The boy's thoughts settled, and he soon drifted off to sleep.
This time, he dreamed of his past self and saw "whips," "stun batons," "poisonous insects"...
His hands and feet curled up involuntarily.
If you'd never been whipped, you wouldn't know how much it hurt when the whip had been soaked in water.
If you'd never been shocked, you wouldn't know what five hundred thousand volts felt like.
If you'd never been bitten by a poisonous insect, you couldn't possibly know what it felt like to convulse from poison, your insides churning.
From the age of three, when Roy first gained his memories, this had been the daily training he had to endure.
Silva had led him there as a young child and thrown him into this living hell, all under the lofty excuse that "this is laying the foundation for him to become a qualified assassin in the future."
Later, when he realized Roy's talent was limited, he gradually shifted his focus to Illumi, Milluki, and the children who had yet to be born.
Roy had nothing to say about it, let alone pass judgment. It was simply the Zoldyck family's fate. Every child born into the Zoldyck family had to endure this process. There was nothing more to say.
But, as a human being, Roy had always felt he had the right to choose his own life...
"First, breaking free of their control is the first step!"
"Roar!" As dawn broke, Mike's roar came right on schedule.
Roy opened his eyes once more, back in the familiar bedroom.
Today, he stayed in bed for an extra minute, carefully savoring the events of the previous night. The bowl of wild boar meat Kie had so painstakingly prepared had tasted pretty good.
So, for today's lunch, Roy instructed Gotoh to fry an extra portion of bacon.
After eating his fill, he took Snow Walk with him.
The morning's electric-shock training was over. The afternoon was his own time to train.
Roy had deliberately changed into a comfortable set of training clothes and strolled down the quiet corridor of the Ancient Castle. Through the windows, he could just make out a woman with electronic eyes covering half her face, leisurely enjoying afternoon tea in the garden with a little child.
The child was very pale and plump, his arms and legs stacked together like bamboo joints.
Yet he wore a little flowered hat and a Lolita-style dress, with white knee socks and a pair of round-toed leather shoes... making people mistake him for a girl.
In truth, it was merely an outfit chosen to indulge the woman's unusual tastes.
When Roy was little, he had nearly suffered the same fate, but he'd destroyed the outfit by violently tearing it to shreds.
As a result, the woman still couldn't stand the sight of him. That suited Roy just fine; it gave him some peace and quiet.
"Young Master Milluki, you can't eat that!"
The chubby toddler caught a butterfly and stuffed it into his mouth, startling the butler following behind him.
Unfortunately, the butler was too late. Half the butterfly had already gone into Milluki's mouth, and the only way to get it back now was to look for it in his shit.
"Crunch... crunch..." Milluki chewed with relish, a ring of powder around his mouth.
At some point, he seemed to finally notice someone watching him from the corridor beside the garden. With some effort, he lifted his fat little head and looked over, seemingly wondering—
Who's that?
"That is your elder brother, Young Master Roy..."
The butler answered Milluki's question. He had also noticed Roy by the window, and placed his right hand over his chest in a respectful salute.
Roy said nothing, and didn't disturb what little happiness Milluki had left. His gaze rested on the boy for just a moment before he turned and headed toward the training room.
As for the woman, if she was pretending not to see him, why should he go out of his way to approach her?
After all, as far as she was concerned, he was just a "failed product."
Roy gave a self-mocking smile,
touched Snow Walk, and pushed open the door to the training room.
The gleaming white katana seemed to hate getting dirty.
In Roy's hand, it came free of its scabbard with a metallic ring, flashing with a cold, pale-blue light that scattered the dust floating in the sunlight.
"Creak—" The training room door closed heavily.
The boy regulated his breathing, gently stroked Snow Walk, and began to "dance"...
"Sun Breathing—Waltz," "Sun Breathing—Clear Blue Sky," "Sun Breathing—Burning Sun Mirror," "Sun Breathing—Fake Sun Rainbow"...
[Constitution +0.05...+0.05...+0.05...+0.05...]
At one moment, the blade flashed—
Snow Walk left Roy's right hand and shot through the air. An electronic eye in the corner of the wall gave a "whimper" and died on the spot.
At the same time, the television in the master bedroom on the second floor erupted in static.
"Bzzzt..."
The static flickered in streaks, one after another...
The man, holding a glass of red wine, had been dozing on a sofa draped in tiger skin. Seeing this, the corner of his mouth lifted into a smile...
He made no move, showed no anger, and didn't ask Tsubone, who was already "back on the job despite her injuries," to turn off the television. Instead, he waved for her to fetch a sword from the storeroom.
Then he stood up and firmly gripped the slightly curved katana.
His presence changed... becoming domineering and savage, like a ferocious beast about to tear everything apart!
It was terrifying!
Tsubone tactfully took two steps back toward the wall, giving the man plenty of room.
Her expression appeared calm, but she felt conflicted inside, because she had keenly noticed that the head of the family had recently been paying an unusual amount of attention to someone.
"When did it start?"
It seemed to have been when the person on the television suddenly leaped up and began that strange "dance"...
"Whoosh!" A sweep of the blade sent a sharp, icy gleam past Tsubone's eyes, snapping her thoughts back to reality.
Silva moved!
Holding the sword in both hands, he imitated Roy's dance. The blade in his hands seemed to come alive, chopping, sweeping, thrusting, slashing. Paired with the "Shadow Step" beneath his feet, in an instant—
The bedroom was transformed into a strange, illusory space, filled with flying glints of blades and swords.
Until the final strike—
"Sun Breathing—Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance," accompanied by a sharp sword cry!
Only then did Silva abruptly stop, lower his blade, and let out a long breath.
"Heh... heh... heh..." A low, restrained laugh echoed from the man's mouth...
Silva narrowed his eyes, confirming one thing—
"This isn't a dance. It's the Martial Way."
Tsubone's pupils contracted! Silva's words immediately brought someone to mind...
An old man with an upright ponytail who loved playing volleyball.
As the Strongest Human and a master of the Martial Way, he had explained its meaning through ten thousand grateful straight punches every day.
It was the true meaning forged by humanity's pursuit of surpassing itself... the breadth of heart to observe heaven and earth and embrace all things in nature... the equanimity to revere life and take death and rebirth in stride...
Now, in this small bedroom, within an Ancient Castle that had stood for nearly a thousand years, a trace of it had appeared!
It was truly incredible...
"Take it away and give it a proper cleaning." When the dance ended, Silva tossed the sword over.
Tsubone caught it mechanically, seeming not yet to have recovered from the flashes of blades and swords...
In a daze, she turned her gaze toward the television...
The static-filled screen no longer showed the boy's dashing figure.
Only those words remained—"Aren't you a dog too?"
They kept echoing in her mind...
Before you continue