IBOSML 10

Chapter : 10

“No.”

“I’m not asking to scold you.”

“……Actually, I heard evewything.”

The Duke laughed.

“You suddenly became honest.”

“If she lacked even that much spirit, could she really call herself a Rollcade?”

Elisha lowered the hands covering her ears and cautiously studied Glenn’s expression.

Eventually, Glenn laughed too.

“You must have questions you want to ask.”

The child gave a small nod.

She was a clever child. After hearing the conversation earlier, she must have realized Glenn could no longer use his ability—

“Did you and Daddy fight?”

“Hm?”

What?

“It looked like you were gonna throw that.”

Only then did Glenn glance at the ink bottle clenched in his hand.

He cleared his throat and quietly set it down.

“Other than that?”

“I hope you make up.”

That couldn’t possibly be all she wanted to ask.

Yet the child’s clear eyes were far too calm, leaving Glenn oddly deflated.

“Didn’t you hear? This grandfather of yours can no longer use his ability.”

“I heard.”

“……Do you perhaps not know what a shield is?”

“I know! A twanspawent shield!”

“And?”

“It doesn’t matter!”

The child spread her arms.

When Glenn lifted her up, she immediately snuggled tightly against him and shouted,

“Elisha can fix evewything!”

Her voice was so bright and innocent that it sounded almost childish.

‘But….’

At the same time, it made him want to believe her innocence.

Her smile had that kind of power.

It gave him the strange feeling that everything would somehow end peacefully and happily.

“Is that so?”

And so Glenn chose not to question her words any further.

Because he wanted to believe too—

That his ability would return.

That everything would turn out alright.

“……Sleepy.”

The child mumbled before nestling closer against Glenn and beginning to doze off.

“What a ridiculous little thing.”

Glenn looked at the clock before lifting the child in his arms.

It would be easier to put her to sleep in her own room.

As he started walking toward her room, the Duke held out his hands.

“Are you trying to completely ruin your arm? Give her to me.”

“It’s fine. This old man isn’t dead yet.”

He quickly walked ahead before his son could take Elisha away.

And beneath the soft humming of his tune, the child’s sleepy murmur faded unnoticed.

‘That shield thing… I can fix it.’

Grandfather could still use his shield.

Something was merely interfering with it, preventing it from fully forming.

Before, it had only been speculation.

But after seeing the faint haze-like phenomenon with her own eyes, Elisha became completely certain.

‘A Nullification Stone.’

Someone was using a Nullification Stone to interfere with Grandfather’s ability.

The reason I knew about Nullification Stones was because Ian used one in the original story.

When Claude, after becoming Crown Prince, killed many people—including “Elisha”—Ian swore revenge.

But it was difficult to counter the Crown Prince’s flame ability.

Just like the Duke, Ian never properly learned how to use abilities himself.

So Ian carried a Nullification Stone capable of temporarily sealing the Crown Prince’s powers.

Though the stone he trusted so much was easily overcome, and Ian himself ended up captured by the Crown Prince anyway.

‘What matters is that if the Nullification Stone is destroyed, abilities can be used again.’

The problem was—

‘I don’t know where it is.’

To be affected by a Nullification Stone, you had to stay close to it.

But Grandfather said he had been unable to use his shield all the way from the frontier until now.

‘Which means someone carried the Nullification Stone while following Grandfather from the frontier all the way here.’

And I had no idea who that person was.

‘But they must still be lurking nearby.’

Wasn’t there some way to lure them closer to the mansion?

“Ugh.”

It was a bright sunny day.

Thinking about all this while sitting in the playroom gave me a headache.

My life.

How miserable did it have to be for me to start worrying about things like this at the age of three?

I flopped dramatically onto the rug covering the playroom floor.

“Miss, do you not like your new toys?”

Apparently, to the maid, I looked like a child throwing a tantrum.

Without answering, I shook my head and closed my eyes.

I must have accidentally dozed off for a moment because—

“Hello, Elisha? Brown came to visit you after a long time.”

Ian was sitting beside my head, holding a teddy bear.

“Brown is lonely because Elisha hasn’t played with him lately. So today, Brown came to play hide-and-seek.”

