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Translator: Nonon
Proofreader: Silavin
POV: Gray
I was somehow able to endure it.
It was a close call, but I managed to endure it by reasoning with myself that my feelings of adoration were not a romantic love, but rather respect and familial love. It really was a close call.
“Oh, you managed to resist my voice? You’re quite something, boy.”
My kidnapper… The person named Roshenna looked at me as if impressed.
However, perhaps pulling me towards a strange path was just for fun and it wasn’t something he was fully invested in. He merely expressed his pleasant surprise at me rebelling against his voice and soon turned his attention away from me, turning towards the entrance of the cave.
It looked to me that he was confirming that the Sun was setting from the light coming in from the cave entrance.
“There are traces that she read the letter. Well then, what will that woman do?”
Roshenna muttered quietly to nobody in particular.
He murmured ‘that woman’, with disgust. Those words didn’t sound like he hated all women just because he liked men, but rather like he abhorred the person in question instead.
‘That woman’ most likely refers to the person who’s the reason why I was kidnapped. She will take some kind of action due to me being kidnapped. In other words, this person has judged that I’m close to that woman.
The only possible candidates I can think of are Lady Violet and Lady Apricot.
There are other women who I’m close to, but from the fact that he’s wearing an Azalea Academy uniform and that he called me a secretary earlier, the more likely candidate is…
“So you kidnapped me to degrade Lady Violet.”
As expected, Lady Violet had the highest possibility of being ‘that woman’.
She’s a good mother who I admire, but from the looks of the Azalea Academy students who’ve come to Shiki, even I can tell that they hate her.
Is he one of those people who hate her?
“Yeah, that’s right. That woman shouldn’t be forgiven and she has no right to be happy either. That’s why I am going to steal you away from her, boy.”
Roshenna easily admitted it as a fact.
… Lady Violet has no so-called right to be happy? I am often dense, but I want to loudly deny his statement.
“It must be painful for you to serve that woman too, boy. That wicked woman is—“
“Please do not insult my mother.”
It might have been better to stay quiet, but I didn’t want to hear any more of Roshenna’s words.
Before I came to my senses, I had talked in hopes of interrupting what he was saying.
“… Mother?”
“Yes, Lady Violet is my precious mother.”
“That woman is your… mother?”
Then, perhaps not expecting my words, Roshenna looked at me, as if he didn’t understand what I was talking about.
… Maybe he didn’t know that I was her step-son and only thought of me as her secretary. In that case, it would mean that Roshenna really kidnapped me impulsively. It infuriates me that he wanted to ruin her happiness on a mere whim.
“You must be barely over 10 years old, right, boy? And yet you’re saying that you’re that woman’s child?”
“Yes. We might not be blood-related but both Lord Clo and Lady Violet are my precious parents.”
Trying to understand my words, Roshenna put his hand on his forehead and took a thinking gesture. Eventually he arrived at a single answer and turned towards me with a look of understanding and pity.
“I see, so you are the lord’s adopted son and a butler. Then you’re even more pitiful. I am sure you don’t feel at ease having a mother like that either.”
“No, while she may be clumsy, she’s a wonderful, resolute person.”
Although both of them sometimes behave in ways that I don’t understand, they are my precious parents who take good care of me.
“Boy, why are you objecting?”
Then, I don’t know what he thought of my words, but he asked quietly.
“I don’t understand. It’s obvious you’ll suffer terribly if you protect that woman in this situation, right? Despite this, I don’t understand why you object even at the risk of being hurt.”
Roshenna brought his face close to mine and asked me, as if he didn’t understand the behavior of a child like me. His expression looked as if he had absolutely no idea why anybody would take Lady Violet’s side.
And the reason why I objected? It’s simple.
“I would rather be hurt than listen quietly to my mother being insulted. That’s all.”
Having the mother I respect be denied was more unbearable than being hurt physically. That was all.
“That woman isn’t a worthy Human like that!”
Then, Roshenna raised his voice after hearing my words and got even closer to me. His voice, full of madness, echoed in the cave to an unbearable degree, evoking unpleasant feelings in me.
“That woman only exists to torment Lord Vermillion! Her very existence is evil!”
As if the little rationality he had left was keeping him from breaking the prison, he reached inside the prison and grabbed my cheeks.
The expression on his face was dominated by a different kind of madness than before, letting me know that my words were unforgivable for him.
“That woman restrained him with words that tormented him, denied him, shackled him down under the guide on their childhood betrothal, intimidated those around him, went mad with jealousy, dragged the whole academy into it and even lost the duel. For her to be accepted on this land on top of all this should be impossible! Even though just her existence and her name itself is enough to torment Lord Vermillion! Don’t screw around, don’t screw around, don’t screw around with me!”
Roshenna, who was speaking rapidly, wasn’t talking to anybody in particular and seemed to only be thinking out loud.
I don’t know what, but even I, who’s not educated enough, can understand that this person isn’t qualified to say all this.
“Even if that’s true for you, she’s a good mother for me.”
That’s why I’ll say it. It might be tit for tat but, I have to say it.
Even if she did something in the past that made the students of the academy hate her, it’s true that the days I spent with Lady Violet are fun.
Even if what this man thinks is true within him, this is what’s true for me.
“—- I see. It seems you have been poisoned, boy.”
Even though it didn’t have the same vigor as before, Roshenna’s voice penetrated my ears to a frightening degree, encroaching them.
It was as if the voice itself was imbued with mana and was trying to mix with the mana lurking inside me to create chaos.
“Now, forget her. You shouldn’t leave that bitch even in the corner of your memories. I will remove the tumor called Violet from your mind. Listen to my voice—“
The voice echoed inside my brain.
Mana, so vast, that I wouldn’t be able to tell if I weren’t conscious of it, came inside me.
Even if I try to deny him, his words are so alluring, they’re trying to slip inside me like a drug.
Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come.
If I let my guard down, I might lose something important to me—
“You’re the tumor, Roshenna Rivers.”
Just as the mana I thought was about to disappear was on the verge of pouring inside me, a voice I’ve become used to hearing in my everyday life echoed in the cave.
“Rivers, I don’t care what you gossip about me or how you insult me. But,”
A dignified voice. A fearless bearing.
Her hair is a little disheveled from rushing over, but her beautiful violet hair and powerful blue eyes are still the same.
“If you touch my son, you’re dead.”
The woman, whose strength I admired, stood there.
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