Chapter 51
“Miss, welco— …me?”
Heather’s gaze slowly moved downward, then landed on Melanique, who was holding my hand. The child, feeling uncomfortable under her stare, hid slightly behind me.
That little action was so adorable that I nearly forgot the contents of the application section I had just read.
“Th-th-then, the child is…?”
“Ah. Um. My younger sibling?”
“You can’t answer with a question!”
Heather’s face was still pale. I suddenly wanted to look inside her head and see what on earth she was thinking.
She isn’t thinking my father had an affair, right? No way.
“Heather. Just so you know in advance, he’s not Dad’s son.”
“Oh! Thank goodness!”
“…Wait. You really thought that?”
I stared at Heather with a dumbfounded expression.
How does someone even arrive at that conclusion? Heather quickly began explaining herself, looking wronged, as if it were obvious.
“Of course I did. His hair especially looks just like yours, miss! His face is pretty too—how should I say it, the overall feeling. Anyway, he’s your spitting image.”
“Ventus has the same hair color too.”
“But he clearly said from the start that he’s your friend. And he’s the same age as you, so that can’t be it. Plus, I heard that back then, the master was so worried about the madam that he couldn’t sleep and stayed by her side the whole time.”
Heather denied it firmly. As I looked at her suspiciously, I suddenly realized I had completely forgotten about the child.
“Melanique?”
A faint blush colored the child’s cheeks, and his eyes sparkled. I didn’t know why, but he looked extremely happy.
Why? I thought he might feel left out since we were talking around him…
“…Do I look like Shuri?”
Still holding my hand tightly and hiding behind me, Melanique looked up with eyes full of expectation. His face was cute, and his actions were cute too. This wasn’t just cute plus cute.
It was practically cuteness squared.
“Huh? Yes. We have photos of miss from when she was little. Would you like to see them?”
“…Yeah.”
Melanique broke into a bright smile. Deep dimples formed in his cheeks.
I was wrong. Squared isn’t enough!
“Then shall we go look at them?”
“…Yeah!”
Melanique answered shyly. Seeing that Heather was willing to show my photos, it seemed she liked the child too, and the child himself was clearly interested in my childhood pictures.
A friendly scene? Sure. Fine. Everything’s fine, but—
“What about my opinion?”
They were my photos, but no one asked the owner.
I wasn’t saying no, but shouldn’t you normally ask?
“…Is it not okay?”
Melanique looked down at the floor, his voice small and trembling. When our eyes met briefly, I saw sadness in them. And my reason snapped.
“It’s okay! Of all things to ask—of course it’s okay!”
At my overly enthusiastic response, Heather let out a sigh. She looked like she’d known this would happen anyway. I felt a little guilty, but I pretended not to notice and walked ahead quickly.
It’s definitely not because I was embarrassed.
“…Shuri.”
“Hm?”
“My legs hurt. Can you carry me?”
At the sight of the child fidgeting his tiny hands and looking up at me with shining eyes, I immediately bent my knees.
Color returned to his face. He carefully stepped into my open arms and burrowed into my embrace as if craving warmth.
“Miss, which photo album should I bring out?”
“From late age eight onward.”
Before that, I wasn’t really me.
Come to think of it, I was so focused on changing the original story that I never once thought about why I possessed this body in the first place.
Right after the possession, I struggled desperately just to survive. Later, I struggled just as desperately to twist the original plot. All I remember is struggling to live.
“…Shuri? Shuri!”
“Huh? Ah—yeah.”
While I was lost in thought, Melanique called me. Lately, I’d been thinking too much.
“…Are you sick?”
“No. I’m fine. Melanique, can you stay here for a bit? I need to talk to th—”
Big sister? Maid?
“…Um…”
“The miss and I have something private to discuss.”
Just as I was hesitating over how to explain who I was, Heather smoothly continued for me. This is why perceptive people are the best.
“…Will you be long?”
“No. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Here—promise.”
I held out my pinky finger. Melanique stared silently at it. I could feel his uncertainty as he looked back and forth between my finger and his own.
Does he not know about pinky promises? He should remember it from Korea…
It felt strange, but instead of questioning him, I gently encouraged him.
“Can you hold out your pinky like me?”
“…Like this?”
“That’s right. Now we hook pinkies and make a promise. I’ll come back as soon as possible. Okay?”
I smiled as gently as I could. The child nodded, visibly reassured, and I left the room with Heather.
I needed to explain how and why I brought the child here. No employer would normally say this kind of thing to a maid, but Heather had taken care of me since I was young and genuinely worried about me. I couldn’t not say anything.
Of course, I would mix truth and lies and only tell her what was safe.
—
“…I want to go too.”
“Huh? But Melanique belongs to the Mage Tower, and he doesn’t really like going outside, does he?”
“If I’m with you, Shuri, it’s fine. Do you… not want me to?”
I never planned to bring him along in the first place. I just wanted to check whether he had memories of his past life. How did things end up like this?
The final look—him gazing up like a cat—was fatal. I never thought I’d be on the receiving end of my own tactics.
But that wasn’t the point. Since I brought the child with me, I needed to explain things properly to Heather now.
“Melanique is a child I met while wandering around.”
—That’s true, I met him while walking around the Mage Tower!
“I saw him alone, and he just looked so pitiful.”
—Everyone has their own room in the Mage Tower, of course he’d be alone!
Rell… be quiet. You were silent a moment ago—why now?
“You do sympathize with children like that, miss, but you don’t usually bring them home.”
The rebuttal came instantly. Just as well as I knew Heather, she saw right through me. That made excuses much harder than with anyone else.
