The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Family Wants A Divorce

✦  Chapter 23 — Sinner of Blackson (1)  ✦

「Translator – Creator」

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

[Are you fooling with me? You can’t even do this? Do you plan to live as a disgrace to the family?!]

The boy’s sin—

— was that he had no interest in swords.

[Why are you so weak? Are you planning to tarnish the family name? How do you expect to receive them like this-!]

Also, the boy’s sin—

— was that he couldn’t muster courage in the face of threats.

[You, cooking? Praise? I’ve never seen such a madman! Bring me the cane this instant!]

Loving to cook, and wanting to show it off. 

This, too, was the boy’s sin; and—

[Why did a child like you… Hah, a child who should have been born in some slum, came from my womb—]

Perhaps the boy’s biggest sin—

— was that he was born here, in Blackson, not knowing his place. 

🎕

“Khahaha!”

A burst of crazed laughter, almost a roar, escaped Pollux’s lips as he jumped around erratically; the black goo that had been seeping from his body had retreated back into him, vanishing through every orifice it had emerged from.

He trudged through the snow, the yeti beside him mirroring his every move, also under the influence of the black goo. 

“Sik-eum…Sik-eum…”

Though its words were garbled and slurred, as if its brain were broken, the yeti’s strides were purposeful, its path toward their destination clear.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the scouting team came into view, gathered by the frozen creek bed.

“Pollux…”

“It really is you.”

At Isaac and Meldick’s murmurs, his lips curved into a twisted grin.

“I’ve returned, everyone.”

A completely different appearance from his formerly timid self.

His once-smooth skin was now marred with bumps, as though something were trying to push out from beneath; his skin tone had darkened, taking on an unhealthy pallor.

If not for the unmistakable sight of the ‘bone’ still protruding from his chest, no one would have believed he was Pollux.

“I’ve come back! I even managed to subdue a yeti! Khahaha! See? I told you I would be of use to you all! Didn’t I? Yes? Right?”

However, faced with his incessant, desperate pleas for affirmation, the scouting team remained silent.

Only Isaac, his brow furrowed with concern, took a tentative step forward, breaking through the stunned silence.

“Pollux, listen to me.”

“Yes? Isaac? What is it? You left me behind! Tell Silverna to speak!”

Silverna stepped forward with a frown, her movement causing Pollux’s jaw to drop open, revealing a maw that dripped with saliva, much like a beast’s.

“You…you’re abandoning me? Silverna? Huh? You’re abandoning…abandoning me? It’s okay. You’re pretty. It’s alright because Silverna is pretty. But you’re abandoning me? Was I…Was I that useless? Was I that wrong?” 

“……Pollux?”

“No, no, no. Do not be scared. I won’t kill you. But I might. Actually, I don’t really know. But Silverna, you’re really pretty. I thought so from the moment I first saw you. You’re good with a spear, too. We’re nothing alike, are we?”

He rambled on, words tumbling out of him in a torrent.

It was as if he’d lost every filter that governed his thoughts and awareness. In the midst of his incoherent babble, his eyes glazed over, and he nodded slowly, as though agreeing with some unspoken voice. 

“I have to kill you.”

*BOOM!*

The yeti’s massive fist swung through the air, barely missing Silverna as she leaped back, anticipating the attack.

“I’ll deal with the yeti! The rest of you, subdue Pollux!”

Ironically, the first to respond to her order was Pollux himself.

“Subdue? SUBDUE?! Subdue Pollux! Yes! Kill him! Kill the worthless trash! The Sin of Blackson! The darkest star among stars! Purge the family’s sinner!”

“Wh-why is he like that?”

Anna, her voice trembling with terror, could only watch in horrified fascination as Isaac grimaced, clenching his jaw so tightly it seemed to tremble. 

Leaving Silverna to handle the yeti, they all charged at Pollux.

Shauren Helmund was the first to strike.

*Woosh!*

Eager for a swift resolution, her entire body radiating with the intense crimson aura of ‘Red Descent,’ she lunged at Pollux like a crimson meteor.

*Clang!*

“……………..!”

Shauren’s red eyes widened, trembling in disbelief.

Pollux had caught her onslaught with a thin, unassuming sword, effortlessly halting her in her tracks. Her strike, imbued with the full force of her power, had been stopped as easily as catching a snowflake from the sky.

Not even a tremor ran through Pollux’s arm.

“Huh?”

Even Pollux himself seemed just as surprised, staring at his sword with wide, unblinking eyes; then, a slow, predatory grin stretched across his face as he pushed Shauren back, his strength easily surpassing hers.

“Khh, hha…Hahahahahaha! Father! Are you watching?! Look at meeee! I’m doing it! I am pushing back a Helmund!”

As he burst into maniacal laughter, a spear thrust into his side.

“Huh?”

Anna, concealed within the crimson haze of Shauren’s aura, had seized the opportunity to strike.

However, her spear point met an impenetrable defense, screeching as it deflected off Pollux’s skin as if striking steel; with a casual flick of his wrist, he deflected her spear, sending it spinning away.

