Chapter 233
It was a cold room.
Han Si-hyuk swallowed his silence and slowly lifted his heavy eyelids.
Given the last scene that he remembered before everything went blank, it wasn’t all that surprising that he had been dragged here.
The suffocating silence and the dense, piercing demonic energy filled the air.
“Are you awake?”
Abaddon was sitting in front of Han Si-hyuk.
“You took longer to wake up than I expected. I only put you to sleep for a bit, but you slept so long.”
The flippant tone sent a chill down Han Si-hyuk’s spine.
Han Si-hyuk glanced down at his own limbs. Surprisingly, they were free.
He had been brought here, yet they hadn’t bound him, leaving him just as he was.
It wasn’t hard to realize that this wasn’t an act of kindness.
With a trembling voice, Han Si-hyuk asked.
“Are you… planning to control me?”
He had come to understand the source of the mysterious power.
The power he received from Sepia was originally Abaddon’s.
That meant Abaddon could control him.
Knowing that the person in front of him could manipulate him at will was terrifying.
Sepia had hidden him so desperately because she knew all of this.
Abaddon smirked, placing a hand on Han Si-hyuk’s shoulder.
“You look even more dashing in person. Sepia’s got a good taste. No wonder she’s infatuated.”
“I asked if you’re going to control me.”
“….”
Abaddon stared at Han Si-hyuk.
The gaze was so deep it was almost entrancing, but at the same time, it was chilling.
Han Si-hyuk clenched his teeth as he faced Abaddon.
Abaddon nodded in agreement.
“I can.”
Then he added,
“Just as you said, there’s a lot I can do through you.”
“I can make you lose your mind and crawl on the ground, or I can make you end your own life right here.”
Ah.
Sepia.
“Or better yet, I could make you drive a knife right into that woman’s heart with your own hands.”
Abaddon burst into laughter.
“Isn’t that amusing?”
“….”
Conflicting emotions swirled within him.
As Abaddon watched Han Si-hyuk crumble, he laughed once more.
Moments ago, Han Si-hyuk had been glaring at him with eyes full of fury, but now he was on his knees.
Abaddon clutched his stomach, finding the situation hilarious.
“Hahaha… hahaha…”
Abaddon, a master of control.
This wasn’t the first time he’d seen someone who had definitely resisted only to succumb so easily.
He had seen it hundreds, no, thousands of times.
“Did you really think that would work on me?”
It was absurdly amusing.
Abaddon couldn’t contain his laughter and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
Han Si-hyuk kept his head lowered, still glaring at Abaddon.
He knew it was senseless to hope for mercy from a monster like him, but he couldn’t help but plead inwardly.
Abaddon, unaware of Han Si-hyuk’s inner turmoil, crushed even that desperate hope.
“I’ve heard prophets are supposed to be smart, but you seem to have a brain like an idiot.”
“….”
“At times like this, you make an offer, you stupid prophet. Think carefully. What do you think I want to hear most right now?”
The pause in Abaddon’s voice suggested he had something in mind.
He smiled coldly and spoke.
“It’s that bastard’s head.”
Han Si-hyuk knew exactly who he meant.
Han Si-hyuk stared blankly at the sneering Abaddon.
Abaddon, almost impatient, continued.
“It’s not hard. Bring me Han Siha’s head, and I’ll forget this ever happened. You and Sepia can elope, hide in the mountains, do whatever you want. I don’t care. How about that?”
“….”
“It’s a pretty good deal, isn’t it?”
Han Si-hyuk’s expression was stiff.
Abaddon only smirked more, shrugging his shoulders.
“What’s the matter? Do you feel guilty because you used to be family? You’re not even blood-related.”
Despite Abaddon’s prodding, Han Si-hyuk remained silent.
Han Si-hyuk just continued to glare at Abaddon, instead of answering.
“….”
He bit his lower lip so hard it drew blood and slowly stood up.
As he dusted himself off, his eyes were bloodshot and red.
“You never planned to keep your promise.”
Wasn’t it a question with no options from the start?
Han Si-hyuk had seen through Abaddon’s true intentions, and Abaddon roared with laughter in response.
“That’s why you can’t lie to fortune-tellers.”
Han Si-hyuk was right.
Abaddon had no reason to spare a subordinate who betrayed him.
So this whole situation was just amusing to him.
Even that fleeting moment of hesitation in Han Si-hyuk’s eyes was laughable.
Those crazed eyes filled with icy malice were even more amusing.
How could he not laugh at this?
At that moment.
“Ugh!”
Han Si-hyuk grabbed Abaddon’s throat.
Even though he knew he couldn’t kill him, he gritted his teeth and squeezed as hard as he could.
His eyes were filled with all the hatred and resentment.
Abaddon, feeling Han Si-hyuk’s fury, merely grinned.
He didn’t even resist.
Han Si-hyuk glared at Abaddon, feeling even more powerless, yet unable to quell his anger.
“You bastard.”
It was infuriating that he couldn’t kill him.
And even more infuriating that he couldn’t do anything about it.
Han Si-hyuk ground his teeth as he slammed Abaddon against the wall.
