"Stay in contact with me. I'll tell you how later. Don't tell anyone about this… I'll send money for the child. You can pay me back someday if you want." Kayden left the house and wandered through the village streets without direction.
His steps were light. His thoughts were not.
He had no idea where the exit was, so he simply kept walking.
Then he stopped.
Colton was standing in the road ahead, staring at him with visible disdain.
"You've been contaminated,"
Kayden raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Colton took two steps back as if Kayden's very presence bothered him. "You speak with Calamities… it's disgusting. Even a high-level Calamity is still a filthy creature."
Kayden shrugged. "You shouldn't show your hatred to the person you're talking to. Just pretend. Everything will be fine." He slowed his pace slightly and explained his theory as if reciting a rule from a textbook. "If you hate someone, don't tell them directly while you're still working with them. Smile. Tell them the weather is nice. Tell them you're happy to see them."
"Wear a good mask and play your role properly. Once you've gotten what you want… then a few insults here and there won't matter."
Colton exhaled in disgust. "That is true! But Calamities should be erased. Don't tell me you're planning to deal with them."
Kayden folded his arms lazily. "I don't really know."
Then he added, as though recalling a simple truth "But I want to become great. One of the great ones."
"So collecting a few people along the way isn't a problem."
"Tools," Colton corrected. "Pawns."
Kayden didn't object. Instead, he considered the word for a moment. Then he realized it suited him perfectly.
Kayden returned to work and informed Ayrton of what had happened, but the latter was far too busy. He barely looked up and asked almost nothing.
Kayden then headed to the second floor, where Fiona and Hugo were sitting. Hugo seemed to be making an effort to interact normally, but his expression remained troubled, as though something inside him had yet to settle.
Kayden did not stay long before eventually returning home.
Later, another gathering took place between the three of them Henry, Colton, and Kayden. This time, instead of sitting on chairs, they sat on the floor.
Henry had already prepared his notebook and pens, ready to record every detail. Looking at Kayden, he asked,
"When will Adam return? We need to make copies of these journals… or hide them."
Kayden nodded in agreement. "That's completely true."
He opened the old journal to the next page. The edges of the paper were rough and yellowed with age.
Exhaling slowly, Kayden began to read.
"December 18th, 661.
Upon reaching Perfection, I felt as though the world rested in the palm of my hand.
The world had become as insignificant as a handful of dust… and yet, despite everything, I never gained Lady inith.
I questioned the reason countless times and eventually began searching for her.
When I finally found her… she had grown old.
I stayed by her side for a long time and refused to leave.
Lady inith told me that she had waited for me for so long. She had tried to endure.
She had been waiting for me to make a move, but I… never did.
She told me she never married. She never started a new life.
She lived beneath the shadow of a fragile, false hope a hope as delicate as a silken spider's thread, praying it would never snap.
And in the end, Lady inith died in my arms.
Only then did I ask myself, 'Am I truly scum?'
But she was happy.
She was happy simply because I was there with her in her final moments."
Kayden quietly closed the page and leaned against the wall of his room. "What a coward. He's like a scarecrow with a human head… He should've made the first move. A real man doesn't leave a woman waiting. He doesn't make her wonder about every possibility rejection, betrayal, abandonment…"
He clicked his tongue. "Isn't he supposed to be the one who takes the initiative? Doesn't he realize that waiting… breaks something inside a person? He's scum. He shouldn't even have to ask."
Kayden delivered his verdict with complete certainty.
He hated waiting.
Henry watched him silently. He understood that Kayden wasn't only talking about what was written in the journal. He was also talking about what had happened with Mavilda.
Perhaps he remembered Tim, Henry thought.
But he chose not to ask.
Instead, he simply said, "Yes… he underestimated the lady. He assumed time would stop for the sake of his desires… but it didn't. He was selfish."
Colton merely shrugged. "We demons are very straightforward. If we want something, we take it. We obtain it. We don't wait, and we don't postpone. Only humans are afraid."
With a look of annoyance, Kayden turned to the next page.
"January 5th, 662.
I couldn't accept the fact that Lady inith had died.
I refused to believe she was truly gone.
So I went to Lord Ron Feng. After all, he is the Lord of Time.
I asked him whether there was anything he could do. Anything at all.
But he answered , 'I am not a charlatan.'
Then he stood and began pacing around the room, as though searching for an idea.
After some thought, he returned to me and asked,
'Do you wish to create a monstrosity?'
But I told him, 'No! The lady… is pure.'
To which he replied, 'Then do not stain that purity.'
I felt ashamed for even asking.
I wanted to tear that thought out of my mind, like someone trying to pull a thorn from their very spine.
Lord Ron Feng was extremely busy, but in the end, he asked me to accompany him."
Kayden fell silent, offering no comment.
Henry closed his notebook for a moment, his brows furrowing in visible disgust.
"He's insane… How could he even think about bringing back the dead? That's madness. A violation of the natural boundaries of humanity."
"He's insane," Kayden declared.
Time passed slowly until midnight.
Kayden couldn't sleep.
He rose from his bed and quietly opened the balcony door. Sitting in the shadows, he stared at the moon, which seemed calmer tonight than ever before.
Taking a deep breath, he called softly, "Colton…"
Without warning, Colton appeared beside him in silence.
Kayden didn't even look at him.
Instead, he said quietly, "Bring another chair… and a table."
Colton obeyed without asking questions, but no sooner had he placed the table down than Kayden added, "And a notebook… and two pens with different colors."
Colton raised an eyebrow but complied.
Once everything had been arranged, Kayden picked up one of the pens and spoke in a low voice, almost as though he were talking to himself. "Languages are truly fascinating, you know?"
