Chapter 25

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: I've Come For You
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* * *

The moment the door opened,

his vision brightened as he slowly lifted his eyelids.

What appeared before Chessier

was not the cruel maids, nor his fearsome half-brother, nor the father he was sure would finally come to kill him.

A faint light cast a halo around someone's small figure.

‘…An… angel?’

Chessier was suddenly reminded of the , a work of art he had seen a few times.

A sculpture of baby angels guarding the gates to heaven.

Whenever he saw it, Chessier would pray.

If there is a God, please send a small angel. Please, take me away from this hell.

“Ah.”

Chessier shook himself out of his daze.

The silvery hair and blue eyes that shone even in the dark certainly seemed angelic, but she wasn't an angel.

‘It’s that girl from before.’

The owner of the handkerchief.

It was her.

‘How did she get here? And… why is she crying?’

Tears suddenly started streaming down the girl’s face, but she pressed her small lips together, trying to swallow her sobs.

“…Chessier.”

Somehow knowing his name, the approaching girl called out to him.

“I’ve come for you.”

“…What?”

“I’m sorry….”

Chessier stared blankly at the girl.

How did she know about this place, and why did she come for him? And what was she sorry for?

“Let’s go.”

The girl held out her hand.

Chessier hesitated, unable to bring himself to take the hand offered like a lifeline.

This girl was no angel.

She couldn’t pull him out of this hell.

“Who are you?”

“Lilis.”

“I’m not asking for your name.”

“I’ll tell you after we get out of here safely. For now, let’s just go. Okay?”

The girl… Lilis… wiped the tears that were still streaming down her face with her sleeve as she spoke.

“Please, just trust me this once….”

Could he trust her?

What if you’re not an angel?

What if you’re just saying you’ll take me to heaven—me, who longed for it so—as a momentary prank, out of pity?

But instead of sweet words, the girl said,

“Anywhere has to be better than this hell, anyway.”

That’s what she said.

‘…She’s right.’

The not-so-sweet words melted away his wariness.

‘It doesn’t have to be heaven. It’ll be better than this hell.’

As if enchanted, Chessier took the angel’s hand.

* * *

…I didn’t think he’d take my hand so easily.

I stared blankly down at my hand clasped in Chessier’s.

“…You told me to take it.”

“Oh, uh, yeah!!”

What a relief. I’m so happy. With an expression that was neither smiling nor crying, I sniffled and asked again.

“You’re coming with me, right?”

“……”

“Heehee.”

I grinned as Chessier obediently followed me.

Seeing his childhood, something I’d never read about in the original novel.

‘It’s really, truly a relief.’

That’s what I thought.

That I could rescue this child from hell, even a little bit sooner.

“I’m so, so sorry I was late….”

Chessier gazed at me with a strange look in his eyes.

“I won’t let anyone hit you anymore. I’ll teach them all a lesson with a fire poker.”

“…How? You’re much smaller than me.”

“Not me, my dad will!”

You too shall have the protection of the protagonist, Enoch Rubinstein! I’ll show you what it’s like to be protected by the strongest person in the world!

“Let’s run to the main building’s reception room. My dad’s there.”

We ran hard. Retracing my steps, we came to the stairs.

“By the way, Chessier. You know. *Pant*, I-I don’t know if you know this, but this is the second basement floor? To get outside…”

*Gasp, gasp.* Seeing me already panting, Chessier said,

“We have to go up to the third floor.”

“…*Gasp*. You knew? Let’s go!”

I hadn’t realized it on the way down, but climbing from the second basement floor to the third floor above ground was incredibly difficult.

Especially since I had to take it one step at a time with my short legs.

Still, I tried to encourage Chessier.

“Chessier! Just a little more! We have to hurry…!”

…He’s gone?

I looked back down the stairs in a panic, then looked up to see Chessier already ten steps ahead.

“*Gasp*. Right, I’m the weak link here.”

I started climbing the stairs again with all my might.

A baby’s body, far less developed than a seven-year-old’s. It felt like climbing Mount Everest.

“Haaah, save Lilis.”

The summit was in sight.

I could see Chessier waiting, holding the side door open.

‘It’s all downhill from here!’

But for some reason, Chessier had stopped and wasn’t moving.

“Why, *pant*. What’s wrong? Is someone there?”

“…No. But there are servants from here on.”

“Oh, that? It’s fine! It doesn’t matter if we get caught. As long as they don’t catch us!”

I laughed and ran past Chessier as if in a race.

“Hurry up!”

“……”

I heard footsteps following me.

*Please leave the key on the second windowsill in the annex lobby hallway, and we will collect it.*

‘There!’

The first-floor lobby. I was about to hide the key as promised, but.

“Huh.”

…It was high. The window.

I was panicking because I couldn’t reach it even on my tiptoes when someone snatched the key from my hand.

It was Chessier.

“Are you trying to put it on the windowsill?”

“Yeah, that’s right!”

Nice. We worked well together.

After safely hiding the key, Chessier crossed the lobby again.

Just then.

“Seriously, where did he go?”

“It seems he went outside….”

Voices drifted from the entrance.

Chessier froze.

Jonathan, who had been snapping at the servants, turned around as if sensing our presence.

“……!”

His eyes widened as if they would pop out of his head.

“Wh-what, why is that bastard….”

“Oh, hi! I found my fwiend down thewe!”

I said brightly, pulling Chessier along as I ran toward Jonathan.

He turned pale and trembled.

