Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

Chapter 51

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“You’re probably wondering why I’m saying this.
I used to think like you.
I believed I’d always be fine.”

“…..”

“At that time, I shouldn’t have wasted my time and just killed him sooner.”

* * *

It was a night where darkness buried the moon.
In the bedroom with all windows closed, a strange breeze broke out, causing the curtains to sway lightly.

Out of the shadows walked a man who acted as if he had been in the room from the start.

He walked through the darkness, heading towards the bed.

A little boy was asleep in the bed.

The man’s pupils dilated.

Before long, the man reached out his hand.

“Ung…..”

As the sleeping boy turned his head to the side, his face was revealed.

Silver-colored hair like the moonlight, and grayish eyebrows and eyelashes.

Everything Regen had reminded him of ‘someone’.

The man realized his hand was twitching slightly and his eyes narrowed.

He should not be killed.

This kid wasn’t the one he should pour out the grudges he had built up his whole life onto.

Therefore, there was no need to harm him.

The man grabbed and pressed down his trembling hand with the other.

He soon opened his lips, his stomach sinking.

“Heal.”

Using the man’s shadow as the door, a large snake climbed up from under the ground.

It was a snake-like beast known to have excellent killing power but, as long as the concentration of the poison was adjusted, it would be a different story.

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As soon as it reached Regen’s bed, it spread its mouth wide open.

Suddenly, there was a sound of fangs biting into flesh as soft as pudding.

However, Regen continued sleeping while quietly mumbling.

As the poison-like drug began to circulate in his body through the blood vessels, a change occurred in Regen’s face that ordinary people could not notice.

… An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to notice.

Upon completing its mission, the snake released Regen and slipped away.

He nestled at his master’s feet, fluttered his tongue, and waited for praise in return.

Aedis Kallakis had been treating Regen for eight years.

But it was a fact that no one knew.

Not even Regen himself, the person being treated.

Regen had no idea what kind of state he was in when he was found in the desert.

Regen would never know that he had already been out of breath once and was forced to be alive by someone.

Because Regen would forgive them anyway.

He was more pitiful than Gilbert, who made himself that way.

Regen’s dependence on Gilbert was extremely high.

He has been chasing Gilbert since before he was even able to walk even though Gilbert has never reciprocated or made him happy.

Was it because he was the only family he had left?

It’s plausible.

But there may be other reasons.

For Gilbert and Regen’s father, it wasn’t strange to study and experiment in the head of a newborn baby.

〈I have a child.
It might be a failure or a success story.
I discarded it because it was useless right now but, if you take care of it, the failure may survive.〉

It was the first time he’d contacted him in hundreds of years.

However, the brothers’ father didn’t have the sincerity to meet him in person and plead with him.

The circumstances were communicated through a single letter that could have been lost by the slightest mistake.

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Gilbert and Regen’s fate depended on that old letter, one that wasn’t even sealed properly at the time.

〈If you still hate me, it’s okay to take out your anger on them.
No, I don’t know if it’s okay for them to look like this? You may be surprised when you see them.
Just think of them as me and play with them as much as you want.
Do whatever you want to your heart’s content.〉

Gilbert and Regen’s appearance, strength, and ability were all surprisingly similar to their father.

As if they were his copies.

He was convinced that the two brothers did not have a mother in the first place.

〈Oh, but the weakest one seems to resemble you a little.
If you are offended by being compared to that failed work, please let me off the hook.
Huh? That must’ve been why I almost got a little sad.
You can see how nice I was to them just by not putting them in the trash, right?〉

However, he did not bring the brothers out of sympathy.

He had never prided himself in being in a position to pity anyone.

But, he expected that their father would someday appear to ‘recover’ his children.

At that time, he would do what he’d already decided.

He watched Regen for a while, not intending to wake him up, and then headed to where he was supposed to be.

In the bedroom filled with warmth, Maevia had fallen into a deep sleep.

Her eyelids and long lashes meticulously hid her eyes, which always looked like stars.

Her pink hair, which Aedis had combed more than her maid after getting married, colored his bed with spring.

When Aedis received the one-sided proposal and asked for information about Maevia, the quickly-updated report expressed her appearance in one sentence.

〈A face that seems to have monopolized the love of the Creator.〉

Enclosed was a proper portrait, so they wouldn’t be beaten to death, but it was ridiculous that even the one who had observed her had left that sentence.

“Eve.”

There was no answer when he called her name out loud.

Aedis was curious about Maevia, who had somehow completely relaxed in front of him.

….At first glance, she looked lovely, so he was a little embarrassed.

He couldn’t believe he was doing that.

If by any chance personality or conscience was something that he believed in, he would be in serious trouble.

But though he was thinking like that Aedis, with a looser face, sat down on the floor which was covered with a rug from under the bed.

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Like so, he stared at her at an eye-level similar to that of Maevia’s in bed.

She smelled sweet.

Like a dessert placed in a sunny place.

Though it was insignificant, it was still an intangible energy that could only fascinate beings that weren’t human.

She had only drunk a small amount of blood from an old beast that she had contracted twice.

However, it was not something to be overlooked if it could even influence Pymon, who was extremely disgusted with humans.

And there was also the fact that she realized Regen’s condition.

How the hell would she have contracted a beast.

Aedis opened his eyes and spared no magical support for the horse sent to the quarry.

It would be much faster if he went there directly but if he did, it would no longer be a habitat for beasts.

The farther it was from its master, the more power it used as fuel.

The reason that wizards usually kept their horses as close as possible was that their magical power would be quickly depleted even if their distance had only widened a little.

Moreover, the warrior horse running to the quarry day and night was a tiger-shaped beast optimized for battle.

Even at this moment, Aedis’s body was rapidly being drained of his magic.

He was not being robbed, he was giving it away.

Even though his private servant complained that he was going to vomit because he consumed too much of his magic, he was consistently hitting the limit.

Anyway, his magic was bottomless but he was anxious about Maevia.

He should arrive at the destination quickly and accurately.

Looking at her, he felt like it was not enough.

She was the first person who wanted him to be non-human.

The only person who’s not afraid of him and the only person who smiles when he laughs.

Sometimes she would make a heart shape with both of her hands and then give him a wink to make him embarrassed, but he didn’t mind it at all.

It was the first time he had spoken to someone like this since ‘that day’.

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When he looked in her eyes it seemed like, for a moment, he had gone back in time.

To when he was still human.

When he had parents and brothers.

Back to the days before he was ruined.

Aedis didn’t want to disappoint Maevia.

He wanted to repay her for pulling him, who had given up and thought that nothing would change after such a long time, up out of the feeling of being submerged in water.

But no matter how hard he tried, he could not remain a good husband until the end.

After knowing who he really is, she will surely leave.

And even if Maevia doesn’t leave, she wouldn’t believe it.

-I do not plan to marry on the premise of divorce.

They shouldn’t have made such a condition.

He knew that he was making irresponsible remarks when he didn’t even intend to reveal all of his secrets.

However, Maevia agreed with his proposal.

Even though she was half asleep.

Without knowing anything.

“…You shouldn’t have trusted me so easily.”

What if you chose the worst person?

-Because my husband is a good person.

Aedis dwelled on what Maevia had said like a habit.

He was pretending to be a good person, hiding and burying the reality again and again, just so he could be with her.

As a ‘person’.

“Eve, please continue not knowing me for a little while longer.”

I hope you don’t find out about me yet.

At least until I can pay off this favor.