I am the Only Son of Nyx

"You... You are the Red Prince who was crowned today?!"

She gasped sharply at the realization.

Just because of her laziness, she remained cramped inside the infirmary, deciding not to watch today’s investiture. She had seen the investitures five times already, so nothing about that event interested her.

Besides, it’s not like it would affect her in any way as the healer.

But she was wrong.

Due to her negligence, she picked a fight with the very Red Prince who was crowned today.

"I was celebrating today. Or at least, I was trying to celebrate. I thought that starting from this particular day, I would never need to worry about being looked down on again." Kai took a step forward, and his foot thumped heavily against the floor. "But someone already looked down on me again a few hours after the investiture."

"W-Wait!" The healer quickly went to her knees—raising her hands to gesture for Kai to pause whatever he was planning to do. "I deeply apologize for not recognizing you, Red Prince. It’s entirely my fault!"

"Section five of the Red Prince Privilege official charter." Kai took out a paper from his inner blazer pocket, opened it, and shifted his gaze to the very bottom. "It stated that the Red Prince is to be treated higher than High Angels within the academy."

He read the section word for word, and then pocketed it again.

Slowly, he took another step, towering before the healer who was already pale by now.

Fear and worry could be seen in her eyes.

"I am not well-versed in the rulebook of the academy—so can you tell me the punishment for a healer like you for offending a High Angel?"

"It’s-It’s a private punishment by burning rods."

"Burning rods... I see. Now, do you know the punishment for offending a Red Prince?"

"I-It’s to be determined by the associated Red Prince."

Kai lowered himself until his cold eyes were at the same level as the healer’s.

"Do you want to find out what I have in mind?"

"N-No, I don’t."

"In that case—treat Talitha using your Legacy Skill, Legacy Imprint, or whatever. I’ll give you five minutes. If she didn’t wake up by then, you leave me no other choice but to punish you... my way."

Under the threat of punishment, the healer immediately scrambled to her feet and worked.

It was fascinating to see the motivation someone gets from the threat of pain.

Like a rabbit being chased by a fox, the healer scrambled to her feet; her hands trembled as she rushed to Talitha’s bedside. She impatiently waited for the barrier from the insignia to wane, and when it did, she immediately pressed her palms over Talitha’s chest.

She channelled mana in quick, probing pulses.

Even though she was moving as fast as she could, her eyes were wide with clear panic.

Five minutes. That was all she had.

If she failed to treat Talitha, then Kai would not ask again and exact the punishment.

Offending the Red Prince was the same as offending the academy, as he was the representative of the academy. Naturally—the healer wouldn’t come out unscathed if what happened in this room spread outside.

Especially considering the fact that she offended the Red Prince, who was only crowned today.

Her fingers moved and traced the outline of the stab wound on Talitha’s stomach.

Once she mapped out the wound, she fumbled to her desk, pulling out a vial from her drawer and herbs with shaking hands. She mixed a solution on a steel tray, shoved it into the vial she prepared, and then used her Legacy Imprint.

As she waited for the solution to finish, she glanced at the clock—two minutes left.

On the side, Abigail couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Just earlier, when she regained consciousness, the healer hadn’t spared her so much as a glance of acknowledgment. She gave no help or reassurance whatsoever. Instead, she only tossed a few bandages.

Abigail had been forced to change the damp wrap on her own.

A tedious, painful process she’d had to endure alone.

More importantly, she had also asked for the healer to close the wound on Talitha’s stomach.

But all she said was that there were procedures, and a servant like Talitha would only be treated the bare minimum. Anything more than that would be going against the rules, so Talitha had to make do with healing creams.

Now, that very healer was frantically moving to heal Talitha as her life depended on it.

No—considering what Kai said, her life might actually depend on this.

Once the solution was finished, made clear when the entire contents of the vial were now liquid, the healer hurried back to Talitha’s side. She cradled her head gently and carefully, held it up and tilted it forward, and then helped her drink while watching her throat work weakly.

Only then did she ease Talitha back onto the pillow.

Finally, she turned to face Kai—her face pale and slick with sweat.

"It’s- it’s done." She stated. "I treated her internal wounds."

"Hm?" Kai arched a brow. His gaze moved from Talitha’s still form on the bed, and then back to the healer again. "Did you already forget—what I said? I told you that Talitha has to wake up. Has to be conscious. Looking at her now, she doesn’t seem to be conscious, does she?"

"I-I can’t do anything about that. People’s bodies are different!" the healer protested. "Not to mention, she’s a normal human. It would take time for her body to process the solution. I can’t force it!"

