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Of course, humans adapt quickly, so the men would soon be able to see the faint figure.
But would they be more skilled than me, who has lived in darkness my whole life?
I could feel the panicked men hesitate for a moment before rushing towards the window all at once.
They were going for the curtains.
Idris didn't miss the chaos and slipped through them, running towards the door.
'If I escape in this gap...!'
But as Idris opened the door, the curtains were thrown open, and a faint light entered the house. And...
Thwack!
A cold piece of metal flew and lodged in his back.
Idris, feeling the terrible pain for the first time in his life, collapsed without even being able to breathe.
Then, silence fell.
"Tsk, a young one who used his head quite well. If we let him live, it would add another worry to Her Majesty the Empress."
The leader was about to pull out the dagger stuck in Idris for a definite finish when it happened.
Idris, who wasn't dead but thought to have lost consciousness from the pain, staggered to his feet.
The man was terrified at the sight.
"What, what is this...?"
Idris had his eyes closed as if he had lost consciousness, but the blue mana surrounding him was pulsing menacingly.
The moment the men instinctively sensed the threat and tried to kill Idris.
Idris's closed eyes opened.
Boom!
At the same time, an explosive magic burst out and swept the men away.
Next, the men's screams and the pervasive stench of blood vibrated in all directions before fading away.
And... darkness.
"...We are very late, Your Highness. Please forgive our incompetence."
Idris felt someone else picking him up and let go of the consciousness he had been clinging to in the runaway mana.
That was his last memory in the slum.
Pulled from a distant memory, Idris stared at the notebook on the table.
The notebook was filled with countless drawings of butterflies in various shapes.
"The caterpillar completely melts itself in the chrysalis to gain wings. Isn't that amazing?"
Idris looked at the butterfly in the notebook and the sleeping Leticia, reached out to her, but eventually lowered his hand without touching her.
Instead, he lowered his hand and stroked the butterfly in the notebook. His fingertips were trembling slightly.
The hand that had been endlessly stroking the butterfly in the picture stopped, and a sigh that sounded like a sob escaped from his lips.
"...I've been looking for you for so long, Aria."
Aria overlapped with the sleeping Leticia, and the 'curse' he had been struck with the moment he made eye contact with Aria as a child shook him once again.
His heart. And his whole life.
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