Chapter 9
I felt a bit choked up but quietly answered.
“Yes.”
I had been rushing toward him, like I might crash into him any second, but those words made me stop dead in my tracks.
“I told you to go.”
“I did go, though…?”
At my response, Abelus finally turned his head toward me.
There were about ten steps of distance between us as I stood still.
When our eyes met, I gave him a sheepish grin.
“I want you to go far enough that I can’t even see you anymore.”
He said it firmly again.
Another hurtful remark.
At first, I thought maybe he just had a bad personality, but now it didn’t seem that way.
If he were just trying to hurt someone’s feelings, he wouldn’t look that pained after saying those cruel words.
“Are you mad at me?”
“You’re awfully bold.”
“…Please answer me.”
“……”
He could’ve just brushed it off by saying “No” — it would’ve been simple. But that word never came out.
Abelus avoided my gaze and remained silent, unlike his usual self.
“Why?”
“……”
“Because I’m a child of Hachanun?”
“There are too many reasons. It’s hard to pick just one. Taking you in was a mistake from the beginning.”
He finally drove in the nail.
My heart dropped, and I was left speechless for a moment.
I had braced myself before asking — but hearing it out loud…
“Your mother deceived us. She shamelessly claimed the child had fully inherited Lucius’ power. Because she went around spreading that nonsense about your adoption, we were put in a very difficult position.”
Lucius — that was the name the head of the family had mentioned during the meeting.
It seemed to be the name of Lady Calidora’s father.
But Lucius was such a common name — there were dozens of ancestors with that name — that I couldn’t tell exactly who he was referring to.
Anyway.
“Mom… did that?”
“To lie to us until the very end…”
Abelus ground his teeth.
There seemed to be more to the story, but the atmosphere made it clear I shouldn’t ask.
“The family head may think you still have potential in other ways, even if you have no power, but that’s all. You shouldn’t get your hopes up.”
“But…!”
I shouted, unable to accept it, but Abelus didn’t even let me finish.
“Five out of the seven members from the Ignitus faction at that meeting don’t know your secret! Let’s see if the head still stands by his decision once they learn the full truth!”
“……”
Realistically, that might be true.
It was already a serious issue that Mother had done such wrong to Ignitus, but the fact that my magical power was weak could even threaten the family’s future.
I had nothing left to say.
“If you understand, then stop bothering me and step aside. I have somewhere to be.”
Abelus turned coldly.
I wanted to talk to him a little longer, but I didn’t know how to hold him back.
If I tried openly, he’d probably get mad.
“…Can I just follow you for ten more steps?”
That was the compromise I blurted out.
But Abelus didn’t seem to think it was worth responding to. He simply resumed walking without answering.
I couldn’t tell if that meant permission or not, but I decided to go ahead and do it anyway.
Just to walk with him a little longer, I stretched my short legs as far as they could go.
Ooooone… step!
Twwwooo… steps!
By the seventh step, my fully-extended right leg gave out, and I lost my balance.
“Wah!”
“That’s dangerous!”
Abelus turned his head and instinctively caught me.
The fear of falling quickly passed — what lingered was my surprise at his unexpected reaction.
“…Oh?”
“You have no sense in that head of yours!”
He started shaking me.
Even though I was the child of someone he hated, he couldn’t ignore me when I was in danger.
‘Right, this is exactly the kind of person he was.’
Just like in the book.
Smiling brightly, I quietly began following him again.
“Abel-nutt, I’ll protect you!”
My honest feelings slipped out before I could stop them, and Abelus immediately called my name with a stiff tone.
“Calidora.”
“Yes?”
“Your ten steps are up.”
Wait… he was counting them?
* *
I stood frozen for a while, watching Abelus slowly disappear into the distance.
Where was he going?
‘There shouldn’t be anything over there…’
The mansion’s structure hadn’t changed much from what I remembered, even after 500 years. If he followed that path behind the mansion, it would only lead to the outer wall.
‘Is he planning to go over the wall or something… Ah!’
Following out of curiosity, I arrived at a vast plain and a massive marble building.
‘Right, the wall wasn’t built until after the family fell.’
After the kingdom collapsed and enemies invaded from all sides, the Ignitus ancestors tore down the annex and gave the land to the commoners.
The wall was built along that boundary, so the Ignitus estate I had known ended exactly at this spot.
‘The annex…’
Curiosity rising, I turned toward where the maid keeping an eye on me stood.
Fortunately, she was distracted, chatting with a nearby slave.
‘Perfect timing. How can I not go now?’
I chuckled once and bolted straight for the annex.
The annex was even bigger than I expected.
I marveled at the size for only a moment — something more important suddenly occurred to me, and I rushed into the open hall of the annex.
I remembered there were many useful things in the annex. A vast archive, a laboratory for studying fire powers, and even a second vault holding collected power scrolls.
‘But what I need most right now is…’
“There it is!”
At the center of the annex hall stood a large stone slab, bearing the family tree.
At its center was the lineage of the current head, Lord Tiberius, leading to Abelus — the so-called “Abelus faction.” On both sides, the rest of the six factions spread out.
‘It’s almost exactly like the illustration from the book.’
I sat down in front of the slab, scanning the names frantically.
Since I was here, I figured I’d memorize all the names of the currently living relatives.
Of all possible eras, why had I ended up in the reign of the 14th family head, Tiberius?
There had to be a reason I had crossed not five or fifty, but hundreds of years to come here — to stop the fall of the family.
Maybe there was something that could only be stopped now, in this time. That was the conclusion I had reached.
If I didn’t want to waste the opportunity I’d been given, I needed to start by fully understanding the family’s situation.
“Bennicutte, Kashutte, Ankutte…”
I started linking the names on the tree with the events I knew from the future.
‘Why are all the names so annoyingly similar…’
In the future, all factions except the one I belonged to had died out, so it wasn’t nearly this complicated.
“Ankutte, Ankootte, Ankoo…”
Just as I was mumbling the name of someone whose role I couldn’t recall clearly, a voice sounded behind me.
“Why are you calling Lord Ankus?”
Startled, I turned around to see two of the family head’s close aides standing there.
“Who said my name?”
Someone who seemed to be Ankus stepped forward from behind them.
“L-Lord Ankus?!”
“And what’s this little bean I found here?”
A familiar face. I had seen him a few times.
In front of the office, during the family meeting.
He had always been close to the head of the family.
Still—
“B-Bean…?”
As the word left my mouth, Ankus burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahaha! Oh, it’s you, Lady Calidora! I almost didn’t recognize you — you’re just so round!”
It wasn’t an insult, but… it didn’t feel great.
