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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Boy with Hollow Eyes
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His hollow eyes, which looked as if they’d seen the end of the world, were a bit of a shame, but the boy was beautiful enough to be called special.
‘I’m sure of it! The closer you are to being a main character, the more distinct your features become!’
And just like that, I naturally came to understand a rule of this world.
After all, I too was unusually cute for an extra, a fact Susan praised me for until she was blue in the face.
‘Turns out I wasn't an extra either. An extra? Hardly. I’m…’
Suddenly, the thought of my own existence gave me a headache. I had been trying so hard not to think about it.
‘Whoops, let’s put my worries aside for now.’
Right. My gut was telling me this boy was Chessier.
Black hair and red eyes.
First off, the boy’s appearance matched the description of Chessier.
Of course, if I looked hard enough, I’d probably find other kids with black hair and red eyes.
But.
A ‘handsome’ boy with ‘black hair’ and ‘red eyes’ being found by the ‘protagonist,’ ‘Enoch Rubinstein.’
This was no coincidence.
It had to be following the original story, one hundred percent.
“Wh-what’s your name?”
“…”
The boy didn’t answer the question I blurted out in my haste. He just kept staring at me intently.
Well, it was obvious he was on guard. He wasn't going to open up that easily.
“Hey, son. Are you hurt badly? Can you stand?”
When Dad offered a hand, the boy glanced at it for a moment before getting up on his own.
Then, he limped past us.
“Wait. You.”
Smack—!
The boy slapped away Dad’s hand as he reached out to stop him.
He glanced back and forth between me and Dad once more, then vanished with a leisurely pace, his eyes empty.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
“Lilis.”
Dad stopped me as I tried to call after him again.
He smiled bitterly and said.
“You see, Princess. There are many people who don’t like nobles.”
“Ah, right.”
“He seems uncomfortable, so let’s just leave it at that.”
Even as he said this, Dad’s gaze followed the boy’s retreating back as he left the alley.
For some reason, I found myself staring at Dad, who seemed drawn to the boy, and I let out a wry laugh internally.
‘This really is the world of the novel. The original story is progressing just fine on its own.’
This must have been the first meeting between Enoch Rubinstein and Chessier, the one described as a ‘chance encounter.’
“Let’s go, Princess.”
“Okay.”
Dad was silent as he took my hand and we started walking again.
For some reason, I could see right into his seemingly preoccupied mind.
The rotten reality of this country, which he had returned to after seven years, was far from welcoming.
His worries about his daughter, who would have to adapt and live here from now on.
A strange pull toward the boy he had just seen.
Yeah, he was probably thinking about… things like that.
“Daaad.”
I gently squeezed the hand I was holding.
“Yes, Princess. What is it?”
“Um, can’t I make friends with whoever I want?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m a noble. So… I’m not supposed to be friends with commoners, right?”
Dad fell silent for a moment at my question.
Enoch Rubinstein. A righteous revolutionary who was skeptical of this empire’s insane class system.
This was a question that would surely make his revolutionary blood boil, something that must have been brimming inside him even before he lost his daughter.
“No, Lilis.”
As expected, Dad’s eyes were resolute.
“If it’s what you want, it doesn’t matter who they are. Noble or commoner, ability user or not. As long as you like them, you can be friends with anyone.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Dad chuckled and gently pinched my cheek.
“Dad, Dad. That boy from before. Will he really be okay? Should we just leave him like that?”
“Hm?”
“He was hurt so badly. Will he get proper treatment? No, more importantly… it seems like he doesn’t even greet people because he hates nobles. What if he gets beaten up again?”
“…You have a point.”
“Where could he have gone…?”
“Are you that worried about a boy you just met?”
“Yes!”
I looked up at Dad.
“I don’t know why, but I keep thinking about him. I think… I want to be his friend.”
Dad looked slightly surprised.
Of course he would. He was probably still thinking about that strange boy himself, and now his daughter was saying something similar.
“Can’t you find him again later and help him? I’m curious if he got treated, and I want to talk to him…”
“Ha, haha.”
Dad stared at me blankly for a moment before he started to laugh.
“I…”
Then he swooped me up into his arms, rubbing his forehead against my cheek as he murmured.
“…I gave birth to an angel.”
“Are you going to find him and help him?”
“Yes, let’s do that. Of course, we should. When have I ever not listened to my princess?”
“Heehee. Dad, you’re the best. Thank you.”
I buried my face in Dad’s embrace, hiding my bittersweet expression.
‘According to the original story, Chessier should be living at the Onyx marquisate right about now.’
According to the sixth point in Chessier Rubinstein’s character profile—
6. Originally the illegitimate son of a certain noble, he lived a life of abuse until a chance encounter led him to be noticed by Enoch Rubinstein and adopted.
