Chapter 73
Even as those chilling words spilled from his lips, Cyrone’s face remained unnervingly calm. The stark contrast was almost terrifying.
At Cyrone’s words, Rias’s expression hardened in an instant. Like someone possessed, he clutched the iron bars desperately. He tried to reach out into the empty space between them, but the distance wouldn’t close.
“It was you. You were the one who turned back time then, Cyrone.”
The one who had offered his heart to the devil, the one who turned back time, the one who revived Elia. It was Cyrone.
“…Yes. Only the cursed family of Edelward can awaken Belial’s soul. Since it wasn’t me, it had to be you. Why didn’t I realize it sooner?”
Rias muttered like a man in a daze. When he first joined the Damon family to study imperial politics and the Empire’s history, he had heard about Belial and the Empire founded through the devil’s power.
The Kelyon Empire was a continent established by borrowing the power of the devil. As the price, the imperial family bearing the Edelward name flowed with Belial’s tainted blood. It was the only gateway capable of reawakening Belial’s spirit.
“Then you… must still be dying, aren’t you?”
Rias narrowed his eyes as he asked. The sound of their breathing filled the dry walls of the prison. Cyrone, seemingly unafraid, smiled softly and said to Rias.
“Then endure longer. There’s much you still must do.”
Cyrone’s words came out cold. They were so flat, they barely sounded human.
* * *
After Cyrone left, Rias endured the fading night with sleepless eyes. After a long time, he finally looked down at his wrist, where blood flowed.
“…The blood of Edelward.”
Rias once again felt the futility of the years he had lived. He had lived only to become Emperor, struggled only to be part of the Edelwards, yet never realized that Edelward blood flowed within him.
In this way, Rias had been an Edelward all his life, yet not truly one. Or perhaps deep within, he had never fully accepted it.
A father he didn’t even know, a mother whose name was lost to time. The only legacy they left him was this Edelward blood and name…
Now, finally aware that the power of that blood flowed within him, Rias felt a tangled mix of emotions. He murmured, recalling what Cyrone had just said to him.
“This is what I can do for you.”
Only then did Rias smile bitterly, as if he had found an answer.
* * *
Elia woke up only when dawn came. Looking around, she realized where she was lying and immediately sprang up from the bed.
“…Of all places, it had to be here.”
Elia was in Cyrone’s bedroom. Despite its grand appearance, the room was cold and lifeless, like how no human warmth had ever touched it.
A heavy feeling settled in her chest. If this was how it was going to be, the underground prison where she had been trapped before was better.
“Is there really no way out now?”
After being drugged and sleeping half the day away, she found herself here. Now she was completely at Cyrone’s mercy.
Letting out a short sigh, Elia got up from the bed and looked out the window. Between blazing red torches, armored guards stood watch at the castle gates.
‘I wonder what happened to Rias…’
She had been dragged here without a moment to think about him. Biting her lip, a sudden sound made her turn.
“Cy… Cyrone.”
Cyrone stepped through the darkness. Instinctively, Elia stepped back, widening the distance between them.
The cold darkness filled the space. Under the dim light, Cyrone’s expression was more emotionless than usual. With tired eyes, he brushed his face and perched on the edge of the bed.
“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Cyrone asked softly, his eyes heavy with fatigue. Elia had no answer. She quietly lowered her head and stared at the floor.
“……”
A long silence stretched between them. Looking at Elia, who wouldn’t even meet his gaze, Cyrone felt something indescribable.
Like a sandcastle swept away by a crashing wave, like grains of sand slipping through clenched fingers. The more desperate he felt, the more empty it became.
“Really, nothing to say? Say something, anything.”
Cyrone fixed his gaze on Elia. He wished she’d at least say something harsh. But Elia remained silent, as if she had lost all will.
Watching her like that made Cyrone feel like he was going insane.
“That’s not it, right? You didn’t leave me. You didn’t abandon me. Right?”
Cyrone grasped her fragile shoulders and asked. His voice was so sad it looked like it was about to break into tears.
“Just say you had no choice.”
He pleaded, yet couldn’t bring himself to grip her tightly. For the first time, he felt a burning fear deep in his chest.
“Say you’re sorry. If you do, I’ll forgive you.”
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