The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 137: How did you kill them?

[You have completed the hidden quest: Protect Your Love.]

Another screen materialised directly before Lucian’s eyes, its blue glow faintly reflecting across the drifting steam surrounding him.

[Quest: Protect Your Love]

Objective:

– Stabilise Lia’s bloodline

– Make sure she’s harmless after drinking your blood.

Bonus Objective:

– Impress the Scarlett Duchess.

– Become her disciple once again.

Reward: 100 AP

Bonus Reward: 100 AP, Unknown Reward.

[You have completed the Main Objective.]

[You have acquired 100 Attribute Points.]

[You have completed the Bonus Objective.]

[You have acquired 100 Attribute Points.]

Lucian silently stared at the floating screens before him.

The bathroom felt even quieter than before, with only the soft sound of water echoing faintly through the space.

His crimson eyes stayed fixed on the glowing golden text while countless thoughts churned violently inside his head.

It was almost as though everything he had done until now had already been predicted—or perhaps the system had simply taken his choices and labelled them as quests.

He had chosen them himself, yet seeing them listed made a strange discomfort settle inside his chest.

After nearly a full minute of silence, he finally let out a soft exhale and rose from the bathtub.

Water splashed lightly around him as he walked toward the door before grabbing one of the many neatly folded towels nearby.

The fabric felt incredibly soft, almost fluffy against his skin.

For a brief second, he genuinely wondered if he had lived in poverty his entire life for everything here to feel this ridiculously luxurious.

Drying himself, he wiped away the remaining water across his body before wrapping the towel around his waist.

But the moment he opened the door—

His eyes widened slightly.

“Kanna…?”

Standing directly outside the bathroom door was the ever-expressionless maid herself, with the same perfectly straight posture, carrying another set of neatly folded clothes.

She gave a brief nod, as if saying, ‘Yes, it’s me.’

“When did you come back?” Lucian asked, his gaze lowering toward the clothes she was carrying.

He hadn’t told her anything about needing another set of clothes, so how exactly did she know to bring them?

“A few minutes ago.”

Lucian nodded slowly, then, noticing the way she was staring at him intently without saying a word, the corner of his lips twitched faintly.

Even without speaking, he somehow understood exactly what she wanted.

Slowly, he raised both arms outward in surrender.

“Fine, do your magic.”

Kanna’s eyes lit up ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly. Then she vanished from her spot, only to reappear an instant later exactly where she had been standing before, now holding a towel in her arms.

Lucian genuinely felt surprised. Even with his heightened senses, he had not seen her move at all. It almost looked like her body had blurred, maybe because of her sheer speed.

And lowering his gaze, he noticed himself already dressed in a similar formal suit, this time entirely black.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked while watching her quietly.

She had gone to Earth not long ago, and even if she had already returned, why was she waiting here for him?

“Lady Vivienne informed me. She also instructed me to bring another pair of clothes for you.”

Lucian raised a brow, feeling surprised and also a bit amused.

He hadn’t expected that woman to do something this considerate, especially after threatening to kill him every time she saw him.

Shaking his head lightly, Lucian asked another question.

“Where is my mother? Did you bring her?” He asked in a low voice.

The atmosphere immediately grew heavy as soon as those words left his mouth.

Kanna quietly nodded.

“I’ll take you to her.”

Saying those words, she turned and began walking through the corridor without wasting another second.

For a brief moment, Lucian stood still near the doorway, then quietly followed behind her.

As he walked, a thought surfaced in his mind once again, prompting him to bring up the previous quest screen while continuing forward.

His gaze lowered to the Bonus Rewards section, at the Unknown Reward set beside it.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Instinctively, Lucian raised his hand, reaching toward the glowing screen floating before him.

The moment his fingertips touched the panel, the translucent interface distorted, ripples spreading across it like disturbed water.

He had tried passing his hand through the screen back when he had first obtained the system, but this was the first time it had actually responded instead of simply letting his hand pass through it.

Feeling a weird sensation against his skin, Lucian frowned before pulling his arm back out.

Something was resting in his palm.

A black shard.

The object didn’t appear entirely solid, resembling a dark, smoke-like mass formed from void-black mist. Tiny white dots floated deep within it, like distant stars suspended inside a warped space.

Silently staring at it, Lucian felt a strange feeling stir deep inside him.

As if…

As if it were just a broken piece of him.

Slowly, he shifted his gaze toward Kanna, who briefly glanced at him before letting out a faint sigh, as though watching someone insane doing something stupid.

‘She can’t see it…’

The realization came to him the moment he noticed her showing no reaction whatsoever to the sudden item appearing in his hand.

[It’s not a physical object. No one else can see it besides you.]

Lucian inwardly nodded.

That somehow made sense, and yet… it also didn’t.

Because the shard—or whatever the thing in his hand actually was—looked completely real to him, yet apparently, he was the only one capable of perceiving it.

