episode_0070
by fnovelpia
“Mi, I’m sorry.”
“······.”
“ji, I really didn’t know. It’s all my fault. But, but…”
Sonia’s body, which seemed to have finally calmed down, began to tremble again. ha. Revan let out a short sigh.
“Lady.”
“Don’t go, don’t go. Please…”
“Lady.”
Tup. Revan grabbed Sonia’s hand, who was frantically ruffling her hair.
“Lady. I really don’t blame you.”
Hmm. Sonia took in a wet breath and shook her head from side to side.
“It’s real. Why would I lie?”
“Then-”
“But we cannot be together in the future.”
It was a more determined voice than before. Sonia grabbed Revan’s sleeve.
“I’m really, really sorry. Really, really. No matter what I do, I will live my life paying it forward. Black- It’s true.”
“······.”
“My, what will I do for you to forgive me? Also, money? Ah, no, there’s no way you can forgive me for something like this.”
“······.”
“···Would you like to hit me? If it’s a line that doesn’t kill you-”
“Lady.”
Sak- Sak- Revan began to tidy up Sonia’s tangled hair with delicate hands.
“If I’m with you.”
“Ugh, yes!”
“What should I do for a living?”
“···Ah?”
Phew. Revan sighed and continued speaking.
“First of all, you cannot be the lady’s servant. In fact, isn’t it common for servants of noble ladies of similar age to be women?”
“Well, I can do that somehow-”
“The lady is a noblewoman. You will marry a man from another family. Above all.”
Tup. After finishing organizing his tangled hair, Revan placed his hand on Sonia’s shoulder.
“Would Bert tolerate that?”
“······.”
“Of course not.”
Revan did not call Berthe by titles such as matriarch or master.
“Don’t you know, too? The person who sold me as an experiment was Bert.”
“······.”
Sonia wanted to make an excuse. For his proud father.
But no matter how hard Sonia tried, she couldn’t think of a good defense. When I was young, I thought it was a miracle and passed it over. However, a sponsor is giving a large enough amount of support to start a business in a family that has no assets left. When I thought about it after learning about the world, it was an element that made me feel very uncomfortable.
“Isn’t that what you think?”
In the end, Sonia had no choice but to keep her mouth shut, unable to find anything to say.
“Ah, of course, abandon your father… I have no intention of saying something like that. Even if I take revenge, I will do it in my own way.”
“···Revenge?”
“You can’t just sit back and be like this, right?”
Sigh. Revan looked into Sonia’s eyes.
“You can run to Bert now and tell him that the squire you sold is after his head. We often hear that family is a relationship where people value each other. Well, I don’t have anyone I can call family.”
“······.”
Sonia has a vague dream she has had since she was young.
In a quiet place, just the two of us. It’s not realistic, but it’s a dream I vaguely had in the back of my mind that I would make a promise to share the future with my reunited class.
“We can’t be together. It’s just forcing something that can’t stick together.”
“······.”
Revan tore Sonia’s dreams to pieces with his quiet voice. A dream that cannot come true.
“Um.”
Revan glanced at the clock and straightened his bent knees.
“Lady. I think I should go soon.”
“······.”
Sonia kept her mouth shut and grabbed Revan’s arm. Using my whole body, with desperation.
“···Ah.”
However, Revan easily freed Sonia’s arms. And then he bowed his head slightly.
“···Goodbye, Sonia. I hope you have a bright future ahead of you.”
Squeak – Just like that, Revan opened the door to the workshop that had become his temporary home and disappeared.
“······.”
Sonia stretched out her hand toward the door without taking her steps. The hand, unable to hold anything, waved in the air. As if he wanted to hold on to something.
“···Haha.”
Soon after, Sonia’s hands fell to the ground. With a body that has lost its strength.
“···Need to check.”
But Sonia somehow managed to support herself and get up from the floor. To witness the truth that must be confirmed. I dragged my body, which was not moving properly.
***
The land of imperial gold. The Bismuth family mansion located in the capital.
At the center was the splendid family room that announced the status and solid position of the family. A place where users cannot enter without permission from Bert.
“Ah, lady!”
“Get out of the way.”
-Quaang!
But today was different. A huge shock hit the door. It was an added bonus that the room was swaying in the aftermath.
“···What’s going on, Sonia?”
The person who opened the door with a great shock was Sonia, whose hands were wrapped in magic.
“I think we need to have a conversation between father and daughter after a long time.”
bang! Sonia’s eyes were shaking and unfocused as she chased away the noisy employees around her. It was clearly a strange state.
For Berthe, this was the first time he saw his daughter. Sonia may have a lively side, but she didn’t have the military skills of a bastard like that.
“Yes. What do you want to ask?”
But at the same time, as a father, he must prevent his daughter from going astray. Bert asked Sonia in a gentle parental voice.
However, Sonia showed no signs of loosening up. Sonia, who was breathing heavily, squeezed her throat and asked her father and the head of the Bismuth family.
“Really, my father.”
Hueup. After taking a deep breath, Sonia asked as if she were vomiting.
“Did you sell half of them as test subjects?”
“······Phew.”
In response to Sonia’s question, Bert raised his hand to his eyes. It’s as if he’s faced with a tiring topic.
“Sonia, where did you hear that-”
“Don’t avoid, answer!”
