The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 187: W-What w-was I just thinking...?

Complete silence settled over the mansion.

The hallway that had moments ago been filled with the baby’s crawling and Seraphina’s gentle voice—everything had now become eerily still.

Only the occasional rustling of the wind brushing against the curtains could be heard, the faint breeze entering through the slightly opened window.

"Maamaa."

Aiden’s small, innocent voice instantly broke the suffocating stillness.

His tiny hands stretched toward Seraphina, not understanding what had happened, since he couldn’t really comprehend anything.

All he knew was that his mother had suddenly stopped looking at him, making him want to grab her attention with his little movements.

Seraphina lowered her head. Her long black hair slipped forward, cascading over her shoulders and falling across Aiden’s tiny body.

But this time...

No tears fell from Seraphina’s eyes.

Her expression remained utterly hollow—almost as if she had become numb to it.

Because somewhere deep inside, she had already been expecting this day to come.

There was no surprise in her expression, no visible sadness... nothing.

The bright red imprint slowly becoming visible upon her right cheek stood in stark contrast to her pale skin.

The mark clearly showed how much force Damien had used.

Little calls and soft babbles continued escaping from Lucian’s own mouth, and gradually...

Seraphina’s unfocused eyes lowered toward the child in her arms, several loose strands of hair slipping over his tiny face.

The little boy merely blinked before happily grabbing onto them again, completely unaware and innocent.

Meanwhile...

Lucian remained silent.

’...’

There was a complete lack of reaction on his side, since there simply weren’t any words capable of expressing what he was feeling.

The rage bubbling inside him had already surpassed anger, burning wildly and relentlessly—almost as though something inside him had cracked.

***

In the real world...

"Kanna," Seraphina quietly called, looking toward the maid standing silently within her hotel room.

"Do you know what will happen during tomorrow’s registration?" she asked calmly, wanting to know at least something before going into an unfamiliar place.

For a brief moment, Kanna didn’t reply.

She genuinely didn’t know what would happen, as she had no reason to know the inferior awakening tests or registration systems of humans.

However, remembering Lucian’s instruction before leaving to look after his mother, Kanna quietly nodded.

"I’ll look into it."

Seraphina paused, then slowly nodded in return.

"What about Lucian? What is he doing?"

Kanna sighed quietly, since there wasn’t much to report.

All Lucian had been doing was sleeping from the very moment he had entered his room. As for what exactly was happening while he remained unconscious...

She had absolutely no idea.

"He’s—"

She had barely opened her mouth before—

Her expression suddenly changed.

Before Seraphina could even notice the slightest change in her demeanour, the maid’s body was instantly swallowed by her shadow, leaving her alone in silence.

Seraphina blinked once, then twice, before a small frown appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, inside Lucian’s room, Kanna’s body emerged from the faint darkness.

Her eyes landed upon Lucian, who remained lying peacefully on the bed.

There was nothing strange enough to warrant such a reaction, yet her instincts flared.

Without wasting even a single second—

Darkness violently erupted from beneath Kanna’s feet before rapidly spreading across the room.

Within moments, every inch of the room was enveloped in pitch-black darkness, completely isolating it behind a barrier of shadows.

Just as the darkness completely engulfed the room—

A terrifying pressure descended.

The atmosphere inside the room instantly became unbearably heavy, and even the air itself seemed to grow violently heavier.

Kanna’s pitch-black pupils flickered.

Her gaze remained fixed upon the unconscious young man lying before her, who was unconsciously leaking an overwhelming amount of killing intent from his body.

The pressure filled every corner of the room, and for one fleeting moment, Kanna almost felt as if a faint crimson mist was drifting around Lucian’s sleeping body.

Though the crimson mist disappeared almost instantly, she could still feel the pressure, especially with the air trembling so violently.

Kanna slowly tilted her head, her expression still devoid of emotion.

Though...

A trace of genuine confusion—or rather, curiosity—surfaced on her face.

’How does he have such killing intent?’

She wasn’t particularly affected by it, since compared to ordinary people, Kanna had long since become accustomed to killing intent many times greater than his—and there was also the Duchess, under whom she had trained for quite some time.

But still, she was genuinely surprised.

Killing intent wasn’t something that anyone could simply make appear, though stronger beings didn’t particularly need to learn how to control it.

Killing intent was something that accumulated and grew through hatred, through negative emotions.

And most importantly...

Through killing.

The more lives someone took, the heavier their murderous intent became.

