The Severed Tether

“Kyaaaaah—!”

A piercing scream rattled Dalia’s eardrums. Normally, she would have scolded a brazen servant for making such a noise in front of their master, but Dalia herself was frozen in shock, unable to move.

‘Are you satisfied?’

Ensius, drenched in blood, looked up at the Count of Alemir with eyes that had turned stone-cold. The slight slant of his lips held a lifetime of resentment and suppressed passion.

Yet, he did not let it spill over. Ensius merely threw out that single question and watched the Count in silence as the older man stared at the severed head of the man sprawled on the floor.

‘I asked if you were satisfied.’

When the silence remained unbroken even as time passed, Ensius asked again in a low voice.

‘……Tsk. It was a failure.’

Only then did the Count click his tongue. He cast a pathetic look at the trembling servants and ordered the butler—the only one who hadn’t faltered—to clear “that thing” away.

He acted as if Ensius was invisible. As if the boy’s voice couldn’t be heard, he simply ignored the question.

The Count only lamented the fact that the result was far from what he had desired.

‘Ha—.’

Standing still, having watched every detail of that scene, a hollow laugh finally escaped Ensius’s lips. It was beyond appalling; it was absurd.

Ridiculous. Was this truly the end of the reaction from a man who had tried to push his barely-of-age son into the bedroom of a rotting, old noble?

Slowly, very slowly. Like a wave pushed by a gentle breeze. The cruelly unfolded reality washed over Ensius, finally submerging him completely.

‘Ha, haha—!’

I see. Truly, you never once thought of me as your child. That’s what it was.

In that moment, Ensius realized the lingering affection he had been holding onto was worth less than a scrap of paper. He also realized how foolish—no, how stupid—he had been to let things reach this point.

Strength surged into the hand gripping the sword, which was caked in dark red blood. Watching Ensius cover his eyes and let out a laugh that didn’t suit the situation at all, Dalia suddenly felt her breath catch. Her heart, which had been fine, didn’t just ache—it sank.

‘Ensi, us.’

‘Fine. Very well, Count Alemir.’

Dalia had spent her whole life gauging the Count’s mood, never once reaching out to Ensius. But that day, for the first time, she had forgotten the Count’s presence and tried to comfort him. However, she gasped as a hollow mutter cut through her voice.

‘Who was the opponent again…… did you say Viscount Wittgenstein?’

‘—Why do you ask that.’

It was still hours before dawn. The Count intended to leave Ensius behind and return to his room to enjoy the rest of his night’s sleep. But while the Count could ignore Ensius, he could not ignore the name that had just come out of the boy’s mouth.

Ensius felt like a hollow laugh would burst out at the sight of the Count stopping in his tracks only after that disgusting name was mentioned, but he held it back.

Instead, he turned around and flashed a bright smile at the Count, who made no effort to hide his displeasure.

‘Why do I ask? Since that is the name of the man you killed, shouldn’t you remember it, Count?’

It was a smile so pure and clear it almost looked divine, contrasting sharply with the dark red blood staining his fair, delicate cheek.

Dalia couldn’t help but have the impure thought that Ensius, filling her vision, was as beautiful as an angel incarnate.

“Dalia.”

Recalling the blood-stained past, Dalia reflexively looked up at the call filled with disapproval.

“Ah, I mean……”

Ensi looked down at Dalia, who was stammering pathetically. Despite his waiting for her, she couldn’t even finish a single sentence.

Deciding it was a waste of time, Ensi withdrew his gaze from Dalia. He had no more time to squander on her.

Dalia, who had been fidgeting with her fingers with her head bowed, snapped back to reality as she saw Ensius coldly walking away.

Watching Ensius’s back, already far away due to his long legs, she cried out.

“Wa—Ensius—! The mansion with the last traces of mother, is it no longer necessary to you?”

The day she heard the news of Viscount Wittgenstein’s death. Unable to endure any longer, Dalia had evaded the eyes of the guards to find Ensius.

And gripping the hem of Ensius’s clothes—he whose eyes were hollow—she had whispered desperately, offering the mansion he had long coveted as bait.

