A small smile appeared on George's lips, as though he understood more than Colton had actually said.
"I can understand that. We'll be leaving soon. If you get bored, tell me. I can take you out right now."
Colton's shoulders relaxed slightly, and a gentle smile settled on his face, carrying a quiet sense of reassurance.
"You're… considerate."
In a dark room beneath the building
Kayden was shivering from the bitter cold. His body was soaked after being repeatedly drenched with freezing water.
He could not understand the purpose of this ridiculous torture, but he remained silent and endured it.
Enzo pointed at him, watching as he sneezed repeatedly.
"He's going to get sick."
He then pulled out a handkerchief and held it over his nose to protect himself from catching a cold.
"How awful!"
Kayden raised his eyes toward him, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Are you an idiot? You're a bunch of clowns. You should treat yourselves before talking about anyone else."
"What kind of ridiculous interrogation is this? You've already convinced yourselves of everything without even verifying whether I'm telling the truth or what my intentions are."
Alster chuckled softly and gestured toward Kayden mockingly.
"Are you trying to convince me now?"
Kayden did not respond. He remained silent, his eyes gleaming with silent defiance.
Enzo slowly shook his head and muttered, "He acts like a demon… luring you in only to devour you later."
At that moment, the door flew open violently, revealing Frey, who was holding a sealed document. He raised it before everyone and announced sternly,
"The complaint has been withdrawn."
The laughter faded from Father Sergei's face. When he finally found his voice, he replied with unmistakable bewilderment, "I don't know where he is."
He was about to continue when Isabelle interrupted him with a sharp tone.
"Has lying inside the church become a common practice now? Forget it." Isabelle spoke with deliberate calm.
Sergei looked even more astonished. "Lying?" he repeated, as though the very idea were entirely foreign to him.
Isabelle waved her hand dismissively. "How dare you lie to my face?"
Sergei laughed carelessly.
"Are you a goddess or something? I don't know where your son is. Isn't Chase responsible for him? Or have you stopped favoring him?"
Isabelle stared at him, her voice growing colder and more resolute.
"I'm not a god, but I am someone who has been granted a blessing. And that's not all. Your daughter is with me. As they say, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head."
She continued calmly, her words laced with both mockery and menace, watching Sergei's expression carefully as it began to crumble.
"But here, you won't be able to touch my son's head, because your daughter is already in my possession. I could kill her with a single move. Just imagine how the church would react if it learned that you had a daughter. I've noticed she's quite beautiful, too. I wonder what her mother looks like?"
Isabelle gestured toward the priest's face with a hint of cruelty.
"She's beautiful. She doesn't look like you at all, so I suppose her mother must have been beautiful."
Sergei struggled to maintain his smile. "Can't I joke with you a little, Isabelle? You're still as sharp-tongued as ever," he said with obvious difficulty.
"No, you can't simply do that. I'm a married woman. I don't casually joke around with men."
Henry watched the exchange, his eyes following his mother as she spoke with the authority of someone capable of ruling an entire country if she wished. Eventually, he could no longer suppress his question.
"Has the joking session ended? My brother is here, and he hasn't committed a crime, so please hurry up."
Sergei glanced at Henry and sighed, his expression mixing boredom with astonishment.
"You're an incredibly difficult family to deal with."
He then turned his attention to Colton and asked in surprise, "And who is this?"
"He's a relative of mine," Isabelle replied calmly.
"The Sylvester family?" Sergei repeated, looking even more bewildered.
Isabelle shook her head as though the question deserved nothing but mockery.
"Yes, he's part of my family. Wait a moment, do you have a problem with that? And if you do… why would you even have a problem in the first place?"
Sergei laughed awkwardly before turning away and sitting down, pretending to be friendly.
"Of course my wife is beautiful. As you know, I have a particular taste. Arthur was simply a lucky man."
Henry turned toward him, but Isabelle quickly interrupted, a defiant glint flashing in her eyes.
"You're not my type. I have high standards. But your daughter is beautiful. Colton, are you good at taxidermy?"
