Chapter 67
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 67
“Tu—Tulia. What on earth are you saying?”
Lilius cried out, his voice sounding as if he were on the verge of fainting.
“I tried to kill you? Me?! No matter how much you dislike me, to slander your own uncle like this! It truly breaks my heart!”
Lilius, shouting abominably, was even trembling his hands like a ‘truly wronged man.’
I was so exhausted I could barely speak a word properly, but right now, I had to clearly convey my intent and seize the initiative from Lilius.
Just as I was about to squeeze out every ounce of strength to continue speaking—
“The young lady’s words do have a point.”
From behind, I heard an elderly statesman—one of the Elders—speak up.
“Could he not have used the logic of ‘no one would dare harm her so openly in front of so many people’ in reverse to try and harm Lady Tulia?”
“Duke Ergan! Please watch your words!”
‘If it’s Duke Ergan, he’s the most senior of the Elders.’
I didn’t know why he was suddenly taking my side, but he certainly seemed wise, as expected of a seasoned statesman. He had said exactly what I was planning to say.
“Is there not a saying that to catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger’s den?”
Oh.
I was going to say that, too.
Thanks to Duke Ergan, I was able to conserve at least a tiny bit of my strength.
“Adel. Me. Over there.”
Since it was difficult to speak in long sentences, I mumbled the words, and Adel immediately instructed the servants to move me.
The spot where the knight had been standing just moments ago.
The spot where I had collapsed after being hit by the bolt ten minutes ago.
Several split apples lay scattered around. They looked like shattered hearts.
‘You’re really trying, aren’t you...’
With Adel’s support, I moved into the wheelchair. My thigh was nearly severed, making it impossible to stand.
Willpower.
Willpower.
Hold on, Tulia.
“You said... you think there’s something wrong with me?”
“Y-yes! You might not have seen it, but your uncle just hit the apple with perfect accuracy! I’m certain there must be a problem with the magic tool!”
Lilius said this, then added in a slightly lowered voice, “There are even rumors that your late mother... dabbled in black magic...”
At that, the previously quiet crowd began to buzz again. The difference from the earlier frivolous commotion was that now they were busy exchanging meaningful glances.
‘Ugh. That piece of work.’
Even if I tried to look at him favorably, I just couldn't. To think he’d try to turn Tulia into some kind of witch by linking her to her mother.
It was an open secret that Tulia’s mother had died while running away with a heretic priest. But black magic? How could he twist it and escalate it like that?
If he was smart, he was certainly smart in a wicked way. I suppose that’s how he, the youngest, was able to seize control of the internal affairs of this massive territory.
The Tulia from The Milk Bread—who was merely mean-spirited, naive, and stupid—could never have stood a chance against someone this clever.
Right.
That’s why.
As I watched Lilius, who was still hesitating and acting cautious, I looked toward the demonic nature hidden within him.
“Yes,” I answered clearly. “Then I’ll just have to be hit by the bow once more.”
“What are you saying?!”
The one who shouted just now was Adel. She seemed startled by her own outburst and immediately bowed her head deeply, as expected of a head maid.
Still, seeing Adel truly worry for me—for Tulia—made a corner of my cold, hardened heart feel warm.
‘Don’t worry.’
I sent a silent telepathic message to Adel while staring at Lilius. Perhaps because I was angry, the pain felt a bit more dull than before.
Meanwhile, Lilius seemed to have finished his calculations.
How did I know? Because he was shouting with a face full of horror.
“Tulia! How could I possibly shoot at you again?!”
Lilius’s eyes even welled up with tears as he looked at me.
‘They say all nobles have to be capable of a bit of acting.’
Did Lilius grow into such a performer because he was born into a high-ranking noble family?
“I could never shoot you! If you knew how much my heart broke earlier, you wouldn’t make such a terrifying request of your uncle again!”
Liar.
If I were to ask Lilius to shoot again, this time, he would hit me ‘on purpose.’
That would be more beneficial for him. Lilius had already shot me once. This incident had already grown too large. It had become a massive event that neither Lilius nor Nigella could resolve.
Countless nobles were watching. Not just one or two, but more than half of the vassals of the Grand Duchy. A number that even Lilius, or his brother Nigella Frezier, could not bribe.
When Grandfather returned, there would be a trial, an investigation, and punishment would be dealt one way or another.
‘And Lilius is a shrewd man.’
He might have even noticed that I was involved in this bow commotion to some extent.
‘Though that would be difficult to believe.’
How could a mere noble lady, and a fifteen-year-old at that, tamper with a magic tool?
