Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Translator: XZY
Chapter 63: Watercolor (5)
***
Kwang—
As the Skeleton Giant’s fist struck the wall, fragments shot out and it began to collapse.
Amidst that, Valerian, his dark red eyes gleaming, rushed forward and swung his sword at Derek.
The level of concentration required to wield a sword while simultaneously using 4-Star Necromancy-type magic was astounding.
He was already surpassing his own limits. There was no longer any reason left in his mind, which had already been pushed to the brink.
If Derek stood in his way, he would simply get rid of Derek. His mind was already full just thinking of such a simple cause-and-effect relationship.
The end of a noble who had fallen as far as one could fall was a wretched one, so Derek held a shred of sympathy for him.
However, what was wrong was wrong. Derek was a person who was extremely wary of the indecisiveness that came from being swayed by sympathy and slowing his judgment.
Pak— !
Valerian must have already reached his limit.
He had bewitched the mansion's servants, was controlling numerous corpse-monsters, and was even handling a giant Skeleton Giant.
No matter that he was holding the Staff of Rosin, handling this scale of Necromancy-type magic simultaneously was an act of pushing himself to the edge.
Kagang— !
Derek moved with the nimble movements of a wild animal and dug into Valerian’s space.
A dagger held in a reverse grip stabbed the gap in the armor on Valerian's wrist.
He almost dropped the staff from the pain that surged up for a moment, but Valerian clenched his teeth and endured the pain.
Pak— !
He kicked Derek away, created distance, and then gave a command to the Skeleton Giant again.
The physical force of each and every blow from that giant skeleton was not something a human body could withstand.
It was an attack that had to be unconditionally dodged, as blocking it, let alone deflecting it, was not permitted.
Valerian knew that fact well, so it was the moment he was about to draw out his mana to press Derek even harder.
“Valerian Orabeoni...!”
At the familiar voice calling his name, Valerian’s pupils trembled once.
As if the strength had momentarily left his body, his entire body flinched and trembled. Derek did not miss that moment and kicked Valerian in the solar plexus.
Kagang! Kwang— !
Valerian, who rolled on the floor, rolled towards the garden's flowerbed.
In the pattering rain, Valerian, who had managed to get up again, looked towards Aiseline.
He had been continuously looking away, but now the time had come to face her.
It was the thread of sanity he had let go of, unable to bear the guilt of stabbing his most respected father with his own hands and killing his family with his own hands.
Even in the situation where he was forcing himself to get up to pick up the pieces of the mistake he had made, Valerian had to face reality.
The family he had loved so dearly was not just his father.
Beyond the half-destroyed wall, the girl trembling beside Diella’s old room’s bed was also one of the family members Valerian had cherished so much.
“....Aiseline.”
Soon, as the whispers of Rosin that had been clouding his head cleared a little, Valerian answered in a trembling voice.
<><><>
As if his blurred vision had completely returned, life returned to Valerian’s eyes.
It was the moment he saw the figure of Aiseline, sitting on the floor, completely drenched in rain.
Swaaaa—
In the drizzling rain, he looked down at his own appearance. His armor was soaked in blood.
When he turned his head for a moment to look at the mansion, it was all shattered, and in the aftermath of the collapse, numerous servants were injured and rolling on the floor.
In one hand was a sharp longsword, and in the other was a necromancer’s staff that muddled the mind.
“...”
The things he had done while engulfed in madness were vivid.
As for who the mastermind of all this tragedy was, it was none other than himself.
Valerian looked at Derek with trembling eyes. Derek met Valerian’s gaze and narrowed his brow.
The light of reason was returning to Valerian’s eyes.
The moment he saw Aiseline, who was sitting behind Derek and trembling, Valerian dropped his sword and collapsed to the ground.
Kagang— !
The giant, skeleton-shaped giant that had broken the wall stopped moving.
Its figure, standing still in the rain, looked like a giant stone statue. Even while being pelted by the rain, the giant seemed to have no intention of moving anymore.
“Heok... heok...”