Colton answered with surprising simplicity, "I can learn."
Sergei smoothly changed the subject.
"Your son is here, but what about the reports?"
His tone was full of certainty.
"He resembles Arthur, but let me tell you something, George. He's cursed… He resembles Arthur when he was a great fighter, before he got married and settled down. But George will never settle down. He's tainted… terribly tainted. You should pay a little more attention to his condition."
Sergei sighed, his expression turning disdainful.
"I can sense George's aura from here. It reeks."
Isabelle did not respond immediately. She remained silent for a moment, as though the words were slowly taking shape inside her.
She had known from the beginning that her son was unstable and that he posed a threat. She had accepted this with a measure of sadness, a feeling that passed through her like delicate threads before gradually fading away.
She understood that her children could not simply be taken from her without a fight. Each of them had made mistakes, but she had never pronounced a final judgment on them. Instead, she had left them to learn their lessons from time itself.
Nevertheless, as her children grew older, her heart filled with an increasing mixture of pride and quiet joy.
Henry broke the silence with an impatient tone that sounded almost like an order.
"That's his aura, not yours. It's his problem, not yours. He's George, and you're not him. Don't meddle in matters that don't concern you, and don't act like a clergyman now."
He then pointed at Sergei.
"You've violated the rules. Shouldn't the church expel you?"
"Is it true that twins can feel each other's pain?" Sergei asked curiously, keeping his gaze fixed on Henry.
Henry did not answer immediately. He merely glanced sideways before sighing.
"You're supposed to know everything. I won't answer that… May God bless you."
Sergei's expression stiffened, and his voice grew more malicious.
"You're annoying, but the reports have already been filed."
He added, leaving them with a bitter possibility to consider, "Perhaps they've already strapped your brother to a chair and started torturing him."
Isabelle slowly raised her head and looked toward Sergei.
"I don't think I made myself clear enough."
Sergei quickly interrupted her.
"The torture has been temporarily suspended."
Moments later, two figures suddenly materialized out of nowhere, their shadowy forms transforming into human bodies.
Sergei turned toward them in barely concealed astonishment. George hurried to his feet and stormed out of the church, visibly irritated, while Ayrton remained standing for a moment, as though reality itself had slipped beyond his grasp.
George's abilities are incredibly annoying. I don't understand them at all.
Ayrton closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not find any peace.
A short while later, the letter reached Father Sergei's hands. He opened it slowly and read its contents in silence.
George then rushed back inside, prompting Sergei to ask sharply, "Did you force him?"
George calmly shook his head.
"I didn't. That would be disgraceful. I have a witness."
He pointed toward Ayrton.
Ayrton raised his head and confirmed firmly, "Everything happened by mutual agreement. There was absolutely no coercion."
Sergei studied Ayrton's features for a long moment, trying to determine whether he was telling the truth. Then he turned toward one of the people present and issued a stern command.
"Bring him here."
George cast a quick glance toward Colton, whose eyes were still occupied with observing the people inside the church. He then hurried over to him and asked directly, "Do you like the church?"
Colton thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head, his eyes showing no hesitation.
"No… It doesn't suit me."
A small smile appeared on George's lips, as though he understood more than Colton had actually said.
"I can understand that. We'll be leaving soon. If you get bored, tell me. I can take you out right now."
Colton's shoulders relaxed slightly, and a gentle smile settled on his face, carrying a quiet sense of reassurance.
"You're… considerate."
In a dark room beneath the building
Kayden was shivering from the bitter cold. His body was soaked after being repeatedly drenched with freezing water.
He could not understand the purpose of this ridiculous torture, but he remained silent and endured it.
Enzo pointed at him, watching as he sneezed repeatedly.
"He's going to get sick."
He then pulled out a handkerchief and held it over his nose to protect himself from catching a cold.
"How awful!"
Kayden raised his eyes toward him, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Are you an idiot? You're a bunch of clowns. You should treat yourselves before talking about anyone else."
"What kind of ridiculous interrogation is this? You've already convinced yourselves of everything without even verifying whether I'm telling the truth or what my intentions are."
