God Bless Your Ruin

After the sunrise. 

Contrary to the heavy rain last night, the sky was very clear and cloudless. However, the people who always wanted to start the day with joy, had to face a terrible tragedy just after waking up. 

The body of Elliott, the Hawkins' only son, was washed up on the south shore along with a crudely constructed boat.

People were horrified. 

The young man's body was torn to shreds. His limbs and body were torn to pieces like pieces of paper, and it looked as if he had been dismembered alive. Fortunately, only his face was left intact, which had a seaweed-like color, so it was possible to recognize that it was Elliott.

His face reflected fear in its entirety. 

He had both pupils empty and wide open. The great shock and horror remained in them, at the moment his soul was already completely gone. It was as if he had witnessed a terrifying monster right under his nose. Until the moment when the monster's claws mercilessly tore his body apart.

— Angie, don't look, go home now! He was bitten by a shark.

Angie's parents forced her to turn around and sent her home. Other childrens her age were also being pulled off the beach by adults. The whispers of the adults, who are busy sending young children home and to school, reached Angie's ears in the sea breeze.

— So you must never think wrong. There are terrible monsters beyond the sea. 

— Didn't it capsize his boat and he was bitten by a shark?

— If it weren't for the shark, it would be like this! Because beyond the sea, there are monsters far more terrifying and terrifying than sharks. So all of us have to stay on this island. So that we are all safe, right? Of course it must be so...

Angie walked like a machine toward her house, the scarf around her head and the white apron around her waist swaying in the wind.

 Her mother quickly turned her body so as not to let her get a close look at Elliot's condition. 

However, one of his legs, which had been severely shattered below the knee, was clearly visible. It was so awful.

Angie paused for a moment, then closed her eyes tightly and opened them. 

Horror enveloped her entire body. Chills ran through her from head to toe, stabbing her like a needle.

Something is wrong. Why, she didn't know the reason for that. But, something is very... Strange.

Elliott Hawkins' residence was in the northeast, somewhat removed from the south where Angie lived. She never even met him in her entire life. 

A very small number of about 10,000 people settled in the more habitable areas of the island under the Blackwell family center and formed a single community. 

Not everyone knew this.

The feeling of pity she had for the deceased was strong. But that was not all. The shiver that had penetrated Angie's body was for a different reason.

Is there really anything beyond the sea? 

Angie continued again. 

If she stood still, people would look at her strangely. On both sides of the road on the way home, fresh sycamore trees lined the road. 

Autumn sunlight shone warmly through the green leaves. The terrible accident that happened last night seemed like a lie.

Accident... Not an accident. He was bitten by a shark. However...

A glimmer of suspicion crossed Angie's mind.

What if a shark didn't do it?

She didn't know why, but she had a strong intuition that somehow it wasn't a shark. It looked like a gigantic, unknown creature, not a shark, had brutally ripped off young Elliot's limbs.

If so, what kind of monster killed Elliot? What would it be? Would it really be a monstrous creature living on the other side of the sea?

She had no intention of telling anyone about this suspicion. Everyone, including her parents, who sometimes said she was too imaginative. No one seriously reproached her. Still, she thought it wiser to keep it hidden.

What the hell is on the other side of the sea...?

Angie walked slowly, trying to shake the disturbing thoughts out of her head.

The terrible morning that destroyed the peace of the island for a short time passed quickly. The villagers did not leave Elliott's house until the afternoon.

The Hawkins, who abruptly lost their only son, had scarcely managed to stop weeping, after moaning loudly without taking a sip of water. Protestant pastors and neighbors did not hesitate to help the poor couple, as in the preparation of the funeral procession and arrangements in the sunny area of the cemetery.

A few days later, the Hawkins received the bright morning as usual. As if nothing had happened, they sat at the table with sandwiches, soups and stews brought to them by the villagers. The sight of a few days ago, when their eyes were bloodshot and tearful and submerged in weeping, was nowhere to be seen.

— I think harvest finished a little early this year. Now all that's left is to harvest the corn.

