Chapter 292

Translator: yun

At first, Ahn merely thought the boy was charming for carrying what seemed to be a difficult book. Why, kids would try to copy whatever their parents were doing, didn’t they? But the more she spent time with him, she gradually realised something.

The boy in front of her eyes knew everything. He understood. He could understand that difficult book and understood the pain she was experiencing just by carefully observing her.

“Aigoo–My body aches. Your palace is too far from mine. With that distance, it would be perfect to ride a bike to travel here.”

“A bike?”

After listening to her explanation a couple of times, Dane pleasantly surprised her with a gift.

“The bike you mentioned the last time. Does it look something like this?”

“… Oh. My. Fricking God. Don’t do that. It makes me feel as if I’ve entered a dimension made up of a mismatch of pieces from two different dimensions.”

Dane never carried out a feat like that again after seeing her horrified expression as she rubbed her arms for goosebumps.

“You are insane. You are actually insane. How could you memorise all that in just a day!”

“You monster cub!”

Such a reaction to him was not unfamiliar. He realised quite early on that it would only get annoying and bothersome if he stood out too much. So, he was no stranger to rejection. But he hoped this girl wouldn’t be the same.

Dane had matured. There was no way a genius who understood others that well would not know himself as well. So, he immediately understood his feelings for her first. And those feelings only swelled in intensity when something unexpected happened to the both of them.

“Die! Just die! Woah, you’re still alive? You’re trapped here only because you’re not a templar! That’s why no one’s coming for you! A–Ack!”

His mother took a long time to return to her senses. It had been a long time since he had seen her again which was why her welcome had become more intense. His stomach and back, which were beaten twice more than usual, throbbed.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

“Why is it this bad…”

The girl stood frozen still.

“Ahn?”

“Your body… Why–no.”

It was only then did Dane realise he had forgotten to lower his sleeves. The stinging pain had distracted him during his walk here. Dane was left at a loss. He was bewildered by her reaction.

“Come here.”

When Dane did not move, Ahn approached.

“I’m about to ask you an intrusive question but you don’t need to answer me if you don’t want to.”

Dane nodded.

“Who did this to you?”

“My mother.”

He answered naively. Ahn’s gaze lowered.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“A little…? It’s fine since I’ve gotten used to it.”

Dane stared at the head that looked much smaller than his.

“You can’t get used to it, Dane.”

For some reason, at the moment, Ahn felt more like someone much older than him. And his gut feelings were never wrong.

“Ahn, you always say that I don’t seem like a child. But I think that of you. Am I mistaken to think that?”

Ahn caressed the boy’s cheek gently. She felt sorry for the beautiful boy who was being abused while unaware of it being abuse.

“No, you’re right. Though I might look like this, I’m 28 years old.”

He did not ask why. The same reason he would give if people were to ask Dane how he could manage to memorise an entire book. It was possible because he was him. So, Dane decided that he was no longer going to take her for granted as her small plump arms wrapped around him.

Ahn got inside of him. Leaving burns in her wake. At this point, it was enough for him to admit.

Dane closed his eyes.

***

Their time together did not last long. The amount of time Ahn spent with him in a day was too short for Dane. And that amount of time only shrunk. Until that one day.

“Ahn?”

Heading to the garden as per usual, Dane smiled at Ahn who looked up to smile at him. But his smile hardened almost frightfully.

“Are you Dane?”

The bright smile the girl was displaying was not Ahn’s.

She was usually quite playful but she was never the person to smile broadly. Rather, she preferred to flash small subtle smiles. The girl’s characteristic calmness was nowhere to be seen and she now looked really like a child her age.

“Who are you?”

“Wow, it’s just as Ahn told me! You can tell immediately, huh?”

When Dane did not approach, she walked towards him. To his surprise, her steps seemed as unsteady as a waddling duck. As if she really was a child.

“I am Ashley.”

She then lifted her skirt before lowering her head. The way she curled her eyes was lovely but Dane’s gaze was as chilling as ever.

“That’s strange. I heard that Dane was usually really sweet and adorable.”

“But?”

“You seem scary.”

The child reproached before weeping. But she soon rubbed the tears away from her face before raising her head.

“But it’s good enough since I’ve seen you. I like you now!”

The child then smiled brightly before covering her face. Like the one who was ‘it’ in tag. Her hands subsequently lowered slowly.

