Suspicious Thoughts
The sound of cracking bones is the symbol of mercy.
For the manager who failed to properly protect the nobles, even this is too kind.
He could have torn off their limbs with nothing but a glance, yet he stopped at slapping them across the face.
The next morning, the moment Katrin heard the fire alarm, she boarded the train without a second thought.
She refused to believe the official report.
Naturally, she had to listen to the trembling site managers first.
Even though the injuries were already done, the supervisors had done their best.
After all, in a gas-leaking fire, cutting off the gas supply had to be the top priority.
Then everyone fled through the escape route the cursed Aura-band had opened.
After hearing the full story, Katrin finally found a reason to show mercy.
The first thing she did was step into the headmaster’s office, where the arrogant nobles were loudly complaining.
It felt like reading a book with the hidden meaning “Why the hell are you still alive?” beneath the raised voices.
Even the highborn young lords couldn’t voice an objection and only listened politely.
Any commoner noble would have been ignored, but in a high noble house, only the lowest trash ever attend the academy.
Sitting in the chair beside Katrin in the corridor outside the headmaster’s office, lowering his voice, was the crown prince himself.
A filthy little rat like this is supposed to be the crown prince from the first impression?
If he hadn’t started with “I know a lot,” she would have gotten angry right away.
Moritz spat out a very long story about Gerhardt’s achievements.
Only after rambling all the way to the cafeteria door did the little rat finally calm down.
“My father couldn’t come, so it’s a shame. Ah, Grand Duchess—”
“Please be quiet.”
Even the last line was this shabby.
Katrin’s nerves were on edge as she spread her notebook on her lap and scribbled furiously.
Because the scarf the distraction had carelessly draped over the notebook now lay right on top of it.
Katrin could have figured out the truth of this terror earlier than the investigators.
The rose pattern engraved on the burned scarf sent her fingers flying at lightning speed.
“Charter Party…”
Hubert? You?
There was no reason for such blatant behavior, but… damn it.
The moment the name left her mouth, Moritz shrank his shoulders.
The question “Why did that ominous name come up?” was too stupid to even say.
Did the ragtag gang of lowlives need any reason to attack nobles?
The major nobles wouldn’t even waste breath on such nonsense.
So the only meaningful question for Moritz was “Did the Grand Duke Elise not come?”
“No.”
The words cut like a knife, and murmurs of “I already told you everything, why are you still doing this?” clung to them.
They were meaningless.
Katrin had bigger priorities: how to handle the Charter Party.
In noble language, the Charter Party could be translated as “bandits.”
Even Hubert himself didn’t call his own subordinates bandits.
Why had Hubert suddenly committed such an amateur terror?
If the evidence was right in front of you, anyone would have the opposite reaction.
If he truly meant to target the nobles, a knife fight should have started by now.
But this academy was unnaturally quiet.
So the other possibility was a careless mistake or accident.
Even something Moritz could have spotted, but it was the only thing that made sense right now.
While Katrin’s mind raced, the major nobles in the headmaster’s office finally ran out of old anger.
To put it plainly, the major-noble children who came to the academy were defective goods who should have been killed.
So scolding words like “You should have done better” came flying out for the injured.
The fact that the worst defect was her own brother was something Katrin had to ignore.
‘Why did she protect Chris?’
Since Moritz had no reason to lie, this was the only question left.
‘If you keep doing this, it really looks like you’re trying to do better.’
The thought flashed: even abandoning the lowlives would have been an attempt at noble behavior.
Why is she being so weird about it? In the end, Ella was right—protecting her nephew—
The headmaster’s door opened, and Moritz let out a loud “Kyaaa, Grand Duchess Katrin?”
At least it was loud enough to silence Katrin’s suspicions for now.
It hurts.
A pain like gnawing bones crawls down the shoulder.
With a revolting smell, it is torn, ripped, and separated.
I don’t even know if I’m still alive.
At least the nightmare was over, but all I can feel is that it hurts.
Screaming.
Is Christina okay?
Even while dying from pain, her name came to mind first.
The damn Status Window—if it hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have protected Christina—
Clunk.
I am looking down at my own corpse. Floating in mid-air.
Everything froze into a picture, and only the corpse’s mouth moved to speak.
“Hey, landlord.”
The voice of the ghost I saw yesterday. Park Gyeong-tae, right?
It’s weird that the voice coming out of my own mouth isn’t my own.
“It hurts, right? I feel the same.”
Of course, wrapped in those bandages, it would hurt.
“It hurts like hell. There are no cars in this world, but it’s burning, so my body is wrecked.”
I didn’t even say it, but you understood right away. Thinking is hard for you.
“Think carefully. I’m listening to everything you’re saying.”
Ugh.
[Name: Gerhardt Rosa von Jethalungi]
[Health Status: 67% (2nd-degree burn)]
[Current State: Resting]
The Status Window appeared again right in front of me.
