Chapter 642. What the Darkness Desires (3) #PART 1
Leasehearts.
‘What in the world…?’
The former head of the Claudi family relentlessly turned over the situation in his mind, struggling to comprehend what was unfolding before him.
He couldn’t even move a single finger as he wished.
『Word of Command』
The authority still held sway over Claudi’s old territory.
The fallen dragon and human were bleeding out, teetering on the brink of death.
The sight alone was enough to send a chilling terror through him.
‘I am being suppressed… in my own territory?’
The Claudi Territory of the Arcana Continent.
Its master was none other than the current head—Grandfell.
Within the Claudi territory, his command was absolute.
Even if this humiliation had befallen him, he would not have been surprised.
But this place, where he now stood,
was the old Claudi Castle.
Its rightful master was Leasehearts.
Even Grandfell shouldn’t have been able to strip him of his authority over the castle.
“What kind of treachery is this, Grandfell?! Have you turned against your own father?”
There was only one conclusion Leasehearts could draw.
‘Danger.’
The memories he had glimpsed from the old knight’s mind confirmed it.
‘Grandfell is no longer the Grandfell I once knew.’
That day—
Leasehearts had closed his eyes at Pride’s hands.
The memories he had gleaned from the knight weren’t nearly enough to fill in the blanks of what had happened since.
‘He should be torn apart limb from limb.’
It was all because of that wretched Pride.
Seething with rage, Leasehearts roared.
“What changed you so, Grandfell?!”
…Clench.
Had his genuine outcry awakened something in this body?
Even if just barely,
he could feel his fingers twitch.
And then—
“Do you intend to ignore your father to the very end?”
His cold gaze turned to Skal and Frostnax, who lay within the dragon graveyard. Grandfell, even if you were possessed by ‘something’ and were walking down the wrong path.
‘You are still my son, the rightful head of Claudi.’
Leasehearts steeled his resolve.
‘I will correct you—whether you wish it or not.’
If necessary, I will be the one to punish in your stead.
Those who have weakened you—
That dragon and that human.
‘Just as I once did to your mother and siblings.’
Without hesitation, Leasehearts acted.
He had tried many times before to correct Grandfell.
Even if his son had forgotten,
he still remembered clearly.
-“…I was wrong, Father.”
Even through Claudi’s brutal training, he had never once shown emotion.
But Leasehearts still vividly remembered the day Grandfell shed tears—
for the suffering of his mother and siblings.
“I had thought I had completely eradicated that weakness… but it seems I was mistaken.”
Screech.
The moment Leasehearts raised the Demonic Sword to strike Skal and Frostnax down—
“Kh…?!”
A groan escaped his lips.
A searing pain constricted his entire body.
He couldn’t even perform the simple task of taking a dying enemy’s life.
Leasehearts stared down at the Demonic Sword.
‘The control… hadn’t returned to him entirely?’
He had believed himself free of Grandfell’s grasp.
It only made sense.
The one currently suppressing him wasn’t the real Grandfell—
‘It’s merely the will engraved upon this Demonic Sword…’
The voice that had spoken to him hadn’t been Grandfell himself,
but the remnants of his will, left imprinted upon the sword.
That was why he hadn’t heard Grandfell’s voice again.
Now, Leasehearts finally realized the truth.
-The only thing I’ve permitted you… is your resurrection.
Grandfell had already told him.
-Your resurrection was under my arrangement.
“!”
In that instant, Leasehearts was once again engulfed in the very helplessness he had tried to suppress.
Once the esteemed head of the mighty Claudi family—
Even so, he possessed insight far beyond ordinary men.
And that insight now led him to a realization.
‘He predicted not just my thoughts… but even my very actions?’
There was something undeniably different about Grandfell.
The Arcana Continent itself had undergone a drastic shift—
yet even that paled in comparison to the change in Grandfell.
Squeeze.
Unconsciously, Leasehearts loosened his grip on the Demonic Sword.
It was the weight of knowing—
‘Every move I make… has already been accounted for.’
His expression twisted ever so slightly.
“…So that’s how it is.”
His voice trembled as he muttered to himself.
A storm of emotions surged within him.
“Grandfell… The reason I couldn’t understand you…
was because you’ve ascended to a level even I can’t fathom.
I see now… No, rather—”
Yes.
This was proof.
That the choice he had made—
to select Grandfell as the head of Claudi and as the vessel of Pride—
hadn’t been mistaken.
Slowly, Leasehearts lowered his head.
“To the great head of Claudi…!
Even if I may never fully grasp your will,
I, who am lacking, shall follow your will without hesitation.”
And with that, he knelt before the radiant Evil Eye
that had risen into the sky.
*
tl/n: I’m sick, I’ll continue this after I feel better
Grandfell father 리스하츠(liseuhacheu) = Lease Hearts
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