Alster chuckled softly and gestured toward Kayden mockingly.
"Are you trying to convince me now?"
Kayden did not respond. He remained silent, his eyes gleaming with silent defiance.
Enzo slowly shook his head and muttered, "He acts like a demon… luring you in only to devour you later."
At that moment, the door flew open violently, revealing Frey, who was holding a sealed document. He raised it before everyone and announced sternly,
"The complaint has been withdrawn."
However, his eyes soon fell upon Kayden's fingers, which were wrapped in bandages. A fleeting look of surprise crossed his face before his brows furrowed. He approached swiftly and seized Kayden's hand so roughly that Kayden squeezed his eyes shut in pain.
"Who did this to you?" he demanded, his tone sharp and decisive.
Kayden smiled and shrugged indifferently. "Even if I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me. You don't believe anything anyway."
Frey trembled with rage, fury boiling in his eyes. He turned toward Enzo and Alster, searching their faces for any sign of betrayal. But he trusted them, so there was no reason to suspect either of them.
In a sudden outburst of anger, he raised his fist and punched Kayden with tremendous force. Blood trickled down Kayden's cheek, staining his sharp smile with crimson droplets.
Frey shouted furiously, barely managing to maintain his composure.
"You heretic… damn infidel!"
Kayden did nothing but remain silent, a faint, mocking smile lingering on his lips, as though the pain were merely another means of asserting his defiance.
He cast a sidelong glance at Alster, brief but laden with hidden meaning, before raising his head to face Frey directly.
"That document… it's an official withdrawal of the complaint. Release me now."
Frey refused to change his stance. He stared suspiciously at the document before replying sharply, "The documents have obviously been tampered with."
Kayden laughed mockingly, his words coming out rapidly, as though he were stabbing at Frey's very arguments.
"You need psychiatric treatment. Nobody should have to work with you. Enzo, how do you put up with someone like him? You're wasting your life by his side."
Enzo froze in confusion and pointed at himself in genuine astonishment.
"Me?"
Kayden answered harshly, staring directly at him. "Yes, you, you damn fool. I'm talking about you."
Enzo blinked repeatedly, his expression utterly blank. He could not figure out whether Kayden really meant him or whether this was merely another new mind game.
On the upper floor, Henry remained silent while George spoke. He knew his brother well enough to understand that interfering would accomplish nothing, so he kept quiet.
Suddenly, however, he was overcome by a fit of repeated sneezing. He reached for his face, only to discover that his handkerchief was stained with blood.
He pressed it against his nose, attempting to conceal what had happened, but the bright red droplets were impossible to overlook. He had no idea what had caused it and could offer no explanation, so he chose to hide his face in silence.
Silence did not protect him for long. Colton turned toward him, followed by Sergei, who watched him with scrutinizing eyes.
Sergei was the first to speak, his voice carrying a peculiar certainty.
"So… the twins are connected to that extent?"
George looked bewildered. "What do you mean?"
He quickly turned toward Henry, who was still hiding his face behind the handkerchief.
Sergei smiled coldly.
"The Twin Curse."
He then added, watching the scene as though he had finally uncovered a long-awaited secret.
"I'm glad I got to witness this with my own eyes."
Meanwhile, Kayden slowly followed behind Alster. He had finally been freed from the collar that had restrained him, while Frey had hurried away, followed by Enzo.
Alster suddenly stopped in front of a side room. He entered, retrieved a thick blanket, and draped it over Kayden's shoulders.
"You'll catch a cold. As Enzo said… ah, change your clothes, too."
Kayden accepted the blanket without hesitation. Then, as he began removing his clothes, he glanced at the worn-out replacement garments and looked up at Alster.
"So… you're not going to tell me your name?"
Alster turned halfway toward him and replied in a dry tone, "Who are you that I should tell you my name? I won't."
Kayden muttered as he looked away, "I bet you have a stupid name."
Alster showed no reaction whatsoever.
"That's none of your business."
Kayden suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"Maybe I'll return to the church."