Chapter 19
“Do you want to know who killed your daughter?”
Flinch. Hixen’s body shook. No matter how much he was drunk, his ears irked whenever the word ‘daughter’ was heard.
“What, you…”
All the drunkenness in him simmered down before he knew it.
Viola gulped. It is said that there is mana in this world, and if he makes up his mind, he can blow away all the senses in his body. It seemed to be true. His eyes, which were like rotten fish’s eyes, came back alive.
“I saw your daughter.”
“Where?”
Hixen’s eyes flashed to life. The word ‘daughter’ was the whole meaning of his existence.
“Svenu slum, eleventh Street. Under the sewers of the terrible site.”
All of this is about Hixen, who came to his senses a few years later, by learning for himself. Hixen learns to calm down by teaching Tundra. He went back to the very beginning and looked for traces of his daughter. Eventually, he found his enemy.
Viola continued nonchalantly.
“Red hair like it’s burning. Raisins of freckles on the cheeks. She had small cross-shaped earrings on her ears.”
“…”
Hixen’s body has hardened. ‘Is this really a Verratoux?’ He didn’t know who this girl was. But she was emitting the energy of Verratoux.
‘There’s no way there’s a Verratoux I don’t know.’
Judging from her clothes, she seemed to be part of a family that had a high reputation. However, he didn’t believe it completely. Over the past three years, there have been many people who have approached him this way. All of them wanted to use Hixen’s sword skills.
The misfortune of Hixen as an individual is like luck to many powerful men who wanted him. So, Hixen no longer believes in people.
“She firmly believed that her father would come to her rescue the moment she was dying. She was proud to have a father like you.”
How she died was not described in detail, though it seems that something terrible had happened that Viola was reluctant to describe.
“Anyway, she’s definitely dead. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“With your own eyes?”
“I told you. I was in the slums.”
Hixen clenched his fist. In fact, he was expecting that his daughter was dead. However, he did not admit it until now. Even now, he still didn’t want to admit it. As he tried to yell no, Viola quickly continued.
“You were a hero, and you were called the Black Whale, weren’t you?”
“…What the hell do you want to say, kiddo?”
The way he talks is a lot more calm. He seemed to have figured that Viola was not talking nonsense.
“And you are also a friend of my great father, the Master of Winter Castle.”
“…”
Only then did Hixen discover who this girl is.
Recently, Winter Castle was noisy. Duke Heron said he had brought in an adopted daughter from the slums. Then, it made sense, the fact that Viola saw his daughter accidentally in the slums. The doubt disappeared a little.
“Are you Viola?”
“That’s right. Anyway, you had the same talent as my father. You’re a hero. Your wife and daughter are killed and kidnapped. Then, it’s either.”
Viola grinned.
“You’re a madman who’s lost his nerve without knowing the world.”
She added.
“What a thoroughly planned crime.”
Viola gently twisted her purple hair with her index finger.
“What do you think, Uncle? Do you think it’s a crazy guy who lost his cowardice? Or was it thoroughly planned and moved by someone?”
She added.
“If you’re a lunatic who’s lost his cowardice, you’d have found it out quickly because you’re a capable man.”
Viola then continued, “But you couldn’t find it. Besides, the timing was exquisite, isn’t that right?”
His daughter was kidnapped, while he was out looking for his daughter, his wife died.
“As if someone had calculated it elaborately.”
When he lost his wife and daughter, he wasn’t in the right mindset to look back and understand the situation. And after that, Hixen became a drunkard and didn’t look at the situation clearly.
“And why didn’t you consider how a kid like me could find that out? Is this really all a coincidence?”
Viola felt a little remorse. ‘Actually, I’m guessing everything on my own.’
All of this is inferred by Hixen’s sane mind. He will find his enemy. The enemy is also deeply related to the novel’s final villain.
“Think about it, man. Who was the one who benefited the most from your craziness?”
Meanwhile, Xenon looked up at the sky. The sun was setting. The sky is turning red, as though it is embedded with blood.
The red sunset was on Viola’s face. Viola’s visage looked like it was burning.
