episode_0174

Something is wrong.

why me.

I didn’t do anything wrong… … .

[Master, it’s breakfast.]

“Leave it there.”

The sound of footsteps moving away along with the sound of something being put down. Eventually, when I could no longer hear the footsteps, I got up, opened the door, took the tray, and returned to the room.

Arsien roughly cleared away the desk that was piled with various research materials, placed a tray on top, and began to eat quietly.

However, Arsien frowned and put down his utensils because what he was chewing felt like wet paper.

“Damn… … . shit… … !”

On the second day after Genea and Charlotte collapsed, Arcien came out of the room to see his mother’s condition and noticed that the employees looked at him strangely.

Although he was young, he was not so immature that he could not even notice that he was a member of the duke family.

“Why am I looking at you like that… … !!”

No, Arsien already knew that their gaze towards him was disrespectful.

Even before his sister Charlotte returned to the mansion, no. Because even before my father died, their views were not so kind.

But I was able to get over that level. Because I had work to do at that time. It was okay because I had a goal to bring my father, who had become strange after drinking, back to normal.

But now?

“Damn it!!”

Arsien, who was eating his food silently, gritted his teeth and threw away the food he was eating on the tray.

I researched to return my father to the way he used to be, but he passed away before my research was completed. I died before I could prove my abilities.

As if it was intended, when it seemed like the end of the research was in sight. Not only my father but also my mother and him collapsed.

frustrated. I’m at a loss. I do not know what should I do. Everyone in the mansion collapsed except me. So who is most suspicious here?

Yes, it’s me.

“If this happens, all the sins will end up on me… … . No, I didn’t do anything wrong… … . It will be fine. okay… … .”

Arsien, who was taking a deep breath and trying to control his emotions, sighed.

“Ha… … .”

Arcien, who was looking down at the paper blankly, frowned at his pounding head and washed his face dry.

At that time, someone knocked on Arcien’s door.

Knock knock knock――

It was a light knock, but to Arsien’s ears, even the light tapping sounded like an annoying noise.

Arsien approached the door with a frown, nervously flung the door open and shouted.

“I definitely told you not to disturb me――”

Arsien, who was raising his voice, took a deep breath and closed his mouth when he saw Sarah standing in front of the door with a surprised face.

Arcien, who came to his senses late, trembled and opened his mouth.

“Ugh, sorry for yelling so loud all of a sudden.”

At Arsien’s awkward apology, Sarah just smiled sweetly.

Seeing that smile, Arsien must have been mistaken. He muttered, cleared his throat, and gently opened the door.

“Would you like to come in?”

Seeing Arcien blushing shyly, Sarah smiled and nodded.

At that moment, the worries Arsien had been thinking about until just now melted away like a lie, and the thought that things like the future would be good filled his head.

Happy worries and a vague sense of relief that things would be okay now came down like warm sunlight on a spring day and melted my frozen heart.

Since he was a helpless child, rather than being anxious about the vague future, he turned his eyes to the happiness that was just around the corner.

Arsien looked back with a confident smile and froze like a stone when he saw his room in disarray.

“Ah.”

Serah, who was standing behind Arcien, who froze with a short sigh, tilted her head to one side and took a quick look around the room.

The desk was completely disorganized, with research books and written papers strewn about, the floor was a mess with food spilled, and even broken dishes covered it all.

Sarah frowned at the condition of the room, which anyone could see was serious.

‘Are you mad at me…? … ? Well, I don’t like that.’

“G, I’ll clean it up now!”

With the thought that she didn’t want to be hated by the person she liked, Arsien forgot that she was a noble and rushed over to clean up the mess in the room. Sarah quietly came over and held Arsien’s hand.

Arsien’s eyes widened when he saw Sera suddenly holding his hand. He blushed and tried to pull his hand away, but he was unable to do so because Sera was holding his hand quite tightly.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

Sarah looked at Arsien for a moment as she asked in confusion, then let go of Arsien’s hand and started cleaning up the broken dishes herself.

Arsien blinked and watched the scene, and Sarah, who had finished cleaning up the mess on the floor with incredible speed as she had been a maid for a long time, picked up the last piece of the broken plate and looked at Arsien.

