Revenge Lurks Beneath (1)
Rhea did not answer.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then decided it was actually a good thing.
Having Ceria at Riel’s side didn’t sit well with her right now.
And Claudia constantly talking about marrying him didn’t either.
“Why? What’s wrong with us dating?”
She had been the one who couldn’t fully trust Riel’s answer, the one who had snapped at Claudia’s clingy affection. Yet at least for now, she remembered that moment in the alley when they had confirmed each other’s feelings, and a small smile curved her lips.
“…What are you talking about?”
Ceria’s voice trembled.
Even in the dark, her pupils were visibly shaking. She neither cried nor grew angry; she simply sat there, dazed, as if the shock had hollowed her out.
Claudia, too, clutched the blanket to her chest and stared up at Rhea in disbelief.
Rhea flinched at the larger reaction than she had expected and clamped her mouth shut, but the words were already out. There was no taking them back.
The silence that followed was brief, yet it felt endless.
Only the steady rhythm of Riel’s sleeping breath held the fragile quiet together.
“Riel said he likes me. He said he didn’t want to make the person he marries cry. And I treated you coldly on purpose because I was afraid you’d get jealous. Here, at least.”
Ceria shot back at once.
“…Don’t lie.”
Then, irritated at having her own feelings for Riel exposed—feelings everyone already knew, yet she still pretended otherwise—she deliberately brought up the promise.
“We promised. Riel promised to protect all of us, not to play favorites. If he’s dating you, Rhea, that… that means breaking the promise.”
“Shh. You’ll wake Riel.”
“J-just answer me already. It’s a lie. Why would Riel… We promised he’d protect all of us…!”
Claudia cut in.
Her voice was thick with tears, dripping like rain.
“…H-he told me he liked me too. While he was brushing my tail, he said I was pretty, that he… he liked me!”
Rhea whipped her head away, refusing to look at Claudia.
The guilt still burned from the time she had insulted her as a “Wolf Tribe” girl.
But she couldn’t call it a lie.
Riel really does like me. Even if it hurts a little, better to hurt them now.
Rhea forced every word out, making sure none of them could let it slide past.
“…That’s him liking you as a little sister. It’s different with me.”
“W-what’s different…?”
“It’s different. You two are just family. I’m… the one who’s going to be Riel’s woman.”
Woman.
The weight of that single word hit harder than expected.
Young as they were, they had grown up as the lowest of the low, and they had seen more of the world than most children. Pure childhood innocence had long since been overshadowed by everything they had endured after Sister Flora disappeared.
Every one of them instinctively understood the meaning and the gravity packed into the word “woman.”
It meant the place beside Riel—the most special, the only place.
Claudia cried. Ceria, who had once dreamed of becoming a sister like Flora, shook her head as if denying it could make the words untrue.
“…N-no. Ah—”
Like something broken, Ceria kept parting her lips only to press them shut again.
“…You’re mean…. He was so nice to me. He said I was pretty…. Why… why only say those things to Rhea…?”
Claudia spoke as if to Riel, yet she couldn’t bring herself to hate him, so she turned her resentment on Rhea instead.
Rhea watched them, then stepped to the bed and took Claudia’s hand.
“Get out already. I’ll stay with Riel. You’re just family, but I’m going to be his woman. It makes sense for me to be the one here.”
Woman.
Woman.
Woman?
The word that had broken her earlier now made Ceria’s eyes redden as she sneered at Rhea.
“There’s no way Riel chose you. He’s just kind. He only accepted you because you clung to him.”
It didn’t make sense.
The idea that he liked and loved Rhea enough to break the promise.
The absurd claim that Riel had chosen Rhea.
“Every time I prayed, Riel only looked at me. He listened to my worries and held me. He told me he liked me too!”
“Don’t delude yourself. That’s just because Riel is gentle.”
“You’re the one who’s deluding yourself!”
Their voices rose higher and higher.
The careful restraint they had shown for fear of waking Riel vanished, replaced by nothing but sharp accusations flung at each other.
Even through the uproar, Riel remained deeply asleep.
Whether from the medicine or the exhaustion piled up over days, he did not so much as stir.
The cold sweat beading on his face only made him look more pitiful.
Rhea wanted to be alone at his side, so she yanked at Claudia’s hand.
Claudia fought to pull free with everything she had.
That was when it happened.
“…Ugh—”
Riel’s face twisted; he shifted slightly.
The quarrel died at once, and silence returned.
Rhea spoke again, softer this time, but no one seemed to be listening.
“All of you, get out. It’s too small for everyone to sleep. And Riel will be uncomfortable.”
“Why don’t you leave instead?”
“What?”
“I’m going to heal Riel with prayer. Sister said so. Sincere prayers reach heaven.”