‘It’s a beautiful sunset.’
It’s a good day to wake up the Black Whale.
***
The conversation ended well.
When Hixen raised his fist, Xenon coughed for nothing. He said to Viola, sneaking away from her eyes.
“Anyway, for three years, Lord Hixen has not allowed anyone to break into his space.”
“What about your father?”
“The Duke gave Sir Hixen a room, and he never came here.”
Viola nodded. ‘If he really wants to go, that’s all.’
If he comes to his senses, he may not know, but Hixen is not the type to cheer up and comfort himself.
If Hixen comes to his senses. As if he had never done it, he would have been his friend again, or he would have killed him himself.
That must have been Heron’s last consideration for his friend.
Viola drank a sip of warm apple tea. A refreshing scent spread through her mouth. ‘I haven’t changed the plot that much.’ Hixen was about to come to his senses anyway. She didn’t change the content of the novel significantly.
Hixen sat in front of Viola.
“My friend, he’s got a funny daughter.”
“Everyone says so.”
“So. What do you want?”
“What do you want?”
Hixen smirked. “I’ve seen a lot of people who had eyes like you, kid.”
“What do my eyes look like?”
“Heron-like eyes.”
“I look like father? I’m an adopted daughter.”
“It means you’ll never lose to anything.”
“Hmm.”
Viola waited for the heat to cool down.
Why? She does this when she reads novels. She followed the novel. Fortunately or not, she was born with an arrogant look. Thanks to it, she looked like an experienced negotiator.
Hixen spoke after a while.
“Don’t waste your time, just tell me what you want.”
“I have a dog.”
“Dog?”
“It’s a dog, but it’s also a person. It’s big, and sometimes, it even bites.”
“I see.”
Hixen was strangely convincing. Viola is somewhat annoyed by it, but it was also comfortable.
“Sir, please tame him.”
“How?”
“Teach him how to wield a sword.”
“No, I don’t want to.”
“I’ll find your daughter’s killer.”
“I can find them on my own.”
Viola almost lost her words for a moment. That was true. It was mentioned that Hixen was capable of finding things in the novel as well. It’s because he’s drunk, but if he’s not, he is as good as Duke Heron.
“Why are you saying no?”
“It’s annoying.”
“Just try meeting him first.”
The story changes once they meet. Hixen had fallen in love as soon as he saw him. He immediately realized that Tundra was born with a body for swords.
Hixen said teasingly.
“No, I don’t want to.”
Viola decided to change the strategy a little.
“Sir.”
“Why?”
“I thought you’d be very cool because your dying child called for you so desperately. While I was hiding in the sewers, her words ‘ dad’ came to her mouth as if it were a sacred phrase.”
Hixen closed his eyes for a moment. His heart sank when he remembered his daughter.
“But now that I look at it, you are not cool at all.”
“Pardon?”
“Do I have to repeat it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m, uh, asking you to help me.”
For a moment, Xenon’s ears pricked.
Here it is.
The virtue of a ruler. She had a mercenary art that could handle people by changing masks freely. He then focused more on Viola’s words.
“I want to live.”
“Who’s killing you?”
“I studied a lot about this place.”
It was true. She studied the novel’s worldview a lot, and she was also a fan of the characters.
“This place is wild. My mother and brothers, who want to kill me, live here. And there’s also a violent father.”
Hixen was particularly sensitive to one word.
“A violent father?”
“My father is indifferent to me. He is throwing me in the wild like this. Being so indifferent is a kind of violence.”
“…”
“You said he was smart. You know why I’m here, and you’re pretending you don’t know anything.”
Viola reached out her hand.
“Please stay with me.”
“…”
“I need an adult to lean on.”
I hit a nail in Hixen’s heart.
“I’m alone.”
Hixen could see Viola’s hand in his eyes. Viola’s hand looked especially pale and small. His eyes began to shake wildly. He knows his daughter because he has raised her. This child is much smaller than seven years of age. So, even if she says she is five years old, he would even believe it. A girl of such a small build reached out her hand.
“Hold my hand.”
The last phrase touched Hixen’s heart.