The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 527: The Monster

An octopus.

That was the only word Luca could think of.

At first, he couldn’t even comprehend what Xavier was doing.

Still reeling from his husband’s earlier words, he felt like he’d just blinked—and somehow ended up in the kind of position his good brother Ollie usually found himself in.

Xavier had wrapped himself around him completely, tangling their limbs until Luca’s arms and legs clung to him instinctively, like a lifeline.

It was only after Xavier called his name softly, over and over, that Luca realized what was happening.

"Huh?"

He blinked up at him, dazed.

He’d spaced out. Completely.

But who wouldn’t? Not after hearing words like that.

His heart thudded so loudly it drowned out everything else, and his thoughts were in pieces.

"What...?" he managed to whisper, still confused.

Xavier only held him tighter, his voice calm yet firm.

"I know we just made a promise," he murmured. "But just because I promised doesn’t mean your doubts will magically go away. So I figured... what better way to reassure you than this?"

He tugged Luca impossibly closer, letting him feel his steady heartbeat and warm breath.

"So you can keep checking," Xavier added. "So you’re sure I won’t run. I won’t leave. You can tell, right here, if I’m lying. If something’s wrong. You’ll know right away."

Luca stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. His lips trembled before he finally whispered, "Okay."

His small hands gripped Xavier’s coat as if letting go was not an option.

But by the time Luca began describing what he remembered from his childhood, it was Xavier who found himself clinging to Luca instead—his arms tight, his breath shallow.

Because the way Luca spoke... the way his golden eyes went distant, as though looking somewhere far away...

It terrified him.

Xavier regretted asking almost immediately, but he knew they couldn’t keep avoiding it. They would get nowhere if they didn’t confront it now.

"No one really thought something was wrong," Luca began softly, "and even I didn’t feel like I was different. Or maybe I was just too young to know the difference..."

The first time it happened, he said, he’d just been traumatized by what he saw.

Back then, he hadn’t known about rampages. Hadn’t understood the bursts of wild power, the explosions that reduced everything and everyone around them to rubble.

No one ever suspected it was him.

In fact, they said he was lucky. Lucky to have survived as a child, hidden away in some tiny space carved out of collapsed stone, shielded from the carnage.

"At first," Luca continued faintly, "it wasn’t so bad. People pitied me."

But then...

Everything changed.

When it happened a second time, people started raising their eyebrows.

He remembered clearly. The madness in their eyes. The chaos. The feeling of wanting to crawl into himself and disappear.

And this time, the aftermath was different.

The pity he’d once received turned into suspicion.

Some even went further, whispering words he could never forget.

Cursed.

Unlucky.

Still, no one outright accused him. Not yet.

Some of the adults even tried to comfort him, telling him it was just a coincidence. A cruel, tragic coincidence.

But when the third rampage happened...

It all came crashing down.

There was no more consolation.

Only screams.

The survivor’s guilt they’d once muttered about behind his back turned into open accusations of murder.

And they weren’t subtle.

"The day they told me what I’d done," Luca whispered, his hands tightening unconsciously in Xavier’s coat, "I broke."

He remembered the little boy he used to be—terrified, begging them for help. Asking how to stop it. How to make it go away.

But they all turned away.

They all recoiled like he was a disease. Like they were avoiding the plague.

And perhaps...perhaps they were right.

Because back then, he was the plague.

His lips curved into a small, sad smile.

And Xavier thought, bitterly, that it would have been easier to watch him cry out his frustration than to see that quiet, resigned smile.

No wonder he was so sensitive to the idea of hurting someone. No wonder he clung to the idea that no one would get hurt again.

He had been desperate.

Desperate for a solution. For someone, anyone, to help him figure it out.

But there had been no one.

Then he was cast out.

And deep down, even now, he thought they were right to do it.

Because he believed it.

He believed he was a sinner.

But to Xavier, it was utter nonsense.

Not Luca, no. And not his feelings about all this.

But all those beings claiming to be human.

Blaming a child for something no one could control?

Especially when the body he had been given was the result of their own failed science?

Even if they had no idea, wasn’t that just ironic?

And then, when the inevitable happened, instead of finding a way to help him, they turned on him. They piled all the guilt onto his tiny shoulders as if he had wanted it to happen.

However, that wasn’t even the kicker.

What truly burned was their hypocrisy.

They had shunned him, broken him, and then used him anyway.

Xavier could feel his own blood boiling as he thought about it. With that kind of power, even as a child, Luca could have struck back. He could have destroyed them all.

But he never did. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Because he believed he deserved their hatred.

Because he thought he needed to atone for something that was never his fault. And this kind of learned helplessness was something they forced on his young heart.

Xavier’s jaw tightened painfully as his arms wrapped tighter around Luca.

But what could he even say?

Words felt hollow when the pain had been carried alone for so long.

He could not even claim to understand, because he didn’t.

Who could possibly understand something so cruel?

But if it was Luca, he thought, then he would find a way to reach him.

Xavier drew a quiet breath and spoke his name at last.

"Luca."

The guide flinched faintly, startled at the sound.

His golden eyes avoided Xavier’s gaze, as though afraid of what he might see.

But Xavier refused to let him look away.

He cupped Luca’s chin gently, tilting it up until their eyes met.

Luca froze.

Because what he saw in Xavier’s face was not fear. It was not disgust. It was not disappointment.

Only quiet certainty.

Luca’s breath caught, his chest tight and trembling.

"I wanted to ask you something," Xavier said softly, his voice steady.

"Ask me?" Luca repeated, unsure, confused by the calmness in his tone.

"Yes," Xavier replied. "You are the only one I can ask this."

"O-okay... what is it?"

Xavier’s gaze stayed fixed on him, unflinching.

"If it had been my sister Nina instead of you," Xavier asked slowly, "if she had been in your place as a child, would you have thought she was a monster?"

Luca’s eyes widened.

His back straightened slightly, breath coming quicker now.

"Would you think it was her fault?" Xavier continued, his tone quiet but firm.

Luca opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Would you say the adults were right to treat her that way?"

Xavier’s words sank deeper with each question, his thumb brushing lightly over Luca’s cheek.

Luca shook his head faintly.

"No..." he whispered at last.

Xavier’s gaze did not leave him.

"No," Luca said again, louder this time, his voice cracking slightly.

Finally, he shook his head more firmly.

"Absolutely not."

Xavier’s lips curved just slightly, though his eyes remained serious.

"Then," he said softly, leaning his forehead against Luca’s, "why would you ever think you are?"

Oh.

OH.