Ch.12Obsessed For This Reason #8

“Helena… are you serious?”

As he was rubbing his sleepy eyes and just starting to get up, Ise widened his eyes and spoke in a low, deep voice.

After hearing Helena’s declaration from early in the morning, he was so shocked that all traces of sleepiness had completely vanished.

“Yes, Father. I have secured all evidence and testimonies. Therefore, I will execute Cain.”

Deep, sunken eyes, cruelty without even a hint of compassion.

Ise doubted whether the girl before him was truly the daughter he knew.

It was because the child who had tried to respond with tolerance despite Cain’s one-sided hostility was now declaring that she would take his head without the slightest hesitation. And by her own hands, no less.

“Summary execution…”

He furrowed his brow, barely suppressing the words “Cain is your brother” that were trying to force their way out of his throat.

It was an undeniable fact that it was none other than Cain who had first attempted assassination with poison, and his actions had clearly crossed a line.

Nevertheless, the Helena he knew would have shown enough mercy to banish him to a monastery to live out the rest of his days. That was the kind of child Helena had been.

But the Helena now was not like that.

She was displaying all the qualities required of one who stands above others—resolute and cruel, like an iron-blooded ruler.

“Cain attempted to poison me, the eldest daughter of the Duke’s family and a military asset. No matter if he’s my brother, I cannot let this slide. Don’t you agree?”

Helena shook Ise with her firm, low voice, stating that a life attempted must be paid with a life.

It was a strictly correct judgment that excluded all sentiment, leaving no room for counterargument.

“That is true. Since you’ve discovered Cain is the culprit, he must face the consequences. However…”

There was no way Helena would be this resolute for that reason alone.

Even if Ise couldn’t read people’s minds, he could understand that much.

After all, Helena was his own daughter.

So, he asked a question to confirm what he suspected was the real reason.

“It’s not just that, is it? Could it be that the reason you’re acting so aggressively is… because Altram’s child was poisoned?”

At the mention of “Altram’s child, Zion Altram,” Helena’s eyes sharpened like blades.

Her deeply sunken eyes now overflowed with vitality from anger, and her tightly closed lips visibly trembled.

Yet her still expressionless face made it all the more eerie and frightening.

“Is that wrong?”

“Helena…”

“Even if I wasn’t the one who consumed the poison, it doesn’t erase the fact that someone attempted to poison me. In the end, the justification is on my side, and I’m merely carrying out the punishment accordingly. Am I wrong?”

Faced with Helena’s straightforward answer and justification, Ise was completely silenced.

He had long noticed that Helena’s feelings for Zion Altram were special. He had no particular intention to oppose it.

However, Ise was afraid.

He feared that Zion’s existence had grown beyond imagination in Helena’s mind, and he couldn’t even begin to imagine how she might act if that existence became even more significant to her.

He was afraid of what might happen if this child, who had already surpassed him and continued to grow stronger, were to lose control.

“…No. You’re not wrong. Handle this matter yourself.”

Whether Cain or Helena, both were his precious children.

But when one child draws a sword to kill another, it was only natural that the child should face the consequences. As both a duke and a parent.

Only, Ise became certain of one thing from this incident.

That Zion Altram must be kept by Helena’s side no matter what.

◎◎◎

“Ugh…!”

Shit. How many days have I been sleeping?

I barely managed to raise my body while clutching my pounding head.

In a world where proper hospital facilities aren’t available, sleeping this long would normally mean you’re practically dead, but surprisingly, my body was moving just fine.

It was clear that during my sleep, they must have maintained my physical condition by giving me water or using items to sustain my vitality.

Otherwise, a person who had starved for several days wouldn’t just end up feeling hungry.

“Fortunately… my legs are moving too.”

I carefully placed my feet on the ground and stood up as a test.

The stability that traveled up from the soles of my feet felt no different than usual, suggesting I could be active right away without any problems.

My stomach growled heavily, but it was at a level I could ignore.

After confirming my physical condition, I needed to figure out where I was, but I could tell surprisingly easily.

The beautifully decorated room, the furniture—they were all very familiar to me.

In other words, I had unintentionally ended up occupying a room in the Krauser mansion.

I felt both grateful and sorry for receiving such luxurious treatment despite being just a servant.

“Phew.”

But I quickly dismissed the thought that this treatment was natural because I had saved the young lady who was nearly poisoned.

I firmly believed that if I hadn’t been a nobleman or if I hadn’t built some friendship with Helena, I wouldn’t have received such care.

If either of those factors had been missing, they probably wouldn’t have taken prompt measures after I consumed the poison.

Anyway, I was glad the painful time of suffering from poison had passed.

The sensation of my intestines twisting and flesh melting was so horrific that I never wanted to experience it again.

“But…”

Despite it being morning with the sun rising, the mansion was too quiet.

There was no sign of the usually busy servants going about their duties.

It felt like a vast, calm sea without even a breeze.

Instinctively sensing that something unusual was happening, I carefully opened the door and stepped outside.

There was no one in the corridor or in the lobby downstairs. It felt as if I had unknowingly entered a haunted mansion.

A chill ran down my spine, but I noticed people gathered in front of the entrance, visible through the window.

