[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun":3,"chapter-the-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun-the-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun-chapter-527":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},630487,871,"Chapter 527: The Monster","the-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun-chapter-527",527,"\u003Cp>An octopus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the only word Luca could think of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, he couldn’t even comprehend what Xavier was doing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier had wrapped himself around him completely, tangling their limbs until Luca’s arms and legs clung to him instinctively, like a lifeline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was only after Xavier called his name softly, over and over, that Luca realized what was happening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He blinked up at him, dazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d spaced out. Completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But who wouldn’t? Not after hearing words like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His heart thudded so loudly it drowned out everything else, and his thoughts were in pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What...?\" he managed to whisper, still confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier only held him tighter, his voice calm yet firm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tugged Luca impossibly closer, letting him feel his steady heartbeat and warm breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luca stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. His lips trembled before he finally whispered, \"Okay.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His small hands gripped Xavier’s coat as if letting go was not an option.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the way Luca spoke... the way his golden eyes went distant, as though looking somewhere far away...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It terrified him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first time it happened, he said, he’d just been traumatized by what he saw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one ever suspected it was him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At first,\" Luca continued faintly, \"it wasn’t so bad. People pitied me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it happened a second time, people started raising their eyebrows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He remembered clearly. The madness in their eyes. The chaos. The feeling of wanting to crawl into himself and disappear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this time, the aftermath was different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pity he’d once received turned into suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some even went further, whispering words he could never forget.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cursed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlucky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, no one outright accused him. Not yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some of the adults even tried to comfort him, telling him it was just a coincidence. A cruel, tragic coincidence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when the third rampage happened...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It all came crashing down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no more consolation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only screams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The survivor’s guilt they’d once muttered about behind his back turned into open accusations of murder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And they weren’t subtle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The day they told me what I’d done,\" Luca whispered, his hands tightening unconsciously in Xavier’s coat, \"I broke.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they all turned away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They all recoiled like he was a disease. Like they were avoiding the plague.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And perhaps...perhaps they were right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because back then, he was the plague.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His lips curved into a small, sad smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Xavier thought, bitterly, that it would have been easier to watch him cry out his frustration than to see that quiet, resigned smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had been desperate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Desperate for a solution. For someone, anyone, to help him figure it out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there had been no one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he was cast out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And deep down, even now, he thought they were right to do it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he believed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He believed he was a sinner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to Xavier, it was utter nonsense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not Luca, no. And not his feelings about all this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But all those beings claiming to be human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blaming a child for something no one could control?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially when the body he had been given was the result of their own failed science?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if they had no idea, wasn’t that just ironic?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, that wasn’t even the kicker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What truly burned was their hypocrisy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had shunned him, broken him, and then used him anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he never did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he believed he deserved their hatred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier’s jaw tightened painfully as his arms wrapped tighter around Luca.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what could he even say?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Words felt hollow when the pain had been carried alone for so long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not even claim to understand, because he didn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who could possibly understand something so cruel?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if it was Luca, he thought, then he would find a way to reach him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier drew a quiet breath and spoke his name at last.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Luca.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The guide flinched faintly, startled at the sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His golden eyes avoided Xavier’s gaze, as though afraid of what he might see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Xavier refused to let him look away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cupped Luca’s chin gently, tilting it up until their eyes met.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luca froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because what he saw in Xavier’s face was not fear. It was not disgust. It was not disappointment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only quiet certainty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luca’s breath caught, his chest tight and trembling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I wanted to ask you something,\" Xavier said softly, his voice steady.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ask me?\" Luca repeated, unsure, confused by the calmness in his tone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes,\" Xavier replied. \"You are the only one I can ask this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"O-okay... what is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier’s gaze stayed fixed on him, unflinching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luca’s eyes widened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His back straightened slightly, breath coming quicker now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Would you think it was her fault?\" Xavier continued, his tone quiet but firm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luca opened his mouth, but nothing came out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Would you say the adults were right to treat her that way?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier’s words sank deeper with each question, his thumb brushing lightly over Luca’s cheek.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luca shook his head faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No...\" he whispered at last.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier’s gaze did not leave him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No,\" Luca said again, louder this time, his voice cracking slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, he shook his head more firmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Absolutely not.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xavier’s lips curved just slightly, though his eyes remained serious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then,\" he said softly, leaning his forehead against Luca’s, \"why would you ever think you are?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>OH.\u003C\u002Fp>",1290,"2026-06-02T06:16:33.822Z",1,"novelbin.me","63d224f939bb6c69c0622a68ff4f5022845a7bfb399060f949281d04f1321826","the-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun-chapter-528","the-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun-chapter-526",1073,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-royal-military-academy-s-impostor-owns-a-dun-cover.jpg"]