# Chapter 108
As if given permission to finally open his eyes, the dense darkness surrounding him gradually began to thin. Just as he thought the color had completely changed to a bright white, his heavy eyelids gradually became lighter.
What entered Levi’s sight was the bright sunlight pouring in through the window. A very pretty and radiant light that resembled someone he remembered.
As Levi tried to rise from the bed, he belatedly realized that his right hand felt heavy. Blinking his eyes slowly like someone not fully awake, he lowered his gaze, and another light dominated his vision.
Ion was sitting in a chair beside the bed, holding Levi’s right hand, his face resting on his arms as he lay prone.
Ion’s golden hair, as he slept deeply, seemed to shatter beautifully where it met the sunlight streaming through the window. His thin eyelashes, lightly closed, sparkled continuously as if dusted with particles of light.
‘I want to see more.’
He wanted to see closer, in more detail, for a longer time.
Levi shifted to see Ion’s face up close. The moment he moved, Ion, who had been sleeping as if unconscious, opened his eyes with a start.
“Levi!”
Ion called Levi’s name and quickly sat up from his prone position.
“Are you alright?”
Even while asking about his well-being, Ion did not let go of Levi’s right hand. Instead, he held it firmly without hesitation.
Levi belatedly realized that nothing was covering his right hand.
‘The ring…’
The white ring that had sealed his ability was nowhere to be found. Only his black hand, filled with the power of death, was completely exposed.
He was reminded anew that Ion was the only human in this world who could touch and hold this black hand without any issue.
From his recovered memory, he recalled the newborn baby who had grasped his black hand while smiling brightly. It was truly amazing and somehow emotionally overwhelming that this tiny baby had now grown larger than himself and was looking him in the eyes like this.
Come to think of it, from the moment he first saw Ion as a baby, he couldn’t take his eyes off him.
His gaze, which had always turned to Claudia as if she were his only support, now remained fixed on the baby, with all his senses and nerves concentrated solely on him.
But when Ion was a little over a year old, Claudia began raising him in a small house in a civilian neighborhood.
Levi, no longer able to see Ion, asked if they couldn’t continue raising him in the mansion as they had been doing. It felt like his connection to Ion had been suddenly severed, causing him to behave anxiously and say things uncharacteristic of his usual self.
But Claudia said that since the imperial palace was still keeping an eye on the Wesslon marquis family, the situation could become more difficult as Ion grew older.
A baby with golden eyes and golden hair, and the Wesslon marquis family, close associates of the deposed princess Claudia.
With just those two elements, the emperor of that time could create all sorts of stories, so it was best to be careful as Claudia suggested. Until then, her name was still followed by the dishonorable title of “traitorous princess pretending to be a prisoner in an enemy country.”
Furthermore, the Emperor of the Delos Empire must never discover Ion’s birth. Since the emperor also knew the power and inheritance method of the Hand of Life, if Ion’s identity were revealed, he would immediately capture him and exploit him through various means. That was something Levi did not want either.
If Ion were discovered and his identity revealed, Claudia would no longer be able to hide in the mansion. Since she was still unable to leave the Caron Empire at that time, if they discovered she had easily crossed the border and returned to her home country, they would obviously conduct various investigations.
Regardless of her previous status, a cold and selfish emperor would question Claudia using various cruel methods. In that process, he would discover that her ability had disappeared, and ultimately Ion would be in danger.
For one reason or another, Claudia had no choice but to separate Ion from the Wesslon marquis family.
‘And yet… they ended up connected again.’
A few nights ago, after visiting the Black Forest.
He remembered Hest and Ion, both grown up, conversing amicably in the reception room. There was a strong yet comfortable current flowing between them, and an equivalent level of trust underneath.
It felt like they were brothers who had grown up together in the Wesslon marquis’s mansion.
‘Brothers…’
Levi unconsciously recalled Raziel’s face.
Now he knew exactly who he was.
It made sense why Raziel had called him “brother.” He also clearly understood why he had felt an irresistible sense of kinship with him and thought that he should protect him.
An imperfect black fragment that had broken off from his core and was able to move as a separate personality.
