Karma's Sweet Return
I had burned an entire house to the ground.
Whether it was a nuisance to the city, a nuisance to the house owner, or a nuisance to the passersby, it didn't matter anymore.
The moment I met Elena, I had decided to punish her thoroughly for crossing the city. The instant I stepped into the inn I had already warned her about...
“Ah, Master. You're here…….”
“……Bro.”
The scene that greeted me was far from what I had expected.
I froze for a split second, stunned, as Elena cautiously rose from the floor.
And with a completely composed expression, she offered me an apology.
“I'm sorry, Master. I tried my best not to cause any trouble. It was just… when I was walking by, some mercenaries suddenly started picking a fight. Hehe……”
“……Mercenaries?”
I frowned slightly, but I immediately understood Elena's intentions.
She subtly glanced at Lottie with her eyes.
Lottie and I had been separated for a while, and the fight with the mercenaries had somehow been disguised as a collision with the Sephirot.
I ignored Lottie's concerned gaze for a moment… and then nodded.
“Were there problems? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Elena had come back battered and exhausted, yet she had deliberately made excuses to protect me.
I couldn't ignore that effort.
Especially when I didn't want Lottie to know even one thing about the Sephirot.
At the same time that Elena looked proud, I felt a strange embarrassment as I picked up the whip I had brought with me.
“Ahem.”
I spread my mana as naturally as possible, and Elena's expression subtly darkened as if she was regretting the spreading aura of the whip…
Right now, it was the time to give rewards, not punishments.
At the very least, some praise and encouragement.
I pulled the chair up to the bedside and gently tapped Elena's head.
“You worked hard. I don't know exactly what happened, but you handled it well, didn't you?”
“……Ah.”
Her cheeks flushed as she secretly enjoyed the words.
“Hehe…… No, it's nothing special.”
“……”
It wasn't exactly “nothing special,” but it was clearly on a larger scale than I had anticipated.
The fact that she had said “mercenaries” meant… there had been other rats besides the one I had noticed, inside that building.
Lottie had managed to clean it all up before I noticed, but her face had been off. It must have been quite exhausting.
And if she had to burn the entire building down to raise the firepower to that level, it was even more so.
“Elena must have struggled a lot.”
6th Circle, the highest rank, and a fire-type combat mage specialized in fighting lower circles.
That was Elena.
The fact that she had been pushed to the brink of mana exhaustion meant the Sephirot had poured quite a bit of effort into her.
Well…… it was probably not a large-scale operation, but I imagined one of the Wings had invested a considerable number of subordinates.
“I wonder which one it was. Probably.”
I had never heard of any Wings around Haendel or the academy.
“They said even the whores couldn't be used as medicine anymore.”
I clicked my tongue as I recalled the Wing I had once cooperated with—Vina.
Looking back, it was a problem that I hadn't prepared any separate contact method in advance.
It would have been nice if there had been at least some window to ask when this happened.
Still, since I could contact her separately, I should ask then.
“She had said she would show her face by the end of this month……”
It was supposed to be a trade where I received high-quality information in exchange for my strength.
That was the original deal, wasn't it?
I should gather all the information beforehand.
Just as I was seriously pondering the Sephirot and the Wings…
“Oppa.”
At that moment, Lottie spoke up.
She had been gently holding Elena's limp hand, then turned to me and said,
“I'll go upstairs for a bit. I was worried about her condition.”
“……Huh?”
“I'll get some warm stew from the innkeeper. You two talk.”
And with that, Charlotte stood up abruptly.
Before I could even respond, she opened the door and headed down to the first floor.
“……”
“……”
I blinked blankly as we watched Lottie's back, and Elena and I looked at each other at the same time.
I asked, full of curiosity.
“……Why did Lottie suddenly act like that?”
“Uh, well……”
Her reaction was naturally odd.
That Lottie, who had been cold even to me and the other servants, showed such devotion to another person?
She had always been indifferent to me, after all.
