Hooray! Become a Noble Young Lady! Hooray! 5

In the hazy, dim smog-filled city, the Arbentaine Grand Duke’s residence shone more brilliantly than anything else.

It was as if the stars hidden in the darkness were revealing their presence, but if not for the stars, it was a world where one would disappear without a trace, buried in darkness and smog.

The Grand Duke’s residence was beyond description with the word ‘splendid.’

The Nine Dragons residential zone was dense and heavily populated, with people’s residences packed together like eggs in a henhouse, but this place was so wide and vast that it felt lonely.

‘Splendid.’

However, I wasn’t relieved.

One way or another, I was the person who killed Dehite Arbentaine, the eldest son of this family, in a Duel Trial.

Even though I had become the adopted daughter of the head of the family, Perdain, it hadn’t even been half a day since I killed Dehite, so I didn’t expect a grand welcoming crowd to greet me.

At least, since I returned to the residence with Taylor, I wouldn’t be beaten or harmed by family members with hostility.

Besides, considering Dehite’s usual behavior and reputation, Taylor used to say that it would be much more beneficial for him to be dead than alive.

So, getting slapped out of the blue was a situation I hadn’t imagined.

-Smack!

My cheek didn’t tingle as if it had been burned.

Well, I’m an android tin can, beep boop.

On the outside, it boasts a soft and supple texture no different from human skin, but inside, I’m made of shape-memory alloy and magical engineering metal.

Moreover, having undergone multiple fusion, I’ve achieved extensive strengthening and growth of my body, so a normal woman’s slap without mana is nothing.

However, what I was concerned about more than the sudden slap was something else.

‘Why did I get slapped?’

Thanks to the sudden slap, my internal combat sensors were forcibly activated, and I was lost in thought for a moment in slowed time.

Looking down, the woman who hit me looked quite similar to Taylor.

She was a bit shorter than Taylor, and her appearance was much younger, making me doubt whether she had even had her coming-of-age ceremony.

However, judging by the Versace evening dress she was wearing, she was clearly an adult.

Her face was very gaunt and haggard at a glance, but it couldn’t hide her beauty. In other words, if a woman with such beauty, especially someone who seemed to be an Arbentaine’s daughter or some high-ranking noblewoman, looked like she was about to collapse, it meant that her body and mind were not normal.

“Mother! What is this…!”

Only after Taylor screamed in surprise as the perceived time returned to normal did I realize the identity of the person who slapped me.

Mother…

Mother?

It must mean Taylor and Dehite’s biological mother, right?

I stared at the woman who had slapped me and looked like she was about to cry.

If I only looked at her face, I would believe she was Taylor’s classmate or even a younger sister, but her face, distorted with grief, looked so painful that even I, who had been suddenly slapped, felt sympathy.

However, Taylor’s mother was definitely a considerable beauty, and I could understand, even if only a little, why Dehite, that scoundrel, had lusted after his own mother.

“You, you… you…!”

The mother glared at me with a face that looked like she was about to burst into tears and shouted.

Yes, she has every right to be angry.

If she were a normal mother, she would feel like spitting blood at the fact that her son was dead and the person who killed him had come so brazenly.

But unfortunately, Ark is a hellish place far from normal and common sense, and the Ruincrest layer, though different in direction, is also far removed from the original human form.

The Arbentaine Family, which rules over it, would be even more so, so in the end, it is the ordinary, normal, and powerless people who suffer.

‘I don’t quite understand. Considering Dehite’s usual reputation and behavior that I heard from Taylor… no, how can I understand a parent’s heart? Perdain is a unique person, but in the case of the mother, is he still her son, no matter how much of a scoundrel he was?’

Honestly, I didn’t understand.

Dehite tried to sleep with not only Taylor and other women but even his own mother, so how could she have loved him as a son?

“Are you angry?”

“…You!”

I removed the smile from my face and approached Taylor’s mother.

Then, I took her hand.

Her hand, which was red and trembling pitifully because it hurt more than mine even though she had hit me, was trembling pitifully.

She flinched and bit her lip, and I took out a mechanical tendril from my spine.

It wasn’t to harm or threaten this seemingly frail mother.

“Here.”

“…”

Thorns made of magical engineering alloy mixed with fragments of the Holy Sword and Demonic Sword, capable of easily piercing almost anything, protruded. I plucked out the thorn and handed it to the mother.

I grabbed her hand and aimed it at my neck.

The thorn pressed firmly against my skin.

