Ryo was once more a transparent ghost once he entered the old Ryo's memories as a spectator. He could tell from the surroundings and the people present that the memory introduced to him was the old Ryo's 13th birthday.
The palace was decorated with grandiose however there was an undeniably gloomy air amidst the celebration. It can be ignored but if one paid attention to the atmosphere, they'd feel that it is there.
Also the celebration was held in a different palace. Although it was grand, it was not as grand and as joyful as Ryo's 13th birthday. Coupled with the gloomy mood subtly present, it was a rather cold celebration.
The old Ryo who was supposed to be the center of attention was outcasted at this time because of Fumiko's presence. His family members were around her as if she was the one celebrating. She was smiling naively and innocently that it made the old Ryo feel irritated to the highest heavens. While the old Ryo was all alone.
As always.
The moment he lost his mother was the time he lost everything. He was gradually getting used to it. Furthermore, after the branding, the elder who was supposed to retreat after the branding was still present. Silently observing him with eyes that held no judgement. Without alienation.
Although the elder was a bit far from him, his presence and attention comforted the old Ryo a bit. The old Ryo knows that this was the old man's own way of comforting him silently. Even so, it did not dwindle the gloom in his heart.
The old Ryo felt too nauseated just from observing in the sidelines so he decided to walk away to get himself some peace. As he arrived by the fountain, he finally felt the peace he was craving for. There were no hypocritical people around. No disgusting relatives. Especially Fumiko.
It was just him and the fountain under the moonlight.
He felt like he could finally breathe, but as he was all alone left to his own thoughts, the repressed emotions and messy thoughts ran rampant in his mind. Just as he was about to lash out, he heard movements not far away from where he was.
He could deduce from the footsteps that it was a young girl heading this way. A young girl with rose pink hair emerged and approached the fountain. She obviously noticed him but she looked too tired to acknowledge him.
This attitude annoyed him so he clicked his tongue in displeasure.
When the girl heard him click his tongue, she gave him a look with an eyebrow raised while she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't notice the birthday boy's presence." She said without an ounce of remorse.
This made the old Ryo scoff in amusement. This was the first time a stranger openly expressed their thoughts about him on his face. He wasn't annoyed by it; rather, he liked her honesty.
"Whatever. Why are you even here when you're supposed to be enjoying yourself out there as a guest?" Ryo inquired as he was bored.
"I can ask you the same, especially since you're the celebrant." The girl asked back.
It was silent for a while until they answered each other's questions at the same time.
"Well, because of that eyesore named Fumiko."
"Because of Fumiko who awfully resembled an enemy of mine."
Their answers made them look at each other in slight surprise and an amused smile bloomed on their face. The girl held out her hand then introduced herself.
"I'm Minerva. Minerva Oleander."
Ryo shook hands with her then introduced himself.
"Ryo Atanasius Conrad Cassius."
Then this memory distorted as memories passed by in a flash. It showed how Minerva and Ryo became good friends and started scheming against Fumiko. They were still young so their way of making Fumiko suffer was mild compared to their schemes later on.
The memories also showed the old Ryo and Minerva talking about Minerva's dislike of Fumiko. It turns out that there was a woman, which looked awfully almost like a carbon copy of Fumiko, with light attributes that was rescued by his father. At first, the woman was really kind and gentle that Minerva came to even like her but she wasn't foolish enough to not see the woman's scheming heart later on.
The woman strutted in their tribe like she owned the place while acting pitifully weak, gaining sympathy from most of their beastmen, except her mother. From the very start, Melanie knew the woman's real colors thus her opposition to let the woman stay in their tribe. Everyone thought that Melanie was just being paranoid so no one really sided with her. Especially since the woman schemed her way into their hearts.
Melanie's husband was no exception.
Weeks passed after the woman was taken in, her husband and the woman's relationship became obviously more intimate. Melanie and her husband, who was the village chief, argued about it countless times but the village chief would just keep on defending the woman while calling his own wife malicious.
After executing successful schemes one after the other, Melanie's image fell rock bottom, dirtied beyond saving that she received countless condemnation from her fellow beastmen, especially her husband.
One rainy night, Minerva who was visiting Ryo's house, forming schemes against Fumiko received the news about her mother falling sick and was on the brink of death. She and Ryo quickly teleported their way back to the village.
Minerva saw her mother lying on the bed, all alone to fend for herself.
She cried until she was hoarse but Melanie felt really weak, she couldn't even properly comfort her daughter. Amidst her daughter's crying, she couldn't help but tear up as well as she felt that her time was almost up.
"I'm sorry, your mum's a coward. I couldn't walk away even though I'm no longer in love with your father. Even more when he found someone else... Living with your father for so long left me reliant on him. I couldn't even imagine how I'll live without him by my side."
"Now look at me. I only have you until my last breath. The people I cherished now turned their backs on me for a stranger. Please promise… *cough* me that you would never be like me. To never be in a *cough* a situation like this…Your father is too blinded by that woman's charms. I fear that the downfall of our tribe is not so far away. Please…Fight for this tribe… Protect this tribe…" Melanie wasn't able to finish her words as she breathed her last.
That night was the most unforgettable memory for them both. Minerva had to witness her mother's death while Ryo finally saw the face of the woman who pushed Melanie to her death. Fumiko was indeed like a carbon copy of that woman.
Because that woman is Hiromi.
Fumiko's mother.
The woman who killed his mother.
The old Ryo almost rushed out to execute the woman on the spot but he held himself back, as granting her a quick death was letting her off too lightly. He had to plan her death carefully so he could make sure that the woman would suffer not even gaining peace even in her death.
The memories flashed by quickly once again after that. Ryo, who was observing the memories, was quite surprised that Hiromi's claws could reach so far. According to the memories, even though Hiromi's plans were successful, she didn't achieve her goal that was his father, Damien.
