He spoke with clear pride. Kayden let out a sigh.
"Stop showing off… it's bad for you."
Adam shot him a disgusted look. "Do you want me to hit you again?"
Roger intervened as usual, cutting the absurd argument short. "Anyway, he secretly sold the weapon. That's how our partnership began… an underground trade."
Roger laughed in triumph, while Adam glanced sideways at him. "No one in this group is normal."
Kayden commented flatly, "That explains a lot."
After finishing their drinks, Kayden suddenly pinched his brother's arm and stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."
He nodded toward Roger, who also stood up. "I think I'll wash my hands."
The moment they stepped out of the bar, Kayden dragged Roger into a side alley and quickly moved away.
Inside, Adam sat by the window, watching Kayden wave at him from outside with an exaggerated goodbye before disappearing.
Adam stared at his glass and muttered, "Why did they leave? Why did I even come with them?"
Outside, Kayden ran alongside Roger, laughing.
"He's rich… he should pay!"
Roger laughed loudly. "You're such a troublemaker!"
When Kayden returned home, he found Colton sitting on the floor surrounded by piles of medical books, writing notes on scattered papers, fully focused.
"You're quite the diligent student…" Kayden whispered sarcastically.
Colton lifted his eyes slightly.
"I don't understand everything written, but I finished all these books."
Kayden looked at the stacks beside him. "You're a bookworm…"
Colton simply nodded and returned to his work. After a moment, he said calmly,
"Your sister told me I could stay here, but in reality… I'm living here without permission."
Kayden barely suppressed a laugh and went to change his clothes. When he finished, he suddenly froze as if he had discovered a great secret.
"You know what? Adam isn't as poor as he claimed! He's rich!"
Colton looked at him slowly. "That stingy guy?"
Kayden laughed bitterly. "Yes! I never believed it!"
That night, Kayden slept deeply deeper than he had since arriving in this world. It wasn't escape or surrender. The voices in his mind faded. The anxiety disappeared.
In the morning, Kayden opened his eyes slowly, as if waking from a long, blurred dream.
At first, he was calm… then the calm turned into shock.
The ceiling above him was unfamiliar.
He couldn't breathe.
The air felt heavy, suffocating, as if his heart couldn't pump blood to his limbs. His trembling hand rose in front of his face, searching for something to anchor him to reality.
He screamed a hoarse, broken sound. Terror filled him completely. The scream echoed through the walls.
Colton appeared instantly, his face tense and alarmed. He rushed to him and gently patted his back.
"My lord Kayden… calm down. Everything is fine. You're safe… you're here."
But Kayden didn't hear him or didn't understand. His eyes were lost, staring into nothing.
Footsteps approached. The sound of movement made him want to vanish.
Yet he clung to Colton as if he were salvation itself.
"Who's Kayden?" Rin yuan asked in panic, staring at him.
"They're coming!" Colton muttered suddenly.
He transformed into a black bird and landed on the window frame, watching outside. "I won't leave. Don't worry."
The door burst open.
Isabel rushed in, her face pale, eyes frantically searching for her son. Her heart already knew the scream was his.
She saw him collapsed, rigid, struggling to breathe. She almost fell.
She rushed to him and knelt, her trembling hands touching his face.
"He's fine… he's fine…" she kept repeating, as if convincing herself.
She held him gently, patting his back until his breathing slowly stabilized.
Kayden, still confused, whispered weakly, "Mother… is my body cold?"
A memory echoed in his mind: ' Catastrophes have cold bodies.'
But her voice was warm and steady. "You're warm, my dear… don't worry. There's nothing wrong."
Henry entered shortly after, observing the scene cautiously. Kayden suddenly stood up, forcing a faint smile.
"It was just a nightmare… I'm fine, really."
After a quick shower, Kayden changed into formal clothes and went down for breakfast. But his mind remained foggy.
He looked at the food and felt a strange disgust not hunger… but nausea.
This is the first time I've slept peacefully, he murmured inwardly.
Then memories began returning.
He saw himself sitting in front of Arbella. She smiled with artificial gentleness.
