episode_0024

“That happened?”

“Yes.. I’m really sorry. I never thought something like that would happen..”

With a dark expression on her face, Rosebetta apologized to her husband, but her husband, the Duke of Dragona, slowly shook his head.

“Why would the wife need to apologize? But if you think about it positively, you could say that the child’s efforts helped resolve the situation..”

“But… didn’t Katlena almost get seriously hurt? If I had known this would happen, I would have added a little more escort…”

At first, it was Duke Dragona who was most worried about proceeding with this, but after the incident actually happened, it was his mother, Rosebetta, who was even more worried.

“Well.. But in the end, no one got hurt. I want to think positively because Katlena did something great. I was worried at first, but my daughter shows a different side no matter what.”

“Haa.. I guess you could think that way. But still, my heart is heavy when I think about the fact that I almost put a young child in danger.”

Simply put, it’s a matter of whether you care more about great results or risky processes.

Looking at his wife who was so bitter, Radu slowly hugged her body.

“It’s okay. The important thing is to pay a little more attention to these things in the future. If necessary, I can help you too.”

“..Honey.”

Although concerns remained over the aftermath of the unexpected accident.

However, Rosetta felt a little relieved by her husband’s gentle and soothing actions.

“By the way.. What happened to those brazen bastards who dared touch our beloved daughter? I don’t think I’ve heard that their heads were hung in the square yet..”

The next moment, Radu suddenly asked in a voice dripping with cold air.

A voice that seems to contain genuine anger from the heart

And to this, Rosebetta answered quietly, with an expression on her face that she would never show in front of her daughters.

“Isn’t it too merciful to give a quick death to those who did such things?”

“..umm… ”

“ I instructed you to make it suffer enough to extract something. I guess that’s over by now.”

Her tone of voice was so calm, as if she was putting sugar cubes into a teacup, separate from her expression that seemed to have lost her soul. But on the other hand, her words felt even more terrifying because of that.

Radu then roughly realized what kind of situation they had now been in and concluded that there was no need to worry about it any longer.

at that time..

-“Knock knock knock!”-

“Come in.”

A door that opens slowly after a knock and permission.

The moment they saw the person coming in from there, the expressions on their faces changed dramatically.

“… ”

“Come, my daughter.”

Duke Radu Dragona’s expression hardened slightly and he said nothing.

On the other hand, Duchess Mina Rosebetta Dragona welcomes her daughter with a kind smile on her face.

Seeing her parents like that, she…

Elios Noshelath Dragona naturally bowed his head towards his mother and opened his mouth in a quiet voice.

“Excuse me, Mother. I have something urgent to tell you, but could you spare a moment?”

“Of course, I actually had something to say too, so that’s good.”

With those words, Rosebetta left the room with Elios.

During that process, she was looking at Radu with a slightly frustrated expression, but Radu, as always, tried to ignore her gaze and turned his head away until she left the room with her eldest daughter.

*

“So, what do you want to say, baby?”

Just after reaching her private office, Rosetta asked her daughter in a voice full of affection.

“Yes, actually, I came here to tell you something about what happened this time.”

“If that’s the case, what happened at the orphanage? But I know that’s mostly wrapped up already… Is there anything left?”

“Yes, although we never found out the identity of the guys who bought the children, if we limit it to the orphanage, it is true that it has been concluded. Honestly, I didn’t think things would be resolved this quickly… My younger brother helped me a lot in that regard.”

Elios’ words were quiet as usual, but there was a feeling of light peace rather than his usual cold demeanor.

Although there were various things that Rosetta hadn’t even thought of, she still achieved the goal she had hoped for.

I felt a little happy inside, thinking that I had achieved something that made the relationship between my two daughters a little more friendly.

“But there is still one thing I want to ask of you, mother.”

“Hoo.. What is that? If it’s something our proud daughter asks, I’ll try to grant it.”

Rosebetta asked in a slightly excited mood, and Elios, with a little caution, began to tell her mother his ‘request’.

*

About a month had passed since the orphanage incident.

Katlena was relieved to finally return to her ‘normal’ daily life after the messy situation was all sorted out.

Word has it that the orphanage, which had been problematic since then, is now operating without any problems, and the children’s conditions have also improved.

Of course, from Katlena’s perspective, it’s a good thing.

Now, she was just watching the man studying hard next to her.

‘As expected… It’s a little different from my previous life, but still, Zeros is Zeros. Even in that situation, you didn’t spare yourself and tried to protect me, right? That manly appearance hasn’t changed since you were young.’

Although he was immediately overcome with anger when he saw Zeros lying injured, looking back, he could say that it was also due to the man’s loyalty to him.

Inwardly delighted at the fact that she had confirmed this, Katlena looked at Zeros with even more affectionate eyes than before.

