Chapter 47

After finishing his strength and agility training in the indoor training hall, Raon went out to the outdoor training ground.

‘He’s not here.’

He thought Lunan would be here, judging from the continuous sound of swords clashing outside, but he couldn’t see him. It seemed Lunan had gone home early for some reason.

‘He’s annoying when he’s around, but I feel a bit disappointed when he’s not.’

Lunan always waited until the training was over, then bowed and left.

Usually, it didn’t bother him, but not receiving that bow made him feel a bit disappointed.

‘Feeling disappointed? Maybe I’ve been brainwashed.’

Raon chuckled and left the training ground. Since Barran and Marta were still inside, he didn’t need to do the usual wrap-up.

-Pathetic.

‘What?’

-Isn’t this the time to think about that?

‘What do you mean?’

-……

Ras didn’t say anything more. He closed his mouth and stared westward.

‘What’s going on?’

Raon turned his head in the direction Ras was looking. He couldn’t sense anything, but he felt a strange vibe.

‘Just in case.’

He rotated the ring of fire and summoned the aura of the Manhua Gong, spreading his senses widely.

Creak!

Something was detected by his senses not far away, but he couldn’t sense anything.

That means.

‘Someone is using a qi barrier.’

It means that an unknown person is using aura to block sound and movement.

‘I should go check it out.’

Normally, he wouldn’t care, but because of Ras’s reaction, he felt he should go.

He used the Shadow Step to completely hide his presence and ran to the place where the qi barrier was set up.

In a dim alley where the family’s guards couldn’t see, two people were standing.

One of them was Lunan, and the other was a tall man.

‘Why is he here? And that expression…’

Lunan, who was supposed to have gone home, was tightly gripping his hands. His expression was similar to usual, but his eyes looked scared.

He looked at the other man.

A handsome man with silver hair like Sylvia and purple eyes, carrying a large sword on his back.

‘Sylia Slieron.’

A name he had heard in his previous life.

A genius of the Slieron family, one of the twelve monsters expected to become the next Continental Ten Thousand, and a man who had his name listed among the Continental Twelve Heroes.

‘But why is he scared?’

Even though Lunan saw his brother, he didn’t smile or show any joy, but looked scared like a rabbit that had encountered a predator.

Sylia said something to Lunan, but it wasn’t clear. Suddenly, he took out a cute squirrel from his coat and offered it to Lunan.

Then, when Lunan reached out his hand, Sylia burst the squirrel.

Aaaah!

Although the sound was blocked by the qi barrier, Raon could tell Lunan was screaming.

Sylia approached Lunan with a chillingly dry expression and started whispering in his ear.

‘I have to stop this.’

Though he didn’t know what was happening, he had a bad feeling that it shouldn’t continue.

Raon filled his aura from the Manhua Gong and stepped on the ground with a heavy stomp.

Boom!

The ground crumbled and a loud noise echoed. Sylia frowned as he stepped back from Lunan.

“What are you?”

Raon didn’t miss the opportunity and stood in front of Lunan, tilting his head and glaring at Sylia.

“What are you doing to Lunan?”

I have to pretend I don’t know him.

If I know that Sylia and Lunan are family, I can’t interfere. It’s their family business.

But if I pretend I don’t know, I can interfere.

“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first before asking someone else’s name?”

Sylia smiled casually.

“You’re not in a position to talk, setting up a qi barrier in such an alley. Are you a thief?”

“Hmm….”

Sylia frowned at Raon’s taunt. But it felt like he was acting. He didn’t seem genuinely surprised or angry, but rather acting angry.

‘I know what kind of person this guy is.’

Dereus Robert, who killed his previous self. Sylia gave off the same stench.

“Ah, that’s a possibility. But I’m not a thief or a stranger; I’m the boy’s brother.”

Sylia pointed to Lunan, who was behind Raon.

“……”

Raon blocked Sylia’s gaze and glanced at Lunan. His expression was dazed, but not in the usual way. It was a look of severe shock, and his small shoulders were trembling pitifully.

“You look scared. Are you really his brother?”

