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Chapter: 13
The longer he watched her, the harder it became to deny that—beyond a sense of duty toward the girl—he was also feeling a certain private amusement.
“I can’t tell whether I should praise you… or worry about you.”
Elios believed that in order to do the right thing, the means must also be just.
If it had been him, he would never have considered stealing a family heirloom or hypnotizing a villain.
But the girl he was observing was different.
Her unrestrained way of solving problems fascinated him.
How would she react if placed in a different situation?
Before he realized it, such thoughts had developed into a very human curiosity toward the girl herself.
“…Please, for a long while yet, satisfy my curiosity.”
Elios murmured.
For that to happen, the girl had to survive until the Day of Fate.
There was only one chance to save the world.
And there was only one life that could serve as the key.
“You must survive, Rosha.”
The whisper lingered around the golden crystal ball in his hands—then scattered.
It was a refreshingly bright morning.
After getting ready for the day, I received a message from the Duchess of the Bellas estate.
They were planning to release Adrian as I had suggested, but the family members were still highly wary, so she asked me to come and help him adjust.
What am I, taming a wild animal or something?
Well, I wasn’t about to miss the historic moment of Adrian escaping the basement, either.
When I finished preparing and arrived at the Bellas estate, the servants rushed out in a fluster to greet me.
“Welcome, Lady Utel!”
“Please come this way!”
Their faces were pale, and when they saw me, they looked as though they’d just been saved from death.
Startled, I asked,
“W-Why… why are you all like this?”
“We were told that you were the one who requested the young master’s release,” one servant replied tearfully.
“Haven’t you been visiting the estate and meeting with the young master regularly all this time?”
“Well… yes?”
“Then surely you’ll be able to speak with him even in his current state!”
Good grief.
It seemed they hadn’t dared to release Adrian because he’d grown too violent.
Honestly, who told them to lock up the young lord and starve him in the first place?
Following their guidance, I headed toward the basement where Adrian had been confined.
The servants who had been standing in layers around the iron bars stepped aside the moment they saw me.
And there he was—Adrian.
When I approached and examined him more closely, I felt a wave of relief.
He looked as unkempt as ever, but he wasn’t injured. The area around him wasn’t particularly wrecked, either.
Given how panicked the servants were, I’d thought he’d gone on a rampage, but apparently not.
He sat perfectly still, glaring at anyone who dared approach.
That alone might not sound alarming—but his eyes were the problem.
To me, Adrian’s presence had softened considerably.
At the very least, it was no longer the murderous intensity from before, when he looked ready to strangle anyone who came near.
This wasn’t madness—it was restrained fury.
Even so, his emotions dominated the air in the room.
It was like a single young predator freezing an entire pack of smaller animals in place.
“Adrian.”
When I stepped closer and called his name, the rigid tension in his face loosened—just slightly.
That alone seemed to let everyone breathe again. Sighs of relief echoed here and there.
“Let’s go.”
I held out my hand through the opened cell door. Adrian stared at me with a blank expression.
As my arm started to ache and I grew awkward enough to lower my hand—
—his large, darkened hand suddenly grabbed mine.
It seemed the shackles had already been removed before I arrived; I could see the chains discarded haphazardly in the shadows.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d ever held Adrian’s hand like this.
His hand was warm and soft—just like any other child’s.
It should have been obvious, yet somehow it felt strange.
When he stood up, stretching his long legs, I realized he was much taller than me.
As we walked together and crossed the threshold of the cell, the feeling grew even stranger.
Something warm and fuzzy… like I’d accomplished something important.
Not like clearing a quest—more like raising a child.
—Ding!
[SYSTEM: Feed the male protagonist ‘Adrian’ to complete the quest!]
Just as my chest began to feel tight, the system window popped up and snapped me back to reality.
Right. Raising a kid, my foot. This was only the beginning.
“Um, Adrian.”
I took out a small bowl I’d prepared in advance from my basket-shaped bag and held it out.
“You’re hungry, right? Eat this first.”
“What is it?”
Frowning, Adrian lifted the lid.
Inside was a pure white, soft, square-shaped pudding.
“In the Utel family, when someone gets out after being locked up somewhere, we eat pudding with beans in it.”
