Chapter 7
I hurried over to Rossi, who I had left on the desk.
“I’m sorry, Rossi.”
After observing a brief moment of silence, I picked up my tools and began dismantling our precious Rossi.
I carefully removed the circuitry, then started smashing Rossi’s shell to pieces with a hammer.
I made it look as though an explosion had occurred from the inside.
Eden silently watched me the entire time.
Several dozen minutes later.
“Ugh……”
With a groan, Olga finally opened her eyes.
I was lying on the floor, and I quickly signaled to Eden with my eyes.
After confirming that Eden had closed his eyes, I squeezed mine shut as well, making it look as though I had been unconscious the entire time.
“Ugh, my head……”
Groaning in pain, Olga felt around her head.
A moment later, her hand suddenly stopped.
“Huh? My ha-hair…?”
Olga desperately ran her hands through her hair.
She pulled a hand mirror from her clothes and looked at her reflection, then screamed.
“Aaaah! My, my hair!”
Pfft.
When I remembered the conspicuous circular bald spot on Olga’s head, I nearly burst out laughing.
“What, what on earth happened here?”
Muttering in confusion, Olga frantically looked around.
She could probably see me and Eden lying unconscious, along with the shattered remains of Rossi scattered across the center of the room.
“This… vulgar toy.”
Anger filled Olga’s voice.
“You finally went too far!”
Crunch, crunch.
I could hear Olga furiously stomping on Rossi’s remains.
“What are you going to do about my hair?! Aaaah!”
I’m sorry, Rossi…….
With my eyes still closed, I apologized to Rossi in my heart.
You’ll be reborn as an even cooler version.
I had removed the circuitry separately, after all, so in a sense, Rossi’s soul was still intact.
Fortunately, Olga seemed to believe that the explosion had been caused by Rossi, exactly as I had intended.
Listening to her stomp mercilessly on poor Rossi without even considering the possibility of magic, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
I will definitely avenge Rossi Prototype No. 007……!
But was it only No. 007?
Numbers 001 through 006 had all met their demise at Olga’s hands as well.
Engraving the vengeance of all the previous Rossis into my heart, I continued pretending to be unconscious.
The next morning.
I was sitting in the dining hall, half-heartedly picking at my breakfast.
Today’s menu was a salad made with fragrant herbs, but although it was being crushed in my mouth, I couldn’t taste a thing.
My mind was completely occupied with Eden.
How on earth am I supposed to get him out?
I had to get Eden out as soon as possible.
As long as we remained inside the same fortress, there was a limit to how long I could keep Eden and my sister from meeting.
Yesterday had been dangerously close.
If I could just smuggle him outside the territory…
From there, monsters rarely appeared, so Eden should be able to survive on his own.
After all, he was the male protagonist. Surely he’d be fine with that much. Besides, I didn’t have the ability to help him any further.
But the problem is, how the hell do I get outside the territory in the first place?!
The heroes of the Empire, the Sword of the Empire—the noble and prestigious House Sergeneb.
That was how the citizens of the Empire praised our family.
Yet I, a member of that very family, was trapped inside the Sergeneb territory.
It wasn’t a metaphor.
I was literally trapped.
Members of the Sergeneb family were bound by a curse that prevented them from leaving the territory until they reached adulthood.
It was probably a measure intended to prevent anyone from fleeing the succession struggle.
Ugh… What should I do?
As I held my head in my hands, an irritating sound reached me from afar.
“Haa! Hup!”
The shouts of exertion were so loud that I could hear them all the way from the training grounds.
It seemed that the knights were training even harder than usual in preparation for the Hunting Festival.
Wait. The Hunting Festival?
Suddenly, everything clicked.
The Hunting Festival was the largest event in the North, attracting not only northern knights but also people from all over the Empire who wanted to make a name for themselves.
The spatial transfer gates used to transport all those people were also opened in large numbers.
Dozens of them would be opened at the very least, meaning that if I chose the right one, I could probably travel anywhere on the continent.
Hmm……?
If I played my cards right, I might be able to use that opportunity to help Eden escape.
It was while I was deep in thought over this promising idea that—
“What is this?”
A mocking voice reached my ears.
Startled, I raised my head and saw a familiar face.
Brilliant silver hair, sky-blue eyes as clear as glass, and handsome features that looked as though they had been taken straight out of a masterpiece painting.
The boy who had inherited the distinctive features of House Sergeneb was my second older brother, Lawrence.
Damn it! My luck really is terrible.
