Cherry blossom petals were fluttering everywhere.

The moment Herding opened his eyes and saw the scene, he instinctively sensed it.

It’s a dream.

A dream that had been recurring for over a decade, so tiresome that he could recite the script until the next scene.

Perhaps the next would be his father’s voice.

“Herding.”

The voice that always carried a hint of excitement and joy when turning around, but now, it wasn’t pleasant at all.

However, in the dream where resistance was futile, Herding could only watch the scene unfolding before his eyes like a play following a script.

Before him, there was Casyon holding a sword stained with the blood of monsters, and in front of him, a young Herding sitting hesitantly.

“Herding…”

Casyon, overwhelmed by the surging monsters, was in a state of power-induced frenzy.

His blue eyes, identical to his son’s, had no focus. Mana uncontrollably flowed out of his body.

“…Father?”

His father, who would usually smile warmly despite his usual gruffness, silently raised the sword.

His terrified son just stared blankly at the scene.

Herding, who had already faced this scene dozens, if not hundreds, of times, watched it with indifferent eyes.

Knowing that no matter what he does, he can’t change the past that has already passed.

Next was his mother.

“No, Casyon!”

The moment Casyon swung the sword towards young Herding, Eloise, who had rushed over, embraced the child and took the hit instead.

“…Mother?”
The small palms of young Herding, embracing Eloise’s collapsing back, were invigorated by the red blood. Cherry blossom petals, piled up like snow on the ground, were dyed with blood.

The boy’s hands began to tremble, and at the same time, his pupils started to shake significantly.

Fear filled those pupils in an instant.

Next came the sense of loss.

And finally…

Young Herding cast a spell. The eyes of the boy facing his father were no longer filled with fear.

Finally, what filled those eyes was the rage devoid of reason.

Herding attacked Casyon with magic.

Born with the power of a divine being like Casyon and having mastered magic since childhood, Herding’s magic was by no means weak, and Casyon was well aware of that.

Nevertheless, he did not evade his son’s magic, as if even reason had left him.

Seizing the moment when Casyon staggered from the impact of the magic, Herding picked up the sword dropped by the fallen knights around.

And as Casyon swung his sword, he narrowly blocked it, allowing the attack to slide off. However, the strength of an adult against a child was an uneven match.

Herding used both the sword and magic to confront Casyon.

While Casyon did not directly use magic, the sharp mana emanating from him caused damage to everything in close proximity.
Herding, paying no attention to the various wounds on his body, rushed towards Casyon. There was no rationality left.

Herding cast a momentary powerful spell and struck. In that moment, Casyon hesitated.

In that brief opening, Herding stabbed Casyon’s heart with the swordsmanship his father had taught him.

At that moment, the threatening mana around Casyon dissipated.

Casyon collapsed under Herding’s embrace. As the voice of the dying father reached the young son’s ears, he trembled.

“Her…ding…”

At the same time, light returned to Herding’s eyes that had lacked focus. Only now did the child’s eyes, realizing what he had done, start to shake violently.

“Father…?”

He often wondered.

That day, did my father recognize me before he died?

Or was it just a habit, unconsciously calling out my name?

He hoped that one day, his father would find reason even in his final moments and recognize him.

The Empire’s top Archmage, in a state of frenzy after losing reason, could not lose to his young son. Surely, his father recognized him and deliberately let himself be defeated.

Hoping that I wished to kill you.

Thinking that you would consider it fortunate…

Then, on another day, he would convince himself that recognizing his father was just self-justification. He believed that his father had never regained reason and died without recognizing him.
Knowing that he almost killed his own son, then killed his beloved wife with his own hands, and ultimately faces the reality of dying at the hands of his son is too cruel for the father.

Changing thoughts freely every day to find solace, he eventually stopped everything.

What’s the use of that?

The fact that I killed my father with my own hands doesn’t change.

A very small number of closest aides asked about the truth of that day to secure the position of young master Herding to protect Delmark.

Thus, externally, it was reported that Casyon went on a rampage due to Eloise’s death and took his own life. However, no matter how much he hid and concealed, he couldn’t deceive even himself.

“Ah, ugh… Aaargh!”

Watching the image of myself from a decade ago, sitting in a pool of blood and crying like a young beast, Herding, looking at me with dry eyes, slowly closed his eyes as if tired of it.