"Search again," Kayden said calmly, his voice cautious. "He won't help you."
Arbella crossed her legs and laughed. "What should I do?"
"I know about the weather," Kayden muttered.
Arbella laughed coldly, then leaned forward and touched his head. He pulled away immediately, but she didn't stop. She forced him to the ground.
"Now I'll show you how weather is made."
Everything felt prepared in advance.
A man stood at his head. Arbella at his feet.
"He has a twin? Interesting… I've never seen twins reach this stage," the man said, inspecting him like valuable merchandise.
"We should take both."
The ground beneath Kayden lit up red like blood.
Panic consumed him. He tried to scream… but no sound came out.
The man grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground repeatedly.
"Plant a desire for suicide inside him."
The man ordered.
Arbella obeyed without hesitation, then added coldly,
"I planted a worm inside him. If he doesn't die from the suicide impulse… it will grow and kill him."
Kayden snapped back to reality, staring at his food for a moment before pushing the plate away. He stood up abruptly and went upstairs. He couldn't take it anymore. He searched for Colton and told him what he had remembered.
Colton froze.
He placed his hand on Kayden's head and released his aura, scanning for the foreign presence.
"She was going to kill you… strange that I didn't sense it because it isn't spiritual. I don't know if you understand… even your father wouldn't detect it. You should have seen a specialist, not us," Colton muttered, his face dark with anger.
"I don't want to die. I'm not inside a game I can restart. Get it out!" Kayden spoke quickly.
Colton responded, extending his spiritual power through Kayden's body. For a moment, Kayden felt as if his soul was being turned inside out.
"Don't resist," Colton whispered.
Kayden shook his head weakly. "I won't resist…"
Suddenly, Colton punched him in the stomach.
The impact threw Kayden to the ground. He didn't understand what had happened until his body crashed hard, the sound echoing through the room.
"Your family has arrived. I can't stay longer."
Kayden's eyes turned red. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at Colton who had already changed his appearance, melting into the shadows to watch from afar.
"What is happening?!" Adel's terrified voice rang from behind the closed door.
She didn't wait. She lifted her dress and kicked the door open violently.
She rushed in—and froze.
Kayden was on the ground… vomiting blood.
"..."
Her scream tore through the house.
"Arbella, that who*e! I will kill her!!"
The others rushed in.
Isabel ran toward him, tears already forming. "Did… did he try to kill himself? Did he do it again? Did he trick me?!"
The answer was in Kayden's eyes alone.
Kayden coughed up thick, dark blood, staggering as he tried to move. He couldn't stand. He pushed weakly against the floor, but his body failed him. He collapsed again, shaking violently, his chest rising and falling as if he were drowning.
"Call your father!" Isabel screamed. "He just came back go quickly!"
Henry ran immediately to Arthur and told him everything.
Arthur had just returned home after a long, sleepless day. He hadn't even removed his coat. But the moment he heard Henry's words, fatigue vanished.
He rushed through the halls like a man breaking through panic itself.
When he arrived, Adel was holding Kayden tightly, forcing his body to expel whatever remained inside him.
Arthur stopped.
For several seconds, he couldn't process what he was seeing.
"Corrupted blood…" he murmured, his voice carrying a mix of disgust and concern.
He stared at Kayden's body, soaked in blackened blood, as if it had expelled something straight from hell.
"Did you plant this inside him when… you imposed that desire?" Arthur asked quietly, more to himself than anyone else.
Kayden barely nodded.
The moment he did, his body went numb. He felt disconnected from himself—limbs turning lifeless, heat and cold disappearing, only pain spreading from inside out.
Adel tightened her grip, afraid he might slip from her hands and die.
"What do we do?!" Isabel cried, trembling.
Arthur sat down sharply, already thinking.
"Mavilda, he's been poisoned. Something entered his body and has already spread. Bring the strongest antidotes we have."
"Henry! You're a doctor don't just stand there!"
Henry stared at Kayden as if watching his soul being torn apart. His face was deathly pale, his body shaking uncontrollably. "I feel unbearable pain…" Henry whispered.
Everyone in the house knew it.
