At the time when the world was immersed in pitch darkness, at the edge of the continent where the wind raged.

On a dangerously steep cliff there, Sion was quietly waiting for the right moment.

After enduring the harsh wind for a long time, the sky on the other side brightened hazily with the dawn.

As day began to break, Sion lowered his stance, holding an old sword.

And waiting for the golden light of dawn to race across the horizon, he slashed the air with that blunt sword in the moment the wind briefly stopped.

With that, the world brightened hastily.

Lightning that started from the tip of Sion’s sword tore through the sky, stretching beyond the horizon.

It mercilessly clawed the sky and sea, and Sion too was blown into the sky by its recoil.

Then his companion flew to his side and snatched Sion.

Right after, a flash of light arose from beyond the sea, and a moment later, the sound of thunder reverberated.

‘Did I hit it?’

Sion examined the sea that had returned to gold and ink colors.

After a while, a watcher who flew from the hall reported.

“The typhoon has dissipated. It is said that the remaining wind will create rain clouds within a week.”

Sion was arrogantly satisfied with this ideal report.

Though he never showed it to his subordinates, he secretly enjoyed breaking typhoons and tidal waves. Because the moment when prediction and result match is quite refreshing.

‘I wish other matters could be resolved this simply.’

But even in this situation, instead of feeling genuinely refreshed, Sion thought fleetingly.

It’s a laughable thing.

The one who drops dragons, the true master of Tiendabis, and Sion Laurel who knows the future, yet he couldn’t satisfactorily resolve any of the problems piled before him.

There were three reasons for this.

One was because of the terrible structure of Tiendabis where everything was tangled, two was because several variables were created by what that man did before coming to Sion.

And three, the worst reason that made Sion unable to move, was the curse of concealment that had fallen upon him.

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.

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Sion eventually received that man’s memories.

With that, he barely felt relieved.

That the man hadn’t become twisted for no reason.

Though he still disliked it, he somewhat understood his own future that had no choice but to reveal its bottom after being severely worn down.

But whatever the reason, Sion didn’t want to become like that man. So he decided to fulfill his duty, opposite to him.

At this point, Sion was still able to brace himself.

But his ignorant father ruined everything.

“Your Excellency!”

Moren rushed into the Commander-in-Chief’s office urgently.

“Are you alright? The Grand Duke has fallen. What happened?”

When Moren asked this, Sion was half dazed.

His father had looked at him until the last moment before throwing himself out the window.

Even Sion couldn’t help but be shocked by that sight. No matter how arrogantly he acted, he was still a boy.

“Your Excellency, Your Excellency!”

Moren kept urging the dazed Sion. Driven by the Deputy Commander’s firm pressing, Sion unknowingly opened his mouth.

No, he tried to open it. He tried to make an excuse or an explanation. But for some reason, he couldn’t open his mouth.

‘Words…’

Won’t come out.

He wanted to say what had just happened, why his father had thrown himself, but he couldn’t utter a single word. He couldn’t convey this feeling through expressions or gestures either.

Then Moren clicked his tongue and started examining the traces in the room by himself.

Left alone, Sion was confused by his condition and then recalled his father’s last words.

―Forgive me, Sion. Please let this ease your heart.

It felt like his heart was freezing.

No way. Surely not. He wouldn’t have done something foolish to me again after saying such words.

Sion desperately hoped it wasn’t true. He prayed this was just his own wicked speculation.

However, that thread-like hope was shattered a few days later when he met his half-brother who had come down to the hall after hearing the sad news.

“Sion…!”

Hardin Laurel, who appeared holding their father’s will, tried to embrace Sion as soon as he saw him.

But Sion coldly asked while blocking his brother’s approach.

“Do you still have what I gave you the day I left the castle?”

“Your button… are you talking about that?”

Hardin answered, not understanding his brother’s sudden question.

“Father has it. He asked to see it a few days ago. I haven’t gotten it back yet.”

At that answer, Sion felt the ground crumble beneath him once again.

Though he had prayed it wasn’t true, though he had hoped it wasn’t that bad, his father ultimately did not betray his son’s expectations. It felt like an ugly monster was clawing at his insides with its talons.

Sion wanted to know if his brother was also involved in this. So he tried to ask, but his mouth wouldn’t open.

Fortunately, Hardin was not involved in this. No, not fortunately, it was the worst.

Father had planned and committed this alone before dying. By doing so, he locked his son in a secret that had become a sealed room. He foolishly put a lock on that mouth without even knowing what Sion had learned.

“Sion, why…”

Hardin reached out to his cold brother again. He was afraid that his brother had changed like the previous counts. Even if that was the case, he wanted to mourn their father’s death together.

However, Sion ignored his brother’s feelings and harshly knocked away the approaching hand.

The Laurel vassals widened their eyes at this sight, but Sion didn’t care at all.

The memories that man had passed on were vast. So Sion came to know not only what would happen in the future but also various knowledge he hadn’t known before.

Among them was information about curses.

