How to Be a Dark Hero’s Daughter

“Why, Doctor?”

Siebel looked at me with furrowed brows.

“Sometimes, I can’t figure out what you want to dig out from me.”

“Is it important? I’m on your side, Doctor.”

I nestled into the chair like a cat as I said this.

“It’s strange how you managed to get me to spill even my past.”

“Really? So, did I manage to get you to spill everything?”

I looked at Siebel with ease. Siebel smirked.

“Fine. Keep talking. After all, you’re in my hands.”

I nodded. That was the truth.

“The people who experimented on me were the already deceased king… the previous Duke of Lewellton, Collen’s father. And people from Mage Tower.”

“…The Duke’s family was involved?”

“Yes. Isn’t it strange? Both a Saintess and a genius wizard were born in the same family in one generation.”

I paused. It was the Duke’s story.

“Do you think it’s a coincidence?”

“Is it related to you?”

“Yes. They tried to extract the knowledge of the white wizards from me but gave up. They experimented on my body instead. Their goal was to make the wizards of a unique bloodline, which was fading, be reborn. The royal family was particularly obsessed. Since magic was cut off, they wanted to find a way using me.”

“And?”

“After being experimented on for decades, I began to lose my sanity.”

Time flew. When he was about to lose my mind, Siebel had grown into a full-fledged adult. He lost track of how many years or decades passed.

I calmly listened to the story Siebel told me.

“And I realized that my body had stopped aging at nineteen. It turned out they were extracting various kinds of magical powers from numerous wizards and injecting them into me. This made me ageless.”

“What exactly was the experiment?”

Siebel’s eyes dimmed.

“Animals are killed, leaving behind teeth and skin.”

“Yes, and their meat.”

“So, what does a great wizards leave behind when they die?”

“…”

“There’s a belief in the wizard’s faith. If you eat a part of the deceased great wizard’s body, like a skull for example, you inherit their power.”

I remembered once seeing the skulls of dead wizards displayed in a corpse museum.

When was that?

‘Well, I must have been with Doctor Siebel.’

I casually accepted it.

“Some very powerful wizards leave behind a core of power when they die. There’s also a special bloodline passed down through blood… it was preserved in Mage Tower, and they forcibly implanted traces of dead wizards into my body.”

Siebel briefly explained.

Time went by. All the people around Siebel disappeared. New people appeared.

And a new experiment began. I noticed a contradiction in the story.

‘So what does this have to do with the Duke?’

“Why do you hate Duke Collen de Lewellton? Because he’s the son of the Duke who experimented on you?”

I asked what I was most curious about.

“Do you know how Collen’s mother died?”

I tried to recall. I remembered hearing about it: Duke Lewellton’s mother, covered in flowers, found dead. The previous Duchess Lewellton.

“You know.”

“Yes, you told me, Doctor.”

“Ah, so you remember that. Okay then.”

Siebel took a sip of wine.

“The next experiment was about Collen. It was a project to create the most powerful black wizard.”

Siebel leaned towards me.

“Let me tell you this. I told you that the Duke of Lewellton needs to kill to live, right?”

“Yes, you said he’s a worthless murderer.”

“That’s because he made contracts with too many demons. The previous Duke experimented on my body to find a way to handle more power than allowed. They made Collen contract with demons until he almost went mad… If Collen failed, they would continuously beat, starve, and abuse him.”

“…That man went crazy too.”

According to Siebel, that was the case.

Black wizards usually make contracts with two or three demons in their lifetime. But Collen reportedly had contracts with about ten of them.

“Eventually, when the demons felt they weren’t getting enough from Collen, they demanded he kill. Even a normal and weak human releases a small amount of magic when dying. The spirits were screaming to drink that magic.”

It was a gruesome story, enough to make one frown.

“Then, can’t he just break the contracts with the demons?”

“Are demons human? They won’t just agree to a termination. Sometimes even humans don’t listen, demons are even worse.”

“So… what does this have to do with the Duchess’s death?”

“It has a lot to do with it.”

Siebel grinned wickedly.

‘It’s a project to create a human weapon.’

They experimented on Siebel, who had opposing powers. It was an experiment to extract magic to the limits and inject it into Collen.

Through countless repetitions of these trials, Siebel started to lose his mind. During this process, the Duke said:

Due to the repeated pain, Siebel began to hate Collen without any reason. The only reason he didn’t go completely mad was a woman.

The Duchess, Miliana.

She occasionally begged the Duke to see Siebel. Siebel, moved by her care, started to cooperate with the experiments.

Collen was said to be afflicted with an illness that could only be cured by absorbing magic.

Miliana was placing her hopes on the experiments eventually leading to Collen’s cure. She was unaware of the side effect that forcibly summoning beings as the symptoms of overdosing on magic.

Siebel put the idea into Collen’s father’s mind.

Siebel wanted Miliana’s love. He had been confined and abused for too long. The physical pain was bearable, but the emotional emptiness was not.

The more he cooperated with the experiments, the more people let their guard down around him.

“That’s when I learned. People are easily fooled by a sweet voice, a smile, and a dignified attitude.”

“Doctor, you do look quite intimidating on the surface.”

“Leticia, the only person who would escape unscathed after saying that to me is you.”

“What are you going to do now? Are you going to be angry at me?”

I shrugged.

“So, what happened next?”

“I escaped through the gaps in security as they relaxed. In reality, I didn’t expect the first escape attempt to succeed. It was about reconnaissance. I made it to the top of the tower. And what I saw there was shocking.”

Siebel continued his story, describing what he saw inside the tower. In it was the sight he had dreamed of all his life.

“Collen, my son.”

Miliana was gazing at the sleeping boy, Collen, with a loving expression on her face.

That day, he realized.

“I understood then. The emotions I received from Miliana were just cheap sympathy.”

“Like cheap food you’d give to a dog.”

“Yes, emotions are truly useless.”

Siebel nodded.

“Anyway, I couldn’t forgive Collen’s mother. After all, she used me just like everyone else. All she loved was her own son, Collen.”

“…”

“But I was foolish too. I would have accepted anyone during those hellish days. I had a period in my life where I felt that way as well.”

I stood up from my seat. So Siebel was the one who killed Collen’s mother. And in a very horrible way.

“You too, Doctor, were inevitably a weak person, just like others.”

I stroked Siebel’s hair.

Siebel grabbed my wrist. I smiled slightly.

“Don’t worry. I am… on your side. A perfect ally who isn’t swayed by emotions. I will help you.”

A smile finally appeared on Siebel’s lips.

“For me?”

“Yes… for you.”

I can do anything. Saying so, I provocatively smiled at Siebel.

“Do you know what I want?”

“You wish for this country, including Mage Tower, to perish, right? And you want to kill the Duke. Right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Especially… I wish the kingdom would suffer just like I did.”