'Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!'

The first page of the book was filled with a single word, and one single word only.

It repeated over and over again.

11 "....."

I could almost feel the rage and hatred Julien had poured into the word. The page was marked

with visible dents, left behind by the force of his pen as he pressed down in anger.

More than anger...

I could also feel his obsession.

'Why couldn't it be me? What good is there to be talented in curse magic?'

'I am the first son of this household! Why am I not a swordsman!? I should be better than everyone! And yet...!? All I have are useless talents!'

'Why!?' 'Why!'

The handwriting was all over the place.

There were some words that I struggled to fully understand given how poorly written they were. But the intent behind each word was clear.

It was Julien's way of expressing his hatred and resentment.

'Leon... Why did that cheap orphan bastard get the talent that is supposed to belong to me? Why him of all people? He should be MY servant! Mine! He should be below me!! That bastard took it from me! My talent...!'

"How absurd..."

The more I read the notes the more ridiculous I found them.

.... Julien's obsession with swordsmanship was absurd, and so was his hatred for Leon. Surely he understood that Leon had nothing to do with this, right?

'I... I deserve it! Should I take the strange liquid that I found? Maybe then I can...' "Hmm?"

I paused on the last sentence that I read.

"Taking that strange liquid?"

What was he talking about...?

For some reason, I felt that this part was extremely important.

"What could he be talking about when mentioning the liquid? Did he gain possession of some sort of enhancer? But I don't think there exists an enhancer that boosts one swordsmanship talent..."

As my brows furrowed, I chose to read further.

Things were starting to twist.

Flip-

I turned to the next page.

"Hm?"

The sight of the page surprised me.

Unlike the previous ones, it was a lot more organized and easy for the eye. The handwriting was still a little hard to fully understand, but it was no longer a challenge to understand it.

'.... Haha, it might work! That liquid..! It might work!'

"As expected, something good happened."

It reflected on the paper.

'I... I injected small bits of the liquid into my brother's food. I wanted to test if it did anything. Haha, that fool didn't realize anything. It's not poison alright. Linus also seems to have become a little stronger. I am going to take the liquid! I can become a swordsman!'

I paused there, frowning as I read the contents again.

"He used his brother as a test..?"

What kind of... unscrupulous person was this guy?

Did he not care at all about his brother? Had his obsession with his swordsmanship driven him

to the point where he was even willing to sacrifice his own brother?

"What a bastard."

It was no wonder that Leon and Evelyn were so on the fence whenever they talked about the previous Julien.

He really was one of a kind.

But still, I wonder what exactly this liquid was.

Flip-

I flipped to the next page.

'No! No! No!'

....Once again, the words were all over the place.

The dents returned, and the only words that I could see were the 'no' that were scattered throughout.

I noticed tears in several parts of the diary, with some pages ripped and tattered, as if they had been violently torn apart in a fit of frustration.

Though it didn't clarify the reason why he was angry, I could more or less make a guess.

"The liquid... I guess it didn't work."

It didn't give him the talent that he so wished for.

Flip-

'Why didn't it work...? It should've worked! Why didn't it work!? This makes no sense!!!'

'... My strength increased a little bit, but that was all it did! I thought... I thought this was finally my

chance.'

'Damn it!!'

'Fuck this!'

The words were crossed over several times and I could see small hints of the page behind due

to the small holes that littered the page.

Flip-

I flipped to the next page.

The moment I did, I paused as I stared at the first few words that greeted my sight.

'I am going to kill him.'

"Kill him...?"

Who was he talking about?

I held my breath and looked down.

'I'll kill that bastard. He... keeps getting praised for a talent that should've been mine. Even that bitch Evelyn is sticking around him like glue. She likes swordsmen, doesn't she...? That's why she's sticking

to that bastard. I'll fucking kill him. Let's see if she can still get attached to him.'

"Hmmm."

I paused at this section.

"So he tried to kill Leon..."

Obviously, from the fact that Leon was still alive, his attack failed.

Still, he did seem to have tried it. The fact that he did made me a little bit worried but since

Leon was fine, it didn't matter all that much.

Or at least, that was what I thought had first.

Flip-

'Hahahaha! I did it...! I killed him!'

Flipping to the next page my face froze as my eyes widened.

'Leon is dead! I cut his head off! That bastard couldn't do anything! Hahaha. Now that he's gone,

nobody will get in my fucking way. Hahaha!'

"W-what...?"

Reading the words again to make sure that I wasn't seeing them wrongly, my face froze after

realizing that I wasn't.

