Saving My Bias from Mishaps (5)
Abel suppressed his breath for a long time, even after Aisha left his room.
He knew he’d burst out in tears if he didn’t try his hardest to suppress them.
He bit his own fist to restrain himself.
His hand hurt, but he chose to suffer in silence.
“Uugh….” A small whimper that he failed to contain escaped his lips.
Tears flowed from his eyes when he closed them shut and soaked his pillow.
Even after tending to his wounds, Aisha stayed by Abel’s side and whispered to him incessantly.
Abel heard everything she said to him without missing a word.
She cried for a long time.
Only after her tears finally stopped did her voice become clear enough to be interpreted.
“You should never have to get used to being lonely all the time.
Nor should you rationalize that it’s natural for people to hate you.”
“Because the truth is, Abel, you are….”
“You are the most precious child in the world.
I would like nothing more than to see you receive all the love and happiness in the world.”
“And I know it’s not much, but… I will always love and cherish you, no matter what.
Regardless of what you do or say, or even if you come to dislike me…”
“Know that I’ll always be by your side.”
“So, it’s okay if you come to me to laugh, cry, or complain.
You deserve to be just like every other child.
I would like it if you could act a little spoiled, like a normal kid.”
“Because even that side of you would be lovely to me.”
No one had ever said such words to Abel before.
“Hmb, hng….”
Hades always told him that he didn’t need to try so hard, but he never took it to heart.
He didn’t want to bring shame to his father, and didn’t want his existence to be a burden to him.
After a while, everything became the new norm.
The gazes of hatred and contempt from those around him, the ceaseless pointing of fingers, the disregard, and the loneliness that only seemed to grow over time as he became more and more alienated from his surroundings….
It was hard, but he thought he could handle it; that he was already used to them.
But now, it seemed he was mistaken.
Because otherwise, Aisha’s warm words would not have made him cry like this, nor would he have felt the urge to get up and jump into her arms and act like a spoiled child.
-It’s been hard, and I’m lonely.
Can you give me a hug?
Because otherwise, such words wouldn’t have crossed his mind.
“Ah….” His heart began to throb, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.
He felt as though someone finally noticed the emotions he had locked up inside him and embraced them.
Carefully and tenderly.
Abel recalled Aisha’s tearful voice and the way she caressed his wound over and over again inside his head.
He kept thinking about her throughout the night until the sky outside his window began to brighten up.
He was surprised to see how bright his room was.
He had always been afraid of the night, but it felt surprisingly short that day.
* * *
Hades had set aside all other work to search through old books.
He had told Aisha not to worry, and that he would protect her no matter what, but the fact that she couldn’t hide her nexus was a big problem.
While investigating whether there had been any Crescentians in the past who, like Aisha, could not conceal their nexus, Hades also took time to learn about the history of the Heathcliff family.
The Heathcliffs had strived to maintain the pure light element within their bloodline for generations until now.
A child born from parents with different elemental properties was born with only one dominant attribute, and in order to maintain the light attribute, which was the most recessive of the six elements, the Heathcliffs only accepted people who possessed the same light element as them into their family. The source of this chapter is novelping(.)com.
What could be the reason they tried so hard to preserve the light element, despite the fact they lacked the mana to make use of it?
At first, Hades thought the reason must have been for the symbolic purpose of maintaining the family legacy, but further research proved his speculation wrong.
‘This is nothing but superstition.’
About 500 years ago, along with the establishment of the temple, a woman was titled the holy maiden for the first time in the history of the Crescenta Empire.
This woman was Heathcliffs’ great ancestor.
Back then, her powers were so great that she was exalted as a Celestial.
Not only could she freely use the power of her element, she even possessed prophetic powers and was known to predict all sorts of events.
Before she departed this world, she left one last prophecy behind.
-I will return to this world as holy maiden Heathcliff once more.
And upon my return, I shall deliver this empire from impending doom.
That was it.
‘Are they all from the stone age?
Are you saying that they’ve lived this way for generations just to uphold some prophecy from a person who died 500 years ago?’
Hades was dumbfounded.
From looking at the situation now, unless some natural disaster sunk the continent under the oceans or something, the empire would stay standing for centuries to come.
So, given all the facts, it seemed clear to anyone in the right mind that this holy maiden’s supposed return to this world wouldn’t happen any time soon.
Yet, the Heathcliffs were blindly following her prophecy despite the absurdity of it.
Not only that, but further investigation revealed another preposterous fact about Aisha.
