Chapter 62
Elodie returned after having lunch with Sera.
Lately, it’s hard to see Sera’s face except during meals.
She really must be busy.
Even when Elodie widened her eyes and clung to her, asking her to stay together, it didn’t work.
Surprisingly enough.
“Uuugh, Seraaa, you don’t wanna be with me?”
“Khk…!”
Sera trembled while clutching her chest, clearly struggling to resist the temptation—but in the end, she left behind words straight out of an adventure novel about coming back stronger.
Apparently, she was receiving all kinds of education and had even started sword training.
She was still so bad that she could barely lift a wooden sword, and because it was embarrassing, she told Elodie not to come watch—so Elodie hadn’t seen it herself.
I’m so lonely…
Lately, Geno had been sticking close to her, so she hadn’t had much time to feel bored.
But that one was like a puppy in a growth spurt, with absurd amounts of stamina—it was exhausting to keep up with him.
Even though Elodie was physically younger, she couldn’t handle him.
Speak of the tiger and it appears.
Elodie waved toward Geno, who was visible in the distance.
She figured he was coming to ask her to play again today.
“Hey, you rat.”
“…What?”
She doubted her ears.
“Don’t get the wrong idea just because I hung out with you a bit. We’re not friends.”
Coming back from lunch, Elodie never imagined Geno would suddenly act like this.
Excuse me?
Did I time-travel again or something?
Why is Geno back to the way he was before?
Did he hold a grudge because he ran away when Grandpa was lecturing him?
She couldn’t understand the context of his sudden change and froze in place.
The boy who had been leaning against the wall straightened up and approached her threateningly.
“I already figured out what your real intentions are.”
From his eyes alone, it was clear he wasn’t joking.
Ah… he was like this in my previous life too.
Genobia Valkyrisen—the mad dog.
He could laugh and chat normally with people, then suddenly flip a switch and go berserk.
Memories of that resurfaced, and Elodie unconsciously stepped back.
Her hand tightened around the holy hammer she always carried.
If he acts like a rabid dog, I’ll immediately use physical force.
If he gets knocked out and wakes up, maybe he’ll return to his senses.
Elodie swallowed.
“You’re in league with the people who killed my mother and father, aren’t you?”
“…What?”
She heard something utterly absurd.
Me… in cahoots with the people who killed the former Duke and Duchess Valkyrisen?
Lost at age three, lived as a field mouse in the Bluewood family for two years—but that was just a cover, and I’m actually backed by some massive dark conspiracy?
As if.
Elodie’s gaze turned icy.
That was when Geno suddenly grabbed her by the collar.
“Ugh…!”
“What, did I hit the mark?”
The mark, my foot. It was so ridiculous she didn’t even know how to react.
In the first place, she’d heard that his parents’ deaths were an accident.
“Being smarter than me at five years old was suspicious enough. You knew complicated things like law—and you used them cleverly, too…”
“……”
“You’re like an assassin they raised, right? You approached me to exploit my weaknesses, to gain my trust.”
Elodie couldn’t stop her expression from souring.
This idiot couldn’t even remember the rules of his own territory, and now that she’d left him alone, he was spinning baseless delusions.
Did he secretly steal alcohol or something?
Forget it—just knock him out!
Elodie squeezed her eyes shut, tightened her grip on the hammer, and was about to swing—
“Genobia!”
Edmund rushed in after hearing the commotion, grabbing Geno’s arm as if he were about to break it.
“Ghk!”
The boy groaned and released Elodie’s collar.
In an instant, the situation reversed, and it was Geno whose collar was seized.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Have you actually lost your mind?”
“Stay out of it, hyung!”
“This has crossed the line. This isn’t something we can just settle between ourselves.”
After restraining the situation, Edmund seemed intent on calling Aizen and having him decide Geno’s punishment.
“Come quietly.”
He dragged Geno along so he couldn’t escape.
“That kid might be in league with the people who killed our parents!”
“What?”
“That makes sense! There’s no way Mom and Dad would just leave us so easily! They were killed by beastkin!”
“You… you’ve been thinking that all this time?”
Edmund murmured, his face drained of color.
Ignoring him, Geno pointed at Elodie and shouted.
“You knew it wasn’t an accident. You knew that letting animals into the household indiscriminately led to that outcome.”
“Genobia, watch your mouth—”
“And among all the beastkin, she’s the most suspicious! Don’t you see how she’s infiltrated Valkyrisen using the Ratson family’s power and seized the center of authority?”
“I don’t see it at all. What kind of nonsense are you seriously spouting?”
“You threatened a child for that? Just your delusions?”
“It could be connected to our parents’ killer! Maybe when that rat disappeared, she was kidnapped by them and raised as a full-fledged spy—”
“Hah. I won’t listen to this.”
What happened to him?
Edmund suppressed his anger, looking down at his brother with worry.
Geno was the kind of idiot who’d draw his sword before thinking, whenever his emotions were hurt.
“Who told you that?”
“I thought of it myself.”
“No. That wasn’t your thought.”
“You think I’m too stupid to think on my own?”
“You’ve always been bright and positive, someone who sees the world beautifully. You’re not capable of such twisted thinking.”
Edmund was politely saying that his brain was too clean to handle complex thoughts.
At this unexpected compliment-not-compliment, Geno faltered mid-rampage.
“…Anyway, it couldn’t have been an accident.”
“It was an accident.”
“No, it was intentional.”
“It was an accident. Now… stop.”
Each time Edmund said the word accident, he unconsciously touched his neck.
Like someone with a bone stuck in his throat, struggling even to speak.
From the moment Geno claimed beastkin were the culprits, Edmund had worn that expression.
Trying desperately to maintain his composure.
Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Elodie stepped between them.
“Geno, shtop. I unnerstand, so lish sleep firt an’ talk again later.
(Geno, stop. I get it, so let’s sleep first and talk again later.)”
She thought that after a nap, he’d at least be more sane than this.
But instead, Geno exploded even harder, like a colt whose tail had been stepped on.
“You think I’ll let you run away? Hey, I’m finishing this today—!”
As he thrashed and reached for Elodie, Edmund twisted one arm behind his back and slammed him against the wall.
“Aaagh!”
“Genobia. I told you to stop.”
With his expression wiped completely blank, Edmund brushed his disheveled bangs back.
“Stop cornering an innocent child. How much longer do you expect me to tolerate you?”
“No matter how much you say it was an accident, I won’t believe it…”
“Fine. You’re right. It wasn’t an accident—so stop.”
“…What?”
“If you insist on finding someone to blame, then it wasn’t beastkin.”
Edmund shut his eyes tightly, like swallowing poison, then returned to a neutral expression.
“It was me.”
Geno froze.
The shock was so great that he couldn’t even continue acting insane.
Elodie, still clutching her holy hammer, froze as well.
“…So stop.”
