𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐓𝐘 ━ 𝚠𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚙.

Chapter 5.5.

5.5一 and he saw blood and didn't flinch

༻𖥸༺

ATHAN WAS NOT SCARED OF BLOOD. He himself could clearly remember his own blood flowing out of his body the day Park Ye-Jun died. (The wheezing breaths leaving his failing lungs, the blurry vision of his sister crying above him, the desperation in her eyes and that damn hopelessness at the sight of it all.)

Athanasius De Alger Obelia was not scared of blood. That was an irrefutable fact. So when he saw the blood that splattered the walls and floors of the Ruby Palace, along with the bodies littering the ground, Athan felt nothing.

Because he did not know these people, did not know their stories and, frankly, couldn't care less for the faceless humans around him. It was easy, detaching his emotions and feeling nothing at the sight before him.

He walked though the carnage, wandering the halls in an aimless search for one specific person. Eventually, he'd found him, standing there, a sword gripped in white-knuckled hands dripping with freshly spilled blood.

And looking at the back of his father, white robes and face covered in crimson splatters, Felix and Kassian on either side of him, he could hear the words he uttered.

"... how amusing."

Athan tilted his head, confused and frustrated. Why wasn't father sensing him nearby? Was he too focused on the task at hand?

"I wonder how long this thing can live in accordance to its name."

Probably. Athan paused, leaning to the side to get a look at what his father was observing so intently. There, in the trampling hands of one Lillian York, cried the child Diana had died bringing in this world. A waste, if anyone asked him.

"So it will live."

The first one to turn around was Felix, his face a mask of steel that melted away like liquid mercury at the sight of him. Instantly followed by a completely shocked and concerned Claude who looked at a loss of words before his son, perhaps for the first time in his life. (And a Kassian that was two steps away from fainting.)

"Your Highness, what are you doing here?!"

Athan's eyes didn't stray to either of the fretting knights, but gazed directly into his father's, and while most would see just the undeniable rage that boiled in them, the young prince could see the sadness and melancholy lining his jeweled blue pools. The pain that was in those eyes, the utter helplessness when faced with this situation. His father wasn't an emotional being, having difficulty expressing himself at times, especially when dealing with problems long since buried deep within his heart.

'Ah...' Athanasius' face softened, completely forgetting about the baby crying in the maid's arms and the dead bodies of the concubines, about the two knights that hovered around him. 'It's because you were never granted such a name, isn't it?'

So, steeling his courage, the reincarnation ran forwards and hugged his father's leg. (Because he swore to never allow that look to cross his father's eyes and he was seeing it once again.)

"... Athan..."

Burying his face in the white robes, uncaring of the blood that threatened to dirty his face, he whispered, "Don't be sad."

And Claude felt something in his heart pull at those words. Bending down, he took the child in his arms, and pressed his son's face underneath his chin, a hand holding the back of his head while the other supported him up. Careful of not smearing even more blood on his precious son, Claude pressed a kiss on his golden hair.

'How foolish I am... I made Athan worry.' His child told him that he would change, told him of his worries that he would become worse, but Athan never left his side and always smiled at him, showering him in that childish love of his.

"I don't deserve you."

✂------------------------------------------

current state of mind:

anyway, i'm rereading the solo leveling light novel so i can freshen up my memory for a future fanfic, so y'all have that to look forward to
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)