Chapter 29

The corpse thieves exchanged glances once again, but this time, with an entirely different meaning.

“She thinks we’re her parents?”

“Huh, maybe…”

Maybe they had stolen something worth far more than ten thousand gold.

Both of them grinned simultaneously, as if on cue.

Kanna averted her gaze from their ignorant, childlike faces.

‘This place’ was the darkness of Kanis Riventi, devoured by monsters three hundred years ago.

***

Renoah was undergoing an unwanted silence training.

The more time passed, the more questions he wanted to ask, but it became increasingly difficult to bring himself to ask them.

Kanis and Renoah now stood in a dark alleyway.

“Damn it! We’ve been caught!”

A pair of thieves who had escaped through the back door rushed into the alley, waving their hands.

“Hey! Hey! Stop them, quick!”

Kanis, who had been crouching in the corner of the alley, suddenly stood up.

“Mom—.”

“Stop those things, now!”

“Hey! Help me carry this—ugh!”

The man, unable to give up the heavy valuables, stumbled and fell spectacularly while dragging them along.

The woman, seeing the burly thugs wielding clubs and torches chasing after them, cursed under her breath and bolted toward the carriage she had parked.

“That’s it, really!”

Before the man could even pick himself up, the thugs grabbed him by the collar.

“How dare you covet our supplies? Are you out of your mind? Just the two of you—.”

The man let out a scream as he was punched squarely in the face and rolled on the ground.

Blood trickled down from his grasped nose.

One of the thugs grabbed the man’s collar again and pulled him up.

“You should’ve been prepared for this outcome, shouldn’t you?”

“Don’t, don’t hit me—.”

Almost simultaneously with the man’s pitiful flailing, a deafening roar shook the ground.

The thug holding the man’s collar was flung at terrifying speed, crashing into a wall.

As the man, freed from the grip, coughed and raised his head, he saw Kanis standing in the middle of the alley.

Her eyes glowed an eerie blue, like ghostly flames, sending chills down his spine.

The thug embedded in the wall coughed up blood and then stopped moving entirely.

It was an absurdly overwhelming display of strength.

And only ‘parents’ like them could control such power.

The man smirked triumphantly and wiped the blood from under his nose.

Clutching the valuables to his chest, he staggered to his feet.

The thugs dared not approach him.

Kanis soon collapsed to the ground, coughing.

Her body trembled as if she could barely breathe.

“Ah, ah… Dad…”

The man, grinning ear to ear, grabbed the child’s arm and started running.

“Dad, that person… isn’t moving…”

“So what?”

The man shoved the valuables into the carriage.

Spotting the woman, who was clicking her tongue and tugging the reins, the man shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Running off without me, huh?”

“Dad… I… that person…”

The man’s face twisted with irritation.

“Then go!”

He shoved Kanis’s chest and leaped onto the carriage.

“Daaaaad…”

“If you’re so worried, go to that bastard. Go, I said, go!”

The man yelled at the woman.

“Let’s go!”

“Dad, Dad… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Kanis, panicking, stomped her feet and reached out toward the carriage out of her reach.

“I won’t do it again! I won’t do it again…”

“If you understand, fix that nasty attitude of yours that ruins everyone’s mood. Got it?”

The man extended his arm, grabbed Kanis by the scruff of her neck, and hoisted her onto the carriage.

Kanis sat trembling in the cargo hold of the moving carriage, still shaken.

Just before the carriage turned the corner of the alley, she looked back.

She saw people surrounding and helping the thug, whose condition—whether dead or alive—was unclear.

And a few of them were looking in her direction.

For a brief moment, Kanis made eye contact with them in the torchlight.

Fearful faces, eyes filled with terror.

Using this strange power always left her in pain.

Kanis curled up in the corner of the carriage and closed her eyes.

Eventually, Renoah couldn’t hold back and blurted out.

“What happens to those bastards later? Can’t you at least answer that?”

Kanna remained silent.

“This can’t all be real. After all, it’s just an illusion, isn’t it?”

