Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

“How does it feel to be betrayed?”

Lucy gave a tearful smile.

“… I hope you will die crying just like I am now.”

The woman who reminded him of his mother. And because of the poison the young boy concocted, the people she loved were dead.

“There’s poison in it. Don’t eat it.”

Even though he knew, he ignored the plants’ warnings. But his expectations were brutally not met and his happy memories were shattering.

Amor said as he choked on his words, “Don’t do it, Lucy.”

The blade was already reaching his adam’s apple and he tried to lower her hand to live.

“See you, my lord.”

As soon as the blade tried to dig into his flesh, the strength behind it collapsed. The woman spat out blood.

“… Lucy?”

A pointed blade was sticking out of her chest.

“Hello. Amor.”

Castor was the one behind the blood.

His brother, who killed the maid in front of him along with the rest of the maids in his palace laughed uncontrollably.

“I see that this is a night for betrayal.”

A scent Amor was sensitive to was wafted from Castor. Dangling from Castor’s fingertips was the antidote Amor had to take.

“How fleeting, isn’t it?”

He lifted the small Amor with his bloodstained hands as if he was something fragile before whispering to him.

“So that’s why you shouldn’t trust anyone.”

Amor, who was trembling underneath the white blanket wrapped around him, engraved Castor’s words into his bones and let them take root.

“Your mistake was trusting that woman.”

His whispers were kind and enchanting. His chaotic world was being rebuilt with just a few words from Castor.

“You shouldn’t trust anyone.”

His eyelids fluttered. Just like that, he closed his eyes slowly before opening them again. His dark and sombre green eyes captured Castor.

“Yes.”

Yes, trust was something so fleeting.

The wry twisted smile that Amor let out looked grotesque on his skinny face.

***

It did not take long to reflect on his whole life. His life had been too short for any sort of long reflections. In a sense, though he had suffered through repeated pains throughout his short life, since he was already very much broken, these pains had no meaning and soon disappeared.

Amor had matured faster than others his age. He might have been a boy who was kind, gentle and pure. Someone who saw the world as a beautiful place. But now he could not remember when was the last time he even thought that way. It had been a long time.

One day, Castor brought Amor to a dark room. Then, he made him watch as people died after consuming his own poison. The first time, he shuddered. The second time, he cried. The third time, he screamed. The fourth, firth… When it was getting difficult to count the number of times it had happened, Amor calmed down. Castor told him that it was natural. All he was experiencing were fleeting feelings.

Yeah, it might not have been such a big deal in retrospect. There would always be people dying and dying was not easy.

His poison was not good neither was it evil. All it did was lead to the death of the consumer. Amor felt that it was all too much. Sometimes, people he loved and did not want to die died and people who were good died as well.

This sadness was all that was left of them. If even this feeling disappeared, all that was left of Amor would be a shell of a human. A small part of his heart whispered.

“My prince.”

The air was extremely moist in the morning. And in the still room, he heard a voice clearly. When he turned his head, he noticed a white bird. Amor shut the book he was reading and stared at the bird.

“I see you.”

The bird did not answer.

“Though I was surprised, this is not like you.”

While flapping its wings, the white bird replied as if it was a human.

“Hernan.”

As if they were in hell itself, shadows danced around the room’s light source. In the dark, the red light trembled. The bird flew over to perch on Amor’s legs. The bird had a beautiful blue chest.

“Why didn’t you just ignore the Princess and kill her?”

The bird asked carefully.

Amor gazed back at the beast that seemed to be observing him meticulously. He then recalled the little girl who was here just a while ago. She had barged into his head, his heart and messed it all up before leaving.

“I’m not sure.”

He turned his head and looked at the red carpet. The fragments of the broken teacup. The blackened parts of the carpet proved that whatever just transpired was not a lie.

“Please. Save me.”

When he heard that a princess whose name he had only heard vaguely was arriving, he had let her into his palace thinking that something interesting might happen but he had not expected this. This only happened on a whim because of his boredom. Then…

What had happened since was unimaginable.

“How do you know me so well?”

When coincidences began to occur the first, then the second and just a little while ago, the third time, they only left behind a pile of questions and surprises. It felt as if Amor could not understand english.

“If I drink it in front of you, will you believe me?”

He thought about how desperate the girl was. When he had asked that girl how she knew everything in tears… Now that he thought about it, it was obviously a question she would not have answered to.

For a long time, everyone who knew about his secret had died. But there were many ways she could have found out.

It could have been because of Amor’s poison or Castor’s sword. Then, Amor knew that Hernan wanted to fix whatever had happened to make sure that the secret was kept even if it meant taking the last resort. Though most of the time, he had managed to keep Amor’s powers a secret.

“The plan was that if you drink the poison and then hide your body, I’ll help you find the killer on your dead self’s behalf. I want to ask you why on earth this is happening.”

The bird chirped calmly. It had a very soft yet beautiful voice.

“Not long ago, there had been an attempt to assassinate you. I’m sure you already know who was behind it. You are now the most dangerous being here and the Consul of Isrus is out to get you. Since you are so dangerous, I honestly worry about you now that your body is weaker than ever before, Why did you do that?”