“…When have you ever prayed sincerely? I see you yawning every single day. Get out. Riel needs to rest!”
“So you get out! Stop making so much noise!”
“I-I’m not leaving either…!”
Claudia burrowed deeper under the blanket, muttering.
She had already claimed the spot right beside Riel—the warmest place, where his breath could be felt most clearly.
“Claudia, you…”
Rhea reached to drag her off, but Claudia clung to Riel’s clothes with a death grip.
Like a Wolf Tribe girl guarding her prey, every ounce of desperate strength was in those fingers.
Rhea could have pried her loose if she wanted, but Riel looked ready to wake.
She glared at Claudia with pure fury, yet nothing changed.
“I’m not leaving. I’m scared. I’m sleeping with Riel.”
In the end, the three girls tangled together on the narrow bed.
No one yielded. No one backed down.
With Riel at the center, Claudia took the left side, Rhea the right, and Ceria sat at his feet.
Time passed.
When dawn broke and the first light touched the sky, Riel woke from habit.
The three children, as if they had planned it, pretended to be asleep. Riel looked at them and smiled.
Just like always.
Because he believed that no matter how much they fought, they still cared enough to gather and sleep together again after only a single day—that they had only one another in this world.
Even though they were all supposedly asleep and couldn’t hear him, Riel parted his lips.
“…Thank you. All of you… for making up.”
He thanked them.
Because they were family, and because they looked after one another, he was so deeply grateful.
Because the warmth tangled around him felt so impossibly gentle.
Without realizing it, Riel closed his eyes.
Ceria’s warmth. Claudia’s warmth. Rhea’s warmth.
All of them were things he liked and loved.
A soft, ticklish ache rose in his chest.
He never usually spoke his heart aloud, but today was different.
“…If I weren’t so lacking… if Sister were still here, none of this would have happened in the first place…”
He spoke only that much, then—unable even to cry—lifted each of them carefully and laid them properly on the bed.
He picked Rhea up first and settled her in the middle, stroking her hair.
Next he lifted Claudia, gently guiding her tail onto her stomach so it wouldn’t be crushed while she slept.
Last he laid Ceria down, then noticed the cross that had fallen near the foot of the bed.
“…You were going to pray for me, weren’t you? Thank you, Ceria.”
He set the cross by her pillow.
Then he knelt on the creaking floorboards the way Sister Flora once had, looking at the children, and offered a short prayer.
“Please… let them all be happy.”
He gazed at them a moment longer, smiled faintly, and walked out slowly—hoping they wouldn’t wake.
Step. Step. Step.
The moment Riel left the bedroom, none of them showed it, but their shoulders shook.
In silence, the three of them made another promise.
Even if they couldn’t truly reconcile, they would act the way they used to in front of Riel.
They would. They had to.
“…I’m heading out.”
From far down the church hallway, they heard Riel’s considerate voice as he stepped outside—still not fully healed.
Because they understood exactly what their childhood friend was doing for them, none of them could bring themselves to see him off.
They all shared the same wish: not to let him see them cry and worry him further.
I walked toward the guild.
They hadn’t said jobs came often, but I went anyway.
Even if there was no work, maybe I could still learn something.
Rhea, Ceria, and Claudia had never fought this badly before.
In the middle of that shocking scene I had felt only heavier responsibility and guilt.
Yet I still couldn’t think of any way for us to live together as a family without fighting.
I just kept thinking.
About what had made us suffer the most.
“…Money.”
So, like a complete materialist, money was the first thing that came to mind.
Because money was what we lacked most.
Rhea, who had dreamed of becoming a mage, couldn’t even attend the academy.
Ceria prayed over a cross she had carved herself, and Claudia still hugged a doll she had mended over and over.
Maybe it was because we had no money—because we coveted one another’s clothes, and that envy turned into jealousy—that we tore things and fought.
“…Haa.”
If we had plenty of money…
If I grew faster, became an adventurer sooner…
I could send all three of them to the academy, give them everything they wanted without shortage.
Sometimes throw parties, sometimes go on trips, live with room to breathe.
Then none of this would happen. They could each have what they wanted and keep doing the things they loved.
Thinking that way, strength seemed to return to me.
Imagining their smiling, happy faces made a smile rise on my own lips without effort.
I wanted to earn money.
Adventurers made a lot by cutting out monster cores and selling them.
Just look at Laika—she had casually handed a gold coin to some nameless orphan.
Maybe even odd jobs would pay better than what the villagers offered.
I wanted to clean, if I had to clean, near people who had money.
It sounded ridiculous, but I was confident in my cleaning.
Ding-a-ling—
I pushed open the guild door and the smell of liquor stabbed my nose.
As always, men and women who sold their bodies in the slums drifted among the adventurers.
