<Chapter 114>
#13. Seeds of Chaos (3)
Despite being startled, Melty insisted on accompanying Calix. With a face gone pale, Calix couldn’t stop Melty who clung to him, insisting on going together.
“Where is Mr. Durasen?”
“In the empty guest room at the southern end.”
Seeing Melty following him, almost running to keep up, Calix turned around and easily lifted him into his arms. Then he continued walking quickly. Knowing that his pace was hindering Calix, Melty obediently wrapped his arms around his neck.
Having casually dismissed Durasen’s words earlier, Melty hadn’t anticipated they contained such meaning. He bit his lip with needless anxiety.
“Nothing serious will happen, right?”
“I think nothing will happen since people from other families are watching, but we can’t be sure.”
“……”
“Don’t worry too much.”
Unlike his attempt to comfort Melty by tousling his hair, Calix had a strong feeling that an incident was about to occur. Calix wasn’t originally an emotional or altruistic person. He hardly cared whether others lived or died, but he preferred not to deal with additional work or cleanup.
“…What’s happening?”
Puzzled expressions appeared on the faces of those who noticed Calix approaching with rapid steps. Looking at their questioning expressions, Calix spoke with a calm face.
“Where is Durasen Botenta?”
“He’s inside.”
“Open the door.”
“……”
Although Calix was a direct descendant of the Padrian family, he was relatively young and hadn’t yet inherited the position of family head or heir. Displeasure clouded their faces at Calix’s brief, almost impudent demand. However, the situation was too urgent to care about their feelings. Just then, commotion erupted from inside.
Calix gave them a cold smile as they stood guarding the door, and instead of requesting once more that they open it, he raised his foot.
“If you won’t move, I’ll open it myself.”
With that refreshingly brief statement, Calix swung his foot with all his might. A loud bang echoed through the hall.
***
“…He won’t die.”
Calix brushed back his hair, clearly annoyed by the attention directed at him.
“Then is he alright?”
“How were you watching him that something like this happened?!”
“What on earth is going on…?”
“Ask the Sarvie family for details.”
After naturally deflecting the questions directed at him onto the Sarvie family, Calix stepped aside to escape their line of sight. After scanning the noisy crowd like they were specks of dust, his gaze landed on Melty, who was looking up at him with worried eyes from one corner. With a smile that seemed out of place in the situation, Calix hurried over to him.
“Why are you standing in the corner like that?”
“No reason. But… is Mr. Durasen really okay?”
Worried that people might gather again, Melty lowered his voice considerably. Watching Melty’s ears twitching nervously, Calix let out a small chuckle.
“With Padrian and Sarvie present, nothing should go wrong.”
After finishing his sentence, Calix turned his gaze toward the bed where Durasen was lying. Though he had spoken lightly, Durasen had dramatically barely escaped death.
It was Kamin Patel, showing clear signs of fatigue, who organized the crowd still confused by the consecutive events. On any other occasion, he would have smiled warmly upon seeing Melty, but now he seemed to lack the energy for even that.
Kamin Patel drove away the gathered people, reasoning that not many people were needed to watch over a patient. Even though everyone had confirmed that Durasen was still breathing, they had been reluctant to leave. After they all departed, only Calix, Melty, Kamin Patel, and Owen Kun Sarvie, who had treated Durasen, remained in the room.
“I never thought that friend would attempt suicide…”
Kamin Patel muttered, pressing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. To someone who had known Durasen as long as he had lived, all these events seemed too much to handle.
“I thought I knew that friend quite well, but apparently not.”
His voice, usually cheerful and lively, now held no strength at all. Looking worriedly at his slumped shoulders, Melty reached out his hand. Instead of adding to his words, he gently patted the back of Kamin’s hand that rested on his leg.
A faint smile appeared on Kamin Patel’s face at the comfort offered by Melty’s hand, so small compared to his own. In gratitude, Kamin enveloped Melty’s hand briefly before letting go.
