✎ to you, who swallowed a star 「 ed•v 」

18 |

𝖔 𝖉𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖊𝖒𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖚𝖒, 𝖉𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖊𝖘 𝖆𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖊𝖒 𝖎𝖓 𝖉𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖊𝖒 𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖙.

ー・ー

Khun Eduan gasped, jerking awake and coughing dryly, as if every inch of his life that the Illuminium had stolen away had suddenly surged back to his dormant body like being crushed by mithril. His vision spun violently, heart pounding vigorously that he swore his ears would explode, but the ache possessing his paralyzed muscles were proof that that single call had brought his wandering soul from the Hidden Floor back to consciousness.

Yet, the sensation of the thick, viscuous, crimson, and the crispness of bitterly cold flesh coating his arms down through his fingertips almost sent him to a downward spiral if not for the burst of morning light from the bay window.

「 ... whom you’ve loved the most, shall be the one to end you. 」

Eduan’s sarcastic laughter roared around the walls of his personal quarters, tears staining his pale skin as he processed the irony that he was confined in the 111th Floor, which held the most endearing memories of V.

Soon, the emotion turned into apathy as the weapon caught his eye. Somehow, it was a pity that such a powerful dagger, rumored to even threaten a god, was no match for the conditions of his immortality contract. He might have preferred being astray— scouring through multiple possibilities where everything wasn't so complicated, permanently emancipated from the reality that a world where that happens will never exist anymore. What’s hilarious is that he actually wouldn’t mind being killed according to the prophecy, but here he was, perfectly unscathed.

The Khun Family Head averted his attention to his spare pocket, which had been receiving distress calls nonstop. Mentally, he might need to brace himself because he could only recall a handful of people whom he had given permission to contact him through the device.

“Are you hurt?”

‘Surely, things couldn’t get any worse than this, right?’

「 My Lord...? 」a hoarse voice, probably from excessive crying and sleep deprivation, which he had never heard from for a long while now, responded.

“Where are you?”

Bam chuckled, probably in both disbelief and relief, that the jeonsulsa, without any hesitation, was taking him seriously. 「 Won’t you even question me? Scold me for my incompetence? Berate me for failing to protect your son? 」

“Why would it matter whether I do that or not?” The older rang the service bell as he stripped the loose gown, the tone of his voice daring the child to refute which made the latter exhale exasperatedly. 

「 You never change, my Lord. You still overestimate me. 」

“Whether your life is threatened or not, whether you seek to pardon someone or desire their execution, my name is at your disposal.” That was the bargain Agnis' son asked for. Though, more than anything, he may have been trying to make amends for what he failed to do for V. After all those years he spent raising these saplings, he knew that there would only be one thing that would push them to the brink, lower their pride, and ask for someone else’s help— more so, a Great Family Head’s. “After all, are you not the Khun Eduan’s most cherished children?”

Khun Aguero Agnis was harmed.

「 In the 77th Floor, we met a FUG Executive who claimed that one of us had been cursed by the Guardian of the 134th Floor. 」The brunet’s voice cracked ever so slightly, but continued the explanation. 「 I know, it sounds impossible. But after the test, he caught someone who was out to kill either of us then themselves through a specialized bomb, which resulted to Aguero’s newly awakened powers running haywire. 」