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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: An Unsettling Confession
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He just had to be staring blankly in the direction of the thugs, so the priest was immediately put on the list of suspects.
“Was that you?!”
“...Pardon? Me?”
“Did you throw something at me! Fuck, you just wait right there!”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about... Eek! You can’t come up here!”
The flustered priest called for help from the holy knights waiting at the building’s entrance.
Ignoring the commotion, Menelik whistled to keep me from hearing the profanity and casually slipped away.
I couldn’t see his expression since I was on his back, but I had a feeling he was smiling.
Will I really be able to make it to the grand temple in the capital and back safely with this man...?
Feeling a little anxious, I asked Menelik again to be sure.
“Are you really okay with going to the grand temple with me?”
“Ah, it’s fine. Winter always handles the work anyway. Even the servants like her more than me.”
“...”
You don’t have to say that so proudly!
Menelik added in a light tone.
“It’s because Winter is trustworthy, I suppose. To be honest, sometimes when people get in my way, I just want to kill them all.”
“...Pardon?”
At first, I thought I had misheard.
But Menelik’s languid voice continued to drift into my ear.
“It’s a similar reason why Kivrin is wary of me. I suggested we kill him right after he was born. I thought he would become a nuisance to us. I did grow some sort of attachment to him later, but… it was too late by then, wasn’t it? Kivrin has a good memory. I’m completely on his bad side.”
Suddenly, being on Menelik’s back felt incredibly uncomfortable.
I had completely forgotten.
The fact that my parents-in-law were by no means the good guys in the novel.
Right, they were closer to villains.
The dark city Menelik once ruled had been buried overnight, and now not even a trace of it could be found.
Fewer than five people, including Menelik, had managed to escape safely.
...And the number of suspects was also fewer than five.
I swallowed hard.
“I, uh, I think I’ll just go to the temple alone.”
I heard Menelik chuckle.
“I was baring my soul to get closer to you, but you’re being quite heartless.”
“W-w-wasn’t that a warning? To not get in your way...?”
Menelik asked back, genuinely puzzled.
“Does Kivrin not say things like this to you?”
“N-no, he doesn’t.”
My Kivrin is a sweet little marshmallow, you know? He’s not the least bit terrifying even when I get in his way!
Heck, even after hearing he went mad and died in my past life, my first thought was pity, not fear!
I defended Kivrin, trembling all the while.
“The Young Lord said it was okay for me to visit him during every break on days I have a lot of classes.”
“...Ah, so you’ve put yourself in the ‘getting in the way’ category.”
Menelik muttered, then fell silent.
I couldn’t move an inch and was on the verge of tears.
“If you could please put me down now...”
“You’re still shaking. You don’t look like you can walk. Just stay put.”
*Sob*, and whose fault is that!
I wanted to get off Menelik’s back as soon as possible.
Why did Crescent Moon Castle look so far away?
* * *
Kivrin was waiting for Cheria at the castle gate.
Menelik found that quite fascinating.
Unlike a typical heir of a great family, Kivrin had a quiet disposition.
He had shown little emotional fluctuation since he was young and disliked inconveniencing others.
Even when he heard that people outside the duchy called him a monster, his worries were elsewhere.
—So... that’s what they think of me. I’m sorry. I-I imagine this will be d-difficult for you for a while because of me.
Kivrin never said it was unfair.
Nor did he resent Winter or Menelik.
Instead, he’d suggested it would be better to confine him as the temple wished and asked them to find an isolated place for him.
And then he had said this to him.
—I hope... I hope you w-won’t kill me, Father. Even if I’m a m-monster.
—...
—...Is that a difficult, request?
He had heard everything.
Menelik had loathed his own child, not wanting to see Winter suffer.
If Winter had given her permission, he would have disposed of him without leaving so much as a corpse.
Of course, that never happened.
When she heard his vile wish, she had looked at him as if to say, *what am I supposed to do with this hopeless bastard?*
—You’ll regret this, Lik. You may not know it yet, but there’s room in your heart for people other than me.
Winter was never wrong.
He would regret it forever, and he could never take it back.
“Young Lord! Why are you out here in the cold!”
