“Thought it’d be Noah!”

Riete exclaimed, surprised, then tilted her head.

“Were you more disappointed than I thought at not matching up with the Commissioner of Police?”

Han Yuhyun met Riete’s gaze silently. He too felt surprised. He’d clearly expected to face Han Yujin. Even if Yujin had been matched with someone else, Peace or Park Yerim would have been plausible. Yet the person standing before him was Riete.

Riete narrowed her eyes at the silent Han Yuhyun, then snapped her fingers and applauded.

“Perfect! I’ve been wanting to talk to you!”

“A talk?”

Han Yuhyun murmured. Conversation didn’t suit Riete, nor him. Riete nodded vigorously, her black, rod-shaped earrings chiming.

“I don’t know you well, but I feel we’re kindred spirits. So why are you so close to your family?”

“……”

Han Yuhyun’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Family—she meant Han Yujin.

“Your brother is even weaker than Noah. So why’d you spare him? He’s older too, so he couldn’t have been ‘cute’ like Noah.”

“Even when he was young, I never thought him cute.”

In fact, he barely grasped what “cute” meant. As a child, Han Yujin had often called him cute, for no particular reason. Whether acting normally or oddly, he was cute. So Han Yuhyun thought “cute” just meant “I like you.”

Now he knew another nuance but still felt little difference from “like.” Thus, in Han Yuhyun’s mind, the only one who could be called cute was Han Yujin—though he never said it aloud, knowing his brother wouldn’t appreciate it.

“I’m not one to call every youngster cute. Cute is cute. Anyway! Didn’t you ever try to get rid of him? I did. He was a nuisance. Especially to us—our parents avoided us.”

“If my brother didn’t love me,”

Han Yuhyun answered calmly,

“he would have judged it better to have no siblings.”

Han Yujin’s disappearance would have better ensured Han Yuhyun’s survival. Breeding and rearing offspring are almost instinctual. If you have only one child, and lose one of two, you’re likelier to lavish care on the one remaining—even if you find them unsettling.

So if Han Yujin didn’t love Han Yuhyun, then like a cuckoo chick, Han Yuhyun would have pushed Yujin away—easily, disguised as an accident, with no suspicion on a child.

“Right? That’s normal.”

To them it would be. Like a snake egg in a nest, if born fully grown, one might spare the weak. But a vulnerable hatchling instinctively swallows its nestmates to survive.

“Since I was born first, even more so. They would ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) have gone for the newborn. It wouldn’t have been odd if one day they’d left only me behind.”

Riete’s parents were terrified of their young daughter yet couldn’t abandon her—her childlike appearance and parental duty held them back. But when a new baby arrived, everything changed.

An ordinary, cute, younger, frailer infant. As the newcomer, Riete was no longer the household’s youngest ward. She became a threat—someone who might harm her sibling.

“They’d protect the new child. The baby was smaller and weaker. I quickly realized my parents could cast off responsibility for me.”

“So I tried to kill him~ You saw it. Noah was small, sparkly, and cute. He’s my brother. Mine.”

Unlike her parents, mere functional guardians, Riete felt differently. He was useless, weak, only fussing about. Yet she adored him. Riete changed her mind and clumsily cared for her brother. No reasonable parent would abandon a daughter who treasured her sibling.

As Riete grew, though, her parents ultimately couldn’t handle both and gave up on them.

“And your brother?”

In Riete’s eyes—why did you spare him?—Han Yuhyun spoke.

“It was strange.”

“You’re fearless. Usually people fear me.”

“But my brother chose me over our guardians.”

Even as a child, Han Yuhyun instinctively understood: human offspring are frail. Without an adult’s aid they can’t survive and take long to mature. Though born much earlier, Han Yujin was still tiny compared to a full adult.

Thus to Han Yujin, the parent was everything. All life’s necessities, knowledge, values, habits—he depended entirely on them.

“Even though it shouldn’t have been that way.”

Survival is the greatest instinct, and Han Yujin ought to have chosen the parents, naturally.

Yet Han Yujin turned his back on his world and took Han Yuhyun’s hand.

“My brother was the weird one.”

Weird indeed—it was a kind of seed. Han Yuhyun felt Yujin’s strangeness; it was his first true emotion toward another. It shouldn’t have happened.

Han Yujin forsook his world and joined Han Yuhyun’s. Thus he gradually engraved affection and love into the younger boy.