“It would be strange for me to apologize or say I was wrong, so stab me as much as you want with this.”

“…!”

The mother’s face contorted.

Yes, it would be strange for me to apologize, and even if I did, the mother wouldn’t listen to me at all.

How could I know the feelings of a parent who has lost a child?

Of course, stabbing me with this wouldn’t kill me or stop my functions.

My sense of pain itself has become more sensitive, so it would hurt like crazy.

But well… being stabbed by her a few times until the mother’s anger is relieved is nothing and something I can handle.

What? Why don’t I apply for a Duel Trial?

Well, she’s pretty.

And the grief or heart of a mother who has lost her son—a scoundrel—is not something I can understand, so I have to do something like… an apology? Atonement? Anyway, something similar.

“…”

The mother looked back and forth between my face and the thorn, gritting her teeth.

Her lips were bleeding from how hard she was biting them.

Her hand holding the thorn trembled more and more, as if representing her feelings, which was rather pitiful.

It’s funny.

This woman is holding my lifeline—well, I have no intention of dying at all. I won’t die anyway—but when I look at her face, it looks like she’s the one getting stabbed.

“…Cruel bitch.”

With that, the mother let go of the thorn, turned her back to me, and disappeared.

Perhaps because she was short, or because her shoulders were drooping.

For some reason, she looked smaller and more pathetic.

“…Alice, I’m sorry. I should have expected this.”

“It seems a bit complicated. I thought that since you were happy that your brother died, your mother would be too…”

Hey, you know what?

Isn’t it possible that, unlike Taylor, the mother had already been engaging in incest with Dehite… and that she actually enjoyed it a lot?

“I can see what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that.”

“Um, sorry. Honestly, I don’t really understand.”

“…I’ll explain on the way.”

The door of the residence opened.

The moment Taylor entered, I felt the waiting turrets disappear and the surveillance defense system switch off all at once.

I saw many servants, and they had heard Perdain’s orders in the meantime, and they were bowing not only to Taylor but also to me… or rather, much more towards me.

It was probably because I had taken the place of Dehite, the official successor.

“My mother’s name is Jestiel Arbentaine. She used to be Jess Oboro.”

“Used to be?”

“You know that it’s common for high-ranking families to have arranged marriages, right? It’s also common to change names when getting married.”

The high-ranking people of Ark absolutely did not want to distribute their wealth and power to the commoners.

In the case of the Ruincrest layer, it was especially severe. Although there were occasional stories of nobles falling in love with commoners, the laws of the layer do not, in principle, recognize marriages between different classes.

“Alice, do you know about a device called the Talent Verifier?”

[It is an Overseer personnel assessment ability device that can only be used by the Central Administration. It is a kind of future predictor that measures an individual’s physical abilities, mana, adaptability, and future talents.]

“I know it as a future predictor that measures talent. It’s the one that’s only used by the Central Administration, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. You know it well.”

Thanks to Theresa’s help, who quickly completed the search, I copied and pasted these words to Taylor.

“My mother originally had incredibly outstanding talent. The Talent Verifier said that she had the talent to become at least a Second-Class Overseer, or at least an A-Class if she were a Hunter, and even the highest-ranking Executor if she were an Executor, so the Oboro Family was very happy.”

“The Talent Verifier is usually measured when you’re young, so you could have achieved First-Class depending on the passage of time or individual effort, right?”

Becoming a First-Class Overseer is not easy even in the world of the rich and high-ranking, like the Ruincrest layer.

But if the Talent Verifier judged her to be at least a Second-Class Overseer, it meant that Taylor’s mother, Jess, had unbelievable talent.

“The Oboro Family, who was very happy… so my mother’s maternal family, sold my mother to the Arbentaine Family right away.”

“What?”

“The Arbentaine Family has its hands on the wealth and market economy of the entire layer. Not even high-ranking people can resist the Ark Merit Family.”

“Did the Arbentaine Family deliberately pressure your maternal family?”

“I don’t know. They don’t tell me. I don’t know if they sold my mother for money… or if they originally had debts, but what’s certain is that at least my biological father and mother definitely didn’t have a love marriage.”

Hmm, I see.

Theresa?

[Yes, Human.]

‘Can you hack into the Central Administration database?’

[I already have.]

Wow, our Theresa is doing great.

‘You know what information I want, right?’

[Only Human would use a perfect super AI and auxiliary personality like me in this way.]

‘Heh.’

[That’s not a compliment.]

In a short moment, all the information that Theresa had grasped flowed into my head.

