CHAPTER 06…………………………………………
Meanwhile, Adrian.
The rumors that the Duke was monitoring the underworld were not false.
“Your Grace, we’ve received an insider report that an illegal slave auction will be held in the underworld tomorrow afternoon.”
With black hair, black eyes, a solid build, and a pitch-black uniform, he looked like darkness incarnate.
Adrian, young for a duke at thirty-eight, froze in the moonlight, his expression cold.
He had spent years trying to root out crime.
“Those disgusting vermin… no matter how much I crush them, they just keep crawling back.”
The Duke’s languid voice spoke slowly.
Adrian closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
His subordinate lowered his head further under the strange tension unique to the Duke.
“Given the network-like nature of the underworld, simply cutting off the branches won’t suffice; we must eradicate the root, or it will rise again. Your Grace, what are your orders?”
The subordinate suggested letting the petty slave traders go for now, but striking decisively at the underworld at the right moment.
“No. We’ll eliminate them tomorrow. The number of missing innocent citizens has risen excessively. Especially the number of missing children… surely the work of these slave traders.”
“…Understood.”
The subordinate bowed respectfully and withdrew, knowing the Duke showed no mercy toward those who preyed on children.
Adrian pressed his left hand to his temple in fatigue.
‘Missing…’
He sat alone in his dark office, lost in thought.
“Your Grace, what do you mean by calling her Pingping, her infant name?”
It had already been four years since the Duke lost his wife.
Adrian still hadn’t overcome Moltke’s suicide.
“Why? Pink hair, pink eyes. Matching top and bottom. Shortened to Pingping—it’s cute enough.”
“Even if it looks the same pink from afar, the colors are subtly different. Look—her baby eyes. The pupils’ rims are vivid pink, but the center is lighter.”
“Good grief… what difference does that make?”
The day they bathed their wriggling infant daughter,
Moltke had asked Adrian to give the baby an infant name.
“Your Grace, it’s different. Look at her hair, fluffy like cotton candy… her eyes sparkle like jewels. Pingping is a lazy name. Try suggesting something else.”
“Then… how about we just call her Po-jjak, like her infant name?”
“Huh? …Po-jjak as her infant name? Please don’t bother, Your Grace.”
‘I meant it back then.’
Adrian murmured to the empty air.
But Moltke, who would have heard his answer, had long since died.
It was their last conversation shared with laughter, a memory he often replayed.
“Bring back Moltke, immediately.”
“Your Grace… the Duchess is already deceased.”
“She isn’t. Moltke wouldn’t have died before me.”
Adrian had been the first to discover his wife’s suicide.
Even after the physician confirmed her death, he refused to accept reality for a long time.
Since that day, Adrian had been barely sane.
The guilt of failing to prevent his wife’s death made even breathing difficult.
‘For the past four years… I’ve lived like the royal court’s dog.’
If the crown ordered him to destroy a foreign country, he did.
To trample, to conquer, to annihilate monsters—he obeyed.
‘Now everyone fears me. No enemies remain to challenge me.’
Merely hearing of his arrival on a battlefield prompted enemies to surrender without resistance.
But even slaughter couldn’t fill the emptiness in him, and Moltke’s absence weighed heavily on him.
Before marrying Moltke, Adrian had been embroiled in scandals with countless women, but now he had no interest in romance.
His only concern was his daughter,
“…Po-jjak.”
Ariana, and no one else.
I had expected Perez to appear immediately to save me.
But…
‘Status ailment’ penalty reapplied.
Warning! 60 minutes until starvation. Consume food immediately or death will result.’
I was too hungry to move.
Too weak, too pained, too exhausted to even speak properly.
“Why aren’t you here? Status window modification worked properly, right?”
…Yes, it did, Reader.
The notification window appeared as if in apology.
If he felt possessiveness but still didn’t come, what was the point of all that effort to modify the status window?
But there was no time to resent.
Like a sudden ray of light, I hurried just as death was approaching.
I could see nothing.
‘Hungry. Hungry, hungry, hungry.’
When I finally came to my senses, I was stealing bread from a stall emitting a warm, savory smell.
But before I could bite into it, the shopkeeper shouted and shoved me aside.
“You brat! With no money!”
“Please… I’m hungry. Just one bite…”
“Get lost!”
I was pushed away.
Warning! 10 minutes until starvation.
My consciousness blurred.
Fear made my body shake uncontrollably.
‘Am I really going to die?’
Because I couldn’t recite the Alashion spell? Could it really come to this?
Then, I felt something warm engulf me.
Instinctively, my body shivered.
Refined mana is being injected into the reader. Recognized as energy replacing food; accumulation begins.
Energy is being injected rapidly. Starvation risk decreasing.
“Someone can’t even share a single piece of bread with a starving child…”
Who is it?
“Y-Your Grace?”
“I’ll pay for the bread the child touched.”
“Th-thank you!”
The murmurs of bystanders barely reached me.
When I lifted my head, my vision was already hazy.
Was I crying?
Since when had I been crying?
This was the first time I’d cried from hunger, and my mind felt dazed.
Filling my vision was a man with a sword. A stranger.
All black, like darkness itself…
Name: Adrian Berkshire Lehinar [Character] Lv.9685
Age: 38
Title: Massacre of War
Assets: 1% of Berkshire holdings
Emotional State Toward Player: Curious
Trait: Massacre
‘…Massacre.’
The description was remarkably matter-of-fact.
But this man seemed to be the one giving me mana.
Was the black energy emanating from him mana?
It felt sweet.
I wasn’t afraid.
‘The first savior to appear.’
He is my protector.
My father.
I had to cling to Adrian at all costs.
Instinctively, I crawled toward him.
My body trembled so much I couldn’t even stand properly.
Soon, I managed to grab the hem of Adrian’s trousers with my tiny hands.
The stronger my grip, the more his uniform wrinkled.
“……”
The Duke quietly looked down at me.
Through tear-blurred vision, I saw my plump little hands.
All the sorrow I had suppressed welled up.
“Hhk… ugh…”
Please.
Take me with you.
