Ch.100EP.26 – The Girl Gained a Family…? (2)

“The Fault family, I hear they’re completely ruined. Perhaps it was you?”

“?”

“Hmm, it wasn’t you then.”

“I haven’t said anything yet…”

“I can tell just by looking at your face. Such knightly simplicity, ho ho.”

“…Hey, old man, that’s not a compliment, is it?”

“Ho ho.”

Fault.

More precisely, the family now consisting only of Reynol Fault, his wife, and one daughter.

They were so embarrassing to even call nobles, and they were undeniably a contemptible family on a personal level too.

“I’ve been looking for them, but couldn’t find them. Do you know anything?”

For the past week, Ihan had been searching for the Fault family.

More specifically, for that beast of a man named Reynol Fault.

However, somehow he couldn’t find him, and he was starting to get irritated, but now that a hint came from the Marquis’s mouth, he couldn’t help but be curious.

In response to his suspicious gaze, the Marquis lightly shrugged his shoulders.

“I was just curious about something, so I looked into it. According to the Marquis household’s investigation, Reynol Fault only had one daughter, but suddenly there were two… how strange.”

“……”

“Five years ago, a daughter suddenly appeared. How curious. Not only did a non-existent daughter suddenly appear, but then trying to marry her into the Marquis family, ho ho! How little they must have thought of Tristan to attempt such a thing, my goodness…”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“What else? I must teach them. Teach them why Tristan has remained a Marquis family throughout its long history, ho ho.”

“…Hmm.”

His mouth smiles, but his eyes do not.

The eyes of a bird of prey.

Sharp, intense, and utterly dignified.

If a civilian were to meet those eyes, they might tremble in fear.

However.

“Are you trying to have a staring contest with me?”

“……”

“If not, then relax. I don’t want to throw an axe at a guest.”

“I was just joking, hehe.”

The Marquis smiled as if he had never put force into his eyes.

As if he was just playing a joke in front of a young man he liked.

“If I liked you once or twice, it might end in murder.”

Ihan snorted and clicked his tongue.

These high nobles, really.

Testing someone is their passive ability, seriously.

‘Is this also a butterfly effect?’

Ihan was inwardly surprised that the Marquis had discovered information about the Fault family.

He wondered if this was what they called the butterfly effect.

‘…Originally, this shouldn’t have been revealed so quickly.’

According to what Derick had told him about the original story or whatever it was, in the original timeline, his disciple would marry into the family and endure for three years in the Marquis household.

This means that originally, the fraud against the Marquis family would only be discovered after the marriage.

But now that had changed.

Whether it was because of his fight with the Marquis family that changed the Marquis’s mindset, or whether the Marquis family was originally competent…

The fraud seemed to have been exposed in just a few days, and also.

“My child has nothing to do with this. She’s just a good kid being used. Don’t touch her.”

There was a high possibility that he had also figured out Levi’s identity.

As soon as he realized this, Ihan’s expression hardened.

With a desperate resolve that if anyone touched his child, he wouldn’t end it with just a door or a house…

“I know.”

“?”

“An honorable knight like you has stepped forward to save her. Such a girl couldn’t possibly be a villainess who deceives and uses others. She must have been used herself.”

“…And you believe that? …Just like that?”

“It’s not ‘just like that.’ I believe in you.”

“……”

“So I believe it.”

“…Hmm.”

He had been thinking this all along.

‘Could he be the most gentlemanly noble I’ve met?’

…This old man seems better than expected.

* * *

“Well, to give you the result, Reynol Fault is currently hospitalized in the temple. His body is covered in burns, his left arm and both ankles have been cut off, and even his tongue has been cut out… He was found too late and missed the treatment window, so now he’s barely clinging to life, huh huh.”

The burns were bad enough, but the other injuries were too severe.

He was barely alive with the help of the temple, but this also meant he had incurred a debt to the temple.

While the temple’s healing arts were effective, they were also famous for ruthlessly collecting payment.

There was a rumor that to collect debts, they would even send people to high-intensity mines or salt fields.

“The mother and daughter are also in big trouble. The wife is on the verge of death due to temple treatment costs, gambling debts, and additional loans. The daughter who was attending the middle academy has been expelled, my goodness.”

The future of the mother and daughter doesn’t look positive either.

Whether they had mistreated the girl like Reynol Fault did is unknown, but ultimately the relationship between Fault and Levi was irreconcilable.

They could not live under the same sky.

“They probably don’t have many choices. Whether they go to a convent or make the worst choice, whatever it is, it won’t be very positive. Well, I’ll make sure of that.”

“Oh? I thought you’d be gentle with women.”

“I am gentle with ladies. However, complicity through inaction is still a sin. Did they really not know? That what their head of household was doing was clearly an act of deceiving and insulting the Marquis family? …They must have known. Therefore, they are not ladies. Crime knows no gender.”

“Wow, that’s refreshing.”

Clap, clap.

Ihan applauded.

Saying it was a refreshing statement indeed.

That must be the model of a properly righteous adult and authority figure.

“…Your sudden approval makes me feel strange.”