Shaking those thoughts aside for the moment, Lucian was about to ask Akasha what this thing was, but then, remembering his Analysis skill, he decided to use it instead.

[Deep Analysis]

After evolving, the skill could now be used to analyze objects as well, not just people.

Instantly, the skill was activated with a simple mental command.

[Analysing…]

[Analysis complete.]

A screen materialized right above the object.

[Memory Fragment]

Description: A small restored piece of the memory of $&@^#&.

— — —

‘Huh…?’

Lucian felt confused.

First of all, it was a memory fragment, and he didn’t even know whose it was.

The name was distorted, just like how it was in his title. And no, it wasn’t the same name as the one in his title.

It looked somewhat different, even if the difference was difficult to understand. And though he wasn’t completely sure why, he instinctively felt he was right.

‘Akasha…?’

She was the only person who would know something like this.

[You’ll understand once you use the fragment.]

His eyes narrowed at the same vague answer she always gave, but then she continued further.

[And remember this properly. Only use it when you actually have time. You’ll remain unconscious during the process, and it will take a while before you wake up.]

‘Why do you always have to add so much mystery without giving any proper answer…?’

A faint sigh escaped his lips as he ignored the weird glances Kanna kept giving him while the two walked in silence.

[Because life would be too boring if I told you everything from the start.] Akasha chuckled in her same eerie yet beautiful voice.

Resisting the urge to sigh again, Lucian focused back on the black shard resting in his hand.

‘So I’ll be unconscious after using this…’

He couldn’t afford that right now.

With a mental command, he attempted to place it into his inventory.

He wasn’t sure it would even work, as the item wasn’t physical—and yet, surprisingly, the shard instantly vanished from his hand.

And immediately checking his inventory, he found it floating quietly amongst the other items stored inside.

The inventory space itself appeared slightly larger compared to before—somewhat resembling the dark void he had been in after dying.

Lucian withdrew his focus from his inventory, only then noticing that he had fallen slightly behind the maid while checking through the inventory space.

Without saying a word, he quietly quickened his pace and followed after her once again.

Within a few minutes, the maid finally stopped in front of another door before immediately pushing it open.

Lucian stepped inside, the doors closing behind him as Kanna followed after him.

The room was massive, decorated with the same elegant style as the one he had awakened in earlier.

Ignoring the luxurious room and the massive bed, his eyes immediately landed on the figure lying atop it. He stepped forward before stopping beside the bed.

A woman rested on the soft mattress, a white blanket covering her till her waist.

A white blanket covered her lower body up to her waist while her long, jet-black hair spread across the pillow beneath her.

“Mom…” Lucian muttered softly as he approached the bedside and sat down beside her, quietly staring at her beautiful sleeping face, which still held a faint trace of tension even in sleep.

For a few seconds, he said nothing, then turned his head toward Kanna.

“She’s only unconscious,” Kanna answered immediately, already knowing what he had been about to ask.

But she misunderstood something.

“I want to know what happened to her.”

Lucian’s voice lowered by a fraction.

“She definitely went outside searching for us, so did something happen during that time?”

The atmosphere inside the room shifted subtly. Kanna’s expression stilled, and for several long seconds, she remained silent.

“Kanna.”

Lucian’s brows tightened together.

“Answer me.” His voice didn’t rise. If anything, it became strangely soft, quietly urging her to respond.

“Did something happen to her?”

His instincts were screaming at him already—the same way a mother’s instincts scream when something happens to her son.

Slowly, Lucian lowered one hand over Seraphina’s head, his fingers gently brushing through her soft black hair.

The tension on Seraphina’s sleeping face softened beneath his touch.

Kanna silently watched the scene, then finally she gave a small nod and quietly began explaining everything—everything that had happened after she had arrived near his mother.

Even though Kanna had not personally witnessed the earlier events, she could easily deduce enough to piece the situation together.

As she spoke, Lucian remained completely silent. His fingers continued stroking through Seraphina’s hair.

But then suddenly—

“She killed a person?” Lucian interrupted, his brows tightening.

He lowered his gaze toward Seraphina, his crimson eyes silently resting on her with an unreadable expression.

Kanna wondered inwardly what he was feeling right now.

Disgust? Shock? Fear?

After all, he had still been human barely a day ago, and considering the morals humans lived by, accepting the concept of murder so easily should have been difficult.

“Continue.”

She blinked once, but after a second of silence, she resumed speaking, explaining the rest without any interruption.

The room fell silent afterwards.

Lucian didn’t even turn toward her, his gaze remaining fixed on his mother with a strangely soft yet hollow expression. His fingers gently threaded through her silky strands.

Kanna couldn’t fully understand it, but a faint uneasiness crept into her chest, as though her instincts were quietly warning her of something being restrained beneath the surface—like immense waves slowly building in the stillness before a tsunami.

Before she could linger on that feeling—

“How…”

His voice came out low.

“…How did you kill them?”

Lucian’s cold voice echoed through the room, instinctively causing Kanna to freeze for a brief moment.