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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Temple's Maids
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Kivrin eagerly nodded.
“The flowers, they’re, they’re blooming beautifully. The sky is so, so clear. But.”
“……”
“Yo-you’re prettier, Cheria. Your hair, it’s, it’s the color of the dawn sky.”
Uh… Should I thank him for that…?
Flustered, I answered a beat too late.
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Still, Kivrin smiled, pleased.
There were scenes in where Cheria's beauty was praised.
But that was after she became an adult, not during her childhood when she had to be careful about every little thing she ate and wore.
Right now, I was just a ten-year-old aspiring patricide with dull purple hair, a short stature, and a scrawny frame.
Kivrin’s taste was a little concerning, but when I took a deep breath, the fresh scent of grass filled my lungs.
There was far too little time to enjoy something this precious.
I grabbed Kivrin’s head, which was fixed on my face, and turned it.
“Whoa.”
Kivrin’s gaze shifted to the flowerbed. Clusters of fluffy, popcorn-like flowers were gathered together.
“Anyway, now isn’t the time to be looking at my face. It’s been a while since you’ve been outside. You should enjoy the view.”
Though he looked reluctant, Kivrin took in the scenery surrounding the manor.
How long had it been since Kivrin was last outside?
In , it said that Kivrin was led into the Snake Pit by the Duke and Duchess on his ninth birthday.
If this was his first time out since then…
I was just about to ask Kivrin when a maid’s scream from inside the manor reached my ears.
“Aaaah! N-no! I’ve been wrongly accused!”
It was a voice that had stood out even among the maids.
*—The head maid said Her Grace sent the new dresses here. She won’t even notice if we take a jewel or two to lift our spirits, right?*
*—Besides, that kid is no better than a monster. What’s there to worry about?*
What a performance. To think she’s claiming innocence now after so eagerly egging on the other maids.
“They dragged me here against my will! I told them not to do it!”
The other maids were probably just as dumbfounded as I was.
She finally burst outside and began to look around frantically.
It seemed she was looking for someone.
Huh?
The moment she spotted me, she ran over and fell to her knees.
A knight had followed her out, so I just stood by and watched.
“Please save me, I’m truly innocent!”
Of course, it was wrong of her to touch the dresses the Duchess had prepared for me.
But considering my treatment in the ducal household, this exaggerated display was nothing short of mockery.
Her acting is superb. This isn’t her first time stirring up trouble, is it?
She could probably give my sister a run for her money in a personality contest.
As I marveled silently, the knight pulled the maid to her feet.
After putting some distance between the maid and me, he spoke with the face of a rookie who’d been stuck with a difficult task his superiors wanted to avoid.
“…I will report this to Her Grace so you may be punished.”
“P-please, spare me! Please!”
The hands begging for forgiveness were delicate, as if they’d never done a day of menial labor.
I recalled the knight saying the Duchess had carefully selected these people.
Was he talking about their social status?
Thanks to the closer distance, I could finally get a good look at her appearance.
She looked to be in her early twenties at most.
A scale was embroidered on her neat maid uniform.
The other four, who were now creeping out, had the same embroidery on their clothes.
It was a peculiar scale, with a morning star in one pan and the other bound by chains.
That was the symbol of the Temple, which appeared countless times in .
What is this.
Why are people from the Temple working as maids in the ducal household?
“The two of you should head back inside the manor now. I will gladly accept my own reprimand.”
The knight’s voice was firm.
With a question mark floating in my mind, I took Kivrin’s hand and went inside.
Watching the main doors close firmly, I asked Kivrin.
“About those maids from before.”
“Th-the people from the Temple, they’re all like that.”
“……”
“They deliberately ca-cause trouble. T-to torment Mother.”
“……”
Kivrin said no more, pressing his lips tightly together.
Is that why the Kivrin from took revenge on the Temple?
But the novel also explained that Kivrin was the one who killed the Duke and Duchess.