Jestiel Arbentaine.

Her original name was Jess Oboro.

Jess, as she was called, was the best child of the Oboro Family and an existence that was like a lottery ticket with a guaranteed first prize, as all her talents had been proven.

The Arbentaine Family coveted Jess’s talent and began to put significant pressure on the Autonomous Magical Engineering Generator business that the Oboro Family was in charge of.

The Oboro Family was a noble and high-ranking family, but it was insignificant compared to the Arbentaine Family, which was a Merit Family. In the end, the Oboro Family tried to defuse this by selling Jess.

‘Jess’s opinion was completely ignored here.’

For reference, Jess was not originally a weak woman.

The Ruincrest Academy had a record that Jess was not only born with talent but was also a hard worker, and she was evaluated by her classmates as the best person to maintain the peace and order of Ark, actively participating in activities.

There is even a record that she said with her own mouth that she would become a First-Class Overseer someday and that she was also dreaming of becoming the commander-in-chief of the external expedition team.

Come to think of it, Fira was the commander-in-chief of the external expedition team, right?

It meant that if everything went well and Jess had luck, effort, and opportunities, she could have become a talent on par with Fira.

Moreover, that record is from the past Academy, not the current Academy, which has been invaded by subversive ideas, so the evaluation would be quite accurate.

Anyway, Jess was not only talented but also a hard worker. She was also someone who wanted to become a high-ranking Overseer or something else proactive and go her own way.

In short, she had a great desire for success and a very strong ego since her school days.

‘Huh, this is unexpected?’

What surprised me was something else.

I understand how the ambitious Jess came to marry into the Arbentaine Family.

It is basically common for high-ranking people to get together, and it must be because the Arbentaine Family coveted Jess’s talent.

However, if there is a device to verify talent, it was also possible to take away or take talent.

It was known to the public that the Arbentaine Family’s vision was to give mass to space, but the reality was different.

[Human, it is presumed that the Arbentaine Family’s vision is to steal the power, talent, physical abilities, and abilities of others.]

The Arbentaine Family stole Jess’s talent and abilities.

‘Where did you get that information?’

[It is recorded in the personal administrative library data of Rilstia Frostia, Human’s direct superior. It is a data reading room where only Human and Oriana are allowed to enter.]

‘Hmm, stealing abilities… is it similar to my Drain?’

[It is completely different. It is not about completely absorbing the abilities or powers of others, but about stealing the talent, which can be called a seed. It is presumed that giving mass to space is also an ability that has been developed through talent theft that has been passed down from ancestors.]

It is impossible to steal talent by ordinary means.

It’s not like me, who can steal it in an instant through fusion or energy Drain—the power of Gluttony. If a human body absorbs the power of others as it is, the physical cells will rupture due to rejection.

Therefore, in order for the Arbentaine Family to steal the talents of others, they had to arrange various formulas and shamanistic tools for a long time. As a result, the ‘successor’ to be born would be born stealing the talent of the mother.

Of course, Jess could not have known this even after coming to the Arbentaine Family.

Jess, who was sold for the purpose of being a seed bearer and giving birth to a talented successor, still did not lose hope.

The Arbentaine Family guaranteed some freedom as long as she gave birth to a successor. If that happened, Jess could have the opportunity to become an Overseer, which she had forgotten, or live a life where she wanted to succeed on her own.

However, she was exposed to the Arbentaine Family’s vision of talent theft for a long time without any protection.

The moment she gave birth to Dehite, she was deprived of all her talent, mana adaptability, and even her physical abilities, which had never been out of the top ranks during her Academy days. That was how Dehite was born.

He was the eldest son of the family who took all of Jestiel Arbentaine’s talent, and the scoundrel who was brutally murdered by Alice in a Duel Trial about 5 hours ago.

Even though Dehite didn’t fully absorb 100 percent of Jess’s talent, he was still enough to become the successor of the Arbentaine Family.

Dehite was a filial son who tried to sleep with his younger sister and mother, but for Jess, Dehite was the only one who could give her vicarious satisfaction while stealing her dreams.

Wouldn’t she have thought, ‘Since he’s the child I gave birth to, it’s okay if that child becomes the best’?

But I killed Dehite.

What would that mean to Jess?

‘Hmm, it’s not strange for her to resent me, right?’

Only then did I think I knew why Jess had slapped me with a face that looked like she was about to cry as soon as she saw me.

The feelings of a parent who has lost a child… would have been much worse for Jess personally.