Regardless, if Lilius had another chance to shoot, he would hit me without hesitation. This time, in the head. Or the heart. Somewhere that would definitely finish me off and send me to the afterlife.
Then he would lean into the narrative that there was a problem with the magic tool.
And if there was no problem? Lilius would still insist he was innocent. Even if the Mage Tower and all sorts of mages swarmed in and proved there were no defects, I would already be dead.
What use is innocence after death?
“Yes, Uncle Lilius.”
So, I smiled brightly. Or rather, I wasn’t sure if I was smiling properly. My dry lips were trembling, and a cold sweat broke out again.
“There’s someone else who will shoot me.”
“Wh-what?”
I looked behind Lilius. Someone who had been buried in the commotion and hadn't yet caught people's attention.
However, he was a remarkably handsome man who, once he caught your eye, would never let go. One of Corico’s male leads, and one of the Grand Duke’s biological grandsons.
One of Tulia’s twin brothers.
Leon Frezier had just run up, gasping for breath.
“It’ll be clear if Brother Leon shoots me.”
* * *
“It’ll be clear if Brother Leon shoots me.”
For a moment, Leon Frezier doubted his ears.
Yes. He had come running. He heard she’d been hit by a bow. No, if it were just a bow, it would be one thing, but that magic tool Tedric Frezier had been bragging about buying was practically a small ballista.
It was a weapon powerful enough to break the bones of a grown man, and he heard that Tulia Frezier—who was tiny by his standards—had been hit by it.
‘And it’s the second time.’
His older brother should have been with her. He couldn't see where his brother had gone. Was there a lady in this world who could be fine after being hit multiple times by arrows shot from a longbow? Even a sturdy knight several times larger than Tulia wouldn't be able to stand properly.
As proof, Tulia Frezier was sitting in a wheelchair, looking at him. No, she was looking at him while pointing him out.
Unlike usual, even the dark rims around her light green eyes seemed to have faded. To anyone’s eyes, Tulia Frezier was a critically ill patient. It seemed almost witch-like that she hadn't lost consciousness yet.
In short, she looked like she had gone mad. Unless she was truly insane, how could she tell him to shoot her? To fire the bow?
From what he heard, that bow—no, that magic tool—seemed to have a serious defect. After being hit like that, she wanted him to shoot her again?
“Um, Young Master Leon...”
A knight hesitantly approached him, holding the massive magic tool. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on him, but Leon Frezier didn't care in the slightest. He simply strode toward Tulia, who was sitting there like a corpse on the verge of death.
“Are you crazy?”
Tulia stared at him for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Just... hurry up and shoot.”
“You really have lost your mind, haven't you?”
“Or let that man shoot me. It’ll be great. You’ll get to see the corpse of the sister you hate so much right here.”
“What?”
“Brother Lisian will be so happy. Right? Because you wouldn't help me for a moment, because of that pathetic pride of yours... I’ll end up shot to death by Lilius.”
“...Wow.”
Did she have poison in her mouth? Why again? What was she so cynical about this time? Her lips were trembling, yet she spat out her vitriol without even pausing for breath.
That was why he hated her.
The pink hair. The light green eyes. Because she glared at him coldly while having the exact same appearance as that person he had seen when he was very young.
“Leon.”
That person had always looked at him with warm eyes.
“Leon, you have Lisian, so you know you’re not alone, right? Tulia is alone, so Mommy has to take her. Our poor Tulia. If I don’t take her, who will?”
Ah, there was another similarity. They both did whatever they set their minds to, no matter what. Just like that woman who had abandoned the twins and her family to run away with another man as if it were nothing.
Her pink bangs were disheveled and damp with sweat. Leon Frezier straightened his back from where he had leaned toward Tulia.
It was irritating. He had thought more than a thousand times that it would have been better if he had that hair color. He had thought more than ten thousand times that if he did, that woman wouldn't have abandoned him.
Leon Frezier strode back and glanced at Lilius, who was now looking at him with feigned affection.
He knew. He knew what was inside that man. What kind of snake of ambition and greed was coiled there.
“Did you comfort Tulia? To think of shooting that child again. She’s already badly hurt.”
Leon didn't answer. Even so, Lilius’s smile didn't fade in the slightest.
“She could be seriously injured. Rather than you, her brother, shooting, it would be better if I took up the bow again.”
It was just as he was speaking with a sigh, like an uncle who truly cherished his young niece and nephew.
“I’ll shoot.”
“...What?”
“Bring the bow.”
“Y-Young Master...”
“I said bring it!”
Leon Frezier roughly snatched the bow from the hesitating servant.