The world's shadow

That night, the stars and moon hung high in the sky!

Estelle carefully laid Eros, who had fallen asleep in her arms, to one side and tucked the covers around him.

Looking at her young son sleeping peacefully, she let out a soft sigh.

Her earlier serenity and grace had vanished, leaving her face full of worry.

Duke Renka had already told her about Eros's interest in the Mystic Side, and that was precisely the source of her concern.

Normally, children had to reach eighteen, when their minds began to mature.

Only then would their elders gradually tell them about the twisted, uncanny evil hidden beneath the civilized world.

That was because younger children lacked mental maturity and were far too vulnerable to those uncanny forces, which could cause their bodies to undergo uncontrollable, grotesque mutations.

Although she knew her child was cleverer and more mature than other children, so much so that he hardly seemed like a child at all, that did nothing to ease her anxiety.

But what could she do? The moment Eros became interested in the occult, the occult had already set its sights on him.

She softly murmured that truth, stained red by countless lives lost within the Mystic Side:

"When you peer into the occult, the occult peers back at you. When you come into contact with the occult, the occult draws closer to you."

Sighing again, she gently leaned down and kissed Eros on the forehead.

"I'm sorry, my child, for extinguishing your curiosity about the true world."

With things as they were, the only way to keep her child from being corrupted by the occult was to conceal his curiosity about the true world, along with those memories in which he had already glimpsed the truth.

As her words faded, an arcane, mysterious black book trembled slightly within a magnificent, solemn temple. A force from the "hidden root" descended from the night sky and sank into the child sleeping soundly in bed.

Eros knew nothing of any of this. At that moment, he was lost in a pleasant dream.

Early the next morning, Wendy pulled Eros's covers off.

His eyes flew open, and he saw that bratty little sister holding his blanket, her face full of triumphant revenge.

Estelle, who had been sleeping beside him, was already nowhere to be found.

Eros looked helplessly at Wendy. "Bratty little sister, what are you doing?"

Wendy lifted her little face proudly. "You're so old already, and you still need Mom to hold you while you sleep. How embarrassing."

Eros curled his lip in disdain. "You're just a bratty little sister. What do you know?"

"Call me your big sister!"

"Bratty little sister."

"Call me your big sister! Your big sister!"

"Bratty little sister, bratty little sister! Bratty little sister!"

Hearing the commotion inside, the two maids waiting outside the door knew their young master was awake.

They immediately opened the door. One went to the bed to help Eros get dressed, while the other prepared his washing things.

They were long accustomed to the siblings bickering whenever they met and merely smiled with their lips pressed together.

By now, Eros had grown used to being waited on by maids.

This accursed old society had corrupted him. He had wanted to hold out, but the lovely maids were simply too irresistible, so he had fallen completely.

Watching from the side, Wendy proudly raised her little face again. "I've been able to dress myself for ages."

"Wow, Big Sister Wendy, you're amazing! You can actually dress yourself." Eros tactfully played along for once.

Wendy's little face flushed, and she gave a couple of bashful hums.

All her anger at her younger brother for refusing to call her his big sister vanished without a trace.

The two maids merely hid their smiles at the sight. Her Highness Wendy was completely wrapped around her younger brother's finger.

Once he was ready, a refreshed Eros stood in the courtyard, looked at the sunlit world, and drew a deep breath. What a wonderful world.

The life of a great landowner was just that simple and unpretentious. Praise transmigration~

Years passed like that. During that time, he noticed something strange: that bratty little sister Wendy seemed to disappear for a few days after turning eighteen.

When she returned, she became all mysterious. Whenever he asked her about it, she refused to explain and merely lifted her little face with a smug smile.

Then, around that time, his father inexplicably gave the household servants a bonus, on the grounds that he was in a very good mood that day.

The bonus was quite substantial, which struck Eros as a little odd.

It was not that he found his father's giving out bonuses strange, but that the bonus had been handed out on the very day the missing Wendy returned.

He certainly would not believe there was no connection. Strange~ Something feels off, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Unable to make sense of his doubts, Eros could only tuck them away in his heart.

Two years later, one day after his eighteenth birthday,

A manservant he had never seen before approached him, bowed, and said:

"Your Highness, the duke wishes to see you."

Eros froze on the spot. Those words seemed like a key, opening a lock inside his mind.

Scenes both unfamiliar and familiar began surfacing in his mind. They were all his own memories, yet for some reason, he seemed to have forgotten them and was only now suddenly remembering.

The scenes in his memory finally stopped at a hazy female voice:

"I'm sorry, my child, for extinguishing your curiosity about the true world."

At those words, Eros finally came back to himself. He raised his head as though he had realized something, then saw the amusement in the manservant's eyes.

Has the time finally come? So that's how it was!

This world really does have occult powers, and my family possesses them.

It's just that I wasn't eighteen yet, and coming into contact with those things was too dangerous, so they used some method to make me forget those memories.

And perhaps the time has come today, so they've restored the memories I once forgot.

He had pieced everything together. Without further hesitation, he nodded and followed the manservant.

Before long, he met his father.

Duke Renka nodded solemnly. "Follow me."

With that, he turned and led the way.

The corners of Eros's mouth lifted, and he followed without the slightest hesitation. He was finally going to encounter the truth of this world.

The two arrived, one behind the other, at the Small Church within the Duke's Mansion. Eros knew the place, having visited it often before.

The chapel housed a statue of the God of Death and Reincarnation. His elders all seemed to be believers.

He had originally assumed that the gods worshipped by these religions were made up, just like those on Earth, but now~

Since the Mystic Side truly existed, was it not perfectly reasonable for gods to exist as well?

To his surprise, his father did not enter the Small Church's main hall but headed toward its rear entrance instead.

After entering through the back door and turning a corner, he stopped at the entrance to the basement where the Small Church stored its odds and ends.

Duke Renka turned to Eros and said with an exceptionally grave expression:

"No matter what you see in a moment, you must not cry out. Keep reverence in your heart, because the place we are about to enter is the hall of our ancestor-the hall of a Great One."

By the end, Duke Renka was so excited that his voice had risen considerably.

Perhaps sensing the gravity in Duke Renka's tone, Eros instinctively straightened his back, his expression growing solemn as well.

Seeing his son's demeanor, Duke Renka nodded and, without further hesitation, descended the steps. He finally stopped before the basement wall directly opposite the foot of the stairs.

He extended his right hand, murmuring an incomprehensible incantation.

A mass of murky gray light gathered in his palm. He pressed his hand against the wall, and in an instant, the entire wall, built from expensive stone, turned pitch-black.

Eros's pupils abruptly contracted as he watched his father walk toward that darkness, which seemed capable of swallowing all light, and then disappear into it.

Though his mind was screaming What the fuck! a hundred thousand times over, he still remembered his father's instruction: he must not cry out.

He drew a deep breath and, without further hesitation, walked toward the pitch-black wall as well.

Once through the wall, he gazed curiously at the long passage before him, then immediately looked up at his father.

Duke Renka did not disappoint him. He said:

"This is the Shadow Realm, the shadow of the world. Our ancestor cut away a section of the world's shadow and used alchemy to refine it into a special world."

Eros opened his mouth, unsure what to say. You can cut up shadows? And the world's shadow, at that?

To his disappointment, however, his father showed no intention of explaining further this time and simply continued along the passage without slowing his steps.