The Trash Young Master Refuses to Bloom
"Kkuaa, aaaaaagh--!!"
Crazy. A beastly scream tore directly from my throat at this bizarre sensation that ripped through my living flesh from beneath my skin.
-Rip, riiiip!
My eardrums were nearly torn apart by the sound of my skin and muscles being mercilessly ripped away. A bizarre, squirming sensation pulsed beneath my pale skin, where blue veins once showed, and then, finally, dark red thorn vines burst through the flesh like crazy.
"Shi…t, ugh… haah, huuh…!"
The thorn vines, coiled like snakes around my slender neck, collarbone, and waist, mercilessly dug into my flesh. Every breath brought a terrible pressure that scraped against my bones. The white shirt, perfectly fine just moments before, now clung wetly, soaked with the blood that had burst from my body.
Kaleidoscope Thorn Flower: Bloom
A translucent panel blocked my view.
Bloom? Mental stability? Bullshit. Isn't this a torture device that grinds people alive in a blender?!
"Kkeuk, haa, fuck…."
Collapsed on the cold marble floor, I forced strength into my trembling jaw and clenched my teeth. Every time the thorns tightened around my windpipe, blood gurgled and flowed down my skin, staining the floor red.
That was when.
Through the terrible stench of blood piercing my lungs, a smell that was completely out of place in this hellish situation rushed in. The dark red vines, soaked with my blood. Above them, blood-red roses, releasing an intensely rich wild rose scent, were blooming in full glory, using the torn wounds as fertilizer. This crazy F-rank skill was vomiting grotesque flowers while gnawing at my life force.
"Just… what is this?"
An overwhelming heat that choked my breath. The amethyst eyes of the red-haired head of the family, approaching as if to crush my head, were churning violently. Her murderous intent, which had been rampaging as if to kill me on the spot, completely transformed into an alien, sticky killing intent the moment she smelled the bizarrely blooming roses.
A cool leather glove thrust suddenly under my chin, which was resting on the floor.
"Euk…!"
My vision was forced upwards. Her savage, glistening expression slammed directly into my retina.
Fuck, she's really at her limit. That's the face of someone about to rip my throat out!
"Grrk…! P-please… calm down…, Head of the family…!"
With my jaw bone gripped as if it would break, I forced out a voice from my throat, filled with blood. Only the survival instinct to somehow appease this crazy tiger struck my brain.
"It's not, ugh, a threat…!"
The thorns digging into my flesh scraped against my sternum, preventing complete sentences.
"Hmm…."
As if mocking my desperate pleas, a bizarre nasal sound flowed from her red lips, still gripping my neck. She brought her face so close to the rose that had bloomed by devouring my blood vessels, almost touching it with her nose.
"This… it comes from your blood, doesn't it."
Crack-!
"Kah, haak…!"
Enormous force was applied to her gloved hand, as if my jaw joint would be crushed. A creepy vibration was transmitted, like a beast suppressing the urge to chew and swallow me immediately.
She's going to squeeze me dry, not leaving a single drop of blood, and kill me. Damn world, short but filthy.
It was the moment I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the pain of my neck snapping.
"H-head of the family! Please, calm your anger!"
At the same time, the strong grip that was crushing my jaw flinched and stopped. Reflexively opening my eyes a slit, I saw Evelyn, her face pale blue, gasping by the entrance to the garden.
"If Rian has committed another rudeness, I will punish him severely in your place! There's no need for you to stain your noble body with blood. I'll take him right now, so please, let go of him!"
In her emerald eyes, a desperate wish to somehow save me, her blood relative, was clearly visible.
Still, she's trying to save my neck like a sister should. I'm almost in tears.
"Haah, haah…."
The head of the family breathed roughly like a beast and slowly turned her head. The hand gripping my jaw was still trembling like crazy.
"…No need to get blood on me, you say."
Her eyes were blazing as if she would even cut off Evelyn's neck right now. The head of the family, still not taking her eyes off the blood-red roses entangling my body, chewed her lips and forced out the words.
"The crime of daring to crawl into my sanctuary without permission… Evelyn, considering your desperate plea, I will forgive his arrogance today as a special favor."
Stomp.
Finally, the cool leather glove fell away. The fingertips that had been lingeringly stroking my bloody neck were roughly withdrawn.
"Take this brat away from my sight immediately. And… heal him completely, leaving not a single wound."
Tak.
The thread of tension I had barely held onto snapped.