“Ah, I haven’t seen him in a while, so I was just playing a joke.”

“Is bursting a squirrel in his hand a joke?”

“Ah, no, it’s not real. It’s just a toy.”

Sylia waved his hand, and the blood and flesh on the ground turned to ash and scattered. He had melted them completely with his aura.

“Would I really kill a real squirrel?”

A chilling aura emanated from his entire body. The stench of death. It was similar to the smell he felt before dying to Dereus.

-How dare you. A mere human threatening the embodiment of this king?

Raon didn’t respond but raised his aura. As Ras said, this was a threat. A warning that he could be killed just like this.

But he didn’t come here just to stand around.

“Raon! Did you break the family’s training equipment?”

Barran burst out from the training ground, and the guards were running over. From a distance, Marta’s curses about disrupting training could be heard.

“Raon. Raon Zighardt, I see. I thought you looked familiar.”

Sylia’s eyes turned as dark as ink. His gaze, devoid of emotion, made Raon’s hair stand on end.

“But you really are a bother. I just came to give my brother a snack after receiving a long-term mission.”

He took a rectangular box from his coat and placed it on the ground. It was a pearl ice cream box, though the shape and pattern were slightly different.

“Lunan.”

Sylia’s eyes changed again, showing the gaze of a brother looking at his beloved younger sibling.

“You’ve made a very good friend. Keep being friends with him.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I’m sorry for playing such a harsh joke. Stay healthy. See you next time.”

He waved his hand and disappeared as if he had turned into the wind.

“Could that man be the Continental Twelve Hero, Sylia Slieron?”

Barran, who had been watching, gasped.

“The atmosphere is different. He’s not just a Twelve Hero for nothing.”

“Yeah, he’s different.”

Raon nodded. He didn’t expect the genius and hero to be such a madman.

“Lunan.”

He turned and looked at Lunan. His expression was the same as usual, but his eyes were trembling. He still looked scared.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”

Sylia said he had a mission, so he wouldn’t be at the family estate.

“…Okay.”

Lunan slowly nodded and stood up.

“What’s going on?”

Barran picked up the pearl ice cream box and approached.

“Nothing happened.”

Raon took the box and shook his head.

“Is that so?”

Barran didn’t ask any more questions.

“If you need any help, let me know. I’ll do what I can as a fellow trainee.”

He said that and left the alley first.

‘He’s really grown up.’

Barran had changed so much that it made people feel proud.

-But this king still doesn’t like that guy’s eyes….

‘Thanks.’

-What?

‘Thanks to you, I could save Lunan. I don’t know if I really saved her, though.’

-Cough! That girl is this king’s ice cream girl. I just told you because I thought she might not be able to eat ice cream if something happened.

‘So that’s why I’m grateful.’

-Then, if you give me some ice cream….

‘If you hadn’t said that, I might have seen you again.’

Raon slapped Ras away. He really was a clueless ruler.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

He took Lunan to where the Slieron family’s people were.

Raon walked beside Lunan without saying a word.

Someone else’s family. Especially since he didn’t know the exact situation, he knew that offering awkward comfort wouldn’t help.

If Lunan’s steps slowed, he slowed down. If she stopped, he stopped. He just walked quietly, matching his steps with hers.

Soon, the Slieron family’s carriage and maids came into view.

Raon watched Lunan get into the carriage and handed her the ice cream box.

“Thanks.”

Lunan said the word she used to say excitedly in a somber voice and left.

* * * *

When Lunan arrived at the family estate, Rokan Slieron came to greet her.

“Lunan! Good job with your training.”

“Okay.”

She nodded and got out of the carriage.

“Did you see your brother? He said he would give you a gift in person.”

“…Okay.”

Lunan took a deep breath and showed the ice cream box in her hand. Her eyes looked dazed as usual.

“That’s your favorite ice cream. Even with his busy schedule of missions and training, he still thought of you.”

Rokan muttered that he didn’t get a gift and laughed.

Lunan clenched her teeth. She thought about revealing everything, but she knew it would destroy what she had been protecting.

“…I’m going to rest.”

She kept the words in her throat and slowly climbed the stairs of the mansion.

