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Chapter 20
I couldn't fathom ‌‌‌why he had suddenly appeared at Count ‌‌Rudin's Residence.
Chesa gripped the sofa's fabric tightly, her eyes fixed on Kieran.
The clouds that had obscured the moon parted.
Moonlight streamed long and pale through the Study's window.
Kieran wore a well-fitted frock coat, beneath which lay a deep green formal suit. ‌‌
His impeccable appearance was refined enough to grace any ballroom without a second glance.
It seemed as though he had just returned from a ball itself.
A faint cologne mingled with the heavy scent of alcohol emanated from him.
'What on earth has he been doing out there.'
As Chesa pondered this, Kieran gently peeled off one leather glove with his ‌‌‌teeth.
With ‌‌his other hand, he withdrew a pocket watch from his jacket.
His crimson eyes gazed down at the silver timepiece.
Tick, tick—the sound of the second hand's rotation rang out with unusual clarity.
After checking the time with an indifferent expression, Kieran promptly returned the ‌‌watch to his pocket and turned his gaze toward Count Rudin.
Count Rudin blinked stupidly.
Having only just escaped Chesa's Illusion Realm, he seemed unable to properly grasp the situation.
He stood there like a simpleton, mouth agape.
Kieran snapped his fingers ‌‌‌‌lightly with his ungloved hand.
At the sharp, crisp sound, Count Rudin jolted ‌‌upright from the sofa. ‌‌
He trembled belatedly, his eyes darting frantically about the room.
Count Rudin realized he was in the Study, not trapped in the witch's Illusion Realm.
Upon seeing the slender, handsome man before him, he opened his mouth in bewilderment.
"C-Count Basilian?"
Count Rudin hastily straightened himself on the sofa.
He had ‌‌become aware of his shameful posture, ‌‌‌‌sprawled across the furniture and trembling pathetically.
Kieran waited patiently as Count Rudin adjusted his clothes, withdrew a handkerchief ‌‌‌to wipe away the profuse sweat, and cleared his throat to reclaim his haughty composure.
At last, Count Rudin spoke.
"I... what business brings ‌‌you here at this late hour? And how did you even enter this place?"
Kieran let out a soft chuckle.
He smiled ‌‌smoothly, his lips curling upward, and held Count Rudin's gaze steadily.
In the darkness, an eerie gleam flickered across his crimson eyes.
The moment Count Rudin sensed something uncanny, he gasped.
"Kgh...!"
He immediately dropped to all fours like a beast.
Then he slammed his own head hard against the floor.
The impact was so violent it sounded like a watermelon cracking.
Count Rudin's head pressed against the hard marble floor, his entire body convulsing.
Yet he could not even manage a single scream.
As if he had lost all control ‌‌‌over his own body.
A polished shoe pressed down ‌‌‌firmly on the back of Count Rudin's head.
A smooth voice fell like ‌‌a feather.
"Count Rudin."
Kieran, who had trampled his head, whispered with ‌‌‌‌‌a gentle smile.
"I've come to offer my apologies."
Count Rudin momentarily failed to comprehend the situation.
Why his head was being driven into the floor.
Why his body refused to obey him, moving in such ‌bizarre ways.
The man, who had stood frozen in stupidity, gasped sharply.
"You, you treacherous...!"
Count Rudin shrieked, his voice cracking.
"A dark sorcerer! Have you no shame as a nobleman of the Great Empire! The Divine will punish you!"
As he ranted while drooling profusely, Kieran clicked his tongue lightly in disapproval.
Of course, he was not the type to respond with kindness.
He withdrew his foot from the man's head and stepped back.
From that moment, Count Rudin began repeatedly driving his forehead into the marble floor.
Crack, crack—the sound of breaking continued for quite some time.
The ‌‌‌‌noise only ceased when Count Rudin had reflected far beyond sufficiency, whimpering ‌‌and sobbing.
Kieran asked languidly.
"Are you now prepared to accept my apologies?"
Through this modest education, Count Rudin seemed to have grasped something with certainty.
The fact that his very ‌‌life now rested in Kieran's hands.
Count Rudin spoke abjectly.
"There, there must be some misunderstanding."
"Which part exactly do you claim was misunderstood?" ‌‌
Kieran enumerated them as if singing.
"Replacing the ‌‌‌tutor I hired in my absence and sneaking into my home?"
"That, that was—"
"Or insulting my child for being from the Orphanage, and scorning them for growing up motherless?"
"Count, that was—"
"Or perhaps telling them ‌‌‌to go directly to Count Basilian and apologize?"
Count Rudin gasped for breath.
Blood and saliva mixed together, trickling down beneath his chin.
Seeing his wretched state, Kieran's lips ‌curved into a cruel smile.
"Which of these ‌constitutes a misunderstanding, Count?"
Count Rudin could no ‌‌longer afford to be insolent.
He pleaded with utmost deference, his voice utterly abject.
