PVMC 04

Chapter 04

Shake, shake. A brief refusal came back.

So I cautiously made another suggestion.

“……Then would you like to come with me?”

At my words, the man’s mouth fell slightly open. When no answer came right away, my anxiety spiked and I hurriedly added,

“I-I mean, I’m not suspicious or anything. The person who brought you here and I are sworn enemies, okay? A slave trader. I don’t do things like that. I do have a bit of debt, but— no, I’ll pay that off soon!”

The man lowered his gaze. Fidgeting with his fingers, he stole glances at me, gauging my reaction.

“If you help me deal with that bastard, I’ll help you get back on your feet. Food, clothes, shelter—everything. A-and payment, too!”

If I caught that guy and shook him down, something would come out of it. From the looks of it, he’d gathered everything neatly through forged guarantees!

But despite all my coaxing, the man kept his lips firmly sealed. As I waited for an answer, my strength slowly drained away.

‘……Well, he probably just escaped himself.’

If he’d been forced into slavery, Xavier’s existence alone would be enough to traumatize him. To make things worse, my eye and hair color were exactly the same as that man’s.

Of course he’d feel repulsed.

‘Yeah. I shouldn’t push him.’

He’d definitely be useful, but I had no intention of forcing him for my own gain. In a way, we were in the same boat—both victims of the same person.

In the end, I stood up.

“Of course, I’m not forcing you. If you change your mind later, come to the Fifth Street mansion—”

But just as I stepped out of the alley, my body tilted sharply to one side.

“Whoa!”

I quickly braced myself against the wall and turned, only to see a hand clutching the hem of my dress. Gasping for breath, I asked,

“…Are you coming with me?”

Instead of answering, the man stood up.

I instinctively took a step back. His tall frame—easily a head taller than me—loomed before me.

His lips trembled.

“Ma—”

“Ma?”

“Matt.”

Matthias.

The voice he forced out trembled pitifully. For the first time, a crack appeared in my patiently composed expression.

“Your name?”

He pointed at himself with his index finger.

“Mine.”

My name.

The man—Matthias—shyly introduced himself.

‘Ah, his name.’

It would’ve been nice if it ended there.

“…Wait.”

I realized I was completely screwed only after the carriage had already started moving.

A few hours later.

“Oh my goodness, miss!”

Sophia, who had been pacing anxiously by the door, rushed over.

I stepped down from the carriage and dragged my trembling legs into the main building.

“Where have you been this whole time? And why is your dress in such a state—!”

Sophia looked me up and down, her face crumpling. Then, as if remembering something, she jolted.

“Oh! And earlier, Sir Ferscher stopped by.”

“Already? No—my uncle? When?”

“About an hour or two ago.”

Two hours ago.

That would’ve been right when I was out.

So he sold off slaves and came straight here?

‘Wow. The audacity.’

No wonder he gave me a bad feeling from the start. Guess physiognomy really is a science.

“But miss… the person behind you is…?”

“Oh. Right.”

I clapped my hands and turned around. The man standing awkwardly behind me shrank back.

‘Seriously, anyone would think I did something to him.’

When really, he’s the terrifying one here. I swallowed the truth I couldn’t say aloud.

“He’s my guest. He’ll be staying at the mansion for a while, so prepare some simple clothes. We have plenty of rooms.”

It would’ve been difficult before, but now that many servants had left, rooms were sitting empty.

One wouldn’t hurt.

“A guest?”

Sophia’s eyes widened.

‘Ah. This must be my first time bringing someone home.’

In the original story, Aria probably wasn’t very talkative. She also had an unusually strong sense of pride in her family.

‘Which is why that bastard got so full of himself.’

In any case, she wasn’t particularly social. She’d never even brought a friend home.

So for someone like Aria to suddenly bring back a “guest,” Sophia’s surprise was understandable. Especially when the man was hiding under a robe—he looked suspicious no matter how you sliced it.

I cleared my throat and pulled Sophia aside. After moving a few steps away, I whispered,

“I almost got into trouble earlier.”

“…What?!”

Sophia’s face instantly turned pale. Before she could start fussing about injuries, I pulled out one of the 123 excuses I’d prepared.

“He saved me then. I couldn’t just leave my lifesaver behind…”

“Of course!”

Thankfully, Sophia swallowed my act whole and clenched her fist with determination. Skipping any further questions, she said resolutely,

“Don’t worry. I’ll give him the best room!”

“Good, good. You’re the only one I can rely on, you know that, right?”

“M-miss…”

Sophia’s shoulders slumped. Her eyes even reddened slightly, as if recalling all the hardships she’d endured.

‘She must’ve had it rough too.’

Even though we hadn’t spent long together, the real suffering had started back then. In a way, we’d endured that difficult time side by side.

“Oh. And call a doctor. Someone discreet.”

“A d-doctor? Are you hurt anywhere—?!”

“Not me. Our benefactor has been through a lot.”

“Oh!”

Sophia nodded vigorously.

“I’ll take care of it right away!”

“And we’ll be eating dinner too, so prepare his meal in the study.”

“You could eat in the dining room—”

“It’s fine. Anyway—”

I’ve got a lot to do from now on.

I patted Sophia’s shoulder and looked back at the man. When our eyes met, his shoulders flinched.

That timid reaction made me feel oddly unsettled.

“…I’ll be in the study for a bit.”

As I took a step back, he took one forward.

I retreated further and pointed to Sophia.

“Sophia will show you to your room, so go rest upstairs. We’ll talk more over dinner.”

Okay. This should be enough, right?

Having wrapped things up quickly, I turned around.

“A-ah…!”

He called after me urgently, but I didn’t have the presence of mind to look back. I needed time to sort out my own thoughts, too.

‘H-he’s not going to follow me, right?’

I ran up the stairs and slammed the study door shut behind me.

Sliding down onto the floor, the afterimage from earlier flickered faintly through my mind.

Jet-black hair.

Burning red eyes.

Former slave.

“…Matthias.”

As I repeated the name I’d just heard, clarity struck like lightning. I covered my face, choking back a sob.

“I was supposed to latch onto Benjamin…”

Protagonist my ass.

I dragged in the final boss instead, damn it.

Matthias Frombel.

The man who would one day become the great Duke of the Frombel family was the biggest psychopath in the story.

Well, fine. It was practically a rule that final bosses were antisocial, so I could accept that.

But what really mattered here was the fact that he despised the protagonist, Benjamin.

Why?

It wasn’t anything complicated.

Matthias had also been a slave. Worse—he came from an entertainment district, the lowest of the low.

And it wasn’t like he’d been born a slave, either. He’d been a disposable victim of internal family politics.

Because of that, Matthias felt more inferiority over his time as a slave than over being a bastard child.

Self-loathing turned outward.

‘That was exactly it.’

After ascending to the ducal seat, the very first thing he did was obliterate the entertainment district where he’d lived.

Officially, it was a crackdown on illegal activity—but that wasn’t the end of it.

He couldn’t tolerate anyone who tried to suppress him even slightly. Anyone who opposed him got cut down, one by one, like pruning branches.

Even the puppet emperor couldn’t do anything about him. By the time anyone told him to stop, the duke’s power had grown too immense.

That is—until Benjamin appeared.

‘No, wait. Then what do I do?’

I knew he hated Benjamin. Once I paid off my debt, I wouldn’t have much reason to see Benjamin anyway, right? Up to that point, it was fine.

The problem was right here.