episode_0009

Episode 9. All conditions have been met!

Joshua burst into laughter as if he couldn’t believe it.

“What did you just say to me?”

However, Isaac spoke directly with a sincere look in his eyes.

“I told you to apologize.”

Upon Isaac’s words, Joshua let out a bitter laugh.

“To whom? To you?”

The corners of Joshua’s mouth twitched.

“More importantly, who are you to me? Don’t you know who I am?”

At that moment, the boy next to Joshua, who had been wagging his tail, seemed to realize something and spoke.

“Ah, the new noble kid with blond hair and blue eyes… The adopted child of Duke Bass, right?”

Upon hearing this, Joshua’s face slightly contorted.

“Ah.”

One side of Joshua’s lips twisted upwards.

“The adopted child with lowly blood?”

Isaac’s expression stiffened at the clear mockery.

Regardless, Joshua pushed Isaac’s shoulder and spoke.

“Hey, if you’ve been adopted, just keep quiet. There are situations you wouldn’t understand, being someone with lowly blood to the core.”

Then, his gray eyes glinted cruelly as he said.

“Or perhaps you sympathize because you have half of that lowly blood mixed in?”

Isaac clenched his teeth.

“That person is a member of the royal family we worship. Don’t insult them.”

“Why? Ah, now I get it.”

Joshua chuckled and shook only his fourth finger while showing it.

“So, this is how it is?”

Showing only the fourth finger was a metaphorical expression for an unofficial government.

“Why? Isn’t it?”

Isaac’s eyes lit up with a bluish hue.

* * *

Honestly, Isaac had never properly seen Andrian or Rubia.

But why was he speaking so maliciously without even cheering or praying for the newly engaged couple?

Isaac truly couldn’t understand.

This anger boiling up inside him was also a first.

It felt like his mind was going blank.

“Endure it. I have to endure.”

His father, Duke Bass, had said that.

That there would be a world in the noble’s society that he wouldn’t understand.

“But he didn’t mention anything like this…”

To think it would be this dirty, vulgar, unfair.

Isaac clenched his fist tightly.

“I have to endure…”

That’s when it happened.

“Tell me. How is she in bed?”

At the last words, Isaac seemed to lose his composure.

It was when he unconsciously tried to gather magic in his hands.

“What did you just say?”

A hoarse voice filled with anger reached his ears.

Isaac, who had not sensed any signs of someone’s presence due to his anger, suddenly regained his senses.

And Joshua and the children were taken aback by the figure emerging from the darkness.

Brown hair and brown eyes.

An ordinary face that looked somewhat delicate.

“Andrion Verdo…”

Joshua murmured softly.

“I’ll ask again. What did you say just now?”

Despite Andrion’s sharp words, Joshua only smirked.

“What are you talking about? Did I say something?”

Andrion spat out his words towards Joshua, who was grinning foolishly.

“I heard everything.”

Brown eyes flashed in the darkness.

Strangely, it sent shivers down Joshua’s spine, surprising him unintentionally.

“…So? Should we all rush to the Duke and spill the beans? Will anyone believe us?”

At those words, Andrion tilted his head slightly.

“Why do you think they won’t believe us?”

The corners of Andrion’s mouth curled up.

“Just play the recording.”

“!!!!”

Upon hearing that, Joshua’s eyes widened, and the other children followed suit.

“W-What if it’s recorded?”

“What should we do? If, if this gets out, we’re done for, right?”

The children panicked in no time.

But Joshua, unlike the others, only glared at Andrion without saying a word.

“…Did you really record it?”

Andrion shrugged his shoulders and gave a simple answer.

“If I did?”

Joshua tightly grasped onto this question.

It was strange.

This wasn’t the usual Andrion.

He was completely different from the Andrion who would tremble and faint at the slightest provocation.

“Could it be… that he fainted and someone else took his place?”

No, it didn’t make sense.

Joshua tightly grasped onto this question.

“No… Andrion has to be under my control.”

Among the four noble families, the Verdo family had the deepest lineage and was closely related to the former emperor.

And among the four noble families, the Perriou family, which had the shortest history but had recently become the strongest, was in direct confrontation with them.

As a result, the two families inevitably clashed.

Joshua, who was the same age as Andrian. Until Andrian turned 10, Joshua could only be compared to him.

“Andrian already mastered history at the age of 5!”

“That little prodigy Andrian perfected etiquette at the age of 7!”

“Joshua, work harder. Andrian has already done that part.”

Andrian! Andrian! That damn Andrian!

Duke Perriew would call out for Andrian whenever he had the chance.

So Joshua despised Andrian.

He prayed fervently every day.

Please let Andrian fall from grace.

He believed that Andrian had to be ruined for him to become an exceptional person.

And his wish came true.

When Andrian turned 10, he couldn’t summon any spirits.

And so, Andrian retreated into seclusion.

Joshua was happy.

Since then, he became the most sought-after talent among the nobles.

Although Duke Bas adopted an exceptional child of similar age, since the child’s origin was unknown, Joshua considered himself incomparable to a pure-blooded noble.