There were rumors of her waking up just as they were closing the lid to her coffin, so she narrowly escaped being buried alive.
When he learned of this, Hades became speechless for about 10 minutes or so.
‘Do they… not have any doctors in the barony?’
How could they just bury someone without making sure that person is actually dead?
It would have been truly tragic had Aisha woken up after the lid to her coffin was closed.
Hades wondered for a moment if those at the Heathcliff barony all kept to some ancient tribal lifestyle, then remembered Aisha was perfectly normal and shook his head.
‘What an odd family.’
Despite wracking his head over this, he failed to dig up any helpful information regarding Aisha’s condition.
The sky outside his window was beginning to brighten.
As he closed his tired eyes and pressed his forehead with his palm, fatigue began to roll in.
But Hades was denied even the briefest moment of peace.
It was because of Agatha, who barged into his room at the break of dawn, as if she had been waiting for the sun to rise to see him.
She was clearly very enraged.
“Y-you…!”
With a face drained of blood and sunken eyes that revealed her lack of sleep, Agatha gnashed her teeth.
Hades was surprised to see her so agitated.
His sister was someone who cared a lot about her reputation.
As such, she very rarely displayed any emotions on the outside.
“In what kind of hell hole did you pick up such an insolent bitch?!” Agatha screamed without context, her voice full of anger.
Hades replied after a brief thought, “Surely… you are not talking about Aisha that way?”
“Ha!” The countess exclaimed in dismay when she heard him call the girl in an endearing fashion.
Because otherwise, he had absolutely no reason to behave this way toward her now or during dinner two days ago.
‘How did it come to this?’ she wondered.
Before he brought Abel into their family, Hades had never once disappointed her with matters regarding women.
She didn’t mind that he was still a bachelor even though he was well past the marriageable age.
She understood that Hades, as a man, felt compelled to meet as many women as possible while he was still young.
It wasn’t her place to dictate whom he could or couldn’t spend the night with, as long as it was a casual, one-time encounter.
She figured that eventually, she would find him a suitable bride from a respectable family to help manage the internal affairs of the Louvremont duchy.
However, five years ago, Hades suddenly brought a filthy bastard to the duchy and shamelessly gave him their name.
The child came out of nowhere, and it was unknown who his mother was.
Hades should have just given the child some gold and sent him away.
However, he instead let his sense of responsibility get the better of him.
When the existence of the illegitimate child became known to the public and Hades went as far as declaring him heir, Agatha thought she might die of shame.
She’d sacrificed so much to protect the Louvremont name, and yet….
Agatha was busy enough trying to figure out a way to expel that bastard child from Louvremont duchy.
And thanks to Hades, she now had one more problem to deal with.
She couldn’t understand why her brother made such foolish choices.
That insolent face revealed her true nature as soon as they were left alone….
Agatha screamed like a madwoman, recalling Aisha’s smug expression.
“Chase that bitch out of this place this instant!”
“Are you out of your mind?
Get out.”
“Do you have any idea what that wench dared to say to me last night?” With a face full of rage, Agatha rushed over to Hades and slammed her palms down on his desk.
“She told me she won’t tolerate a crazy old hag meddling in this family’s affairs.
She also proclaimed that I would no longer be teaching Childe Louvremont!”
“Huh?” Hades thought Agatha was being dramatic as she always was, so he was genuinely surprised by what she said.
Aisha said… what?
“And that’s not all.
She told me that I was the one who crossed the line during dinner.
She threatened me by saying that the day she becomes duchess will be my day of reckoning, that she will whip the soles of my feet until they bleed!
My word, that wench….” Agatha’s words came in an angry flood, and Hades’ eyes narrowed subsequently.
“I told you, didn’t I?
That this harlot was hiding her fangs the entire time.
How could you be so blind?”
“….”
“Have her whipped and chased out of the duchy at once.
I won’t tolerate that rude, insolent bitch’s presence within the walls of my duchy any longer.”
“Agatha.”
For some reason, Hades’ voice was low and cold enough to draw goosebumps.
Agatha froze for a moment.
The duke stared at his sister in silence.
He knew from the start that Aisha wouldn’t have picked a fight with Agatha unless there was good reason to do so, and that something must have triggered her into doing that.
And it was only after Agatha mentioned Abel’s education and the soles of her feet that Hades was convinced of the doubt that sprang to his mind.
He still clearly remembered how his sister whipped him across the soles of his feet until he couldn’t walk back when she used to be his teacher.
Hades asked, gnashing his teeth, “…Did you hit my son?”