Kai wasn’t well-versed in this.

He shifted his gaze towards Abigail and saw her nodding her head.

It seemed the healer was telling the truth.

"Fine, I’ll let you pass."

"You... You’re not going to report me, are you?"

"Of course not." Kai placed his hand on her shoulder—and then leaned in to her ear. "As long as you do exactly as I want starting from now, then this incident will remain with me. Do you understand?"

Having no other choice, the healer nodded her head stiffly.

It was her mistake for making that blunder, and now she had to live with the consequences.

Moments later.

Kai was now sitting beside Talitha’s bed, waiting for her to wake up. The cubicle curtain was already closed around the bed again, and across from him was Abigail, who was also sitting on a chair.

She was still groaning in pain slightly from sitting upright.

"You should get some rest, too."

"I was already resting for days. I don’t think I need more than that."

"If you say so."

Abigail let the silence stretch; her gaze dropped to her own hands before flicking toward Kai. She kept stealing glances at him as thoughts churned inside her mind. Finally, she broke the quiet. "She didn’t put any healing cream on Talitha, you know. Just wrapped the stab wound."

"Yeah... I know." Kai nodded.

Earlier, when he peeked at Talitha’s stomach, he didn’t smell any herbal scent.

Just a coppery scent.

Of course, he couldn’t see whether the healer had applied healing cream first or not since the wraps were on the way, but he could tell from the blood and the absence of herb scent that the healer didn’t give any, or at least only a little.

Blatant neglect.

It was miraculous for her to survive this long.

Or perhaps Abigail had tried treating Talitha despite her condition to make sure she survived.

Either way, Kai was relieved that he came in time.

"You knew?" Abigail tilted her head in confusion.

"I can already tell that it was the case," Kai shrugged nonchalantly. "I anticipated that Talitha would be neglected until the tournament was over. If I won—then she would be treated. And if I lost, then she’d be left to die."

"How can they be so cruel...?" Abigail squeezed her clinic robe. "Do they have no morals?"

"No morality in the sky. Just the strong and the weak." Kai’s ink-black eyes shifted towards Abigail. "And I’m merely the strongest now, so things should wind down for the moment. At least until we reach the Second Sky."

Abigail exhaled lightly through her nose.

She also knew that, but she had been trying to deny the facts.

Hoping that someone would be kind enough to break the stigma of the sky.

But nobody did.

Kai had realized and accepted it sooner than most, perhaps due to his horrendous class as the Lesser Angel—so he went ahead to force the stigma to break by being the strongest freshman and achieving the Red Prince title.

And now, within the academy, reality can be whatever he wants.

Abigail smiled inwardly.

She watched how Kai was staring at Talitha, and saw tenderness in his eyes.

For some reason, he genuinely cared.

"I’m really thankful that my sister became your servant."

"Better for your sister not to be a servant at all unless she wanted to."

"I know... But considering the circumstances, I’m glad that she’s serving you. Serving someone who really cared for her and was kind."

"I’m not kind, Abigail," Kai said, while intertwining his hands together. He didn’t turn to look at her, keeping his gaze on Talitha. "Or should I say, I’m not kind anymore. I’m simply neutral. Talitha showed her kindness to me first, so I reciprocate it. I don’t engage first."

"Considering everything you’ve been through—I’m surprised you didn’t turn into something worse." Abigail’s voice was quiet, heavy with the memory of her own mistakes and also the suffering Kai had endured just to survive. "If I were you—I would’ve found a way to slaughter everyone."

Kai didn’t answer.

A grimace flickered behind the mask, unseen but felt.

And then, he suddenly rose and opened the curtain, intending to leave.

"Tell her I stopped by when she woke up, will you?"

"Where are you going?"

Since Talitha would wake at any moment, Abigail had thought Kai would stay for that. It had seemed that way—until she spoke. Something in her words had shifted him. She could feel it in the quiet, in the way he rose.

He’d changed his mind about something.

"Aren’t you going to wait for her to wake up? She’d probably regained consciousness in a few minutes."

"I have something to do."

"It’s late at night. What are you going to do?"

After everything that happened today, Kai has nothing to do other than rest.

He deserved it.

But instead of doing that, he seemed to want to do something that he didn’t really enjoy doing.

"I told you earlier that I’m not kind—I’m simply neutral." Kai glanced over his shoulder, and then fixed his eyes on Abigail again. "I repaid good with good, and bad with bad. The devils who did this to Talitha are still out there, and I’ll make sure they pay."

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