Calix, who had been staring at Melty’s movements, stretched out his arm as soon as Kamin’s hand moved away. Wrapping his arm around Melty’s waist, he pulled him closer, and only after Melty was away from Kamin did Calix show a satisfied expression. Kamin let out an incredulous laugh at Calix’s possessiveness, though for a different reason than before.
“I didn’t catch this earlier, but exactly what happened?”
“What happened… I just wanted to hear his story. Since we’ve known each other for so long, I believed he would at least tell me something.”
A bitter light flashed in Kamin Patel’s eyes. Even after learning from Calix’s explanation that Durasen was responsible for this incident, he still couldn’t accept the situation. The Durasen Botenta he knew wasn’t someone who commanded attention, but he was a gentle and kind person.
“Did he say anything?”
At Calix’s question, Kamin Patel shook his head with a gloomy face.
“Nothing at all. He didn’t say a word. I thought he would at least make some excuse about what happened… but he didn’t even do that.”
“Probably because there’s no room for excuses.”
“…Durasen Botenta is not that kind of person!”
“Defending him won’t undo what happened, nor will it bring back the dead.”
Kamin Patel’s expression hardened at the coldly delivered cynical remark.
“Must you speak like that in this situation! There must have been some reason. You know what kind of person he is!”
“Is there anything more ridiculous than claiming to know someone well after knowing them for just a few years? Even living with someone for a lifetime, the human heart remains unknowable…”
Leaving a cold sneer, Owen rose to his feet.
“I’ve kept him breathing, so there’s no need for me to stay here any longer.”
After speaking, Owen’s cold gaze briefly touched Melty. That gaze, like looking at an insect, reminded Melty of the day they had met near the shrine close to the Padrian mansion. Intimidated by his sharp eyes, Melty couldn’t look directly at him and bowed his head deeply. With a displeased face, Owen even clicked his tongue, then swept Calix’s face with a contemptuous gaze before leaving.
“That, that damned bastard!”
While Kamin Patel burst out in anger with clenched fists, Calix merely shrugged his shoulders slightly. Melty, who had been holding his breath under the sharp atmosphere, moved even closer to Calix.
“Scared?”
“No, it’s just… a little scary.”
Calix laughed lightly at Melty’s honest answer and lifted him up onto his lap. With his arms firmly wrapped around Melty’s waist, drawing him into his embrace, Calix rested his cheek on Melty’s hair and whispered.
“Want me to make sure you never have to see his face again?”
“…How?”
“Hmm… there are various methods.”
With a bright smile, Calix whispered, “I can do it if you want me to,” but Melty didn’t answer. For some reason, he was certain that the methods Calix mentioned would be nothing but unsavory ones. As Melty maintained silence with a skeptical feeling, he heard Kamin Patel’s weary laugh.
“I knew Owen had a nasty temper, but you’d think that intensity would diminish with age by now.”
Though his voice, muttering about needing a drink, was still subdued, it had more vitality than before. Seeing Melty buried in Calix’s arms with only his round eyes visible, the smile on Kamin Patel’s face deepened.
“Ah, why bring a child to a place with so much to see?”
“I insisted on coming. And I’m not a child.”
Melty expressed his dissatisfaction in a sulky voice, tapping Calix’s arms. Though displeased by the gesture asking to be released, Calix obligingly let Melty go.
“If it weren’t for Melty, I would have been late getting here, and Mr. Durasen would be dead.”
“…That’s right. It seems it wasn’t his time to die yet.”
Kamin Patel smiled bitterly and looked at Melty. Feeling embarrassed as his gaze seemed to convey gratitude, Melty looked at Durasen lying motionless on the bed.
“Go ahead. It’s fine even if it doesn’t have much effect.”
Calix whispered quietly so Kamin Patel couldn’t hear, and gave Melty a gentle push on the back. After hesitating, Melty slowly moved forward. Durasen was lying on the bed, exhaling shallow breaths with a pale complexion.
Swallowing hard, Melty offered a small prayer to the Beast God before using his gift. Then he placed his hand on Durasen’s hand. And as he always did when using his gift, he closed his eyes.