That was Raziel’s true identity.
As he darkened his expression while thinking of him, Ion’s face, which had drawn closer during that moment, was filled with concern.
“If something doesn’t feel right, please tell me. How are you feeling? Are you… really alright?”
Ion’s golden eyes gradually cleared the darkness in Levi’s mind.
That lovable tiny child had now grown enough to embrace and cover him completely. The adorable face that could only smile brightly before was now capable of making various expressions, and the way he looked at him had also changed considerably.
Levi carefully cupped Ion’s cheek with one hand. As he distinctly felt the soft skin and body heat through his hand, a part of his chest tingled as if trembling.
“You were in my recovered memory.”
Ion’s eyes widened at once. He gripped Levi’s black hand firmly and asked urgently.
“Do you mean the time we spent together in the Black Forest? Do you remember everything?”
Unfortunately, Levi shook his head. In the memory he had just recovered, his time with Ion was only briefly when he was a newborn baby.
“It was when you were just born. Just briefly, when you were a newborn.”
“Ah…”
A disappointed tone flowed from Ion’s lips, having failed to fulfill his expectation. But as if it had never happened, he smiled kindly.
“The recovered memory, can you share it with me?”
“Yes. I’ll tell you everything.”
Levi thought that Ion should also know about the memories he had recovered. He had the right to know everything about what his mother had gone through, what choices she had made, and how he was born. Additionally, he should know who Raziel, the person he was trying to fight, truly was.
As he thought about telling Ion about his memories, Levi felt a strange emotion, as if his chest was continually tightening. Thanks to the memories he had just recovered, Levi, now able to define a variety of emotions, could recognize that it was anxiety.
“I want to find more memories.”
The voice of a young boy that remained faintly in memories that should have completely disappeared, and what he had said.
He hoped to be able to recall all of it completely. As soon as possible.
Whether or not he knew Levi’s thoughts, Ion gently rubbed his cheek against Levi’s hand that was caressing him and smiled faintly.
“I’ll find them all for you. The memories you want to recover, I’ll find them all without leaving a single one behind.”
Ion briefly kissed Levi’s lips as he lay there.
“So just stay by my side.”
“…Yes.”
Having readily agreed, Levi kissed Ion’s lips, which had moved away from his own to speak.
Ion, who had somehow climbed onto the bed and trapped Levi within his arms, looked down lovingly at him, confined within his frame.
Ion didn’t try to hide even a speck of the affection in his eyes. Though he didn’t know what memories Levi had recovered, he couldn’t help but notice that there were clearly emotions similar to his own in Levi’s eyes. So the affection, too intense to be filtered, kept pouring out, making it difficult to control.
Ion’s face descended and engulfed Levi’s lips. Soft, warm lips rubbed against each other, and Ion’s tongue, which had naturally crossed between them, tried to indulge in Levi’s mouth.
“Wait a moment…”
“Why?”
Ion’s face instantly became anxious at Levi’s restraint.
Was he too hasty? Did Levi dislike kisses? Or was there something wrong with him? Various thoughts immediately jumbled Ion’s mind.
Fortunately, Levi’s reason for restraining him was different.
“What about Chepel?”
“Ah.”
Ion, quickly relieved, told him that Chepel had tried to kidnap Levi, escaping his control, and for that reason, he had dealt with him.
In Chepel, who had handed over the black fragment, Ion’s power had not only disappeared without a trace, but he also carried an energy that felt as if a part of himself had been embedded in him. Recalling that energy, unstable like a flickering flame burning vigorously yet wavering wildly, Levi predicted that even if Ion hadn’t intervened, Chepel would have met complete death soon anyway.
Still, if he were still alive, he had thought to use him somehow, which was unfortunate.
“Then we’ll have to use another method.”
Ion frowned at Levi’s murmur. An inexplicable unease crept over him.
“Another method? What are you talking about?”
Levi delivered an extremely brief request, like a bolt from the blue, to Ion who was looking down at him.
“Send me to Raziel.”
It took merely an instant for Ion’s face, which had been momentarily blank, to distort terribly.
