I found the fact that Luca got all gloomy after Judith suggested Rudiger and Luca play catch to be somewhat telling. Now, this may just be a crackpot theory, but please hear me out.

I believe I speak for all of us when I say that most of us firmly believe that the current Luca we’re working with is the Luca of the original story. He has been sent back in time to his current ten year old body, and from the looks of things, he is trying to change the story in his own way. The biggest area to “fix” would likely be ensuring that Rudiger survives the story.

He blames himself for Rudiger’s death because Rudiger dies protecting him from the bad guys, so perhaps the reason he is so cold to Rudiger is because, in Luca’s mind, if Rudiger hadn’t gotten so close to him, Rudiger wouldn’t have had to die.

Here’s where my idea may be “cracky”. I suspect that Luca is gloomy after refusing Judith’s idea of playing a game of catch is because Luca knows he is missing out on valuable father-son time (or in this case: uncle-nephew time), but putting up this distance is the best way, in Luca’s mind, to ensure that his uncle survives throughout the story.

I hope we get a scene later in the story where the three of them have a good family hug. Judith will hug Luca and let him know that he isn’t alone (Luca will probably be sobbing), and Rudiger will wrap his arms around the two of them like the awesome man we know him to be. If not, I’m going to have to write a fanfic about it.

Ah, this manhwa is so freaking good. I’ve been rereading this story over and over again, and I’m still caught on how good this story is. It just hits you in the emotional feels.

I’m tempted to write commentary for the rest of the chapters too, but this was one of my favorite chapters, so I thought I’d start here. I’m looking forward to hearing what the rest of y’all think.