TGHB 34

Chapter – 34

Flinch.

“……”

I was about to answer that I’d go get the umbrella, but somehow, the words wouldn’t come out.

As I silently moved my lips, instead of answering, I just bobbed my head up and down and turned to walk away.

‘It’s okay, Meloni. You’re used to being treated coldly!’

I’m not the kind of person to be cowed by a little coldness like that.

Yeah, I’m really fine–.

So why won’t any strength go into my slumped shoulders?

As I trudged along, listlessly looking at the ground.

Thud.

“Ow–!”

Thump.

I suddenly banged my head into something that had popped out and fell flat on my backside.

‘Oww. Feels like my butt split in two…’

Wait a second.

Was my butt always split in two?

Along with this profound question, as I was rubbing my sore butt–

“Ah, damn it! Filthy!”

“Hey, are your eyes just for decoration?!”

Sharp curses poured down on me from above.

Seeing the child sitting slumped on the ground, trembling, Spelledia’s two young masters, Eden and Noah, gave sneering smiles.

The two exchanged a look without words.

‘Just as planned.’

‘Yeah. Fell right for it.’

The two had intentionally bumped into Meloni and picked a fight.

After hearing from a servant that Louis was in the backyard, they had come here looking for him, and upon arriving–

“Why did you call me? I told you not to bother me. Are you ignoring me?”

“I don’t need that.”

“You idiot. Stop being a nuisance, do as you please. I’m not interested in you.”

They had found Louis coldly dismissing a young, shabby-looking kid.

Judging by the clothes, the child seemed to be a young servant or a servant’s child.

Or perhaps a child who takes beatings in place of the young master.

Whatever the case, what was certain was.

“Looks like that unlucky bastard dislikes that wretched kid, huh?”

“Yeah. Seems like it.”

“Hmm, this makes things simpler.”

Louis and these two had barely become acquainted.

They were at a level where they’d exchanged greetings in passing, nothing more and nothing less.

They’d been wondering how to get close to that unlucky bastard, and this seemed perfect.

“If we teach the kid he dislikes a lesson for him, he’ll like it, right?”

And above all, rather than just flattering Louis, tormenting this wretched kid seemed like it would be more fun.

And so, now.

The two stood before Meloni, who had fallen flat on the floor, and growled menacingly.

The flustered child’s eyes hurriedly scanned their faces.

“What’s this? Not lowering your eyes?”

“You dare look at us with your eyes wide open, knowing who we are?”

“…B-But… all people’s eyes are round…”

“How insolent, talking back?!”

Bark! At the shouted voice, the already small body curled up even more.

Seeing the child trembling puddle-puddle, the two snickered.

Eden bent over and pushed the child’s forehead with his index finger. Poke, poke.

“Hey, beggar. People dislike cheeky brats like you.”

“Yeah. Because you don’t know your place and try to climb up.”

At the voices filled with cruel laughter, Meloni gulped.

Words that would normally go in one ear and out the other today stabbed like daggers.

‘…Did Louis start to really dislike me too, because I’m cheeky?’

It was because I was already utterly crushed by Louis’s coldness.

Seeing Meloni visibly become dejected, the two children sneered.

“This won’t do. Looks like we need to teach you some manners.”

A rough hand grabbed Meloni by the nape and yanked me up.

“Eeek!”

The two children tightly grabbed Meloni’s wrists from both sides as I stumbled to my feet.

“If we teach you proper manners, your master will like it, right?”

“Isn’t there somewhere we can lock you up?”

“That’s right. You need a little prison experience to come to your senses.”

Prison experience?

You’re going to lock me up somewhere?

As I processed their words, Meloni’s face rapidly paled.

It reminded me of a similar incident in the past.

During my time at the orphanage before the regression.

“Because of you, we don’t have enough food!”

“The headmistress is always saying things too. Let’s just lock this kid up somewhere.”

“Yeah, let’s do it! We’ll teach them a firm lesson!”

Some of the children had once locked the young Meloni in a storage shed.

“N-No! Please save me!”

I don’t remember the children’s faces clearly, but the pure malice in their laughter at my pleas is still vividly etched in my mind.

As a similar situation arose, that terror quickly began to revive.

The memory of being locked alone in a cold, dirty, dark shed for a full day, crying and crying until I collapsed exhausted, also came back to life.

“Let me go…! No, no!”

As the panicked Meloni struggled with all my might, the two young masters frowned.

“Stop struggling and come along, won’t you? Do you want to be hit?!”

“Stay still. I said stay still!”

But the panicked child’s struggles didn’t stop.

“Ah,  Abadi! Harabudi! Onabeoniiii–!”

Instead, I screamed even louder, which threw the Spelledia brothers into a panic.

“Dammit, this is really…!”

Just as Eden roughly tried to cover the child’s mouth.

“Why on earth is it so noisy here. I told you to stop calling… What.”

Louis, scratching the back of his head as he ran over, stopped in his tracks when he saw the three.

The two boys he vaguely remembered meeting once, and Meloni, grabbed by them with my mouth covered.

In this utterly incomprehensible situation, Meloni’s desperate gaze turned to Louis.

A dewy mist had formed in my violet eyes.

Simultaneously, Louis’s face grew cold as ice.

“What’s going on here. What are you two doing right now.”

“Long time no see, Young Master. I hope you’ve been we–”

“Spare me the pointless greetings. I asked what you’re doing.”

The voice, beyond cold to icy, made the two young masters flinch involuntarily.

A moment later, their faces flushed red.

They felt angry and ashamed that they’d momentarily been frightened by someone at least three years their junior.

“Ha, haha. We were just about to teach this insolent child some manners.”

Eden answered, forcing a smile while clenching his molars. Noah also chimed in with a laugh.

“That’s right. They had no sense of their place, so insolent. We were going to properly educate them on your be–”

However, his words couldn’t continue.

Wham–!

Louis charged forward and punched Noah in the face with his fist. Simultaneously.

“Guhhk!”

With a groan, Noah flew through the air in a parabola.

It all happened in an instant.

It didn’t take long for the commotion to reach the Duke’s ears.

“It’s a disaster, Your Grace! The Young Master is fighting with the guests! And the young lady is with them too–!”

Contié, who had been half-listening to Count Spelledia’s words, shot up from his seat.

“Where.”

“Near the backyard…!”

Before the maid’s words even finished, the Duke threw himself into his own shadow.

“D, Duke! I’ll come with you…!”

Count Spelledia hurriedly stood up to follow, but Contié had already disappeared.

“Damn it…”

Muttering softly, the Count hurried, panting, to the backyard.

Arriving out of breath, the situation was already over.

The Pantheive Young Master stood with fists clenched, glaring while panting heavily. And his own sons were…

“No, Noah! Eden!”

“F, Father…!”

“Waaaaah!”

They were crying, their faces bloodied with twin nosebleeds.

Running over in shock, seeing their faces up close was even worse.

One front tooth was cleanly gone, and black bruises were forming around their eyes.

They looked starkly different from the unharmed Louis.

“What is the meaning of this, Young Master! How could you do this! Beating my sons black and blue like this!”

Despite the Count’s furious shout, Louis merely glared at the two brothers without a word.

That only stoked the Count’s anger further.

“The Duke must answer me, then! What is the meaning of this!”

“Can’t you see? The kids fought.”

“They didn’t fight, my sons were beaten one-sidedly!”

At the Count’s words, Contié shrugged his shoulders.

“Louis.”

At the casual call, Louis’s shoulders flinched upward…