Chapter 78
Even he had forgotten why he once tried to run away just to survive.
“I’ve been thinking…”
“That we should escape again?”
Carlton made a face like, That again?
“Yeah. Let’s run away together.”
With a serious expression, Belia held out the magic orb in her hand.
“With this, it’ll help. I told you before, I got as far as outside the mansion but was blocked by the tree at the entrance. If we put the orb on the tree…”
Carlton swallowed a sigh.
He was impressed yet heartbroken at how Belia still held onto hope even after all she had suffered at Bain’s hands.
Ever since the curse was engraved like shackles onto his left arm, Carlton had given up on escape long ago.
“I’ve tried to escape this hellhole tens of thousands of times. Every time I was caught, they hung me on that tree in front of the mansion… This world is created by Bain. We who were experimented on with black magic cannot break through a place wholly covered in black magic.”
“That was when you tried alone. This time I’m here. We can find a way together, okay?”
Looking at the earnest Belia, Carlton’s lips parted.
“Please? Okay?”
As desperate as Belia was, Carlton also wanted to escape this hell if it were possible.
But the more he allowed hope, the more brutally he was reminded of his own helplessness.
After eight years of being experimented on here, Carlton had become strong.
While others learned magic through study, Carlton learned with his body.
That’s why his magical depth was on a completely different level than others.
And yet, even he had failed to escape countless times.
The will that once drove him to attempt escape had long been buried under the torture that followed in retaliation.
The lingering pain in his left shoulder constantly reminded him of that day.
Belia reached out toward the grimacing Carlton.
“Would this let us get out?”
In that instant, Belia’s eye color changed.
Her hair turned to a chilling silver, and at the same time, Carlton felt the throbbing pain in his left shoulder ease.
“What are you…!”
Her blue eyes looked into his shocked red ones with a sad smile.
“I figured it out.”
“What?”
“What that bastard wants from me. This power—I can use it now.”
Carlton’s eyes widened at the faint light coming from Belia’s left hand.
“So let’s try it together. We have to break the barrier outside, right? Please… okay?”
“Since when… could you do that?”
“Not long…”
“That’s why you refused the herb I told you to eat.”
“If I ate it, they’d experiment on me again. If they realized this power had awakened, I…”
Belia’s face went pale.
“That’s why we have to hurry. We’ve got maybe a week. Even if we drag it out—no more than that. We have to get out. I tested it—it works.”
“You…”
“You want to leave too, don’t you?”
“I…”
“If we stay like this, we die.”
At her expression—You know it too—Carlton looked conflicted.
“Dying this way or that way—it’s the same. So let’s try. You don’t get it, but I will die. If Bain finds out this power awakened…”
The scene blurred with Belia’s anguished face as the last image.
“Ah!”
Belia, who had been watching the vision, reached out without realizing it.
Then a new scene unfolded before her eyes.
Red blood splattered across the floor.
The moment she recognized whose it was, Belia covered her mouth.
“How amusing.”
Slash—
“Guhk—!”
A whip came down mercilessly, striking young Belia across the back. Her face twisted in pain.
Even without seeing everything, it was clear what had happened to Carlton, whose body was in ruins like the shattered magic orb.
Beside them, corpses were piled up like a mountain, their faces frozen in ignorance of their final moments.
Kneeling alone amid the brutal slaughter, sobbing and choking, was Karin.
Her face was far younger than the sly demeanor she would one day have.
“Speak, René. My daughter. What did you see?”
At the soft, beautiful voice that sounded like a prayer, Belia raised her head.
Bain’s mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
Beside him, the frail René trembled violently.
But her eyes were fixed only on Carlton.
“Um… it was her. She coaxed Carlton into running away!”
At René’s words, young Belia tried to stand, trembling, only to collapse again, her legs giving out.
“…Is that so?”
Bain lifted one foot and slammed it down on Belia’s head.
Her silver hair, already tangled, was now stained red.
Even his white shoes pressing down were dyed crimson.
“Yes! She planned it all. Carlton did nothing wrong!”
Bain glanced at the fallen Carlton. René stepped forward to block his gaze.
“Really, Carlton is innocent! It was all her scheme…!”
“I…”
Carlton forced himself to kneel.
Swallowing back blood, he lifted his head.
“I was the one who said we should escape.”
“What are you saying!!”
René, face drained of color, rushed in front of Carlton.
“That’s not true!”
“I said we should leave. I wanted to escape.”
“Carlton!”
“I was also the one who coaxed those kids, not just Belia.”
“No! Father, that’s not true!”
“You know, don’t you? If something like this happened—it had to have been me.”
“Hm…”
Bain stroked his chin.
“Unlike last time, we had Belia this time, so I thought it could work.”
Bain stared expressionlessly at Carlton, who spoke his truth with indifference.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
When Bain lifted his foot from Belia’s head, Carlton felt a wave of relief.
But then Bain stomped down again on Belia’s head.
Even harder. Even more brutally.
“Aagh!”
Even half-conscious, the pain must have been unbearable as young Belia screamed.
Not satisfied, Bain ground his foot repeatedly against her head.
Blood from her unhealed wounds ran down her silver hair.
“Right. There’s no way she planned any of this. Even without you saying it, I know you were involved in the plan. But what is this power?”
Bain picked up the fallen magic orb.
A brilliant white light seeped from it, making Carlton’s eyes tremble.
“When treated kindly, you don’t even know gratitude, do you?”
Bain stared coldly down at the collapsed Belia.
“I tried to give worth to your pitiful life, but—”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
In that moment, Belia—who had been face down—suddenly sprang up.
Clang—
The magic orb resting in her dainty hand fell and shattered on the ground.
“I don’t need worth.”
Coughing blood, Belia collapsed again and began laughing like she’d gone mad.
“You want this power, right? But I don’t want to give it. Not ever.”
Belia pulled a dagger from her clothes.
Its very color was ominous, black smoke swirling around it.
“What—!”
As Bain reached toward her, Belia’s gaze flicked to Carlton for just a brief instant.
As if to silently convey something, she looked at him—and without a moment’s hesitation—
She plunged the dagger into her own heart.
“Belia!!!”
The moment Carlton tried to lunge forward, Bain hurriedly lifted Belia into his arms—and vanished.
Thud.
Only the fresh pool of blood on the floor remained as proof of what had just happened.
You escape. At least you can.
Understanding the meaning of her final glance, Carlton gasped for breath.
His heart pounded violently, as if gripped by unbearable dread.
Something was terribly wrong. Confusion he couldn’t understand overwhelmed him.
Out of nowhere, the conversation he’d had with Belia before attempting escape flashed through his mind.
“No.”
Carlton’s eyes turned red.
He forced his shattered body to rise.
Was I right?
He couldn’t suppress the gnawing anxiety.
He had to find where Bain had taken Belia.
With all those curses engraved on her frail body, the black magic would devour her quickly.
Carlton staggered forward in a frenzy—
Tatadak—
René rushed in and blocked his path.
“Where are you going!”
Carlton coldly slapped away the hand grabbing his arm.
“Ah! That hurts!”
René flailed in panic as she followed him. She grabbed his arm again, gritting her teeth.
“Your body’s a wreck—where are you going? Are you going after her? It’s dangerous. You’re badly hurt. So—”
“Let go.”
“What?”
Looking at René, whose eyes were full of concern, Carlton flicked his right hand.
Pow!
With a sonic boom, René was blasted back and slammed into the wall.