“Ah, dear god. That damn brat ran away right when she made a mess.”

The girl then swept her hair back slowly. Her half-opened eyes looked tranquil. Her purple eyes shifted towards Dane who was staring back at her blankly.

“You were surprised, weren’t you?”

She spoke with a gaze filled with mischief but for whatever reason, her smile looked bitter.

“I wanted to explain this to you but I don’t have the time. I’ll be back.”

Dane nodded slowly. She quickly turned around and soon, all he could see were her long shadows. Ahn appeared before him again a few days later.

“There is another soul residing in my body. And that soul’s name is Ashley. Since you’re so smart, you should understand. Right?”

Ahn explained. That she had suddenly found her soul housed within that body when she opened her eyes one day.

“I can remember all of the 28 years I’ve lived. So, I know that this is not my body, this is hers. Her soul had told me. That she was merely a fragment of another soul and she would move onto something else one day.”

“So, there’s no problem, right?”

Dane’s nonchalant response made Ahn laugh. He truly was a strange boy. Who else could accept what they had just been told as if it were nothing at all? Perhaps Ahn had just met someone who could understand her like no one else in the world. That was why she pitied him.

“It’s not that there’s a problem. I am planning on accepting her soul.”

“What do you mean?”

“There originally cannot be two souls residing in the same body. But when I arrived into this body, my soul was so weak, I was forced to hold onto it. Perhaps because of it, only a fragment of the previous soul remained in the body?”

“That’s just what you think happened.”

“Right. But she did tell me. If she was to move into another object, she might get gobbled up by something terrifying.”

Ahn smiled. But it was a smile of joy.

“She didn’t exactly explain what it was but she looked very afraid. She must have some bad memories of certain items. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what all of it is about.”

Ahn’s shoulders looked lonely.

“But perhaps that’s why she keeps acting naive. Because she would never get to see the world again. I just. I felt sorry for her. Because it could have been because of me.”

Dane tried to ask why that would be her fault. But what he knew proved otherwise. Just as she said, if her soul had entered an otherwise perfectly fine body, she might have consumed some of the original soul in the process. It was a valid guess. But Dane did not think that was the case.

Yet he could not bring himself to bring it up.

Ever since that moment, it was a long time before the two met again.

“You have been chosen as the Heir of Rome. Dane.”

The Wheel of Rome. When choosing the next chief, the elders would select from the strongest and wisest of their members before appointing them heir. Dane had been chosen to be heir, defeating another strong candidate, his cousin, Deros. He had never wanted this.

“What. I lost.”

As he stepped down, Deros was not as jealous of Dane as people speculated him to be.

“You’d make the best chief there is. I’ll become your loyal right-hand man.”

Dane didn’t need any of that. Everything they had asked of him was simple enough for him but he didn’t want to. He had no problem killing people, infiltrating, using his sharp memorisation skills, making drugs, raising people and scheming.

There was nothing he couldn’t do. But he just didn’t feel like it. No, he didn’t want to. After hearing of Dane’s complaints, the chief had appeased him.

“Do you not want to be chief? Then, I might be forced to get rid of your useless mother.”

He managed to satisfy everyone even when he did half-hearted work. Just when he was feeling tired of it all, one day, he met Ahn again.

“If you don’t want to, quit.”

Ahn told him calmly. Just like when they first met, her skirt seemed to have been dragged through mud as she leaned against a tree and swung her legs.

“You can just quit.”

“Can I?”

Ahn held her head with both her hands as she smiled.

“Of course you can. It’s your life.”

Dane hesitated.

“You know. Why do you understand me so well? It’s not simply because you’re smart.”

Dane slowly raised his head. As she stared at the boy, Ahn predicted that that cold gaze of his would make many cry in a few years.

“You’re very in touch with your emotions. Maybe that’s why sentimental geniuses exist. This might be a stretch but perhaps that’s why you’re also good at drawing. You know what. I’ve seen something like this before on TV, you know?”

“What’s a TV?”

“It’s just something that exists.”

Ahn smiled before remarking that children like him didn’t have to know. She then swung her legs.

“Child prodigies are too young for their own good. They can quickly understand their parents’ concerns and are forced to mature quickly. You understand financial issues and how hard life can be. You understand that you shouldn’t just cry or whine.”

Her eyes turned to Dane’s slowly.

“To learn about patience and responsibility all over again. It’s sad to see.”