Chapter 22
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Dear, I believe you may be misunderstanding.
Episode 22
The black horse drove forward with tremendous force, piercing through the downpour and striking the ground with each powerful stride.
Thick muscles rippled across the horse's rain-soaked haunches, and hot breath misted white against the cold, wet air as if in defiance of the storm.
Splash, splash!
With each thunderous footfall, the rain-soaked earth churned and scattered. The speed was lightning-swift, leaving deep impressions in its wake.
Snort...!
The horse's ragged breathing released another plume of white vapor into the night.
The beast's blue eyes gleamed with an otherworldly brilliance as it tore through the darkness. Those eyes were beautiful in a way that seemed at odds with its ferocious momentum.
Like a racehorse fitted with blinders to fix its gaze, the horse stared unwaveringly at its destination—the dilapidated, remote mansion visible in the distance: the Oellin Marquess Residence.
With a destructive speed that put even the most graceful carriages to shame, the horse reached its target in mere moments.
Snort!
Before the flimsy iron gate, the black horse paced in a circle, as if unable to contain its fury.
Then it turned and reared up on its hind legs with tremendous force.
Crash! Bang!
With a sound like a death cry, the iron gate was torn from its hinges in one violent motion.
Unsatisfied, the horse lashed out with its hind legs at the pillar supporting the gate.
Boom!
A single kick brought down the thick wall that had guarded the mansion, reducing it to rubble in an instant.
The horse galloped toward the mansion's entrance without pause.
After surveying the mansion, the horse approached a specific point.
Neigh!
At the piercing cry, Elia, the head maid with keen ears, was the first to awaken.
'What on earth is that sound?'
She opened her eyes groggily and sat up.
Just as she tilted her head, wondering if she'd mistaken thunder for something else—
The sound of the horse's neigh reached her ears again from a distance.
Elia listened carefully to locate the source.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the cry was coming from somewhere not far from her room.
Something black stirred directly beneath Norman Oellin's window.
'...A horse?'
In the dark, rainy dawn, it took her a moment to make out the black horse's form.
Elia rubbed her eyes several times and found herself muttering without thinking.
"What on earth is that?"
What kind of horse was so massive and imposing?
Despite years of service in noble households, she had never seen a horse quite so extraordinary.
She found herself staring, wide-eyed and dazed, at the black horse standing in the rain, water cascading from its coat.
The horse's luminous blue eyes glanced past Elia in passing.
But as if unconcerned, the horse raised its head and fixed an unwavering stare upon Norman Oellin's door.
It was strange.
The horse behaved as though it knew something, as if it were capable of thought itself.
It would not have seemed strange if horns or wings suddenly sprouted from that creature.
The black stallion was displaying a mystery profound enough to warrant such an apparition.
"What am I thinking? I need to call the master—no, wait, the Butler first...."
As she hurriedly searched for her outer robe and dressed, the horse cried out once more with a long, heavy neigh.
It sounded less like a horse's call and more like the roar of a wild beast. In that moment of hesitation, she couldn't decide whom to summon.
"What is all this noise?"
Norman, jolted awake by the commotion, irritably threw open his window.
Whether by fate's cruel jest or fortune's whim, the torrential rain that had been pouring down began to ease.
Fine droplets of rain scattered across the heated body of the horse.
The sight appeared mystical and ethereal, as though shrouded in mist.
It was in that very moment that the black horse entered Norman's field of vision as he peered down from his window.
"Ah, no—what on earth is that...?"
He rubbed his drowsy eyes and gazed at the black horse standing below his window, looking up at him.
Eyes of an otherworldly blue light stared at him with fierce intensity.
The moment their gazes met, Norman's heart began to race.
A mystical creature worthy of a nation's founding mythology had materialized before his very eyes.
The horse snorted and tossed its head slightly.
As if to say: come down here and see for yourself.
'Am I... the chosen one?'
Legends flooded his mind—tales of a black horse that appears before a great man, recognizing him as master and guiding him to become a nation's king.
Norman held his trembling breath and hastened his steps.
His descent down the stairs was filled with unbridled excitement.
'Of course, look at this. I knew it—I always had some tremendous latent potential...! I'm destined to become a great figure! Ahahaha!'
Norman Oellin was certainly not someone to be compared to Grace.
Riding high on his swelling emotions, Norman burst outside into the light drizzle.
"Oh!"
The black stallion stood there as though waiting for its master, regarding Norman with calm composure.
Those mystical blue eyes fixed upon him directly.
"You—you're my horse...!"
As Norman came running, the black horse began to snort and prance.
White vapor streamed from the excited horse's nostrils.
The horse's demeanor was far from ordinary.
The aura it emanated was ominous and strange, yet Norman failed to perceive it.
'My horse! A horse for someone as special as me!'
