IAPAB 06

Chapter 6

Before he even had time to be surprised, the girl killed the monster.

“…!”

At that moment, Cain sharply inhaled.

But the breath caught in his throat and would not come back out properly.

His hands trembled. A chill spread through his entire body.

Only when death stood right before him did he realize it.

I… didn’t actually want to die?

Maybe he had only wanted to escape this situation badly enough to wish for death.

But someone like me, even if I lived…

He was confused. His thoughts refused to sort themselves out clearly.

Then the girl said something to him before suddenly collapsing.

“…!”

Cain’s heart dropped.

Don’t tell me…

Had he once again brought misfortune upon someone and caused this girl to get hurt?

Blaming himself instinctively, Cain couldn’t even bring himself to touch the girl as he called for help.

“Save her. No matter what.”

His heart felt unbearably heavy. Looking at the girl who had collapsed after saving him was painful.

Fortunately, her life wasn’t in danger, and two days later she regained consciousness.

“Lady Winiel wishes to meet you.”

The moment she woke up, the girl asked for Cain.

“Tell her to say whatever she wants and leave.”

But Cain had no intention of meeting her.

Even if he realized he wanted to live, the guilt remained.

He didn’t want to meet people. He didn’t want to spread his misfortune to anyone else.

Even if his lifesaver wished to meet him, nothing would change.

For the sake of the family’s prestige, he would repay the one who saved the Argent heir—but only that much.

“I-I don’t know what kind of misfortune you’re talking about, but… I consider meeting you to be a stroke of luck, Young Master.”

…That was all.

“Looks like I need to change my plan. Let’s postpone the repayment matter.”

Riiip.

I tore up the paper and tossed it into the trash.

After talking with Cain yesterday, I had realized several things.

The moment I ask him to destroy the villain organization, I’ll probably be kicked out of this estate.

Because Cain clearly wanted me gone as soon as possible.

Honestly, that part itself would’ve been fine.

My original goal had simply been to ask Cain to deal with the villain organization.

If I got thrown out afterward, it would be disappointing, but acceptable so long as I managed to ask.

But can I really leave it at that?

Seeing Cain’s current state, I couldn’t trust things would work out if I simply made the request and left.

Cain’s cooperation was extremely important.

Because I need Cain’s help to destroy the villain organization.

More precisely, defeating the organization required Cain’s power.

The reason was simple.

The novel said Cain’s awakened aura possessed the power to stop the organization.

It was one of those classic fantasy novel settings.

The “only the protagonist can stand against the villain” kind.

So even if Cain kept trying to push me away, I had no choice but to seek his help.

It’d be great if I could save my brother without destroying the organization completely, but I need to prepare for the possibility that I can’t.

If I wanted to save my brother for sure, I needed to be ready to wipe the villain organization out entirely.

Even if I begged desperately before leaving, I’d still feel uneasy.

Right now, Cain didn’t seem particularly interested in anything I said.

He had surely heard that I was a saint candidate and that I came to the ducal estate with something important to say, yet he showed no curiosity whatsoever.

His wounds must run so deep that merely having me nearby makes him uncomfortable.

I had remembered that his backstory was tragic, but after seeing him in person, his condition was far worse than I had imagined.

I can’t just leave him like this. If he remains emotionally wounded, he won’t awaken his aura.

Of course, in the original story, Cain eventually overcame this trauma.

But that happened in the future.

If I simply waited for that, my brother would naturally die according to the original plot.

That can’t happen! He has to overcome it sooner than in the original story!

It looked like I would have to step in myself.

I’ll stick close to Cain and help him overcome his trauma faster!

There was a method.

I simply had to bring forward the very thing that helped Cain heal in the future.

I need to get Duke Argent and Cain to have an honest conversation.

The people Cain kept emotional distance from included the Duke and Duchess as well.

Because he believed his misfortune had caused his father’s illness, he carried immense guilt toward them.

And in the original story, his recovery began when a conversation with Duke Argent shattered that belief.

But it won’t be easy.

It sounded simple in theory, but under the current circumstances, it was difficult.

The Duke keeps leaving the estate to go north.

The two rarely had enough time together to bridge the gap between them.

And Cain certainly wasn’t going to initiate a conversation himself.

But things will be different if they have someone helping them.

If I stepped in, got them together sooner, and created an atmosphere where they could talk honestly—

Then Cain can overcome it much faster than in the original story.

Alright. Let’s do that.

The moment I made my decision, I left my room and went searching for the maid.

Fortunately, unlike yesterday, I quickly found her in the kitchen.