The water droplets that trickled down Valerian’s hair and fell, hit the floor a few times and disappeared.
Valerian quietly watched his hand, which was on the floor, trembling.
Watercolors were scattered all over the floor of Diella’s room.
Among them was a painting of Derek. It was a masterpiece that his lovely youngest sister had drawn with all her soul to give as a gift to the master she respected the most.
It seemed like only yesterday that he had applauded in admiration at the sight of Diella completing the painting, correcting a single wrongly drawn stroke as if it were nothing.
When he came to his senses, the ball was already a foregone conclusion.
Not only that, the family itself was already in a state of near devastation.
Who had done it? It was Valerian himself.
Valerian raised his trembling head, and soon said in a voice that was barely a whisper.
“Kill me.”
The place his gaze was directed was none other than the direction where Aiseline had collapsed.
Aiseline gasped and trembled once more. Valerian was speaking in earnest.
“Va-Valerian Orabeoni...”
“Before someone else intervenes, you finish it.”
Valerian already realized it. He should no longer be alive.
For the Duplein family to maintain even its lineage, it was absolutely necessary to have the public pretext that the Duplein family itself had dealt with its errant eldest son.
There had to be a symbolic event that suggested that Valerian’s deviant behavior was nothing more than an independent act he had committed on his own, and had nothing to do with the family’s intentions.
If the mages in the main hall began to regain consciousness, or if the neighboring territories that had noticed the signs began to intervene, there was no telling how the situation would unfold.
Therefore, this matter had to be finished within the Duplein family.
That sword was in Aiseline’s hands.
Kung— !
Valerian took off the steel armor protecting his upper body.
For a man, he had a thin frame, and the noble attire soaked in rain and sweat clung to his body.
Valerian, who had collapsed, threw his sword towards Aiseline.
The sword hit the floor a few times and rolled. Derek firmly stepped on the sword that was heading towards Aiseline and stopped it.
“..There’s no time, Aiseline.”
“Orabeoni... what are you talking...”
“...Before I lose my reason again, you must end it.”
Derek quietly looked at Aiseline. Soon, he quietly nodded his head.
Aiseline bit her lower lip and picked up the sword with a slender, trembling hand.
And parting the rain, she slowly walked towards Valerian. Her whole body was soaked, and she had no strength in her body, so she stumbled several times.
However, Valerian watched her approach and did not even stir.
“I’m sorry that things turned out this way....”
“Valerian Orabeoni...”
Aiseline, who raised the sword with a trembling hand, called Valerian’s name several times in a trembling voice.
But there was no longer a way out.
If she did not finish Valerian when he had regained even a little of his reason, the Duplein family would fall even further into the abyss. Valerian himself knew that fact.
And so, Aiseline shed tears and raised the sword higher.
Hwaaaaaak— !
However, an even greater magic power began to pour out from the Staff of Rosin held in one of his hands.
As if it could not leave the death of Valerian, whom it had been using as a host, alone, an even more intense lingering thought poured out and whispered in Valerian’s ear.
It urged him to commit greater power, more corpses, more massacres.
Valerian bit his lower lip, held onto his sanity, and quietly looked at Aiseline.
Aiseline looked down at Valerian while shedding tears, and soon, she lowered the sword from her hand.
“Orabeoni... Orabeoni, there must be a way. Even if it’s not this way... some other way...”
“Lady Aiseline! Do not hesitate!”
As Derek raised his voice, Aiseline’s arm began to tremble.
For her, who had lived her entire life like a pure lily, this situation of having to stab her own flesh and blood was too harsh. He was not unaware of that fact, but hesitating here would solve nothing.
Soon, an even more powerful magic began to pour out from the Staff of Rosin.
Valerian screamed, unable to bear the pain, and the wind and rain that had been raging around began to grow even more fierce.
Hwiiiiiing— !
Aiseline sat down in the gale and was looking at the sword rolling on the floor with trembling eyes.
The burden she suddenly had to bear seemed to weigh down on her shoulders. Derek quietly watched Aiseline, then realized it was hopeless.