Then he pretended to put the sharp part of the broken plate in his palm and shook his head.

Arcien, who had been blinking blankly, let out a short sigh and spoke.

“Ah… … . Did you tell me not to do it because I got hurt?”

At Arsien’s words, Sera smiled the same way as before.

“Thank you.”

Sarah nodded at those words, picked up the sandwich that had fallen on the floor, and looked at Arcien with a face as if scolding a child.

Arsien, who had been looking at the food for a moment, looked at Sarah and cautiously opened her mouth.

“Are you angry because you threw the food?”

Sera frowned a little more and shook her head, while Arsien desperately thought about finding an answer somehow.

Soon, Arcien arrived at one answer and spoke to Sarah with sparkling eyes.

“Are you telling me not to mess with food?”

Sera finally smiled and nodded, and Arcien nodded, engraving Sera’s reaction in his heart.

“Yes. From now on, I will never mess with food.”

Serah smiled with satisfaction at Arcien’s answer.

Arsien, seeing Sera’s smile, thought that he had made Sera smile and tried to calm his pounding heart… … .

‘You shouldn’t treat the things that will soon belong to Lady Charlotte carelessly. Even if it’s food. Ah, Miss Charlotte. Please wait a minute.’

Sera’s laughter wasn’t for Arcien.

‘I’ll get rid of this trash quickly.’

Arsien won’t notice it even if he goes on for the rest of his life.

A pure boy in love is as immature as his innocence.

* * *

Tap tap– tap tap–

As the sun began to set over the ridge, the two people riding horses slowed down for a moment as they looked at the castle wall in the distance.

As I rode my horse and walked forward little by little and got out from under the shadows, the faces of two people were revealed.

Riding the horse was Earnings Stone, a royal investigator, and his junior.

“Senior… … . My back hurts so much… … .”

Of the two people who were quietly looking at the castle wall, the younger one riding a white horse was the first to speak.

“It’s because I don’t have stamina.”

“No, what would an investigator have been like if he didn’t have physical strength? … .”

“You don’t go outside. If you become an investigator and only do paperwork every day, will your physical strength increase?”

“Who do you think you are doing that paperwork for?”

Earningstern, who had been pretending not to hear his junior’s gruff voice, did not respond to his junior’s complaints and began to move forward.

Seeing his now familiar behavior, the junior sighed and ran after Earningstone.

“What does the atmosphere of the village look like?”

“Well… … . Looking at it from here, I’m not sure. I guess I’ll have to go in to find out.”

“I guess so.”

Earningstern gave a simple answer, sighed, and began to lead the horse again.

The junior who was watching him narrowed his eyebrows, wondering why a person who had shown the will to just rush in and watch no matter what was suddenly like this.

“When you left the academy, you came with the mindset that you could just write an epilogue, so why are you suddenly doing that? After coming this far, have you become afraid of writing a poem?”

The junior, wondering if the senior was nervous, deliberately provoked Earningstern with a voice and tone that would make him angry, but Earningstern did not show any response.

The junior, wondering what was really going on, increased the speed of his horse and approached Earningstern’s side. He blinked as he saw Earningstern looking at the mansion with sharp eyes.

“Why are you doing that? Did you find anything strange?”

“… … no. I guess it’s because I’m a little tired like you.”

After saying that, Earningstern massaged his eyebrows, and the junior, while feeling somewhat uncertain, nodded and walked back a little from his words.

‘I don’t feel good. It feels like something is going to happen… … . It’s the same feeling I felt at the Academy during the Spring Festival… … .’

Even though his feelings were ringing, Earningstern did not say them out loud.

It was a completely different choice than in the past when people talked about things like the intuition of an investigator and all.

‘… … no. That feeling reminds me of what happened. ‘Let’s believe in evidence, not in feelings, but in physical and mental evidence.’

Even though the evidence is unreliable these days… … .

Earnings Stone sighed inwardly, crumpled up his useless worries and looked straight ahead.

‘Let me do what I have to do.’

The afternoon of the day after Genea and Charlotte fell, the royal investigator arrived at the Duke of Rochelle’s estate.