“My brother was the weird one.”

Han Yuhyun spoke matter-of-factly, as if stating a firm truth—that no one could love me like he did, that he could only look at me. Who else would abandon his world and approach him? Even through eternity, there would never be another. Maybe it was only possible because they were children—only they in that time.

“He really was strange.”

Riete blinked. With just those few words, she, too, grasped the similar upbringing. Han Yujin’s parents must have rejected Han Yuhyun, yet Yujin clung to him to the end—and still does.

“Why did he do that? Your brother.”

Han Yuhyun fell silent, then hesitated before answering:

“Because he thought I was cute.”

That’s what his brother had said: my younger brother was cute, pretty, kind. Riete nodded in understanding.

“‘Cute’ is such a strange word. But Noah is cuter than you. You don’t sparkle. Your hair and eyes are black.”

“My brother said I was the cutest.”

“That’s ‘cause he hadn’t seen Noah. Even now you’re dark and Noah sparkles. If you asked now, he’d say Noah is cuter.”

Han Yuhyun didn’t answer—he felt no need. Han Yujin found Noah cute, but less so than Park Yerim or Peace. And the one person Yujin always doted on and cherished most was Han Yuhyun.

So rather than answer pointless questions, Han Yuhyun drew the Overlord’s Blade. Riete jumped back; the spur of her boot teetered on the cliff’s edge.

“My brother thinks my sibling is the cutest!”

“…He feels the same.”

This wasn’t Han Yuhyun’s opinion but Han Yujin’s. Yuhyun spoke because Yujin surely would have said his brother was best. Riete pouted slightly. She, too, held a longsword.

“How did you two stay so close? I protected my sibling and made them strong. I still think that was right—survival is fundamental!”

She’d striven to make her beloved stronger. If they died, everything cute would vanish.

Had Noah and Riete’s positions been reversed, Riete would have accepted it without complaint—becoming strong was best. Living unthreatened and free.

So she sought only the best for him. Even if Noah grew strong enough to kill his sister, Riete would have been content: my cute brother will live a long life.

“And you?”

Thud! Riete kicked the ground; part of the cliff crumbled. As her body flew forward, a blade touched Han Yuhyun’s throat. The swift, murderous edge stopped short of his flesh on the pitch-black steel.

Then Riete reached him and their swords clanged:

“I…”

Kraak—metal screeched as Riete’s S-rank blade, enhanced by skill, struck the Overlord’s Blade. Even so, the Overlord’s edge ground faint sparks as it barely held.

“I abandoned him. Because I had to accept my brother.”

Had Han Yujin forsaken Yuhyun immediately, Han Yuhyun would have been chipped away. To adapt to his new world, he slowly discarded his former self.

A blue flame flared along the Overlord’s Blade. Riete backed off quickly, scattering poison that the fire consumed.

“My brother and I are different. That will never change.”

Flames dripped like raindrops onto the ground, hissing as they touched. Mana mixed in and seeped away.

“…Noah and I are different too.”

Riete admitted reluctantly.

“Honestly, I never yielded. My sibling was weak, I was strong! Was it okay for you brother to be weak? Could you live by the weak’s rules?”

“My brother was not weak.”

“I know how great he is, but he was still weaker.”

“In raw strength, maybe. But my brother…”

Han Yuhyun’s lips curved ever so slightly. He remembered how remarkable his brother had been. At first he’d feared for and tried to protect Han Yujin. But now, though still physically frail, he trusted his brother.

“My brother was strong.”

“W-what?”

Feeling the heat beneath, Riete tried to dodge. But before she could:

Rumble!

The cliff collapsed faster. From a few steps ahead of Han Yuhyun, the ground crumbled. The flames melted the earth like hot marsh, spirits of fire exploding from within. The ground collapsed in a deep pit, as if carved out by a giant shovel.

“It’s hot!”

Swept by the falling debris, Riete cried out. Even if she leapt onto rock, it melted instantly beneath her feet. No S-rank hunter, no matter their prowess, could run on molten ground without related skills. Riete growled softly.

Crash!

A heavy roar echoed. Han Yuhyun looked down into the chasm. A massive black dragon lurked amid the half-lava earth, staring up at him. Scorching molten rock dripped like scales. The heat was terrifying, yet the dragon’s scales held firm.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep