Chapter 77
Chapter 77
Translator: XZY
Chapter 77: Person (5)
***
— ‘Before teaching her anything else, the first thing Lady Siern must be taught is the weight of death.’
— ‘Do you think I haven’t tried such things?’
— ‘It won’t work by simply teaching with words and actions. If Lady Siern’s murderous impulse stems from instinct, then we must use a method intense enough to engrave it upon that instinct.’
The next day, Derek visited Melverot’s office. He told Melverot that he had something to ask for his understanding on in advance, and relayed his plan on how he would socialize Siern.
— ‘So what, you intend to drive Siern to the brink of death? That’s a rather violent method.’
— ‘Of course not. However, it is difficult to deny that somewhat violent methods may be employed. That is why I have come to ask for your understanding.’
Derek explained to Melverot what would happen from now on.
Melverot sat quietly and listened to Derek’s explanation, his expression hardening slightly. It was a face that showed he had accepted the fact that Derek was certainly not a normal person.
However, Melverot did not oppose Derek’s plan.
He merely nodded his head.
— ‘If you have no particular objections, I will take my leave.’
The way Derek walked as he bowed his head and left the office was unusual.
He did not seem to have any intention of dragging this matter out for long.
<><><>
“How are Lady Siern’s meals provided?”
“Servants take them to the spire for every meal. They go equipped with all sorts of protective magic and gear. After all... it’s a dangerous job...”
The next place Derek went to immediately after leaving the office was where Head Maid Serena was.
She, who was directing the organization of the mansion’s storage, bowed her head and greeted him as soon as she met his eyes. Seeing that her entire body was still a mess of injuries, it seemed she was going through a lot of hardship.
Derek offered a word of sympathy for her hard work and asked several things he had been curious about.
“Does Lady Siern often go out to the snowfields?”
“Yes... she often returns covered in blood. Most of it is the blood of beasts or demonic beasts... but sometimes it’s not...”
“...”
“How long has she been like this?”
“It seems to have been about seven or eight years. Before that, she was an ordinary girl. She was someone who smiled well, learned well, and played well.”
Derek’s expression did not change, but the Head Maid was making a rather complicated face.
One would think that after living and caring for Siern for a long time, she would have developed a grudge against her, but she seemed to be a person who was genuinely, purely worried about Siern.
Then again, the children were not at fault. It was only the adults who failed to teach them who were at fault. Derek thought so.
Especially in Siern’s case, she was just someone that not just anyone could teach.
“The crimson katsusa is impressive. Was it made separately within the mansion?”
“Yes...? S-suddenly? We usually buy ready-made products, but for the head maid’s attire, we often add separate decorations or patterns.”
“What kind of dye do you use? Is the work itself done in a separate workshop in the mansion?”
“Yes...? Suddenly, why that...”
“I’m curious about the way the people of the mansion work.”
“...For the dye itself, we use yew or madder, but for the clothes the Young Lady wears, we often use flower petals like safflower or balsam. The fragrance is also important... And, the work itself is not done within the mansion; artisans from the Levelton side often take charge, and we often just receive and use the dye.”
“There must be a lot of distribution personnel connected to the mansion.”
“That’s about right..”
Although she wondered why he was curious about the mansion’s personnel matters, Head Maid Serena did not bother to express it.
It was because not having unnecessarily much curiosity was a servant’s virtue.
“I’m also curious about the protective magic the servants use before going to Lady Siern’s room. I’d also like to hear about the composition of the meals.”
“I can tell you all the details. Lord Melverot gave separate instructions to cooperate actively.”
“That is something to be thankful for.”
As Derek strode away, the Head Maid quickly bowed her head and followed behind him.
As long as he was under Melverot’s protection, no one could object even if he acted like the master within this mansion.
Knowing that fact well, Derek was thinking that he should dig up all the information he could while he had the chance.
In any case, Derek had organized all his plans.
It was time to create the best actress with his own hands. It was highly likely that he himself would be the director.
“From today, I will inspect all meals that go into Lady Siern’s room.”
Derek gave the order as he crossed the corridor.
There was someone secretly watching him from a distance.
‘...’
Aiseline swallowed a dry gulp of saliva and observed Derek’s actions.
<><><>
“It’s okay if you don’t trust me, Lady Siern. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re just using me and will throw me away.”
Aiseline, who had returned to the room after pushing through the snow, took off her robe and hung it by the bedside, speaking with a determined expression.
Siern, who had been trembling in the room, saw Aiseline’s firm appearance and once again thought of Derek.
She remembered the sight of that beast-like man striding through the middle of the snowfield.
In this world of the snowfield where you either killed or were killed, he took on the appearance of an apex predator.
There were almost no one in this mansion who could match Siern’s magical skills, but at least that man named Derek seemed certain to be able to crush Siern without difficulty.
“I... I have to do what I think is right. Even if Derek-ssi tries to kill you, Lady Siern, I will protect you with all my strength.”
“Why... why are you putting in such effort for me?”
“...You may not believe it, but there’s no particular reason.”
That was the biggest reason why Derek acknowledged Aiseline.
She had the ability to embrace people.
The method of embracing people with her character and making them trust her was simpler than one might think. One just had to be ‘sincere.’
Only when one throws away all personal glory, gains and losses, success and rewards, and perseveres with the sincerity that one believes is right and good, does the other party finally feel what is called authenticity.
It was because authenticity was a quality that only those who were sincere could possess.
Therefore, Aiseline’s two eyes, shining sublimely, were engraved upon Siern’s pupils.
For a moment, Siern almost nodded her head.
However, the terrible memories accumulated in her heart were not something that could be broken down by a single kind gaze.
The expressions of fear and disillusionment that countless teachers had shown when they looked at Lady Siern dug into the crevices of her memory.
They had all approached with a smiling face at first, saying they were different.
They had made grand promises, saying they would guide Lady Siern to a brighter world as a good teacher.
When she was naive, she had held hopeful thoughts. However, the accumulated experience of frustration made her shake her head.
“I don’t believe you.”
Siern, huddled in a corner of the bed, hugged her knees and shot a glare, growling.
“I don’t believe anyone.”
“It’s okay not to believe me. Doubt me. That’s better for you too, Lady Siern.”
“That’s a given. In the first place, you’re someone who accompanied that... lunatic named Derek. Why should I... believe you?”
“That... is true...”
Aiseline lowered her gaze and spoke as if she were ashamed.
“Still, I believe in Derek-ssi. To you, Lady Siern, he may seem somewhat scary, and only his cold-blooded side may be visible... but I still believe that he has a human side and a side that cares for people.”
“Lies. The action you are taking right now is an act of betraying that magic master named Derek.”
“That... is correct. But please wait a little. I will definitely try to persuade Derek-ssi.”
Aiseline slowly approached Siern.
Siern moved her body back, pushing the bedsheets with her bare feet, but Aiseline smiled gently and moved closer, tightly grasping both of Siern’s hands.
“It’s only natural for you to doubt me now, Lady Siern. But for now, please trust me and leave it to me. I will try to buy time by avoiding Derek-ssi’s tricks as much as possible, and I will do my best to change Derek-ssi’s mind.”
“Do you think that cold-blooded monster will change his mind? It would be better to... report everything to my father. That the lunatic is trying to kill me, and to please, please chase that lunatic away.”
“Right now, Derek-ssi has the full trust and support of Lord Melverot. To have Lord Melverot’s support in this Rochest mansion is the same as saying there is no way to stop him.”
Siern was making a face as if she could not believe it.
To give that much trust to a magic teacher of unknown origin from somewhere in the southwestern part of the continent.
However, after calming down a bit and thinking, she could quickly see that the situation was unfavorable for her.
A murderer who killed people whenever she had the chance, and a competent magic teacher who had made a name for himself in the southwestern empire.
There was no need to even consider whose words Melverot would believe more.
In the end, it was highly likely that she would need Aiseline’s help. If that person named Derek was truly trying to kill her, she would not be able to escape his grasp on her own.
“It’s okay. You can keep doubting me, Lady Siern. I will do what I can.”
However, sincerity was evident in Aiseline’s appearance, her lips pressed together and her expression serious.
It was not an act or a fake, but the appearance of someone who was truly worried about Siern.
‘I can’t be fooled.’
Siern gritted her teeth and pushed Aiseline away.
A coldness colder than the vast northern snowfield flowed in her heart.
No matter how warmly one tried to embrace her, one could not win the heart of the thorny girl.
Siern was glaring at Aiseline. Nevertheless, Aiseline still maintained a firm expression.
She was a person with a strong heart.
And so, for a while, Aiseline went to and from the spire without Derek knowing, tipping Siern off with various pieces of information.
She also told her the fact that Derek was putting poison in her food. She warned her several times not to be careless as it was a poison whose effects were slow to appear, and to not touch the meals at all.
Siern, while doubting Aiseline’s words, absolutely did not touch the meals that Derek brought with the servants.
She pretended to eat a little, then spat it all out, and only ate the meals that Aiseline brought separately. The meals managed by Derek were taken away by Aiseline and disposed of.
Occasionally, Derek would scan her entire body with his creepy eyes as if to check her condition, and whenever that happened, Siern would force herself to endure the rising fear and pretend that nothing was wrong.
Whenever Derek spoke to her, she would answer bluntly, act hostile, and ponder how to chase the insolent commoner out of the mansion.
On the other hand, Aiseline was busy running around.
She checked Siern’s condition several times in case her body was negatively affected, and whenever she had a chance, she asked Derek to reconsider killing Lady Siern.
