19
Chapter 19
“Chloe helped me save Tiger.”
“……What? Save?”
“Yes! Chloe helped me!”
I stared at Leia, who firmly believed Tiger was dead.
“Hmm……. Okay, I’ll have to report this testimony that Chloe helped you.”
She stared at me intently and turned off the Recording Orb.
“I’ll report this as is. Tsk, of all the rotten ropes to grab.”
“I didn’t grab a rotten rope!”
I held out both empty hands.
She tried to sneer at me but soon wore a look of shock.
“Ugh, disgusting!”
Judging that her plan had succeeded, she frowned and left.
I looked down at my palms.
‘Oh, there was a mantis.’
I placed my mantis friend on the floor.
My sister never showed me the prison, saying it was a no-no, so I didn’t know!
My eyes sparkled, and my nose twitched involuntarily.
‘Come to think of it, humans get locked up in prisons and stuff.’
Dogs don’t usually get locked up in prisons.
So, I must have really become human.
I whispered softly to a small spider crawling on the floor.
“Hello, spider!”
This feels just like taking a walk in a new place!
* * *
“……So, she looked very depressed. She didn’t even look at me when I went in, and she had her nose buried in the corner.”
That was the maid who had secretly snuck near the Bastille Annex and was kicked out.
Ruth, hearing those words, stamped her feet in indignation.
“Wow, seriously. This is crazy.”
“Maybe, she’s crying……?”
“Just because of one Tiger, they’re trying to kill a baby’s spirit! A living human is important, not an animal, right? Huh? Isn’t that right?”
As Ruth raged, Dot quietly muttered.
“It’s not just one Tiger. It’s a Spirit Creature.”
“What? If I say it is, it is.”
“I’m sorry. Anyway, it’s a really big deal for the young miss. They might consider other punishments besides disownment.”
As soon as Dot finished speaking, Chloe’s face contorted.
“Be quiet and stop chattering.”
Before anyone knew it, the atmosphere in the annex had turned gloomy.
After the maid who had finished her report left.
Ruth, Chloe, and the veterinarian Dot.
The three of them gathered here, and the atmosphere was like a funeral home.
Ruth pounded her chest as if frustrated.
“That old geezer is senile. Locking up that tiny kid in a prison? That’s something only subhuman beasts would do.”
“Oh my, Ruth. If you keep saying things like that, you’ll be exiled abroad again.”
“Ha, the old geezer isn’t even here……. Dot, are you a spy?”
“N, no way!”
Ruth narrowed her brow as if tired.
“First, I think I need to meet Father first. Chloe, you’ll meet Father, right? He always liked you the most anyway.”
“…….”
As Chloe made a thoughtful expression, Ruth pointed a finger at her.
“What, you. You’re not going to persuade the old geezer?”
“…….”
“Then you’ll at least go see Coco, right? I’m going now. To see the little one. Wanna come?”
“……Why would I?”
“But that little kid likes you the most. She follows you around like a puppy.”
“So.”
Ruth’s gaze scanned Chloe up and down.
“You’re a really bad person. You know that? Fine. I’ll go alone, then. I’ll persuade the old geezer myself. What’s the worst that could happen? Exile for 30 years? Huh?”
“Oh my, Ruth!”
Despite Dot’s dissuasion, Ruth stormed out.
Even then, Chloe only gripped her trembling hands.
* * *
“Hey, open the prison door.”
“Y, yes? This isn’t a prison…… The official name is ‘Bastille Annex’ but…….”
“What? I know you’re using it like a prison. Open the door.”
“Theresia has forbidden the entry of outsiders. As the mistress of the mansion’s proxy, we can’t do anything…….”
“Ugh, whatever! Then lock me up too. I want to be locked up in prison right now, why.”
“H, how could we, we, imprison a direct descendant…….”
“Then shut up and open the door.”
The soldiers looked at each other and mouthed conversations.
‘Wasn’t Ruth studying abroad for 10 years to reform her wild personality?’
‘She came back even wilder, didn’t she?’
A soldier, gathering courage, spoke up.
“If you break down the prison, even if it’s Ruth, you will be punished according to the family law…….”
“Wow, am I going crazy?”
Ruth raised her hand.
As wind flowed from his hand, the soldier clamped his mouth shut.
Ruth glanced at the soldier as if brushing away a bothersome bug.
