Chapter 194: 3rd Volume Prologue – The Red Crow I Admire
I’ve always believed that emotions are the most useless thing a human can have. Only by throwing away those messy feelings can a person become truly perfect.
Emotions are a burden. A trap.
That kind of silly thing makes people hesitate and lose focus.
That’s why, I admire someone who has truly thrown away all emotions and lives with pride.
Ah, yes. That’s right, him. Do you know about the Red Crow?
That cool, calm, and incredibly strong assassin.
That man... he’s my idol. My personal god.
Yes, that’s right. I’m his fan.
And not just any fan. A die-hard fan.
I can say it without any doubt. I’m absolutely crazy about him.
Every assassin feels this way, right? Among all the children of the “House of Nightingales,” who hasn’t heard the name “Red Crow”?
He’s the person we all look up to. No one else can be like him. So powerful, yet never swayed by useless feelings.
I admire him. I worship him.
We’ve seen each other a few times now. I always greet him with excitement, but under that deep red cloak of his, he won’t even glance at me.
He walks past me without a word. He ignores everyone’s attention. Time after time, covered in blood but without a single wound, he reports back to the Second Prince.
Sometimes he brings back the heads of his targets. Sometimes he brings parts of their bodies. Standing in the great hall, he presents a blood-soaked offering.
He is just so, so, so—
SO COOL~~!
Not just that, he's absolutely full of mystery. I’ve never seen his face clearly. Probably only the Second Prince has seen what he looks like under the cloak.
But I just know, under that reddish-brown hair, he must be wearing a look of cold disdain...
Looking down on all of us, like we’re nothing but bugs crawling at his feet.
Just thinking about that makes my heart race! It’s exciting. It makes me shiver.
That kind of person, who sees all life as meaningless, is exactly what I long to become.
Even me... I bet he looks at me like that too.
When he sees me, he must look at me with those cold, disgusted eyes, right?
Those eyes that see me as trash...
Hoo—
Hehe.
Hehe... ehehe—heh heh heh... hahaha—
It’s thrilling.
An assassin like Red Crow would never be interested in anyone. Even me, even though I work so hard to catch up to him, I'm still nothing more than a tiny bug in his eyes.
That’s exactly why I became his fan. A hopelessly obsessed fan.
He’s full of pride, like a god sent down to this world.
He doesn’t feel happiness, anger, sadness, or joy.
He doesn’t understand things like love or pain.
He’s pure, a true god of death made for killing.
Yes... that’s right.
That’s exactly how he should be.
Only someone like him is worthy of being my family, my true “family.” Even though everyone in the “House of Nightingales” is considered one family, and we’re supposed to be close. He is different from the others.
Those weak, indecisive people don’t deserve to be called my family. They aren’t worth my attention.
I want to be just like the Red Crow, to stay far away from those insects, that filth, and not let any emotional dirt stick to me.
He is so perfect. If you can throw away your emotions, you can become strong and decisive, just like him.
No one should ever try to taint him with their so-called emotions. He shouldn’t be touched. He should be worshipped.
But now… where has my Red Crow gone?
What is he doing right now?
I just returned from my mission and came back to my “home,” but he wasn’t there.
Still, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Even though I’ve been away for a long time and didn’t get to see my Red Crow, I know he’s still out there, carrying out the difficult missions given by His Highness the Second Prince.
Because that’s the kind of perfect person he is. No matter what the order is, it won’t be hard for him. He can do anything, or rather it’s because he doesn’t get bothered by emotions, that he’s truly perfect, completely capable of everything.
My god. My Red Crow…
Right now, in your cold, emotionless eyes, what kind of terrified faces and tragic deaths are being reflected?
……………………………………………
Rustle.
“Eve?”
Armand turned around when he heard the sound of leaves moving. He saw Evelia standing under a tree not far away.
Maybe it was because she was half-hidden behind the tree, with her face in the shadows and wearing a gloomy expression. But to Armand, Evelia looked a little creepy in that moment. If it weren’t the middle of the day, he might’ve actually gotten scared.
“......”
Evelia silently stood not too far from Armand, who was in the middle of the horse arena.
Because of that recent human trafficking incident, Armand had been very busy lately. Now that he finally had a little time to rest, he came straight to the horse arena to visit his beloved horse, Luna.
Armand really liked horseback riding. Back when he took Evelia out to help her relax, it was already clear. His way of relaxing was riding Luna for a few laps.
