episode_0013

On the morning when the two individuals with strange connections departed, Ahre became exactly as it was.

Rodrick paced back and forth nervously, his footsteps echoing hesitantly from side to side. He bit his nails and furrowed his brow, his mind filled with restless worries. Murmuring to himself as if in a daze had become a habit by now.

“Darn it… What the hell… Nothing bad will happen. There won’t be anything. Yeah. It has to be that way…”

It felt like he was under a spell or something. He was allowing things that he would have strongly opposed under normal circumstances. Perhaps it was because he had heard some unnecessary remarks from the kid. Before he knew it, he had lost the will to oppose, his mind completely consumed.

“That crazy bastard…”

What kind of person would treat a man who tried to kidnap and sell them like a parent? Damn it, what kind of treatment did the Church and the government give to criminals like that?

But the real lunatic was…

“I’m the bigger lunatic for feeling happy about it…”

It’s not even funny. To receive such overwhelming kindness from the abuser who had used a five-year-old child to infiltrate a crime cartel…

Of course, he had taken care of them in many ways, out of affection and pity that had grown over time. But deep down, he knew he was a despicable person who had acted out of selfishness, without any regard for the child’s parents. He was never qualified for the twisted fate that had brought them together in the first place.

“I never thought a day like this would come… I should have lived more honestly.”

Regret flooded in. If he had known that he would eventually receive genuine kindness, he would have changed the way he lived long ago. But now, trying to put on a facade of purity was like wearing a damp cloak of black mud that clung from ankle to shoulder.

“Sigh.”

Rodrick was about to leave behind his sticky reflections when a woman in armor and a young girl holding her hand approached without hesitation.

“Would the esteemed trash advisor be sighing his heart out on the ground?”

“Trash advisor!”

“Don’t use that kind of language, kid. And fix your speech.”

Rodrick waved his hand as if he couldn’t be bothered to deal with them. He discreetly frowned at the woman who spat out harsh words without a filter. And when she understood his intention, she deliberately avoided his gaze and shook hands with a flutter.

A rather tiresome combination had appeared.

Tempest Knight Tesia.

Viscountess Estiel Elenote.

That was their status.

“I heard the young lady wanted to visit, but why is only the boring old man left?”

“Are you dissatisfied?”

“I certainly am.”

“I’m on the same page as Tesha!”

“Enough. I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“Is this related to the absence of the Catalyst?”

“Tsk.”

The sharp-tongued woman. Whether it was her sword or her intuition, all the elements that made up Tesia were sharp blades.

“Well, I don’t have any thoughts on it, but it seems the young lady isn’t either. I want to know the whereabouts of the Catalyst, though.”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Even if you look into our lady’s sparkling eyes, you still can’t tell us?”

“…”

Indeed, Estiel Elenote’s silver eyes were sparkling like polished silver. Facing those clear and bright eyes, there was an impulse to reveal every hidden truth. However, even without engaging in a suffocating staring contest, Rodrick had limited information that he could conceal about Estiel Elenote.

Because the child of the Church had given him a directive to provide them with every possible convenience.

Due to that command, Rodrick had to comply with their demands.

“… There was a minor incident caused by the bad habits of the remaining members.”

“An incident?”

Eshutiel raised her eyebrows. Her innocent reaction served as the starting point for a verbose explanation.

Roderick concealed the identity of the kidnapped victim as a princess and rambled on. In the midst of it, he tried to express it as delicately as possible, considering Eshutiel’s emotional well-being. Tessia unconsciously let out a pure expression of admiration for his peaceful way of speaking.

After grasping the general outline, Tessia remained silent for a moment before speaking up.

“But what is there to worry about? Even if she becomes a missing person, a missing person who is as safe as she is would be rare in the empire.”

“I don’t worry about my safety either.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“There is. It’s the problem with the kid itself.”

“Miss, let’s sentence the author to death for his unfaithful remarks.”

“Roderick, death penalty!”

Eshutiel’s cheerful scolding was directed at him. This lady probably didn’t even understand the concept of the death penalty. Roderick’s feelings towards facing her disapproving gaze were indescribably awkward.

“Damn it, just give her to me. I’ll raise her much better.”

