Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Dad is Suspicious
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Me, Leonhardt, Asid, and the muscle maid sisters returned in grand style. I was already buzzing with excitement, dying to brag about my perfect test score.
But that’s when the trouble started.
“Wh-What are you all doing?”
No one was paying any attention to me!
The castle maids, who usually cooed and fussed over me whenever I showed up, were sprawled out like zombies.
“...Ung?”
In times like these, I had to roll my little feet to snap them out of it.
Thud, thud. At the small sound, the maids cracked their eyes open and looked my way.
“Sisters!”
“G-Gasp!”
“Lady Sien!”
They stared at me like they’d seen a ghost.
Pale as sheets, with sticky drool crusted at the corners of their mouths.
“What are you doing sitting here?”
“W-Well...”
One of the maids staggered to her feet.
I tilted my head.
Instead of answering what they were doing, she hesitated and said.
“G-Gasp. You’re back sooner than we thought. Please, come in and have dinner. You must be hungry?”
“Ung? Should I?”
Just then, Leonhardt, who’d been walking a step ahead of me, stopped and turned back with heavy footsteps.
“Nightcap.”
“Ung?”
“...Let’s eat quickly.”
Even Leonhardt’s attitude was suspicious.
‘Why’s he acting like that? Like he saw something scary?’
I cocked my head, but neither the maids nor Leonhardt said a word. With suspicion piling up inside me, I muttered softly.
“Then let’s go eat! Sisters, don’t just sit in the hallway—get up!”
“Y-Yes...”
I glanced back to check their pale faces, but nothing seemed off. Pushing down my uneasy feeling, I had dinner.
Everything was just like usual.
Except for the fact that Dad, who I wanted to show my perfect test paper to, had vanished somewhere.
***
Dinner ended, and night had fallen deep.
At that hour, in the basement of the mansion where Sien stayed, the interrogation of an assassin was underway.
“The masterminds are the Pope and the Saintess, right?”
The assassin’s mouth was stuffed with Matthias’s bitten-off cheek. It was a device to stop him from biting his tongue and killing himself.
“G-Guh...!”
This assassin had climbed onto Sien’s carriage, intent on killing her. If he’d acted just a little sooner, Sien might have died. The thought sent a chill through him.
“Even after joining the Path of Light, why do they keep trying to kill my daughter?”
“That’s...”
The assassin coughed up blood. But Matthias just stared at him silently and said.
“Say as much as you can.”
“K-Knife...”
The tip of Matthias’s blade drew closer to his flesh. Even a spy had his fears, and this one had said he was tortured with knives.
He coughed and opened his mouth.
“We’re... trying to save...”
At Matthias’s words, the spy bit his lip hard.
“I-I can’t say. My body already has—”
Matthias continued in a bored tone.
“A suicide bomb planted by the temple’s leadership, right?”
“Ku-Kuh!”
“If I’m right, blink. My daughter Sien has a secret only the temple knows. Right? And she’s a huge threat to the temple’s existence. Am I correct?”
“...”
For a split second, the assassin’s eyelashes fluttered wildly before closing forever.
Matthias held a hand under the assassin’s nose.
He was already dead.
He’d anticipated this level of silencing ahead of time, so he wasn’t fazed.
Spies always came with safety measures.
“Then, next.”
It didn’t matter. He’d gotten the answers he wanted, so he could move on.
He whispered coldly to another assassin rolling on the floor.
“Who’s pulling your strings? Speak.”
“Can’t... talk...”
This one had infiltrated the academy to slit Sien’s throat. They were all backed by different forces. He’d somehow escaped and made it inside the Mirmod mansion.
“Then I’ll say it for you.”
Fear crept over the surviving assassin’s face.
He knew Matthias Mirmod’s infamy better than anyone.
Because he was...
“You’re trash from our family, aren’t you?”
As a Mirmod, he knew all too well about Matthias Mirmod’s atrocities.
The backers began spilling from Matthias’s mouth, one by one.
“The mastermind is the Elder Council Chairman, and you’re one of his lackeys. Still eyeing the duke’s heir position, huh? But do you think it’ll go your way?”
Matthias sneered and raised his sword. It was time to mercilessly punish these audacious fools who’d dared target his daughter’s life.
In an instant, the chillingly sharp blade slashed across the assassin’s throat.
***
The hallway lamps were all extinguished, and the moon was trapped behind thick clouds in pitch-black night.
Lying alone in bed, I quietly sat up.
Then I toddled over to the door. Won’t the muscle maid sisters guarding it stop me? No way—they were out like lights.
Because...
“Zzz...”
...the muscle maid sisters were snoring away, dead tired.
Even so, they might wake up, so I held my breath carefully and slipped outside.