His gaze remained fixed on the notebook as he absentmindedly drew meaningless lines across the page.
"But it seems there are very few languages in this world. Was there simply no time for creativity? Or are the people here… less imaginative?"
At last, Colton sat down and studied him for a moment. "I think the people here are less creative."
Kayden tilted his head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
"Perhaps… because they're busy fighting wars."
A gentle silence followed.
It was as if even the night itself had begun listening.
The moon remained overhead, watching from afar, while the balcony transformed into a small classroom.
Kayden adjusted his posture and pulled his chair back until he was facing Colton directly.
His eyes were half-lidded as he spoke in a quiet voice weighed down by invisible burdens.
"War devours everything. It doesn't merely take lives—it destroys what took years, even decades, to build. In a single moment, it can bring down the efforts of an entire nation like autumn leaves falling from a tree."
Colton listened with complete attention.
He knew his master had seen worlds beyond his imagination and lived through experiences greater than even his darkest nightmares.
After a brief silence, Kayden looked toward the ceiling and continued,
"In my world… there are thousands of languages. Wars break out everywhere, yet they still couldn't kill creativity. I remember reading once that the number of languages in the world exceeds seven thousand. Is that figure accurate? I can't quite remember."
Colton's eyes widened with genuine astonishment. "Seven thousand?! That's a lot! How can a world possibly contain that many?"
Kayden smiled faintly and shook his head. "It's actually quite wonderful… Someone once said on television that a person who knows only one language lives only one life. But someone who knows two languages… lives twice."
Colton furrowed his brows in confusion and asked curiously,
"Television? Is that a person?"
Kayden didn't answer immediately. Instead, he picked up a pen and began sketching on a sheet of paper. His strokes were quick but precise.
A few moments later, he turned the page toward Colton with a small smile. "This is a television. It's not a person."
Colton stared at the drawing with eyes full of curiosity.
Meanwhile, Kayden continued in a gentle voice, as though speaking about something dear to him.
"Television is a magical window. It lets you see things happening in distant places or even in worlds that exist only in imagination all while you're sitting where you are. It's as though you're traveling without taking a single step."
Colton let out a short laugh and shook his head in amazement. "That's… that's impossible! How could something like that exist?"
Kayden slowly placed a hand on his forehead as if preparing to explain an especially complicated spell.
"How do I explain this…? Fine, but don't ask too many questions."
"Television is an electronic device. It converts images which are originally light and sounds which are originally waves into electrical signals. Those signals are transmitted through wires or through the air, much like radio waves, and are then reconstructed to appear on the screen again as moving images and clear sound."
He paused briefly before continuing, gesturing with his hand as though drawing invisible shapes in the air.
"The screen itself is made up of millions of tiny dots called pixels. Each pixel shines with different colors—red, green, and blue and those colors blend together with incredible precision to create a complete image. Every moment is built from thousands of pixels working together in perfect harmony, like a tiny army that never makes mistakes."
Colton sat there in stunned silence.
He looked at the drawing again, as though the paper had become something more than simple lines, as though it had become an actual window into the world Kayden described.
Then he whispered to himself,
"My lord.. your world is far stranger than I imagined."
Kayden chuckled softly as he folded the paper. "You haven't seen anything yet."
Leaning forward slightly, a spark of enthusiasm returning to his eyes, he continued,
"What I just explained was the old kind of television. The modern versions are far more impressive."
He waved a hand through the air as though painting an invisible image before them.
Colton slowly lifted his head. "So… people don't actually live inside it?"
He fell silent for a moment before adding hesitantly, "I feel foolish for thinking that."
Kayden laughed lightly and shook his head.
"It's fine. Being curious doesn't make you foolish. It makes the world more interesting."
Colton leaned forward, his curiosity growing stronger.
"What else exists in your world?"
Kayden drew a deep breath.
"I've noticed that the food here… isn't bad. Sometimes it's even quite good. But in my world? There are hundreds no, thousands of delicious dishes. Every region has its own flavor. Different aromas. Unique spices. Unforgettable touches."
Colton blinked twice in surprise before asking directly, "And… can you cook?"
Kayden smiled and pointed at himself. "Kayden can't cook."
He paused for a moment before repeating in a calmer voice, "But me? I can cook. I'm amazing."
Genuine confusion appeared on Colton's face.
"There's a huge contradiction between you and Kayden."
Resting his cheek against his palm, Kayden gazed upward as though speaking to his own memories.
"Kayden was born into a home that gave him everything. A caring mother. A father who never held back. Everything was always prepared for him."
"He never needed to learn how to cook… or clean… or even make his own bed."
Then he emphasized his next words.
"But me…" His gaze drifted into the distance.
"I moved around a lot. I traveled. I lived far away from home. I studied at a university far from my family and lived alone in a city that didn't even know my name."
After a brief pause, he continued, absentmindedly spinning the pen between his fingers. "I traveled abroad as well. Learned a lot of small things… the kind of things that build a great person."
Colton hesitated for a moment before asking curiously,
"Where did you travel? And why did you leave your homeland?"
Kayden didn't mind the question.
In fact, he smiled, as though he genuinely enjoyed speaking about those memories.
"I traveled to Europe first… and spent several years there. But I always wanted to see the entire world, so I traveled whenever I could. I wasn't searching for anything specific…"
His gaze drifted into the distance.
"I was searching for everything. All I wanted was to be free. To see the world with my own eyes and feel that I was truly human."
Before Colton could ask another question, Kayden reached for the paper again and began drawing long lines that slowly formed continents and oceans.
Pointing at one section, he said, "Here… Europe."
Then he pointed elsewhere. "And here is my country… and my beloved mother."