It can express the healing process of my own body like this.
I don’t know exactly how injured I am, but it’s healing, so it must be working.
“Focus, landlord. The ghost in your head is giving you good information.”
Don’t boast. A ghost like you.
“Ghost… yeah, but let’s talk nicely.”
Crying won’t help.
The Status Window, which had been complaining, suddenly popped up a new event window.
An assassination attempt on Moritz. I don’t need to know, but…
“I’ve been analyzing my play information since I came to this world? The first change has already started.”
What kind of nonsense is that, Gyeong-tae?
“It came out too early. Even if it was early, it’s still 4 years later, and it only triggers at the start with Moritz.”
There was a change, huh. But why mention it now?
“As I said last time, the election that happens 8 years later is when the game starts.”
Was that right? Yeah, that’s right.
A new event window titled [Imperial Election] popped up.
It’s not 8 years later. It’s 2 years?
“Originally, even if you weren’t there for the assassination attempt and Christina hadn’t been there, it still happened.”
There was no reason for me to be swept up, but was that the cause of the change?
“It’s weird, but since it actually changed, there’s no helping it.”
That help is too vague. Are you really that capable?
“Focus. Since the ghost is in your body, I have to help your play right now.”
What if I die, do you disappear too?
No answer. It must be the correct answer.
“Get rid of the ominous talk. Originally, 8 years later, the player’s chosen person becomes emperor and the game starts.”
So here I am?
“So listen carefully. The time left for us is at most 2 years. It could be shortened even more.”
It’s easy to shorten. If the old man I left in charge dies—
“He’s not dead yet. So use your position as Grand Duke successor to the fullest for the next 2 years!”
It means snatching my throne. I know.
Will you stop talking, ghost?
“Let’s go smoothly. Thanks to the chip in your brain, it’s easy to connect— damn! Time limit!”
Time limit?
The health status value on the Status Window changed.
The moment it reached 75%, my vision changed along with that whiny mouth.
I can only talk properly with Gyeong-tae while unconscious. Got it—
2:26 PM. Gerhardt recovered from unconsciousness.
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Afternoon 2:26. Gerhardt recovered from unconsciousness.
Burn victims are only allowed visitors between 2 PM and 30 minutes because of infection risk.
Today’s visitor is Christina again.
Katrin is busy with other things, and Elise can’t easily leave her duchy.
In the end, because Christina has no one else, she comes.
Visiting has become Christina’s daily routine.
Even today, the one-eyed girl is holding her lord’s hand at his side.
Such feelings I had never experienced in Christina’s short life.
A child who has learned nothing doesn’t know what to do.
She sits crying until she gets tired and falls asleep.
A child’s life is long and filled with painful suffering.
The orphans around her were treated as society’s filth and really became that way.
All she knew was that to survive, you had to run away.
Those who die without pain are the street filth.
Instead, most orphans survived stubbornly.
Only the cleaner would ever try to clean up filth, so if the cleaner comes, the riot comes too.
“Hey, look at this! It’s cuter than I thought.”
“You have that kind of taste?”
“No? I collect dolls. This one is pretty good.”
Shoulders that could come all the way to the garbage dump are basically carrying plagues.
If you meet them for the first time by bad luck, they grab you by the neck.
Those icy fingers that aim for the eyes climb up the neck and reach the cheek. It gives me the creeps.
After fighting off their hands for dozens of minutes, I escaped even though half the world was gone.
Every time they come to harvest, the orphans disappear.
The child’s whole body hurts like the blood flowing from the lost eye.
“Dad…” escapes from the hungry mouth.
I misstepped.
The first noble who saw me lifted the bony child up while saying “Hmph, you said ‘dad’?”
The thin child couldn’t escape this time.
Tortured by the “father” act, ignoring the pitying eyes of the grand duchess, the empty stomach got filled.
But when I would die was unknown.
Nobles could kill a child anytime. Even the burly ones could.
The days that were worse than death kept squeezing the child’s neck.
A crack finally appeared in that firm noose.
To the child who was waiting for merciful death, help came.
A noble who carried the child out of danger was something I never imagined.
And now there is a human who helped the child for the first time.
The one who gave the child a name, took care of all the things that didn’t need to be taken, and was the first helper.
And that noble… calmly said “Yeah, what’s your name, Christina?”
Christina woke from sleep. Gerhardt moved his painful arm to stroke her head.
“Yeah, what’s your name, Christina?”
The exact same words.
Words enough to deepen the crack in the child’s broken world.
As much as the hand that took half the world, the hand that supports the remaining half.
“Father…”
Something comes out again under the bandages.
The child is finally not alone.
And will never be alone again.
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Has received the name Christina and has been protected by the Grand Duke Gerhardt.