Chapter 1

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“Beware the monster whose hair is black as night and eyes as red as blood. For he'll be the end of everything!”

This was the legend told in the Imperial House of Rowayne of the Den Helden Empire. Some said this legend was a prophecy given by a famous wizard, some said it was the last words of the emperor who once made the world tremble.

The origin didn't matter. Everyone treated the legend as lame old gossip.

Story of a bygone era, an ancient tale that was handed down from an ancestor's ancestors, the kind of story you usually come up with when you couldn't think of any other bedtime story for your kids. It was nothing more than that.

That was until the vulgar dancer, who was in Rowayne III's favor, entered the palace with her pregnant belly.

The child she gave birth to had both black hair and blood-red eyes. Everyone chanted together to kill the child.

Rip its limbs, tear the body apart, and bury it.

The emperor finally gave up and did as they insisted.

They threw the infant into the river and left him all alone in a dark forest.

But, he survived.

They tied him to the boulder and threw him into the water, yet he didn't drown. They drenched him in the blood of animals but none of the beasts in the forest dared to eat him.

The boy survived and lived to earn the name Rayton. The meaning of his name… ‘cursed one’.

The royal families of the Den Helder Empire all had blue eyes and blond hair, it was proof of their royal blood. It was natural that the black-haired boy's very existence was nothing but an eyesore to them. Rayton never knew what acceptance was. Harassment and bullying were much more familiar concepts to him.

Rayton could never be one of them. A freak, monster. That was all he could ever be.

Some even argued that someday he'll be the end of everything, just like the legend foretold. There were few who didn’t take the threat seriously. They all gathered around and demanded to tie up the loose ends before the boy had the chance to begin his reign of terror.

Contrary to everyone's concerns, Rayton did nothing of the sort. He grew up pretty well, given the environment he was in. In other words, he lived like a shadow. Even when his half-brothers and sisters were cruel to him, he never fought back.

He was just like a living, breathing doll. A cursed doll, to be precise.

Everything changed when he turned 23 years old and his mother, Lisette, was murdered. She was killed by none other than Yerna, another mistress of the emperor. It wasn't her first, but it became her last.

She should have left Lisette alone. If so, Rayton would not have staged a coup. He might have stayed in the shadows, just as he did for his entire life so far.

But she did it anyway, and the legend proved itself.

The palace became a living hell overnight. Rayton killed, and killed, and killed like it was the only thing he was capable of. From the servants to the mistresses, the nobles to his half-brothers who were all on Yerna and the emperor’s side.

Sez Rowayne was amongst them. To be more precise, the only daughter of Yerna, who had killed Rayton's mother.

Pant.

She thought she was in some kind of nightmare.

Rayton had staged a coup! That Rayton!

While she didn't want to believe it, there was no doubt that the assassins who breached the palace and slaughtered her maids were his men.

One tiny mistake and she would be right there with her dead servants, her throat slit open.

She thought she didn't deserve to be involved in this, however, it was true that everyone including Sez knew Rayton was bullied and bashed in the palace, but she had never actively taken part in it.

She recalled the time when her half-brothers and sisters tried to set the library on fire, knowing Rayton was in there. It was the same princes and princesses who had shoved him into a lake and thrown fist-sized rocks at the back of his head.

Sez's hands were clean of that... but it was also true that she was never able to hold the others back.

Sez and Rayton were in similar shoes at the palace. While Rayton was bullied more severely because he was the cursed one, Sez wasn't all sunshine and rainbows either.

Her mother didn't help her. In fact, she was one of the main issues. She had never given her daughter any love, and the reason was simple - because Sez was a girl.

“Damn you! You made my life miserable. It's your fault! Why did you have to be born as a girl?!"

Yerna used to say that often. Extremely often. The children of other mistresses also blatantly belittled Sez. There was even a time when she was slapped by one of her sisters just because she made eye contact with her. Yerna didn't protect her, and nor did she have a strong background like the others. No wonder she was such easy prey.

Sez was nobody, and Rayton was nothing.

She didn't help or care for Rayton because she couldn't afford to.

She assumed the same went for Rayton.

‘That'll be me tomorrow.’

Whenever she saw the others bullying Rayton, she simply thought: ‘That'll be me tomorrow’.

She was always right, though she never appreciated her own accuracy.

Sez only had one thing on her mind. How can I escape this hellhole?

So, she secretly gathered all the trinkets and jewelry that Yerna had lost interest in and tried to make up some excuses in case she got caught. She also practiced her speech for the day. The day she'll ask her indifferent father to let her leave the palace.

...Of course, she wouldn't have waited for permission if she had known that Rayton would do such a thing. She'd have vaulted over the wall and made a run for it.

"You look busy."

Sez let out a short gasp and stiffened the moment she heard his voice. It was him. Sez slowly craned her neck to see her brother standing behind her.

His eyes somehow looked more crimson, matching the blood covering his face.

"Hi, Sez."

"R-Rayton."

"Where are you going?"

‘To wherever you aren't, obviously...’ she thought.

Sez's hands were trembling. Rayton slowly edged close to her, gazing at her every movement.

Sez could hear the faint sound of dripping. It was blood drops falling from his sword.

In an instant, hundreds of faces flashed through her mind. Whose blood that would be? The princes and princesses? Their mistress mothers? The emperor who threw his son into a cage? All the nobles and servants who dared treat the son of the emperor like trash?

It could be one of them or all of them. And it was her turn now.

Sez's expression filled with horror as she looked at Rayton.

"B-brother, I'm-"

"You're?"

"I’m… will... will you... kill me?"

"What do you think?"

"I-I don't know... b, but I don't hold any grudge against-"

Sez couldn't even finish her sentence. Instead, her severed head fell to the ground, with a single, monotone thud.

“…”

Rayton shook the blood off of his sword emotionlessly. He picked up Sez's head by her shiny, blonde hair, staring disgustedly at the head which was slowly stiffening in horror.

"Blasted blonde hair. Blasted blue eyes."

A voice cold as ice growled in the blood-stained corridor.

"You're not the end, Sez. I'll find every last one of you with blonde hair and blue eyes, and I'll kill you all."

He tossed the head away as if he was dumping a rag on the floor. Rayton threw an expressionless glance at his half-sister's head before walking away.

There still were so many left to kill.

“…”

The last thing Sez’s blue eyes reflected before losing their light was the image of Rayton’s back.