KTBYM - Chapter 44

'Born in light and dying in darkness?'

It was an unusually bright room. A certain possibility flashed through my mind.

I ran to the window and closed all the curtains. Thanks to that, the room became a little darker, but it was impossible to block out all the sunlight with light white curtains.

‘What about him?'

The prediction was correct. The mere weakening of the sunlight was effective. What had been tightly strangling the child's neck began to falter.

I snapped up the blanket covering the child and stretched out my arms. The thick blanket served as quite an excellent shade. A shadow fell across the child's face. I, too, was in that shadow.

In the small darkness I created, he grew thinner and fainter than before. He twisted his body as if having one last seizure.

"Die, die, die!"

I glared at him and shouted several times. Of course, this was not a verbal spell, but merely a cry filled with a wish. As if dying in the darkness were true, his body grew fainter and fainter, eventually turning like glass.

"Is, is it done now?"

By the time that thought crossed my mind, he had already vanished without a trace. The child, too, was regaining his complexion.

"Eon, you crazy bastard."

As I overcame the crisis, anger welled up towards Eon, who had caused this situation. It was now certain. Eon had cast a terrible spell on me that would allow me to attack this kid.

'Perhaps.'

Since it was called the Forbidden Room, I expected something tremendous to be hidden inside. In my case, it was something that could serve as proof that Eon was a murderer, and in Sally's case, it was the ultimate magic book.

Wasn't that too naive a thought? This wasn't an ordinary magic tower; it was a murderer's magic tower.

Eon did not block people from entering or exiting this room to protect or hide what was inside; he had created a kind of prison to prevent what was inside from going outside.

This was also just my guess, but otherwise, there was no way he would have implanted a spell to attack the child in me.

The distance that was excessively close to me, the strange kiss, and passing by without knowing were all for this purpose.

'But why on earth were you trying to use me to kill the child?'

It was a small, frail creature that looked as if it could be taken away with just a flick of Eon's finger. There was no need to go out of its way to do such a troublesome thing.

I looked down once again at the child sleeping peacefully in the shade I had created. I don't know how else to describe it, but to be honest, it was a stretch to call him asleep. No matter how deeply a person sleeps, it is impossible not to wake up amidst the chaos.

'Did this little kid really call me here?'

It was unfortunate, but the child didn't seem to have the strength to do so. Moreover, I had a feeling that the child had been here for quite a long time in a state that was neither alive nor dead.

'In that case, the voice that eventually lured me here is...'

Looking back, it was strange that I was the only one who came in here. Sally, who had kissed Eon, might have been acting as if she couldn't open the door.

'Maybe Eon intended to lure me here from the beginning.'

It was a moment when I was indignant about my own stupidity. The door moved. Instead of opening in a circle around the hinge, it was twisting as if a vortex were swirling in the center.

The hole looked just like it was sucking a person in and spitting them out. Unlike the instantaneous feeling of having entered this room, it seemed as though I had gone through a rather dynamic process to get in.

'It looks like someone is coming in.'

It was obvious who would come in without even looking. I didn't feel the need to hide or get nervous anymore. After all, Eon probably knew everything anyway, so such a struggle was meaningless.

"Hello, Tower Master."

I greeted him while still pulled over the covers. It was a rather brazen voice, even to my own ears.

"You are striking an interesting pose."

Eon responded with a voice just as composed as mine.

"Thanks to someone who gave me a fun gift."

"To think that was a fun gift. As expected, Miss Selinia has extraordinary courage."

As if agonizing over whether to tell the truth or not was the burden of the weak, Eon readily admitted that it was his work.

"I was right; the Tower Master gave it. It seems you weren't even worried about this child here."

"What is there to worry about? Miss Selinia is with us."

Eon smiled and said. As expected, it was clear that this child had not been kept here because they were precious, but rather to block access by others in order to isolate them from the outside world.

"Didn't you know that fun gift would target this child?"

"A shadow? I trusted that Miss Selinia would take care of it."

'Shadow?'

It meant that the pitch-black entity attacking the child was a shadow. In that instant, all the emotions that had been floating around until now settled down at once. Only the word 'shadow' lingered in my mind. I never imagined I would be able to find a clue about the shadow like this.

'Come to think of it, they say we are born of light and die of darkness.'

It was a phrase perfectly suited to a shadow that exists only where there is light.

'Are the shadows used in contracts the same?'

I almost asked Eon without realizing it.

"The shadow disappeared long ago, so please put that blanket down."

“Really?”

"I don't lie."

It wasn't something a liar should have said. Not that I was in a position to argue about it, though.

With my gaze fixed on the child's face, I carefully lowered the blanket. I was in a position where I could immediately create a canopy if that pitch-black thing were to reappear.

The sunlight shone again, but fortunately, that guy didn't appear. It seemed he had told the truth this time.

'Then, is it time to ask what on earth spell they cast on me? Or should I ask who this child is first?'

It was Eon who spoke first.

“Do you know?”

"Necessary?"

"It seems Miss Selinia is unaware of where she is right now."

"Forbidden room."

"Did you know?"

Eon feigned surprise as if taken aback. However, his brazenly transparent acting made it seem less like he was surprised and more like he was teasing me. But this time, I had something to say as well.

"What punishment will you inflict? Am I really going to be kicked out this time? Or should I just choose another maid? But you see."

I stared straight at Eon.

"This is really unfair. I only came here following the Tower Master's orders."

"Did I tell Miss Selinia to come here?"

"Since you didn't call me yourself, I suppose you want to. But even if you mimic a child's voice, who else but the Tower Master could send me telepathy?"

If I had realized this from the beginning, I wouldn't have fallen into the trap. Swallowing that regret, I asserted my point firmly to Eon. Eon ran his hand through his hair, turned his gaze to the child for a moment, and then met my eyes again.

"I'm curious too. What on earth did I say?"

"You called me Sally, saying things like you were glad to see me again. You told me not to be afraid and to come over here, didn't you? And Eon is..."

I glanced at Eon for a moment. Since there was no particular change in his expression, I continued speaking.

"You also said that you would never kick me out. You even said that if I were afraid of Eon, you would protect me."

Now that I had said it, it somehow sounded ridiculous. It was as if Eon had said he would protect me if I was afraid of him. Anticipating his sarcasm, I waited for his answer.

Contrary to my expectations, the look in Eon's eyes as he faced me turned a deep blue and sank down like the abyss. It looked less like he was mocking me and more like he was rebuking me. His tightly pressed lips, unlike usual as he held back the words he wanted to blurt out, made it seem as though he held a grudge against me.

'What? That doesn't suit you.'

I suddenly remembered the image of him handing me a salad with tomatoes and pushing away the pea soup. It was a completely random thought, but this expression suited that picky eater perfectly.

"Do you really think that is my message?"

The voice, tinged with resentment, had the power to make me feel like a sinner. For some reason, I felt like someone who had done something terrible to him.

"How can you say that after seeing that face?"

'Wasn't it Eon? Was it really a message this little kid sent me?'

I followed Eon's finger and looked at the child's face. Perhaps because I had been staring at Eon for a while, Eon overlapped with that face.

‘It resembles.’

This time, I could tell that the two of them looked very alike. If Eon were to become about twenty years younger, wouldn't he have a face like that?

'That makes no sense. That angelic child and this devil.'

Even while thinking that, I knew very well that it wasn't actually that strange. If that child also bore the surname Grannois, the same blood must flow through their veins, so it was only natural that they shared some similarities.

Judging by how much they resembled each other, I thought they might be brothers, but the age difference seemed too great for that. They say that sometimes relatives look alike, but this seemed more likely.

'Could that child be Eon's child?'

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