It might be better for Derek to handle it himself and announce to the public that Aiseline had taken care of everything. In such an urgent situation, he could not drag this on any longer.
Therefore, it was the moment Derek was about to pick up the sword.
“─Then I’ll do it.”
Pak— !
A girl who appeared through the violent gusts picked up the sword.
The sword looked too heavy for her small hands, but the girl clenched her teeth and approached Valerian.
Puk— !
After that, it was something that happened in an instant.
The girl’s voluminous hair whipped in the gale. That appearance was just like a lion’s mane fluttering.
<><><>
The sight of Diella chasing after a ball rolling far away in the mansion garden was still fresh in his mind.
She, whom he had only thought of as a cute youngest child, gradually grew older and had at some point become a beautiful young lady.
She had her own way of handling the servants, had accumulated a great deal of culture, and was showing talent in the arts.
The sight of her, sitting alone in the garden with a canvas set up, pouting her lips and contemplating how to apply her brushstrokes, was truly that of a beautiful noble lady.
Feeling a sense of dependability for some reason, Valerian quietly looked down at Diella, who had dug into his arms.
The sword in her hand was piercing his chest. A stream of fresh blood spurted from Valerian’s lips.
The dress she had prepared for the ball was stained with blood.
Diella, who had run here as soon as she arrived at the mansion by carriage, had seen the situation and made her decision in an instant.
Diella had an expression like she was about to cry, but she was killing her emotions by biting her lower lip hard.
However, her emotions were leaking out little by little through her trembling hands.
‘I see...’
Only then did Valerian realize it. This steadfastness of taking a step forward in the end, despite being anxious and afraid, was the greatest weapon of the girl named Diella.
That resolute face was the same as when she was painting a watercolor.
How much determination would it take to draw irreversible stroke after stroke on a vast, empty canvas?
And when she drew a wrong stroke, even the improvisation and skillfulness of quickly correcting it must all be a gift from the heavens.
Surely in this wonderful and fine family, Valerian himself was nothing more than a wrongly drawn stroke. This was a rather fine improvisation.
Valerian gave a bitter smile and placed his hand on Diella’s head.
Diella, who flinched, looked down, and soon, Valerian let out a hollow laugh and said.
“Have you... grown a little taller...”
Diella, who had been quietly casting her gaze down, opened her eyes wide.
Soon, the strength left Valerian’s body, and he knelt and fell quietly onto the muddy ground.
Cheolpeodeok—
Kagang! Kang— !
The staff that fell from Valerian’s hand rolled on the floor.
The drizzling rain was also slowly letting up.
<><><>
Diella, completely drenched in rain, quietly looked up at the dark clouds in the sky that were slowly scattering.
A little bit of sunlight was seeping through the bones of the Skeleton Giant, which no longer stirred.
She knelt on the muddy ground and looked at the corpse of a man that was growing cold.
It felt like she would burst into sobs if she let her guard down for a moment, so she killed her emotions by swallowing air in her gasping throat.
Cheolbeok, cheolbeok—
A mercenary approached the girl who was sitting like that.
“Lady Diella.”
That voice that called Diella softly was the sound that Diella liked the most.
“It’s been a while, Derek. It’s not something to say after inviting you, but as you can see, the ball has become a mess. I have no face to show.”
“It’s alright.”
Diella managed to speak in a voice that was completely hoarse.
Derek brushed off his clothes, which were thoroughly soaked in mud, and stood quietly behind her.
Diella let her trembling shoulders droop and slowly said.
“Derek. I’m sorry, but can I ask you for a favor?”
“Please, speak.”
“Could you... hug me just once?”
“...”
Derek, upon hearing those words, did not even show a hint of hesitation, lowered his posture to sit by her side, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Soon, the girl who had lost her family cried her heart out in Derek’s arms.
She gripped his collar and buried her head even deeper.
Both of them were completely drenched in rain and in a sorry state, and were even soaked in blood and sweat, but no one complained.