Chapter 33
<35화>
If Aisha managed to pass the second trial as well, the vassals would vote to determine the next successor candidate.
Judging by the way everyone doted on her as if she were a precious gem—
‘I think she’s going to win.’
It felt unfair.
It was only because she was of the direct line.
What was the point of me having an ability? I’m from a branch family, so they don’t even give me a word of praise!
“It’s not fair… really….”
Tex’s clenched fists trembled.
Meanwhile.
Aisha was tending to the Werewolf’s wound to ensure the monster didn’t feel unnecessary pain until it left the arena.
Fortunately, once the bleeding had stopped to some extent.
“Whew. Mister! Did you see that?!”
Her eyes sparkled with joy.
Ever since being adopted into the direct line, she felt she had to pull her own weight.
Seeing the positive reactions from those around her, Aisha’s grin stretched from ear to ear.
“Kid. It’s not over yet.”
“His Grace is smiling even wider, though.”
Calips tried his best to calm the child down.
However, Knox, who had been watching the father and daughter, interjected.
Come to think of it, Calips was smiling so much that he didn’t even realize it himself.
Eventually letting out a low chuckle, he leaned back against his chair.
“You wouldn’t understand, since you don’t have children of your own.”
“Well, yes. I do find the Lady admirable and lovely, but I don’t smile like you do, Your Grace.”
Knox shrugged his shoulders.
“And the biological reason children appear cute is to protect their relatively weak bodies from—”
“Zip it.”
“Hmph.”
‘I can’t talk to this guy for more than a minute.’
Calips shook his head with a fed-up expression, but just as he turned his gaze back to Aisha—
“……?”
Something was wrong.
The Werewolf was gone from the side of the child, who was jumping around in excitement.
It had clearly been whimpering and unable to even walk just moments ago.
“Knox. What about the disposal of the Werewolf?”
“I was about to proceed with it now.”
“Then why is the Werewolf…”
Calips cut himself off and stood up with an agitated expression.
“Aisha!”
“What is it, Mister… Huh?”
The monster that shouldn’t have been able to move was moving.
In fact, it was leaping over Aisha’s head, its massive jaws hanging wide open.
The characteristics of a Werewolf?
It wasn’t something I knew just because I was a former spy.
For the past few days, I had studied the traits of past monsters that appeared in the successor trials to prepare for the test.
Pack instincts. The cruelty that turns ferocious against those who aren’t on their side.
Even so, it was a relatively advantageous monster for me because of its weak hind legs.
‘Good! I’ll handle the five of them like this and that, and then solve it this way!’
Don’t understand what I mean?
Then, unfortunately, you’ve failed this exam!
‘Hehe… I’m going to win. I’ll win and become the Golden Seed.’
I pulled out the wire I had prepared in advance from my pocket.
Since anything considered a weapon was permitted in the testing grounds, I had prepared quite a lot.
But then.
“Aisha!”
Suddenly, Mister was calling my name, his face pale.
He had been wearing a satisfied smile just a moment ago.
Something was strange.
“What is it, Mister… Huh?”
Suddenly, it felt as if the world had been dyed in darkness.
And then, I felt a sticky gaze.
“……?”
Instinctively looking up, I saw a massive maw, frothing at the mouth beneath the sky, collapsing down toward me.
Step—
I succeeded in dodging, but perhaps I had put too much force on my ankle in the rush.
“…Ouch.”
With a sharp crack, my left ankle buckled and swelled up thick and red.
With this, running and jumping were now out of the question.
‘Should I try throwing a dagger?’
But for some reason, the Werewolf was far more agitated than before and was moving too fast.
Mister was right. I shouldn’t have gotten excited before the win was certain.
Reflect on yourself, me.
Pouting my lips, I scanned the front.
No matter how I looked at it, that Werewolf wasn’t normal.
First of all, it was standing upright on its hind legs—which should have been unusable—completely defying the nature of its muscles.
There was even foam rising from its maw like waves.
Grawrr—
Given that there were no black pupils in its purple eyes, something was definitely wrong.
“Look! There’s no way that stupidly big thing would cry over a single dagger!”
That was when the sound of clapping broke out.
The source of the applause was Tex, who had stood up as if moved.
“She hasn’t passed yet, right? Right, Aide?”
“…Doesn’t something seem strange?”
“To my eyes, it looks normal other than being a bit angry. Aren’t monsters all a bit strange to begin with?”
The surrounding crowd murmured.
A flustered Knox.
And even Calips, who was rushing down from the spectator seats to enter the Training Ground.
“Capture the Werewolf immediately!”
As Mister gave the command, the knights standing nearby prepared to throw their chains.
However.
“Then the successor will naturally be Tex.”
A sneering voice pierced through the various noises.
“If the trial is to be stopped just because a Werewolf is dangerous, then it sounds to me like that child has no right to be the successor.”
“I don’t care about that, so just protect the child!”
Mister didn’t stop despite Marquis Lillis’s criticism.
The problem was that I had frozen up at the Marquis’s words.
‘If it goes like this, it means Tex will take the position of successor.’
No way.
“No! I’m going to keep taking the test!”
As I backed away and shouted with all my might, the knights who were about to block the Werewolf stopped in their tracks.
The same went for Calips.
“Mister, if you take even one more step, the direct line adoption is canceled!”
“Do you think canceling an adoption is that easy? You’re in danger right now, Aisha!”
“Just try stopping the test!”
One thing that makes life difficult:
“Aisha, you—!”
Reality is different from a novel; even if a magical girl transforms or the protagonist holds an important conversation, the enemy strikes without warning.
Accidents happen fast.
While my gaze was turned away, anxious that the match might be stopped—
“No!”
The red eyes staring at me suddenly widened.
Realizing that something was wrong, I turned my head, only to be met by a frothing maw and sharp molars right in front of my face.
Ah.
I’m going to die.
I don’t want to die. Mister worked so hard to save me.
It was then.
“Dandelion.”
I heard a familiar voice from somewhere.
It was Lucas.
To think that at the threshold of death, the voice I’d hear would be Lucas’s.
‘I’m close with Lucas, but I didn’t think we were that sentimental.’
My clenched hands were trembling in proportion to my fear.
But something was strange.
Come to think of it, I didn’t feel the pain of being torn by sharp molars, nor did I hear the screams of the people.
“……?”
Sensing something odd, I slowly lifted my eyelids—
“The power of the Crost Ducal House must have weakened quite a lot.”
I saw black hair fluttering in the wind.
“You’re trying to kill a five-year-old kid by turning a monster into a lunatic with this ridiculous poison?”
A familiar, irritable youthful voice.
The back of a boy who was a head taller than me.
And beyond him, the monster was frozen as if someone had pressed pause, encased in a massive pillar of ice.
“…Wait a moment, that person… his appearance is exactly like His Grace…”
“Could it be the young lord of the Crost direct line?”
“Weren’t both of the young lords missing?”
The crowd buzzed.
Among them, several people looked back and forth between Calips and Lucas, their faces turning pale as if they had realized something.
“Could it be… could he be…”
“Why can’t you just say he looks like the Duke’s son? Is there some kind of taboo placed on that word?”
Thud—
Lucas lightly kicked a stone, resolving the people’s curiosity, and the sitting vassals reflexively stood up.
“…What did you say?”
“Could it be the Young Lord Lucas, who went missing when he was three years old?”
“…Lucas.”
Then, a low voice vibrated above my head.
“?”
I looked up to see Mister, who had approached me at some point, pulling me into his arms.
