Chapter 61: Finally telling them the truth(1)

Lucian felt a sense of unease as Lia dragged him downstairs.

He wondered what could have happened, but he kept silent, letting Lia drag him down. His fingers curled slightly as they descended the stairs.

As they stepped downstairs, Lucian finally asked, his voice firmer this time, unable to hold back the tension creeping into his nerves.

“What happened?”

Lia didn’t answer him for a second.

“Just look at the TV,” she said, pulling him to the living room.

Seraphina was sitting on the couch, her posture rigid and tense as she tapped the TV remote repeatedly against her thigh.

There was a faint frown on her face—but it wasn’t just confusion, but also dread.

Lucian understood as soon as he heard the word ‘TV’.

His heart gave a slow, heavy thud.

‘So that’s it.’

Still, he went along with her and sat on the couch beside Seraphina. He could feel the tension radiating from her even before she looked at him.

Her eyes finally snapped toward him.

For a second, her eyes widened slightly. She was so focused on the television that she had barely registered when he had come inside the room, only noticing when he sat beside her.

“Here, look at this!” Lia said, rushing to sit beside him, as she pointed her trembling hand at the television.

Lucian glanced at Seraphina for a brief second. She was staring at him with a sharp, piercing gaze—like she was trying to read something hidden behind his calm exterior.

Like she was searching for cracks.

He felt that gaze.

And it made his throat tighten slightly.

He then turned to the television screen.

Seraphina increased the volume so he could hear properly. The sudden rise in sound filled the room, swallowing the fragile silence.

“—you are seeing right now is absolutely real. This is not a prank, not CGI, and not a marketing stunt.”

The reporter’s voice trembled despite her attempt to remain professional.

“What you are seeing is real. These are the footage captured by CCTV.”

As the reporter said that, the screen shifted.

A massive bull appeared—its body grotesquely enlarged, muscles bulging unnaturally beneath dark, coarse hide. It was easily twice the size of a car.

In the next second, it charged.

It dashed at a vehicle with terrifying speed, slamming into it and instantly destroying it like it was made of cardboard.

Metal crumpled. Glass exploded outward.

The sound of impact echoed through the speakers, distorted and horrifying.

“Ahhhh! Run!!”

“Mother!!”

“No, go away!”

Screams filled the footage. Desperate, broken screams.

Then the screen cut back to the reporter.

Lucian’s fingers slowly curled against his knees.

“As you’ve seen in the footage, this is not a drill. And this is not something made by CGI. We know this is difficult to digest, but it is true. Now, we’ll show you another piece of footage.”

Lucian looked at everything that was going on.

His expression didn’t change much. There was a small frown on his face. His eyes narrowed slightly—but not in disbelief. It was just because—

‘What kind of monster is that?

Yes, that was what he was thinking about.

Yes, people were screaming in the background. Yes, cars were being destroyed. Yes, the world was visibly collapsing in real time.

But his mind was on something else.

He was more concerned about the type of monster being shown on the screen rather than the chaos that was happening behind it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care.

It was just that panic would not help them survive.

He had already expected that these things would happen because of his past life memories. But he didn’t clearly remember most monsters. In fact, he hadn’t personally seen many before he died.

Because of the lack of shelter and electricity, there was no way for him to gather this information in his previous life.

Seraphina stared at his face, reading each expression, hoping—desperately—that what she was thinking wouldn’t come true.

She didn’t look at the TV for long. She was more focused on him.

But seeing his composed, almost unbothered look, as if he had already expected this—as if he had seen something worse than this, it made her heart sink.

Her hands, holding the remote, stopped tapping as it trembled slightly.

Lia was also focused on the screen. Her eyes didn’t move for several seconds. The color drained from her face little by little.

She had the biggest reaction among them.

Her lips parted slightly, and she almost let out a nervous laugh.

“There’s no way this is true, right? It’s probably some movie shooting, and they are just showing it to us.” she said quickly.

