Chapter 37: A Visit meant to break Him.

“You must be suffering a lot.”

Spes Umbra said to the King’s Brother with a voice full of laughter.

What I saw first was the red glow blooming in the darkness. The King’s Brother’s two eyes were red like crimson flames.

“Since you didn’t reply despite my continued attempts to contact you, I came directly. Because it’s an urgent matter. As I’ve gained the honor of participating in the war.”

Instead of an answer, only a sound like scratching his throat flowed from the King’s Brother. Haha, Spes Umbra laughed cheerfully. The laughter was transmitted directly to me through my closely pressed back.

The guy was convinced he could subdue the King’s Brother with his pheromones. The loosening grip squeezing my body was proof of that.

“Since we’ll soon be family, shouldn’t I greet you before leaving? I’m also worried about my younger sibling.”

Family? Younger sibling? Count Umbra had only two children: the Omega son who is the Queen Consort, and the Alpha son behind my back.

The realization brought by the mention of a younger sibling who didn’t exist for Spes Umbra almost made me make a sound.

Now I could guess what the King’s intention was. And the reason Spes Umbra was acting excessively arrogant.

The guy was saying that a younger sibling who suddenly fell from the sky is the King’s Brother’s fiancé.

The King’s Brother’s growling grew louder. His red eyes sought me desperately. I inadvertently avoided his gaze.

“Well, it seems my business is done. I’m very relieved to have confirmed with my own eyes that Your Highness the King’s Brother is safe. As I heard, it seems you have stabilized your Rut now.”

I bit my lip. Spes Umbra’s words were just mockery.

The King’s Brother’s bare feet caught in my lowered gaze were bloody. Just like the first Rut I witnessed. Broken gems were scattered at his feet.

The blood droplets flowing down the King’s Brother’s body and falling to the floor seemed to stop for a moment.

But soon they flowed again, forming drops. The King’s Brother’s wounds were repeatedly healing and reopening.

I slowly raised my gaze again.

The King’s Brother’s entire body, fully revealed in the faint light entering through the crack of the open door, was covered in wounds. As if he had been driven into a trap during a hunt.

“This time, I will wait for a quick reply. Surely you won’t ignore the sincerity of my direct visit.”

Spes Umbra, having confirmed the King’s Brother’s most defenseless state, spoke in a satisfied tone as if he had feasted. As if seeing the King’s Brother’s weakness unable to respond directly was the purpose of committing this outrageous act.

Crushing the King’s Brother, who would be tied by a unilateral engagement, beneath him was the guy’s intention.

Like a beast’s mounting.

When the guy was rejoicing as if he achieved his will, I seized the moment his hand loosened to bring out my voice.

[Ignis.]

Behind his back, touching his chest, a flame surged.

“What the…!”

I heard Spes Umbra’s voice flustered by the unexpected magic. Ignis magic was the only one I could manifest quickly through any part of my body.

Even in a defenseless state, basic magic wouldn’t be able to harm him. But it was enough if I could create a gap to escape from him. And I succeeded.

When I completely shook off the guy’s hands holding my neck and right wrist and stepped back, I could hear a roaring boom.

“You, f*ck…!”

Turning around, Spes Umbra, whose brown eyes were dyed pale gray, was staggering, bleeding from the corner of his mouth. As if replacing me, a complex mana pattern was felt from the King’s Brother closely attached to the guy.

I took one more step back. Glancing sideways to check my position, a whip-like stream of water shot out from the King’s Brother’s fingertips.

The magic manifested instantly without an activation word soon wrapped around Spes Umbra’s neck and chin and froze solid.

That wasn’t all. Magic was manifested once again at a speed overwhelming even to sense mana. Vine-like wind had already subdued Spes Umbra’s entire body before I knew it.

Spes Umbra, crushed by the King’s Brother’s magical power, collapsed to the floor with a single gesture of his hand.

The guy’s eyes looking up at the King’s Brother widened greatly. The guy fallen on the floor only twitched, unable to get up.

As the King’s Brother slowly approached the man’s bedside, a meaningless, monosyllabic moan, “eep, eep,” escaped from his lips, which had been speaking softly and as he pleased.

The King’s Brother breathed roughly. His body was still repeatedly getting wounded and recovering.

“I misjudged and responded lukewarmly.”

Turning back at my voice, the King’s Brother’s gaze scanned my left cheek, neck, and right wrist in turn. His red eyes, tracing back up to meet mine, were heavily distorted. As if about to cry.

“Just…”

A completely hoarse voice flowed from his mouth.

“Why didn’t you just, let him in?”

Blue light seeped into the reddened eyes.

“I couldn’t…”

“You should, have.”

A panting voice stopped my mouth.

“That you, got hurt…”

Is because of me. I felt like I heard the words the King’s Brother didn’t finish.

Heh…

Letting out a laugh like a groan, the King’s Brother turned his gaze from me and looked down at the struggling Spes Umbra.