That man had been under the curse much longer than Sion, so he obsessively dug into the reality of this hateful shackle.

Thanks to that, Sion could naturally know as well.

The principle of the curse. And how messy this current situation was.

When the curse he had commissioned was broken, his father used Sion’s cufflinks that Hardin had to bind Sion. He placed a new curse on Sion with it.

So the commissioner of this curse was unwittingly Hardin Laurel. Because he was the one who received the medium from its original owner, Sion.

With this, his foolish brother became involved in the curse without even knowing it.

So Sion’s insides twisted once again.

In the end, his father not only stole his second son’s life but also used his first son’s life as collateral for a gamble.

While telling him to ease his heart with his mouth, he did another dirty thing to him.

He made him choose whether to keep his mouth shut for the family like this, or to gain freedom even if it meant killing his brother.

“Sion…”

And Hardin Laurel just grieves without knowing anything. In front of me who is contemplating whether to kill you or not.

“Get out of here with that corpse right now.”

Sion ground out, unable to bear it any longer. Then he turned his back on his shocked brother and vassals.

“Wait, Sion! What’s wrong with you?”

The soft-hearted Hardin grabbed his brother again, but Sion shook him off mercilessly. Then he coldly glared at his brother’s face that had crumbled to the ground.

“Don’t make that kind of expression.”

Don’t act pitiful when you’re the same kind of person.

Sion wanted to lash out like this. But his mouth wouldn’t open, and he felt crushed once again.

Though he now wears the face of an innocent brother, Sion had already seen it.

His brother who inherits the title of Grand Duke in the near future. The abominable Hardin Laurel who turns a blind eye to me, trapped on the border, even after inheriting the family’s secret.

So Sion now understood. That man who said he had killed his father and half-brother.

On the other hand, he regretted that he hadn’t done so himself. If I had killed Father first, at least I wouldn’t have been bound by this kind of curse again.

Grinding his teeth at his situation, Sion turned around again.

He heard his brother’s pleading voice from behind.

It made him want to kill him even more. He wanted to interrogate him for things he hadn’t even done yet, denounce him as a traitor, and resent him asking how he could do this to me. He wanted to cling to him saying he wouldn’t let him go if he abandoned me again.

But unable to say anything, he decided to turn a blind eye instead.

This was the most benevolent measure Sion could choose.

But you won’t even know this. Probably forever.

The curse of concealment that fell on Sion was a more vicious hell than he had imagined.

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His father’s misjudgment of only caring for the Laurels ultimately endangered the entire continent.

Sion soon learned that calamity would arrive, but because of his idiotic father, he couldn’t tell anyone this fact.

Finding this situation too absurd, Sion quietly pondered with his forehead pressed against the desk.

‘Should I just die?’

It was still during his father’s funeral period.

Despite the tragic death, the funeral of Grand Duke Laurel was held grandly. Even Tardes Hall mourned his death for a full month.

So Sion kept thinking in this ridiculous solemnity.

Should I really die, he thought.

Everything is so annoying.

Everyone just passing the buck.

What am I supposed to do when I can’t do this or that.

Let’s just die. Then whether it falls apart or not, other humans will take care of it.

If the world collapses just because I step back, isn’t that more of a problem?

Sion gritted his teeth, disgusted with the whole world.

‘Damn it…’

Sion desperately held back tears as he choked up without realizing.

Everything was unpleasant and abhorrent. But this emotion was not justified.

Most of the events fueling Sion’s disillusionment hadn’t even happened yet. They only existed in the memories that man had passed on.

So Sion was even more at a loss.

Is it right to hate Hardin Laurel for wrongs he hasn’t even committed yet? But it’s also true that he’s a person who will neglect and betray me.

Then is Sion Laurel blameless? That man killed. His own father, his brother, Rohika Sedro, and other nameless people.

Sion squeezed his eyes shut at the nauseating memories.

He had never harmed anyone before. But in his mind, there were already vivid memories of the blood he had shed.

Ah, in the end, what he had worried about became reality. Memories are experiences and experiences are the foundation of a person. That man’s memories made Sion turbid.

The boy can no longer distinguish between today and tomorrow.

Unable to separate what has already happened from what will happen, he builds up hatred alone in his own world. Hating even himself, he can neither do this nor that.

He can’t appeal this confusion and conflict anywhere. Only Sion Laurel was buried in secrets.

So Sion blankly thought of death as he looked at the black banner mourning Grand Duke Laurel.

But sadly, even that wasn’t easy for Sion. It would be nice if he could die by falling from a slightly high place like his father, but Count Laurel survives even being trampled by a dragon.

In the end, he was in a position where he couldn’t even choose death himself.

Like thinking he would become an emperor but becoming a sacrifice instead, he thought he could do everything but couldn’t do anything.

So Sion became more empty than when he was under the curse of no return.

He spent several days like that.

Then suddenly he remembered what he had to do.

“Ibi…”

Fortunately, Sion had a debt.