The moment she was off Menelik’s back, Cheria dashed forward.
He watched to see what she would do, and she took off her mantle and coat to put them on Kivrin.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
If she gave him all of her own warm clothes, she’d be the one to catch a cold.
And just as he thought, the tip of Cheria’s nose quickly turned red.
This was a child he never should have had to watch over.
Her own parents had been desperate to sell her off, so he had bought her, partly to grant the temple’s request, and shoved her into the Snake Pit.
That was the extent of his involvement.
“L-Lady Cheria, you’re shivering...”
“I don’t get cold, so I’m fine!”
Cheria said with a brave smile, a claim no one would believe.
The sight of her was so lovely and harmless that he could understand why the servants couldn’t take their eyes off her.
But there was no way she could have won Winter’s favor with such simple acts.
The last descendant of the Moritia Kingdom felt no special emotion for those without supernatural abilities.
It had been utter arrogance for Menelik to think his heart had room only for Winter. But Winter had been born that way.
The will of a nation that prospered by worshiping snakes and was destroyed by worshiping snakes was ingrained in her.
It was a lofty will, one that commanded her to give nothing of Moritia to anyone not of her caliber, to rather self-destruct alone than to compromise.
...In that case, what was this child’s true identity?
Menelik spoke to the head butler.
“Treat our daughter-in-law well so she doesn’t run away.”
“It would be better if Your Excellency treated her well.”
“I have no intention of doing so for the time being. I have something I need to test.”
“...Pardon?”
Hearing Menelik’s words, Kivrin looked back.
He waved cheerfully, and as always, was ignored.
Menelik shrugged.
“What about the gift for the Saintess?”
“I have ordered it to be prepared by noon tomorrow. But should we not prepare anything for His Holiness?”
“He possesses the finest thing of all. What could possibly satisfy him?”
The head butler glanced at the space where Menelik’s right arm should have been and hummed in thought.
Menelik also waved at Cheria, who had belatedly turned her head.
She flinched, then cautiously waved back.
And even bowed her head deeply.
—Snakes always travel in pairs. Let’s take this opportunity to confirm whether the Young Lady is a normal human or not. When you think about it, isn’t it strange that someone of such a young age could adapt to a den of monsters?
He recalled the priest’s words, which he had not relayed to Cheria.
To some extent, he agreed.
* * *
It was after I had washed up and was ready for bed.
Kivrin used the secret door to cross into my room.
“...You can open that with one hand?”
Ignoring my astonishment, Kivrin maintained a serious expression.
“You’re... going because of me, aren’t you?”
It was impossible to hide anything from Kivrin, whose hearing was better than that of the inhuman Viscount Rose.
Not that I wanted to.
“No! It’s just, um, I’m going because I want to see my sister.”
“You said you d-didn’t get along with your family.”
I was at a loss for words.
I never thought a past confession would come back to bite me like this.
Realizing it wouldn’t be easy to convince Kivrin, I patted the bed.
“Come up here and we’ll talk.”
Once Kivrin and I were lying under the covers, I began to speak.
“My sister has a really difficult personality. If I don’t go, she might chase me all the way here.”
In the novel, she ignored the Pope and the Emperor and just threw tantrums all day long.
If I had been reincarnated as an extra, I would have been too terrified to ever get involved with her.
“S-so you’re being forced to go?”
“...”
Ugh.
Kivrin’s eyes were filled with worry.
“Y-you’ll keep getting s-sick if you go there...”
Right, Kivrin knew me well.
I brushed back the bangs covering his eyes.
A maid had trimmed them at the townhouse in the capital, but they had already grown long again.
“Are you worried about me?”
Kivrin nodded eagerly.
What is this puppy?
“I’ll do a good job. I’ll go and tell her to stop bothering you, Young Lord!”
But Kivrin’s brow remained furrowed.
“Because of me... you’re being f-forced...”
“Hey, we have to help each other out! We’re not strangers, we’re... a married... couple...”
“...”
Even in my second life, it was quite difficult to say the words “married couple” to a ten-year-old husband.
I swallowed my tears and finished my sentence.
“We’re a married couple...”