—as the illegitimate son of a certain noble, he must be having a very unhappy childhood right now.
Of course, that unhappy childhood was never described in the story.
*The Dos Rebellion* begins with a thirteen-year-old Chessier, already Dad’s adopted son, training with a sword.
The explanation that he was the illegitimate son of ‘Marquis Onyx’ comes later.
‘I know where you are right now, I know…’
The backstory of abuse, created to instill in him a rebellion against the nobility, was unbearably tragic.
Anyone who saw that hollow expression, so unfitting for a child, would feel the same way I did.
‘Just wait, Chessier. I’ll find you, a little sooner if I can.’
* * *
He had no last name. His first name was Chessier.
He had lived with his mother, a former maid, for eleven years, until he was abandoned in front of the Marquis Onyx’s estate six months ago.
The father he never knew he had, Marquis Onyx, was a formidable man.
A noble of the Quarto class.
He was an ability user ranked just below Dos.
“Jonathan, have you finally lost your mind? What do you think you’re doing, leaving that boy outside?”
Chessier blankly watched the sight of his father, Marquis Onyx, and his half-brother, Jonathan, bickering.
His half-brother Jonathan despised Chessier, his father’s illegitimate son, with a burning passion.
Just today, he had secretly dragged Chessier out like a dog, abandoned him in the middle of the capital, and returned home alone.
“I can’t stand the sight of that maggot in this house!”
“Shut up! Then what do you want me to do? What if we just abandon him somewhere and he gets caught in a surprise inspection for ability users by the Imperial Army!”
Marquis Onyx seethed.
“If they discover he’s an ability user, they’ll start looking for his parents. It would only be a matter of time before they found out he’s my blood, and then I’d be known as a man who not only had an illegitimate child but also threw him out like trash.”
“It’s not like you’re going to announce this bastard to the world anyway! A maggot tainted with common blood!”
“That’s why we just need to lock him up and raise him where no one can see him!”
“If you’re going to do that, then just kill him off quietly! The mere fact that I’m in the same space as that thing makes me sick!”
“…”
Marquis Onyx fell silent at Jonathan’s words.
His silence was a sign of hesitation.
A being like an impurity that could tarnish his reputation, yet he couldn’t bring himself to kill him because his own blood flowed through the boy’s veins.
A hesitation born from a paltry sense of guilt.
“Don’t you ever pull a stunt like today’s again. I won’t meddle in anything else.”
Marquis Onyx gave the quietly kneeling Chessier a single glance before coldly leaving the room.
“You little worm.”
As if on cue, Jonathan’s fist shot toward Chessier’s head.
Instinctively, Chessier blinked.
Then, the world slowed down.
Very slowly, as if someone had cast a spell.
It would probably take ten minutes for that fist to reach his cheek.
Whether it slowed time itself or simply deceived his own eyes, Chessier didn’t quite understand what kind of power this strange ability was.
He could only vaguely guess that it was a power he possessed because he was an ability user.
“Wh-what’s your name?”
Suddenly, he remembered the small girl in the priestess’s robes he’d met in the alley.
A young priestess would surely be a high-ranking ability user.
People like her would never know.
The lives of the countless non-ability users and lower classes crushed beneath their feet…
‘I’m sick of it.’
Chessier thought.
Nobles were all arrogant and oppressive.
Just like his father and half-brother.
‘Ah.’
The fist finally made contact, and his head snapped to the side.
The world had slowed, and the fist had flown in slow motion, but the pain was felt in its entirety.
He could have avoided it, but he didn’t, because he couldn’t afford to provoke his brother’s anger.
Because that was how it should be.
The lower classes shouldn't dare to look up to the higher classes, nor should they ever get on their nerves.
‘Just get it over with and piss off.’
Chessier closed his eyes.
The world returned to its normal speed.
Now, familiar fists and feet rained down on him in quick succession.
‘It would be easier to just die. But that’s scary, isn’t it.’
Chessier curled up, enduring the kicks, and mocked himself.
Even if he knew how to die, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was hungry, so he didn’t run away and obediently returned to the marquis’s estate.
He found himself utterly disgusting.
He didn’t have the courage to kill himself, so he wished his life would just run its course and he could naturally disappear.
“Cough, hack!”
Left alone at last, Chessier lay still, staring at the ceiling and blinking slowly.
His hand drifted to his pants pocket.
The handkerchief the noble girl had given him.
“S-sorry… Sorry for touching you so suddenly. I’ll leave this here.”
Chessier couldn’t understand why he had even bothered to keep it.
He stared at the handkerchief with the rabbit on it for a long while before clenching it tightly in his hand and muttering in a dry voice.
“I want to die…”