I sighed in relief, reassured that I wasn’t dreaming or alone in some strange world.

I wanted to join them right away to understand what was happening.

But the awkwardness of entering a classroom where the lesson had already begun due to tardiness constricted my heart.

The attention that would be drawn by my appearance there would surely be uncomfortable.

So I opened the window, crouched down, and hid my body against the wall beside it, listening intently.

By enhancing my hearing with mana, I could roughly make out the conversation.

Despite the height, the direct distance was close.

“Cain. You have nothing more to say, do you?”

“Damn it! Damn it all!!”

Cain Krauser was kneeling on the steps, pounding the ground, while Helena stood over him with a sword in hand.

Numerous servants stood guard nearby, all enveloped in a bleak atmosphere and tension.

Something major had clearly happened.

“What? ‘Damn it’…?”

The moment Cain shouted while pounding the ground, the air around Helena sank into an unprecedented coldness.

It was so cold that I could feel a chill caressing the nape of my neck, despite being some distance away.

No, how could she emit such an aura after all the mental care I’ve been providing?

I was dumbfounded, forgetting even the chill running down my spine.

While it was a bit off-putting that she saw me as a mother figure, it was still within a cute, acceptable range.

I had been proud to see her becoming more stable day by day.

But for Helena’s demeanor to change this drastically! It was nothing short of shocking.

“I could have overlooked your attempt to poison me. If I had awakened after struggling between life and death from the poison, I would have ended it by sending you to a monastery…”

However, the true shock was just beginning.

From the conversation, I could easily tell that the culprit who had poisoned the drink was this foolish man.

I also realized that the conspiracy I had witnessed was for poisoning.

I hadn’t thought he was crazy enough to kill his own sister with poison, but now it made sense.

The problem was that the gentle Helena had stabbed her brother’s thigh with her sword without the slightest hesitation.

And she was even using an Aura Blade!

“Aaaagh!!”

Not content with just stabbing his thigh, she even twisted the blade very carefully.

It was literally grinding flesh and blood, so Cain’s painful groan was only natural.

The sound of the blade being pulled from flesh with a squelch seemed to reach all the way here. It was an incredibly chilling sight.

The blood flowing down the blade, the blood seeping from the hole in his thigh and soaking the floor.

“After nearly killing Zion, you dare say ‘damn it’?”

Helena mentioned my name as she stabbed Cain’s other thigh with her sword.

Simultaneously, a man’s scream echoed throughout the mansion grounds, carried by the wind. That’s how loud and painful it was.

However, I never thought that the reason Helena had become like this was because of me. It was a truly surprising reason.

It meant that my existence had grown beyond imagination for her.

“Ugh, uuugh…”

Cain couldn’t maintain his kneeling posture and began crawling on the floor with a thud.

With stab wounds in his thighs, death was only a matter of time, but before that, it was clear he could no longer walk.

It was a natural result after having the center of his thighs thoroughly mangled with an Aura Blade.

“Cain. You are disqualified as a member of the Duke’s family. Therefore, when you die, you will be stripped of the Krauser name and become the common commoner you so despise.”

“Wha-what!!”

Upon hearing that the Krauser name would be stripped from him, Cain glared at Helena with bloodshot eyes.

He growled like a beast, straining his throat as much as possible.

As someone who took great pride in carrying on the blood of Duke Krauser, his anger at such a measure was understandable.

Yes, it was understandable, but that understandable reaction seemed to further irritate Helena’s already disturbed mood.

“Guh, guuuh…!”

Frowning, Helena delivered four stabs.

As a result, clean wounds appeared on both shoulders and arms of the crawling Cain.

The man could only make choking sounds, unable to even scream properly. The intense pain must have blocked his throat.

“It’s still far less than the pain Zion endured… but that’s enough now. Just die like the insect you are.”

The moment Helena whispered in a low voice, a silver line flashed and swept across Cain’s neck.

At a glance, it seemed like it had just passed like a momentary breeze, and it happened so quickly that one might think they had seen wrong.

But the line I saw was definitely not an illusion.

Because from Cain’s neck where that line had touched, a red line emerged, and soon his head fell and rolled on the floor.

“Hii, hiiiek?!”

One of the servants standing nearby inadvertently gasped. Their face was drenched in fear and terror.

It was understandable, as blood gushed forcefully from the cross-section of the severed neck.

Moreover, it wasn’t just that servant who was terrified. Everyone gathered there was.

However, one shouldn’t find fault with that.

It was a perfectly natural reaction for ordinary people unaccustomed to blood to be frightened at seeing a head being cruelly severed.

Helena seemed to know this and didn’t pay much attention, but she gave the order to call an undertaker to dispose of the body without batting an eye.

She appeared so emotionless that it was hard to believe she had just killed her own brother.

Looking at her, I felt more sad than horrified.

Although it was somewhat cruel, I had suffered from the poison, and considering that the poison was originally intended for Helena, his death was justified.

If I hadn’t had a zombie’s body, I would have died too.

But if asked why I felt sad, the reason was simple.

“She’s sick.”

As if sensing my presence, Helena looked up at the open window and smiled visibly, her lips curving upward.

And she did so with eyes that seemed to have melted the abyss itself.