“Forget it, all of you get lost.”
He used his Special Ability to get rid of the soldiers and flung the door open with a crash.
And.
Inside the small corner of the room, a round back of the head was visible.
A palm-sized little one staring blankly at the wall, Coco.
Has she already gone crazy?
It wouldn’t be surprising if a child went crazy in prison.
Ruth, filled with rage, clenched his fist and strode into the prison.
“Hey, Coco.”
Coco, who had been staring blankly at the wall, turned her head.
The moment her eyes met his.
Coco was crying…….
“Wow! It’s Ruth!”
……She’s not crying, she’s cheerful?
‘No. That smart little thing is probably doing that because she doesn’t want me to be upset.’
He pressed down on his throbbing chest and muttered.
“I’ll get you out when Father comes, so just wait a little.”
“No, I can get out by myself anyway!”
“How can a tiny thing like you get out alone.”
Looking small and precious like a round rag doll.
As if those curly locks of hair would scatter like yarn at any moment.
“Anyway, are you okay? Are you cold?”
“Yeah! There are so many amazing things!”
He sat down roughly on the prison floor and muttered.
“Yeah, well. I’m not cold either. I’ll stay with you.”
“You can lock me up. Anyway, if Tiger comes back to life in ten hours…….”
“Tiger is dead, you idiot.”
“No, Tiger is alive. Sister and I brought him back to life together.”
“This is driving me crazy, really. You should be begging on your hands and knees.”
It was when he pounded his chest a couple of times as if frustrated.
Coco’s lips were stubbornly pursed.
“Sister said before. It’s cool when people are driven to the very end and then ‘reverse’ the situation.”
“Huh?”
“So, it’s okay for me to become more pitiful now. Then Sister can be happier later.”
What on earth is this little child planning?
Reversal, happiness…….
She acts as if she has a winning hand.
‘But, Tiger must be dead.’
Ruth ruffled his hair in frustration.
But it was right then.
Along with the clicking sound, the sound of someone walking from afar was heard.
Then, a woman with a cool impression appeared.
“Ruth, I told you not to cause trouble in prison.”
“……Chloe Ardos?”
At Chloe’s name, Coco’s eyes widened.
“Sister shouldn’t be here.”
“Why?”
“Here, here it’s too dark…….”
Ruth said nonchalantly.
“You don’t know? She’s a dark mage. She controls darkness. So she can see well even in the dark. I’m the one with blurry vision, so worry about me.”
“No, that’s not it. It shouldn’t be this dark and gloomy…….”
Why is she like this?
I thought she would be happy when Chloe came.
Instead, she seemed unstable.
* * *
Chloe curled her hand inside her dress.
Her trembling hand did not calm down.
It was a symptom she felt whenever she entered darkness she had not created.
People thought she liked being buried in darkness.
But that was not the case.
“Chloe, you must survive even in the darkness.”
“…….”
“Only then can you become a true successor to the family. If you don’t want to tarnish the Duke’s achievements, then endure it.”
As a child, Chloe was confined in a damp basement and starved for a week.
Around the time she escaped from the dark darkness, her father, having grasped the facts, killed the teacher.
But still.
‘Even if the abuser dies, the scars of childhood last a long time.’
So, she didn’t even go into the basement of her own mansion.
It was because she hated her body trembling in unexpected darkness.
But why on earth.
Coco stamped her feet and muttered.
“We have to get out quickly! Darkness is no good, Chloe likes warm sunlight.”
Why, from that figure…….
Does she recall the little puppy who licked her hand as if caressing her wounds?
Actually, she knew the reason.
‘Because the only being who gave me affection and worried about me so purely was my puppy.’
Only for a brief moment did Coco overlap with the child’s voice that seemed to worry about her.
When she forgot all the words she was going to say and stared at Coco.
Coco jumped up and pointed.
“Really, why did you come!”
“Why, are you unhappy?”
“Don’t come to save me! It’s dangerous here!”
“You’re being informal.”
“How am I being informal? The words aren’t here.”
She’s…….
An idiot.
“……I mean use honorifics. I came because I have something to say. I didn’t come to save you.”
She ran a hand down her face and looked outside the prison.
“Ruth, what have you been doing here? Use your head.”
“You don’t know me. My head is just for decoration.”
Ruth shrugged.
“So, how do I use my head?”