Instead of replying him, Amor just stared back at the bird. Very few knew that Amor was good at concocting poisons and medicine. Everyone who knew was already dead excluding the Emperor, the Crown Prince, Hernan and Hernan’s father. That was why they were able to carry out such a plan.

“I’m sure you had been surprised by the Princess’ visit but what was more crucial now was to grab onto the enemy’s tails and teeth that would’ve revealed themselves since your life was in danger, right?”

“Who knows.”

Amor gave little effort in his reply. His blue hair fluttered in accordance to the movements of his head, covering his cheeks before flowing gently through his fingers. He looked at his hair that had been illuminated by the scarlet red light source before slowly murmuring.

“I’ve come to hate drinking poison now.”

“But you’re not really dying.”

Amor who had been scratching his head smiled. He stretched out his legs and placed the bird before shifting his head.

The bird tilted his head in response before talking softly and calmly.

“If that’s all you’re going to say, I’m sure there’s a reason why.”

For just a movement, Amor hoped that the small grain of kindness that Hernan provided would not be taken away so quickly. He laughed bitterly. He wondered who was being worried for whom.

Just then, the bird let out a huge squawk which surprised Amor. The bird began hopping backwards whilst flapping its wings. The bird fell to the floor. After grooming its feathers for a moment, it flew up and descended to meet Amor’s eye level.

“I don’t think so, Amor.”

His heart began crashing down.

“… Brother?”

The bird which had blue eyes just a while ago was now spouting brilliant golden eyes in the dark.

“That’s right.”

The golden eyes that looked as if they were made from molten gold themselves. As far as he knew, there were only two people with those eyes.

“I thought I would just go since you looked like you’ve forgotten about me. But it looks like you haven’t?”

One of his bookshelves that had been packed full of books slowly slid open, revealing Castor who descended lightly. He walked towards Amor whilst snapping up his collar. He was wearing comfortable clothes and yet he still oozed grace as he walked.

“That was interesting. Isn’t that right?”

The black-haired man spoke pleasantly.

“… Did you see it all?”

“Of course, Amor. And I’ve also found something else.”

Castor narrowed his eyes slightly.

“No. It’s more like I realised instinctually.”

He was a visitor who had already been present in Amor’s room long before Ashley was. At the news of a new visitor, Castor who had brought Amor’s antidote had moved to an adjacent room.

The Princess that lived in the western palaces came to visit Amor? Since he was interested, he waited. He had a lot of work to do but he felt as if something fun was going to occur if he had hid himself.

And he was exactly right.

He had a lot of fun. Obtaining something through surprising occurrences such as this one made him happier than obtaining it through hard work though the latter was nice too. Castor gave a slight smile.

“Ah.”

Castor tilted his head. His hair that looked like a cut from the fabric that was the night sky and his golden eyes that did not seem to be human. His hair rubbed against his own eyelids.

Castor recalled the countless options he could have chosen before erasing them all again.

“What should I do?”

His low voice that disappeared in the air as soon as it appeared had a nice echo to it through the night. Amor could detect the faintest of emotion from his short sentences.

He was joking about something. Although sinister, there was an inexplicably beautiful charm around his eyes as if he was a demon conjured to seduce humans. He could attract anyone regardless of gender or age with a slight narrowing of his eyes.

Amor removed his eyes from him.

As Amor stared at the long shadows, he recalled fragments of memories from years past. When he thought about it, his brother remained the same from the first time he met him. He would smile whenever he killed someone. His mother, his nanny, his knights and… Lucy.

“Amor. Should I choose to know or not to know?”

His low cave-like voice was riveting. But even with such a voice, he was capable of killing people.

Amor’s eyes trembled slightly.

Castor’s golden eyes opened slowly.

“Should I try killing her?”

As if he became a young boy again, Amor raised his head slowly and stared at him. Amor knew Castor. The 7 year old’s world had collapsed and thrown him into the hands of his older brother. He could not rid himself of his embrace. He could not cut off his connection with him. And that was how it was till now. He had lived his life relentlessly.

Seeing himself being slowly consumed by the darkness and rotting himself to the core, he wondered if he would one day die just like this.

However, once he felt the warm breeze on his skin or fresh dew at dawn, he would regain his will to live.

Amor then realised that all the thoughts that were currently rushing towards him were useless.

In the end, there would always be life.

Therefore, wanting or wishing for something felt meaningless to him.

‘Strange… But still…’

The commotion that his thoughts brought did not die down so easily. Just like the stuttering boy 10 years ago, he would learn to move on like he had always done. He muttered to himself as he slowly closed his eyes.

“Brother, let’s live together. Let’s become happy together.”

He was flustered for a moment. It would become a sign of weakness if he were to try to act unbecoming of himself. He just had to do as he was told. Young Amor whispered.

“As always. It will be according to my brother’s will.”

The unsettling feeling after making such a promise was wiped cleanly off his mind.

T/N:

Sorry this was late! Regular updates begin tomorrow!