Though she looked extremely busy.

“Do you need something, Lady Winiel?”

“No, I wanted to ask something. When is Duke Argent returning?”

“The Duke… we do not know when she will return.”

The same answer as yesterday.

But this time, I couldn’t let it go.

“Why? Did something happen? Young Master Cain was almost seriously hurt.”

The maid set down the plate she had been wiping and answered quietly.

“…Young Master Cain instructed us not to inform the Duke about this attack.”

“!”

Cain did?

Just how deep does this rift go?

It really seemed like I needed to interfere.

“But an attack involving dark magic is a major incident.”

“He said he didn’t want to worry the Duke, who is already busy…”

“But she’ll eventually find out anyway. Won’t she only worry even more then?”

“Well… that is true.”

The maid admitted it in a small voice.

Got her. She’s wavering!

Seeing her hesitate, I quickly pressed further.

“I think the Duke should be informed. As a saint candidate, I also have something important to discuss with her…”

“Enough.”

A firm voice interrupted from behind me.

“Young Master?”

Startled, I turned around and saw Cain standing at the kitchen entrance.

Perhaps he had been on his way to sword training, because he still held a sword in his hand.

“Hello, Young Master.”

“I told you to say what you wanted and leave.”

Ignoring my greeting entirely, Cain glared at me sharply.

The atmosphere instantly became so hostile that it felt like I might be thrown out immediately.

But this was exactly when I needed to stand my ground!

“Yes! But I haven’t said it yet, so I can’t leave!”

“…”

“You’re not going to go back on your word and refuse repayment just because I haven’t said it yet, right? Especially as the heir of House Argent?”

Cain frowned as though dumbfounded.

“…I will repay you. But even if you’re a saint candidate, you have no right to interfere in family matters. If you want something, say it to me—not the Duke.”

After tossing those words at me, he turned and walked away.

He hates getting close to me that much, but he still came all the way here just to say that?

Just to stop me from contacting the Duke?

I sighed in frustration.

“Haah…”

“Haah…”

Hm?

Hearing another sigh beside me at the same time, I turned my head.

It was the maid.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing…”

The maid shook her head and resumed washing the dishes.

But her face looked full of worry, as though it practically had I’m troubled written all over it.

Something’s definitely going on.

I immediately softened my voice.

“What do you mean, nothing? If something’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

“It’s not something to burden a child with…”

“I may be eleven, but I’m still a saint candidate. I’m not an ordinary child. There isn’t even a priest who’s visited the temple library more than I have.”

“But…”

The maid still hesitated to speak.

Well, no helping it then.

“This is a secret.”

I quickly glanced around before whispering softly.

“I actually came to House Argent because I saw its future.”

“The future…?”

“Shh!”

I looked around once more before nodding.

“Yes, that’s right. So if something happened, I want to hear about it. If it’s connected to the future I saw, it might help.”

“…”

My words must have worked, because the maid looked deeply conflicted.

Soon, as though she had made up her mind, she slowly closed and opened her eyes before setting down the plate.

“…Please just listen lightly and let it pass.”

“Of course!”

Grinning brightly, I sat down on a chair in the corner of the kitchen.

“To begin with, the young master wasn’t always so determined to keep the Duke uninformed about the estate’s affairs. Even though the Duke frequently stayed away from the estate due to circumstances, they still contacted each other from time to time through communication magic tools.”

“Magic tools? You mean communication devices?”

“That’s correct.”

Wow, I heard those were incredibly expensive.

Not only were they huge and impossible to carry around, but they could only connect to specifically linked devices, so they were basically luxury items.

The ducal family really is different. Amazing.

I had once imagined how nice it would be to contact my brother through one of those.

Though putting aside the cost, divine power and magic had terrible compatibility anyway, so magical devices couldn’t really be used in the temple.

“But then last year, when the young master suffered an assassination attempt, we tried contacting the Duke through the device, yet there was no response.”

“Huh? Wasn’t it broken?”

“That’s what we thought as well, but after inspection, we were told the device was functioning properly.”

“Then maybe it was just a mistake…?”

As the atmosphere grew heavier, I trailed off cautiously.

The maid removed the cookies she had been baking and placed them in front of me.

“A single occurrence might have been a mistake. But the same thing happened repeatedly afterward. Eventually, the young master came to believe that the Duke ignored the messages because she considered the incidents unimportant.”

“But… um, still…”

“Then one day, when the Duke returned to the estate, the matter of the messages was brought up…”

“Stop sending pointless messages.”

“…After that, the young master stopped contacting the Duke entirely.”