Each time, Derek would refuse firmly and dismiss Aiseline’s words, but she did not break her will and continued her double life.
And so, one day became three, and three days became a week.
During that long time, Aiseline barely slept, handing over most of her own meals to Siern, and endured and endured in this exhausting cold.
Late at night, she would visit Siern’s room to report on the situation, and during the day, she would talk to the servants about Siern’s educational policy or watch Derek’s mood.
As time piled up, Aiseline’s expression became more haggard, but thanks to that, Siern was somehow staying alive.
“There’s nothing wrong with your physical condition, right? I hope you will always be careful, Lady Siern. Derek-ssi, who has noticed that the poison is not working, might use another method soon. I... I will try to probe more into what he’s thinking when I get a chance.”
“...”
“...Don’t worry too much, Lady Siern. I’ve told you repeatedly. Derek-ssi may seem so cold-blooded, but in a corner of his heart, there is a human and altruistic part. I, who grew up in the Duplein ducal mansion, know that fact better than anyone.”
“Stop it.”
When she came to her senses, Siern was already not even using honorifics with Aiseline.
Her consistent righteousness inspired awe, but there was a limit to everything.
“What’s the point of holding on like this?”
“Lady Siern...”
“Life is like the wild anyway. It’s either kill or be killed. Do you know what I mean?”
Lady Siern let her bluish hair down and rose from the bed, then looked straight at Aiseline and said.
“You... what on earth are you? You’re not for me, and you’re not siding with that man either...”
“Th-that’s...”
She was deceiving Derek with the sole intention of saving Siern, but she still did not abandon her fundamental trust in Derek.
Siern could not understand Aiseline’s way of thinking at all. To not let go of her mental sympathy for a monster-like man who committed such violent and insolent acts, how was that any different from a wife who was beaten every day while saying it was okay?
However, the reason she could not bring herself to say it out loud was... because Siern herself was not free from the accusation of being violent and insolent.
This girl named Aiseline trusted and believed even such people fairly. She was a person who tenaciously extended her upright trust, to the point of not even giving up on the potential of that man named Derek.
Therefore... Siern was frustrated.
“Forget it. Let me die. If that man kills me, then I die. I don’t want to gain the sympathy of someone with a head full of flowers like you, and I don’t want to beg for my life.”
Slap— !
As Lady Siern uttered those words that were close to giving up, Aiseline gritted her teeth and slapped her across the cheek.
At the thing that happened in an instant, Lady Siern’s pupils widened.
If one were to pick the most gentle and benevolent person in the world, there were many in the world who would pick Aiseline.
It was rare for such a simple person to resort to violence. It was a situation where even Siern could not help but tremble her eyes in surprise.
“Don’t accept death so obediently. Don’t you know it’s all over if you give up?”
Aiseline gritted her teeth and spoke, enunciating each and every letter.
She was a girl who had been raised like a treasure in a noble family. Usually, they had no sense of reality and would only spout idealism.
However, Aiseline was a girl who had gritted her teeth and stood up in the middle of the collapsing Duplein mansion and rolled up her sleeves.
Truly strong people did not show the blade on the outside of their bodies. The venom hidden in gentleness was what was truly valuable.
She was a person with such a strong will to live that she would personally carry manure to farm if necessary, and would go around selling household goods while looking shabby.
Therefore, she could not leave people who were giving up alone.
From the time she had wandered the tavern streets in search of a master for the wandering Diella, her strong character had already been revealed.
Siern felt as if she had seen Aiseline’s true bottom, and could not even utter a word.
“You can live. I won’t say boring things like learn magic or learn etiquette. You don’t need any of that. Just,.. don’t lose to some nature you don’t even know well, and don’t throw away that precious life so carelessly. That... that much... I absolutely cannot stand...”
“...W-what... why... why are you crying...”
“Did you understand what I said?!”
Aiseline’s eyes turned red for no reason and she sniffled. It was an undignified act, but that was not what was important right now.
Aiseline knew someone who was in a subtly different yet similar situation to Siern. It was her younger sister, Diella.
The current Diella was a person who was striving to become a real power in Ebelstein with the qualities of a monarch, but during her wandering period, she was a girl who was stuck in the annex and was chipping away at the value of her own life, just like Siern.
Aiseline knew better than anyone how sad, lonely, and painful that was. That was why she could not leave Siern alone.
“I... I...”
“I’ll try to deceive Derek-ssi a little better. Until his mind changes, I should be able to buy some time somehow. And somehow... persuade him too...”
It was while Aiseline was trying to speak with such a serious expression.
“That will not be possible.”
Bang— !
The one who kicked open the door of the inner chamber and entered was Derek.
As Aiseline and Siern both looked that way in surprise, the man, neatly dressed in mercenary attire, was standing there with a cold-blooded gaze that showed no emotion.