ITHMF 09

Chapter 09

The Sephern family villa. Returning to his room, Kairan searched his pocket and took out the glass bottle.

The deep purple potion sparkled even in the darkness.

A healing potion…

He had vaguely expected her to be an unusual being, but he never dreamed she was a mage. Kairan looked at the potion and revisited the knowledge he had.

“Did mages originally live in the water?”

That wasn’t written in any books. In fact, since it was such an ancient matter, he couldn’t even believe magic truly existed.

After staring at the potion for a long time, Kairan slumped onto the bed. He had told Serinel he would trust her, but he was still deliberating whether he should actually use the potion.

“She wouldn’t have given me something I couldn’t drink, but…”

Kairan thought of Serinel, blankly.

To be honest, when he first saw her from behind, he really thought she was a water spirit. A person in the water in the dead of night—it was a story straight out of a ghost tale.

However, the beautiful silver hair, shimmering with scattered moonlight, caught Kairan’s attention. And when Serinel, sensing his presence, turned around…

“…I thought you weren’t human.”

What first drew Kairan’s gaze were her blue eyes, reminiscent of the sea.

Her clear, transparent eyes vividly showed all the emotions she held. And then there was her pale skin, tinged with pink here and there as if to prove she was alive, her delicate nose, her lips like roses.

Each feature of Serinel’s face was seared into Kairan’s retina.

Her unrealistically beautiful appearance, so captivating that he couldn’t look away, was simply hard to believe as human.

“Is she a spirit? I’ve heard spirits are beautiful…”

The day after seeing Serinel, Kairan locked himself in the library and read every book he could find on non-human races.

Among them, what he felt was most similar to Serinel were spirits.

According to records, spirits were beings of breathtaking beauty, with bright and kind personalities.

He couldn’t fully trust the records, but based on his feelings, the description of spirits matched her best.

But he couldn’t directly ask Serinel if she was a spirit. She was already on guard against him, and if he asked about her identity, she might never come out of the sea again.

And as a result of interacting with Serinel as nonchalantly as possible, a healing potion that couldn’t be obtained by human means had fallen into Kairan’s hands.

“I’ll trust you.”

He could find no trace of lies in Serinel, who said she would cure the Duchess. Rather, her clear and intensely shining eyes made even the wary Kairan trust her.

Kairan placed the potion on the table and lay down on the bed. Since it was late, he would use the potion tomorrow.

Closing his eyes, it wasn’t long before Kairan let out a peaceful breath.

The next morning, Kairan woke early and walked down the quiet hallway.

His destination was Riose’s bedroom.

Before long, the familiar door came into view. Clutching the potion tightly, he carefully entered the room.

Groans of pain brushed past Kairan’s ears. The closer he got to the bed, the louder the pained moans became.

“Mother.”

Riose, whose condition had worsened, spent most of her days in the unconscious world. Her waking hours were extremely short, and even then, she couldn’t leave the bed.

Her body, withered from not eating well, and her gaunt face pained Kairan’s heart.

Letting out a trembling breath, Kairan sat on the edge of the bed. He supported the unconscious Riose’s neck, half-raising her body, and lifted the potion.

The deep purple potion trickled down between her dry, cracked lips. Only after Riose’s throat moved several times was the bottle emptied.

After laying her back down on the bed, Kairan tidied her disheveled hair.

“Please…”

The one who had been calm all along finally showed a desperate, earnest feeling.

With a pained, contorted face, Kairan held Riose’s hand. Compared to her feverish head, her hand was so cold. All of this seemed to point to death, and Kairan bit his lip hard.

As he was warming his mother’s cold hand with his own body heat, the groaning sounds miraculously subsided.

“…Ian?”

Even at that small voice, Kairan’s reaction was faster than anyone’s.

He snapped his head up and met Riose’s open eyes. Despite her pain, she smiled brightly at her son before her.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face.”

“Are… are you alright?”

“I’m always alright.”

Kairan didn’t believe those words.

Riose didn’t want to show her weakness to the ones she loved. Even when her illness was severe, she always tried to look healthy, especially in front of her son.

Coughing lightly, Riose raised her upper body. Kairan supported her back so she could move comfortably.

Leaning against the bed, Riose looked at the warm sunlight and spoke.

“For some reason today… I think I can go for a walk. Would you accompany me?”

“Yes. Let’s take a walk together, Mother.”

“Thank you.”

Perhaps because it was an illness that had parasitized Riose’s body for so long, the signs of illness hadn’t completely disappeared.

