Terminally-Ill Genius Dark Knight - Chapter 103

ToCThe monitor lights up white.

From it, a familiar game phrase emerges.

[Would you like to play the game?]

[Name the players, their factions, and their characteristics].

Inner Lunatic.

The opening music of a game I’ve played dozens, maybe hundreds, of times before, and which I’ve beaten to perfection, rings in my ears.

My heart is pounding hard.

Click. Click.

(jjaekkag. jjaekkag.)

Now I’m sitting at my computer, the calendar on my stark white wall marking the day I’ll die.

The words are scrawled in red, barely recognizable.

As I stare at it, a thought flashes through my mind.

What if this is all a dream?

Suddenly losing my memory, being diagnosed with a terminal illness, abandoned by my family, and immersed in a game.

I begin to realize that I am an alien in this world.

I wonder how many people in the world are in the same situation as me.

The question is even more troubling.

Why do I have such a spacious house if I was left in a nursery school?

Who sent me the hundreds of millions of won in my bank account and what has been my life so far?

Why can’t I even remember the face of the doctor who gave me a life sentence.

All my memories melted away like ice cream in the middle of summer.

I’m standing on the edge of a line where I can’t tell what’s real and what’s not.

Everything I thought was so vividly colored is fading.

The room and the computer seem inorganically cold.

My breath catches in my throat.

Suddenly, I remember a person.

The childhood of a sickly boy who became a villain is superimposed on my memory.

Nox.

Nox von Reinhafer…….

The boy’s ending was a tragedy.

* * *

‘What? I must have been dreaming something…… that was a terrible nightmare. Probably.’

I must have slept for a long time.

When I woke up with such an insignificant thought, I realized that the nightmares that had been plaguing me were now frequent. The problem is, the memories are completely gone.

As is often the case with dreams, they scatter almost immediately after waking up.

If you ask me why I’m suddenly talking about dreams after collapsing in the middle of a duel, it’s because I have a feeling that I had a very important dream and forgot about it.

Even in my past life, nightmares were a dying breed, but this one was so vivid. But I’ve never had a dream where I didn’t remember anything in the end.

One scientist, studying dreams, said the following.

“The dreams we recall are scattered because they are not encoded in long-term memory.”

But how many people can even understand that?

It’s just ridiculous to add reasons for this and that because I just can’t remember. I just shook my head, thinking that it was just an appropriate reason.

‘What can I do? It’s embarrassing, but… By the way, is my body fully recovered now?’

After regaining my senses, I checked.

It had been about two hours since I had regained consciousness.

Zitri, Elena, Rona, and Mei were all standing by my side…….

For some reason, they were all giving me disgruntled looks.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling the heat rising in a steady stream.

“One by one.”

“How come there isn’t a ‘single day’ that Young Master Knox doesn’t have an accident, and how come the maids who serve him don’t die of heart palpitations?”

Indeed.

As expected, Zitri was the first to speak.

She’s seen all of my recent (?) misdeeds firsthand. She probably thinks I’m the one responsible for them.

I tried to console myself by saying that these were preceding events, and that I was only preventing the main storyline from being twisted…….

This fight with Theo is something that even I didn’t envision, so I can’t say anything. Even if I had ten mouths to feed.

But there is one thing I have to remind myself of, and that is that I am an asshole.

“It just happened.”

I can only be an asshole if I can overcome the narrowing of Zitri’s eyes.

I reminded myself of that and shifted my gaze to the others. Suddenly, Elina swoops down on me, her arms tightening around my neck.

“Hmph~! Seobang-nim…!! You shouldn’t be doing such dangerous things…!! If you keep doing that, I might become a widow!” {1}

“Elena…? Ugh… no…….”

Mei sighed. Honestly, she doesn’t even know where to start at this point.

Of course, neither do I. So you’re going to have to do some of the tackling, because I can’t do it for her, so try harder.

I cheered Mei on, albeit inwardly.

“Okay, let’s get this out of the way.”

“No! Just a little more like this…….”

“Young Master is uncomfortable.”

Zitri said sharply, and eventually Elena pulled away from me, looking a little uncomfortable.

Something was off, though. For some reason, Rona was unusually quiet.

Normally, she would have jumped up and down and bothered me.

Her silence bothered me for some reason.

‘But it’s also true that this isn’t the time to worry about other people. Recovering from the fighting is my priority right now.’

I sighed and remembered the swords I’d shared with Theo earlier.

A single flash of light, cutting through the darkness that can only be called pitch-black, it was the first formula. [Ebony Dawn].

It was also a technique I had used often in my life.

Then the second,

The sword that quickly crossed the enemy, tearing the target to shreds?

It’s the second move of the first half, called [Ebony Dawn Crescendo].

‘I’ve learned it, but I can’t yet wield it properly.’

At best, I’ve only used it once in my duel with Theo.

My proficiency is still minimal.

But somehow I feel like I’m growing, and my fists clench.

The opponents I’ve faced so far can’t be called weak to put it mildly, but this is Theo.

He was stronger than a weakened Noah or a Luna who had only just become a swordsmaster.

Maybe…….

After Lars’ thesis, he might even be able to match a weakened Paimon, even if he wasn’t wearing an artifact made of demonic materials.

‘……That’s even creepier.’

Theo’s black sword was stronger than I had realized, I had to admit.

But.

Still, the sword I’m trying to learn is not the one Theo teaches.

I’m only learning the first three techniques.

The reason is simple.

‘Basically, the best swordsmanship is divided into three parts: first half, middle, and second half. Again, it is an established theory that a total of nine gugyeols are handed down from there, 1, 2, and 3.’ {TN: ???}

Then again, if you break the mold and start wielding your own sword, you get a tenth element, but it’s too early to tell.

Anyway.