“Y-y-you… b-b-bastard… a-a-aren’t you going to get b-back to your room right now?”

“We’re playing hide-and-seek! Run!”

I gave Chessier a pointed shove. He started running toward the entrance.

“G-get that bastard!”

“Y-yes? Who is that….”

The servants, who didn’t know of Chessier’s existence, were confused but soon started chasing after him.

I joined the chaos and started running wildly too.

“Y-Young Lady! You, stop right there!”

“Oof!”

As expected, Jonathan grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, probably planning to shut me up first.

“C-can’t breathe.”

“I’m sorry. B-but… just a moment. Wait. We need to talk….”

The moment he let go of my neck, I tried to run again, but.

“Ack!”

*Thud—!*

Jonathan shoved me, and I went sprawling.

‘Ugh, what a jerk…. How could you do that to a kid!’

As I lay there, my chin smarting from the fall, I saw Chessier.

He just needed to get past the entrance, but he couldn’t.

Because of me!

“G-go on ahead!”

I reached out and shouted like a general captured by the enemy.

It didn’t matter if I got caught. I just had to make sure Dad saw Chessier.

‘Please, just go! Leave me behind with the same coldness you showed when you mercilessly cut off my head in the novel!’

But contrary to my wishes, Chessier started running back the way he came.

‘Oh, that idiot!’

The servants reached out to grab Chessier, but he easily dodged them and was in front of me in an instant.

‘Huh? How is he so fast?’

His agility was so great it felt unnatural.

“You… are you crazy? How dare you crawl out of there? Get back to your room this instant!”

Jonathan yelled at Chessier as he approached.

Unable to contain his anger, he huffed and finally threw a punch.

“No! Don’t hit my friend! You big meanie!”

But Chessier simply tilted his head, easily dodging the fist.

Then he reached a hand out to me on the floor.

“You idiot! I told you to go on ahead!”

There’s no way he can escape with me—

“……?”

—or so I thought.

“W-what was that?”

The moment Chessier’s hand touched mine.

I was suddenly outside the wide-open doors of the annex.

The distance between us and our pursuers had grown significantly.

‘What, can he teleport too?’

Just as bewildered as I was, Jonathan, who was flustered by our sudden disappearance, shrieked.

“G-get them! Get them!”

“…Let’s run.”

Chessier took my hand, and we ran across the garden, leaving me completely confused.

‘What’s going on? Oh, whoa! That’s right! It’s not teleportation….’

I realized as we ran.

The original novel, which had poured all the power stats into its two protagonists.

According to Chessier’s fifth character setting…

Chessier Rubinstein (Protagonist)

5. Punches look slow.

Amazingly, this overpowered character could control the density of time.

Meaning he could make his opponent’s movements appear to be in slow motion whenever he wanted.

Now I understood Chessier’s unnatural agility.

‘This, this…’

I grinned.

‘With Dad and now Chessier, how could I possibly fail with an overpowered character on each side?!’

Filled with a renewed sense of confidence, I pumped my short legs even faster.

“Kyahahaha! Out of my way!”

My job was done.

All that was left… was to cause a little ruckus.

* * *

Meanwhile.

Enoch was sitting opposite Marquis and Marchioness Onyx in a lavishly decorated reception room.

“…There was much gossip back then. Ignorant people who couldn’t understand your circumstances ran their mouths quite a bit.”

“Is that so.”

As expected, the Marquis, seemingly eager to curry favor, spouted one empty compliment after another.

“But any parent would understand. They would know what was in your heart, Your Grace, when you disappeared with the young lady seven years ago.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you for your understanding.”

Enoch replied perfunctorily, his mind sharply focused.

He gathered his mana and heightened his senses, but he couldn’t feel the presence of that boy.

‘To be completely undetectable. He must be in the distant annex, or else… surely nothing has happened to him already.’

Anxiously, Enoch once again pictured the boy’s face.

A boy with empty eyes that held an edge as sharp as a well-honed sword.

Even without Lilis’s request, there was a strange pull that would have made him want to find the boy again.

“By the way, is the young man we saw earlier your only child?”

The moment Enoch asked, the Marquis and Marchioness’s faces stiffened.

It was a fleeting change, but it didn’t escape Enoch’s eyes.

“Yes, that’s right. Our family has always had few children.”

“I see.”

Seeing their obvious reaction, Enoch decided there was nothing more to see and stood up.

He planned to head toward the annex to find the boy.

“I trust I can have a look at the exhibition hall as well?”

“Yes, of course. I will guide you myself.”

The Marquis, pricked by the sudden mention of his children, couldn’t hide his expression and scrambled to his feet.

Just as they were about to leave the room.

“Daddyyyyyy!!”

A voice echoed thunderously from outside the door.

‘Lilis?’

*Clatter, clatter, thump, thump.*

The sound of small, running feet.

“W-w-wait! Young Lady, please! Stop!”

Followed by Jonathan’s utterly panicked shouts.

“What in the world….”

The unexpected commotion left the Marquis and Marchioness bewildered, and even Enoch was taken aback.

And then, *bang*,

the reception room door flew open.

“Y-you, how did you get here…!”

Past the pale faces of the Marquis and Marchioness, he saw Lilis.

“Daddy!”

Lilis, with a bright, innocent smile plastered on her face.

And next to her.

“Do you remember this boy?!”

The boy from a week ago.

“I think the Mawquis invited him too!”

Was the illegitimate son of Marquis Onyx.