Even Meldick, who had been rushing in with a raised fist, his sword sheathed, skidded to a halt, his face a mask of disbelief.

The gravity of the situation was impossible to ignore—Pollux was impervious to all their attacks.

“He’s become a monster.”

“My spear has been getting blocked quite often lately.”

Shauren and Anna retreated, backing away from the transformed boy; though they’d surrounded Pollux, cutting off his escape, he seemed oblivious to their presence, lost in a world of his own gleeful madness.

“Hahaha! So that’s how it is! Father! Mother! So that’s why you always pushed me to be stronger! To swing a sword! To train! You told me every single day!”

“……………….”

“Oh, really! As if I ever wanted to swing a stupid sword! But now I get it! Now I understand what you were trying to teach meee!”

His exhilaration evaporated as quickly as it appeared. Pollux slumped, head bowed, shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.

“But I still don’t want to do it.”

The scouting team exchanged uneasy glances, each of them struggling to comprehend his erratic behavior and fractured mental state.

“He’s like a lunatic.”

“What in the world happened to him?”

Shauren and Meldick muttered, their faces grim with concern.

Anna, unable to help herself, glanced towards Silverna, who was still facing off against the yeti. Even against one opponent, Silverna seemed to be struggling.

“Silverna won’t last.”

Isaac, his voice devoid of emotion, interrupted her thoughts, his gaze fixed on the unfolding scene.

“What?”

“The yeti isn’t in its right mind either. It might not be as drastic as Pollux, but it’s still being controlled by the black goo.”

It was clear seeing the Yeti’s body being dyed in a murky light.

Especially its strength and speed were incomparably faster than before.

Under normal circumstances, they would have rushed to Silverna’s aid.

But these were far from normal circumstances.

“With Silverna handling the Yeti, this is our greatest opportunity.”

If Silverna loses to the Yeti, it’s all over.

Those present wouldn’t be able to withstand their combined assault.

“Do you have a plan, Lord Isaac?”

At Anna’s question, Isaac focused his gaze on Pollux again; the black goo, as if oxidized, was emanating a dark aura like smoke around him.

To Isaac, it looked like a bonfire, fueled by the remnants of Pollux’s sanity.

“We’d win in a prolonged battle. That state can’t last long.”

“……….…….”

“But that’s not an option now, is it?” His voice hardened with resolve. “So what we need to target is there.”

His Falchion was pointed on the ‘bone’ protruding from Pollu’s chest. It was a stark reminder of the yeti’s initial attack, basically the catalyst for this entire horrifying situation.

“We’ll use that to kill Pollux.”

Meldick and Shauren gasped, their eyes widening as they turned towards Isaac. He could sense their question before they even voiced it—could they truly kill their former comrade?

“We must kill him.”

There was no saving Pollux. This much, Isaac knew for certain.

Though he’d never seen black goo before, he had seen people transform like this in his previous life.

“Once in that state, they’re no longer human.”

Isaac’s voice was heavy.

“If you can’t do it, I will.”

His hand holding the Falchion didn’t tremble.

Watching him step forward, Anna carefully asked.

“What exactly do you know? Please tell us too.”

“…Vassalization.”

“Vassalization?”

“It’s a magic that transcendent beings use to make humans their possessions.”

It rapidly enhances physical abilities but causes extremely bizarre mental distortions.

They act on instinct.

They blurt out whatever comes to mind.

They forcibly pour out their true feelings.

“I’m sorry! Father! Mother! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry for being such a worthless worm!” 

“That means-“

“Ugh! I should never have been born! Me! To think I possess this power, yet I never wanted to hold a sword! Not even once!”

Anna’s gaze, now tinged with terror, settled on Pollux.

“Kill meee! A disgrace that shouldn’t have been born! An unfilial child who makes mother shed tears! The sinner of Blackson!”

Every word that tumbled from his lips was infused with agonizing sincerity, without a trace of lies.

“I’m a sinner! A sinner! Aagh! Kill me! Only then will Father’s disappointment cease! Only then will Mother stop shedding tears! I, I must atone even if it means this!”

As Pollux pounded his chest, his confession echoing through the frozen air, the weight of his words settled upon them, heavy and suffocating.

Haunted by a life of regret and suffocating under the weight of his perceived failures, he seemed to have forgotten his own name.

Perhaps that was why—

“Pollux! Wake up, you stupid fool! You shouldn’t lose to something like that!”

Meldick shouted in anguish, as if feeling something overwhelming in his chest.

Isaac’s chilling words—’We have to kill him’—had sparked a frantic urgency in Meldick. He clung to the desperate hope that there might still be a way to save their friend, to pull him back from the brink.

“Kuheuk!”

The Sinner of Blackson whipped around, his gaze snapping towards Meldick.

His eyes, vacant and unseeing, settled on him. With a jerky nod, he drooled, a string of saliva trailing from his bottom lip.

“Yes, yes, yes.”

And then.

“I want to live.”

He lunged towards Meldick, his sword whistling through the air with deadly intent.

END of CHAPTER

тяαηѕℓαтσя’ѕ ησтєѕ

Meldick seems like a good lad!

☩

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