episode_0018

My mind is dizzy.

I feel like my legs will give out at any moment.

In the old days, I would have sat down and despaired.

It’s always been like that.

Unstoppable violence is coming.

Ellen had to accept it.

But now it’s different.

Since meeting Luke, I’ve learned how to express my opinions.

I found how to smile again.

I learned how to grumble.

I learned how to say ‘no’.

Above all, Elin showed extraordinary patience as she learned how to deal with subordinates.

“Bring it back.”

It was the last chance given.

“Huh? What? A doll? ”

“Yeah.”

“I already threw it away. It must be really dirty.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Because I felt like I would go crazy if I didn’t hug the doll right away.

“Hmm. This is going to be really dirty… … .”

Lara trails off.

The intention is obvious.

Ellen asked this question out loud.

“Okay. If you don’t want to bring it, at least tell me where it is. I’ll get it myself.”

“What the hell is that doll… .”

“It’s precious.”

I didn’t feel the need to explain further.

Even if I tell you, you won’t understand anyway.

I kept my mouth shut and looked up at Lara.

“Tsk,” Lara said, clicking her tongue.

He turns his head with a look of annoyance on his face.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anymore.”

“… What?”

“I left it in the garbage dump right before it was incinerated. It’s probably burning by now… … .”

It’s burning?

…a rabbit doll?

Lara was saying something, but I couldn’t hear a thing.

The surroundings became dark as if they were suddenly plunged into darkness.

I can’t hear anything.

I couldn’t see anything.

It felt like I was isolated and alone in the darkness.

“… … Ah.”

Meaningless sounds leaked out from his open mouth.

and.

Knock, knock.

Something flowed down the ball.

“… ?”

Let’s wipe it with the back of our hand. It feels damp.

What is this?

“Oh, are you crying?”

The answer came out of Lara’s mouth.

Are you crying? Am I crying?

My senses began to awaken one by one.

Light has returned to the darkened world.

Sound returned to the space that had been muted.

I didn’t even realize what kind of expression I was making.

Thud.

I realized this when I saw the liquid dripping to the floor.

Oh, you’re crying.

The vision becomes blurry.

Tears flow endlessly.

But Ellen was surprisingly calm.

Maybe it was because I was so shocked.

It was as if my body and mind were separated.

If you wipe the ball with your hand, it will quickly become damp.

Even if you wipe it again, it’s the same.

No matter how much I rubbed my eyes, the tears wouldn’t stop.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d be that sad… … .”

Lara approached him, hesitantly, bewildered by the sight of a broken faucet.

“Just stop for now… .”

Lara reaches out.

Ellen stepped back.

It was an instinctive movement.

“Princess? Why are you looking at me like that… … .”

I don’t know what kind of expression he’s making.

But one thing was certain.

It was disgusting.

The woman who threw away the rabbit doll to throw a tantrum is now showing signs of worry.

It was so disgusting.

The direction of the worry was not directed at Elin.

I was worried about my future.

“Ugh… .”

I didn’t want to touch even a single hair, I would rather chew on a bug.

Even as Elin avoided Lara’s hand and started vomiting, tears continued to flow.

“I’ll buy you a new one. So forget about your old doll and calm down… .”

“… … ha.”

Ellin’s tears stopped as if they were lies at the words that could not be passed over.

“Are you calm?”

Lara smiled in relief, thinking that Elin had blinked at her suggestion that she would buy her a new doll.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at all.

“Forget it?”

My stomach, which had been rumbling, is now boiling with anger.

I definitely gave it a chance.

How many times have I endured reckless remarks?

I have tolerated bad behavior time and time again.

But Lara, by all means, crossed the line.

“… … How dare you. Forget it.”

A doll filled with memories that have been with you your whole life.

You want me to forget the doll that the teacher repaired for me?

Woof-

Magic swirls around.

It wasn’t Ellen’s will.

“Oh, your majesty?”

Purple hair comes to mind.

Lara sensed the anxiety, but it was too late.

“Find it somehow.”

It was a magical power that was called forth without one’s knowledge.

I didn’t know how to pilot it, and I had no intention of piloting it.

Mana just flowed out in a trickle, in time with the boiling emotions.

If Luke had been there, he could have guided us.

Unfortunately, he was not there.

“Now, wait a minute, Your Majesty. I’ll buy a new one right away―”

“No need. Even if it’s the same doll, if it’s not here, it’s meaningless.”

A cold voice flows out, as if the room is freezing.

“Ha, but how do you find something that went into the trash? It might have already burned down!”

Lara screamed in a fit of convulsions, as if her lungs had been stabbed by a sharp voice.

It was like a cornered mouse baring its teeth at a cat.

“… Come find me.”

Ellen repeated the same thing.

What changed was the waves of mana rippling around.