Twins were rare in this world… and their bond was unnatural. A thread of existence tied them together. If one suffered, the other felt it as if it were his own body breaking.
Isabel looked at Arthur with helpless despair. Arthur himself was shaken. He had raised them, watched them grow, watched their illnesses and conflicts. He knew it—
When Henry suffered, Kayden suffered. When one fell, the other collapsed with him.
And now Kayden was dying… while Henry, untouched, trembled as if his heart was being crushed.
"Sit down!" Arthur ordered sharply, forcing Henry into a chair.
But Henry stood back up again, refusing to stay down.
"I'll bring the medicines…"
Henry was on the verge of breaking into tears, but he forced himself to move.
"Mavilda!" Arthur shouted. "Tell Mary to come. Don't leave Henry alone!"
Within minutes, Mary arrived with her husband and son. Their faces were tense, worry etched deeply into their expressions.
"Lock the palace. No one enters or leaves today. Inform George and Roger that work is canceled."
Arthur approached Kayden, carefully lifted his head, then turned to Adel. "Press down on his stomach. If you don't, I will."
Adel complied.
Kayden gasped in pain. "It… hurts…"
Meanwhile, Roger and George had already arrived after hearing the news. The scene before them looked like a nightmare carved into reality—blood staining the ground, Kayden screaming and delirious, Isabel crying, and Arthur looking like he was on the verge of killing someone.
"Hold his legs!" Arthur ordered.
George immediately knelt and secured Kayden's legs.
Henry brought the medicine with trembling hands. His mother gave him a firm look.
"Henry, sit down… please."
He obeyed. His heart felt like it was about to explode, but he knew he had to stay steady.
Kayden could no longer see clearly. Everything was blurred, as if thick fog covered his mind. But for a moment, he saw his father's eyes glow—no pupils, only pure white light.
Inside him, something screamed.
A distant voice echoed in his mind, like a forgotten chant:
"There is no perfect doctrine… you are the seed of self-awareness… this is the path… Edenmiel…"
Kayden screamed with all his strength. He wanted to smash his head into the ground, to silence the pain, to end it by any means but his body was too weak.
And Arthur was ready.
Light seeped into Kayden's body. His form trembled violently.
Then suddenly he vomited something distorted.
A black mass the size of a hand. Dead. Yet it felt like it had once been alive.
Isabel screamed.
George reacted instantly, as if he had expected it, wrapping the mass in thick cloth and pulling it away.
Kayden was still trembling, unable to understand what had just happened.
"Roger, switch with Adel. Hold him properly!" Arthur ordered.
Kayden looked at Roger with tear-filled eyes, as if begging the world itself for mercy.
But Arthur didn't stop. He placed his hand on Kayden's forehead and began speaking words that sounded like a prayer:
"O Luminous Path… Great Lord… Light of the Way… Edenmiel… cleanse his path…"
Kayden suddenly went silent.
His breathing stopped.
Henry gasped in horror, staring at his brother's motionless body.
But then—
Kayden opened his eyes.
And he was no longer there.
He was in a quiet place… as if submerged in light itself. He could hear water flowing gently nearby. A hand rested softly on his head he couldn't see the face.
"I didn't die… I didn't die… I didn't want to die… I never wanted to die…"
When he returned, tears were streaming silently down his face.
Arthur said nothing. He simply stroked his hair gently and held him, as if trying to stitch him back into existence.
"Prepare the bath… we need to clean this mess."
Adel, Isabel, George, and Roger were all covered in corrupted blood, still shaken.
"Henry, bring the proper medicine now."
Henry obeyed immediately.
Arthur, Roger, and George carried Kayden toward the bathroom.
Mavilda stood outside trembling. "I can help him…"
But George stopped her gently. "He'll feel embarrassed… let us handle it."
Mavilda remained outside with Isabel and Adel. Each of them bore blood on their bodies… fear in their eyes… and a trauma that would not fade.
"I've seen many things…" Isabel whispered, holding her head. "But this… this is terrifying. That thing… even after leaving his body… it was still disgusting. No wonder he was so thin… it was consuming everything—even his energy."