*I apologize, Duchess, it suddenly slipped on its own. *
* It's fine; even with broken bones, he should still be able to take the test. Bring him here. *
'....M-maybe now.' Lucian wished only to escape this place, knowing that even though his body ached from a rough fall, the overwhelming sensation on his skin from mana absorption felt even more excruciating.
It was so intense that his skin was reddening from exposure to such a concentrated flow of mana.
His head hung heavy, lying on the floor, unable to lift it because of its weight.
Still, he clung to the hope that someone would come to his aid.
In the end, he was a helpless newborn, devoid of any strength.
'Help—?!' Lucian desperately anticipated that among the crowd, someone would take pity on him and rescue his life.
Not just him, but rather, he pondered how they were all currently gazing at a newborn baby.
Though he had caught glimpses of their disdainful glances directed at him, he remained optimistic that, out of dozens of onlookers, perhaps just one would step forward to help him stand.
Then, maybe he could be saved.
But as he lay there, staring at the feet of a woman at the center—presumably the Duchess—his perspective was limited.
From this low angle, he could see only her feet, and it became painfully clear that everyone present was not even lifting their feet.
Let alone others, the very mother stood static there, not even trying to lift her own son up.
'Haah...really?', While drenched in pain, he shut his eyes tight as he realized how wrongly he judged these people and expected some pity.
His mind at this very moment remembered the words that the old man in his orphanage always used to tell him.
Every child deserves a mother, but not all mothers deserve a child.
At that time, he thought only about how old man was consoling those children who were not adopted by people who preferred newborns over older ones.
But it appeared that this was all true.
There were indeed these kinds of mothers who existed in this world.
Not only humans, but they were not even animals—since at least even animals took care of their newborns for some time.
'Wait.....' Realization dawned upon Lucian as he grasped the gravity of what those couples had murmured about.
This was precisely the accident they had mentioned, where Kassidy had given her child a 'precious' healing potion.
Having been raised in an orphanage, Lucian had always been acutely aware of the world around him and had honed his ability to read social cues without needing many hints.
Observing all the maids and this woman not caring at all, even while a newborn was lying on the floor in intense pain, it became clear that all these women and the one leading them were cruel and merciless bitches.
Without his mental fortitude, he would have lost consciousness.
She was literally attempting to kill him.
* What's happened? *
Kassidy questioned the maid, who had yanked her hand back after touching the newborn. She squinted her eyes, scrutinizing the maid.
* D-Duchess, he's burning like fire. *
The maid glanced at her hand, rubbing it to soothe the sting she felt after making contact with the newborn's body. He was so warm that it felt as though he was on fire, inducing a painful sting upon touch.
* Enough, you all are useless. *
The Duchess, realizing the maid was of no help, decided to take matters into her own hands. She wanted to hasten the process, eager to get it over with. Leaning down, she grasped the newborn's tiny hand.
Shhhzzzz
As she did, a sizzle accompanied by smoke erupted from it, clearly confirming the truth in what the others had said—he was indeed burning.
However, thanks to Kassidy's awakened ability, she remained unaffected.
With determination, she pulled the small infant towards the orb, dragging his fragile body across the floor.
"Aaaaaarrrrr!" Lucian screamed, every nerve in his body ablaze.
He found himself managing the pain far beyond his physical limits, bolstered by his mental strength.
Yet, the intensity was overwhelming.
As the woman dragged him, his burnt skin—melted and etched into the floor—rubbed against the coarse surface, literally peeling away.
The sensation was akin to tasting death itself.
Under any ordinary circumstances, a newborn would have succumbed to unconsciousness from this level of agony.
But fueled by his burgeoning mental fortitude and an encroaching rage towards those around him, Lucian refused to give in.
'I will kill all of you!' He grit his teeth, deliberately etching each of their faces into his memory, vowing to remember them all.
"Eaaarrgghhhh!" In that moment, he understood he was dying, his screams echoing through the air.
Yet, as he struggled to let go, the sight of their indifferent expressions—devoid of even a hint of pity—spurred him on.
He yearned to fixate on their faces, determined to one day exact his vengeance.
"Waaaaahhhhh!" he howled, pushing his fragile body to its limits.
His newborn form, under immense duress, held on with sheer willpower, but his skin burned and tore as it was dragged like cooked meat.
It was only when the woman placed his trembling hand directly onto the orb that a new chapter of his torment began.
'!?!'
The instant his tiny hand touched the orb, a raw surge of mana struck him like a bolt of lightning, forcing its way into his frail body.
"Hhhheeeeaaaarrrgh!!" Lucian's limbs trembled violently, every nerve in his body firing as though set ablaze.
The onlookers watched in morbid fascination as his skin began to redden, swelling grotesquely as if something inside him was ready to burst out.
'Ahh....mm...y.....mi...n' Blood seeped from his nose, his ears, even from beneath his tiny nails, the red staining his pale skin and dripping onto the floor below.
Even in that pain, the burning vocal cords let out the last cry as he wanted to survive this cruel hell that seemed to inevitably bring him closer to death.
But he didn't fear dying, but instead he feared not being able to take revenge on these people.
Even with his eyes bleeding and blurred, he was looking towards all those people, all those maids before finally setting his eyes towards the Duchess.
'I....wi....ll....kill' for that fleeting moment he had forgotten that he came from a civilized society where murder was a crime; right now, he only knew one thing: these people were not humans, and he wanted to resist death until he could kill each one of them.
He would not leave them even after his death.
"Maaaaa! Waaaah!"
His fragile frame shuddered, expanding rapidly with each pulse of mana that invaded him.
His skin stretched to the point of translucence, veins and sinew bulging and writhing underneath, like some horrific creature struggling to claw its way free from beneath his flesh.
"Hey… is he… going to explode?" someone whispered, fear tainting their voice. "What if he bursts all over the place?"
Several maids exchanged glances, their faces filled with a mixture of disgust and awe, leaning closer as if anticipating a spectacle.
But the Duchess suddenly disregarded all this, yanked her hand, and leaped back, her gaze narrowed, not with concern but rather confusion.
Never before had she witnessed such a reaction—no one else had ever responded to the testing orb in this way.
The phenomenon puzzled her, yet she refrained from intervening.
The mana was becoming too unstable, forming a dense dome around the child, crackling with a ferocious energy.
Instinctively, she stepped back, unwilling to risk herself when the stakes were too high.
She was soon going to secure her position as the Duchess, and sacrificing a useless child was something she could afford.
"Waaaaah! Waaaaaaaahhhh!" Lucian's cries, filled with a desperate mixture of agony and rage, echoed within the hall.
His skin stretched to unnatural limits, making him appear like an overinflated balloon, ready to pop at any second.
The tension rose to a palpable height, his body distorting, his face barely recognizable beneath the gruesome swelling.
'Yo....u ba...s...tar....' Yet, beneath the tortured screams and tear-streaked face, there remained a glint in his eye, bloodied yet glaring at all of these people—a spark of life, fueled by fury.
'A stubborn one,' the Duchess watched, a flicker of something unsettling passing over her face as she realized that, somehow, this child was enduring.
"STOP! COUNT HAS ARRIVED!" Suddenly, the head maid yelled from the gates of the mansion as the Duchess's eyes slightly widened before narrowing as she looked towards the entrance, where a man wearing armor stood with blood-stained marks on his body. His eyes were fixed on the mana whirlwind at the center of the hall, his feet moving without any hesitation upon seeing his child suffering.
"LUCIAN!!!!"