Of all times, I had to run into him now!
“Blockhead. Aren’t you going to answer me?”
I didn’t even want to respond, so I turned away from him.
An unmistakable scoff came from behind me.
“You’re still as rude as ever. Are you trying to spare me from looking at your ugly face?”
“Just go away.”
“I was going to come find you anyway. This works out nicely.”
I heard Lawrence sit down heavily across from me.
“I heard you were trying to torment our sister again.”
“……No.”
“Don’t give me that. I heard you climbed a tree to pour cold water on her. Then you stupidly fell out of it, and somehow managed to get away without even being punished.”
There wasn’t even a hint of concern over the fact that I had fallen from the tree and been bedridden for three days because of my “stupidity.”
If this had been the old me, I probably would’ve thrown my utensils by now and started yelling.
I would’ve demanded to know if my brother could see nothing but Eloise, pointing out that nothing had happened to her and that I had been the one who nearly died.
I would’ve asked why he hadn’t shown me even the slightest bit of concern.
Whether he’d even bothered to visit me while I was sick.
Haa. Whatever.
I was done caring.
As if he’d visit me.
Lawrence and I were already at the point where it was difficult to call ourselves siblings.
We treated each other like strangers, and whenever we happened to speak, nothing but harsh words were exchanged, just like now.
Besides, the incident where I had tried to pour cold water on Eloise had undeniably been my fault.
“I believe I gave you a final warning last time.”
Lawrence spoke in an irritated voice, with a hint of contempt mixed in.
“I told you that if you continued tormenting our sister, I would no longer consider you family.”
I wanted to ask whether he had considered me family up until now.
But I knew the answer.
Until then, Lawrence had at least regarded me as a member of his family.
To the Sergeneb siblings, anything that wasn’t family was no different from a bug or a blade of grass on the roadside.
Something they could step on if it got in their way.
I sighed.
“Yeah. You’re right.”
“……What?”
Lawrence furrowed his brow.
I continued in a resigned voice.
“I did something I shouldn’t have done to my sister. Her lungs are weak, so getting drenched in cold water could have aggravated her lung disease.”
“……”
“It was a horrible thing to do. I regret it. I apologized to her yesterday, too.”
Lawrence stared at me as though he were looking at something bizarre.
“What kind of new strategy is this?”
“It’s not a strategy. I’m genuinely saying that I regret what I did.”
“Hah. You? A blockhead like you actually regrets something? You expect me to believe that?”
He openly sneered at me.
It would probably take an incredibly long time to convince him to let go of that hostility.
And even then, there was a good chance I wouldn’t be able to convince him at all.
I sighed again.
I was already preoccupied with the headache that was Eden. I didn’t have any energy left to deal with Lawrence.
So I answered in an unmotivated voice.
“Whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter.”
If this had been the old me, I would’ve been furious that he refused to believe my sincerity and caused a huge scene.
But now, I truly didn’t care whether anyone believed me or not.
The only thing that mattered was that Eloise understood that I was sincere.
Someone like Lawrence wasn’t my concern.
“I won’t torment her anymore. Instead, I’ll protect her.”
Even after everything I had done to her, my sister had cried for my sake.
I would repay her for all the suffering I had caused her.
No.
I’d repay her ten times over.
“……”
Lawrence fell silent for a while.
A moment later, he narrowed his eyes, looking half-confused and half-suspicious.
“Hey. You……”
Just then, the head butler entered the dining hall.
“Young Master Lawrence, Miss Lillian. The family head has returned.”
“What?! Father?”
“He left yesterday. He came back this quickly?”
I shot to my feet.
Lawrence looked equally startled.
Father spent far more time on the battlefield than he did at the estate.
It was highly unusual for him to return immediately after leaving the castle.
“Yes. He exterminated the Dead Dragon that had been attacking the border region in less than a day.”
There was unmistakable awe in the butler’s eyes as he spoke.
Speaking of which, a Dead Dragon?
A calamity classified as an SS-rank monster had been hunted down in a single day.
As expected, Father was a monster who transcended common sense.
“A Dead Dragon? Is that really true?”
Lawrence’s expression hardened as he asked.
“He is currently returning with the corpse. You may see for yourself.”
When we stepped outside the main building, I saw that numerous knights had already poured out to welcome Father’s return.
Father was mounted on a pitch-black warhorse, his body covered in blue blood.
The unmistakable traces of slaughter across his appearance caused the knights’ expressions to contain equal parts admiration and fear.