And… while receiving such warm gazes from the princess, Zeros was feeling a little awkward.

‘I feel like I’ve unintentionally set off a strange flag..’

Katlena’s attitude has become much more cheerful since the incident at the orphanage the other day.

Regarding this, Zeros was thinking that it was his throwing his body to save Katlena that had activated a strange trigger.

‘Honestly, I did what I had to do as a servant… but did this Princess find it so impressive? Ugh… No matter how I think about it, I don’t think this is going well.’

It was good that he had caught Princess Elios’ attention to some extent, but more than that, he had needlessly raised the favorability rating of Princess Katlena, who he would later have to cut ties with.

Although Zeros felt a bit uneasy about this, he thought that it wouldn’t be that big of a problem.

‘Well… even if you say you like her, it’s just a little interest from a kid who doesn’t know anything. Even if you stay like this for a while, you’ll soon lose interest later. And after you meet her fiancé, she won’t care about people like me anymore.’

Yes, Zeros decides not to worry about this part while thinking about the future planned in the original work.

However, regardless of such thoughts, a vague sense of anxiety lingered in Zeros’ mind.

Even though it is said to be a planned future, it is a situation where things have already gone off track, so he cannot help but have some concerns.

Meanwhile, Katlena, who had no way of knowing about his thoughts, quietly got up from her seat with a smile on her face and looked out the window.

A clear, cloudless sky and the sound of birds chirping everywhere.

It was a warm season that announced the arrival of spring, but to Katlena’s eyes, it did not seem entirely peaceful.

‘If I think about it… back then it was similar to today.’

The scenery that day was like this.

The birds were chirping and singing clearly, and the sky was clear without a cloud.

At first glance, it seemed like a world filled with only peaceful things.

Under such skies, Katlena was killed by her sister’s hands.

Listening to the chirping of birds.

While being bathed in the warm sunlight…

Fortunately, some time had passed and the terrible feeling from back then had faded away. But even now, the memory of that time still sat in a corner of her heart.

‘You don’t have to be swayed by these feelings. But… that doesn’t mean you should ever forget. How scary my sister is… and that you should never, ever stand up to her.’

Fortunately, this incident seemed to have gone well thanks to my sister’s help, but I didn’t know how things would go wrong between us in the future.

Nothing is set in stone, and the real dangers are yet to come.

However, even in this situation, Katlena began to calmly pull herself together.

‘I will definitely survive.. together with Zeros..’

Fortunately, unlike in the past, she now had general knowledge of the situation ahead, and her field of vision was incomparably broader than when she was her original age.

If you make the most of these strengths and lead your future work well, there will definitely be no major problems.

It was at that time that Katlena was once again steeling her resolve.

-“Knock knock knock“-

“Yes, come in.”

At the sound of a knock on the door, Katlena turned her head from the window and shouted in a bright voice, and Zeros also stopped studying and got up from his seat.

People who open the door and come in right after.

The moment she realized who they were, Katlena began to feel a crack in the resolve she had thought so firmly established.

‘Can I really do well?’

The scene that appeared before her eyes.

That made her think enough.

Two people standing in front of her..

One of them was her older sister, Elios.

Let’s say that’s it up to here.

It was quite common for my older sister, who lived in the same neighborhood as me, to have her path overlap with mine, so I no longer felt nervous or upset about it.

The problem is another person standing next to Elios.

There, where Katlena had been keeping watch.

At the same time, the woman I thought I would never see again.

Arachne stood.

‘How on earth did that girl get here? I thought she’d be thrown in an orphanage and I’d never see her again…’

Feeling a strange sense of unease, Katlena greeted Elios as cautiously as she could in a crawling voice.

“Ah.. Hello, Unnie..”

“Yeah.”

After giving the usual brief greeting, Elios immediately turned her gaze to Arachne next to her and spoke.

“You already know, right? This girl named Arachne. I decided to take her as my servant to repay you for what happened last time. Be sure to treat her well from now on.”

“Ah..yes..”

Cattlena answers Elios’s words with a stiff voice.

Despite her burning inner feelings, Arachne blushed slightly and lowered her head, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Ah..hello..yo..Princess Katlena. And..Lord Zero.”

A shy little girl speaking with a trembling voice.

Objectively speaking, it seemed like it would be quite cute, but… at the moment she was watching this, only one word automatically came to Katlena’s mind.

A word that her mother, who was kind and at the same time almost always maintained the noble dignity of a duchess, would utter very rarely, reflexively, when she was in a very bad mood.

In response to her daughter’s question about what it meant, she had been told that it was a very vulgar word that expressed a dirty feeling and that she should never use it in front of others, but Katlena thought that it would be a very appropriate word to use in this situation.

‘What the fuck…’