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chapter 33
“Just stay here.”
Reto’s eyes went wide in surprise as he looked at Livanu.
Grace was equally startled.
She had worried because of Reto’s twitchy, somewhat reluctant reactions, but Livanu was, well… Livanu.
Despite putting on a prickly front, there was a subtle kindness beneath it all, and Reto could see it clearly.
“I can’t.”
But it was Reto who refused outright.
“Why?”
When Livanu asked again, Reto hesitated before answering.
“Because I have to go back.”
“So, why?”
“…I… can’t stay here.”
“Why?”
Reto insisted on leaving, while Livanu kept pressing for a reason. Frustrated by the endless questioning, Reto clamped his mouth shut and tried to get off the bed, but Livanu pressed down on his head, keeping him from moving.
“Why… why are you doing this…?”
Reto shook his head in resistance, but Livanu didn’t budge.
“If you tell me the reason, I’ll let you go.”
“So… Sophièn…”
He shrank and trembled as he said Sophièn’s name.
“Why Sophièn?”
“…Well, it’s like this.”
“Did Sophièn make you like this?”
“…Do you mean like this?”
Reto tilted his head, as if unsure what ‘like this’ referred to, even though he feared Sophièn.
“Did he hit you?”
“Yes. But he only did it for my own good. It’s not every day, and today I did something wrong, so it happened.”
Reto said this as if it were completely normal.
Livanu smiled, secretly envious of the freedom Reto had, yet it seemed Reto thought the abuse he suffered was justified.
“Haah…”
Livanu and Grace both let out deep sighs simultaneously, while Reto blinked with a blank expression.
Grace squatted in front of the bed, holding Reto’s hand tightly.
“Does it hurt when you’re hit?”
“Yes.”
“Can I ask why they hit you?”
“Well… when I was younger, they hit me when I didn’t listen. Now, they hit me when I make mistakes. But this time, it’s because I didn’t listen. I went out when I wasn’t supposed to, and I went to see you even though I was told not to.”
It seemed he had come out secretly because he was curious about something.
But he only stepped out for a brief moment, and yet he was beaten for wandering around.
“No matter what, the punishment is too harsh.”
Even if she couldn’t comfort him, Grace could clearly distinguish right from wrong.
“What do you mean? Kids like me only listen when it hurts.”
“No, Reto. Will you not listen if I don’t hit you?”
“That’s not it. Am I making another mistake?”
He was just a seven-year-old child.
An age to occasionally misstep or throw tantrums.
But Reto’s tone was flawless, and his posture unyielding, as if he had been trained never to break.
“There’s no mistake. I’m just telling you that Sophièn is wrong.”
Reto tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.
“You mean Sophièn is wrong? In what way?”
The child was unusually mature.
“What are you trying to tell me?”
Grace’s words caught in her throat; she didn’t know how to answer.
“I mean exactly what I said.”
She wasn’t the type to explain in long, convoluted sentences.
“Do you really think Sophièn is treating you well, young master?”
When she turned the question back, Reto could say nothing.
Instinctively, he must have sensed it.
“Well, if you want to go to Sophièn, you may. I won’t stop you. But young master, is your curiosity satisfied?”
“…That’s…”
Reto, unable to hide his confusion, trembled and didn’t know what to do.
Livanu, observing quietly, realized that Reto wasn’t unaware—he was pretending not to know out of fear.
“Will you go?”
Grace asked again.
Reto’s eyes slowly filled with tears, and shaking his head, he asked with a wavering gaze:
“…Am I… allowed… to stay here?”
At the same time, Grace looked at Livanu, who, without thinking, gave his permission.
“They say you may.”
He could stay.
Perhaps tired, even breathing filled the room, and Livanu, who had been silent, spoke.
“So, how did you know and bring him here?”
He had said he brought Reto, who was in the room.
This meant Grace had deliberately gone to find the child; she wouldn’t have done so without knowing something.
“…Well, actually…”
Grace recounted everything she had heard in the village, including all the suspicious details. Esi glared as if ready to tear Sophièn apart, while Livanu let out a deep sigh.
“Why the sigh? Are you just annoyed?”
In truth, Grace was honestly a little lazy to intervene despite it being tragic that a child had suffered such things.
“What? That’s impossible.”
Livanu immediately denied it, shocked.
It was a relief that the young master she served wasn’t like the other morally corrupt person, but the guilty look Livanu gave made Grace feel a little uneasy.
Young master… the real trash is me…
Muttering silently, Grace asked why he sighed again. Livanu, reflexively, sighed and made a sad face.
“Just… I guess you were right all along, Grace.”
“Ah.”
“Above all, you can’t ignore things like this.”
“Eh?”
“You’re too kind, you can’t turn away.”
“Eh?”
“So I brought him here.”
“Uh…”
“I guessed it. I said I come first, most important, but I suspected you’d still care for him.”
Livanu said this bitterly, yet looked at Grace as if she were some angel of the century. Grace wondered what her place was inside Livanu.
She glanced at Esi as if asking for help, but Esi’s expression was equally resolute.
“I feel sympathy for him, so Grace, how much worse must you feel!”
“….”
Grace decided to remain silent. No need to label herself as trash just to be seen favorably.
It was almost certain that Sophièn was someone associated with the duke.
The duke might not have explained everything to Sophièn, but from Sophièn’s perspective, he would report any changes regarding Livanu’s skin condition if it improved.
It was a special case.
If the skin suddenly healed, the duke could change his approach. In previous incidents, when Livanu tried to leave the family after proving his abilities, the duke invoked blood ties to stop him.
The remarkable thing about Livanu wasn’t his intelligence but his identity as Infinito Danio. Even unaware of this, the duke couldn’t easily let him go.
That’s why the fact that Livanu’s skin had healed must never reach the duke.
“I think we need to deal with Sophièn.”
Even if not for that reason, Esi couldn’t ignore an abuser.
“I thought he was a good person, but finding out he abused a child, we absolutely can’t leave it be.”
“But how do we deal with him?”
Chasing him out of the village was easy enough.
But Sophièn wouldn’t simply despair or accept being expelled. He’d definitely seek out the duke again.
Whether the duke would accept him was uncertain, though their bond might surprisingly be close.
“What would young master Reto want to do?”
Esi mentioned Reto appropriately.
The decision regarding Sophièn should rest solely with Reto.
Reto wasn’t thoughtless just because he was young.
Watching Reto, Livanu wondered what he himself would think. Livanu also wanted revenge but had given up everything and descended to this domain.
Of course, Grace was confident Livanu would eventually teach the duke a lesson, but for now, that wasn’t the case.
Feeling Grace’s gaze, Livanu turned sharply and asked,
“Why?”
“No….”
“I’m fine with it.”
Livanu seemed to understand her thoughts from her eyes alone.
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
Relieved, Grace quickly turned her attention to Reto.
“Sophièn, the one they said was the caretaker here?”
Livanu quietly confirmed.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Anyway, if he’s negatively affecting this child, there’s no need to keep him around.”
“That’s true too.”
“A mere servant, yet he even used violence against someone I serve. This isn’t just a matter for Reto to decide. So, we don’t need anyone’s opinion.”
Grace immediately understood what he meant.
“The issue is the duke—would he even be unaware?”
