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Chapter 40
Thud—
In the corridor near the back gate of the mansion, Lord Abelus slammed his fist against the marble floor.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
His bare fist, devoid of any magic power, struck the solid marble and was easily bruised.
But he did not stop.
From the start, he was not trying to break the floor but rather to damage his own hand. The terrible institution that had left his lifelong sworn friend paralyzed.
Exhausted, Lord Abelus leaned against a pillar and lay down. Someone approached him.
It was Lady Kalidora, carrying a bundle of herbs for the wounds.
With a face full of complicated emotions, she fidgeted anxiously and moved her lips.
But the only words she spoke were:
“…I’m sorry.”
Lord Abelus looked up at her weakly.
“Ridiculous. If it wasn’t your fault, then why apologize?”
“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry…”
Lady Kalidora had just come out after being interrogated by the family for over ten hours. Though there was no direct evidence to make a final decision, most people were already convinced she was the culprit.
So Lord Abelus surely must hate her.
“But it’s really not true… please believe me. I didn’t hate him.”
“…”
As the silence dragged on, Lady Kalidora’s face twisted in despair. She had completely lost hope. However—
“I believe you.”
Lord Abelus said nonchalantly.
Surprised, Lady Kalidora raised her head and gasped for air.
“Y-you… why…?”
“I told you to believe, and so I believed, but now you ask why. Honestly, I don’t know either. The only thing I can say is that it’s that about you that made me trust you.”
Lady Kalidora was speechless and stood still as Lord Abelus continued:
“Look up, Kalidora. They lost a child and a friend in an instant, and their grief is so immense that they need someone to direct their anger towards. But I am too high up for them to throw stones at. So the scapegoat will be you.”
“Scapegoat…”
“So hide in the mansion. Don’t come out until the storm has passed. That’s all I can say. Go back to your room and close the inner door. There are still outsiders inside the house.”
Lady Kalidora nodded and turned away.
As she walked off, Lord Abelus added one last thing.
“…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you like that. It wasn’t your fault. Seeing you brought back memories I couldn’t bear.”
Lady Kalidora obeyed and secluded herself in her room.
After that day, no one sought her out anymore.
Only maids occasionally came with hopeless news.
Lady Kalidora was stripped of her heir position, which was then given back to Skybola.
The Explosius family, the most powerful vassal house supporting Lord Abelus, eventually turned their back on Ignitus.
In the end, everything happened exactly as Erasinus had intended.
I stayed by Lady Kalidora’s side for a long time, listening to her murmurs as she gazed out the window.
Around that time, the political situation became seriously unstable, and the Fire Legion’s departures increased.
“The eternal guardian of flame, Vestasi. Let us protect this peace with the power you have granted us.”
Lady Kalidora prayed to the goddess and watched the departing soldiers, speaking softly.
“If that spirit is really that great, if that truly is your mission… then why can’t you find me here?”
Compassion. Light. Protection.
All exalted ideals loudly praised by everyone in Ignitus—but they felt so far away from her.
“Why don’t you protect me?”
After those words, her vision slowly darkened.
The dream ended.
‘What is this…’
Halfway between dream and reality, I wept endlessly.
“Sis! Look! The baby’s crying!”
“Huh? Oh, it’s true! But why is the baby here?”
“Maybe the baby misses its mom. Let’s bring the mom!”
“Hmm, that can’t happen… what should we do?”
“Baby, don’t cry!”
“Bellicus, I have a good idea. Let’s hug the baby tightly! Maybe the baby will calm down!”
“Okay, sis!”
“Ugh…”
Suddenly, a heavy pressure pressed on me and I opened my eyes.
Velikia and Bellicus had climbed up onto the chair and were hugging me tightly.
“Benikia…? Benicutt?”
“Baby! You woke up!”
“Why were you crying? Did you have a scary dream?”
“I had a very sad dream…”
I wiped my tear-streaked face roughly and spoke.
The siblings hugged me even tighter.
“Baby, don’t cry! We’ll chase away the bad dreams!”
They were babies themselves, yet worried about me. Thanks to them, the overwhelming sadness inside me calmed a little.
The problem was, I was starting to feel suffocated.
“I’m okay now. Thanks to Benicutt and Benikia!”
I gently pushed the children’s cheeks with both hands and looked around.
Still the annex. But now, instead of the study where I had been earlier, we were in a large parlor.
“Where is this place?”
“This is the Basilica room. Paulie said we could ride horses here!”
“Right, so we came here, but the baby was lying here crying, so we got worried!”
Did Erasinus leave me here?
“Benikku, Benikia, I thought you had gone home.”
“We were going to, but Lord Erasinus said we could stay longer. It’s much more fun here. This place is much bigger than the house where just our family lives.”
“Yeah, yeah. Shall we play horse riding?”
“Is playing horse riding important now? The baby was crying!”
“What does that have to do with crying!”
The siblings started bickering again while still hugging me.
Really, they argue just by looking at each other.
‘This isn’t the time for this.’
I tuned out their quarrels and focused on my own thoughts.
“If I ever meet someone else with a similar flaw, I’ll tell them the same thing: There’s no problem.”
‘Liar.’
I knew well that young Lady Kalidora desperately needed a warm word. Yet I had used that need for my own purposes…
Since Erasinus had already summoned me, he must be thinking about how to use me to shake the heads of the family and Lord Abelus.
He saw me as Lady Kalidora’s only use.
‘I absolutely cannot allow that.’
If there was anything useful about me in this timeline, it would be to judge him.
To do that, I needed to clean up the family as soon as possible.
The past Erasinus officially stayed in the annex but came and went from the main building as if it was his own home. That would be impossible without the cooperation of his servants.
I wondered how he could plant his spies without the head of the family noticing—and the answer came from the children’s conversation.
He took advantage of the time when the heads of Abelus’s faction were at Kekaum.
‘How many are there? Surely not among the maids, too?’
I recalled the servants I knew one by one—and suddenly a chilling thought struck me.
How did Skybola know to wait for Ankus’s departure?
Only a few people in the office knew about that.
Maybe some of his closest aides were involved.
As my body trembled, Velikia, who had been bickering with me, held my hand tightly.
“Baby, are you cold?”
“A bit…”
I let the children distract themselves and tried hard to think.
I had to find the link between Erasinus and the main building and report it to the head of the family.
