#145

Lasano Jenix was born without a father. He had no proper name, nor luck.

The midwife who delivered him was so terrified by his red eyes, which she had never seen before, that she ran out of the mother’s room. Because of that, Lasano was nicknamed ‘Misfortune’ before he even received a name from his mother.

Whether it was one of the Goddess’s cursed blessings, Lasano remembered his life from birth with chilling clarity. The scene of his mother, unable to recover from childbirth, bursting into tears at the midwife’s accusations, the people who ran over to gawk and whisper about him, the other women who recoiled as if avoiding excrement when his mother carried him…

Still, thinking back, it was bearable when he was a speechless infant. Though all the memories were unpleasant and sad, they were not painful or agonizing.

The situation escalated into hell starting from when he was five years old and could run around. His mother tried desperately to delay the misfortune that would befall him.

His mother, who was originally the most beautiful and lovely in the village, made the mistake of falling in love when a stranger from another land visited. The man was someone who would leave. His mother always told Lasano that his father had promised to return, but after a long time, he never did.

His mother became a ghost. She was alive and wandered the village, but no one paid her any attention. Those who had courted her, calling her the woman who gave birth to a demon, all turned away, and no one wanted to help her.

The islanders, who had lived without leaving the remote eastern coast for a long time, were merciless to strangers. They blindly worshipped the Goddess but knew nothing about her. They didn’t know the mark of the High Priest, a Servant of the Goddess, nor the ranks of nobles, nor the rules of the world. Their small land was their own, so the village chief’s word was law.

The woman who knew this kept him confined at home until he was four years old and worked. She desperately tried to raise the child of the one she loved, eventually falling ill. It was inevitable that Lasano would have to go outside the house.

To survive, the young child and the sick woman went out together to gather food. However, it was not easy. This was because a long rainy season had continued for several years. For the islanders who lived only on the island without any trade, crops were the most precious thing. Due to the rainy season, the atmosphere grew increasingly grim.

So, they simply needed someone to blame.

They needed a target for their curses, a subject to vent their frustration about incomprehensible phenomena. The village chief had to find a scapegoat, if only to appease the villagers who kept asking why it kept raining. No one knew the cause of the long rainy season.

Naturally, the demon with red eyes, possessing such strange powers, became a convenient excuse. Lasano reappeared the next day, perfectly fine, after being hit by a stone thrown in mockery. People, finding this peculiar, began to beat him from then on.

At first, it was light. But it was only light at first. Starting with throwing stones, they slapped his cheeks, kicked him, and finally drew their swords.

After that, it wasn’t a very interesting story. Lasano lived covered in blood every day until he met Yurisis Jenix. After his mother, who tried to stop people, died of illness, even whips appeared.

A High Priest who has not undergone the ritual at the temple does not have perfect self-healing abilities. He gained all his indelible scars during this time, even after becoming a priest.

Ignorance. Indifference. Aversion.

Lasano loathed these three things more than anything in the world. But there was something he loathed even more.

That was the goddess herself.

As a result of actions without accountability, Lasano became a Servant of the Goddess. If she intended to choose just one servant among so many people, she should not have made him born in such a place. It was a misjudgment to think everyone in the world would know the goddess and the mark of the High Priest.

The goddess, being a deity, might have watched me even knowing, but she did absolutely nothing. If Yurisis hadn’t come to save him, he would probably have died with his limbs severed in his tenth year.

Ironically, his desire to live grew strangely strong, and he hated dying even though he was in a situation where death would have been better. So, he took Yurisis’s hand. There was no other choice from the beginning.

Yurisis was the first warmth.

Lasano truly liked his cousin. He couldn’t help it. His cousin, who was three or four years older, knew everything unlike the ignorant him, and above all, was kind. Yes, kind.

The goddess created too many people born into the wrong lives. Yurisis was destined from the moment he was born. His disposition was too gentle to be the son of Iris Cassia.

“What should I do, Yuri?”

