Chapter 51
Of course, it didn’t have any real impact.
When Elodie thought about all the hardships she had endured until now, this could easily be dismissed as a trivial complaint.
He was called a “rat,” but when dealing with actual rats, people didn’t usually warn them with words—they swung brooms, set out rat poison, or laid traps.
‘Compared to that…’
At least he’s treating me like a person.
Elodie had gone through so much that she was too worn out to get angry about something like this. She even found it a little fascinating.
‘In Valkyrisen, most of the nobles are beastkin, so it’s hard to have human-supremacist ideas.’
If he were an ordinary noble from the continent of Terranolia, that would make sense.
Humans rarely interact with beastkin, growing up hearing all sorts of discriminatory remarks and baseless rumors.
But he grew up surrounded by beastkin, laughing and playing with them, and yet he still despises them?
Did a beastkin bully him when he was young?
Did he get beaten up for showing potential?
Or did he think she was ignoring him because she didn’t flinch?
The second prince, Zeno, twisted his mouth into a grin and bared his teeth.
“Ambassador Ratson, they say you’re incompetent?”
Then he began asking about her parents.
“They say you’re the weakest among the past ambassadors. Each generation gets weaker, right? So you’ve been hiding away for the past two years?”
“……”
“You’re just here to pick up scraps because your dad might lose his ambassador title, right?”
“……”
“Ugh, these beastkin are really annoying.”
Elodie tried not to react.
‘Crossing the line?’
How dare he, without knowing a thing about the situation?
She was getting angry.
“Don’t like beastkin? (Beastkin suck?)”
“What?”
Zeno blinked in confusion when Elodie, having endured the insults without crying, asked the question with her bright, unwavering eyes.
He seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
But, as if nothing had happened, his eyes narrowed sharply.
“Yes! Especially rats—they suck!”
And then came the usual derogatory remarks.
“Why? (Why do they suck?)”
“They’re filthy! Dirty, and… uh…”
“Filthy and dirty mean the same thing. (Those are the same words.)”
“Sh-shut up!”
Zeno rolled his eyes, thinking hard, until he finally pointed at the tail sprouting from Elodie’s backside.
“That tail is gross too!”
Predictable. That’s the only thing he could come up with?
Suddenly, his words sounded cheap and childish.
Elodie let out a deep sigh.
So in the end, there’s no reason—he just hates them and wants them gone. That figures.
Discrimination has no logic.
“Then it would be better if you didn’t show it. (Better not to show it.)”
“Why should I?”
“Your Grace. (Duke.)”
Mentioning the Duke of Valkyrisen made the second prince flinch.
Elodie recalled the conversation she had while entering the estate in the carriage.
“If you cause trouble in Valkyrisen, you’ll get expelled.”
The neutral territory of Valkyrisen.
Would they really let someone run wild discriminating against beastkin here?
Of course not.
Surely there are laws that dictate the punishment. Otherwise, maintaining the peaceful system here would be impossible.
Otherwise, it would become chaotic, a place where humans and beastkin mixed without order.
Elodie rifled through the drawer beside her bed.
“What are you doing? Pulling out a weapon? Come at me if you dare!”
Why was he so doggedly ready to fight?
Elodie calmly eyed Zeno, always prepared to battle anywhere, anytime.
“Do you think you can beat me?”
She pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper—something she had obtained separately from Eagles.
She checked the items from the top, pointing to each clause as she presented it to him.
1) Valkyrisen is a protected zone for beastkin. If anyone discriminates against others without legitimate reason based on race, they may be subject to punishment.
Be aware that if discriminatory behavior is detected, depending on the severity, penalties range from a minimum fine to execution.
“So? A fine is no big deal!”
Elodie immediately moved her finger to the next detailed clause.
1-1) If caught a second time, regardless of severity, the minimum punishment is permanent expulsion.
“Do you want to get punished by the Duke and expelled? (Do you want to get caught and kicked out?)”
He knows that it won’t just end with a scolding, so he snuck into someone else’s room to see her.
Elodie crossed her arms as if to say she knew everything.
“Better act friendly if you want to stay here. (Pretend to be nice.)”
“……”
“Let’s get along, okay? (Do your best.)”
That’s what they call social etiquette.
Showing hatred in Valkyrisen will only get you beaten in the end.
Don’t like it?
“Then leave if you don’t like it. (Leave if you hate it.)”
Elodie smiled.
If the temple doesn’t like the priest, it’s the priest who must leave.
Wherever you go in Terranolia, there will be companions who share that rotten ideology.
Then, the second prince Zeno opened his mouth in shock, “You, you…” but couldn’t finish the sentence.
“You’re the rat that should be expelled!”
Just then, a loud voice rang out:
“Zeno via Valkyrisen!”
Simultaneously, both Elodie and Zeno froze and turned toward the doorway.
Duke Valkyrisen Aizen stood there, wearing an expression of anger that Elodie had never seen before.
She had never seen the old man, who usually treated even major incidents with indifference, show such fury.
“G-Grandfather…”
The boy must not have expected his grandfather to witness this, his face turning pale as he stepped back.
‘I didn’t know either.’
Could words really make it happen?
Elodie immediately realized the situation.
That was why Squirrel wasn’t there—Zeno had tried to separate her beforehand.
Squirrel must have brought the Duke, worried about Zeno’s usual behavior.
“Zeno.”
“……”
“Zeno, come here right now.”
Aizen’s voice, lower than usual, scraped along the floor.
Even though it wasn’t directed at her, Elodie felt her body tremble.
“Come and confess what you’ve done, in your own words.”
The boy froze in place, head bowed, trembling as he muttered:
“Grandfather… grandfather doesn’t know anything…”
Wow, and he still dared to talk back?
No wonder he’s destined to gain a reputation as a rogue in the future.
“……I can’t even recognize his face!”
At that moment, Zeno shut his eyes tightly, screamed, and suddenly turned, running out of the room.
‘Can’t recognize his face?’
What did he mean by that?
Elodie tilted her head, pondering the boy’s words.
She remembered a conversation she had overheard when she had sneaked into the underground prison before.
“I won’t even remember his face when I turn around.”
She thought it was just a figurative way of saying he didn’t care about the other person.
But could it be that he really couldn’t recognize faces?
Even his own grandson’s?
‘Prosopagnosia (face blindness)?’