And she was certain Lucian hadn’t killed many people—or at least, that was what she had thought.

Yet it seemed the reality before her was telling her otherwise.

Due to Kanna sealing the entire room with her shadows, not a single strand of his killing intent escaped beyond its boundaries, dissolving into the endless darkness surrounding the room.

Otherwise, it would’ve caused a great commotion, leading almost everyone else inside the hotel to fall unconscious.

After observing him for several seconds, Kanna slowly took a step forward, then another, only stopping beside the bed.

Looking down, she quietly observed Lucian’s sleeping face.

His expression was completely peaceful, his breathing was slow and even, and the only movement came from the faint twitch beneath his closed eyelids.

If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest... she might’ve mistaken him for someone who had already died.

But then...

Kanna’s eyes shifted ever so slightly.

And...

A single droplet slowly gathered at the corner of his eye before a lone tear quietly slid down his cheek.

***

Meanwhile, inside the memory—

Seraphina silently looked down at her little boy resting in her arms, who continued moving as though nothing had happened, his tiny fingers gripping onto her clothes.

His innocent black eyes wandered around the hallway with childish curiosity.

For a brief moment...

A single thought abruptly surfaced in Seraphina’s mind.

’...All of this...’

At almost the exact same time...

Lucian found himself thinking something eerily similar.

After witnessing nearly four years of these memories, and watching everything slowly start to fall apart...

A hollow thought quietly escaped him.

’All of this... is happening from the day I was born.’

’All of this...’

Seraphina’s fingers tightened around her son’s back ever so slightly.

’...began from the day you came into this world.’

The thought came uninvited, and she knew it was wrong. Truly, truly, truly wrong.

Yet...

She couldn’t really stop herself from thinking about it, perhaps unable to think properly after what had just happened.

’She lived so peacefully before I was born, so happily all this time.

But...

Everything only started falling apart after I came here.’

Lucian, completely unaware of what was unfolding inside her heart, quietly continued his own train of thought.

He had seen and, to an extent... he could even guess how she must have lived before his birth.

And even though her relationship with Damien hadn’t been particularly good...

It hadn’t looked... this bad.

At least... not from what he had witnessed.

Neither of them wanted to think such things, and neither of them even knew why they were thinking them.

But with everything happening in their lives, and with all the mental exhaustion they were going through...

Dark thoughts like these were bound to surface one day.

Seraphina’s jaw slowly clenched as she looked at the child resting against her chest, cradled within her trembling arms.

But then—

Just as both mother and son found themselves sinking deeper into those cruel thoughts...

"Mamaaa... mammmaa...!"

Aiden suddenly let out an excited little squeal. His tiny hand reached up once more, grabbing another handful of Seraphina’s hair before giving it an enthusiastic tug.

The sudden pull startled her, and her thoughts instantly shattered.

Her icy-blue eyes widened, and almost immediately... realisation struck her.

"W-What...?

W-What w-was I just thinking...?"

Her lips trembled violently. Her vision blurred before turning watery.

Horror spread completely across her face—not directed at anyone else, but toward herself... because of the single thought that had somehow dared to appear within her heart.

And that too... about her own child.

"Mama...!"

The innocent little voice called out to her once again, making her heart clench in despair.

"N-No..."

Her breathing became uneven. Her voice cracked.

"I-I’m sorry... I’m sorry..."

Her legs trembled violently, and without realising it...

Her knees struck the polished marble floor as the strength in her legs disappeared all at once.

Both her arms instinctively tightened around Aiden, almost desperately—as though she feared someone might suddenly take him away.

"I-I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I won’t think something like that ever again...

Never...

Never... Never...

Never..."

Lucian was genuinely surprised by her abrupt breakdown, even forgetting what he had been thinking moments earlier.

Before he could even begin to understand...

Seraphina’s tear-filled eyes softened as she looked into her son’s wide, innocent black eyes staring back at her.

Then, very slowly... a faint, yet slightly strange smile appeared on her face.

"Yes... I’m here... I’m here for you..."

Her breathing shook slightly as the words escaped almost as a gasped whisper.

Lucian could feel her entire body trembling violently and uncontrollably.

Both of her arms held him so tightly that it almost became difficult for his tiny body to move.

She rested her face against his, pressing his cheek to hers, almost as if she were afraid that he might vanish if she loosened her grip for even a single moment.

His body instinctively responded.

His tiny hand slowly reached upward, softly and gently patting the top of her head before letting out small, meaningless babbles.