‘I will give you the mansion in the Yudis Peninsula that you wanted so much. So please, go to the Academy. Ensius, please……’

Even thinking back on it now, the offer she made—while barely evading the Count’s tightening surveillance that prevented her from helping Ensius as she had when he founded the merchant coalition or moved out—was wretched.

Her voice had trembled because she wasn’t sure if Ensius would accept the offer, and she was on edge, unable to hide her fear of being caught by their father.

She hadn’t even been able to logically explain why he had to go to the Academy. Claims like he would be somewhat free from their father’s pressure, or that he would be safe from threats since imperial royalty also attended the Academy.

But the moment he heard the words “Yudis Peninsula,” a light flickered in Ensius’s eyes. It was an unprecedented reaction that defied her expectations completely.

‘If I just enroll, will you hand it over?’

‘—No. When you graduate. Yes, I’ll give it to you when you bring me your diploma.’

Vitality had bloomed in the brother who had been like a doll with its strings cut. Why was it that, paradoxically, that sight made her remember the night he was stained with blood?

Dalia had looked up at Ensius, half-dazed, even as she added conditions on the fly. He had twitched an eyebrow in dissatisfaction at the change in terms. Then, he coldly pulled his clothes from Dalia’s grasp and turned around.

‘Fine. I did want that mansion.’

“Forget it. Shaking me once with that mansion was enough; I don’t know what more you expect.”

It was an answer left while showing her only his back, just like that time, but the words now held a completely different meaning from the words back then. Dalia was shocked by the fact that the mansion, which had breathed life into the doll-like child back then, no longer held any value for the current Ensius.

And with good reason; the mansion she offered was the place where the last traces of their mother remained. It was the mansion where their mother had stayed while pregnant with Ensius, and the place where she gave birth to him.

It was the mansion where the greenhouse filled only with Sun Herb was first built, and where the traces of the things she prepared for Ensius remained intact.

It was also a mansion that should have originally gone to Ensius, but through their father’s interference, it had fallen into her hands instead of his.

Dalia knew that Ensius was obsessed with the mother he didn’t even remember. The fact that he had bypassed other town house candidates to specifically acquire the mansion that Baron Ludwig refused to let go of was proof of that.

So she thought it would work this time as well. She thought that if she persuaded him well using this as leverage, they could move past the conflict with their father without issue.

Dalia realized her prediction had completely missed the mark and couldn’t hold back a gasp.

“You are, now—.”

You have completely escaped.

The shackle called ‘family’ had long been broken. But now, Ensius had even shattered the shackle called ‘mother’ that had been the last thing holding him.

Left alone in the dark, chilly hallway that wasn’t fully lit, Dalia covered her face with both hands, looking as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

She couldn’t bring herself to cheer for Ensius, who had become free in the truest sense.

“Will you be alright?”

Checking that no one was around, Emma spoke up cautiously. There was no clear subject, but Ensi, who understood what she meant without difficulty, nodded.

“I’m fine.”

“But, Young Master. Isn’t that the mansion you’ve wanted for a long time? The one that should have been yours originally.”

“Forget it. The town house is enough.”

“The town house… alone?”

The traces of mother in the town house were plenty. From the garden that resembled a forest, to the paintings mother drew in her youth, and the portraits accumulated as she grew.

If he could get the mansion on the Yudis Peninsula, it would be the icing on the cake, but now he felt he could do without it. In the first place, seeking traces that have no substance only leaves one with emptiness.

“Besides, there is something new I want to have.”

Right now, wasn’t there something by his side that he could possess entirely? Although several problems remained, Ensi was confident he could solve them all cleanly.

Even if he couldn’t find a cure for Utia disease within a year.

“Something new you want to have?”

“Mhm. It seems it will be hard to get both. If I have to give one up, it’s better to give up mother’s mansion.”

“Is that so?”

Although he was vague about exactly what he wanted, it wasn’t as if she had no clue at all. More importantly, Ensi’s voice contained a faint but clear obsession, expectation, and excitement. Hearing that voice, Emma secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“If that is the reason, then I am glad.”

She was one of the people who remembered the Ensi of the days when he wanted nothing and did nothing. Rather than seeing him dying day by day while neglecting everything again, it was better to see him obsessed with something.

Because such things are traits shown only by those who are alive and intend to keep living.