Bang. Bang.
The walls shook with the impact, but still—
Nothing.
Nothing changed.
He couldn’t land a single blow on him.
This man, no, this demon.
He would smirk as Sepia lay dying.
He would laugh as he watched Han Si-hyuk go mad.
Even as Castica fell, Ardel faded into history.
This demon would find it all entertaining.
Han Si-hyuk, clutching Abaddon’s throat, struggled to force the words out.
“As a prophet… I’ll give you my final prophecy.”
Abaddon’s contemptuous eyes stared up at him.
Han Si-hyuk uttered a prophecy that would wipe the smile off Abaddon’s face.
“That girl will kill you.”
She will kill me, and she will kill you too.
“She will end this war.”
“You’re spouting nonsense. Do you think just saying something makes it a prophecy?”
No, I’m certain.
“No matter how much you struggle for the rest of your life—”
“….”
“You will never get what you want.”
His voice was filled with hatred.
After cursing him, Han Si-hyuk released his grip on Abaddon’s neck.
It was because a splitting headache had surged through him.
Han Si-hyuk clutched his head and collapsed forward.
“Ugh….”
That was the last moment he was conscious.
* * *
The stench of blood assaulted his senses.
The sickening feeling lingered like an afterimage.
“Huff… huff….”
Han Si-hyuk gasped for air, lifting his head.
He couldn’t remember anything.
His mind, taken over by Abaddon, had been torn apart by the intruding consciousness that was not his own.
The throbbing headache still hadn’t subsided.
But more than that—
A brutal sight awaited Han Si-hyuk, a reality that forced itself upon him.
“….”
Thud.
Han Si-hyuk dropped the blood-soaked sword from his hand.
He had a sinking feeling about what had happened while he was unconscious.
For a moment, his breath stopped.
Han Si-hyuk forced himself to turn his gaze to the side.
“Sepia….”
Sepia lay there, struggling to breathe, still clinging to life.
The scene felt utterly unreal.
Han Si-hyuk stared at his bloodied hands with vacant eyes.
With these hands,
he had stabbed the woman who had saved him.
“Why… did I…?”
Even if he had lost his mind, he should have held on, at least in that moment.
He should have twisted the sword.
He should have stabbed his own neck if he had to.
He should have stopped this at all costs.
Guilt, rage, and hatred swept through his entire body.
He couldn’t overcome those emotions; his body trembled violently.
At that moment, Sepia’s eyelids fluttered.
She couldn’t move even a single finger, wracked with pain, but she struggled to speak.
“Han… Si-hyuk….”
Only then did he snap back to reality.
Han Si-hyuk crawled to her side.
“Don’t speak.”
He held her cold hand.
Her warmth was fading.
If even the last remnants of her body heat were gone, he knew he would truly lose her forever.
Han Si-hyuk clung to Sepia’s wrist, desperately trying to pass on his own warmth.
“Stay still. Just… just hold on. I’ll get a doctor.”
It was a ridiculous statement.
There was no doctor here, and no one could possibly help in this situation.
But Han Si-hyuk mumbled these absurd words, trying to brainwash himself.
That he could save her.
Maybe that’s what he wanted to believe.
But Sepia’s hand was already cold like that of a person about to die.
Even as he held on, he couldn’t hold her.
Then, it happened.
Sepia, who had been moving her lips as if trying to say something, shuddered.
“Han… Si-hyuk….”
Han Si-hyuk bent down, bringing his ear closer to her.
As if she were about to utter her final words,
What she struggled to say was a question so absurd that it felt almost laughable.
“This scene… I’ve seen it before….”
His vision blurred.
Han Si-hyuk wiped away the tears streaming down his cheeks and nodded.
He had seen a future where she died.
A future where she died like this.
Stabbed, bleeding, dying miserably.
“I’ve… seen it.”
Sepia looked up at Han Si-hyuk with a sad smile.
“It’s… so unfortunate….”
Sepia reached out and caressed Han Si-hyuk’s cheek.
Her trembling hand flailed in the air, struggling to do even this simple task.
Yet still,
Sepia looked at Han Si-hyuk, not with resentment, but with pity.
“You know everything, but… you can’t stop anything….”
Han Si-hyuk had foreseen Sepia’s death long ago.
He knew that because of her convictions, Abaddon would kill her.
But the futures he failed to see clearly always turned into regrets.
With a trembling voice, Han Si-hyuk spoke.
“If I had known it was because of me… I wouldn’t have stayed….”
It was entirely his choice to stay with Sepia.
He could have run away from her, but he hadn’t.
He had spent two years with her.
He didn’t know why.
As an illegitimate child of Castica,
as a survivor of a cursed village,
as the subject of a wretched prophecy,
he never truly belonged anywhere.
She was the first person who had ever reached out to him.
Maybe he had stayed because he had nowhere else to go.
That might have been the simple truth.
But at least, in this final moment,
He wanted to tell her that he had genuinely cared for her.
In the end, Han Si-hyuk couldn’t even say those last words.
Thud.
The hand that had tried to grasp him fell weakly.
“I’m sorry.”
With those final words, she closed her eyes.