Though she did seem to like Elena well enough at the start.
Especially after I sent Elena to help Lottie on the night the mansion burned down. I understood the kindness, but was she really that worried?
“It's just a guess, but……”
Just as I was thinking that, Elena cautiously spoke up with her own thoughts.
“I think Lady Charlotte feels some sense of responsibility toward me.”
A somewhat vague, but probably accurate, one-line summary.
“Responsibility……?”
I tilted my head, not fully understanding.
Was there really something for Lottie to feel responsible about?
Elena scratched her cheek in embarrassment, clearly thinking the same.
“To be exact, it's not really responsibility for this incident. It's responsibility for me.”
“What?”
“I, I just guessed based on Lady Charlotte's reaction. Maybe she wants to call me 'sister' so much that she's treating me as her little brother……”
“……Ah.”
I understood that much.
It was a reasonable conclusion.
Indeed, Lottie seemed serious about the term “sister.”
Unfortunately, as soon as Lottie disappeared, the title reverted to “Lady,” so Elena still seemed to be having a hard time with her.
“In reality, when I returned completely exhausted, she scolded me thoroughly. And, um, she even went to check the building I had burned.”
“Really?”
“Yes…… If I hadn't stopped her, she might have gone looking for those nonexistent mercenaries and torn them apart.”
Elena shivered as she said that, as if recalling something terrifying.
Although I didn't know the full extent of Lottie's ruthless side, I could understand her reaction.
I tapped Elena's head once more as a sign that I had worked hard.
Lottie would get angry if treated like a child, but Elena smiled happily as if such contact was enough for her.
“……Don't worry about me, Master.”
But her expression soon became serious again.
Elena patted her own chest confidently and reported,
“The things that wouldn't be satisfied even if I ripped the Sephirot to shreds have all been dealt with. There won't be any trouble for a while.”
“……Good. You worked hard, Elena.”
“Don't say it like that. Hehe.”
That's when it happened.
Krunch!
“I'm back.”
Lottie returned, slamming the door open.
She was carefully holding a tray with a bowl of stew and a spoon.
And she approached with light steps, sat down in front of Elena again.
“Here, Elena. Say ‘ah.’ Say ‘ah.’”
She scooped some stew and brought the spoon to Elena's lips.
As expected, Elena's expression, which had only been tired, turned subtle.
“……Um, sister? I'm fine. I can eat the stew by myself.”
Elena cautiously protested, but
“Elena.”
“Yes, yes, sister.”
“Ah.”
“……”
Lottie was firm.
Her eyes sparkling brightly, she pushed the spoon deeper in, clearly wanting to do this.
Truly coercive! Elena looked at me with a sad face, but there wasn't much I could do.
“Ahem…… Then both of you rest first. There's still time until the entrance ceremony. How about we go exploring the city together tomorrow?”
I just needed an excuse to get out of this awkward space.
After all, we had booked two rooms.
Completely ignoring Elena's resentful gaze, I was about to leave the room when
“Isaac.”
Feeding me the stew, Lottie called my name.
“……”
?
And I raised an eyebrow.
Was she calling my name now?
Confused, I turned around.
But Lottie was still leisurely caring for Elena and didn't meet my eyes.
She simply spoke in a flat tone.
“You smell like another woman on your body.”
“……”
“The scent on your clothes seems to have been erased with magic, but it's not perfect. And you even tried to destroy the evidence……”
“……Lottie.”
I swallowed dryly and called her name, and she finally turned to me.
Smirk!
An endlessly pure, bright, and beautiful smile.
Lottie's lips, the color of soft pink, moved.
“Don't lock the door. Wait quietly.”
“……”
“You've died today.”
Instinctively, I signaled to Elena, but she evasively avoided my gaze as if returning what she had received.
My younger sister, exuding subtle killing intent toward me, and my subordinate who ignored my desperate pleas.
I suddenly wanted to cry.
Save me.