The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1202: False Healing

Luca felt that particular detail was worth mentioning because, if he was right about the second scene being an actual memory, then it revealed something that could prove incredibly important.

Apparently, within the House of Luxastra, their bloodline ability was ordinarily activated through direct skin-to-skin contact.

That was precisely why members of the royal family were almost never seen without gloves whenever they were around other people, particularly those who knew what they were capable of. Wearing them not only prevented the needless expenditure of their scarce spiritual energy, but also ensured the ability wouldn’t activate by accident.

As long as there wasn’t any direct contact, everyone around them—including those capable of wielding the same bloodline ability—could rest assured they weren’t being influenced.

The twins, however, appeared to be different.

Somehow, they’d developed the ability to use it through eye contact alone.

While they seemed capable of controlling it now, Luca didn’t think that had always been the case.

From what little he’d managed to glimpse, the two had spent years suffering because their own siblings believed they were manipulating their father into favoring them.

The irony was that their father probably did love them in his own way. Woven into that affection, however, was fear. Even for him, an ability like theirs was nothing short of terrifying. Yet at the same time, it was an ability that would’ve been unimaginably valuable against anyone who knew nothing about it. So long as the twins had no ambitions beyond serving their house, they would’ve been an extraordinary asset.

Hence the strange position they found themselves in: outwardly cherished, yet quietly avoided by the very people who were supposed to be closest to them.

The saddest part was that the twins themselves didn’t understand why everything had changed so suddenly.

Back then—clearly from a time before they had settled into the youthful appearance they still maintained centuries later—they couldn’t even control what was happening, much less realize they were influencing people simply by maintaining eye contact. To them, it probably just seemed as though everyone naturally adored them.

But illusions like that were never meant to last. Eventually, the truth surfaced in a way they likely never saw coming.

"And I think they regretted telling their mother about the ability," Luca added quietly. "Because that was when everything started to fall apart."

They weren’t thrown out or beaten, but those aren’t the only ways to alienate someone. Worse, children are particularly great at noticing sudden shifts around them and could easily be hurt by inexplicable changes.

He’d only witnessed scattered bits of memories before the vision abruptly ended when Lyrian was kicked away by Xavier, but after checking on the affected master mechanics afterward, the young cadet had become far more certain about what the bloodline ability was actually doing.

"I think it’s illusion-based."

"Illusion-based?" the Imperial Prince repeated.

Luca gave a slow nod as he finally voiced the thoughts he’d been sitting on since earlier.

"Yeah. I believe the reason people become so attached to them is because they start seeing the twins as the only path to their greatest desire...

"It’s almost like the ability promises them that if they stay by the user’s side, whatever they want most will definitely come true."

He thought back to the glimpses he’d seen before continuing. Honestly, some of them hadn’t made much sense to him. But just because he couldn’t understand them didn’t mean the people under the ability’s influence couldn’t.

Moreover, the fact that he kept on consistently seeing something that he probably shouldn’t be seeing meant that something must have been up with those particular memories.

"The victim starts believing the ability user is the only person who truly understands them. The only one who can give them what they’re searching for."

Hearing that, Xavier finally understood the strange messages the master mechanics had sent out earlier.

It wasn’t that they’d suddenly abandoned all reason. It was just that something utterly irrational now made perfect sense to them.

To them, the twins had become the answer they’d unknowingly been searching for all along.

Just as the Imperial Prince felt he was finally beginning to understand the bloodline ability, Luca quietly added something else.

"But that’s only the part that makes people them and want to follow them. And because they think it’s reward based, they would generally try to do things to stay in their good graces."

He frowned.

"Yet I didn’t think that part was the scariest. Because most people tend to be grounded when they dream, and fulfilling them could be treated like a bonus after a very long and tiring run."

Only a few people with intense determination would feel when presented with their dream and he figured that was the important bit there.

A heavy silence settled over the room as they watched Luca’s back slump ever so slightly.

The Elders exchanged solemn glances. All of them suddenly realized just how fortunate they were that the twins hadn’t progressed further in their cultivation.

If the rest of the House of Luxastra was around the same level, then they had been luckier than they’d initially realized. Had they been anything like the beings back home, there would’ve been far more people running around with an ability that had the potential to be this insidious.

And who would’ve had to run around cleaning up their mess?

Most likely this already overworked boy.

"..."

"The part that really worried me was when they needed someone obedient enough to become completely obsessed."

Luca lowered his voice, oblivious to the thoughts that had suddenly crossed the Elders’ minds.

"For that, I think what they were unknowingly commanding wasn’t someone’s greatest desire... but someone’s deepest regrets."

Still absorbed in piecing together everything that had happened earlier, Luca absently fidgeted with his fingers as he continued.

"I’d liken it to plugging the wound normally left behind by regret. Unlike most wounds, though, this one runs much deeper and can reopen every time it’s revisited.

"But not while someone’s under the influence of the ability, and that’s what makes it so much more troublesome. It’s as if they’re being led to believe they remembered everything incorrectly, or that somehow the issue had already been resolved and there was nothing left to regret.

"...Then, at the center of that false healing would be the ability user, descending like some sort of miracle healer."

His gaze gradually lowered.

"I believe this is how they create the most desperate victims, because regrets are far more powerful than dreams or ambition. Those things make people look forward, but regret is the kind of pain that lingers. It follows you long after everything else has moved on."

"So if someone suddenly made that pain disappear, even if it was only an illusion, it’d probably feel like a drug to anyone who couldn’t let it go."

"Then just like addicts, they’d instinctively protect the source of that comfort and be willing to do almost anything to make sure the illusion would never disappear."

His voice grew quieter, as though hoping someone would tell him he was wrong.

No one did.

"Unfortunately, stopping the twins’ influence usually meant forcing someone right back into reality.

"And... that could get a little messy."

"Was that how you managed to sever the twins’ influence? By breaking the illusion and showing them reality?" Elder Feng asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he finally understood why this child, who was normally far too agreeable, would’ve felt as though he were handing out punishment instead of freedom.

"Yes. But honestly, I didn’t really have to do much. I’d just yank the ability back, and everything would come rushing in. I couldn’t really stop the visions from surfacing, though..."

No wonder it’d looked so effortless to everyone watching. The way Luca described it made the whole ordeal sound far simpler than it’d actually been.

But for people like the master mechanics, who’d already lived long lives and undoubtedly accumulated more than their fair share of regrets, those wounds couldn’t possibly have been as easy as treating a small cut.

And considering all that, it now made perfect sense that they had reacted like fanatics desperate to cling to that false comfort before it could be ripped away, even going as far as to fight over it in the lounge.

The golden-eyed cadet winced as he remembered having to be the bearer of bad news only moments earlier, but it wasn’t like he really had much of a choice.

And as someone who’d once clung to a false sense of security, convincing himself he was fine so long as he could retreat into his dungeon while everything else fell apart, Luca couldn’t help but sympathize with them.

But some regrets didn’t have to remain regrets forever.

Especially not in their case, when most of their regrets revolved around believing they wouldn’t live long enough to see the future they’d always longed for, or having given up on the projects they truly wanted to pursue, only to see those who had managed to hold on finally reap the fruits of their sacrifices.

Luca didn’t think those things were impossible anymore.

At least, not now.

So if that was the case... wouldn’t it be better to help them overcome those regrets in reality instead?

That was the thought he’d held onto the entire time, just to keep himself from getting swept away by the emotional visions he’d seen despite feeling he had no right to witness them.

At the same time, he figured the least he could do for those whose lives he’d intruded upon was to lend them a little push, especially when it was well within his capabilities.

So maybe it hadn’t been such a fruitless experience after all?