Never Appear Before the Kid Again
Arina Grant had been the kind of child who never talked back to her parents, not once since she was little. In Kain’s opinion, it was a textbook case of good-child syndrome. The root cause was the domestic violence she had suffered from Anna Gibbernoon during the years she had been more or less abandoned.
Anna treated her like a piece of luggage that only got in the way, responding with nothing but indifference and neglect. To earn even a scrap of her mother’s attention, to receive even a sliver of her love, Arina had no choice but to behave that way. Which was why this moment was a first for Anna. The first time Arina had ever rebelled against her, the first time those emerald eyes had glared at her with such defiance.
“What did you just say?”
“I said please don’t come looking for me anymore.”
Arina answered again, crisp and clear. Any hesitation she once felt toward her birth mother had completely vanished. Or so she thought. The trembling in her hands told a different story, revealing that she had not yet let go of every last lingering attachment.
Part of her wanted to cling to her mother again. But she knew she couldn’t. Mom has no interest in me. She’ll only end up hurting my friends.
So I have to cut her off myself.
She couldn’t let Marily suffer because of her the way she had at the party. Marily was her precious friend—the one who had comforted her then and who was angrier on her behalf than anyone else right now.
“Is that any way to speak to your mother?”
“……”
“You really haven’t changed at all since you were a child.”
A stumbling block that contributed nothing to her life. Anna’s gaze as she looked at Arina twisted with irritation and fury. How dare she. Who did this girl think she was, giving orders? Mother and daughter, noble and commoner—the difference in status and class made Arina’s defiance utterly unthinkable.
Just shut your mouth and do as I say, you useless little bitch.
At Anna’s icy glare, Arina flinched. She could never forget those eyes. They were the same ones her mother had worn when she screamed at her and stormed out of the Grant Company, hurling every insult she could think of.
I don’t want to be hated.
The trauma was resurfacing. The image of her mother’s retreating back flashed through her mind, draining the color from her face until it was deathly pale.
Don’t go. Come back. Please love me.
The courage she had finally mustered began to crumble.
“A good child listens to her mother.”
It was a phrase she had heard since she was small. Yes, that was right. She had to listen to her mother. Only then would she not be hated.
“That’s enough!”
Perhaps it was because she could no longer contain her rage at the sight. Marily shook off Arina’s now-limp hand and shot to her feet.
“What a load of bullshit. Seriously.”
But someone moved even faster than she did. A figure appeared behind Anna and upended the drink that had been on the table straight over her head.
“Bullshit should be done in moderation.”
The empty cup was hurled to the café floor. The glass shattered into countless pieces, turning the ground into a mess. At the same time, liquid dripped steadily from Anna Gibbernoon’s soaked hair.
“If obeying every word you say is what makes a good child, it’d be far better to raise her as a delinquent instead.”
The man completely ignored Anna, who was so stunned by the sudden turn of events that she could only blink, and slowly walked toward the children.
That man is…
Black hair, black eyes. Thick horn-rimmed glasses perched on his face and a sloppy outfit that did everything possible to downplay his handsome features. Marily had met him once before, so she knew exactly who he was.
“Uncle…?”
The name slipped from Arina’s lips. Her eyes were red and brimming with tears. Kain looked at her bloodless, paper-white face and placed a hand on top of her head.
“I’m back, kid.”
“Ah…”
It was her uncle. The moment Kain appeared, Arina’s trembling subsided as if by magic. The sight of his usual blank, indifferent expression brought her a wave of relief without her even realizing it.
“Go somewhere nearby and get something good to eat. I’ll catch up in a minute.”
He suddenly held out a black card and pressed it into her hand. Then he shot Marily a quick glance.
“You think you can handle it? Looks can be deceiving. My taste is pretty expensive, so it might cost a bit.”
Marily caught his meaning instantly and answered with a playful grin.
“Not just me—these two have the same taste.”
“Steakhouse, fine dining, anywhere is fine.”
“Just don’t complain about it later.”
With that, she quickly grabbed Arina’s arm and stood up.
“W-wait?!”
Marily dragged the flustered Arina away from the table in a hurry.
“You two go too. I’ll take care of things from here.”
Kain waved a lazy hand at Togun and Jeon, who were still sitting there blankly.
“Ah, yes.”
“……”
Togun glanced back and forth between Kain and Anna before carefully leaving the area. Jeon followed behind him, but not before turning his head slightly to look at Kain, who had taken the seat Arina had vacated.
Who is he?
Her uncle, part of Arina’s family—that much was clear. Yet something about him felt strangely familiar. Even though it was definitely their first meeting.
He’s no ordinary person.
Setting aside the atmosphere, it was obvious he was anything but normal. After scanning the café’s interior, Jeon gave a light bow in Kain’s direction and followed Togun out of LeBlanc.
“Wait! Where do you think you’re going?!”
Anna finally caught up with the situation and shot to her feet, shouting.
“Sit down.”
But the voice that came from behind her made her movements freeze instantly. The temperature around her plummeted as if someone had turned the air conditioning to its coldest setting, brushing against her skin. She swallowed dryly from an inexplicable tension and turned her head.
There sat Kain, chin resting on his hand with an indifferent expression, meeting her eyes.
“I was planning to have dinner with the kid, but thanks to you it’s going to be late.”
The momentary panic from the unknown pressure lasted only a second. What surged up inside her next was pure, boiling rage.
“Who the hell are you?”
She slammed the table hard enough to break it and glared at Kain fiercely. Unlike Jeon, she still hadn’t fully grasped the situation, and her fearless attitude made Kain stare at her face in silence.
“Who do you think you are to interfere with my—”
“Shut up and sit down. I’ve said it twice now.”
“……”
“Or should I force you to sit?”
