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Episode 8
My expression must have changed slightly, because the seriousness on Isaac’s face slowly collapsed.
“Pfft— hah… ngh.”
Isaac barely managed to swallow his laughter. Looks like he was joking just to see my reaction.
“That’s enough joking.”
Edmond wrapped things up in a tired voice. The family meeting hadn’t even lasted ten minutes yet, and he already looked exhausted.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay? Getting information would be good, but if something goes wrong, everything could be exposed.”
“They don’t seem to understand dark magic very well either.”
If I used dark magic right in front of them without a detector, they’d never notice.
Edmond stared at me for a moment with heavy eyes, then sighed and nodded.
“Looks like you won’t listen no matter what. Once you get stubborn, you’re worse than Yulia or Isaac.”
“Am I really that bad?”
“You are.”
Isaac added from behind, and Yulia nodded in agreement.
“Just this once. You already agreed, so we can’t stop it now. But next time, make up any excuse you need and refuse.”
Edmond said firmly, making it clear he wouldn’t accept objections.
“That site you’re visiting tomorrow— I did my best to clean it up, but there’s still enough left to tell there was a carriage accident.”
“So that’s why they used the detector. A broken carriage sitting halfway up a mountain would look suspicious.”
Now the meeting finally reached the real topic.
“Just in case, I’ll go with them and quickly remove anything that’s left.”
“That’s for the best.”
“Alright, that wraps up the first agenda item. On to the second.”
I looked at Isaac, whose wrist was barely hanging together.
“When you go back to work tomorrow… can you hide it?”
“Ah… that’ll be hard. I skipped training today because of the duel. Even that only worked because you helped me…”
Once full training resumed, his body definitely wouldn’t hold up.
“At least thanks to today’s incident, the training ground is closed.”
“Then where do you train?”
“They’ll use the second training ground. It’s shared with the Royal Guard, so space is tight. At least basic endurance drills like laps will be canceled for a while.”
That was good news— but the real problem remained.
“…We don’t have a choice.”
Edmond said quietly.
“Desert.”
“…What?”
“What?”
I honestly thought I misheard. This wasn’t something Edmond would ever say.
“It’s the only way to avoid suspicion and skip knight training.”
“No, brother. What about my reputation?”
“And what do you do if you protect your reputation and get exposed?”
That… was a hard question.
Between deserting and being a zombie, which was more disgraceful? As someone who wasn’t a knight, I honestly couldn’t tell.
“If we act quickly, we can get a ship. Somewhere far away, with weak law enforcement… yes. The Kingdom of Suhil would be ideal.”
The more he spoke, the more reasonable it sounded.
I even nodded along, and Isaac’s already pale face went even whiter.
“Why not say I caught a fatal illness?”
“If you do, the palace will send a royal physician.”
Edmond answered seriously. He definitely noticed Isaac’s sarcasm and was deliberately pushing his buttons.
“Then just say my wrist got cut off! Same thing!”
“Both of you, stop!”
I jumped in before it turned into a real fight.
Both Isaac and Edmond were extremely on edge. No surprise— they’d been tense all day, constantly watching others’ eyes.
“I thought about why only your wrist is this bad.”
Isaac was the only one whose wrist almost fell off. Edmond and Yulia were weak too, but not like this.
“I think it’s because of how things were during the accident.”
“The carriage accident?”
“Yeah.”
I slowly blinked. The scene was burned into my mind.
“You reached your hand outside the carriage.”
Like a single flower blooming in a pile of corpses. That straight hand sticking out of the wreckage— I could never forget it.
“That’s probably why your wrist doesn’t balance with the rest of your body.”
I couldn’t think of any other reason. Edmond had been inside the carriage, so his whole body was destroyed. Yulia’s heart was damaged, but the rest of her body was intact.
“Hm… really?”
Isaac scratched the back of his neck.
“I don’t remember much. I remember throwing you out, then everything went black.”
He said he woke up already a zombie.
“So… what if we break that wrist completely and reattach it?”
Isaac’s eyes screamed, Emily, even you?
It was extreme, but I honestly couldn’t think of another solution.
“That’s a good idea. Yulia, get the hammer.”
Edmond agreed instantly.
“Does my opinion matter at all?!”
“Why would it? You don’t even feel pain.”