In , Kivrin was an irredeemable murderer, a madman.
I imagine he met a miserable end in the finale I never got to read.
Meanwhile, my sister and the Temple must have been victorious.
Hmm, am I walking down the wrong path?
What if the only way for Cheria to be happy was to never get involved with Kivrin in the first place?
…Well, if that’s the case, I’m just screwed.
That’s just how it is, Cheria.
But I’ll make sure to follow through on the patricide for you.
“U-um.”
“……”
“Was I… not supposed to, to say that…?”
“……”
I raised my hand.
We were about the same height, so I could pat Kivrin’s head without standing on my tiptoes.
Kivrin’s eyes darted around.
“Cheria?”
“You can tell me anything. We’re hu… hu… Anyway, we’re that, right?”
“Uh…”
Gazing at Kivrin, who tilted his head in confusion, I set my priorities straight.
The person I needed to care about most right now wasn’t the Duchess, nor the maids from the Temple.
It was this little kid, who might just turn out a little less psychopathic and a little kinder if I took good care of him.
A roof over my head and a warm bed are also pretty important…
I felt sorry for the original Cheria, but even if a ten-year-old girl managed to escape this place, she’d only find herself in a hopeless situation.
Yeah, if I went back to the count’s estate, I’d just be dragged back here or sold off to someone else.
And if I didn’t go back, I’d just wander the streets and starve to death.
So, I’ll raise Kivrin well, and Kivrin will be raised well!
That’s how it’s gonna be, Kivrin.
“…Young Lord, I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
“But I’ll still try my best…”
Forcibly ignoring my guilty conscience, I went to the dress room with Kivrin.
Several diamonds, neatly cut from the never-worn dresses, were scattered about.
I picked them up.
“Well, this saves me the trouble of prying them off.”
Once I’d solidified my decision to invest in Kivrin, it was easy to figure out what I had to do.
First, I had to get out of this damn manor.
* * *
It was the hour when Kivrin had fallen into his afternoon nap.
I tied back my dry, brittle purple hair.
Then I gathered the necessary items and found the window I’d spotted earlier.
I hurried, wanting to get it done before Kivrin woke up, and quickly found myself out of breath.
*Huuu.* I caught my breath by the window and took out the rod I’d found so useful in the food pantry.
“So heavy…”
I bit my lip and put all my strength into both hands.
When I struck the window with the rod, it made a dull thud.
Yeah, not even close.
As a malnourished ten-year-old, breaking it with brute force was impossible.
I put the rod back down and took out a lantern with a small mana stone attached, followed by the diamonds.
Blue mana stones are weak to gems, especially diamonds.
And unlike red mana stones, blue ones cause a small explosion when they break.
This was a fact that would be discovered by chance several years from now.
In , mana stones were divided into two types.
One was the red mana stone, which could be obtained by chance from killing monsters, and the other was the artificial blue mana stone, created by mages in imitation of the red ones.
Since not all monsters possessed mana stones, the blue, artificially created ones were more commonly used in daily life.
Items fueled by mana stones generally had the advantage of being durable and rarely breaking down, even after long-term use.
They were simple to operate and quite expensive, which helped satisfy the nobles’ desire to show off their wealth.
However, in the rush to meet the explosive demand from the nobility, safety testing was neglected.
Ultimately, this led to an accident in .
I calmly put on the gloves.
The gloves I’d found in the dress room were made of mesh, so even wearing several layers didn’t fully protect my hands.
I just hope my hands don’t get blown off along with it.
I’d deliberately chosen the lantern with the smallest mana stone, but I wasn’t confident I’d escape unharmed.
Well… the longer I think about it, the higher the chance Kivrin will wake up, right?
“I-I can’t let that happen.”
I clenched my fists.
I promised I would raise Kivrin well!
Above all, now was the time to win him over by showing him my mature problem-solving skills.
I rubbed the mana stone and a diamond together against the glass pane.