The King’s Brother grabbed Spes Umbra by the hair and slapped his cheek. Part of the ice covering the guy’s mouth broke and dug into his flesh.

Feeling humiliated, the guy struggled desperately. Aaabi, the shout harder to understand than a baby’s babbling seemed to say ‘How dare you.’

But the King’s Brother ignored the shout and slapped his cheek again as if it were a natural procedure. Once more. And once more.

The calm movement, almost rhythmic, paradoxically fueled Spes Umbra’s anger. The guy struggled constantly, but the King’s Brother didn’t care.

Spes Umbra’s eyes flickered between gray and brown. It seemed like an offensive and defensive battle of pheromones unknown to me was going back and forth.

Every time the guy felt humiliation, the focus gradually disappeared from his eyes.

And finally, Spes Umbra’s eyes lost reason. Along with it, the struggling stopped completely.

The King’s Brother grabbed the hair of Spes Umbra, who lost the will to resist, and dragged him out of the room.

“Duke, you should take care of your body first…”

Before I could finish my sentence, the King’s Brother shook his head. Sharp broken gem fragments reopened wounds on the King’s Brother’s bare feet where bleeding had barely stopped, but his steps never halted.

“The fact that Spes Umbra dared to invade my house.”

The King’s Brother scanned Ian, who was only now barely getting up, the scorched hallway, and the broken glass window in turn. It seemed like he was looking back in time.

Only after confirming all the traces left by the guy did he let go of the hand holding Spes Umbra as if shaking it off. Spes Umbra collapsed to the floor with a thud.

Released from the King’s Brother’s hand, the guy still showed no movement. He had released pheromones with such confidence, but was conversely subdued by the King’s Brother’s pheromones.

Turning away from Spes Umbra who couldn’t even twitch, the King’s Brother looked down at the white envelopes scattered on the floor. Flames manifested without an activation word swallowed them up.

“The fact that the King, Count Umbra, can urge me to take an Omega brought suddenly from somewhere as my fiancé.”

The white envelopes turned to ash and disappeared in an instant without their seals being broken. However, neither the King’s Brother nor I were unaware that the contents inside were sentences forcing an engagement.

“The fact that you were hurt…”

Before I knew it, the King’s Brother’s eyes, turned deep blue, stared at me.

“And the fact that I have to send that guy back alive and well.”

Even after completely gathering the pheromones that were mutilating his own body, the King’s Brother’s body was still covered in blood.

One side of Spes Umbra’s cheek was swollen ridiculously, but that was all. Of course, he is a figure whose pride would be deeply hurt just by that, but what the guy committed wasn’t something to be resolved with mere pride. Mocking the King’s Brother should have ended outside the door.

Borrowing my hand to open the door was probably intended to subdue the King’s Brother and disguise it as an accident caused by a servant’s mistake, but the result was exactly the opposite of the guy’s arrogant expectation.

Even if the King’s Brother, swayed by Rut pheromones, had torn the limbs of the guy who opened the door, it would have been an unavoidable accident.

If an engagement with someone whose identity wasn’t even exactly known wasn’t forcing him, if he wasn’t trying to escape the King’s trickery, I thought the current King’s Brother would have gladly used the Rut as an excuse.

The fastidious boy who innocently confessed in the past that he harmed people stood before me wearing the remnants of wounds.

“It’s all because I am weak.”

The King’s Brother said with an expressionless face.

“It is not, the Duke’s fault.”

Not resisting Spes Umbra was my judgment. The reason the guy didn’t kill me, who was interfering, at once was because I am the King’s Brother’s servant.

At my denial, the King’s Brother smiled with a sorrowful face.

“Go back, and treat your wounds.”

A drop of blood flowed down again from the King’s Brother’s clenched fists.

“Ian, take Jay and make sure he gets treated.”

Having given the order to Ian, the King’s Brother turned his back on me immediately. With his bloodied bare body, he moved his steps. Spes Umbra, subdued by the King’s Brother’s pheromones, got up and followed behind him with mechanical steps.

Until his figure descending the stairs was no longer visible, I stood rooted to the spot.

“Jay.”

Only after Ian urged me did I turn my gaze. Ian with a pale complexion was looking down at me expressionlessly.

He was a child attached to me by the King’s Brother. This child’s actual mission was to protect me.

The child before Ian, and the child before that. All the children I taught and sent out of the mansion might have actually been protecting me.

“Right, let’s go.”

I had entered the King’s Brother’s fence without knowing it.

However, today showed him that the fence could be broken in an instant.

“Jay?”

Emotions swirled. I couldn’t tell if it was right to be angry at the King’s Brother, or if it was right to pity him.

Maybe I’m afraid of my limitations faced once again.

Everything seemed to tangle together and strangle me. Even more than when threatened by Spes Umbra.

One thing certain was that my heart ached. As if something hard was embedded in it.