The Impact of the Author's Intervention on a Blank Page - Chapter 10
Though this body was garbage that seemed ready to fall apart any day, thanks to [Until the Curtain Falls], he wouldn’t die no matter what happened. However, there was a brief additional explanation that appeared when checking the characteristic’s detail page:
[┗ However, if you show a strong will to return, this characteristic will be temporarily disabled.]
If he showed a ‘strong will to return’ and died, the contract would end with the loss of its principal party. But if that happened, this world of ‘Dawn is Night’s Prayer‘ would face destruction once again.
Of course, at first, Ja-hyun didn’t know what it meant to show a ‘strong will to return.’ That’s why he had asked the administrator about it. After hearing the explanation, he had to admit it was a clear and simple method.
That method of showing will, in other words….
<The Grand Duke of Izatrix>
Alex Heinz, the butler of the Izatrix mansion, stood tensely before the office door. He needed to report to the Grand Duke that Young Master Raijin had awakened from his sickbed.
Though servants had come running with the news in a fluster, Alex Heinz hesitated, knowing His Grace disliked being disturbed while working. But then he steeled himself, remembering the Grand Duke’s specific instruction:
‘Report to me immediately when Raijin wakes up, regardless of what I’m doing.’
Knock knock. The butler rapped on the door.
“Your Grace.”
The office that opened before him was as silent as if it were empty. Inside the darkly decorated room with its heavy atmosphere were two people. The standing figure was Nadis Redwind, the steward of the Izatrix family.
Nadis Redwind, who commanded the Grand Duke’s private army and served as his advisor, stood with his hands behind his back, wearing his knight order uniform. It seemed his business wasn’t finished, though he’d reportedly been in discussion with His Grace since morning.
And behind the elegant black wooden desk sat the Grand Duke of Izatrix, master of this mansion and the duchy. Having ascended to his position at a young age ten years ago, unlike his predecessor, he was regarded as a wise ruler.
However, that was merely the assessment of commoners who didn’t know the inner workings. Among the nobility, opinions differed. After all, rumors circulated that he was behind the downfall of House Belsat, who had opposed his ascension and his predecessor’s death.
The rumors about ‘Rijin,’ the younger brother whom he had suddenly brought home from outside 10 years ago, were similar. However, the long-serving servants of this Grand Duke’s residence kept quiet about it, never speaking of it directly. They only said that Young Master Rijin was very ill and didn’t have much time left to live, so he needed to be well cared for.
As a young butler who had only worked here for three years, he had no choice but to believe those words.
Even setting aside the various rumors and truths, there couldn’t be anyone who could approach the Grand Duke casually.
As the head steward took a step back, the figure shrouded in shadows turned his eyes toward him. When the butler hesitated, Grand Duke Izatrix Ludwig, who had been watching him with dark eyes, opened his mouth.
“What is it?”
His low voice, though not unkind, was imposing and somehow gave off a chilling sensation. Through the curtains, drawn to protect the books, pale white light leaked through. The streak of snow-white light that appeared and disappeared on his sharply chiseled, cold face looked momentarily like the edge of a blade.
Coming to his senses belatedly, Butler Alex quickly spoke up.
“Young Master Rijin… has awakened.”
The moment he heard those words, Grand Duke Izatrix rose from his seat. Though Alex flinched, the Grand Duke merely gestured to the head steward and adjusted his clothes.
The gloominess briefly glimpsed in his eyes dissolved into the atmosphere as if it had been an illusion when he stepped out of the shadows and blinked.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes. Please let me know if you need anything else.”
Leaving the head steward maintaining proper etiquette in the office, Grand Duke Izatrix began walking with the butler. Their destination was the room in the center of the mansion where Rijin lay. That room, which had previously served as the mansion owner’s chamber, was now being used as the bedroom for the terminally ill patient whom the Grand Duke cherished most.
Quickly approaching the door, the butler announced their presence.
“The master has arrived.”
There was no need to wait for a response.
As the large door opened, servants bustling inside came into view. The four or so servants all looked toward the opened door at the sudden appearance of the figure.
But the Grand Duke only looked at one person lying in the large bed among them. Their eyes met. The Grand Duke gazed at Rijin, who had been lying in bed and now widened his eyes in surprise.
“…Brother?”
