Ch. 11 - Tombstone

Kael had received the eye donation he’d been hoping for. The surgery went smoothly; Kael didn’t know who had donated the eyes to him—he didn’t need to worry about anything, Lucas said.

After the bandage wrapped around his eye was removed, Kael tried to open his eyes slowly, just as the doctor had instructed. A smile never left his lips as he eagerly looked forward to seeing the world again.

Light from the lamp slowly entered his field of vision as his eyes tried to adjust to it. There was light, but everything was blurry. Then, little by little, everything became clear.

Two nurses were standing to his right. The doctor was to his left, and Lucas was smiling wryly. Ah, no. Behind his smile lay an emotion that made him look stiff.

“Can you see me, Mr. Valerius?” asked Dr. Sak.

Kael turned his head and gave a slight nod—a bit hesitantly. Not because of his vision, but because of what he was seeing.

After several weeks of seeing only darkness—blackness and ominous shadows—he couldn’t believe that everything was suddenly so clear again.

“I can see everything,” he said softly.

“Thank goodness. We’ll need to conduct routine checkups over the next few days before we can let you go home,” said the doctor as he jotted something down in his notebook.

Lucas bowed his head in thanks to the doctor and the nurse, who left Kael’s hospital room after making sure everything was okay.

They were left alone in the room. Lucas handed his older brother a mirror—to reassure him once again that this wasn’t a dream.

Kael looked at himself in the mirror. His cheekbones were indeed prominent because he’d had such a hard time accepting food from anyone. His brown eyes stood in stark contrast to his former self.

“Who donated the eyes to me, Lucas?” Kael asked.

“Why do you need to know? You’ve already received them, and it’s time to be grateful for that,” Lucas replied with a smirk, unnoticed by Kael.

All of Kael’s wishes had been fulfilled. It would be downright selfish of Kael not to be grateful—at least to the Moon Goddess who created Eira for him.

Including that he wanted not to see Eira after his eyes opened.

“You’re right. Please convey my thanks to her.”

Kael nodded in agreement. One thing was clear: from now on, no one would be able to stop him from doing anything just because he was blind.

Three days later, Kael’s recovery period was over.

Accompanied by Lucas, Kael returned to his mansion as a new man, because he no longer wanted to consider himself part of the Valerius Clan. This time, the tables had turned—it wasn’t Kael who had been cast out; it was Kael who had cast out his own clan.

“Thanks for dropping me off,” Kael said. Lately, his relationship with Lucas had been pretty good.

“All right. I hope you can take care of yourself, Kael. Please don't hesitate to call me if you need anything. See you later.” Lucas walked away.

Kael entered his house, and the first thing he encountered was nothing but darkness. Not a single light was on—which made him panic a little, as he remembered that when he was blind, all he could see was darkness.

Immediately, Kael turned on all the lights in the house.

“EIRA!” he shouted angrily.

There was no reply.

With a furious expression, he went to Eira’s room to scold the woman who hadn’t taken care of anything in the house and had left it pitch-black at night.

Empty.

There was no sign of Eira in her room. Kael decided to search the other rooms, but still couldn’t find her.

“Oh, I guess that bitch is out having fun. Well, I’m actually glad she wasn’t the first person I saw when I opened my eyes back then,” he muttered casually.

But even after two weeks, there was still no sign of Eira returning to the house. Even when Kael tried to contact his wife, his efforts came to nothing.

Part of him was panicking and at least wanted to know where she was, while another part seemed to be telling him not to worry about Eira—that this was what she wanted.

“Damn it! Is she going to come home pregnant with a child by one of the men who’ve been taking advantage of her?!”

Even though he kept complaining and thinking the worst about Eira, Kael ended up visiting Lucas’s house.

His purpose was clear—to ask about Eira’s whereabouts.

“Wow, Kael. This is the first time you’ve come here in so long.” Lucas greeted his brother with a broad smile.

“Is Eira with you?”

The smile on Lucas’s face faded. He thought that, even without being told, Kael would already know that Eira was gone. At the very least, maybe there was something Eira had left behind at home—like a note or something.

Or at the very least, Kael would have realized from the look in his eyes right now.

“No,” Lucas replied briefly.

“Don’t lie! You two were always together when I was in the hospital.” Kael barged into his younger brother’s house.

Lucas let Kael search every room for Eira. He didn’t feel guilty because he hadn’t been hiding anything from Kael.

“She’s not here, is she?” he retorted.

Kael stared at Lucas, still with a suspicious look. “You must know where she is, right?”

“You should be the one who knows best since you’re her husband.”

“Lucas, tell me where Eira is!”

Lucas let out a long sigh and sat down on the sofa, still feeling relaxed.

“There’s no need to look for her, Kael. You’re the one who said you wanted to sever the red thread that binds your souls, right?”

Kael grabbed Lucas’s shirt collar tightly.

“Tell me, or I’ll kill you!”

There was no fear on Lucas’s face, but he gave in. Finally, he roughly shook off Kael’s grip and nodded in agreement to reveal Eira’s current whereabouts.

“Come with me!”

Kael complied. He got into Lucas’s car, which took him to meet Eira. During the ride, he’d already prepared a whole string of curses to hurl at Eira, who hadn’t come home for the past two weeks.

The car stopped at a cemetery.

“Why are we here?” Kael asked.

Lucas walked off instead of answering Kael’s question. Slightly annoyed, Kael just followed Lucas, who eventually stopped at a grave that looked new.

Kael glanced at Lucas, who said nothing, then read the inscription on the headstone Lucas was staring at.

Eira Crytalclaw.