🔊 TTS Settings
~Chapter 07~
Elodie was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling.
She was holding herself back from shouting, “What are you to me? You’re my everything!”
How could she not be?
Sarah was the only person who had ever treated her — a rat all her life — as an actual person.
It was thanks to Sarah that she’d been given this chance to go back in time and live as a human again.
A savior of her life?
No — Sarah was the savior of her soul.
“Come with me. Please?”
“…Elodie. I’m a Bluewood. At least until I come of age, I have to stay here.”
Sarah, struggling to hide her fluster, forced herself to answer calmly.
She didn’t want to hurt Elodie, but maybe if she rejected her firmly enough, Elodie would give up.
“We’re family by blood, after all. Someday… yes. Someday they’ll recognize me. They’ll accept me.”
That faint, sorrowful murmur didn’t calm Elodie in the least — it drove her mad.
What? She was choosing to stay and get abused in this good-for-nothing household until adulthood?
Then what — get swept off her feet by some hollow, shiny prince and marry him?
Then end up abandoned in the palace, crying alone for ten years until she’s finally cast out?
“Not while I’m still breathin’! (Over my dead body!)”
“…What?”
“The ocean? Someday? You said that before! Always the same! When’s someday, huh?”
“Wait, hold on—”
“If not now, then never! Sarah, you gotta go now, and be happy till the day you die! You gotta be loved!”
“E-Elodie…”
“Who says they don’t like you! Who! Who dares! (Who says they hate you! Who, huh, who!)”
Elodie squeaked furiously, tail lashing.
If anyone ever dared to dislike Sarah, she’d fillet them like a fish on the spot.
Sarah blinked, taken aback by the sheer intensity, then turned to the young Lord Valkyrisen beside her.
Her look seemed to ask: Is this… okay?
“Hm…”
The boy, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke — as if he’d made up his mind.
“Seraphina Bluewood.”
“Yes?”
“If that’s truly your name, then leaving your family won’t be an issue.”
“And why is that?”
“If I’ve never heard that name before, it means it isn’t even recorded in the Bluewood family registry.”
“…”
She had believed — someday — they would acknowledge her.
But if her name wasn’t even in the records, then from the very beginning, they’d never once intended to accept her.
There would never even be a chance.
I didn’t even know that…
Sarah’s face slowly fell.
Elodie fidgeted, desperate to comfort her but not knowing how.
Then—
“That’s wrong. Clearly.”
Edmund spoke firmly.
“So if you wish, I’ll help you.”
He said it as easily as breathing.
Was he so used to helping others?
Had he always stepped in whenever he saw someone wronged — not out of gain, but because it was right?
It was clear he wasn’t flattering her out of some ulterior motive; his honest tone and steady gaze made that certain.
Well, this is the same guy who, even as an adult, would pile sunflower seeds for a rat, Elodie thought.
Maybe it was the Valkyrisen family creed — or his own personal conviction.
Elodie snorted softly.
Yeah, he’s a good person.
Rare enough to be almost mythical.
But as for being Sarah’s suitor — that was out of the question.
Not only would he have to pass Elodie’s hundred and one trials,
He’s a Valkyrisen.
No hard feelings — but no means no.
Sorry, kid. I’ll repay today’s kindness somehow, but you’d better give up on Sarah.
Elodie gave the boy a look of sympathy — not realizing he wasn’t thinking about Sarah that way at all.
Meanwhile, Edmund was scanning the servants and knights on the ground.
“You two — step outside for a moment. I’ll tidy up and come right out.”
“‘Tidy up’?”
“One minute will do.”
One minute?
Sarah blinked, still holding Elodie, and nodded uncertainly before stepping out of the storage room.
Edmund closed the door behind them with a reassuring smile.
And moments later—
“Shall we go?”
The boy emerged, spotless and calm, closing the door deftly behind him so they couldn’t see inside.
An eerie silence lingered in the warehouse.
…What on earth did he do?
* * *
Count Bluewood and the Countess were entertaining Duke Valkyrisen in the parlor.
“Haha, I never imagined even your son would accompany you here, Your Grace.”
“…”
“How fortunate that my daughters are about the same age as your young heir.”
The Count was sweating bullets as he tried to keep the conversation alive.
But the Duke barely twitched an eyebrow — clearly uninterested in small talk.
He was tapping the armrest of his chair in rhythm with the ticking of his pocket watch.
That steady tick-tock gnawed at the Count’s nerves.
I thought he’d come in waving a sword and making threats…
Despite his monumental military achievements and his fearsome title — “The Demon King of War” —
The Duke was unnervingly calm. Too calm.
The Count couldn’t stop wiping his sweaty brow.
Why did he keep checking that watch?
What was he waiting for?
“My daughter Rose is the same age as your young heir — how delightful! She’s been so lonely without friends her age. I do hope they might become close companions.”
That was when—
The Countess, who had been waiting for a chance, suddenly burst into chatter, shattering the tense quiet.
“Not to brag, but my daughters Rose and Daisy are both exceptionally well-educated and refined. We chose not to send them to the academy; instead, they’ve received personal tutoring from the most esteemed scholars!”
The Count screamed internally.
This isn’t a matchmaking meeting! Read the room!
The fate of the Bluewood family depended on that damned rat’s life or death!
The goal was to send the Duke away peacefully without giving him a reason to cause trouble!
But really — how often did a small noble house get a chance to sit with a living legend like this?
Better to be remembered, even if slightly unfavorably, than not at all — the Countess thought.
She continued, eyes glittering with greed.
“I’ve heard your son also didn’t attend the academy. I’m sure he’s been privately tutored as well, though perhaps he’s lacked social interaction with peers?”
“That’s true.”
The Duke finally replied.
“My boy has no friends. Never had, never will.”
She hadn’t expected that.
“And he wasn’t expelled — well, not exactly. He went to the academy, yes, but didn’t last long. Let’s say he left… of his own accord.”
“I-I see.”
“He’s hopeless when it comes to sociability. No flexibility at all. I wonder who he takes after…”
The Duke sighed.
The Countess froze, wondering if she’d just stepped on a landmine.
But she steeled herself — this might be her only chance.
“Why say he’ll never have friends? Surely now that fate has brought us together, he could get along with my daughters.”
The old man’s wrinkled mouth curled into a faint, unreadable smile.
“You needn’t worry about that. He’s already entangled with one of them.”
“Oh my, really?”
The Countess brightened — and blinked in confusion.
How could he possibly know that?
Or… was that his wish?
Had he already chosen one of her daughters as his son’s match?
“Whom do you mean, exactly?”
The eldest, Rose? Or the second, Daisy?
She asked eagerly — but the moment their eyes met, she flinched.
Those golden eyes blazed like flames of judgment.
A chill ran through her.
Why did she suddenly feel as if a blade hovered at her throat?
Why couldn’t she breathe?
And then, in that quiet, heavy voice—
“Your third daughter.”
The words made her heart plummet.