As for this swordsmanship, it is filthy difficult to raise the proficiency, so attempting several is tantamount to committing suicide.

It’s okay to mix in one or two moderately low-level swordsmanships to avoid becoming an idiot, but if you start mixing in three or more high-level swordsmanships just because you think you have them, you’re going to become an idiot.

…I’m not just saying this because I’ve been there.

‘Well, the bottom line is that it’s better to dig deep into one sword technique. I have no intention of learning Theo’s Supreme Black Sword.’

I’m not dismissing its power.

However, one thing is certain: the moment I learn the Supreme Black Sword, I will become the patriarch of House Reinhafer.

That is Nox. No, it will lead me to my death.

Furthermore, I am not obligated to be the head of the family.

Shouldn’t I be able to pass the torch to the eldest son, Garen? Then again, why Theo is so obsessed with me is beyond me.

I may be talented, but I’m still just the youngest.

Why are you yelling at me?

“Starting tomorrow, you’re all going to have to come with me to the Chasers.”

I blurt out, revealing tomorrow’s schedule to my units.

Some of them look a little confused, like Zitri and Mei, but they’re quickly convinced. That asshole was always going to get his way.

I’m sure he compromised on the inside without showing it.

Rona still said nothing.

Zitri flicks a glance in her direction, but there’s no sign of the natural mischievousness in her eyes today.

Something feels off, but I don’t let it show.

I shake the thought from my mind and gesture with a light tone.

“Why don’t you all head out then? I could use some more rest.”

“Very well, everyone…… go back to your rooms for now, and we’ll set out for the Chasers tomorrow morning. Do you want me to contact Master Grine first?”

“Sure.”

Just like that.

After I gave the blessing, Zitri finished organizing the situation.

After the entire unit was out the door, I lay down alone and thought for a while.

Nox von Reinhafer.

What part did he play in the story of the Inner Lunatic?

Was he nothing more than an expendable villain?

If not, something else.

A potential twist character.

Nothing is certain… but that doesn’t change what you need to do now.

Survive.

In this harsh world. Survive the demons and fiends, slay the lowlifes, and move on.

Along the way, I protect those who stand by my side, and I reach the end of the episode, because that’s the best I can do.

Brilliant.

I lay back on my arm pillows, renewing my resolve. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I gently push myself up and move my gaze to the door.

“Who is it?”

“Young Master… it’s me, Rona.”

An unexpected person had come to visit me out of the blue.

Rona, she had found my room.

‘Why would Rona suddenly visit me at this hour?’

“I… have something to tell you,” she said, “and it has to do with your confrontation with the Lord this morning… and what you said there.”

Her next words fueled my questions even more.

Why was Rona suddenly talking to me about it?

As I pondered this, I realized that it had gotten quite late at night, so why would Rona come to me out of the blue? I couldn’t help but think that something was amiss.

‘Come to think of it…….’

Looking back at her behavior earlier, I also felt uncomfortable for some reason.

She didn’t accuse me of anything,

She didn’t look for Carl,

nor did she bother me.

Was it her, and not someone else?

‘It’s definitely weird, now that I think about it…….’

“Come on in.”

I said in a gruff voice, and…….

It didn’t take long for the door to open.

Creak.

(kkiig.)

The wooden door creaked open on its hinges, and I jumped out of my skin. I was momentarily in shock.

The reason was simple.

The door opened to reveal a girl, neatly dressed in a revealing maid’s outfit. Rona de Nero had tears in the corners of her eyes for some reason.

I had a hunch.

In her tears, there were fragments of Nox’s past.

* * *

Rona hadn’t been able to compose herself long after she entered my room.

I didn’t ask her why.

There had to be a reason she was so shocked.

Rona is, after all, a unit on my side.

She spread a lot of scandalous stories about Nox and his misdeeds, but the truth is that most of them were false.

Furthermore, Nox’s reputation was based on his own actions, not on me making up things to accuse her of something.

Even that had all but disappeared after my recent possession.

It is true that her backstory about Nox has also faded.

Instead, she has shown a warmer side to me and my units.

When everyone else turned their backs. Even in the worst of times, she held Zitri with warmth, knowing that I had a debilitating congenital condition and making sure I wasn’t in pain every night. {TN:Nuisance Curse}

The Head Maid never scolded Rona because she knew why she woke up late every day, and Theo left her alone, too.

In the many fevers I had suffered in the past, she had always stood by my side. If it weren’t for her, I would have been in danger many times.

Nox the Cripple. If it had been Nox, who was suffering from minor illnesses, he would probably continue to be like that even now.

With that in mind, I collect my thoughts.

A unit that has always stood by my side. Why did Rona come to me so late at night. I wonder if she came looking for me.

With such a pitiful face, erasing every trace of mischief from her eyes.

For some reason, I feel a tingle in my chest.

Why?

Why am I feeling this way, and why is she doing something that isn’t her business? Is she stealing tears for Nox and his father, Theo.

It won’t take long to find out why.

I thought, and waited. Rona somehow managed to catch her breath, to compose herself, and her lips parted.

“That…… night of bloodshed, when my mistress died. You remembered that night, didn’t you…?”

The night of the slaughter.

I hadn’t expected the words to come out of Lorna’s mouth. Why, she was Nox’s mother, Theo’s wife, the hostess.

So…….

You’re telling me about the death of a character whose name has never been mentioned?

A story was beginning that I didn’t even know about, and I was mesmerized by Rona’s story.

I was not wrong.

Rona’s story is about Nox von Reinhafer.

The family scoundrel had a secret.

And why Rona de Nero was so afraid of me. She came to me every day, worried about me, and she cared about me.

{1} : “Seobang” is Brother-in-law but that doesn’t exactly make perfect sense but that’s what author put.

ToC