The waves spread out like ripples, slowly but firmly pressing down on the room.

“I really can’t find it. Now I don’t even know where it is… .”

Lara’s muscles were so stiff that she couldn’t move and squeezed out her voice.

“Come find me, whether I’m buried in a garbage dump or burning.”

Elin’s once blue eyes turned pitch black.

His gaze was not directed at Lara.

The focus was completely off.

The little bit of light that was returning has completely died out.

“Sorry, sorry. I really didn’t know. That it was such a precious thing… .”

Something is going wrong.

Lara’s legs gave out as she realized the gravity of the situation.

What was in front of me was not a useless troublemaker from a poor family.

A time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Lara’s instinct to sound the alarm made her lower her posture as much as possible.

“I was wrong. I won’t do it again, so please forgive me just this once… … .”

But repeating meaningless apologies didn’t help at all.

“… You won’t do that again?”

Squeak-

The string of reason pulled taut in my head makes a dangerous sound.

“Sigh… .”

Little by little, it becomes harder to maintain one’s sanity.

Around the chest.

To be exact, something is shaking near the mana heart.

“I guess I can’t do it. Because I already threw it away.”

Bam.

When the string of reason, stretched to its limit, finally snaps.

“Come find me somehow, right now!!”

Kwaaang-!

Mana burst out with cold anger and swept through the room.

* * * * *

“Hoo.”

Luke sighed deeply and looked at the writing on the door.

[Office]

It wasn’t Natia’s office that I had visited before.

A space permitted only to the master of the duke’s house.

It was the office of the Bertain family.

How many times did I raise my fist and put it down?

I came here curiously, but when I actually knocked on the door, I became nervous.

It had to be that way.

As I’ve said several times already, Bertain is one of the five great dukes of the Empire.

And Duke Berthain is considered one of the most respected figures in the Empire.

In the family, there is a psychopath who uses the youngest daughter as a punching bag.

Because he is a sword master who has achieved countless feats in the empire.

The wall was quite high for a child of a famous magical family to stand up to.

First of all, I came here because my head got hot after seeing Elin’s calves that had turned blue.

“You’re saying that you still lack the strength and justification.”

It was still a long time before we could stand up to the Duke.

Does that mean that anything will be resolved if we just turn back here?

No, absolutely not.

If you don’t change anything, the same old routine will continue.

Elin must once again live each night in fear and suffer from insomnia, not knowing when her father will come to visit.

It can’t be left like that.

But how can one stand up to the Duke?

When you continue to worry without finding an answer.

“What’s going on?”

A servant appeared from across the hallway.

It was the servant I met when I first came for the interview.

“I have something to show you, Duke.”

Luke smiled calmly.

Hiding your nervousness was one of your strengths.

“Is that so?”

Of course, the servant didn’t notice anything strange.

“But the Duke is not in the office right now.”

“Yes?”

I felt like all the strength was leaving my body.

… I was so nervous in front of an empty room for no reason.

“Where are you now?”

“You must be in a carriage heading north by now.”

“Are you going on a business trip?”

“Yes. The Duke left for his expedition early in the morning.”

Luke was inwardly amazed.

So you’re saying that you swung a whip at Elin before leaving for your business trip early in the morning?

He was a truly diligent domestic abuser.

“If you have any comments to leave, I will pass them on.”

“… … It’s okay. I’ll come back later.”

He left the office in a hurry.

Crack.

I clenched my teeth without realizing it.

I went through all kinds of hardships to heal Elin’s wounds.

My father came all of a sudden, ripped open my wounds, and left.

Thinking about the Duke who had calmly left for the North, a chill came to the back of my neck.

“This kind of thing.”

Luke, walking down the hallway, saw his face reflected in the window.

A face dotted with anger.

I couldn’t bring myself to show it to Ellen.

“Sigh… .”

While I was wiping my face with my hand to put on a smiling face again.

“Oh my, what’s going on?”

“No, well, in the princess’s room… .”

The maids’ noisy voices could be heard from the other side.

The topic of conversation is Elin.

These were words I couldn’t help but listen to.

“… Well, the maid flew away, and the princess vomited blood… .”

“Oh my, oh my. Oh my.”

“… … ?”

It hasn’t even been 30 minutes since I left.

Isn’t that the kind of story that can come out while taking a bath?

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Luke frowned and hurriedly opened the portal.

With such rumors going around, I didn’t have time to control my expression.

Shu-

The portal opened in Elin’s room.

The first thing Luke found upon arrival.

The windows and the magic lamp were broken as if someone had struck them.

A broken desk and a blanket scattered on the floor.

The door burst open.

and.

“Ugh… .”

Lara, the maid, is slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.

“Ugh… . Gulp, gulp… .”

It was Elin lying on the floor, bleeding profusely.