"Please, please, just spare my life.... Count Basilian, think about it. If you kill me, wouldn't it cause trouble for you as well? If you just spare my life, I, I won't breathe a word...."
Chesa, hidden behind the sofa, cried out in her mind.
'Just kill him!'
It would be problematic if word spread that the ‌‌witch Lichesia was wandering about.
Death, after all, ‌‌was the ‌‌‌‌perfect destruction of evidence.
Today I had planned to torment ‌‌Count Rudin thoroughly in the ‌‌Illusion Realm before gifting him to my pet ‌‌‌plant.
But then Kieran suddenly showed up, and I destroyed ‌‌‌the Illusion Realm.
'Of course, I would ‌‌‌‌certainly kill Kieran.'
Those crimson eyes, revealing a cruel nature without restraint, made even Chesa's spine tingle with dread.
The gaze that flickered with malice and murderous intent was more ferocious than any creature she had encountered in the Underworld.
Only elegance draped over it like a thin veil.
"Well, I'm simply not inclined to let him live."
Kieran tilted his head back.
Black hair ‌‌‌‌cascaded smoothly downward, his neck exposed in its entirety as he gazed toward the ceiling.
His gaze fell upon the chandelier hanging from the Study's ceiling.
Though unlit, the chandelier's crystals gleamed softly in the moonlight.
Kieran regarded that luminous form with interest.
"Hmm."
The chandelier, firmly secured with chains, seemed sturdy enough to bear the weight of a grown man.
"Shall we use that? What do you think?"
Kieran casually sought an opinion.
Count Rudin's eyes widened, bloodshot and crimson.
His lips trembled, but no ‌‌‌‌sound emerged.
As if seized by a massive hand and shaken, Count Rudin's head nodded up and down.
He wanted ‌‌to shake his head in refusal, but he could do nothing of his own volition.
Kieran laughed softly at the pathetic sight.
"How fortunate that the Count approves as well. Shall we begin then? I'm growing tired and ‌‌‌would like to return home soon..."
The voice of the one smiling with half-lidded eyes was ‌‌‌‌languid.
"My young daughter ‌‌‌‌is waiting for me at home, after all."
Though that young daughter was currently watching from behind the sofa what Kieran was doing.
As Chesa swallowed dryly, Count Rudin began preparing the place of his own death.
He pushed the desk beneath the chandelier and placed a chair upon it.
Until he looped ‌‌the rope from the chair to the chandelier and fashioned a noose around his own neck.
Kieran did nothing.
He merely sat on the opposite sofa with his legs crossed, watching the Count's performance.
Once ‌‌‌‌‌all preparations were complete, Kieran issued a leisurely command.
"Smile, Count."
At the order, Count Rudin's lips curled ‌upward to their fullest extent.
Grinning like a pierrot doll, his lips nearly splitting, the Count placed the noose around his own neck.
It was a horrifying sight, yet Chesa could not watch Count Rudin's death to its end.
'Gasp!'
While watching Kieran wield dark magic and commit those ‌‌‌dehumanizing acts, she suddenly realized something. ‌‌‌
That it was time for him to return home now that his business was concluded.
Whenever he visited Chesa's room, ‌‌‌‌there was always one constant.
A faint scent of blood always lingered in the air.
'So he'll definitely come today without fail!'
Chesa swiftly slipped out of the Study and made her way back to Count Basilian's Residence.
She hurriedly changed clothes, pressed down her racing heart, and lay in bed for a moment.
The sound of the door opening reached her ‌‌‌ears.
As ‌‌‌‌expected, Kieran appeared.
"Father...?"
Chesa opened her eyes groggily, feigning just having woken.
Kieran laughed at the ‌‌‌sight of her hair sticking ‌‌up disheveled from the pillow.
He ‌‌‌‌approached the bedside and gently smoothed down her tousled hair.
"Did Father wake you? I'm sorry."
His crimson eyes were languid and relaxed.
Gone was the cruel, malevolent gleam that had blazed in them moments ago when he'd driven Count Rudin to his death.
Kieran exhaled a long, low sigh, then promptly scooped Chesa up.
Black shadows enveloped everything around them.
When the shadows dissipated, they were in Kieran's Bedroom.
Kieran stood motionless for a moment, ‌‌still holding Chesa.
He suddenly chuckled softly, then rubbed his face against her cheek.
"Chesaaaa."
"...."
Something seemed slightly off about his state.
Normally, even when he entered Chesa's room, he would slip in with barely a sound.
But today he'd made a commotion arriving and openly woke her up.
'And what's with "Chesa" like that?'
Chesa wrinkled the bridge of her nose in confusion.
It was because of the strong smell of alcohol emanating ‌from him.
She'd noticed the scent of liquor at Count Rudin's Residence earlier, but now that she was in his embrace, it was far more potent.
Suddenly, a thought struck her mind.
'Could it be....'
Was he drunk?

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: ‌‌valirscans.org
---------------