Duke Gerwer’s question was met with silence from beyond the door.

He momentarily considered using his power to identify what was there, then raised his torso that had been leaning on the desk.

Having scoured the slave markets for half a year, a great deal of energy had built up within him.

Not as much as Blake, who was among the same ranks of power users and was soon to die, but I didn’t have much time left either. Overusing it before I found Letyom was prohibited.

Duke Gerwer, flustered, walked over and opened the door.

A blondhaired, goldeyed boy of eight, who looked exactly like him, was standing there.

Beneath his wellformed nose, his parched lips due to a long illness uttered a bewildered voice.

“Ah, father.”

“Iandwein Gerwer.”

Despite calling his son, it felt as if he were addressing a stranger.

It was partly because his affection for his child had withered, but also because he was a jealous, bad father.

A child with many days ahead of him. A child who would grasp Gerwer’s ability and family name, and live a life where everything was guaranteed.

As he withered, his son’s life would blossom. Like a tree growing by consuming me. Like a thief stealing everything from me.

But he wouldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let this child take anything from him.

This included Letyom, which he would grasp in the future.

“What did you hear?”

Duke Gerwer’s eyes were cold as he looked at Iandwein.

(This is a time divider.)

Late at night. Liche’s bedroom.

Finally alone, Liche was conversing with Pythons about what had happened that day.

A wounded knight had been accused of the chaos in the treatment room.

His name was Philip. The young knight of 17, who had come to the Ludwick Duke’s house at 12, had finished his squire period and was to be knighted next month.

The surrounding knights insisted that Philip wouldn’t do such a thing, and Liche also covered up by saying that another villain had come in.

But there was no way to excuse the fact that Zed and Clang had witnessed him chasing Liche in the corridor.

Eventually, Philip was imprisoned in the Duke’s dungeon, unconscious.

The problem was that he was not the real culprit.

“Possessed the wounded knight’s body?”

At Liche’s question, Pythons, leaning against a cushion, nodded.

The full moon had not yet risen, so he couldn’t go to the lakeside. Still, unlike last time, he wasn’t about to collapse and could move.

“It’s his special ability. If he had been there, he might have tried to possess you.”

Possessed by Hickenka? Liche shivered.

“I would…… hate that.”

Hadn’t Pythons said that? Hickenka was the star that gave the Gerwer Duke’s family their power.

The biting feeling Liche had when facing Hickenka’s golden eyes today was not just a feeling.

It was a warning ingrained in the memories of living as Agnes.

Gerwer’s golden eyes. He would never return to those days trapped in Gerwer Duke’s house.

“Shall we run away?”

Pythons asked, seeming to see right through Liche’s thoughts.

It seemed like his usual joke, but his face was serious.

“I’m sure about it after today. He’s after you.”

“Me?”

“He wants to contract with you.”

“With me? Why?”

“The Stars’ Play.”

The Stars’ Play.

It referred to the phenomenon where a star that has contracted with Letyom can stay in the human world.

Pythons shook his mustache.

“That’s what he’s after. To come to the human world. He said his time is up, right? And you said you met the physician coming back to the treatment room before that.”

Liche nodded.

Ten minutes. The time Clang had gone to fetch herbs.

“If he can’t possess in such a short time, his body must still be asleep in the tomb. He’s momentarily dwelling in the human world as a soul.”

He clearly wanted to come to the human world through the Stars’ Play. If he came as he was, he would lose his power in the human world and have to return to the tomb like a few hundred years ago.

“Tsk. Those bastards should have been shattered into star fragments back then.”

“But, Pythons. Why does that star want to come to the human world?”

Pythons glanced at Liche and avoided his eyes.

“To rule over the human world.”
“What?”

Richet’s eyes widened in shock. Pythons continued to fidget with his front claws, avoiding eye contact as he explained.

“Do you know why we call our world a tomb? Because the stars are as good as dead in that void where there is nothing. They simply gaze at the human world, with eyes full of envy. Our tomb’s keepers, that is, four of the great stars, wanted to escape that tomb. They wished to break down the boundary between the human world and the tomb and dominate the human world. Hogu and I were against it, and then a fight broke out. In the end, we couldn’t find a compromise. That was the pretext for them to go to the human world a few hundred years ago.”

What Pythons referred to as a fight was a massive battle that shook the entire tomb for several days.

“To break down the boundary between the two divided worlds. The whole world could collapse if we make a mistake.”