Did he dream of all of this...?

How could this be? Leon was still alive and fine.

There was no way he killed him. It was impossible. Just no way.

'I'm so happy hahaha. I can remember everything clearly. From how I used the same sword he was talented in to cut his head off. It felt good..! Fuckign amazing. I even tossed some Kondlike saliva over

him so that the beast in the forest would get rid of all the evidence. He should be completely gone from this world by now. Not even a trace.'

'I'm so happy...! Hahah! I can't wait to see that bitch's face when she learns of that bastard death!'

'Hahahah.'

There was so much joy embedded in the writing that it almost made me feel as though he had

actually killed Leon.

But that wasn't possible.

I knew since Leon was with me.

And as expected...

Flip-

'How is this possible!?'

'He's still alive? How is this possible? It makes no sense?'

'Why? Why? Why? Why...?!!

'How? How? Impossible! This makes no sense?!'

"This is impossible!'

'...I was sure that I killed him. How is he still alive? Did I imagine things? But I felt it. I was sure.'

The page was once again crossed out as several holes appeared, displaying the page behind it.

I could feel the desperation and disbelief in Julien's writing.

Flip-

'He is acting as if nothing happened?! What is happening? Am I going crazy? Should I try killing him

again?'

'No, maybe that isn't a good idea. It feels like I'm being watched. What do I do? Should I bide my time?'

"That bastard...!'

The diary ended there.

It wasn't because he stopped writing, but because everything else was torn apart. It was clear

that in his anger, he tore all the remaining pages of the diary.

"...It's a pity."

I wanted to know more about the previous Julien. However, one thing was certain: he was insane. His jealousy and insecurity toward Leon had

twisted him into a deranged individual, consumed by obsession and utterly devoid of morals.

To even go as far as testing a strange liquid against his own brother...

"In the first place, what caused him to become that insecure?" Could he have already joined the Inverted Sky back then? Could that be the reason for his

change?...It could also explain how he had gotten hold of that strange 'liquid'.

Only they would be capable of providing a resource like that.

But it wasn't as though I knew exactly what that liquid was. There was no real description of

it, nor did I know what it did.

All I knew was that it increased his strength a little bit.

"Hmm."

The questions in my mind only increased after reading the diary.

While I had gotten a better understanding of the previous Julien's thought process, it also

gave me more questions.

Such as... Did he really kill Leon?

If so, how was he still alive?

"Did he revive...?"

But how?

"....

"I

An illusion of sorts?

Yeah, that would make sense. There was no way Leon was weaker than Julien. Perhaps he used

an illusion technique to pretend like he had been killed by Leon.

There were some relics that allowed one to do that.

But could Leon afford them?

"Unlikely."

Then what...?

Revival?

"Could it be that he had consumed Mortum's blood?'

No, that didn't really make sense. From how Julien made it sound like, he killed Leon without

any witnesses seeing the scene. Leon couldn't possible revive himself, right?

...And where in the world would he even acquire Mortum's blood?

Not just that, how would he even be able to heal himself if he was dead?

'It makes no sense.'

As far as I was aware, the blood was extremely hard to get, and those who did get found out

would be chased after by the collectors.

I did have a few vials in my ring, but I couldn't really take them out since I was afraid I'd be

found out.

In fact, I was afraid that Atlas was already aware and was just turning a blind eye to the

situation.

....Only he knew the truth.

"Then...?"

To Tok-

My thoughts were suddenly broken by a soft knock, jolting me out of my thoughts.

As I turned my head toward the door, it creaked open, revealing a pair of gray eyes. Leon

paused, his gaze locking onto me-or more precisely, the book in my hand.

"That..."

His eyes opened slightly as he appeared taken aback.

I didn't bother hiding it from him and placed it down on the desk.

"Yes."

I nodded calmly, flipping through the pages of the book one more time.

"It's Julien's diary."

Before Leon could say anything else, I pressed my finger over a few words that were written

on one of the pages.

"Hahahaha! I did it...! I killed him!"

I then started to read the lines out loud.

"I'm so happy hahaha. I can remember everything clearly. From how I used the same sword he

was talented in to cut his head off. It felt good..!"

I made sure to be slow with my reading so that Leon heard everything.

He stood frozen as I read each line word for word. I took in his reaction, and my heart sank as I

did.

Taking my eyes away from the diary, I looked at him.

"...This really happened, didn't it?"

I swallowed dryly, forcing the words to come out of my mouth. "You, you died before."