When Claude regained consciousness, the darkest hour before dawn had arrived.

Having exhausted almost all of his mana by performing the most demanding type of magic — reviving someone on the brink of death — Elio had fallen asleep with his head on the edge of the bed.

Claude gazed down at Elio and realised that this young mage had saved his life. He shut his eyes with a faint sigh.

‘Why did he save me?’

The first emotion to surface was resentment.

Sorrow followed closely behind.

Since acknowledging Diana’s death, he had been haunted by the hardships she must have suffered.

‘What thoughts kept you going? Were you terribly lonely? How many nights did you spend weeping, consumed by grief?’

Such questions looped through his mind.

Layers of healing magic clung to Claude’s body, just as they had on the day of the carriage accident more than three years ago.

The sensation was loathsome.

After sorrow came hollowness.

‘So I’m not even allowed to die?’

‘This fledgling mage had exhausted all his energy on something utterly pointless.’

The death-bound thoughts consuming Claude would not disperse so easily. If there was no reason to live, then death was the only answer.

Overwhelmed by fatigue, he closed his eyes again.

Somewhere on the border between life and death, he heard his father’s voice.

It was a memory from not so long ago, of the last day they had met.

“Claude. Why are you here?”

“……”

When he killed Heinz, Claude had barely been sane — much like now.

Only a few days had passed since he discovered the truth about his mother’s death, and each day felt like a battle to remain rational.

His murderous hatred of his father grew over the months, until he finally decided to go through with it.

Once the decision was made, everything unfolded with unsettling ease.

Although it was the first time he had planned to kill someone, the process differed little from the countless schemes he had carried out before. In fact, it was simpler; his father led an obsessively predictable life.

***

“Claude?”

This was during the duke’s return journey from the capital to his domain. Claude knew there was one place that Heinz von Cassel always insisted the coach stop at, where no servants were allowed to accompany him: the grave of his late mother, the previous Duchess of Cassel.

Heinz’s mother—Claude’s grandmother—had been nobility through and through, the kind of woman who wouldn’t hesitate to commit ruthless acts if it meant shaping her son into the perfect man. Every memory Claude had of her was steeped in bitterness.

Since her passing, Heinz would visit the vast and beautiful estate where she was laid to rest every time he returned from the capital. Claude never knew what words the duke had murmured at her grave, but he was certain of one thing—it was there that the duke had made up his mind to act.

“That is the punishment you deserve.”

It might be considered patricide, but after all that he had endured, Claude did not think it was excessive.

***

“Why do you stay silent? Is there something you wish to tell me?”

“……”

Catching sight of the longsword in his son’s hand, Heinz let out a chuckle.

“It seems you really did come here to kill me.”

Although he was joking, Claude’s expression remained unchanged, and the duke’s smile slowly turned to stone.

He was never foolish enough to miss the murderous intent aimed at him.

“You’re serious. But why?”

Claude stared back with his identical, utterly emotionless blue eyes.

He didn’t know why he was about to kill him. A hollow laugh escaped him. Hadn’t he been the only one who had struggled all this time?

‘That’s why I made up my mind to do this, there was no reason to hesitate now.’

Sensing his lethal resolve, Heinz reached for the sword at his hip. Yet both men knew — had known for years — that Claude’s blade work had long surpassed his father’s.

Claude closed the distance in a heartbeat.

Heinz managed to draw his weapon in time to parry the first blow.

Clang!

Steel rang in the still air.

“Claude, do you even understand what you’re doing?”

The duke’s voice held a hint of desperation, a quality that Claude had never heard in the man who had always inspired fear and awe. This unfamiliar tone felt almost surreal.

Claude gave no answer, offered no opening. He swung again.

Clang!

On the second clash, his father’s arm trembled and red veins spiderwebbed across his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak.

“Gah!”

In the blink of an eye, Claude’s blade drove through his father’s vitals. Although he had slain monsters countless times before, the sensation of cutting down a human was unspeakably vile.

“…! Cl—Claude!”

Heinz choked, blood bubbling on his lips.

Blood welled from his father’s mouth, spilling in an endless, dark stream. The light in his father’s eyes, now brimming with betrayal, slowly faded.

He never even managed to utter a final word.

The rest was simple.

“A monster attacked him.”

Everyone believed Claude, and the patricide became a secret he alone would carry.

***

When he returned to the manor that night, he found his wife sleeping lightly in their bed.

The moment he saw her, the feelings he had been suppressing overwhelmed him and brought him to his knees.

Only then did he truly grasp the enormity of his monstrous act.

It wasn’t exactly regret, but something colder: the realisation that, by k*lling the man he despised, he had become just as terrible.

‘A beast — that is what I am now.’

There was no going back to the days before he had turned into one.

***

She slept so peacefully.

‘Diana.’

Without making a sound, he formed her name with his lips.

I killed my father today.

No one knows. I planned it alone, down to the last detail.

I thought I would be free once he was dead; I thought it was the punishment he deserved for what he did to my mother and me.

But all I feel is guilt, Diana.

My heart feels like it’s going to burst, yet I can’t tell anyone.

‘Diana…’

The only thing that has changed is that I no longer have to pretend to love you.

That is all.

***

“Darling.”

A strange tension roused me from my light sleep. The dawn was still dim, but someone stood in the bedroom doorway.

It was Claude.

“…Darling?”

His face and clothes were a mess. In the dim light, he looked like a man who had been crying only moments earlier.

I started to turn up the lamp’s weak glow, but he lifted a hand to stop me.

‘Don’t.’

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes spoke volumes.

So I froze and simply watched him.

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I thought I could smell iron on him — raw and metallic, as though he had just come from a slaughterhouse.

I raised my arms, wanting to hold him, because his gaze seemed anything but steady.

Slowly, Claude approached.

Like a starving beast or a lost child aching for its mother’s warmth.

Despite being much larger than me, he pressed himself into my arms.

I stroked his hair with careful fingers.

The cold night air clung to his coat and brushed against my nose.

I couldn’t see his face, but he sounded as though he were quietly weeping as he nestled against me.

That night…

A night that lingers in my memory like a dream.

It was the eve of the day he suddenly became cold towards me.

***

“Ah!”

I gasped awake, my eyes flying open.

It was still early morning.

An unfamiliar ceiling.

I stared blankly upwards until I remembered: this was our new house in the Kingdom of Millain.

‘Just a dream…’

I turned away from the harsh sunlight streaming in and looked out of the window.

I must have forgotten to close the curtains before going to bed because the room was flooded with light as soon as dawn broke.

I remembered now. I’d fallen asleep from exhaustion after tidying up the house and sorting through the things I’d bought at the market the previous day.

“The sun rises early and sets late around here. So make sure to always close your curtains at night!”

My neighbour Lowell had earnestly warned me, but I was clearly too tired to remember.

I promised myself that I would shut them properly tonight.

Hoping to get a bit more sleep, I closed my eyes again.

However, the more time passed, the more alert I became. Despite my efforts, my mind grew sharper.