C31
It's probably impossible with my own strength.
At that moment, it seemed like he took a step in the air all at once, and soon he was up in the carriage.
"Why is he coming too?!"
"Oh..."
"I'm my master's dog, so I can come too," Lucilion said with a somewhat excited voice. No, that's not it.
"Doesn't my BamBam have a dog?"
"Master, you're raising me, right?"
The two of them sat facing each other and began to growl. Two children grabbed my hands and pulled me.
"BamBam, sit here!"
"Master, you should sit here."
His blue eyes gently closed.
Every time that happened, his amethyst-colored eyes burned fiercely.
After thinking for a while, I sat on the floor.
"I want to sit here."
At that moment, Lucilion picked me up and sat me in the chair he was sitting in.
Then he slowly sat down at my feet and looked up at me with a smile like a really obedient puppy.
"I'll sit here."
I don't know what he's up to.
Originally, he wasn't so naive.
The temple was as chaotic as the imperial palace. The illusion that they would be as pure as they adored the color white was widespread, but in reality, it wasn't like that.
They were a group bound together by discrimination that exalted only humans.
They used the Suin as slaves under the pretext of taking care of them, and they trained children born with divine power to turn them into temple puppets.
Even within the temple, conflicts and struggles for survival were endless.
And Lucilion was a person who proudly took the position of high priest in the disorderly temple.
Therefore, he must have a darker interior than most snakes.
"Of course, he's still a child."
Lucilion, who entered the temple as a young priest candidate in "Adopted," played the role of a faithful priest as he was told.
After 10 years of education, the temple superiors were relieved and handed the position of high priest to Lucilion on the day when bloody winds blew through the temple.
All the rotten higher-ups were cut off, and purges began.
At that time, half of the people who were busy in the temple died or were expelled.
So, in the novel, he used to be called that.
"A demon of pure white light."
The name was given to him because there was not a single corpse left in his path.
Indeed, he was the tyrant of the temple and the devil.
Of course, this was the position within the temple, and it was a desirable change from the outside.
Immediately after Lucilion took office as high priest, embezzlement, abuse, and discrimination completely disappeared.
"Ah, I don't know."
It will come back when the time is right.
I looked out of the rattling carriage window without understanding and sighed deeply.
Richard's tense expression was different today.
"Because I wrote a letter to Albion..."
If he passes by here for a moment, he will definitely check it.
"Director, if we don't come back, come to Duke Collin's house. Richard, no... We went to look for Rich's parents."
I took a deep breath as I remembered the letter I had left behind.
Finally, the carriage arrived at Duke Collin's residence.
"This way."
As if the rumors had already spread, the servants of Duke Collin's residence stared at the three of us.
We came dressed in robes just in case, but I thought it was quite fortunate.
"Because I'll be in trouble if I stand out like this..."
It's because I'm hiding.
"...My hands are sweaty."
I looked at the hands I was holding with trembling eyes. Lucilion held my right hand, and Richard proudly held the left.
Richard's face was obviously nervous. Even if he said he doesn't need a family, it probably wasn't what he meant.
"You should help him, shouldn't you?"
I squeezed my left hand tightly and turned my head to Richard, who was tilting his head.
"Richard, take off your robe and greet him."
"..."
After a while, Richard, who hadn't raised his head, slowly took off the robe from his head.
Richard, with his head down, slowly lifted his head.
"...!"
Duke Collin's eyes widened when he saw the child.
"...Ah."
Emotions lingered in his expression, which was as cold as ice.
He seemed to recognize his son just by looking at the child's head bowed down.
"Richard."
Richard's shoulders tensed at the cold warmth of his voice.
"Richard, my son... Can you at least look at me once...?"
He walked slowly, knelt on the carpet, and extended his pale white hands towards Richard's cheeks.
"..."
"..."
Two pairs of eyes met in the air.
"Why...?"
Richard's voice, which had calmed to the point of being very heavy, came out as if his throat was torn.
Richard fidgeted with his collar as if it were a habit, as if his neck was stiff.
"Why... did you abandon me when I was a baby... and come looking for me now?"
"..."
It was a sharp comment.
Because the anger and resentment he had accumulated over the years were greater than the longing, Richard opened his eyes fiercely.
Tears welled up in his eyes, and his lips were tightly pressed as if he wouldn't let them fall somehow.
"It may sound like an excuse to you, but we never... she and I never abandoned you."
A cold-blooded human, bloodless and tearless, Duke Collin, who had the modifier that if he were stabbed, blue blood would flow, not red, carefully cupped his hands around the child's cheeks, with a distorted face.
As if he were careful even to dare to touch him.
"There hasn't been a day when I haven't missed you. She and I... we searched for you every day."
It was a cold voice, but the affection and warmth it contained were so great that I couldn't even dare to measure it.
I watched the scene in silence.
This is family.
There must be many parents and children in the world who have been forced to separate.
There are many more parents who love their children than parents who don't.
Families that have dream reunions like this must surely exist in the world.
Only I...
As always, I had a bit of bad luck.
Yes, what happened to me must have been a very small misfortune.
"Yeah, well. Maybe I'm not lucky."
Still, it's nice to see the family reunited like this.
"I love you more than anyone else in the world. You must have suffered a painful moment... It may sound like an excuse, but will you listen to me anyway?"
"..."
Richard slowly turned his head to look at me. His face was almost on the verge of tears.
He was asking if it was really okay. Duke Collin was also looking at me.
I smiled and nodded.
"Richard's dad can do whatever he wants. Shall we go?"
"No! Stay with me... Stay with me, BamBam... You said you would!"
Richard desperately held my hand, tears began to fall from his eyes.
"If you cry here, it seems like I made you cry."
When I turned my head slightly, Duke Collin's eyes opened even wider. It looked like he was about to devour me.
I quickly shook my head, took Richard's hand, and sat with Lucilion on the sofa.
Duke Collin recounted a long story very calmly.
Richard's face, which had been full of disbelief, eventually cooled and burned with vengeance.
"I will definitely catch them and tear them apart."
"...Oh? Is this okay?"
Normally, one would cry and say, "Dad! After all, you didn't abandon me!"
Isn't that the first thing someone would say?
"I took care of that already. If I had known this would happen, I would have left him."
"Did you brutally kill him?"
"Much more than you can imagine."
In an instant, the two seemed like a father and son.
...they ended up bonding in a strange way.
"But... did it work?"
Duke Collin's eyes, looking at Richard with friendly eyes, seemed dreamy.
He didn't let go of Richard, as if he didn't know what to do with the child he held in his arms.
"Your mother misses you very much too. She couldn't come here because she's ill..."
He gently rested his forehead against Richard's and said.
"Rest early tonight. It would be nice to have dinner together."
"...Yes."
Richard laughed, parting his lips.
At that moment, Duke Collin turned his gaze to me.
His cold gaze made me nervous, but without avoiding his eyes, I looked at him.
Then Duke Collin's expression became a bit strange.
