Count’s Youngest Son is a Warlock-Chapter 272: I've Been Waiting For You

Count’s Youngest Son is a Warlock-Chapter 272: I've Been Waiting For You

“I…”
Hume wiped his tears.
“I’ll carry you to that door. You have a fever and have lost a lot of blood. You must be feeling extremely dizzy.”
“Yeah. I always end up getting carried.”
—That’s right!
Ratta sniffled and shouted.
—Last time, Lucion was carried because he had a hole in his abdomen, but now…
Ratta trailed off, gazing intently at Lucion.
He felt warm.
He sparkled like a star.
Not as bright as the morning sun just yet, but at least the sorrowful rain had stopped falling.
Ratta giggled and rubbed her face against the back of Lucion’s hand.
“I’m sorry, Ratta,” Lucion whispered softly, stroking her fur.
—No, no, Lucion! Ratta is sorry. Ratta made Lucion hurt.
Ratta’s ears drooped.
Hadn’t she tried to stop him? Maybe some of those wounds were her fault.
How much had he suffered? Lucion still smelled of blood.
—But, Lucion…
Ratta raised her head, meeting his gaze.
His eyes were as warm as always.
—Lucion is the most precious to me. If Lucion is sad, my heart aches, and I don’t know what to do.
Ratta placed a paw on her chest, wiggling her toes.
—So earlier, I just cried. I prayed that when Lucion woke up, he wouldn’t cry and wouldn’t be in pain.
“I’m sorry,” Lucion murmured again.
Her words pierced straight through his heart.
Hadn’t he wished for Ratta not to cry?
—Ratta is okay now! Lucion has become a star again!
Ratta hugged him tightly.
Feeling her soft, warm embrace, Lucion smiled with his eyes and gently patted her.
* * *
“…Huh.”
Lucion stood before the door where the black magic was cast.
‘Teacher.’
He exhaled and reached out toward it.
As he infused darkness into the door, intricate patterns—composed of interwoven shapes—began to emerge.
Thousands of unknown characters were engraved into the patterns at a glance.
Lucion raised a finger and began tracing them, just as Russell had taught him.
[“One of my wishes is to pet a cat, you know.”]
Russell’s shy voice echoed in his ears as if it were resonating from the past.
With each character he traced, Lucion’s lips curled into a smile.
[“So when the characters are connected, they form the shape of a cat… Don’t laugh, Lucion. I’m serious. You know animals run away because of a warlock’s aura, right? I’m the only one without a cat.”]
As Lucion pulled his hand away from the completed drawing and stepped back, Ratta’s bright voice rang out.
—I know what that is! …Um.
Ratta closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then suddenly opened them wide.
—It’s a cat!
Lucion burst into laughter at her words.
Of all things, the passcode to this room was a cat’s face.
It was undoubtedly a password no one would ever guess.
[That’s a perfect magic spell, isn’t it?]
Bethel couldn’t hold back her laughter either.
Russell had spent countless nights watching animals from afar, trying not to be noticed. But only now did she truly understand how much he had longed for this.
[“Ha. I envy people who can pet dogs and cats so easily. I’m just glad Ratta is here. If not, I wouldn’t have known how soft fur feels or how squishy a tail is before I disappeared.”]
Russell would often pet Ratta under the pretense of checking whether Lucion was asleep, and Lucion had always known.
Each time, he had to fight hard not to laugh.
Click.
The sound of the door unlocking echoed.
“Young Master.”
Hume called out to Lucion.
“Yes?”
“Please go inside. I will wait here.”
“You say you’ll wait?”
“Hasn’t today been long? You probably have a lot to say to Russell.”
[Yes, Lord Lucion, we’ll wait here.]
Bethel agreed, finding Hume’s thoughtfulness commendable.
—Ratta is…
Ratta stuck out her tongue, scrunching up her face before quickly squeezing her eyes shut.
—Ratta can wait here too!
Yet, despite her words, her ears and tail drooped.
“What’s wrong with all of you?”
Lucion smiled awkwardly at their consideration.
“I believe you have things to say, Young Master. After that, we will come in. When the time is right, call my name.”
Hume opened the door for him.
Lucion hesitated.
He gripped the doorframe, walking slowly, then turned back to look at them.
—Hurry before Ratta changes her mind, Lucion!
