[ You guided Otto in your own way and shared the knowledge treasury of the Previous Era with him.
]
[ But on the other hand, you were unwilling to interfere with Otto’s choices.
]
[ You were unwilling to place your expectations on Otto, and you were extremely clear about one thing—Otto’s future achievements would be very, very high, higher than anyone else in the world.
]
[ And you were only eighteen, not even a quasi-college student.
Relying on your age advantage to be a bit ahead of him now, in the future—no, very soon, you would be surpassed by him.
]
[ Someone like you clearly lacked the qualification to guide him.
]
[ But if you didn’t guide Otto, you worried he would turn back into The Fool you were familiar with.
]
[ Causing someone’s father to die and then saying to him, “You may have lost a father, but you still have me,” uttering such shameless nonsense.
]
[ I don’t want that kind of thing to happen!
]
[ You felt conflicted and confused about this more than once.
]
[ But isn’t life just like this?
Constantly moving forward amidst contradiction and self-denial.
]
Morning.
Having nothing to do, little Otto didn’t study those precious pieces of knowledge; instead, he put on the dust-proof mask that Lucien had conjured up for him and fiddled with a model airplane.
Lucien sat beside him, casually opened a book he found, and then stared unblinkingly at little Otto tinkering with the model airplane.
After leaving student life behind, very few people would proactively open a book just to flip through it, and Lucien was naturally no exception.
Opening the most idle book in the world—how wonderful, folks—it’s better to just look at little Otto nearby.
The watcher never tires of watching, and the watched feels a warmth blooming in his heart; the current scene truly deserves to be called a picture of absolute harmony.
After a little while, little Otto stopped what he was doing, took off his mask, and turned to look at the person beside him:
“Um, do you think there’s anyone else in the Apocalypse Family like the Fourth Brother?”
Lucien shook his head.
“There’s a probability, but it’s about the same as you turning into a little girl right now.”
Little Otto’s eyes sparkled brightly as he secretly pondered his ability to manipulate probabilities.
“To be honest, you…
that immortal old Lord Bishop could never teach such a good child.
Your Fourth Brother must have had another teacher guiding him.”
Hearing this, little Otto looked out the window, acting nonchalant.
“Then, am I considered a good child in your eyes?”
The only response he received was silence, a long silence.
In the end, little Otto finally couldn’t help turning his head to make eye contact with Lucien once more.
Yet he saw the young man simply gazing at him gently, without speaking a word.
“W-Why are you looking at me like that…?”
“If I said that good children are what I despise most in my life, would you still want to become a good child in my eyes?”
“…
Probably not…”
After receiving the expected answer, Lucien chuckled softly, a smile that inexplicably felt warm.
He gently stroked little Otto’s satin-like blonde hair and said softly:
“My view of you, and what you are in my eyes, to be honest, isn’t all that important.
The reason I stay by your side like this is simply because you are Otto, and nothing more.”
“As for good or bad, of course I hope our Otto is a good person in the traditional sense, because that way our worldviews won’t diverge too much, but at the same time, I don’t want you to be too good.”
“Why?”
“Because it is difficult to be a saint.
To survive, someday everything you believe in and hold fast to will become synonymous with your very life.
Such choices will surely be terribly hard, and I don’t want to see you put in a difficult position.”
In the morning light, the child looked deep in thought, only for his train of thought to be disrupted by the young man’s mischievous right hand.
“The worldly affairs are too far away, and the floating life is long.
Keep moving forward, and I will accompany you.”
“…
Mhm.”
The two of them were getting along quite happily here when a steady sound of footsteps suddenly rang out from outside the door.
Lucien frowned slightly.
Unsure whether it was friend or foe, he could only instruct little Otto not to get into any direct conflict later, and then immediately concealed his form.
The next second, a figure burst through the door.
The newcomer looked somewhat similar in face to little Otto, but was much older, striding with an overbearing and arrogant demeanor that was truly unlikable.
“I was wondering why my good Fourth Brother hasn’t made any progress lately; turns out he’s been hanging out with a little piece of trash like you.”
Little Otto was already accustomed to such sarcastic remarks, but it directly heated Lucien—who usually always wore a smiling expression—up in anger.
What an absolute piece of trash, why is his damn mouth so vile?
Little Otto never once looked at that person, keeping his gaze fixed entirely on Lucien, wanting to store his current appearance deep in his heart.
“Hey, you little cripple!”
Seeing that little Otto was ignoring him, the man actually raised his palm high, about to strike down.
Remembering Lucien’s instruction from earlier, little Otto managed to keep a straight face as he closed his emerald eyes, preparing to take the blow head-on.
“Slap—”
The sound of a slap never rang out; instead, only the crisp sound unique to a finger snap echoed in the air.
Little Otto opened his eyes and saw that his eldest brother still had his hand raised high, but completely lost his spirit—his eyes were devoid of light and his complexion was pale.
Only then did he lose his composure, muttering, “What is this?”
“Just a little trick, no need to be surprised.” Saying this, Lucien showed the brilliant golden feather in his hand to little Otto, then clenched it tightly in his palm.
The ability of Void Archives is truly magical…
Never mind, he’s not in the mood right now.
“I have to go out for a bit and won’t be back tonight.
Be a good boy by yourself, and go to sleep early.”
With that said, the young man compelled the blank-faced youth to leave the house.
[Honestly speaking, unlike those previous petty squabbles, this is the first time you’ve used the ability of Void Archives.]
[A mimetic Divine Key is usually not that strong, but it’s more than enough to control a thing like this.]
[It all started when you saw Otto’s eldest brother raise his hand to hit Otto; already feeling displeased, you were instantly filled with boundless rage.]
[Why should a child you can’t even bring yourself to scold be subjected to such humiliation by some bad-luck jinx?]
[Besides, Otto doesn’t have any familial affection with the people of the Apocalypse Family anyway—well, except for his Fourth Brother, of course.]
[Holding this thought, you made some arrangements.]
[That night, little Otto, who went to sleep early as you told him, was abruptly awakened by hurried footsteps and sharp screams.]
[He listened quietly to the commotion outside the window, only feeling his disobedient little heart beating faster and harder.]
[He clutched his chest, suddenly feeling stifled, unable to figure out what kind of feeling this actually was.]
[Only later did the young Lord Bishop realize that this feeling was called panic.]
[…]
[Years later, that lifelong righteous Immaculate Bishop would meticulously recount his life, finding only a sparse few instances of panic—half of which arose because of you, and the other half also arising because of you.]
The next day.
Having accomplished a major deed, Lucien tiptoed back into little Otto’s room, only to see the child in pajamas with dark circles under his eyes, hugging a quilt and looking at him silently.
Thud, thud, boom—
Feeling a slight sense of oddity in his heart, Lucien walked over to sit beside little Otto, wiped away his dark circles, and said helplessly:
“Didn’t I tell you to sleep early?”
“I went to sleep early, but got woken up in the middle of the night.
Thinking about your affairs, I couldn’t fall back asleep.”