Once again, that inexplicable aura radiated from Kain. Terror crawled up from the depths of her soul and began to devour her mind. Her legs gave out and she collapsed helplessly into the chair.
Kain continued watching her with a calm expression and spoke evenly.
“I was living quietly, but now even worthless flies are swarming around.”
“Flies? Do you even know who I—”
“You really can’t understand unless I spell it out for you. How annoying.”
Kain forcibly clamped a hand over her mouth. His grip was so strong it felt like her jaw might shatter. Before she could even cry out in pain, he whispered into her ear with a low, sinister voice.
“Don’t exaggerate. I’m only holding you hard enough not to break anything.”
“……”
“That’s better. Stay quiet and just listen. I don’t want to hear your noisy voice.”
It was absurd. She couldn’t even process the situation. She was a noblewoman. Where in the world would someone like her have ever been treated this way? Her face flushed with humiliation as she grabbed Kain’s arm with both hands, trying to pry it away. But no matter how she struggled, his arm didn’t budge an inch.
“From what I hear, you killed the Viscount Gibbernoon’s first wife and took her place.”
“…!”
“They said you used black magic. You must be quite fond of curses, huh?”
Her struggling stopped. The face that had been flushed red with anger turned deathly pale.
How does he know that?
It was impossible. No one should know. Kain clicked his tongue in clear displeasure and roughly shoved her jaw away as if throwing away something dirty.
“So that’s why you could say such things to the kid without batting an eye.”
To a child, a parent’s words could become a curse. The reason was that from the moment of birth, a part of the soul remained connected between parent and child. Arina’s trauma was exactly that—a kind of curse that had been eating away at her heart. Even now, after all this time.
“Listen well. I have zero interest in the likes of you. I don’t care what you do or what kind of life you live.”
“……”
“But never appear before the kid again. If you show up in her life even one more time, I won’t bother revealing your secret to the world. I’ll end your life myself.”
Those who knew could tell. They could see just how much anger he was holding back right now.
“Remember this. This is your first and last warning.”
Even the words of an incompetent parent could become a curse to their child. And Kain was the pinnacle of modern black magic. Carving a curse into someone’s soul with mere words was child’s play for him.
“……”
Her mind was completely dominated. Along with his words, a powerful fear toward Kain was etched deep into her heart. At the same time, Anna Gibbernoon finally realized something and shuddered violently.
A cup had shattered. Violence had been used. A commotion had broken out. Yet, astonishingly, the surroundings remained quiet. It was as if no one was aware of what was happening here. When she looked around, she finally understood.
Every single person—the café staff, the customers—was staring at her with cold, sunken eyes. The eyes of the underworld existed everywhere in the world. For them, quietly taking over a single location without anyone noticing was far too simple.
And that meant that if Kain truly wanted to, he could kill her anytime, anywhere, without anyone ever knowing. Under the icy gazes of everyone present, she remained frozen in place for a long time, gripped by a terror more intense than anything she had ever felt in her life. Even until long after Kain had completely disappeared from the café and new customers had begun to fill the seats.
These damn kids. How much can they possibly eat?
Kain looked at the receipt and let out a hollow laugh at the amount, which far exceeded his expectations. It wasn’t that he was upset. He was simply amazed that children could eat this much.
“……”
Thinking that, he glanced back at Arina, who was quietly following behind him. Ever since they had left the café, eaten dinner, and parted ways with the others, she had kept her head down in silence. Kain scratched the back of his head.
Now how am I supposed to deal with this?
It would be easier if he could handle her the same way he dealt with that annoying woman. I told her I handled it through conversation without doing anything.
Did she not trust him? Or was she still worried about her birth mother despite everything? He had no idea how to comfort the kid. All the effort he had put into suppressing his rage and letting that woman live had been completely wasted.
“…Um, Uncle.”
Just as Kain was maintaining an unusually frustrated silence, Arina, who had been following him the whole time, called out.
“You won’t abandon me and leave, right?”
Her voice trembled as she asked the question. Her mother had abandoned her and left. Her father had died in an airship accident. In Arina’s mind, guardians were people who would eventually leave her behind. The anxiety she had finally managed to forget had come roaring back the moment she met the mother who had abandoned her.
“I won’t.”
Arina looked at him with trembling eyes. Kain let out a hollow laugh, his face saying what kind of nonsense is that? The answer was so indifferent it almost made her nervous question feel ridiculous. But that familiar tone, exactly like always, actually calmed her anxious heart.
It felt like he would always be there in that same place, unchanging, just as he had been until now.
“You’ve been worrying about useless things like that this whole time?”
I worried for nothing. Kain pressed down on Arina’s head and shook it lightly back and forth.
“If you have the mental energy to think about that, use it to decide where you want to go for summer vacation. I bet you haven’t even thought about it yet, have you?”
“Ah.”
“Just as I thought.”
At Kain’s words, Arina scratched her cheek with an awkward expression. Kain let out a small chuckle at the sight and held something out in front of her.
“Here.”
“Yes?”
What he suddenly offered was a keyring attached to a bright green turtle plushie with a cheerful expression.
“What is this?”
“A gift. I looked for something better, but there wasn’t much else.”
“……”
A gift? From Uncle? For her? At the completely unexpected words, Arina’s shoulders twitched.
“Use it even if you don’t like it.”
His tone was gruff, but he kept sneaking glances at her, clearly worried that she might not like it. At the sight of her unfamiliar uncle acting this way, Arina finally couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
Seeing her smile brightly with genuine joy, Kain’s expression softened with relief. Arina quickly moved to his side and grabbed his arm.
“Let’s go home. Back to the house.”
“Yeah.”
It had been two full weeks since they had last gone home, each for their own reasons. On the faces of the two people returning home after so long, gentle smiles directed at each other had formed.