“That’s true. But what I said isn’t a lie. I’m planning to build an orphanage, so I keep noticing children like him. He’s the only exception.”
I never expected the orphanage plan to be this useful. Good enough is good enough. As I brazenly acted like I was telling the full truth, Heather seemed half convinced.
Even if not, she looked like she was willing to trust me and let it go.
I was touched. Truly.
“Okay?”
“Honestly… fine. I’ll accept it. You’ll tell me everything someday, right? But where will he stay? And what will you say to the master and madam?”
Where will he stay? That’s obvious—
“I was thinking he’d share my room.”
“Miss!”
Heather jumped in shock and smacked my back hard.
Ouch. That hurts…
“Heather.”
“I’m sorry, miss. You said something so ridiculous that I reacted without thinking…”
“It’s because I’m planning to register him as my younger brother.”
I puffed out my cheeks. I’d been hit like this once before, long ago, but this time the pain lingered. She’s gotten stronger.
How do her friends survive this lethal hand?
“Huh? Your brother?”
“Yeah. I was going to tell my parents and register him.”
“What?! Do you think they’ll allow that?”
“They will.”
Because he’s Riser Seilot’s son.
If you dig deeper, there’s a dark and tragic story behind that name.
Riser Seilot was my father’s junior at the Academy. And also, a murderer.
He lost his life for the crime of killing a member of the imperial family, but the incident began when a mad emperor tried to take his wife.
After the emperor violated her, she withered day by day from fear and humiliation, plagued by nightmares, slowly dying both physically and mentally.
Seeking revenge, Riser Seilot—who had shown outstanding talent as a mage—killed one imperial family member and attempted to kill the emperor himself, only to be caught.
He was branded a notorious murderer because, half-mad from losing his wife, he entered the palace to assassinate the emperor and killed innocent palace workers in the process.
Yes, the emperor was at fault. But personally, I don’t think Riser Seilot should have acted the way he did.
I’m not defending that emperor, who was worse than trash.
Honestly, if I were in his position, I might have gone mad and rampaged too. I probably would have. The difference is that I would have made preparations and waited for the right moment.
Not charged straight into enemy territory without a plan, like Riser Seilot did.
The position of “emperor” is far more formidable than people think. A single imperial decree can kill someone or reduce them to crawling like a dog.
Could someone like that be killed alone, with no plan? Even with exceptional magical talent? That talent was only exceptional compared to mid-level court mages—and the Mage Tower’s mages far surpassed palace mages.
There was no way. The probability was close to zero.
I pitied him. He had no one to help him, no one to hold him back. And to lose everything after living such happy days—how deep must his wounds have been?
Without realizing it, I drifted into memories of the battlefield from my time as Alena. Maybe saying he should have thought rationally is something only someone who lived through Alena’s life can say.
My comrades died, but I lived. I survived and repeatedly crushed enemy territory through perfect revenge.
Even when I tried not to connect my past and present lives, these memories kept resurfacing lately.
At this point, it’s a sickness.
The reason I know all this is because of Melanique, who desperately wanted to come with me. I dug into everything about the Seilot family, even staying out overnight.
That’s why I left yesterday morning and only came back this afternoon. Otherwise, I would’ve been home by lunch yesterday.
I rummaged through newspapers, chased down information brokers—it was absolute chaos.
Who would have thought the so-called murderer was my father’s cherished junior…
To sum it up, my father deeply regretted failing to stop Riser Seilot, and even now he had been searching for a silver-haired child who resembled him.
That’s what the information broker said, so I trust it about 55 percent. Even if it weren’t true, my father would still accept him out of old affection.
Father is weak to emotional bonds, and Mother is quietly the same.
“Ha… I understand. But please always verify their background first. I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt, miss.”
“Okay. Thank you for worrying about me, Heather.”
Hehe. When I smiled brightly, Heather looked at me like she was watching a troublesome younger sibling—and smiled back. Being sincerely worried about felt nice.
“Oh, right! Sir Richard came by earlier. Come to think of it, he also visited yesterday.”
At Heather’s words, I froze.
I had completely forgotten about the letter because of the application book pages and Melanique. But now, Kiel’s name brought the letter and its contents flooding back.
“I-I see.”
“Miss?”
“Oh no—Melanique’s been alone all this time! Heather, I’ll go first! Mom and Dad said they’re spending some time alone since it’s been a while, right? I’m going ahead!”
Disappear. Please disappear.
The honest letters about liking him wouldn’t leave my mind.
“Miss! Your hands and feet are moving at the same time!”
Heather’s shout echoed from behind.
Looking down, it really did feel like my hands and feet wanted to escape together.
Aaaah! Heather, you didn’t have to say that! Someone please erase me from this world before I die of embarrassment. Waaah.
“…Shuri?”
“Ah—yeah. Melanique, I’m back.”
“Your face is red… are you okay?”
When he pointed it out, I flinched without thinking. Melanique hovered anxiously around me, like a small animal worrying about its owner.
“Yeah. I’m fine. More importantly, Melanique—do you think this is really possible?”
I took out the densely written paper filled with formulas and magical terminology that had fallen out of Applications of Dark Magic.
“…Yes. Since it’s not theoretically impossible, the chances of success are high.”
When it came to magic, Melanique became almost a different person.
As expected of a talent recognized by the Mage Tower Lord.
“If this really works like you say, the Mage Tower would be turned upside down. Rachel, for coming up with this, really isn’t someone to underestimate.”
“…Even imagining converting one unique mana into another isn’t easy.”
