~Chapter 37~
“Sera can’t fall for you. If you make her fall for you, I’ll never forgive you.”
“…My apologies, but I have no idea what you’re saying.”
Edmund blinked, confused, as he looked at the child bristling like a tiny animal giving a very small but very earnest warning.
Despite the fierce, almost threatening eyes, his gaze itself was gentle to the point of innocence.
Ugh.
Seeing those eyes, Elodie suddenly felt like she was bullying an innocent person for no reason.
She hesitated and instinctively took half a step back.
“Elodie, don’t be like that to someone who came here to help us.”
Sera wrapped an arm around Elodie and let out a soft sigh.
“I know the young lord is perfect in every way, but that has nothing to do with me falling for him. That will absolutely never happen, so you don’t have to worry.”
Edmund, who hadn’t even confessed yet but was somehow rejected anyway, sat silently, not knowing how he was supposed to react.
From the way his hand fidgeted with the pommel of his sword, it was obvious he wanted nothing more than to escape and go swing his blade somewhere. Unfortunately for him, they were still inside a carriage.
…Neither of them has even a mouse’s tail worth of romantic interest.
She’d guessed as much already, but even after confirming it again, the result was the same.
Elodie stopped bristling at him needlessly and relaxed in Sera’s arms.
“Hey, I have something to ask.”
“Yes, feel free.”
“…Why are you so nice?”
“Me, you mean?”
Edmund blinked, as if she had asked the least expected question.
Then he smiled, eyes crinkling slightly as though he were suppressing embarrassment.
“I’m really not that nice.”
Even the way he answered was perfect.
Truly kind people never think they’re kind—they’re too busy self-reflecting for that.
“Do you still carry sunflower seeds around?”
Elodie tossed the question out casually.
She suddenly wondered if he still carried sunflower seeds with him, just like in her previous life.
“Did the servants tell you that?”
Edmund tilted his head, puzzled as to how she knew.
Elodie shrugged with exaggerated innocence.
“I don’t carry them anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Well… I used to carry them because they reminded me of Lady Ratson.”
“Me?”
Elodie’s eyes widened.
She had never imagined she was connected to that habit.
She’d always just assumed he had an odd fondness for feeding wild mice.
“Why? Because you couldn’t find me, and I’m the High Priest’s daughter?”
Because he blamed himself for failing to complete a mission assigned to his family?
Given Edmund’s sense of responsibility, it wasn’t an impossible assumption.
“No. Not exactly… You were just a child.”
“……”
“I couldn’t recognize you, but… at the very least, I didn’t want you starving in some unfamiliar land.”
So that’s why he piled sunflower seeds everywhere whenever he spotted a field mouse.
Was he stupid?
If he couldn’t find her, then of course the logical assumption should have been that she died.
He should have shrugged and said he’d done all he could, then moved on.
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
Elodie’s breath caught.
That was the very first thing Edmund had said to her when they met.
But hearing it now… it felt completely different—heavier.
Edmund bent down so their eyes would meet, then pulled out a neatly wrapped packet from his coat instead of sunflower seeds.
“Will you forgive me with this?”
Inside the pouch were cookies studded with various nuts.
Elodie looked up.
Edmund was smiling faintly.
“…Don’t smile.”
“…Pardon?”
Stop smiling. It’s dangerous.
Why was he this gentle?
If Elodie were an ordinary girl, she absolutely would have fallen head-over-heels right now, declaring him her first love on the spot.
Fortunately, her entire heart already belonged to Sera, so she felt nothing.
Surely he doesn’t treat everyone like this, right?
If he did, then considering his complete lack of self-awareness, he deserved life imprisonment for emotional endangerment.
Elodie narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
“Do you not like the cookies?”
Edmund muttered gravely under his breath, “I knew I should have brought sunflower seeds…”
That fool…
At that moment, Sera, who had been watching everything, abruptly cut in.
“Young lord, I am eternally grateful that you willingly agreed to accompany me on a matter that is entirely personal, however…”
The girl’s gaze sharpened like never before.
“…please do not try anything funny with Elodie.”
No, Sera… “funny business”…?
That innocent boy was just born with a criminally gentle personality and had absolutely no awareness of the chaos it caused—
“…I have never done such a thing.”
But Edmund suddenly avoided her gaze like a man with several things weighing on his conscience.
Excuse me?
When Elodie warned him not to make Sera fall for him, he had stared back blankly like he understood nothing.
But this reaction was completely different.
Sera noticed it too, and her aura sharpened at once.
“It seems we’ve arrived.”
Unfortunately, they had reached the Bluewood estate at the worst possible timing.
“I’ll go ahead and subdue them. I’ll warm up a little, so come out when you’re ready.”
The carriage jolted once, and before either girl could respond, Edmund opened the door, leapt out, and disappeared in an instant.
Sera glared at his retreating figure, fuming.
Then she turned to Elodie with utmost seriousness.
“Elodie, he’s an extremely dangerous man with many sins.”
“Mm…”
“If he gives you cookies, don’t follow him. And don’t meet him alone. Understand?”
He was now being treated like a kidnapper.
Wasn’t I the one who thought we should keep Edmund away from Sera…?
How had this turned into Sera guarding Elodie from Edmund?
Elodie couldn’t fathom it.
They really came with only three people…?
Her worries were unnecessary.
By the time Sera and Elodie stepped inside the mansion, everything had already been taken care of.
Everywhere they walked, unconscious knights were scattered across the floor.
It was as if a storm had swept through.
“S-Seraphina!”
The Bluewood count tried to leap up the moment he saw Sera—
—but Edmund casually pressed a single finger onto his shoulder and forced him back to his knees.
“Don’t move without permission.”
“Urgh—!”
The count trembled with humiliation, unable to budge an inch.
He hadn’t even been able to resist properly.
“You’re not here to save me? How could you do this to your father?!”
He really seemed to understand nothing.
Was it because we barged in so suddenly…?
They hadn’t bothered giving Bluewood a polite warning.
People like them would only use the time to figure out ways to escape responsibility anyway.
But I didn’t think he’d be this clueless.
The countess and daughter—both clearly involved in Sera’s abuse—remained silent.
But the count…
“Seraphina, my girl was always so obedient. When you left us, you went to beg for leniency for our sake, didn’t you?”
…Wow.
Elodie was speechless.
She was genuinely impressed.
How could someone be this self-centered and interpret everything in a way that suited only themselves?
This is the same man who insisted she wasn’t his daughter but a maid before.
Now that the situation turned against him, he shamelessly demanded filial duty.
He was clearly missing some essential component of basic human decency.
Sera gently set Elodie down and stepped closer.
“Leniency?”
She let out a faint, cold laugh.
“Well, I did intend to show leniency.”
“I knew it! Then why is the young lord treating me like a criminal? Quickly, tell him it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“Stopping your family from being wiped out entirely—if that’s not leniency, then what is?”
“…What?”
