Chapter 63: The Child of Darkness Awakens

“His Highness Cinnamon and Kapu…?”

Only then did Kebel realize that the pure energy he had felt flowing into his body hadn’t been a dream.

He had suspected that someone had come to see him during the night, but he had never imagined it would be Kapu.

‘But I’m certain I felt divine power. Why?’

Sensing that something was amiss, Kebel’s expression grew serious.

Perhaps mistaking his expression for displeasure, Bill stepped forward and knelt before him.

Startled by Bill’s sudden actions, Kebel widened his eyes and blinked in confusion.

Bill lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. You told us not to call anyone, Young Master, but I had no choice. At that moment, I was truly afraid that something terrible might happen to you…”

Overwhelmed by emotion, Bill couldn’t finish his sentence.

He simply pressed his lips together, but Kebel could see them trembling.

His shoulders were shaking faintly as well.

Seeing how desperately he was trying to hold back his tears, Kebel felt sorry for him and gently called his name.

“Bill.”

Apparently expecting to be scolded, Bill’s shoulders flinched.

But he quickly straightened his posture, as though preparing himself to accept whatever punishment awaited him.

He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.

Clenching his fists tightly, he raised his head with a determined expression.

“I will gladly accept any punishment you give me, Young Master.”

Bill looked straight at Kebel, his gaze unwavering, as though declaring that he would make the same choice even if he found himself in that situation again.

His eyes were filled entirely with Kebel.

Feeling some of the tension leave him, Kebel smiled faintly before speaking in a serious tone.

“You were wrong to disobey my instructions. We’re in a foreign country right now, after all.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“But I’m not going to punish you.”

‘Because you did it for my sake.’

Kebel didn’t bother adding those unnecessary words aloud.

No matter how dire his condition had been, they were still in a foreign country.

“Still, there’s something I ought to say. Thank you, Bill.”

At Kebel’s words, Bill bowed his head deeply and began to sob.

Kebel quietly patted his shoulders as he cried without making a sound.

It was the first time Kebel had ever seen Bill cry like this.

Normally, Bill only ever answered with a simple yes or no.

He responded to questions when asked and never added unnecessary remarks.

He had always maintained such clear boundaries that Kebel had naturally kept a certain distance from him in return.

But seeing him now, Kebel realized that perhaps things weren’t quite as they had seemed.

Watching Bill cry with his tears soaking into the fabric of Kebel’s trousers, he suddenly felt guilty for having kept him at arm’s length.

“Bill, will you look at me?”

Even at Kebel’s request, Bill couldn’t bring himself to raise his head.

Perhaps the realization that he had cried in front of Kebel was finally sinking in, because the tips of his ears had turned bright red.

“Why are you crying, you silly thing?”

At the gentleness in Kebel’s voice, Bill burst into tears once more.

Apparently abandoning any attempt to hide his emotions, he began sobbing openly.

His hunched shoulders trembled, and the strands of hair falling over his face shook with every sob.

‘He’s this sensitive, yet he’s been holding everything in all this time?’

Kebel wondered how Bill had managed to endure it.

He must have suffered quite a bit while trying so hard to appear strong.

Pat, pat.

As though comforted by Kebel’s gentle pats, Bill’s sobbing gradually began to subside.

Once he had calmed down somewhat, he started revealing what had been weighing on his mind.

However, his words were so muddled by tears that Kebel couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying.

From what he could gather, Bill had been terribly worried that something might happen to him.

Kebel nodded along and placed a handkerchief in Bill’s hand.

He even added that a grown man shouldn’t cry so much.

At that, Bill blew his nose loudly into the handkerchief.

‘…I really liked that handkerchief.’

Kebel cast a mournful glance at the handkerchief that had just met its untimely end.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to use your handkerchief like that, Young Master…”

“It’s fine. I was planning to throw it away anyway. I didn’t particularly like it.”

“Then… could I keep this handkerchief?”

Bill’s eyes sparkled like those of an enthusiastic fan who had just been offered a treasured keepsake.

With his eyes shining like Puss in Boots, he gazed up at Kebel expectantly.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by that intense gaze, Kebel subtly leaned backward before nodding.

Only then did Bill smile happily and tuck the handkerchief into his pocket.

“Anyway, you should both go and get some rest now.”

“I’m not tired.”

As though he had been waiting for the opportunity, Ida immediately stepped forward and spoke.

Seeing him deny his exhaustion while looking utterly worn out, Kebel couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

Finally, as though he had no other choice, Kebel grabbed Bill and Ida by their wrists and began pulling them toward the door.

“At least I should remain by your side, Young Master…”

“That’s an order.”

Knowing that Ida would continue being stubborn until the very end, Kebel resorted to an underhanded tactic.

At the word order, Ida visibly deflated.

His shoulders drooped, and he opened the door with a dejected expression.

Even then, he glanced back at Kebel, as though silently asking whether he truly intended to send him away.