“I do! Mentally! My heart hurts!”
Isaac shrieked and hid his hand behind his back.
“Don’t worry, big brother. I’ll cover your eyes.”
“That’s not the problem!”
Yeah. Definitely not the answer he wanted.
“Well, uh… It’s not like you’re going to work tomorrow. Let’s think of other options over the weekend, okay? If nothing works, then we’ll think about desertion or whatever.”
“So the other option is this.”
Edmond took the hammer Ythat ulia had already brought.
As Isaac backed away, Yulia and I grabbed his arms.
“Why do you two only sync up at times like this?!”
“We’re twins.”
“Yeah.”
We nodded at each other. Isaac had always struggled against the two of us together.
“Alright then.”
Isaac’s hand was neatly placed on the table.
Whoooosh— the hammer was raised high.
Isaac shut his eyes tightly, resigned.
Just as the hammer was about to fall.
“I’m back~!”
Click.
The lights turned on, flooding the table with brightness. Andrea stood at the door, tilting his head.
“What are you all doing?”
We exchanged looks, then smiled brightly like it was planned.
“We were waiting to throw you a surprise party~!”
“But you caught us before we could start. What a shame~!”
I stepped forward to block Andrea’s view.
“Huh? It kinda looked like you were bullying Isaac, though…”
“Bullying? No way! We were just playing. Right, brother?”
I poked Isaac’s side, and he quickly nodded.
“Y-yeah!”
“Really? With a hammer?”
“Yup. It’s a popular game these days. Loser gets punished.”
Andrea tilted his head.
“Adults are weird!”
Ever since he secretly tasted pre-dinner wine once, he’d decided adult hobbies made no sense.
Edmond hid the hammer behind him and asked,
“How was your first day at the academy? I told them to prepare their favorite foods tonight.”
“A-and cake! From that pastry chef from the Kingdom of Tahil, you like!”
That part wasn’t a lie. We’d planned the celebration months ago.
“R-Really?!”
Andrea’s eyes sparkled. He ran over without even changing clothes.
“Best! This is the best!”
Then.
Booooom.
He charged straight at Isaac.
No!
Isaac’s wrist hadn’t been treated yet. Normally it’d be fine, but now it was dangerous.
Everything felt slow.
Andrea flew toward Isaac. Isaac awkwardly prepared to catch him. Yulia hesitated. Edmond is reaching out.
“…Hah.”
I released the breath I’d been holding.
Just before they collided, I grabbed Andrea by the back of the neck.
But that wasn’t enough. With my strength, stopping an excited eleven-year-old with one hand was impossible.
Sssss.
A red snake crawled up my arm. Luckily, the cut from earlier still hadn’t healed.
Clench!
The red snake bit its own tail and wrapped around my wrist. The recoil stopped Andrea.
He was inches away from Isaac.
“Huh? Sis?”
“Isaac’s a bit sick today. You don’t want to catch it, right~?”
“Gasp! I don’t want a cold! I’d spread it to my friends!”
“Right? Then you might not be able to go to the academy.”
“That’d be the worst!”
Andrea jumped away in horror. Isaac muttered, “You didn’t have to move that far…” but no one listened.
Food was served soon after, completely distracting Andrea. When Yulia brought out the cake, he even swallowed loudly.
We all did our best to act like this was a normal day.
The party continued until Andrea fell asleep from exhaustion.
When everything finally ended, and I collapsed onto my bed, I was completely drained.
I felt like I could pass out, but I still had something to do.
“Rev.”
I spoke while watching the black cat stretch and yawn.
“Teach me dark magic.”
Rev smiled lazily.
—So you’re finally ready to receive my great teachings?
He lifted his chin proudly, tail swaying.
“A little.”
—You should’ve listened earlier. Then your siblings wouldn’t be walking corpses right now.
He licked his paw and wiped his face, completely cat-like.
“I still don’t know if this is right.”
I smiled bitterly.
“But I need that power right now.”
Whether it was right or wrong could wait.
I stared into Rev’s golden eyes. His slit pupils narrowed, then curved into a strange smile.
Teaching dark magic to the descendant of Samuel… it feels sinful. Which makes it very fun.
That was when it really hit me again— he was a demon.
A chill ran down my spine.