Ratta had turned away completely, her fluffy tail covering half of her body, but her twitching ears and slightly pouting lips betrayed her true feelings.
Lucion chuckled lightly before stepping forward.
At the end of the hallway, a door came into view.
As the door closed behind him with a soft thud, Lucion instinctively turned his head.
‘This feels… strange.’
A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he steadied himself against the wall, moving forward slowly.
With each step, fear crept in—little by little.
What if—
What if there was nothing inside that room?
The only reasons he believed Russell hadn’t disappeared were the ‘black thread’ and the words his past self had spoken.
‘Was Teacher feeling like this, too?’
The closer he got to the door, the harder it became to steady his pounding heart.
If they had all entered together, maybe this wouldn’t feel so overwhelming.
‘Maybe Teacher never told me because he wasn’t even sure if he was alive…’
No matter what method he had used, Russell must have only remembered that he was alive because of the black orb.
‘It has to be true. It absolutely must be true.’
At last, Lucion stood before the door, inhaling deeply.
As he grasped the doorknob, a chill seeped through the gap.
“…Hah.”
His hands trembled as he released his grip.
His heart pounded so violently, it felt as if it might burst.
What if there was nothing inside?
What if he was too late?
[“Oh dear, you seem troubled.”]
Just as usual, when he was tormented by ghosts, an indifferent voice cut through the silence, making him turn his head.
[“I can chase them all away.”]
Under normal circumstances, he would have ignored it. But the confident tone and the smile—so unlike the ghost he knew—stirred something within him.
[“You think I’m a liar? Me? Look.”]
Snap.
The sound of Russell snapping his fingers was so vivid, as if it still echoed in his ears.
[“The reason I helped you is simple. Before I disappeared, I wanted to have a disciple. I like you. My standards are usually quite high, yet, strangely, you caught my eye. So, I figured I should make a good first impression.”]
Lucion tightened his grip on the doorknob.
[“Anyway, that was pretty cool, right? I’ll take responsibility for driving the ghosts away, so you just need to become my disciple. Ah, wondering who I am?”]
Slowly.
Cautiously.
Lucion opened the door.
[“I am Russell Paul.”]
White mist drifted out, the icy air brushing against his face.
[“The unfortunate genius warlock.”]
As the smoke settled, Lucion knelt.
With his eyes closed, he saw Russell—his face still marked by a curse—sitting there.
Just as he had looked when he was Lee Haram.
“Teacher…”
Lucion grabbed the wall for support and nearly stumbled forward.
Though dizziness threatened to overtake him, he remained standing.
Panting heavily, he raised trembling fingers to the space just beneath Russell’s nose.
“…Ha…”
He felt it.
A breath.
He was alive.
“Teacher…”
Lucion choked on his words.
“I can’t believe… You’re really alive…!”
Overwhelmed, he clenched both fists, silently crying out to a god he didn’t even believe in.
He couldn’t believe it.
Russell was alive.
The thing he had longed for—prayed for—was now a reality.
But soon, Lucion slowly lowered his hands.
Something felt off.
Though Russell was breathing, something about him didn’t seem… truly alive.
“Teacher, what’s happening to you?”
Lucion asked, looking at the darkness in the room.
“The price.”
The darkness hesitated before speaking.
“What kind of price?”
“A state of existence neither fully alive nor truly dead. A spirit separated from its body—forced to remain in that form until the body perished. And once it did, to wander as a ghost, forever trapped at the boundary between life and death.”
“That was the price Russell paid.”
[“I won’t disappear. I can’t disappear.”]
“…Hah.”
Lucion exhaled sharply as Russell’s words resurfaced in his mind.
What kind of absurd price was this?
To exist, yet not exist at all.
“Was it… because of me?” Lucion’s voice wavered. “Did you do this just to give me this power?”
He had met Russell when he was Lee Haram.
Despite being in a different world, Russell had come to Earth.
Crossing dimensions didn’t make any sense.
The darkness averted its gaze.
“Then what about you all? Did you bear a price like Teacher?”
Lucion continued, his piercing gaze unwavering.
There was no way Russell had borne the burden alone.
[“Yes. The price… must have been the darkness itself. Nothing less could have made this possible.”]
Russell had once speculated that the black magic he used consumed darkness as its price.