“…”

Renoah knew. If all of this were merely an illusion, Kanna wouldn’t be silent.

Kanna also knew. Even if she tried to sugarcoat it, it was impossible to completely deceive Renoah.

Most of all, she couldn’t bring herself to say that none of this had ever happened.

Not even as a lie.

The scenery changed again.

“It’s snowing.”

Renoah approached the window.

This time, they were inside a shabby house with peeling walls.

The door burst open, and a man and woman, red from the cold, stumbled inside, laughing uproariously.

“What a haul! How did you know there was a weapons crate underneath? You clever thing!”

The man playfully grabbed the woman’s nose and shook it.

“And the food! We could eat all winter and still not run out!”

“Let’s sell what we can and get out of here. Escape this wretched old house! Who knows if we were followed?”

“What are you worried about? We have ‘that.’”

Both of them burst into laughter, unable to contain their excitement.

“Good thing we gave up on the ten thousand gold back then!”

“Good thing you listened to me, huh? Right?”

“Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter! She’s just a kid, doesn’t eat much, doesn’t take up much space, isn’t she great?”

The man lifted the woman by her waist and spun her around, making her laugh loudly.

“Shouldn’t we have a drink on a day like this?”

“Sounds good.”

The man took a swig of the liquor and gestured toward Kanis with his chin.

“You, come here.”

Kanis limped toward the man.

“What kind of girl has no charm?”

As he spoke, the man reached out his hand, causing Kanis to instinctively flinch.

Though his brows furrowed briefly at her reaction, the man unexpectedly ruffled Kanis’s hair and gave a faint smile.

Kanis blinked in surprise, her face bewildered.

“If you behave, the three of us can be so happy together.”

“……”

“Next time, do it stronger! Scare them completely out of their wits. If you hesitate, we’ll never escape this wretched life. You don’t want to starve to death, do you?”

“……”

“You think your dad’s a bad guy too, don’t you?”

“……”

“Want me to tell you who the real bad guys are? It’s those trash who don’t share with others. The ones who eat their fill and sleep in warm beds—those hypocrites are the real villains. Don’t you agree?”

When Kanis didn’t respond, the man’s eyes narrowed.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“…Yes.”

Only then did the man smile in satisfaction and clink glasses with the woman who had approached.

Renoah, watching from behind, muttered under his breath.

“When will that bastard finally die—.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, before he could finish his sentence, the scenery shifted again.

However, it was still the same house. It was night, but the snow outside had stopped falling.

The house looked even more worn down, and the man and woman’s faces bore the marks of time.

The two seemed to have just entered the house, and as soon as they dropped their luggage on the floor, they began yelling at each other as if on cue.

“Damn it! What a rotten day!”

“A wanted notice? Are you kidding me?”

“And the charges include assault, threats, and attempted murder? All we did was steal! It was all her doing anyway!”

The woman pointed her finger toward the doorway, where Kanis stood clutching her left arm, panting heavily.

Blood, whose origin was unknown, was smeared all over her, and her forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

It was clear at a glance that she wasn’t in good shape.

The man, seemingly indifferent to Kanis’s state, shouted angrily.

“Shut up! Why are you taking it out on me?”

“I told you not to touch the royal supplies! I said it back then, but you didn’t listen!”

“When did you ever say that? I don’t remember! And there was no problem when we stole them! No witnesses either!”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

Kanis adjusted her now-numb arm and swallowed dryly.

She had tried so hard not to lose consciousness on the way here that her vision was blurry from the constant pain.

Ironically, what had kept her awake was the deafening sound of the couple’s argument.

“You sold the goods to an unverified black market dealer, and they tracked us down! And now you’re trying to blame me—.”

“Do you think raising a kid is easy? Feeding her! Clothing her! Putting her to bed! You don’t even lift a finger when you come home!”

“What? Why are you bringing that up now? And when did we ever raise her? She grew up on her own!”

“Yeah, what would you know? All you’re good for is being lazy and wasting food, you useless idiot!”

“…Hey, are you done talking?”