The weather was perfect, not hot, not cold, just cool and comfortable. So Armand thought he’d spend more time with Luna now, because in a few months, once winter came, his body wouldn’t let him run around in the freezing cold anymore.
If the cold got deep into his body and reactivated the poison he had worked so hard to suppress, it could even be life-threatening.
That’s also why, now that Armand was visiting Luna more often in his free time, he wasn’t seeing Evelia as much as before.
But when winter arrives, as long as there aren’t many missions, Armand basically won’t leave the mansion at all, like he’s hibernating for the entire season.
And knowing Evelia’s personality, that means winter will absolutely belong to her.
She’ll find every possible way to stay by Armand’s side, so that the bond they’ve finally built doesn’t grow distant again.
Even though their bond… still isn’t all that close.
Even though Armand once called Evelia his "family," the truth is, their relationship at the time was really just that of a master and his maid.
But now, Armand was spending a lot of his time with Luna the horse, and that made Evelia feel upset, so upset that even Anna, who was usually calm, thought it was a bit ridiculous.
Why bring up Anna? It was because of a writer named Clund who had recently moved into Anna’s clothing store.
As a novelist, Clund had a wild imagination. When he was trying to design a main character for Anna’s story, he asked her if the male lead had any pets, just to help build the character's background.
Evelia happened to be there at the time, so Anna passed the question to her and asked, “Does Mr. Armand have a pet he’s close with?”
Evelia didn’t think much about it and quietly answered, “Mr. Armand has a white horse that he really likes. Her name is Luna.”
It was already common knowledge that Armand loved horseback riding. Many people joked that he found horses more fun than women. Clund, who had heard this before, tapped his pen and mumbled to himself.
“What if... the horse turned into a horse-girl?”
As soon as he said that, both Evelia and Anna gave Clund a sharp look.
“Whoa, don’t look at me like that! I was just speaking nonsense. I mean, I’m a novelist, I’ve got to think outside the box sometimes! Imagine if the main character’s beloved horse became a horse-girl, wouldn’t that make the original female lead completely unnecessary? And it’s a white horse! Who could resist a cute girl with animal ears and white hair? If there were something in this world that could turn animals into humans, I’d definitely want to study it. Maybe I’d raise a cat or a dog!”
Clund was clearly joking, and Anna didn’t take it seriously. They chatted for a bit longer and moved on to another topic.
But Evelia didn’t treat it like a joke.
After all, she herself had turned from a man into a woman, so why couldn’t a horse turn into a horse-girl?
Thinking like that, she felt more certain that killing that one alchemist back then was the right decision. But what if, just what if, someone else out there still had that kind of crazy transformation technology?
What if, one day, Luna really did turn into a horse-girl?
And lately, Armand had been visiting Luna more and more often, spending less and less time by Evelia’s side...
That night, the person known by some people as the “emotionless Red Crow” had a very strange dream.
In her dream, Luna had really turned into a beautiful, gentle horse-girl. After that, Luna became the most important person in Armand’s life.
In the dream, Armand spent all his time with Luna, eating with her, shopping with her, lying in the sun at the stables with her. Evelia even dreamed that Armand brought Luna into his bedroom, right in front of her.
In the dream, Armand introduced Luna to everyone around him.
To the old butler Lug, he said that Luna was his most important companion in his youth, and that he owed his success to her.
To Vice-Captain Carle, he said Luna was his best friend in life, and thanked him for helping pay to buy Luna back then.
To the First Prince Solor, he said he would now do everything according to Luna’s wishes, and that he would resign from his position as captain soon and leave.
To Rachel, who was like his daughter, he said Luna was the one he loved most. He would give everything to Luna, teach her human knowledge, and help her become an excellent horse-girl.
Finally, to Evelia, Armand said that from now on, he would always stay with Luna. He would leave the mansion, dismiss the servants, and after marrying Luna, live a happy countryside life with her.
He even joked that he didn’t know whether the children he had with Luna would be humans, horses, or centaurs.
That was the moment Evelia woke up, sitting straight up in bed, covered in cold sweat.
The very next day, Evelia went straight to the stables.
Just as she expected, Armand, who rarely had time to rest, was there with Luna. He was happily patting Luna’s head. It was a peaceful and sweet moment, that made Evelia’s expression grow darker and darker.
Now, as Armand saw Evelia standing under the tree with a gloomy face, he instinctively rubbed the bruise that hadn’t fully faded from around his eye.
‘Did I… do something wrong again?’