Anyone watching might have thought Kebel was abandoning him.

But when Ida saw the unwavering expression on Kebel’s face, he finally closed the door with a sorrowful look.

Only then did Kebel feel relieved.

“Phew.”

Letting out a short sigh, Kebel glanced around the room.

Dawn seemed to be approaching, and the room was brighter than it had been a little while ago.

Bill had apparently already tidied up the area near the window, leaving it spotless.

However, the basin that hadn’t yet been cleared away remained beside the bed.

Kebel carried it over to a corner without much thought before sitting on the bed.

In the quiet room, he slowly closed and opened his eyes, recalling what had happened the previous night.

The sudden pain.

And the divine power that had flowed into him.

No matter how many times he thought it over, that pure energy could only have been divine power.

Finding someone who possessed divine power in this castle, where there were no priests, would be like trying to pluck a star from the sky.

Of course, Shal had entered the royal palace as Kapu’s attendant, but the child was far too young to have poured such an enormous amount of divine power into him.

What made the situation even more puzzling was the fact that only Cinnamon and Kapu had visited him.

‘What on earth is going on?’

‘What am I missing?’

Kebel pressed his fingers firmly against his forehead before releasing them and flopping backward onto the bed.

“I really don’t understand…”

Kebel placed a hand over his chest.

The excruciating pain he had experienced, as though his heart were being consumed by flames, was remarkably similar to the pain he had felt when his powers first manifested.

It was too unsettling to dismiss as an ordinary fever.

And the divine power that had flowed into him had felt far too warm and comforting to be the power of darkness.

‘Does that mean either Cinnamon or Kapu can wield divine power? But judging from Kapu’s reaction whenever divine power is mentioned…’

His thoughts only grew more tangled.

Kebel rolled back and forth across the bed in frustration.

Then, after a moment, something occurred to him.

He abruptly sat upright.

‘What if it’s Cinnamon?’

What if Cinnamon, who was friendly toward the Empire that worshipped divine power and treated people equally regardless of whether they possessed it, was actually someone who possessed divine power himself?

Once that possibility occurred to him, his thoughts began racing.

The Child of Darkness needed the Child of Light.

The Child of Light could save the Child of Darkness and prevent the darkness from running rampant.

‘Then doesn’t that mean what the Child of Darkness needs is divine power?’

And an enormous amount of it, at that.

In other words, the Child of Darkness would likely remain close to someone overflowing with divine power.

Although Kebel had never personally experienced the power of darkness, one thing occurred to him.

If the Child of Darkness survived by remaining close to divine power, perhaps the energy they possessed would resemble divine power in some way.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

‘Maybe Kapu is the Child of Darkness.’

The moment the hypothesis formed, it rapidly began turning into conviction.

The best way to confirm it would be to check whether Kapu had a tattoo like his somewhere on his body.

Kebel racked his brain, groaning in frustration, before finally climbing out of bed and approaching the window.

Thinking so intensely had given him a headache.

Deciding that some fresh air might help, Kebel opened the window.

Immediately, the earthy scent of rain-soaked soil rushed into the room.

He loved the smell of the earth after rainfall so much that he leaned his upper body forward and took a deep breath.

Then he slowly exhaled.

“Ah…”

Suddenly remembering something he had completely forgotten, Kebel hurried over to the table and looked at the vase.

Despite his worries that the flowers might wilt too quickly, the lily buds had already begun to open slightly.

Their shy appearance reminded him of Osh, making Kebel smile.

‘Why didn’t I discover flowers like these sooner?’

He made up his mind that once he returned to the Empire, he would replace every flower in the garden with lilies.

Kebel had just finished bathing and was changing into fresh clothes when he noticed something unusual about his butterfly tattoo.

Puzzled, he approached the mirror and examined his reflection.

The butterfly pattern engraved on his lower back had become more distinct.

The black stripes running across its wings had darkened, giving the butterfly a striking sense of depth.

It looked so lifelike that it seemed ready to spread its wings and fly into the sky at any moment.

Wondering whether his eyes were playing tricks on him, Kebel rubbed them and looked into the mirror again.

There was no doubt about it.

The butterfly’s markings had grown darker.

Kebel blinked rapidly in disbelief.

The butterfly tattoo, which now appeared to have reached its complete form, almost seemed to be announcing that the Child of Darkness had manifested somewhere as well.

Otherwise, it would mean that the tattoo had been altered by the dark power possessed by whoever had infused him with divine power.

For some reason, the latter possibility seemed more plausible.

“Could it really be Kapu…?”

The Kingdom of Beal was a land where dark energy flowed.

Those who opposed divine power would not remain forever under the rule of an empire that revered divinity.

If they intended to change that, they would need to build their influence while remaining close to someone in the highest position of authority.

Kebel hurriedly threw on his clothes and headed off somewhere.

However, he didn’t get very far.

Kapu had already come to his room and was waiting for him, as though he had anticipated Kebel’s arrival.

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