The Marquis scratched his cheek at Ihan’s reaction, who was lavishing praise on him unexpectedly.

He wondered why someone who had been consistently arrogant was acting this way.

But still.

“Ho ho, I don’t dislike it!”

Unable to hide his cheerfulness, the Marquis didn’t conceal his smile.

The two men laughed heartily and conversed for a while.

Most of the conversation was about how to deal with Reynol, and the majority of that topic was…

“There’s a method called ‘separating flesh from bone,’ which literally separates bone and flesh while causing pain without killing. If he’s not dead yet, I think it’s worth trying.”

“Ho ho, what if he dies from mental shock? I think it’s better to start with torture using anesthetics and potions. If you flay his skin daily and drain his blood, but inject anesthetics and potions into his veins, he won’t die! During the war, I used this method to make a prisoner remember what he did on his third birthday, ho ho!”

Most of the discussion was about how to torture without killing, but the two men enjoyed their conversation and felt a sense of camaraderie with each other.

A friendship that transcended age.

Something resembling that was sprouting between the two men at that moment.

As they continued their conversation, eventually…

“…So getting back to the main point, why do you want to make my child your daughter?”

“Ah, that. I forgot about it while we were having such an enthusiastic conversation.”

Ahem.

The Marquis took a moment to choose his words.

This part seemed to require seriousness.

After all, the decision to adopt a girl he had never met before was not something to be made lightly, but truly required seriousness.

And so, in a serious tone, he said:

“Let me be clear, I’m not trying to take in that child because of you. If I had to say, it’s because it would be a waste.”

“A waste?”

“Her talent, her potential to become an excellent knight in the future, would be wasted.”

The Marquis brought up an extremely calculating topic.

“From the reports I received, I heard that child has been properly learning the sword for less than 3 months. Yet after learning for barely 3 months, she defeated a rock troll and didn’t retreat even in front of an army of monsters? Well, I never expected to hear what sounds like a heroic tale as information from my subordinate, but… after careful cross-verification, I found no falsehoods.”

“……”

“…That child’s talent is real. But for such talent to be buried because of ‘background’ and ‘status’… I cannot just leave alone a child who might become a second Lady Felicia.”

A child who might become a second Sword Master.

If Tristan takes in such a child and raises her well, it would also bring honor to the Tristan name.

So the Marquis, after weighing various pros and cons…

“-Your true feelings?”

“……”

“Don’t give me strange reasons. Just tell me your true feelings.”

“Hmm, I thought I hid it well, but I guess not.”

“You did hide it well. I’m just good at seeing through lies.”

“That’s quite an enviable talent…”

The Marquis marveled as if looking at a strange animal, maintained five seconds of silence, and then slowly…

“…Isn’t she pitiful?”

“……”

“I know. I know how shallow such sympathy can be and how it can make people miserable. But if no one takes her in, she becomes an orphan with no one in the world. Now that I know, shouldn’t at least one person reach out? Of course, you could reach out too, but I have more resources than you, and I’m confident I can provide her with a comfortable life.”

“……”

“Does my reason seem too shallow?”

“…No. I actually prefer it to your earlier reason.”

“Oh?”

“Only the well-fed consider sympathy an insult. For those who are truly desperate, even that sympathy is earnestly needed.”

Watching dramas or movies in his previous life, there were people who refused help because of pride.

But seeing such people, from his perspective as an orphan, he couldn’t help but feel contempt.

And he realized.

Ah, those characters have never truly experienced starving to death or known what is truly humiliating.

“True humiliation, you know, is not worrying about tomorrow, but crying because you have no food or water to eat today, and getting sick because you have no blanket to cover yourself with, but not having money to buy even one medicine.”

When the landlord cut off the electricity because he couldn’t pay the electric bill.

When he couldn’t pay the gas and water bills either, and eventually couldn’t even turn on the heater in winter, and had to get water from public toilets.

The despair, desolation, and loneliness he felt then were nothing short of true humiliation and disgrace.

Therefore, to someone who truly knows humiliation and disgrace, sympathy is not just sympathy.

In other words…

“When my life is so miserable and filthy that I feel like dying… and then there’s someone who says ‘don’t sympathize with me’ because of pride? Such a person is only hungry in words; they’re still doing okay. They still have the ability to survive. But not my child. She’s not in a position to be picky about sympathy or whatever. And she’s living a truly desperate life. She’ll probably be grateful if you make such an offer.”

It was ‘salvation.’

There was a tremor in Ihan’s calm delivery, no, a tremor that was calm but no less powerful than any shout.

…A tremor that only someone who has truly experienced terrible humiliation and loneliness could possess.

“…Huh.”

The Marquis was genuinely impressed, but unaware of this fact, Ihan continued speaking.

“I thought about taking her in myself as you said, but a poor knight who can barely take care of himself might not be as good for her as a more abundant environment. So, if possible, take her. Of course, persuading her will be up to your ability.”

“……”

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…The more I look at you, the more I want you.”

“?”

“I was hesitating a bit originally… but you, would you-“

“─Consider calling me father?”

“……”

…Ihan barely managed to hold back the curse that was about to come out.