The Devil Who Breaks My Neck

It fell off unexpectedly easily with a snap. Erzen hurried out of bed and headed for the door like a squirrel. The sound of the child running rang the floor, followed by the sound of the door opening.

“……don’t blame me. I saved your life once anyway.”

It did not chase Erzen. Just glances at the back of the running child.

Pitter. Patter.

Rain began to pour through the open window, and thunder roared loudly at close range. White lightning struck the window and took away the darkness for a moment, ‘It’ disappeared.

Flutter.

In the room where there was only silence, the bookshelf shook in the rain and wind and dropped the books. In the open book, the monster wriggled, the letters danced among themselves, and the boy who defeated the monster disappeared.

On the empty place. Newly engraved letters appeared bit by bit.

《The monster swallowed Jack in one bite.》

***

The wind and rain beat against the window. The occasional sound of thunder hit his ears and made his head ache.

Ezekiel sat alone in the office, staring at the clock in front of him with a cigar in his mouth. The clock ticked away. At the minute hand that began to bend to the right after midnight, Ezekiel emitted smoke and rubbed the cigar on the ashtray.

“……Herace.”

His wife had been suffering from him for hours without rest, so she should have been still unconscious by now. When he thought of his wife, who was so tired and lost consciousness even though she reaped what she sowed, his eyebrows crumpled on their own.

Ezekiel bent his head after biting his lips to the point of bleeding. The desk shivering with thunder represented his feelings.

“It’s been a while since I thought it wouldn’t work out like this.”

Ezekiel, who was blaming himself for his madness, stared at the desk and suddenly looked up as if he felt someone was looking at him. And he jumped up from his desk without realizing, at the face that suddenly appeared.

“You…”

Pumpkin-colored eyes trembled with the sound of the chair being dragged. Ezekiel, unlike his expression, his body stiffened as he stared at the person standing in front of him with a cooler expression than ever.

It was Charles who appeared before Ezekiel. His half-brother, with red hair resembling his father and bright blue eyes of the Duchess Ulysses, was right in front of him.

“……I’m out of my mind, so I’m seeing crazy things.”

When Charles didn’t say anything, Ezekiel spouted out as if he was convincing himself. The person opposite of him wasn’t speaking. The brother in front of him was just a fantasy. An opaque figure without even a shadow that could prove his existence.

“……it’s no use looking at me like that. As I said before, I don’t feel sorry for you.”

Even though he knew it was a virtual image, Ezekiel opened his mouth. His half-brother, who had been looking at him quietly just like his wife does, had an expression as if he had something to say to him.

“Herace is now my wife, not your fiancée. So forget…… Ugh.”

Rumble!

For a moment, lightning struck and his head hurt as if it were splitting. Ezekiel staggered with his forehead clasped. Charles still had the same face despite the pain of his half-brother.

“……I don’t know where you are, but don’t ever show up in front of Herace again. If you show up again…… Ugh!”

Ezekiel barely continued, panting and holding the corner of the desk. He couldn’t stand the flash of light any more. As he collapsed with his knees bent, Charles, who was looking down at his brother, raised his arm and pointed in a direction with his finger.

“Huh. What…….”

Ezekiel held his head while looking at the direction his younger brother pointed with his finger. There was nothing on the wall, only one still life was left alone beyond it.

At first he remembered what or who was over the wall. The room beyond that wall was formerly used by Herace, and is now where Erzen is staying.

Rumble, boom!

A strange anxiety swallowed Ezekiel with another strike of lightning. Ezekiel woke up, forgetting his terrible headache.

There was a rough sound of the door opening, and Charles finally disappeared as if he melted into the darkness as his half-brother ran forward.

***

“Erzen!”

It was raining so much that nothing couldn’t be seen outside. Herace, who was lying dead on the bed with a pale face, woke up from her nightmare by calling her son’s name to the sound of thunder.

“Erzen. Erzen…….”

Her chest, wearing only one thin nightgown, heaved up and down. Herace, who was looking around by calling her son’s name, sighed after confirming that her hands were clean.

‘……a terrible nightmare.’

Herace saw a nightmare similar to her previous dream. Her son Erzen, was looking down at her with sad eyes as he was submerged in a puddle of blood that was splattered everywhere. She tried to hug her son, but Erzen just kissed her forehead and disappeared in a beam of bright light.

When she calmed down a little, she felt chilly. Herace looked at the glass greenhouse, removing the hair attached to her forehead and neck in a cold sweat. The world was rather quiet, drowned in the sound of pouring rain.

Rumble.

A prolonged thunderstorm rang and lightning struck the glass greenhouse. Herace opened her eyes wide when she saw someone through the flashing light.

