ITYVA 33🔐

Chapter 33

‘…Did he notice that I was trying to slip away?’

Just as Aches thought that and tried to take a step back,
Milon quickly stretched out his hand and grabbed his.

“As, I know you’re shy with strangers, but if you don’t want to lose your big brother, you’d better hold my hand, right?”

The gloved hand gripped the small bare one tightly.

From the pressure, Aches realized why Milon was so insistent on holding hands.

From the leather glove came a faint, chilling sensation.

A poison. Laalone.
Just the slightest contact with skin was enough to paralyze the entire body within ten minutes.

It was the most commonly used poison among noble families—so common that it was the first one they all built resistance to.

‘So… he wants to use me to threaten Einra?’

Aches’ lips twisted upward in irritation.

This damned little body—did Milon think it was Einra’s weakness?

In his crimson eyes, murderous intent surged like a tide, but he forced it down.

Even in the body of a child, crushing the throat of a normal man like Milon would have been easy.
But killing—or even knocking out—the son of a local influential family was dangerous.

His parents would surely demand answers and investigate their son’s death.

And running away wasn’t possible either.

Before touching the poison, maybe.
But if “As” ran away after making contact with poison and remained fine, Milon would definitely become suspicious.

And he wouldn’t keep that suspicion to himself.

One way or another, it would only be a matter of time before word spread that “As” wasn’t like an ordinary child.

And once the nobles heard… who knew what kind of excuse they might use against them?

Aches didn’t care much about such things.
But Einra would worry. She would care.

So instead…

‘Calling in the city watch would be the best move.’

The watch acted under public justification.
Bringing them in would be the cleanest and simplest way to handle this matter.

But…

Aches’ crimson eyes darkened.

The Limone, embedded with communication magic, wasn’t working.
Yesterday, the assassin in the courtyard had cast a mana-suppression spell, and it still hadn’t lifted.

The same went for aura communication.

He hadn’t told Einra yet, but the backlash of the curse nullification happened to be… losing the ability to use aura.

‘…The only option is to wait for Einra to summon the watch. Or for the spell to wear off.’

He bit his lip.

How he hated this weak, pathetic body that only weighed down Einra.

“See, As? Walking hand-in-hand with your big brother isn’t so bad, right? I’ll take you to Sister Einra soon. Just walk a little more.”

Milon’s voice was cheerful.

Anyone could see he was leading Aches not toward the bustling street where the Deliche Café stood, but into a deserted path.

And yet Aches smiled politely.

“Yes, Brother Milon.”

Giving the expected reply.

“Sorry I’m late.”

At last—after an hour—the private room door at Deliche Café opened.

I stared coldly at Milon, who strolled in at ease and sat across from me.

‘Wait… didn’t he say he was already at Deliche Café waiting?’

So why arrive an hour late?

And with that smug face?!

My impression of Milon had long since plummeted into the negatives,
but this—this was the first time it had dropped to negative infinity.

“We have something to talk about, don’t we?”

Milon spoke casually.

I lifted the corner of my lips crookedly, imagining grabbing him by the collar.

“No. I was just curious when exactly you’d bother showing up. Now that I know your rudeness extends to making people wait an entire hour, I’ll be taking my leave.”

With that, I dipped my head slightly out of politeness, then stood and moved to leave.

As I brushed past, his nonchalant voice rang out.

“Don’t you want to see As?”

“…?”

I froze mid-step.

“That adorable little kid… I’m the only one who knows where he is.”

What…?

Seeing my confused expression, Milon smiled with satisfaction.

“I’ve placed him somewhere safe, known only to me. If you don’t believe me, go check the bookstore. Search the whole village if you like.”

“What…”

“Oh, but you’d best be careful with that pretty little mouth of yours. Unless, of course, you don’t care about ever finding As again.”

He added sweetly, as if he were doing me a favor.

I wanted to snap his neck right then and there,
but first—I had to confirm whether his words were true.

I quickly sent out Quiel to check the bookstore.

But each one returned with the same answer: no As.

Nor in any corner of the village.

The only person who knew his whereabouts—
the smug, taunting attitude—
and As being nowhere in sight…

It all pointed to one thing.

‘…So Milon kidnapped As?’

And now he was trying to use it as leverage against me?

My fists trembled with fury.

I glared at him, grinding my words out.

“…Where is As.”

Milon smirked and shrugged.

“Who knows?”

“What the hell are you scheming?”

“Now, that hurts. Do you know why I, of all people, had to become a kidnapper? All because of you, Einra.”

“…What?”

When I asked in disbelief, Milon put on an exaggeratedly sorrowful face as he stood up.

“This is all because you kept rejecting me. I wanted to take things slow… but then I heard you were leaving for the capital tomorrow.”

“…”

“So I had to take desperate measures. Do you know how much money I spent to nab that brat? Einra, among all the men courting you, none has spent as much as I have.”

Puffing himself up, he pulled a tiny glass vial—no bigger than a pinky finger—from his pocket and showed it off.

“This isn’t something money alone can buy. But since I graduated from the Atlanta Academy, I was able to acquire it specially.”

His face dripped with smug academic pride.

Running his pale blond hair through his fingers, he continued.

“I was originally planning to use this on you, Einra. But after some advice, I changed the plan.”

He sighed heavily, then stepped closer.

“But… this isn’t so bad either.”

His large hand suddenly shot out, clamping onto my chin and lifting it.

Even though I glared at him with murderous intent, he only smirked as if amused.

“You’re worried about As, aren’t you? Don’t worry. If you marry me and bear me children, I’ll release him safe and sound.”

“…”

“Hmm… about three kids, maybe? Yes, three would be perfect. Give me three children, and little As will be returned without harm. Simple, right?”

His voice carried absolute conviction—
that I would obey him to save As.

That I had no choice but to do exactly as he demanded.

Thanks to that, my rationality had already flown past Andromeda.

“…Are you done spewing nonsense now?”

“Yes, that’s—what?”

The smile cracked from Milon’s face.

Seeing his incredulous expression, I stared straight into his eyes and enunciated clearly.

“I said, are you done spewing shit, you worthless bastard?”

“W-what?!”

Startled, the hand gripping my chin lost strength.

I didn’t waste the opening. I slapped his hand away—hard.

“What, need me to repeat myself? Or should I drag you to the local clinic?”

If Harnen were here, he’d surely click his tongue and mutter:

‘What did I tell you? Einra’s usually meek, but once she snaps, she’s worse than me.’

Yes—normally, Einra was gentle and timid.
But once her reason snapped, she became a runaway train.

Everyone around me knew it.
Even my classmates at the Academy.

But unfortunately, this idiot in front of me did not.