Damien of course found out the culprits after careful investigation and Hiromi was being hunted down by his men. She wasn't caught for a very long time since she was already outside the dark regions and was even in the beastmen tribe.
The memories showed how Ryo carefully planned out Hiromi's downfall, with the indirect aid of the elder vampire who was training him to be the next successor of the Cassius family. The old Ryo was surprised in the beginning so he asked his elder why he was training Ryo instead of Rei.
"As you already know, the body is Rei's but the soul isn't. When I found out it was already too late, I couldn't save Rei. I can't even eliminate the filthy creature as it already took over Rei's body completely. You're well aware that once we are branded, we can not harm our own family members." The elder explained.
The elder trained Ryo, as well as handing over most of his connections in the very shady part of life or in other terms, the underworld where everything was possible. Where death even by a king was just a trivial matter. Despite having the elder's help, it was mainly due to the old Ryo's outstanding performance that he was able to firmly grasp the power that was introduced to him.
Although the preparation took a long time, it was all worth it.
In the memory, the old Ryo first led his father's men to the beastmen to expose Hiromi's crimes and be condemned in public. Just like how Minerva's mother was condemned and disdained by Hiromi. Minerva wasn't idle either. While Ryo was carefully planning, she was also occupied with gradually managing the tribe. Fulfilling the promise she made with Melanie.
She was also able to smear Hiromi's name with shit during the process. Coupled with Ryo's move, Hiromi was completely but it didn't end there. Hiromi was taken in the Cassius dungeons and tortured cruelly to death by Damien.
After that, the old Ryo sneakily collected Hiromi's corpse and took her to a far away abandoned building. Hiromi wasn't really dead, Ryo just used witchcraft to stop her heart and brain from beating or functioning. He removed the witchcraft and then healed Hiromi's wounds until her skin was back to being smooth.
Then Hiromi's brief experience of hell truly began.
Ryo first placed her in an array that quickly plunged her into darkness once it activated. No matter how far she ran or how much she screamed, no one responded to her and it seemed like she was just running in place. The darkness made her feel uncomfortable but she persevered. Not until an icy wind slash hit her directly on her back.
She fell on the ground as she screamed in agony. There was no wound on her body but Ryo, who was viewing this memory, could see that it was her soul that took the damage. She screamed and screamed as countless icy blades assaulted her, the pain almost driving her insane.
She felt cold all over but her soul felt as if it was being burned. The contrasts of the temperature as well as the pain produced by the wind slash made her unconscious but she was rudely awakened to receive her second torture once the first one was done.
Ryo fed her with liquid gold. The piping hot liquid gold melted it's way to her tongue down to her throat and she could only wreathe and trash in agony as she tried to escape but it was to no avail. Once she was on the brink of death, Ryo healed her once more and carried out his tortures. She was skinned alive, skewered with countless spikes, got her limbs torn, was bitten to her last breath by the manic wolves, then her mana core was crushed by Ryo personally.
Lastly, Ryo set her on fire.
As Ryo watched the woman squirming while burning, screaming her lungs out, the hatred he was feeling, instead of dissipating, the feeling just intensified. He watched her writhe in agony as the smell of burning flesh permeated in the air.
This woman before him looked harmless and docile but that appearance was just a facade. She was actually the most vile creature he had ever encountered. Just because of her delusions and unrequited love, she killed his mother to snatch his father's heart but joke's on her, his father was deeply in love with his mother. Even death could not change his heart.
Although she had successfully eliminated his mother, all she gained from his father was intensified hate and killing intent. It wasn't just his father who wanted to kill this woman upon knowing that she caused Katsumi's death. Ryo wants nothing more than to eradicate this woman, as well as her daughter.
Those two women caused his family's downfall. They caused him to be alienated. Although his father was well and alive, he was no better than an orphan. Now that she was finally in the palm of his hands, he spared no time and effort to torture this woman. To let her know just how much he hated her. Just how much resentment he has for that vile woman.
He thought that torturing her to his heart's content would somehow appease his emotions, it was only momentarily. It would be better if she's dead. Just like his mother.
The woman stopped moving, but her limbs were twitching from time to time as the fire devoured her whole body mercilessly. The fire he used was no ordinary fire. It was the kind of fire that would not only burn the flesh and bones but it could also burn the soul. Leaving nothing behind. Not even a chance for reincarnation.
When Hiromi was finally dead, Ryo just felt empty as she watched the fire burning relentlessly. It was eerily silent and only the crackling sound of the fire was heard when a sudden laughter broke out.
Ryo laughed maniacally as a crazed expression gradually emerged from his face. His laughter reverberated off the walls as it echoed. The laughter didn't contain an ounce of happiness. It was purely filled with mania. Ryo laughed until his throat was horse as tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.
He choked on his own saliva but it didn't stop him from laughing. His laughs gradually died down and were replaced by choked sobs. He thought he would feel liberated when he finally killed that woman but all he felt was emptiness. As if his heart was punctured, leaving a gaping whole that not even the best healers could save.
The emotions he repressed for so many years came crashing down on him like waves as he weeped in that dark room where the only source of light was the burning corpse. The crazed expression coupled with the tears streaming nonstop on his face gave him rather a pitiful image.
He was finally able to avenge his mother's death after so many years and the immense satisfaction he expected to feel didn't come. It just left him empty. All the efforts he spared, the connections he used, felt like it was only wasted. His chest felt hollowed out as he continued laughing amidst his sobs.
The woman who caused her mother's death was finally dead.
He has finally avenged his mother's death with his own hands.
She was his first kill.
He felt everything he did was ridiculous.
Even though his mother's murderer finally died by his hands, the truth that his mother was dead, that she would never come back would never change. And that he had thoroughly fallen into the darkness.