“Oh, where do you think you’re taking her?”

“The world is going crazy, damn it.”

Roderick sighed, but it was bitter to realize that Tessia was the only one who could understand his suffering.

If we were to pick the human closest to the author excluding himself, it would undoubtedly be the two people in front of him.

“Enough with the jokes… What’s there to worry about?”

“I told you. It’s the problem with the kid itself.”

“Hmm?”

Tessia’s expression showed that she couldn’t easily empathize. So Roderick added more to help her understand.

“As you know, the kid is abnormal. Externally or internally. The former is nothing to be ashamed of, but the latter can be serious depending on the case.”

“Well… His personality is unique, but to that extent?”

When Tessia shrugged, Roderick clicked his tongue sharply.

“Unique? That’s an understatement. Have you ever seen him angry?”

“No.”

“Sad?”

“I haven’t seen that either.”

“Or jealous?”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“That’s the problem.”

Tessia finally narrowed her eyes slightly. She understood that something was wrong, but it was difficult for her to grasp the main point clearly. Roderick observed this and directly explained the answer.

“He sees himself as no different from others. If someone were to threaten him, he would instinctively defend himself, but that’s about it. He doesn’t even hold a grudge, let alone seek revenge. Others are less than him, but they are the same. Even if someone dies in front of him, he forgets to feel sorry after a few seconds.”

“Um…”

“But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have genuine emotions. When he’s happy, he’s purely happy, and he also harbors resentment while having a sense of inferiority, but he’s… No, never mind.”

Roderick mentioned trauma but quickly stopped himself. He decided that they didn’t need to know that much.

The fact that a child who seemed emotionally sparse had an obsessive attitude towards the concept of being an outcast was a secret known only to Roderick.

“Anyway, except for positive emotions, he’s excessively insensitive to the rest.”

In the past, even positive emotions were sparse. Even around the age of five, he sometimes doubted whether he was a doll created by the gods.

Therefore, at present, it was not wrong to view the child as an educational masterpiece that Roderick had painstakingly worked on.

“If a child like this grows up consistently, can you guess what will be born?”

“Well…”

“Even if stabbed on the street with a knife, he wouldn’t curse once. How numb must he be to not feel anything even when stripped bare in the square? Unless his mask is stolen.”

“Hmm, that does make sense. Those who have had few chances to meet him up close might not understand…”

Wearing a mask was his ace in the hole.

With his intimidating appearance, it was hard to imagine anyone daring to strip him bare with just a casual remark. Even a light-hearted comment could explode into a myriad of possibilities from the other person’s perspective.

It was a way to exude dignity and mystery to someone who could potentially give off a brash impression.

“Even so, if I were to accompany him, I would have no choice but to follow his lead… Especially if he’s a princess raised in the high chambers of the palace, the calculations would be done within half a day after departure.”

It was an incredibly accurate prediction, but Roderick had no chance to confirm it.

He could only pray.

Hoping that the imperfect child thrown into the world would return safely to his sanctuary,

He wished for a journey as steady as an upright bamboo, without any wavering.

“Please… be safe and return. You rascal.”

◇

“Lian! It’s too hard. Hurry up and open it.”

“It’s too… too big, Serin.”

“Are you going to force it in?”

“Forcing is bad.”

“But it’s an interesting way to do it.”

There’s no need to compromise on kindness. I got up from my seat and gently pushed the ice cream towards Lian’s mask. Worried that the mask might get dirty, Lian hesitantly lifted the mask to reveal a small, delicate piece of skin.

Crunch!

The lingering scent of coldness filled my favorite’s mouth. The satisfaction of watching my favorite crush the ice cream I fed him… It was like surpassing the feeling of a mother bird feeding her young. To define it more deeply, it was the taste of happiness and gratitude mixed with a shooting star.

“Hehe.”

I gently bit the area that Lian had bitten, cooling down the heat. Lian, who was watching me intently, covered his eyes with his hand and buried his face deeply.

“Serin… If it’s about money, you can buy a new one.”

“Hmm.”

From Lian’s subtly persuasive voice, two emotions can be read.