In the middle of them I spotted Laika, thoroughly drunk, and Cronian, only moderately so.
“See? He came. I told you he was different. I said he was desperate, huh. Nearly died, and I told him to come later, but he showed up right away.”
“…He really doesn’t look like the type to run.”
“Yeah. This is the cheapest he’ll ever be. Later you won’t be able to get him even if you want him.”
Laika spotted me and gave a lazy wave.
Deputy Master Cronian nodded flatly.
“True enough.”
“Pay up. We bet on it.”
“…I’ll give it to you later.”
I walked over to them.
Laika asked at once.
“What, you want to make money?”
Money was, at least for me right now, the strongest motivation I had.
I nodded. Laika swayed, grabbed my hand, and led me out of the guild building.
She dragged me along for quite a while until a plain of grass opened before us.
It was the same field where we had gone to subjugate goblins a few days earlier.
Whether the alcohol had worn off or not, Laika’s eyes were clear when she spoke to me.
“You bring your dagger?”
“…Yes.”
“Then copy me. I’ll pay you just for following along—no subjugation, no bait work.”
“…Why?”
“We need new recruits. But every last one of them runs away screaming they’re scared, the useless bastards…”
As she spoke, Laika pulled a gold coin from between her breasts the way she had before and tossed it to me.
“You said you don’t even feel guilt anyway. You can earn plenty of that money you like so much. We need rookies, and you said you want to be an adventurer, right? Honestly, I like you. Only twelve and you’ve got guts, you know how to gamble. At least you won’t be a liability.”
“…I don’t really get it.”
“…When you killed those goblins, were you scared?”
I shook my head at her question.
“That’s it. We need rookies who aren’t afraid. Ones who won’t cause trouble.”
“….”
“Be proud. It means Lady Laika herself is taking you on as a recruit.”
Instead of adding anything more, Laika pulled out a document and made me a promise.
It was a “contract” protected by kingdom law: as long as I didn’t commit major crimes or atrocities, they couldn’t just throw me out on a whim.
If I learned properly, passed the apprentice stage, and became a full recruit, they would pay me two gold coins every month.
Two every month.
Rewards for subjugations and bait work were separate, so as long as I didn’t die I could send all three of them to the academy.
Still, afraid they would lowball me if I agreed too quickly, I deliberately asked a few more questions.
Kids often got shortchanged, after all.
“What will I be learning?”
When I asked what I would learn, she listed everything from how to bodyguard someone, to where to stab a person to kill them, how to fight monsters, and basic first aid—everything an adventurer needed to survive.
It went beyond tempting; it made my mouth water.
I had dreamed of becoming an adventurer so that none of us would ever go without again.
“What, scared?”
“…Is there any reason to be?”
“Good. Let’s do well from now on, rookie. Ah—no. Apprentice.”
After hearing all that, there was no way I could shake my head.
I nodded.
An orphan from the slums who had never learned a single thing.
I knew a job that could regularly pay this much money was a real opportunity for someone like me.
“Here. Write your name.”
“…My name?”
“We have to register who belongs where with the kingdom.”
Laika explained that the contract needed a mana signature.
If you simply wrote, the enchanted paper would draw mana the way a blood oath draws blood from a fingertip.
I knew how to write Sister Flora’s name, and Rhea’s, Claudia’s, and Ceria’s…
But I didn’t know how to write my own name—Riel.
I hesitated so long that Laika tilted her head.
“…You can’t read? You can’t even write your own name?”
In the end, before any guild lessons, I had to learn to write first.
I put down the dagger and picked up a pen.
So my first day of lessons happened not on the plain but in Laika’s office, and when I finally walked down the stairs—
The same drinking, carousing atmosphere filled the hall, and through it I heard something I couldn’t ignore.
A story so shocking it instantly erased even the happy dilemma of how to spend the advance pay I had received for the three of them.
“…I heard that bastard showed up again.”
“Who—ah. That count?”
“Rebecca was furious. Orthodox Church or whatever. There was that rumor a while back about some nun selling her body, right? Loren, that son of a bitch, is throwing a fit demanding they bring that bitch back.”
“A few of the low-performing whores are gonna die again.”
“Right? Heh, doesn’t he sometimes put assassination requests into our guild too?”
“Asking us to kill a noble—slum trash really are as stupid as they look.”
Orthodox Church. Nun.
Two words that did not belong in the slums.
Those two words stabbed straight through my eardrums.
Fuck.
They stabbed and tore so hard I would never forget them.
Thump—thump—thump—thump—thump—thump—thump—
My heart pounded hard enough to ache.
I saw Sister Flora holding us.
I saw her praying for us even as she died, dying so wretchedly.
All the tangled feelings inside me were instantly sorted by a rage far greater than any of them.
It felt like the blood was rushing backward through my veins.