He firmly shook the teddy bear’s paw before placing it beside my face.

Come to think of it, my situation—trying to find a Nullification Stone hidden somewhere—really was a lot like hide-and-seek.

“I don’t wanna be the seeker….”

Thinking hurt my head too much.

As I muttered and rolled away from the teddy bear, Ian grabbed it again and raised his voice in a squeaky tone.

“Today, only Brown will be the seeker.”

“But eventually the seeker changes.”

Ian fell silent for a moment before asking,

“Why don’t you like being the seeker?”

“Because finding hidden things ish hard.”

“Hmm… That’s true if you don’t know the trick.”

Ian nodded wisely.

“When that happens, it’s simple. You just quit the game.”

“Huh?”

What?

“If the game ends, there’s no reason for anyone to keep hiding, right? You just watch where they come out from and later search that same place—”

I stopped listening.

Actually, I didn’t need to hear the rest.

“Oppa, you’re a genius!”

Because I already had the answer.

“Hm?”

“You’re super smart! The smartest in the world!”

“Elisha…!”

Ian looked delighted despite having no idea what was going on.

“You can ask me anything! I know tricks to win every game easily! As long as you know the method! So, what game should I teach you next?”

“I’ll hear it later.”

I was busy right now.

I practically ran out of the playroom.

“E-Elisha…?”

Only Ian’s lonely, bewildered voice remained behind.

‘Why didn’t I think of that sooner?’

When a game ends, the people hiding naturally come out.

I didn’t know why such a simple and obvious truth had never occurred to me before.

Of course, this wasn’t a real game of hide-and-seek.

So instead of announcing surrender, I needed to do something else to end the “game.”

‘Wouldn’t they come out if they thought they’d already won?’

The person carrying the Nullification Stone probably wanted Grandfather injured—or dead.

‘If rumors spread that Grandfather was seriously hurt, they’d probably come.’

Not rumors that he had died.

Just that he was injured.

Then, at the very least, they would come to check how severe his condition was.

After reaching that conclusion, I ran all around the mansion.

“I think Gwampa’s really sick. Is there anything good for sick people?”

Emphasizing over and over that Grandfather was ill and bedridden.

Of course, I also made Grandfather stay in bed.

Otherwise the setup wouldn’t make sense.

“The doctor said he needs lots of west to get better fast.”

“That old fool is older than me, so why are you calling him mister? He’s an old codger.”

Grandfather constantly grumbled about being stuck inside his room.

“Besides, it’s not like I’m dying.”

“But still… I feel like you got hurt because of me.”

Whenever I drooped my eyes pitifully like that, he would sigh and lie back down again.

“……What sins did I commit in my previous life?”

Grandfather sighed before halfway sitting up in bed.

“Bring me some water.”

Then the water seemed to go down the wrong way, and he suddenly bent over coughing.

“Doctor! I’ll go get Mister Doctor!”

“It’s just—cough! Went down the wrong pipe! Cough! Damn it, did she already leave?”

As I ran outside, I heard the Duke’s voice behind me.

“Daughter. Would you worry that much if I got sick too? Hmm?”

“What exactly are you jealous of, you fool?”

“How could I not be jealous?!”

the Duke shouted.

“Maybe you don’t look forward to your old age because you don’t have a thoughtful child, Father, but I’m different!”

“What a thing to brag about, you unfilial brat.”

Listening to the two of them strengthening their father-son bond(?) behind me, I continued carrying out my plan.

Still, I couldn’t be certain it would work.

There were limits to what I could accomplish with such a small body.

More importantly, many people in the mansion had already seen Grandfather walking around just fine earlier.

Even though I kept loudly insisting afterward that his condition had worsened, I had no idea how much people would believe it.

“You were said to be unwell, so I came to visit.”

Apparently, I didn’t need to worry.

Because the seeds I planted bore fruit beautifully.

“Didn’t I clearly tell you to get lost?”

Three mornings later—

The man I had previously driven away, Eric Romford, came to visit Grandfather.

“Even so, I’ve served you for decades, sir. Once I heard such news, how could I possibly stay away?”

With a brooch made from a Nullification Stone pinned proudly to his chest.