One is embarrassment about the indirect kiss. And the other… sympathy? Nah, I must have misread it. There’s no reason for Lian to look down on me.

In the end, the answer is already decided, no matter which side.

“I’ll order another one if you’re short.”

“I’m not short. There’s still plenty left, you know?”

“But do you really have to eat the ice cream that I’ve bitten into?”

“Well, usually we share at times like this. Aren’t we a couple?”

“I am a perfect couple with no room for error.”

“Really.”

But will we really be just strangers when we become a family, Lian?

I got involved in a dispute that wasn’t even in the original work for the sake of someone who wasn’t even mentioned in the original.

Everything is to ascend to the throne and marry the daughter of the deposed empress!

“You will never know in your dreams, my tremendous obsession.”

From my past life, I sympathized with and supported the daughter of the deposed empress. As the story progressed, he gradually found his place in the favorite line character-wise.

If it was just a virtual character obsession, it would have ended there… For some reason, I ended up sharing the same world as the daughter of the deposed empress. Thus, from his infancy, I blindly wanted to meet the daughter of the deposed empress, and at the age of five when he escaped the institution, I tasted perfect despair.

As a princess, it was impossible for me to approach him. Even if we became close, the future of being torn apart was clearly visible. But if I leave it like this, he will end up being gaslit and suffer at the hands of the original female lead.

It’s not funny.

It’s been about 14 years since the daughter of the deposed empress escaped the institution. After a long time, we have reached the present.

The density of time eroding Gangsan was enough to transform simple fan sentiment into arrogance and obsession. The trajectory of my life in this world was filled solely with the shadow of abandonment.

Yes, I have gained enlightenment.

As the reincarnated princess of the era, the only way I could reach out to the abandoned child was through the power of universal authority.

The power to completely crush the opposition of boring nobles.

To follow him, who had been completely abandoned politically, all I needed was absolute power.

I strived for that alone.

I studied harder than in my senior year of high school, built a solid reputation in social circles with a thorough persona. In addition, I constantly rolled on the floor of the military training ground to surpass the previous male lead father. It might take a little more time to surpass the father, who was not the previous male lead, but…

With the high ground within reach after more than a decade, I steeled my heart.

Well… metaphor is a metaphor, but now the high ground is really within reach. Because our prospective fiancé is sitting right next to me in the cafe.

“Don’t reject them harshly. Lian, do you see the couple over there?”

I pointed to the young couple sitting in the corner.

“Yes, I see them.”

“Watch closely. See how they are.”

“Um…”

Clearly, they were a young couple. Lian might be able to distinguish between lovers and strangers, but if I urge him, he will come over. He seems like a naive person.

“Hmm.”

Lian let out a sigh. It was an intuitive reaction to their affectionate actions. To an outsider, it wasn’t a provocative display of affection, but simply a loving gesture of feeding each other snacks.

Even if it was just that, there was no shortage of persuading Lian.

“See, is this normal in a place like this?”

“They seem to have a different level of intimacy…”

Look at this. Surprisingly quick-witted, right?

But you still have a long way to go, Lian.

“Is it different? I felt really close to Lian!”

“Of course, I felt the same way, but that…”

“I guess I was the only one sincere. I was so excited to meet someone so close for the first time…”

“But… uh.”

“Still, there’s nothing we can do. I have to respect you as much as I like you… The one who gives their heart is the weaker one, right…”

“No, I, that…”

I twisted my lips asymmetrically with my palm covering my mouth. It was clear what would come next.

“It’s really… intimate…!”

At that moment, the features that seemed to teeter on the brink of bursting into tears or speaking crossed a precarious line and widened in surprise.

“Really? It’s not just empty words?!”

“Of course… it is.”

“Are you as close as those people sitting over there?”

“Yes, we are.”

And so, I managed to extract a sense of intimacy from Lian that was akin to a lover. It was truly a dramatic change.

Oh well, the original female lead played with this mountain rabbit-like man. It’s getting harder to forgive. I mean, I’m not even persuading Lian logically.

So, I have to sincerely love this man too, right?

“I really, really like Lian too!”

Declaring so, I affectionately embraced his arm tightly.

Repeating my vow to never let go again.