Hahaha Sonia took a deep breath. The hair that Revan had straightened out had already become scattered due to the circulation of magical energy caused by intense emotions.
“······.”
Bert diagnosed his daughter’s condition. It’s a state where you can’t talk back. In the end, Bert calmly recited the truth that Sonia had wanted to avoid.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“······!”
“I sold half of it. For wizards who want a test subject with the symbol of the God of Life.”
“Why-!”
“Are you asking because you really don’t know that?”
Bert’s voice, calmly speaking about the truth, was cruelly calm. I could not feel any emotional fluctuations or highs and lows.
“You really don’t know why I sold half of it.”
ha. Bert sighed and rang the bell on his desk.
***
-Wow!
“Yes, yes. Marcus…”
Panting! Marcus was a hunting dog brought in shortly after the new mansion where Berthe and Sonia currently live was built.
“······”
The puppy, which was as big as Sonia’s palm when she was young, had grown into a dignified hunting dog in just two years. When necessary, he bared his teeth at his enemies, but now he was an obedient dog wagging his tail towards Berthe.
“Sonia. What kind of person is Marcus to you?”
“Don’t change your mind-”
“Listen first. Didn’t you ask me to tell you why?”
Marcus was sticking out his tongue and wagging his tail with all his might. He seemed quite happy to be in the family home, which is normally off-limits, because he had lost his fur.
Bert gently stroked Marcus. Marcus smiled happily and enjoyed his master’s touch.
“It’s a precious thing. Isn’t it?”
Kuuk. Sonia, clenching her fists tightly, nodded. As I said, he was a child who filled Revan’s empty space, even if only slightly.
“Marcus is also precious to me. All they get is dog food and the occasional meat, but they always swear loyalty. Better than humans. By the way, Sonia. Let’s think about it for a moment.”
Bert’s hand, which had been stroking the top of his head and waist, gradually moved closer to Marcus’ neck.
“Suppose you were stranded in the desert. Unfortunately, we lost all our food. There is nothing to eat, and you are on the verge of starvation after being exposed to the sun for so long. Meanwhile, if Marcus is wagging his tail next to you. What will you do?”
Wow-! Before we knew it, Bert’s hands began to tighten around Marcus’ neck. Marcus began to scream and let out a pitiful scream.
“Father! Stop it! Marcus is in pain!”
“Think about my question, Sonia. What are you going to do?”
Despite Bert’s urging, Sonia could not come up with any particular answer. In the end, Bert loosened his grip on Marcus’s neck.
“I didn’t say it out loud, but you probably thought the same thing I did.”
“······.”
“He probably strangled Marcus and ate him. No matter how precious a dog is, in the end, the most important thing for humans is themselves.”
Marcus, whose tight neck was loosened, waggled his tail at his master, even if he had forgotten what had just happened.
The same goes for “half. Our family was on the verge of death, and they ate a dog named Ban.”
“···Bar, half.”
“Huh?”
bang! Sonia shouted after kicking the floor hard.
“Not half of them are bastards! Me, the one who saved me and was the only one left when everyone else left…”
“A loyal servant. And the relationship between servants and nobles is like the relationship between humans and dogs.”
Tup. Bert took out a piece of dog gum from a drawer and threw it at Marcus. Marcus went out, happily chewing his gum.
“You can bring your class back if you want. I can kneel sincerely in apology.”
“······.”
“But I don’t regret selling half of it. If I could go back in time, I would definitely make the same choices. Have you heard everything you wanted to hear now, Sonia?”
***
“······.”
Sonia was out in the garden of the mansion.
The Bismuth family garden is famous even among nobles. The colorful garden, decorated with Bert’s unique aesthetic, was famous for its beauty.
“······.”
But that beauty never caught Sonia’s gaze. The eyes became more cloudy than before and looked like the eyes of a dead fish.
“···Lady?”
There was an attendant who followed Sonia. A servant brought in by Sonia when she was young out of pity for her situation. It was Benny with brown hair.
Even though his condition was bad, Benny somehow pulled himself out. A position put in to somehow stabilize Sonia’s mind. But unfortunately, when Sonia saw Benny’s face, other things came to mind. The conversation that took place right before the full-scale confrontation with Revan.
***
-···Revan, why did you enter this academy?
– Revan, didn’t you join this academy because you had something in mind?
-I… have a goal. A very important goal.
-This is a fact that only Benny knows… I have someone waiting for me.
-He is a very precious person to me. Benny gets jealous every time he speaks… more than anyone else. Ah, this is something that would make even my father feel sad, hehe…
-···So, I want to be the best person I can until the day I proudly reunite with that person.
-And that goal will require interaction with many people. Revan, I need your help. To become a great person.
***
“······Haha!”
The mistakes I had made while traveling with Benny and telling my class about them began to come to mind one by one. Sonia couldn’t stay sane.
“Are you looking for your most precious person? Ahahahaha! The person responsible was right in front of me and I didn’t even recognize him!”
“Ah, lady…?”
Sonia knows too. You will know better than anyone in the world. No matter what you do from now on, nothing will ever come back.
So, what I am doing now was at least a form of atonement and a way to vent my anger. Sonia sentenced Benny half-heartedly.
“Benny? You are fired from today. Don’t ever think about catching my eye again.”
“······Yes?”
For Benny, these words were no different from a death sentence.
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