"Rian!"
Evelyn's voice, her face pale as she ran over, faded into the distance. As the beast threatening my life retreated, the terrible pain I had forgotten crashed over my entire body like a tidal wave. Hot blood gurgled out.
Ah, fuck. I'm alive.
In the moment that last relief brushed through my brain, a pitch-black darkness carrying the suffocating scent of roses swallowed my consciousness.
The suffocating scent of roses. And the terrible pain that scraped my bones. The sensation of my living flesh being ground away was still vivid.
"Uh…?"
The moment I snapped my eyes open, what filled my vision was the awkwardly, obnoxiously extravagant ceiling of my room. The thorn vines that had choked my breath were gone without a trace. I hastily tore open my shirt buttons and frantically felt my bare chest. From my neck, where blood had burst out, to my sternum, it was smooth without a single wound.
"Haah, I survived…."
Clatter!!
At that moment, a silver basin with wet towels rolled across the floor with a loud noise.
"Are you out of your mind, Young Master?!"
The insolent maid standing by the bed. Her usual emotionless gray eyes were nowhere to be seen; she was covering her eyes tightly with both hands in a shocked face. Her white cheeks were flushed red up to her neck.
"What kind of behavior is this in front of another woman first thing in the morning?! Can't you cover up immediately?!"
No, crazy. My eardrums are about to burst. I was more surprised by the sudden shouting.
"What, did I do something terrible? I was just checking if I was injured, why are you screaming…?"
"If that's not terrible, then what is?! Is it normal to tear open your buttons and expose your chest to another woman?!"
"What, it's just a man's bare chest, you're overreacting!"
"You show off your skin so frivolously and then make excuses! What decent man in the world goes around revealing his bare skin like that! You must have lost even your sense of chastity as a man along with your head injury!"
For someone who keeps peeking through her fingers, she sure has a lot to say.
No matter how crazy this gender-reversed world view is, I never expected words like 'decent' and 'chastity' to come up just from a man taking off his shirt. What is this unfair feeling like I'm some kind of exhibitionist pervert? Since she kept nagging, I pursed my lips and quickly fastened my shirt buttons.
"Fine, fine. I've buttoned it all up, so put your hands down. You're really strict."
"Strict… haah. I'm speechless."
"By the way, we're probably going to keep running into each other, what's your name?"
At my unfairly treated question, the maid, who had slowly lowered her hands from her eyes, glared at me as if I was absurd. A faint blush still remained on her cheeks.
"…It's Sylvia. This is the first time you've asked for my name since you came to this mansion."
"Ah, Sylvia…. Anyway, I'll be careful."
At my apology, Sylvia's neatly shaped eyebrows twitched violently. An ambiguous gaze, as if seeing a bug performing a tap dance on the street.
"…It seems you didn't just hit your head, but had your entire brain replaced. You're even giving disgusting apologies like that."
What, is it a problem to be nice?… Because of the damn original body owner, just asking for a name gets me treated like I had brain surgery.
People in this town are really off their rocker. I pressed my throbbing temples and swallowed the bitterness.
Let's put aside the unfairness for now and address the most urgent matter.
"But, who treated my wounds? Did the head of the family call in a top-grade healer?"
This is a fantasy world with magic and stuff, isn't it? Wouldn't they have a holy maiden radiating divine power or some amazing potion that reattaches flesh to bones?
As if mocking my shallow expectations, Sylvia gave a small snort. An expression as if she had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.
"Treatment? When the knights brought you to this room like a sack of luggage on the Head's orders, you were already spotless without a single scar."
"…Huh? Don't lie. I coated the garden floor with my blood."
"That's why the real work was stripping off your blood-caked clothes and washing your bloody body. They said there wasn't even a pinpoint wound. Disgustingly so."
What? There was no need for treatment?
A cold shiver ran down my spine. So that means I performed that blood fountain show and then my body immediately regenerated itself? What kind of crazy talk is this. Clearly, the bizarre blood-red roses that bloomed by drinking my blood. And the terrible pain that ground my skin. Is there a healing mechanism after blooming? Or are there other activation conditions or hidden penalties I don't know about?
My head became complicated. If I don't figure out how my body works properly, I might pass out again spurting blood at any moment.
I swallowed dryly, hiding it from Sylvia. To survive in this crazy house, I had to find out. I had to thoroughly expose the system window of that mysterious, bizarre skill, 'Kaleidoscope Thorn Flower'.