Chapter 003
When Lisa was locked in the solitary cell.
I had knelt before Bert and begged him.
I told him I would do whatever he commanded, so please, just let Lisa out.
I told him I would truly do anything.
At that time, Bert didn’t even blink an eye.
“It’s only natural for you to listen to me, yet you’re acting like that’s some kind of favor?”
His words were accompanied by insults.
That was why.
“Stop, stop it! U-ugh, aaaaaagh!”
Even as Bert’s screams continued, I didn’t stop my arms.
The sound was quite rhythmic, so it surely hurt, but it wouldn’t be greater than the pain Lisa and I had endured in the past.
“Heu, hue-e-e-eng—!”
Finally, at the moment Bert burst into tears.
The bedroom door burst open along with the sound of approaching footsteps.
“What do you think you are doing right now?”
At the voice booming over our heads, both Bert and I flinched and froze.
Standing at the door was the current Duke Agnito—Bert’s father.
‘And he’s also my maternal uncle.’
Behind him, several nobles who had been visiting the duchy were gathered.
“F-Father!”
Bert scrambled up from the floor and rushed toward the Duke.
“Hanisha hit me!”
“…She hit you?”
“Yes! I heard she was sick and came to visit, but she hit me. Look here, look at this lump forming!”
The reason I was hurting was because Bert had pushed me.
Yet he conveniently left that part out.
I wanted to hit him more, and my grip on the bread tightened.
However, I remained silent. I knew the situation that would follow.
“…It seems there was some sort of misunderstanding. Stop your crying now.”
“What? Father, what do you mean by that?”
Bert blinked as if he couldn’t believe Duke Agnito’s words.
“W-Well, as one lives, isn’t it common to have small spats?”
“They are children who grew up like real siblings, after all. Ha ha… My children were the same.”
The nobles standing in the back also began to trail off.
The Duke was a man who took his son’s side in any situation. It was only natural that Bert’s eyes nearly rolled back in shock.
“I’m telling you Hanisha hit me! Not only that, she beat me mercilessly with the bread I gave her!”
With that, Bert glared at me.
“Hanisha, say it yourself! You did it, didn’t you!”
“Bert, I told you to stop—!”
It was then.
“What is going on here?”
A low voice drifted in from behind them.
It was priests dressed in white clerical robes.
‘People who absolutely loathe me.’
It was because the line of Saints had been severed when I was born. They might even hate me more than the people of Agnito did.
“Priest…!”
And Bert knew that fact very well.
“On this precious day, I came to visit Hanisha after hearing she was unwell. But far from being grateful, Hanisha suddenly assaulted me.”
The whining stopped instantly as Bert began to appeal with a certain level of formality.
The High Priest’s eyes narrowed.
“You are saying Lady Hanisha assaulted the Young Lord?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“With what?”
“With that bread. I brought it as a get-well gift, and she used it to…!”
“You gave her such hard bread as a get-well gift?”
“…!”
Bert’s mouth, which had been twisted in a sob, clamped shut.
‘Idiot. I wasn’t staying quiet for nothing.’
Bert had clearly said this earlier:
“Today happens to be a special day. I snuck this out for you without the adults knowing.”
The “special day” he mentioned referred to the ‘Day of Mercy.’
The ‘Day of Mercy’ was a day when the Temple opened its granaries and gave food to the children on the streets.
This was because the Temple held life, especially the lives of children, as sacred.
‘Something about the message from God being that children should not be killed no matter what, or something like that.’
That was the reason the Agnitonians, who hated me enough to kill me, only neglected me without causing further physical harm.
In any case, because of that, orphans without parents naturally fell under the Temple’s jurisdiction, and Agnito, who was on friendly terms with the Temple, managed the orphans in a sponsorship capacity until they became adults. Though it was mostly for show, they had to act mercifully to maintain the prestige of both the Temple and the family.
But now, Bert, the heir of Agnito, had given hard bread to his cousin whose head was wrapped in bandages. Bread that was burnt black on one side, at that.
They knew better than anyone what this implied.
Now was the chance.
I hurriedly waved my hands.
“N-No. Bert did nothing wrong. It’s just that I tried to pick up the bread that fell on the floor and accidentally struck Bert.”
I spoke with a dejected face.
“This is bread that even the children on the streets can’t easily eat. He shared something so precious with me, and I accidentally dropped it. It’s all my fault…”
While saying this, I subtly let them know that my usual meals were not in good condition.
No matter how much a child might deserve criticism, seeing such a situation with their own eyes would naturally evoke human sympathy.
“To think such a thing happened on the Day of Mercy, of all days…”
“Ahem, it certainly isn’t a good look.”
As expected, someone let out a dry cough of discomfort.
“No! You, you did it! I only gave you the bread…!”
Bert’s arrogant expression grew increasingly pale.
“It’s true! She hit me!”
“Enough!”
Duke Agnito quickly cut Bert off.
The surroundings fell silent in an instant.
He forced a smile and turned toward the priests.
“It seems there has been a misunderstanding. We shouldn’t stay here; let’s go elsewhere to talk…”
“Now that I think about it, I briefly forgot our purpose.”
“Pardon?”
“Did we not come to verify the records of the donations we’ve provided and to see the children sponsored by Agnito?”
The High Priest’s face was stiff as he spoke.
To them, the name of God was both a shield and a banner. Being able to act under that name was an honor beyond compare.
But at this moment, by me being revealed before people, the teachings of God had been tarnished.
The teaching that children must be well-protected no matter what.
And in Agnito, of all places—a family that maintained such close ties with them.
‘Naturally, they’ll try to hush this up somehow.’
Resisting here would be no different from declaring enmity with the Temple.
“…Let us move elsewhere.”
Finally, Duke Agnito spoke in a grim voice. As the priests followed and passed them first, the nobles also withdrew with awkward smiles.
Once everyone had left, the Duke glared at Bert.
“Bert, you are grounded for the next week. Do not expect to take a single step outside the mansion.”
“What? B-but I have a sparring match tomorrow with the other young lords…”
“If you want a sword that badly, I will assign you a suitable opponent. Will that suffice?”
“…!”
Bert’s face turned pale instantly. It meant corporal punishment.
The nanny, who had been watching the mood, took Bert and left the room.
Duke Agnito, clicking his tongue, glanced at me before leaving. I hunched my body, pretending not to know what to do.
“Useless thing.”
“…”
“To cause such an accident on such an important day, of all times?”
“…”
“How wonderful it would be if you were even half as good as your sister, Esther… Tsk tsk.”
Even as he spoke, the Duke clicked his tongue again and left the room, his anger seemingly rising.
Soon, the door closed. I slowly straightened my hunched body.
Normally, I would have been deeply hurt by those words, but my heart didn’t ache in the slightest.
‘Just barking nonsense, I can just think of it that way.’
I was snorting inwardly and turning around when…
“…”
I found Lisa standing there, frozen in shock.
‘Ah, right…’
From Lisa’s perspective, I was a child who couldn’t even speak properly until yesterday…
The Agnitonians had mistreated me every time, and I had always kept my mouth shut.
It was to the point where several people in the family even thought I was developmentally delayed.
At least I spoke well when I was with Lisa, but whenever I met people from the family, my body froze up.
But then I suddenly headbutted Bert, and on top of that, I explained the situation logically in front of the adults. It was only natural for Lisa to be surprised.
‘To… to get through this situation naturally…’
Glancing at her, I raised my hand to my forehead.
“Ah, my head…”
“Oh my goodness, My Lady!”
Lisa hurriedly supported me.
As expected, nothing beats faking an illness to smooth over a situation.