But Kairan knew Riose was different from usual. And he also knew this change was thanks to the potion Serinel had given him.

The deep, clear eyes like the sea, vast as oceans, came to mind.

Perhaps Serinel was a miracle sent by the gods for him. A spark of hope was rekindled in Kairan’s fading heart.

Murmuring.

The sounds around me seemed distant, as if my ears were muffled.

Sensing high-pitched, piercing sounds, as if something was exploding, one after another, I gradually came to my senses.

‘Where am I?’

I opened my closed eyes, but I couldn’t grasp the situation at once. However, before I could think deeply, my throat ached as if it were burning.

“Ugh…”

The stinging sensation sharply pulled my hazy mind back.

Clutching my burning throat, I slowly looked around. My vision was a little blurry, but fortunately, I had no trouble distinguishing objects.

What on earth is all this…

The floor, charred black in places as if hit by a bomb, wide stains of blood, whose owner unknown, spreading across it. Trees that had lost their lives had turned to ash, blackening the blue sky.

In the midst of it all, I stood firmly, holding something in my hand.

Where is this? Why am I standing here?

I was so confused that my thoughts wouldn’t organize. I needed someone to explain this situation.

Urgently looking around, I thankfully spotted figures that looked like people. But the moment I tried to approach them, my insides burned up, and something surged up from my throat.

I quickly covered my mouth, but it wasn’t enough to contain the burning feeling inside.

“Ugh…”

Drip.

Hot blood stained my hands crimson.

Looking at the blood streaming down my hands, I froze. Just then, someone called out to me loudly.

“──!”

I couldn’t actually hear what the person said, but I was compelled to turn around, as if responding to the call.

However, the face of the person who called me was shrouded in mist, and I couldn’t see it clearly. I could only instinctively sense that they were crying very sorrowfully.

“It’s okay. Don’t cry, ──.”

Looking at him pleading, I smiled. Because I didn’t want him to be sad. And because I wanted his last memory of me to be my smiling face.

After that, my body moved regardless of my will. The person who called me seemed to be saying something, but it only sounded like a muffled drone.

As if they’d made some decision in that brief moment, I clenched my fists and ran towards the sphere.

If I go in there, I’ll die!

I didn’t know what that black hole was or why I was trying to enter it, but I instinctively knew that much. Going in there would mean death.

But my body still wouldn’t obey. The pitch-black hole grew closer before my eyes.

And the moment my body finally touched the sphere, I screamed and woke from the dream.

“No…!”

I jerked upright, gasping for breath.

The pitch-black darkness felt just like the black hole from the dream. I raised my trembling hands and fumbled for the button.

As the lid covering the bed opened, the faint light illuminating the room seeped in. Only then did my anxious heart begin to slowly calm down.

“What kind of dream was that?”

Cold sweat, soaking my entire body, showed how vivid the dream had been.

Wiping the sweat streaming down my chin, I slowly retraced the dream’s content.

But for some reason, I couldn’t remember the content at all. I kept trying to recall it, but my mind was as blank as a white sheet of paper.

“How strange…”

It felt like it was a dream that was very frightening and scary, and sad.

Pressing my temples and pondering was futile. It seemed I had forgotten it right after waking up.

“…Can’t be helped.”

It was a little unsettling, but it was just a dream anyway. It was probably better to forget it cleanly.

“Ah, right! I need to go see Kairan.”

No wonder I was so tired today… I’d just meant to close my eyes for a moment, but I ended up falling asleep.

I need to get ready and go quickly.

Flapping my sweat-dampened clothes, I got out of bed, took a quick shower, and put on a simple dress. Then I put my ear to the door to check for outside presence.

Fortunately, the hallway seemed empty.

“Carefully…”

Creak—

Because it was so quiet, the sound of the door opening was thunderously loud. I glanced around nervously and carefully poked my head out to survey the hallway.

The hallway, lit only faintly by scattered light balls here and there, was empty of any passing mermaids.

Phew… Letting out a small sigh of relief, I slipped my whole body out. Then I closed the door as slowly and quietly as possible.

“Looks like I wasn’t caught for now.”

If I swam just five steps to the right from here, there was a wall hiding a secret passage. I always used it when I wanted to sneak out of the castle. I’d found it by chance when I was little.

Who knew it would come in handy like this.

Stopping in front of the wall hiding the secret passage, I carefully reached my hand toward the switch.

“What are you doing there, Serinel?”