“Erzen!”

Her son, who disappeared for a while as the light died down, was crying. Her heart began to beat madly again, and Herace quickly rushed down from her bed.

“Mom! Mom!”

Erzen’s cries continued to ring in her ears. Herace, who couldn’t stand it any longer, opened the door.

A dark darkness unfolded before her with the damp air.

***

“Monster……Ugh. It wasn’t Brother. It was a monster.”

Erzen was sitting on the stairs, sniffling. Originally, it was a quiet night, so the child’s cry would have rang in the castle, but it was not now. The steady stream of lightning, thunder, rain and wind hid all the sounds of the world in them.

“Mom…”

Erzen called Herace and flinched with fear every time there was lightning. He felt like the stairs where he was sitting were shaking whenever thunder rumbled.

‘……I’m scared.’

When he first saw the monster that looked like his Brother, he tried to go outside looking for his Mother. But the rain and wind and thunder and lightning left Erzen stranded.

As he sat still, the ambient temperature gradually decreased. Erzen rolled up and wiped his wet face with his small palm. Then, he happened to see the stairs right below through the railing. There stood a woman with black hair.

“Mom?”

When surprised Erzen looked up and looked carefully, the black-haired woman slightly raised her head and tried to look up. But in a moment, Erzen saw the same blue eyes as his.

“Mom!”

Despite the ringing thunder, the child ran down the stairs without hesitation. As Erzen followed, the woman with her long hair seemed to look back, and then headed down the stairs.

“Mom! Take me with you!”

Erzen ran fast to catch up with his mother. However, somehow it was not easy to catch his mother.

Erzen bent down the stairs several times with a tapping and running sound of footsteps. The child didn’t get close to his mother until he reached the stairs between the first and second floors.

A hall appeared under the stairs of the first-floor. Originally, no matter how late it was, there would be several servants, but only silence flowed in the hall.

“Haah… Mom, Mom.”

Erzen gasped and grabbed the hem of his mother’s dress, who he barely caught up with. The feeling of the hand and the fear of thunder and lightning had long disappeared with the soft black hair.

“What?”

But at the moment of relief, Erzen felt a strange sense of wonder from his mother.

His mother’s hair was naturally curved smoothly, but it wasn’t curl this way. In addition, instead of the familiar warmth, only a very cold air flowed from the mother in front of him.

Rumble.

The thunder that seemed to scratch the floor passed low and the woman’s hair faded from the end. As the black hair, which was like the night sky, gradually became lighter and turned into a cold golden color, Erzen stepped back, leaving the woman’s hem. And for a moment…….

Rumble, boom!

The sound of thunder was heard louder than ever, and under the flashing flame, a blonde woman grinned and mouthed to Erzen.

“Good-bye.”

The little bluebird crashed like that.

***

Thunder and lightning moved away for a short time, and the wind that hit the window roughly disappeared. All that was left was endless rain that seemed to submerge the world into nothingness.

Ezekiel stood on the stairs, watched the scene unfolding in the first-floor hall, and ran madly down the stairs. As he passed by, Charlotte, who was standing at the end of the stairs, burst into laughter and said.

“Why are you making that face?”

It was a voice that he didn’t want to hear as if his ears would be torn, but Ezekiel couldn’t hear it. He just picked up the child lying down the stairs.

The little body in his arms was still warm. It was safe to say that he was sleeping except for his tightly closed eyes and his pale complexion. The child’s heart stopped beating and the sound of breathing disappeared along with it.

Ezekiel shook the unmoved child and loudly shouted for help.

“Is anyone there? Call a doctor right now! Bring a doctor!”

Ezekiel’s shout was not hidden even by the sound of the rain. Servants and knights sprang up from here and there. As the audience increased, Charlotte’s laughter gradually increased. However, as soon as the knights pulled out the sword, she threw up black blood and fell forward.

“Argh!”

Some maids screamed. The black blood Charlotte vomited made a puddle and began to flow down the stairs. Charlotte laughed until the end of her death. She shook her arm up. And pointed to the door with a creepy smile between her blonde hair.

Ezekiel and other people’s eyes turned to the main gate. Before he knew it, two knights along with a woman soaked in the rain was standing at the wide open door. Water was dripping from the end of the woman’s dark hair.

“Erzen!”

Herace, who entered the hall barefoot in her thin clothes, kicked the floor, calling the name her son in Ezekiel’s arms in a more tearful voice. The pale face was as paralysed as Erzen.

The drops of water splashed everywhere and his wife’s blue eyes were wide open in shock and fear. And ‘It’ whispered in Ezekael’s ears.

“……The child of Medea, I will return what I have taken.”