.
'I wonder... what will he think.'
Hearing his mother's past had consumed far more mental energy than expected.
'...Is Mother really as loathsome as she claims?'
Yet even after hearing the full confession, he didn't hate or despise her.
It felt less like karma and more like an unavoidable tragedy. Less like original sin and more like self-recrimination.
'No, Mother is still a good person.'
To me, her wandering the ruined battlefields to help war orphans and willingly sharing her power with sisters who needed it were proof enough.
But with her mental state so unstable, acknowledging that wouldn't suffice—she needed shock therapy.
"Hoo..."
I'd thought she'd have to confess someday anyway, so this was for the best.
I'd been worrying just in case, but since the guardian angel wasn't a first love but a first friend, it didn't matter.
"Mother."
Steeling my resolve, I stood from my seat and spoke in a firm voice.
"I'll give you that answer from the past."
And for a moment, silence stretched through the family head's chamber.
"...What did you say?"
In that silence came his mother's flustered voice. Flashing a bright smile, I let my eyes glow crimson.
"Wait just a moment!"
I roughly knew the date she'd made that promise with the guardian angel, so executing the plan would be no problem!
- Poof...!
"……."
The crimson flash that had dyed the family head's chamber gradually faded.
"What... in the world...?"
Astridje, left alone in the room, muttered blankly with a dazed expression.
"...Ah."
She let out a short gasp right then.
"I remember."
Coincidence or fate, precisely at that moment—ten years ago to the day—the words she'd heard resurfaced in her mind.
- I'll love you forever,
Those words came from none other than her guardian angel, who hadn't appeared for years after that day.
- for I'm your eternal ally!