ALL NOVEL Chapter 31
31
The day Kashmir came holding Aria. Caesar, possessing the keen senses of a Sword Master, woke up as the source of the commotion arrived at the front door.
‘This is dangerous.’
He felt a massive presence approaching, and fur bristled all over his body as his eyes flew open.
Srrng.
From the scabbard resting next to Caesar’s bed, a fierce sword blade emerged. Caesar stiffened. He couldn’t discern what was approaching, but it was certainly far from ordinary.
‘Is it an invasion by the Northerners?’
The presence was overwhelming enough to make one feel an army was on its way. Given the suspicious movements of the Northerners lately, Caesar had set up various defenses and prepared communication channels for any possible situation.
‘But…
Caesar’s brow narrowed. The approaching presence felt oddly familiar. As his heart, reminiscent of the dead, raced in excitement, he moved towards the window.
Bang!
An explosion shook the surroundings. Blinding light erupted all around him. The area was briefly engulfed in light, only to plunge back into the night’s veil. The defensive barrier protecting the Duke’s Mansion was smashed to bits in an instant.
Caesar, holding his breath and minimizing his presence, placed a hand on the window and looked down at the courtyard.
A wild energy rampaging like an unleashed beast. Something suffocatingly gloomy and oppressive. An aura filled with despair that fell endlessly below.
‘…Mir.’
“Damn it! Open the door! Let me out!”
Mir, unleashing a torrent of raging mana, began pounding on the Duke’s front door.
Amidst the chaos was the long black hair—drenched with moisture—and the desperately glowing deep pink eyes. In her arms was a small girl, as if she were holding onto her lifeline.
In that moment, Caesar felt a strange sensation of his heart dropping.
“Open the door! Please!”
Mir shouted pitifully. Small hands relentlessly pounded on the door. Blood spattered above. For some reason, Caesar couldn’t take his eyes off that small figure.
‘…Ah.’
Caesar suddenly thought that Mir seemed somewhat similar to him.
Her lustrous black curls, the glassy red-tinged eyes—all resembled his own.
‘…That woman.’
Caesar’s gaze dulled as a woman’s face flashed in his mind.
“Please think of it as saving two lives and help me just this once. My magic, my abilities, even my soul—everything belongs to the Duke. I will repay any price you ask for, dedicating my entire life… to protect what I cherish… Please help me just once, just once.”
There was a time in his life when he had helped someone without any cost. It was when he was in endless despair yet maintained a steadfast resolve, pleading with a single woman who sought to protect what was precious to her.
‘Ah.’
In that moment, Caesar realized the source of the déjà vu he felt from Mir.
“I’ll do everything. Just let me borrow your bed.”
Mir was indeed reminiscent of that woman.
Caesar stared into the deep pink iris that shimmered like a wave. He had seen those eyes before. They only emerged when one had to protect something more precious than themselves.
‘Is that it?’
His detached gaze turned toward the girl nestled in Mir’s arms. The forest’s scent wafting from the child definitely belonged to fairies. For an instant, the red eyes sparkled with interest but soon evaporated as if losing their shine. It was only after his gaze shifted back to Mir that their lost light returned.
Caesar, who hadn’t felt any excitement for a long time, was sensing something intensely powerful from Mir.
Bang! Bang!
As Mir’s tiny hands pounded on the door, the area around the mansion trembled. As the steel door began to show signs of scratching, blood started to flow from her small, rugged hands. Mir continued to pound on the door, even as the bones in her fists began to crumble.
Caesar grimaced. With each bloody knock from those small hands, it felt as if something inside him was also crumbling. Something was boiling within him. As a rage-like emotion surged, he was overtaken by the intense impulse to break something.
‘Am I going insane?’
It felt unfamiliar for his usually calm heart to rise like a sailboat in a storm. He felt different from himself, yet he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the bleeding hands of Mir.
‘Stop.’
Caesar’s face twisted. Each time Mir’s skin tore, he felt a peculiar pain as if his own flesh was being sliced.
He hoped Mir wouldn’t get hurt. Just as he turned to open the door…
“Get the hell back!”
Gasping heavily, Mir drew a sword from her waist.
Swish!
Raging mana swirled around her blade. The unstable mana coiled chaotically around the sword as Mir forcefully condensed it, releasing her aura.
It was widely known that Mir wielded the black aura to slice through the calamity known as monsters.
Caesar Crisis had never before witnessed an aura darker than that of Mir’s.
It was despair incarnate.
‘Why?’
Questions raced through his mind.
An aura is a swordsman’s unique answer discovered upon confronting their limits. It takes shape based on that answer, and the darker the revelation, the darker the aura produced.
Caesar’s answer as a Sword Master had always been ‘massacre.’ He had cut down everything that obstructed him, turning his aura a blood-red hue.
