The Abandoned and Terminally Ill Lady Married a Monster - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Even after the pain subsided, Daykin felt dazed, like he’d been abruptly dropped from a strange world into a place devoid of all sound. His forehead and hands were damp with sweat.
He stared at his hands, his eyes unfocused. Having endured such intense pain, he thought he’d have some peace for a while. He exhaled slowly.
* * *
But his expectations were shattered. The next day, the agonizing pain returned, threatening to blind him.
And the day after that. And the day after that.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, everyone was preoccupied with the Duke’s condition, paying little attention to Daykin. The servants who attended him were always watchful, but this time, it was useless. He’d insisted on being alone.
“I want to be alone.”
“Young master, that’s dangerous.”
The servants tried to dissuade him, but they couldn’t completely ignore his wishes. He was about to lose his father; they couldn’t deny him his solitude.
The seizures, the pain, always came when he was alone. His solitary suffering went unnoticed.
‘Am I going to die?’
He’d inherited even more power than his father. Still young, his body was too small and fragile to contain it, which explained the early onset of these seizures.
‘I might die.’
He felt sorry for his mother, who was about to lose both her husband and son. But there was nothing he could do. His head began to throb again, and blood trickled from his nose.
‘I don’t want to die.’
Drops of blood splattered on the floor, forming a small, macabre pattern.
‘I don’t want to die.’
Like someone on the verge of a surge, the light faded from his eyes, his face paling. Even as his mind clouded, one thought remained clear: he couldn’t surge here.
‘I have to get out of here.’
He didn’t know what would happen if he surged here. At the very least, this room would be destroyed. At worst, the entire vicinity could be obliterated.
The Lizziana estate was quite far from the capital, where the Blashur mansion stood. They had rushed here because his father’s already precarious condition had deteriorated sharply. His father’s illness was a closely guarded secret, part of his quiet, secluded convalescence.
If the Duke’s collapse became public, the entire family would be shaken. And it would be even worse if his own surge revealed his father’s condition. Worst of all, his father and mother might die because of him.
In a daze, Daykin bolted from the house. He had to get out.
Security was tight at the estate due to the Duke’s collapse, but it was easier than expected for Daykin to slip away unnoticed. He’d often snuck out of the mansion to avoid lessons, becoming familiar with the building’s layout and the gaps in the knights’ patrol routes. While the estate’s structure was different here in Lizziana, the knights were the same, and Daykin instinctively knew how to escape.
Of course, it helped that the knights occasionally turned a blind eye to the young boy’s escapades. The young master insisted on sneaking out, and Minerva, the Duchess and Daykin’s mother, had instructed them to let him be, at least occasionally.
A completely caged colt would only resort to more desperate measures, she’d reasoned. It might be better to let him run free, within sight.
Thanks to this, Daykin was able to escape the estate without any trouble.
* * *
My memory flickered in and out as I ran. I only remembered repeating, ‘I have to get as far away from home as possible.’
Lost and disoriented, a comforting warmth suddenly enveloped me, an irresistible lure. Driven by an unseen force, I ran towards its source. And that’s how I found this place.
I remembered struggling to squeeze through a narrow passage, my body caked in dirt, unsure if I’d dug the burrow myself or if some primal instinct, born of desperation, had led me to this hidden entrance.
Then I saw her, a girl surrounded by white. Her ivory dress only intensified the effect, the only color her wide, violet eyes.
‘A fairy…?’
At first, I thought she was a wood nymph, straight out of a fairytale. Her delicate features and clear, blinking eyes perfectly matched every description I’d ever read.
But no matter how I looked, there were no wings on her back. She looked like a fairy, but she wasn’t.
‘Such a sweet scent…’
The comforting warmth I’d felt emanated from her, a sweet fragrance that sharpened my senses and eased my throbbing head.
Usually, this calm was a precursor to another agonizing surge of pain, another seizure. But strangely, the fear didn’t come.
‘I was taught there’s no ability that can soothe the surges…’
But it wasn’t just the surges subsiding. Looking at her brought a profound sense of peace. The chaos within me, the turmoil caused by my powers, began to settle. Examining myself, I felt a jolt of shock.
‘This isn’t suppressing the surge…’
The energy flowing from her was reorganizing the power raging inside me, reshaping it, harmonizing it with my body.