Her voice was a bit high, a little bit too forced.

She smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

She snatched the remote from Seraphina’s hands and switched the channel abruptly.

Seraphina didn’t mind that.

Lucian didn’t say anything. He just watched as the channel changed.

“People were screaming just seconds ago—police are trying to push everyone back! Please. We request all of you. Don’t come out of your houses!”

Lia changed the channel again.

“…I—I’m sorry, we’re getting reports of another attack nearby—”

Again.

“If you are outside, go indoors immediately. Lock your doors. Stay away from windows.”

“We repeat—this is not a joke.”

Lia switched the channels again and again, almost desperately.

Her fingers pressed the buttons repeatedly after a few seconds.

She was searching, hoping to see at least one news report that would say it was fake.

That it was a misunderstanding.

A hoax, or maybe even a hacked broadcast.

But no.

Every channel told the same story.

The same warnings.

The same censored footage filled with blurred red stains and screaming silhouettes.

She was so focused on that, so consumed by the desperate need for denial, that she didn’t even notice that Lucian hadn’t said anything from the beginning.

Finally, after she went through almost all the news channels, her hands stilled.

The remote slipped from her fingers and hit the couch beside her.

She grabbed her phone instead.

Her thumb moved quickly across the screen as she opened news articles, social media feeds, and live updates.

But still.

Everything was the same.

Similar videos, photos. And even some reels that she didn’t even look at, since they might probably be just edits.

Her heart dropped.

“It can’t be, right?” she muttered nervously, finally looking at Lucian. Her eyes were wide. Searching.

Lucian finally came out with his thoughts and looked at her.

He swallowed once before responding.

“I… I don’t know.” he said, forcing a faint frown onto his face. Not entirely fake—just incomplete.

“But the reports don’t seem to be faking this.”

Lia’s lips trembled as she was about to argue.

But Seraphina interrupted suddenly.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked.

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was sharp.

Lucian turned to her slowly.

She was still looking at him.

Her eyes narrowed as she read each of his expressions, his posture, his breathing.

She wasn’t just watching him.

She was studying him, thoroughly.

“I’m not sure, Mom,” Lucian replied carefully.

“I’m just making a guess.”

His expression cracked slightly under her gaze. Just slightly.

“Lucian…” she said suddenly, her voice low and trembling at the edges, as she found it difficult to say the words.

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you… Didn’t you say that you saw a monster on your way home?”

The room went silent, if not for the television’s noise.

Lucian didn’t say anything immediately. He tilted his head down slightly, staring at his own hands that seemed to be a bit rough after the previous night’s fight.

Lia blinked.

“Huh?!” She almost stood up from her seat.

“What are you—” she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Realisation dawned on her face.

She had almost forgotten about it.

‘Brother did say that he fought a goblin or something along those lines.’

Her eyes widened in horror.

‘How could I forget that?!’

Lucian saw all of this.

He exhaled slowly before lifting his head and looking at Seraphina directly.

“I did.”

His voice was steady—but his chest felt tight.

He inhaled deeply before finally saying the words clearly.

“It was true. I fought a goblin last night.”

Both of their eyes widened in horror.

“W-What a-are you talking about?! How?! When?!” Lia shouted, her face filled with worry as she leaned closer to him.

Seraphina grabbed his wrists tightly as she pulled him towards her.

Lucian was startled by the sudden force, but he didn’t pull away.

Her grip was trembling.

“W-What happened? Are you fine? Did you get i-injured?” her voice cracked, and her eyes turned watery as she scanned his face desperately.

Lucian’s heart twisted painfully at that sight.

He hadn’t wanted them to worry like this.

“Mom. I’m fine,” he immediately said, his voice softer.

He turned to Lia and held her hand too, squeezing it gently.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, more firmly this time.

And this time, he wasn’t pretending.

He was reassuring them—because he couldn’t bear the fear in their eyes.

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