Even so, this was different.
The scale of it—the depth of the sacrifice—was far greater than he had imagined.
The darkness, too, must have paid something.
“Don’t worry about us.”
“That’s right. It’s all fine now.”
Avoiding Lucion’s sharp gaze, the darkness tried to change the subject.
“Please tell me.”
“The price we bore… no longer exists.”
“As Russell must have told you, we were used as the price for the black magic he cast…”
Noticing the guilt creeping into Lucion’s expression, the darkness hurriedly added,
“B-But it’s fine now! Russell even cleaned up afterward, so that guy never realized we were used as the price. And we made it all the way here.”
“That’s right! Lucion, you’re alive, and you’ve even reunited with Russell! Now, you can be happy…”
“If the world… repeats, was the price you bore something you can never return from?”
Lucion didn’t miss the words the darkness had so naturally left out.
The darkness could not lie. And hadn’t it just said that the price no longer existed?
“Lucion.”
The darkness called his name—calmly, almost gently.
And in that calmness, Lucion understood.
Complete annihilation. A price so absolute that even if the world were to repeat, they would never return.
That was the price the darkness had paid.
“Not everyone bore that cost,”
the darkness admitted,
“but we do not regret it.”
“You found us when no one else did.”
“We understand the need to maintain balance, to be fair to everyone, but to us, you were far too precious.”
“As long as we have the memory of your cheerful smile, the sound of your laughter, your warm voice, and your words—if those memories remain, it’s okay if you use us as the price again.”
“Still… that’s not right.”
“That’s how much you meant to us.”
“If it meant saving you—if it meant ensuring you wouldn’t die—”
“We would have done anything.”
The darkness gently wiped away Lucion’s silent tears and smiled.
Who else would cry for them like this?
Who else would diligently name and try to remember them, who were nothing more than darkness wandering in nature?
Who else would greet them with ‘goodbye’ each night, play with them, and sulk before bed, not wanting to part?
The darkness gestured toward Russell.
“Russell is waiting for you.”
“Now, you can finally see that deep, deep curse, can’t you?”
“Yes, I can see it.”
Lucion smiled faintly and reached toward the curse inscribed across Russell’s body.
Slowly, the wind began to stir.
Violet darkness wrapped warmly around Russell’s form—but it wasn’t enough.
The curse didn’t reveal itself.
The one who had chosen to bear this price was Russell.
He had placed a restriction on breaking the curse—only when exposed to both light and darkness at the same time could it be undone.
An absurdly strong constraint.
“But I can do it.”
Lucion exhaled, his expression resolute, as he reached into his pocket.
Russell had longed for the coexistence of light and darkness.
‘And yet, you set that very wish as the condition for lifting your own curse?’
Lucion didn’t believe Russell had acted recklessly.
But this time was different.
This time, he could see the recklessness in his choice.
‘You told me not to act recklessly, and yet…’
If he hadn’t been a Saint.
If he hadn’t gathered the black orbs.
None of this would have been possible.
Before retrieving the holy relic, Lucion looked toward the darkness.
Understanding his intention, the darkness quickly withdrew.
Only after ensuring they were gone did Lucion pull out the last remaining holy relic.
Troy had likely left it behind for another purpose, but in the end, Lucion had been able to obtain the light he needed.
The relic reacted to his darkness, beginning to glow.
Violet darkness and radiant light shimmered together, resonating as if greeting one another.
Hello!
His darkness welcomed the light with warmth.
And then—
Creak!
With a deafening crack, something shattered.
Thick black smoke erupted around Russell, and the curse inscribed upon his body emerged in written form, stretching toward the ceiling.
Lucion swiftly stowed the relic and reached out, grasping the floating words.
{Neither alive nor dead, trapped in time, consumed by eternal solitude and loneliness, may you regret and pity yourself.}
It was the longest curse he had ever seen.
And yet, it was not just one curse.
Layer upon layer—dozens of them—woven together.
‘Teacher…’
Lucion clenched his fist.
Crack.
The curses shattered in his grasp.
As the scattered words dissolved into nothingness, the cold that had permeated the room gradually faded.
Russell’s breathing deepened.
Then, slowly, silently, he opened his eyes.
Lucion met a pair of vibrant, lively green eyes.

.
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Chapter 272: I've Been Waiting For You