‘Something’s off. I need to investigate. What happened while we were away?’
No matter how I thought about it, the maids’ behavior earlier was way too suspicious.
Above all, Dad still hadn’t shown up, and that worried me.
I scanned the quiet—no, downright eerie and shadowed mansion, searching for anything suspicious.
‘The sisters were all worked up around here earlier, which was kinda fishy.’
I headed down the hallway, descending the landing step by step.
That’s when I spotted dimly lit stairs leading underground. They said it was a storage room, a dusty pit no one had bothered with in years.
And for some reason, right then, it felt like something important I didn’t know about was happening down there.
I scurried toward the light and froze at the sight of Dad’s loyal lackeys standing guard like statues in front of the storage room.
“Uncles!”
At my voice, one of the retainers jumped. His soft heart showed through, but the shadows on his face made him look even more menacing.
“What are you uncles doing there?”
“Y-Yes?”
I stood on tiptoe and peered.
Something was definitely behind that door.
I blinked, then my eyes widened at the silhouette emerging from outside the door.
“Huh? It’s Dad!”
I couldn’t miss my dad’s silhouette. Just then, the door started closing fast.
“L-Lady Sien!”
“Open the door!”
They flailed like eels trying to catch me as I slipped past, stomping their feet.
‘Maybe they’re too soft-hearted?’
Either way, it worked in my favor.
Sure enough, Dad was too soft-hearted himself and seemed worried I’d get my fingers caught in the door.
Instead of slamming it shut, he stepped out quickly and banged the storage door closed.
“Dad! What’s in there? What were you doing? I got a perfect score on my test tod—”
I’d glimpsed him—he looked fine. So I was about to childishly brag about my perfect paper...
But Dad was holding a dagger. My eyes went wide as I stared at his blade.
“Wh-What’s that knife?”
“Hm?”
“That’s a knife, isn’t it?”
“Uh, huh?”
I stepped forward quickly. Dad stood there, eyes shaky and fixed on me, unable to hide the knife behind his back.
I ran right up to him and stood in front of the blade.
Finally snapping out of it, Dad fumbled to sheath it, but I was faster.
“It smells like blood! There’s blood on the knife!”
Dad, face drained of color, frantically waved his hands.
“Huh? No way. It’s ketchup, ketchup!”
“It’s not ketchup!”
I stood on tiptoe and glared at the tip of Dad’s sword.
Right on cue, wind blew through the open window gap. A fishy stench hit my nose. I narrowed my eyes and stared at Dad.
“Dad, what did you do?”
Dad’s face hardened coldly. Heart pounding, I stared right at him. His pupils shook violently.
“What did you do to get blood on you?”
“That’s...”
Dad’s eyes went blank for a moment. He was definitely hiding something. Like a sharpshooter taking careful aim, I pressed him.
“Hm? Dad. Tell me honestly. What is it?”
Even as I said it, unease crept over me for some reason.
‘Did I tell him to be the villain, and he went overboard? No way, but... are there bad guys’ bodies piled up in that storage room?’
My imagination ran wild with absurd scenarios. I shook off the bizarre clouds forming in my head and stared straight at Dad.
“To be honest...”
Dad inhaled and exhaled deeply. His chest rose and fell sharply. He looked like he was struggling to find the right words.
Right then, the click of heels echoed from afar.
“...This fellow knows what’s inside.”
It was someone I’d never seen before.
Blond with blue eyes, scarred face, eyepatch over one eye—he looked just like Captain Hook.
Too dark to see clearly, but definitely a villainous face.
‘Huh? That face looks familiar...’
“That’s Grand Duke Sebastian. Your father’s friend. Nice to meet you, Sien.”
Right, the one from [Melodia’s Life]—not a huge role, but seen as a threat to the crown prince’s position, the emperor’s other son. Grand Duke Sebastian!
“Hello!”
Anyway, since he was Dad’s friend, he probably wasn’t some grand villain.
‘He barely had any storyline in the original...’
I let my guard down, bowed politely, and greeted him. A smile tugged at his lips. Now it was time for my burning question.
“But, Your Grace!”
“Hm?”
“You said you know what’s in there. What is it?”
“You really want to know?”
Dad looked like the blood had drained from him. I glanced at Dad, then nodded vigorously.
“Yes!”
“Then I’ll show you. Want to open the storage door?”
“Sebastian!”
Dad shouted loudly and blocked the door. But in his panic, he’d forgotten how small I was.
He couldn’t grab me properly, and I flung the storage door open.
“Huh...?”
Inside the storage room was something I never could have imagined.
Behind me, I heard Dad swallow hard and Grand Duke Sebastian chuckle softly.