As for Duke Simon, he only had daughters.

Of course, one of them was in the temple, so it could be said that there was only one peer left in the ducal family.

With this, Joshua believed he was the best among the nobles.

“But do these bugs squirm?” Joshua couldn’t accept it.

“Then prove it!”

Andrian’s eyes widened at Joshua’s shout.

“Go ahead and prove it, you bastard.”

But Andrian showed no reaction.

Seeing Andrian’s lack of response, Joshua inwardly chuckled.

“Yeah, it was all just bluff anyway.”

Recording? No way.

That guy couldn’t possibly do something like that.

Then, at the same time, it seemed like his heart found peace.

“Yeah, whatever, Andrian.”

Thinking that way, Joshua laughed and shouted.

“Now that you’ve suddenly changed, does life look different after using black magic and collapsing?”

Upon hearing his words, the surrounding children looked at him as if they were seeing something strange.

Black magic.

Unlike magic that uses mana, black magic gains power through various sacrifices.

And here, unless black magic directly affects human life, it was not considered illegal.

However, in society, black magic was treated as dirty or impure magic.

“So it’s only natural to receive this kind of treatment.”

Perhaps Duke Berdo tried to keep it quiet, but the information had leaked out.

Andrion glanced at the bracelet discreetly.

The black gem on the bracelet already had a reddish hue.

It meant that the recording was successful.

This bracelet contained a magic stone that could record.

In other words, it was true that Andrion had made a recording.

“But now is not the time.”

To make him even angrier.

To provoke him further and make him lose his rationality, so he would attack himself.

“That way, I can definitely attract people’s attention.”

When people came running at the sound of a fight, he had to turn on the recording device.

Originally, he planned to face her and accept even a half-hearted apology, but the plan had changed.

If someone who insulted Luvia to this extent existed, they needed to be dealt with as an example.

“Yes. So go ahead and rampage now. Joshua.”

Andrion responded without much reaction.

“So, did you say everything?”

Joshua laughed incredulously at Andrion’s seemingly nonchalant response.

If he had said that much, he should have collapsed while peeing himself. Did he really say everything?

Joshua twitched his mouth and tried to casually respond.

“You used dirty magic and yet you’re acting so nonchalant?”

Andrion casually retorted Joshua’s words.

“I seem better than those who spew dirty words, don’t I? Isn’t that right?”

Dirty words.

Joshua clenched his teeth, his face turning red.

“Am I the one spewing dirty words right now?!”

But Andrion simply replied nonchalantly.

“Huh? I never said it was you.”

Andrion raised the corner of his mouth slightly and asked with a subtle tone.

“Did it hit a nerve?”

“Eek!!!”

Joshua’s face was already flushed.

“Yeah. Does it make you angry?”

Andrion chuckled softly.

“If you’re going to hit me, go ahead.”

That way, I can have my revenge on you.

However, the situation took an unexpected turn.

Joshua quickly manipulated mana and summoned a large fire.

The flickering flames looked dangerous at first glance.

“No way… Is he going to throw that at me?”

Andrion was already aware that Joshua was a magician.

However, to write that for the general public,

“Do you have thoughts or not?”

With that thought in mind, Joshua threw a fireball.

“Dangerous!!!”

Before Isaac could react, the fireball quickly flew towards Andrian.

Watching the large red flame coming towards him, Andrian thought,

“Damn it. Joshua, you bastard.”

Since it had come to this, he had to silence Duke Pferiou.

If they had made the Duke’s son disappear like this, even though it was the Empress’s family, they wouldn’t be able to avoid a severe punishment.

It was just before the hot energy engulfed his body.

Andrian unknowingly closed his eyes tightly.

“But still…”

Still, he didn’t want to feel pain.

He didn’t want to get hurt.

It was an instinctive moment of preparing for the pain throughout his body.

– Wow! All the conditions have been met!

A clear voice could be heard.

“This voice!”

It was the voice he heard when he first held the sapphire.

Then, the sapphire brooch emitted a burst of light and swallowed the fireball whole.

Literally swallowed it.

Seeing the completely vanished flame, Joshua stuttered,

“What… what is this! How did you do that?”

Andrian was also confused.

“No, I don’t know either.”

Andrian’s eyes trembled slightly.

“Clearly from the sapphire…”

It was the moment Andrian thought to himself as he grabbed the sapphire.

Crack!

The sapphire shattered.

Then suddenly, a dense mist spread around them.

“…Huh?”

Looking around, everyone was frozen in place.

“What happened?”

Even Joshua, who was running over with an excited expression.

Even Joshua’s friends who were following obediently.

Even Isaac, who was approaching with a surprised expression.

Everyone was frozen as if time had stopped.

“Why am I the only one unharmed?”

At that moment, someone walked out of the mist.

It was a young girl.

She looked about 10 years old.

With short blue hair gently swaying and clear blue eyes on her fair and transparent skin, she was a girl in a short blue dress.

The girl tilted her head slightly and murmured in a small voice.

-…Yerni?