HTBOABDWAV – 3

Jeryll ran like crazy, literally. And after running for what felt like an eternity, the gray museum finally came into view.

‘He probably thinks I stood him up just to get revenge, doesn’t he?’

Unbeknownst to Jeryll, that was exactly right. Under the glow of magical lighting in the plaza, she saw a figure sitting with his long legs crossed.

“Hah, Car, you’re still here. Haa, haa, I’m so sorry.”

“……”

“Something, haa, came up at the clinic… haa, there was an emergency!”

Carian, who had been glaring at the silver-haired figure running toward him from afar, slowly rose to his feet.

“……”

“I’m really sorry. Haa, I think I’m going to throw up…”

Should I kill her?

“I’ll—I’ll definitely show you around the capital…”

Or maybe I should just crush her tiny little head?

Carian, who had been toying with the pistol in his pocket, dropped his hand. An artificial smile appeared on his handsome face.

“It’s alright. Just take a moment to breathe.”

She looks like she’s about to throw up on my shoes.

Jeryll, unaware of his sinister thoughts, lowered her brows with a sincerely apologetic look.

“Ugh. I’m really sorry, Car. You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Should we grab dinner first?”

“I know a decent place in Dekia Alley. How about there?”

Both of them glanced toward the dark alleyway.

It was secluded enough that no one would notice if someone turned up dead…

“That place doesn’t look good! I know a better spot. Let’s go there.”

Jeryll didn’t take the bait.

Carian’s face twitched as he watched her march off ahead of him.

…There really was a restaurant there though.

Unfortunately, most of the restaurants were closed, as it was late.

Except for one.

“…The decor’s a little… unique, but this place is supposed to be good. Haha.”

Jeryll, sitting at a pink table lined with frills, was already breaking into a sweat.

Watching Carian’s expression darken with every passing second was agony.

“Dinner Combo A, ‘Honey, I Want to Know Your Heart,’ is served. Enjoy.”

The server recited the absurd menu name with a flat voice and walked away.

The back of their uniform was emblazoned with the restaurant’s name: ‘Love Restaurant for Lovers.‘

A long silence followed.

‘Um, he’s probably angry, isn’t he?’

Jeryll fiddled with her fingers. Unable to bear the tension, she blurted out without thinking.

“Um, Car, what do you like? Like seasons or food—things like that.”

“……”

“I like spring the most, so I’m really looking forward to May. I eat pretty much anything. Um, also…”

It felt like she was on a blind date, but she couldn’t seem to stop talking.

“I also like small animals, like rabbits and cats… I like plants, and when it snows.”

“……”

“And um, I have a younger brother, and I like him too.”

“You like a lot of things.”

Carian muttered the words with a cold look on his face.

He wanted to leave the moment the ribbon-wrapped silverware arrived, but watching Jeryll squirm was strangely entertaining.

‘If I tell her who I really am, she might actually cry.’

He wondered what shape her endlessly running mouth would twist into.

“Besides likes, is there anything you dislike?”

Finally, he’s talking!

Maybe it was the relief from the silence finally breaking, but what came out of her mouth wasn’t filtered.

“I don’t really dislike anything, but if I had to pick something… probably blind dates?”

“……Blind dates?”

Jeryll didn’t pick up on the sudden shift in his tone.

“Well, it’s not that I dislike the dates themselves. I just didn’t like the person I was supposed to meet.”

“Why not?”

“Car, you probably don’t know since you’re not from around here, but the guy was Grand Duke Leppert.”

“And what was so bad about him?”

Carian’s tone was incredulous. He really didn’t get it.

A woman who claimed to like everything—except for him?

“He kills people for no reason.”

“……”

“He’s violent, cruel… anyways, he’s just plain scary.”

And worst of all, he ends up killing me.

Jeryll swallowed that part, it nearly slipped out.

A chilling sneer appeared on Carian’s face. She wasn’t wrong.

Everyone called him a monster who could kill without remorse.

‘What did you expect? Everyone’s afraid of you.’ A childlike voice whispered in his ear.

His madness was creeping in.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Carian gave a slow nod and said,

“Did you know? That’s why the Grand Duke’s parents abandoned him.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

Now that she thought about it <The Saintess’ Blade Faces the Crown Prince> never mentioned the villain Grand Duke’s past.

‘Only that the Grand Duke committed murder, attempted treason, and commited suicide…’

Why did he kill himself, anyway?

The rebellion was nearly a success.

“They wanted a stronger heir to replace their sickly firstborn, but that child turned out to be a red mage. So the Grand Duke ended up abandoned.”

“Because of the madness?”

“Yes. If the madness were to flare up, there’s no telling who he might kill. It’s the perfect recipe for a tyrant.”

Jeryll’s face darkened as he spoke.

“Do you know much about the madness red mages face?”

“No, not really.”

“The first sign is a voice in your head.”

He pressed down on his ear and continued.

“It drags out your worst memories, over and over, grinding away at a red mage’s mind. And once the madness takes over…”

“……”

“You’re not in control anymore. What you say, what you do—it’s not you.”

“…Then what happens?”

“You start destroying everything around you. People. Places. Everything.”

And once there’s nothing left?

Carian noticed the question in her eyes and gave a faint laugh.

“Then all that’s left is you.”

“…That’s terrible.”

“The bodies of red mages are always without their heads. They blow their own skulls off when they can’t take it anymore. That’s why most red mages don’t live past thirty.”

Carian wanted to rip his own mouth apart. But he couldn’t stop talking, not with his damn madness running wild.

“Do you call that suicide—or murder?”

【Why don’t you act even more pathetic?】

【Who know, maybe she’ll feel sorry for you, unlike your parents.】

The child-like voice screeched in his ears. It made him sick.

