Chapter 0.167 : Jin’s Purpose
corridors of the Rotschy estate stretched endlessly ahead, dimly lit by flickering blue mana lamps. Jin walked in silence, the soles of his black boots tapping faintly against the obsidian tiles, his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat.
The taste of Rena still lingered on his tongue.
Her scent clung to his collar — like fire and roses after the storm.
A small smirk curled his lips, but his eyes — those sharp crimson eyes — were narrowed in thought.
That went better than expected.
She gave herself to him. Not out of confusion. Not out of heat alone.
She chose it.
It meant something.
He stopped at a tall window overlooking the courtyard gardens bathed in sun. Shadows of trees danced, but he didn't see them.
He saw her — Rena — breathless, undone, golden eyes clouded with trust, hunger, and something dangerously close to hope.
He clenched his jaw.
"That's the problem," he muttered.
Love was easy.
Desire even easier.
But dependency? That was poison.
"She needs to learn control," he whispered. "Over her emotions. Her instincts. Her damn heart."
Rena will get the Severia Flame soon.
The flames she carried — the inheritance of the mythical Severia's Flame, the once-lost fire of Daisroth — it wasn't just a weapon. It was a burden. One once wielded by Estelle.
Severia
His expression darkened.
Estelle.
Silver hair like moonlight. Eyes of soft silver, always filled with compassion — the kind that made you think she was too good for this world.
Because she was.
A soft memory flickered: Estelle laughing as she brushed his hair behind his ear when he was small. Her voice like sunlight after rain. Her warmth. Her protection.
Her death.
She died for them. For villagers who spat on her name days after she was gone.
"She saved them," he muttered bitterly, "and they forgot her."
Some even called her reckless. Others mocked her for dying so young.
That's what kindness gets you.
He straightened, walking again, slower this time.
This world isn't kind to the pure.
"I won't let Rina end up the same."
Because Rena reminded him of Estelle — not in appearance, but in spirit. That softness. That loyalty. That dangerously naïve belief that love can save everything.
"It can't," he said aloud.
People don't remember sacrifice. They remember power.
They bow to fear. To dominance. Not kindness.
And if Rina thought that giving her heart — or her body — would make her strong, she was wrong. Terribly wrong.
That's why he had to be cruel.
To teach her.
To shape her.
She had to become cold, calculating, detached from weakness. Because once the fire inside her ignited fully, the world would want to take it — use it — destroy it.
And if she hesitated even once... she would die.
Just like Astell.
He paused near the training hall and looked up at the high ceiling, imagining Rena fighting, her flames swirling like a storm — not as a princess, not as a lover, but as a weapon too deadly to ignore.
That's the future I'll build.
Even if it meant destroying parts of her to protect the whole.
Even if it meant becoming the villain in her story.
A dark laugh escaped his lips.
"I suppose that's what I've become anyway."
The wind howled faintly through the hall.
He whispered to the shadows, to the gods above and devils below:
"Evil isn't born. It's forged."
In betrayal. In pain. In fire.
He was forged the day Astell died screaming while villagers watched, silent and safe.
He was forged the day he realized no one would protect him — not the heavens, not the gods, not the nobles.
Only power would.
And now... he was power.
He would make Rena into someone who wouldn't cry when abandoned. Someone who wouldn't hesitate when told to kill. Someone who wouldn't die for those who wouldn't even remember her name.
Let the world call him a monster.
Let them curse his name.
He didn't care.
Because to care… meant he still believed in salvation.
And Jin Rotschy didn't believe in anything anymore.
"I seem to be becoming like my mother in the end"
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Heat: Do you think what Jin is doing is right?