“What kind of ridiculous tradition is that?”
“I don’t know! Just eat it!”
As I stubbornly bounced in place, the servants who still hadn’t left stared at me with weary eyes.
To them, I probably looked like a lunatic who’d barged into a cage and was playing cute with a wolf cub.
Adrian sniffed the pudding, then lifted the bowl and took a bite.
“Well? How is it?”
“It’s weird.”
“……”
Still, to his credit, he swallowed the strange-tasting bean pudding in just two bites.
Then, holding Adrian’s hand, I walked toward the light.
—Ding!
[QUEST: Bring food to the starving male protagonist ‘Adrian,’ trapped in the basement. (3/3)]
[SYSTEM: Quest completed.]
[SYSTEM: Reward +8000 EXP]
[SYSTEM: The quest advances to the next stage.]
I didn’t know it then.
The servants had been trembling because Adrian had already shattered his shackles with his bare hands—before they’d even released him.
Nor did I know that this was the moment when the beast everyone feared—Adrian Bellas—found the one person he would obey.
And in turn, that I, too, would become entangled in the chains that bound that beast.
Bellas Estate, Adrian’s room.
“Eek! Young master!”
“Please, stop! Just stay still—!”
Sipping strawberry-scented black tea, I calmly listened to the commotion coming from the bathroom.
Soon, with a loud crash and bang, a soaked and sud-covered attendant came flying out.
“Lady Utel! Please help us!”
“Me?”
Instead of responding immediately, I set my teacup down on its saucer and tilted my head.
“Do the servants of a ducal house usually ask someone from another family to attend their young lord?”
Caught off guard by the question, the servant stammered.
“Th-That is…”
Of course, at this point, properly attending Adrian was nearly impossible.
He resented the servants who, acting under Melisandra’s orders, had imprisoned and neglected him.
If this followed the original story, they’d all be dead by Adrian’s hands by now. The fact that they’re alive at all is a miracle.
What was a little splash of water? Better than a splash of blood.
With a reluctant sigh, I stood up.
“Everyone, please leave.”
After the servants bowed and withdrew, I was left alone in the spacious room.
Inside the bathroom, Adrian sat in a defiant posture, wearing a bathrobe.
One side of the floor was badly shattered, showing just how violent things had gotten.
“Adrian.”
When I called out, a bath item came flying toward me.
I barely dodged; it shattered against the tiles with a sharp crash.
“Is this what you want?”
When Adrian glared at me, the air—hot and steamy as it was—felt bone-chilling.
“You want me to hand my body over to the ones who toyed with me… and bow my head obediently?”
Yeah. That was a problem.
Forcing a bright smile, I approached him.
[SYSTEM: Due to the effect ‘Best Actress Award—You’ll Give It to Me, Right?’ your smile shines like sunlight.]
“I told you. What you have to endure is only temporary.”
After escaping the basement, Adrian slaughtered his family and ascended to the ducal seat without consequence.
That was because he stood in a position that allowed it.
A family unmatched in the Empire.
Power no one could oppose.
Charisma befitting such a background.
Someone like Adrian had no reason to bend to anyone.
And yet, the reason I tried to resolve his issues as peacefully as possible…
…was my own survival.
Because once he started killing, Adrian would descend into darkness.
Adrian stared straight through me, his lips twisting.
“How long?”
“Huh?”
“Once you’ve had the revenge that suits your taste… can I do as I please?”
No. Absolutely not.
The sheer danger of those words made a gentle smile bloom on my face.
Letting him turn into a serial killer who slaughtered people over minor displeasure was not an option.
“No.”
“Why?”
Is he twelve—or four? Why so many questions?
“There are people who deserve to die… and people who don’t. You have to distinguish between them.”
“……”
“Life is precious. Even when it’s someone else’s.”
Despite my patient explanation, Adrian still looked dissatisfied.
Understandably so.
To someone who could solve every inconvenience by killing, being told to endure and show mercy must have sounded absurd.
It was like telling a wolf to consider a sheep’s circumstances before devouring it.
“How do you tell who deserves to die… and who doesn’t?”
“That’s…”
It was a difficult question.
So the sheep, whose fate was to be eaten by the wolf, decided to try scamming him instead.