If word of today's events spread through High Society, he would surely become the center of attention.
Everyone would fawn over him, desperate to see this horse.
The mere thought of it was enough to overturn Norman's reason entirely.
His only thought was to claim it.
"Come here, come to me! Hurry now!"
The head maid Elia, who arrived slightly late after fetching the Butler, cried out in alarm.
"Young Master! You mustn't!"
At the desperate urgency in her voice, Norman involuntarily stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
Before Elia could even catch her breath, the black horse began advancing toward Norman.
Snort—
The force of its snorting breath was intense.
Just as Norman spread both arms wide to greet the approaching horse with a smile—
"...!"
Crash!
"Young Master!!"
"Kyaaaah!"
The horse closed the distance in a single stride and rammed directly into Norman.
A thunderous impact mixed with a piercing scream echoed through the Garden of the Oellin Family, and Norman's body flew helplessly through the air like a wooden puppet devoid of strength.
As if struck by a carriage hurtling at full speed, Norman's ribs shattered in an instant. His frail body, launched skyward, crashed directly into a nearby tree.
Crack!
"...Gasp! Cough, cough!"
Another sharp sound of something breaking pierced the air.
Elia was certain that terrible sound was Norman's leg bone shattering.
She clapped her hand over her mouth and turned to the Butler with a deathly pale face.
The Butler's complexion was no different from hers.
With a dull thud, Norman's body collapsed completely.
He must have lost consciousness—or worse.
'Oh, oh, what do I do!'
Elia barely managed to keep her trembling legs from giving out beneath her. Fortunately, a faint groan escaped Norman's lips. It seemed divine providence had spared him from death. It was a miracle.
Yet there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief. The black horse, its fury far from spent, emanated a terrifying killing intent as it pawed at the ground, ready to charge at Norman again at any moment. Everyone present held their breath, too tense even to breathe properly.
Why on earth was that black horse behaving this way?
And why had it come all the way here to vent its rage?
The horse pawed the ground with a fearsome intensity, then let out a thunderous neigh that reverberated through the air.
Neeeigh—!
Was a horse truly such a terrifying creature?
A savage, ferocious aura—the kind one might expect from a wild beast dwelling in remote mountains—emanated from every fiber of the black horse's being.
Both Elia and the Butler trembled at the overwhelming presence.
The black horse's eyes flashed with a brilliant blue as it pawed the ground, then advanced once more toward where Norman lay crumpled against the tree.
"No, stop!"
The startled Butler and Elia cried out in horror.
The horse's front legs rose high into the air, snorting. The sheer force of that massive body rearing up was absolutely devastating.
Good heavens, that reckless fool is going to die!
Elia involuntarily covered her mouth in terror, squeezed her eyes shut. She heard the sound of something solid splintering. Cracking one eye open to look, she saw that a thick wooden pillar had been snapped cleanly in half!
"Heavens, the tree...."
A single kick from the black horse had split the thick wooden pillar in two. The delicate leaves, which had been trembling, scattered chaotically through the air like a dance, settling softly upon Norman as he lay beneath the tree.
And between them stood a black horse, its menacing gaze unrelenting.
Snort.
The beast exhaled a plume of white breath, then kicked violently, flinging wet leaves and soil from the ground directly at Norman.
Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!
"...."
Only after dirt and leaves had sprayed across Norman's entire body did the horse finally cease its assault. He was practically buried under the debris.
Snort!
Watching the horse snort toward Norman, Elia felt an uncanny sense of déjà vu.
It was as if I could read the horse's thoughts somehow.
Something like: if you misbehave, I'll bury you... that sort of thing....
'Good heavens, what nonsense am I imagining?'
I shook my pallid face, dispelling the pointless thoughts. This was no time for such musings.
The black horse spun around in an instant, just as it had when it first burst into the Estate, and bolted away. With a single bound, it covered several meters of distance.
"S-should we really let it go like that, Butler?"
Startled, I called out to the Butler, who responded with a sickly pale face twisted in resignation.
"What exactly are we supposed to do about it?"
He had a point. The black horse had already cleared the Estate grounds in the blink of an eye. There was no way we could have restrained such a creature.
As the black horse disappeared into the distance, the thin drizzle intensified once more. Elia and the Butler, who had been staring blankly at the horse's departing figure, finally snapped to their senses and sprang into action.
"Oh, quickly—let's move the young master first!"
"Goodness, what was I thinking? Elia, hurry inside and wake the servants. This is dreadful. If the Master returns tomorrow and sees this mess, all hell will break loose!"
What on earth was happening? Had the heavens themselves sent down divine punishment upon that reckless young master?
As I rushed toward the Estate to summon the servants, my mind reeled at the calamity about to unfold.
Just before dawn broke, the Oellin Family residence, which had been sleeping peacefully, blazed with light.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org