Chapter 5

Sigh, finally got some distance.

Bichen’s room was really large.

It seemed to be about 200 pyeong. It was hard to immediately grasp how many rooms with living rooms there were.

Creak—

She opened the door.

Far ahead, under a large window where the bluish moonlight seeped in.

Bichen, who was badly injured, was lying there.

‘Ugh.’

It was scary. What should I call this feeling? It felt like facing a wild beast on the verge of a frenzy.

‘Fear is just a moment.

Here, this is everyday life. It’s not just the smell of blood, but severed heads wandering around.

It’s a world where such things can happen.

I need to get used to it.

Thud, thud.

She moved her steps. She approached the boy.

“You look terrible.”

Bichen was squatting under the window.

Viola passed by Bichen and sat in a chair in front of the table, crossing her legs.

She looked down at Bichen and said,

“Did you get hit a lot?”

She licked her lips once.

Viola thought she would lick her lips at this moment, so she just did it.

“Yeah.”

“Bled a lot too.”

“Not much today.”

Viola stroked her chin, examining Bichen’s body as if evaluating it.

“Isella switch?”

“Yeah.”

Bichen’s eyes reddened. The burns on his body were less scary and painful than his mother’s anger.

“It must have hurt.”

“Yeah. Mother must have been in a lot of pain too.”

“It’s Mother’s choice, though.”

“It’s my fault.”

“Is it? Did you do something wrong?”

“Yeah. I was a bad Bichen.”

Seeing Bichen answer so brightly, her heart suddenly ached.

Of course, the family she wanted was not like this.

She bit her lip slightly.

Viola approached Bichen.

“Turn your back to me.”

“Why? Are you going to stab me?”

Bichen tilted his head, asking brightly.

“This is inside the Winter Castle. If you stab me, you’ll be in big trouble, right?”

“I won’t stab you.”

At that, Viola said in a way that the original Viola would,

“One day, I’ll make my brother kneel at my feet.”

“Really?”

“He’ll crawl on the ground, beg, and wag his tail like a dog.”

Bichen’s eyes started to sparkle.

Viola wanted to cry.

How could her brother be so invigorated by such words?

“But I don’t like a pitiful brother.”

“Why?”

“Trampling a pitiful brother isn’t fun.”

Bichen laughed, finding it amusing.

“That’s true. Hehe.”

Then he turned his back.

“Like this, turning my back?”

“Yeah.”

Viola took out an ointment from her pocket.

‘Phew. No matter how crazy a noble family in a fantasy world, this is too much.’

Can this be considered normal discipline?

If Bichen had an allergic reaction to the Isella tree, would Isabella have used the switch?

Click.

Bichen’s ears perked up, like a rabbit.

He seemed curious about what Viola was taking out.

Bichen asked in a bright voice,

“Are you taking out a knife?”

“No.”

“Then? Poison?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

Bichen became even more lively.

“Maybe sulfuric acid?”

Phew.

What could be in this kid’s head?

“Shut up.”

“Okay.”

‘Still, this is really too much.’

No matter how much his head is filled with knives, sulfuric acid, and poison.

He’s still an eight-year-old child.

‘So small.’

To 21-year-old Arin, it was a really small back.

This was really too much.

How could a mother do this to her son?

How could an adult do this?

The back of this child, who had received frequent punishments, could not be that of an eight-year-old.

She carefully applied the ointment to the back of a child who had never had medicine applied.

“Hot, it’s hot!”

His tone was so strange from the shock.

“Don’t whine.”

“What kind of poison is this? I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“It’s not poison, it’s ointment.”

Bichen couldn’t understand Viola’s words for a while.

He couldn’t recall that ‘ointment’ was a medicine for treatment.

Because he had never had ointment applied. No one had ever applied it for him, and Viola’s heart ached a little more.

‘He seems to think of ointment as a very special, specially made poison.’

It was frustrating and absurd, but her heart ached.

“I told you, I don’t want to make a pitiful brother kneel.”

“So?”

“I want you to get better quickly and not be in pain.”

“Why?”

Viola said with effort, though she didn’t really mean it.

“So I can enjoy killing you.”

Then Bichen tilted his head.

“Hmm. That’s strange.”

Suddenly, Viola was a bit startled.

Did my acting seem too awkward? She tensed up. But it didn’t seem to be the case.

Bichen poked his chest with his finger, near his heart.

“But, Viola.”

“What?”

“I feel a strange sensation here. It’s weird.”

Especially when he heard,

“I want you to get better quickly and not be in pain.”

It felt really strange.

It wasn’t a bad feeling, but it made him feel like he might cry.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before.

“Why am I crying while laughing?”

He had a serious expression.

“Did you give me poison?”

“………”

“When did you give it to me?”

“………”

“You’re really good.”

“………”

“But why are your eyes red? Did you also take poison?”

Viola is not a psychopathic killer like the real Viola in the novel.

She had always dreamed of a family and wanted to be a warm family member to someone.

Seeing the scars on the back of an eight-year-old child, her eyes also reddened a bit.

But she said,

“If I wanted to give you poison, I wouldn’t have given you such a trivial one.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Hehe.”

“And I was almost disappointed.”

“Why, why?”

“Because a noble of Bellato shed tears.”

“I cry when I’m sad?”

Viola knew everything.

Why Bichen cried.

Because his mother’s pain was more painful than his own.

From now on, she decided to twist the original story.

Bichen became a twisted killer because of the bizarre discipline by Duchess Isabella.

“If Duchess Isabella hadn’t beaten you, you wouldn’t have had such a sad experience.”

“But I did something wrong, didn’t I?”

Viola smiled.

“Brother, do you want to know the real reason you’re sad?”

“Is there a real reason I’m sad?”

There is.

The young Bichen at this point doesn’t know the reason.

No, he knows it, but the young Bichen unconsciously rejects it.

“You were physically oppressed within the Winter Castle. The absolute rule was broken.”

“But it’s Mother.”

“No, it’s not. You know that well.”

After a long time, Bichen kills Duchess Isabella himself.

“Why did you do that to me?”

“I have to kill my mother.”

“To punish the sin of breaking the rule.”

Bichen didn’t want to kill Duchess Isabella.

Bichen loved his mother.

But because of the rules and laws of the noble family, the future Bichen kills Duchess Isabella with his own hands.

On the day Bichen killed her,

The duchess smiled and answered,

“To become a true ruler, you must eat your mother.”

Duchess Isabella dreamed of dying by her son’s hands.

Wishing for her son to grow stronger.

To have a stronger heart, you must be able to kill your mother.

This was Duchess Isabella’s method of discipline.

“Well done, my child. I’m happy.”

The duchess died with a happy smile.

After that incident, Bichen truly became a killer.

Recalling the content, Viola shuddered.

Ah, thinking about it again, this is a novel where no one is in their right mind.

“If time goes on like this, you will have to kill your mother, who hurt you so much, with your own hands.”

“It’s the rule of the Winter Castle.”

A little time passed.

Bichen turned to meet Viola’s eyes.

“Viola, but you know what?”

Words came out of Bichen’s mouth that Viola didn’t expect.