“…Things like that should be discarded young. The late Emperor and Empress made the right decision.”

“……”

“What do you think? Isn’t Grand Duke Leppert just a little bit pathetic?”

The more Jeryll thought about his past, the worse the taste in her mouth became.

“He didn’t have a great childhood either.”

“He didn’t either?”

She recalled her own faint memories of childhood. Memories she had intentionally buried rushed back to the surface.

[Sister, what does being adopted mean?]

A child taken in out of obligation, and a biological child born after years of difficulty.

Her adoptive parents, who were rich beyond belief, had never looked at her again once their ‘real’ child was born.

“Well, it’s always the same old story. You resent your sibling for being loved for nothing, then you hate yourself for feeling that way, and in the end…”

Jeryll’s lips trembled. She was no longer sitting at the restaurant—she was back in that alleyway.

[Sister, come with me!]

[Let go of my hand!]

Screech—

The sound of a car slamming on its brakes kept ringing in her ears.

That final scream, after she’d pulled her hand away and turned her back.

“It never ends well.”

Jeryll stared at her reflection in her dark tea.

<SYSTEM>
[Karma: 50]

“Even if Grand Duke Leppert’s past is tragic, I’m still afraid of him.”

“Why?”

“Because people can change. A bad childhood doesn’t excuse hurting others.”

Jeryll pushed the teacup away and looked at Carian’s head.

She was still uneasy that his Karma didn’t show.

“Change? You’re wrong. Your childhood is the foundation of who you are. You can’t undo that.”

“You can’t change your childhood, but you can change what you do in the present.”

Their eyes met—blue and red. Jeryll flinched at the grim look on Carian’s face.

“…Let’s stop this pointless argument.”

Carian pressed down on his ear with a grimace.

If he listened any longer, he might actually kill her.

He got up and left. Not long after, the employee returned.

“Dessert Set A, ‘Honey, Thank You for Being Honest,’ is served.”

“I don’t need this.”

“……”

* * *

Outside, Jeryll saw Car looking up at the night sky.

Even under the dim light, his figure looked like it would vanish if touched—despite his large form.

“It’s late. I’ll walk you to the carriage depot. Let’s go.”

“There’s a spot nearby with a great night view. You should check it out it sometime.”

With that, Jeryll turned, feeling she had fulfilled her duty as a guide.

Tap tap.

Thud thud.

Her light steps were followed by heavier ones.

“Why are you following me?”

“You’re brazenly walking through Dekia Alley alone? It hasn’t even been a week since you were almost killed by some murderer.”

It was annoying, but Car was right. The increasingly dark alley was perfect for someone to jump out.

“Please save me!”

Like that.

Jeryll stumbled as someone jumped out of the shadows. Carian, already reaching for his silver pistol, grabbed her arm.

‘A child?’

She frowned and looked down at the small figure clinging to her skirt. Ten years old, maybe?

The staggering child collapsed into her arms.

Something seemed off from the second they shouted for help, but up close, their body was covered in fresh cuts and bruises.

“There are signs of abuse.”

“Looks like it.”

Jeryll checked the child’s pulse, then placed her hand on a wound to cast healing magic.

“……Huh?”

The spell didn’t sink in—it hovered on the surface.

Carian, eyes cold, stared at the child’s head and clicked his tongue.

“Common magic won’t work. Get up. No point helping this kid.”

“What?”

“Look at their hair. They’re a red mage.”

The red hair was already fading back to its original shade—a sign their power had been used.

He was right, common magic didn’t work well on red or blue mages.

“But we can’t just leave them like this. Look at these bruises, they’re obviously being abused.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I can at least treat their wounds.”

“I already told you—you can’t heal a red mage with ordinary magic…”

Carian trailed off.

The child’s bleeding had begun to slow.

‘I can manage this much, at least.’

This was the most she could do without using blue magic. Even among common mages, that much was rare.

But the limits of common magic were clear. She could stop the bleeding, but not heal the wounds.

‘…If I could use blue magic, I could heal these wounds in no time.’

Carian cursed and grabbed her wrist.

“Stop if you don’t want to die from mana depletion. This kid isn’t worth it.”

“Nonsense.”

“They’ll be abandoned, abused, and end up a monster. That’s how red mages turn out!”

“……I said don’t talk nonsense. There’s no such fate!”

Jeryll’s eyes blazed as she pulled her hand free.

“That story about Grand Duke Leppert—you weren’t talking about him, were you? You were talking about yourself.”

“……”

“This child isn’t you. Don’t project your trauma onto them.”

Silence filled the dark alley. The madness in Carian’s ear screeched again.

【Why don’t you just kill them?】

He shut his eyes tight, tilted his head back, and slowly spat out.

“Aren’t you the one projecting your own miserable childhood onto this kid?”

“Yes.”

“……”

“You’re right. Childhood forms the foundation of your life. That’s why I turned out the way I did.”

Jeryll knelt down again and rested her hand on the child’s broken leg.

The warm, limp body reminded her too much of her dying sibling.

“People ask me why I work at a children’s clinic that doesn’t even pay. They say it won’t change anything.”

Blue mana began to swirl around her trembling hand. Jeryll drew in a breath.

“But I do it because I can change something. So they don’t grow up like you. So they don’t grow up like me.”

So they don’t become the kind of person who, out of jealousy, end up killing a child.

“So it doesn’t happen again, I’ll stop the cycle myself.”

Her silver hair gradually turned blue.

Dekia Alley was infamous as a place where even daylight never reached. People called it the junkyard—a place for the lower classes, who couldn’t rise into the upper class, gathered.

And there, in the middle of the junkyard, light shone for the first time.

Slowly, with enough force to drive back the darkness.

It was blue magic—the kind that had vanished a thousand years ago.