*Edited

Claude soon fell asleep quietly in Sarah’s arms, perhaps exhausted. With a more peaceful face, Ethan looked at Claude’s face without saying a word for a while, as he had not seen the sleeping child’s face after a long time.

“He sleeps soundly.”

“That’s right. Our Young Master Claude is so cute sleeping like this.”

Claude’s soft hair was scattered at Sarah’s touch. Ethan’s gaze diligently followed that gentle touch.

“……Would you like to stroke his head once?”

Ethan glanced at Sarah with a blank look when she gently suggested it with a burdensome look.

“Can I?”

“Why are you asking for my permission?”

“……It can still be dangerous.”

Ethan looked at the azure band still spinning from his fingers with worried eyes. Sarah seemed to be noticeably weaker than when she used her power in the Imperial Palace. His hesitation was mixed with concern for Claude. Sarah suggested once again.

“It’ll be fine as long as I have some weak power left. So it’s okay to pat him.”

Ethan breathed out heavily as if he was relieved at Sarah’s words and carefully placed his hand on Claude’s head. A thick palm rested on Claude’s head and the child’s entire head was covered under his palm.

“……Small.”

The child was this small. Realizing this, Ethan’s face sank heavily. He narrowed his forehead trying to remember the feel of the child’s hair brushing gently in the palm of his hand. Seeing this, Sarah asked in a cautious voice.

“What do you think?”

“……He’s small and delicate.”

“He’ll grow up quickly. Children usually change so quickly in the blink of an eye.”

“……”

“You shouldn’t miss those moments. You have to keep it in your eyes even a little more before you regret it later.”

“Regret……”

“But I think you in love with Young Master Claude, Your Grace. You don’t know what to do because he’s pretty, cute, lovely, and precious,”

Ethan seemed deeply lost in thought at Sarah’s words. His stiff face, which seemed to deny her words at any moment, soon softened and nodded.

“That’s right. Claude is a precious child to the extent that I think he is a gift that Hugel left me.”

“But why don’t you approach him? You know very well that Young Master Claude wants your love. Why do you choose a path that hurts even though you know it?”

“……That.”

Sarah was always curious about Ethan Ambrosia’s mind, who stepped on the world with the power of darkness in the future that Park Hyeyeon ‘foresaw.’ In her novel ‘Flower of Darkness’, she was curious about the thought of Claude, who was devoured by the same power as him, and died without even rebelling against him. She wanted to know about his life, which she had never seen in the future or in the novel.

‘Is the person in front of me right now the Ethan affected by the ‘Flower of Darkness’, or the Ethan who will destroy the world as seen in the ‘future’?’

Sarah felt that the more she drew and used Park Hyeyeon’s mana to suppress Ambrosia’s power, the less the influence of ‘Flower of Darkness’ was. From the time Claude first rejected her, she could see the situation of the Empire in which the First Prince was overthrown earlier than she thought. As Park Hyeyeon died, the contents of the novel changed. However, what was worrisome was that if she changed the contents of the novel, she did not know how the world would flow in the future.

‘If the novel changes, will the fate of this world move the way Park Hyeyeon foresaw again?’

If that happened, the most dangerous man in the world would be right in front of her right now. She couldn’t pay attention at all.

“In your eyes, Countess Millen, how is Claude’s power?”

“It’s still weak. To the point where he doesn’t feel the power he still has.”

“That’s because of it. The reason why I can’t approach Claude.”

“Because Claude’s power is weak?”

“That’s right.”

Ethan raised his hand and touched his mouth. He seemed to be oozing out with an irresistible bitterness.

“Living with this power is like a curse. I never want to pass it on to Claude.”

Sarah nodded her head silently at his words. Ethan Ambrosia did his best for that. Even if Sarah swept through the Ambrosia mansion, he generously let go of all the actions that would not have been allowed originally.

“That’s why I must disappear before Claude’s power grows further here. Ambrosia’s power…… wants stronger power, so if he’s by my side, Claude’s power will increase even if I hate it.”

Sarah hardened her face, noticing what Ethan was trying to say.

“I chose you just because you can suppress Claude’s power. I don’t want anything more than that.”

“You’re only going to use my power as a sealing ball. So Ethan Ambrosia, what about you? Don’t you need my power?”

“……Do I need it?”

Ethan blinked slowly and asked back.

“My father, the former Duke of Ambrosia, was always by my side, to experiment with various methods.”

“Did the previous Duke try to develop this power?”

“That’s right. So I can tell. Because I felt it all, in this body.”

Ethan raised his hand and looked at the magic ring that still had faint power. Then he moved the boiling power within him a little and breathed it into his hand.

“……!”

With a crackling, powerless sound, the magic ring that Sarah had made shattered. No matter how faint the remaining power was, it was so easily broken that Sarah’s face turned white. That was the mana drawn from Park Hyeyeon to suppress Ambrosia’s power. It was quite serious that Ethan could cleanly shatter her magic ring with such a small power. If the power he could already control was that much, the power sleeping inside him would be so deep and powerful that the end was unknown.

“How far must this power increase its volume endlessly. How far must it go before it can’t grow anymore and swallow up the life force of the host.”

Ethan continued to speak, giving power to Sarah’s hand, which was missing mana.

“I felt it with my whole body.”

“……”

“This curse feeds on thirst. No one can quench that thirst once tasted.”

“Are you talking about the previous duke? Or maybe you too……”

A faint smile appeared on Ethan’s lips at Sarah’s words. Seeing it, Sarah was convinced. The pain of Ambrosia’s power meant two things. One was the fear that this power to covet vitality would harm the precious things around him. The isolation it brought. The other was,……

“I am no different from my father because I spend all my patience on not coveting this power.”

……Nevertheless, the thirst for this power and the desire to covet it. That was the pain Ethan Ambrosia had to endure for the rest of his life.

“It is an instinct to want to acquire, wield, and covet unbearably even though it is unbearably terrible and disgusting. The instinct possessed by the blood of Ambrosia flowing through the body.”

“……”

“Claude must not know this thirst. For the rest of my life, I want to make sure that my child doesn’t know of this no matter what.”

Ethan said so and took a small ring out of his pocket and put it on his empty finger. Although it was a ring with no power, he became anxious if he did not insert something into his finger as it was a habit. This was proof that he had not run out of patience yet, that he had not given up.

‘Thirst. He said thirst.’

Now it felt like all the puzzles had been put together. Why Ethan Ambrosia avoided Claude so much that he didn’t want to give the child any chance. And the reason why Ethan Ambrosia of Park Hyeyeon’s original ‘future’ and Claude Ambrosia of ‘Flower of Darkness’ become the villain that would destroy the world. Sarah’s head was spinning quickly.

‘Ambrosia’s power feeds on thirst. Then I can quench its thirst.’

Claude Ambrosia’s main thirst in ‘Flower of Darkness’ stemmed from the self-hatred of not being loved. So, only after meeting the female protagonist could he become a true ‘male protagonist’ in the darkness that would destroy the world. It was because the love of the female protagonist had quenched his thirst, and because Ambrosia’s power subsided when he no longer had the thirst for it to eat and grow. If she quenched Ethan Ambrosia’s thirst, both the ‘Flower of Darkness’ and the ‘future’ would all change.

‘Ethan Ambrosia is the key. He is the key to preventing the destruction of this world.’

A sly smile lingered on Sarah’s lips, who found out about it.

“As expected, you have to cooperate with me, Duke Ambrosia.”