‘But hers…’
The profound black that denied even the light. Endless darkness. Caesar had never seen an aura darker than Mir’s.
‘How did you come to possess such a color?’
Feeling an inexplicable urge to wipe away the tears dripping from her mask, Caesar watched Mir’s actions in astonishment.
Bang!
And before long, the grand door of the Crisis Mansion, which boasted hundreds of years of history, was completely obliterated by Mir’s strike.
“Hahaha!”
Caesar burst into laughter for the first time in ages.
It was no longer enough for Mir to merely knock on the door of the rumored abode of a demon; she had now utterly destroyed the mansion of glorious history. No, rather than anger, the emotion he felt was…
‘Charming.’
Caesar realized he became strange whenever he saw Mir, but he didn’t feel it was a bad thing. Aside from the unpleasant sensation that arose when he saw her getting hurt, the emotional changes brought about by Mir felt nothing but joyful.
After turning the door to dust and confidently entering the mansion, Mir vanished from his sight. With a sense of delight, Caesar stepped out and hid his body against the wall beside the staircase.
“…I am Taylor, the head butler of this mansion. May I ask your name?”
“Mir.”
“Yes, Lady Mir. What brings you here…?”
“Please call the Duke. I will explain everything later.”
‘Was I the target?’
Caesar felt the situation was becoming increasingly intriguing. He tried to suppress the smile threatening to rise as he observed the unfolding events.
“…I’m sorry, but that could be problematic. The Duke has already gone to bed.”
“I must see the Duke right now.”
The tension in the hall was palpable. Caesar, a fellow Sword Master, realized his breath caught in his throat for a moment.
“Please summon Duke Caesar Crisis at once! I demand it!”
The girl, struggles visible on her face, summoned her blood as she searched for him.
Holding herself together, Mir began to sob violently, struggling against the emotions welling up inside her.
‘Should I intervene? No.’
Caesar had been resisting the instinct to run down to the hall since earlier. Every tear streaming from Mir’s eyes sent his heart into an odd free-fall.
“The Duke is currently sleeping…”
“Who do you serve!?.”
And then Mir declared,
“I am Kashmir Crisis, the daughter of Duke Crisis! Take me to my father!”
A bombshell was dropped.
‘What…?!’
His heart continued its dizzying plunge. The speed of his heartbeat quickened.
Only then did the scattered pieces start to fall into place. The woman and the child that had vanished. The red-tinged eyes. The strange déjà vu. The wild emotions stirring within him.
Caesar leaned against the wall. It was the first fresh shock he had received in ages, having found everything boring until now. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Mir, no, from Kashmir.
And then Mir removed her mask.
Thud.
As the mask fell, the face revealed bore a striking resemblance to Caesar.
It was charming.
‘Am I finally going insane?’
Caesar covered his mouth in awe. The laughter escaping him felt strange. It was as if his logic and instincts were playing tug-of-war.
‘This is interesting.’
Caesar decided to categorize the fluttering feelings in his heart as mere amusement. He suspected it was more than that, but he wasn’t sure what to call it.
“Anyone who stands in my way will be cut down.”
‘Oh dear.’
At this rate, the mansion would collapse. In truth, if the child wanted to dismantle it, he would have been happy to let her, but it seemed he would need to mediate as it was only a show of protest to summon him.
“Step back, Taylor.”
Suppressing the weird emotions flaring inside him, Caesar casually restrained Taylor.
At that moment, his eyes met those of the child.
Her eyes, stained by the aura of a predator, were as red as blood.
Beneath those crazed eyes was a reflection of despair plunging into hell.
His heart throbbed. Why, he didn’t know. It was as if the child, following him desperately like a last hope, tugged at something deep inside Caesar.
Thud.
Finally, he stood before the child. Seeing her up close made her condition more tragic than he had imagined. Her appearance shook Caesar’s heart again, making him exude a kind of uncontrolled hostility. The child inhaled deeply.
A fierce standoff of wills continued briefly between the two Sword Masters, but the one with their teeth gritted ultimately withdrew their aura first.
Clang!
The small hand that had desperately gripped the sword let go. For a Sword Master to lower their weapon in front of another was akin to relinquishing their life, leaving Caesar enveloped in a peculiar sentiment.
‘Is that really that valuable?’
He cast a fleeting glance at the small girl clinging to her precious possession. She held it in a way that suggested it was the only treasure in the world.
“How interesting.”
Caesar smiled faintly. It was truly fascinating and strange that she, being his daughter, could be so devoted to something else.
Stepping closer to Kashmir, he gently lifted her chin. Her skin was sticky, damp with tears.
“So you’re my daughter?”
At long last, after 39 years of knowing nothing of love, Caesar Crisis had found the one he would love for the rest of his days.