“Sure. You must be tired, so rest well.”

“Okay.”

Rokan gestured for her to go in. Lunan nodded and went up to the second floor.

“Sigh.”

Lunan took a deep breath and sat on the floor. She bit her lip and opened the lid of the ice cream box.

It was her favorite ice cream, but her hand didn’t move. She only thought of her brother’s face.

‘He’s back. He’s the same.’

Sylia Slieron wasn’t always like this.

After the second mission, where he returned alone, he changed as if he had become a different person. But only to her.

To others, he was still polite and kind, a genius swordsman, but to her, he became a monster with an unknown obsession.

‘Ruby…’

The Ruby he mentioned was a red-eyed squirrel that lived in a nearby tree when she was young.

They became friends, and she named it Ruby. They played together every day, but one day, Ruby scratched her hand.

It was just a small scratch due to stress from her pregnancy, but Sylia saw it and caught all the squirrels nearby, bursting them in front of her.

And he said,

You’re mine. You shouldn’t get hurt. Just breathe and live.

If you tell Father or Mother, the family will be destroyed. I’ll burn everyone and save only you, he threatened.

After that day, Lunan closed her mouth.

To avoid hurting anyone else, she didn’t get close to people or animals and drastically reduced her words.

Living alone, she met someone just as isolated. No, someone who seemed even more lonely and miserable than her.

Raon.

At first, she was just curious about how he grew so quickly and how he endured his poor constitution and strength.

Just curiosity. She only approached him because she was curious about his growth.

Then she learned.

What kind of person Raon was. How much he worked and how he endured difficult times.

Seeing how his efforts changed others’ perceptions, she thought she could change too, and she started to change.

Thanks to Raon and the trainees at the 5th training ground, her fear of Sylia was fading, but today, that fear resurfaced.

Lunan just watched the ice cream in the box melt.

“Only me.”

She bowed her head between her knees and whispered in a watery voice.

“I just have to endure. It’s okay.”

I probably won’t be able to eat ice cream again.

* * * *

After taking Lunan back, Raon returned to his dorm, and Ras suddenly popped out of the bracelet.

-Is that guy really human?

‘What?’

-I mean, the brother of the ice cream girl.

‘Ah, he’s definitely strange.’

Raon nodded. Sylia was clearly a man with a friendly and gentle demeanor, but he also had a chilling aura like facing darkness.

Especially when he was threatening, his eyes were lifeless like dried grass. Just looking at them made his spine shiver.

He was good at acting. If he hadn’t seen him burst the squirrel and threaten Lunan, he might have been fooled too.

‘He’s a madman like Dereus.’

Sylia seemed to lack human emotions. Not because of education like himself, but because he was broken somewhere.

‘But he said he has a long-term mission, so he won’t be back for a while.’

-As long as he’s the ice cream girl’s brother, problems will keep happening.

‘That’s true.’

Even if Sylia comes back in a few years, as family, he and Lunan will keep meeting.

Or, he might keep watching her. The dryness in his eyes clearly showed obsession.

-Hand over your body. I’ll kill that guy and return it to you.

‘What?’

-This king repays kindness twofold and enmity tenfold. Since that girl showed me the new world of pearl ice cream, I can do this much.

‘You’re joking.’

Raon chuckled and waved his hand.

-I’m serious!

‘Even if you’re serious, I can’t do that.’

-Why?

‘That guy has traumatized Lunan. Even if you kill him, it won’t be resolved. It might even get worse. In such cases, one has to stand up on their own. And…’

Raon tapped his finger on the ground.

‘I can kill him too.’

Lunan is the first person to consider him in both his past and present lives.

Since he received a lot of help, he can at least kill Sylia for her.

-You’re really crazy. That guy is so strong that even a hundred of you couldn’t beat him. He’s already at a high level.

Ras frowned, telling him to stop talking nonsense.

‘He’s definitely strong.’

-Then why are you talking nonsense?

‘Just because he’s strong doesn’t mean he’s invincible.’

Raon tapped his sword sheath and emitted a cold aura.

“There’s more than one way to kill a person.”