— I know, right. We only have fruit wine and pickles left to eat in the winter. Let's take it easy.

The faces of the middle aged man and woman were so calm. There was no sign of sadness anywhere.

...

He might actually be older.

Angie's suspicions only grew stronger as time went on. It was the second winter year at Blackwell's since she had read a book to the young master and gone to talk to him.

She found herself there, on the last Friday in December. 

Just in time for teatime, she walked to the snow covered garden at the Blackwell's top. Although the weather was harsh all year round, winter was winter. The whole island was very cold as if surrounded by a huge cloud of ice from the snow that had fallen nonstop for various days.

Angie walked excitedly through the trees blooming with snowflakes, tightly gripping the strap of her hat on her wool coat. With each step she took, her thick eyes bugged out and she sang under her boots.

 Unlike the contract she had when she first entered the mansion last September, she now visited the young master three times a week.

Now, she was so used to it that she could walk through the door of the mansion even with her eyes closed and reach from the garden to the front of the room on the third floor. She was also much closer mentally to the master. At least that's how she felt.

She had yet to see Kyle through the thick curtains. 

Actually, the exact age of Duke Edward Liam Blackwell's only son, Kylek Rodan Blackwell, was unknown.

One day, the sewing girls whispered out of curiosity. That the duchess was rumored to have given birth to several children, including twins, over the years, but they all died within a year of their birth, and only the master Kyle survived. Of course, that's just speculation.

His appearance was also something that was kept completely secret, but it was the same thing. It seemed that no one had ever seen his face except the butlers of the main mansion.

Fortunately, Angie was a very special case. Even if the silhouette watching her through the curtains was just a shadow, she was a stranger who actually listened to his voice for at least three days a week, and three hours a week.

Externally, it is known that he is about 18 years old, a year older than her, but no one was sure. At first, she thought he was the same age as her or younger. But as time went on, she realized it could be the other way around. Maybe he was older than she had assumed.

But what kind of illness is it, what makes him have to stay in bed for so long?

He can't even leave the mansion for a day, and just lives in his room. According to Mrs. Dunst, the doctors who have served the Blackwell family from generation to generation continue to develop treatments, so she heard that the young master's illness would be cured in a few years.

— In fact, it can't even be called a disease.

Said Mrs. Dunst solemnly, not long after she escorted her to the front door.

— His skin is very sensitive to sunlight and his body is very weak, so he just stays indoors. At night, he sometimes takes a walk in the garden. The only thing he doesn't show is his face. We don't have to worry about that because sometimes we do run for the young master.

Angie couldn't forget the day Mrs. Dunst said that. Instead of the words she said, it was the two strange gazes she felt from afar.

The two eyes were gazing at her from different places.

After hearing this, Angie bowed politely to the butler and left the mansion. As she passed the fountain where there were baby angels wearing bows and entered the path lined with trees on both sides, she turned her head involuntarily. 

There was no apparent reason.

Under the early winter sky, as twilight began to fall, Mrs. Dunst was watching her. It had been a long time since she had left the front door, but the butler still stood by the door like a stone statue. She couldn't even see her expression from a distance.

It was a strange feeling. 

An unfamiliar shiver caught Angie's whole body like a rope and wouldn't let her go 

When Angie turned and stiffened, the woman turned and disappeared inside.

She felt another gaze. 

Angie raised her head involuntarily. Beyond the slightly open window, behind the billowing curtains, was a silhouette of someone. She was on the third floor, on the far right.

That's the young master's room.....

The shadow disappeared in an instant. The hand that had been on the window sill quickly disappeared. 

Angie's body trembled slightly. A shiver more intense ran down her spine than when she had met Mrs. Dunst's gaze earlier. 

Her heart pounded. It must be young Master Kyle. 

There was no way anyone else was standing by his bedroom window.

Angie looked out the window for a few more seconds and then turned away. Her heart sank at the strange sensation. Her heartbeat, which was getting faster and faster, was accompanied by an unfamiliar herald and a heartbeat that seemed to be getting closer.

She was horrified. 

An inexplicable ominous current was moving from her feet to head.