Yurisis, who had set conditions to save Lasano, didn’t ask him to do anything. After entering the Great Temple and receiving treatment for his terrible wounds, he quickly adapted to the boring and peaceful temple life.

The Great Temple consisted of a small number of High Priests who did not interfere with each other. In that place, where only one visit from his family in life was permitted, Lasano met Yurisis periodically.

“You don’t have to worry about it, Lasano.”

Lasano probably started pitying Yurisis’s life that year, as he was nearing adulthood.

It was spring. Lasano liked the spring here. Unlike the East, it didn’t rain, and it was sunny and pleasantly cool.

Under a tree where new buds were starting to sprout, Yurisis smiled. Offering Lasano the snacks he always brought when he visited, he rested his chin on his hand. His soft green eyes curved calmly.

“I don’t want to increase the number of sinners among those who bear the Jenix surname. Mother wishes for you to play the same role as your uncle… but I hope you don’t. As long as you are inside here, they cannot touch you.”

“But wasn’t that why you brought me here?”

Lasano wanted to repay the favor. Yurisis was his only family worth cherishing. His mother, Iris Cassia… though he had only seen her a few times, it was difficult to grow fond of her. Because he knew what she had made Yurisis do and what she wanted.

At least in that regard, Lasano thought his mother was much better. His mother’s only fault was loving a man who headed for an island that would never return. She loved him and did anything to protect him.

“It’s okay. If I make you do such things, it will be hard for me.”

Yurisis, saying that, looked exceptionally lonely. Sadness flickered in his eyes. For Lasano, who had spent his life only watching others’ reactions, it was a sadness that was hard to miss.

“Something is happening.”

When Lasano caught it, Yurisis laughed. He turned his gaze aside.

“Yes. There is one troublesome matter.”

“Tell me, I’ll listen. That’s the job of a High Priest.”

Lasano’s jest made Yurisis’s smile deepen. He lowered his eyebrows and remained silent for a few seconds. Hesitantly, he spoke carefully, as if confiding a secret.

“I’ve found someone I love. It’s unexpected. But thinking about it… it seems natural. She was lovely from the moment I first met her.”

Yurisis, saying so, had the saddest face since Lasano had met him.

Lasano couldn’t understand. He didn’t know love, but one of the concepts he learned as a High Priest was that love makes people happy.

He couldn’t empathize, but he knew love was an intense emotion. That’s why his mother fell into a love with no end.

“Why is falling in love with someone a sad thing?”

Lasano asked, though he seemed to know the reason. Yurisis met his gaze again and smiled, as if resigned.

“I shouldn’t be in love. This is not the situation for it. It’s a forbidden emotion for me. Besides…”

Yurisis trailed off, stopping. His clear green eyes momentarily turned red. His eyes, which had become sharp as if he had changed, returned to their original state after a few seconds.

Yurisis’s complexion turned pale in an instant. With a pale face, he touched his forehead and let out a tired sigh.

“Mother is suspicious. I have to go. If I prevent her interference, unnecessary energy will be consumed.”

Saying so, Yurisis stood up. Lasano watched him prepare, his brow furrowed. He didn’t know exactly how Iris Jenix operated, but she interfered in Yurisis’s every move.

“Lasano.”

Yurisis turned, then paused for a moment. Seeing the flowers in the brightly blooming garden, he looked back and said,

“If it’s alright, may I pick this?”

Yurisis reached out and touched one of the swaying purple flowers.

“Why?”

Of course, it was fine, but he asked out of curiosity. Yurisis smiled, looking at the flower.

“Her eye color resembles hers.”

Tenderness was revealed in his calm voice. Seeing that, Lasano suddenly felt sad. That he, who had never expressed his desires, could not obtain the one thing he wanted in this situation.

And his fate, which had led to this catastrophe.

“Helen.”

The first scene Lasano witnessed upon arriving at the palace was—

“Summon the Dragon.”

The sight of Silfir Exion, also known as Yurisis Jenix, holding a sword to his betrothed’s heart with a pained expression.