Chapter 14
“What… what? Ugly? Why are you annoyed as soon as you appear?
I did open the capsule, but I didn’t want a person to come out!”
“I didn’t call you because I wanted to… who are you?”
“Erev.”
“…Erev?”
“Ha, really? This ugly little earthling is my younger sibling? How dare they give such a small, cumbersome being to me, the Dragon Knight Erev.”
What… what is he saying? Some kind of… sibling?
It seemed like he wasn’t even listening to me.
“….”
No, I don’t like this either!
If I’m ugly, then you’re ugly too, okay?!
“Ha! Can’t be helped. Fine. Ugly, you are now my sibling.”
Then, without warning, he slipped his hand under my armpit and lifted me up with a flick.
Clatter! Roll, roll…
I dropped the capsule machine in the process.
“Hey! Let go! You idiot in armor!”
I struggled, trying to get free.
What is this… my precious coin!
The black smoke disappeared, and the surroundings returned to normal.
Unfortunately, that strange person didn’t disappear.
I wanted, if I could, to cram that huge body into the shattered capsule.
The man who called himself Dragon Knight Erev kept following me, claiming he was my older brother.
The terrifying black armor made threatening clanking noises with even the slightest movement.
What is this? They said something useful would come out…
How can it happen twice in a row like this?
Is this really coming out the way I wanted?
A dad and a brother…
“….”
“I don’t need an older brother! I don’t need a family!”
To be honest, I had thought about it a little—just a tiny bit, only a few times—but it was never like this!
So, I bolted out of the room.
“Ugly! Where are you going?”
Erev chased me like crazy, shouting behind me.
Why does he keep calling me “ugly”?
Suddenly in a chase, I yelled back while looking behind me:
“Ah, don’t follow me!”
I ran down the corridor, thinking I had put some distance between us.
“Ona, you’ll get hurt if you run like that.”
Why is he shortening my name on his own?!
“Then don’t follow me!”
Clang, clang!
“I have a duty to protect my sibling. You summoned me, didn’t you?”
“No, I don’t need a brother! Just go back! Ugh!”
In the end, while running and looking back, my foot caught on something.
And I fell flat on my face.
“Ow… it hurts…”
Did I really get an ordinary life? It doesn’t feel much different from before.
Lying there grumbling in pain, my body suddenly lifted into the air.
“Let go!”
Erev, who had lifted me, bent one leg like a knight and sat me on his thigh.
“See? That’s why you get hurt when you run like that. What if you’d gotten injured? Geez.”
I glared at Erev, who was dusting off my crumpled dress and checking my knees for injuries.
His hands were rough, but somehow it didn’t hurt at all.
“You chased me.”
I was still upset and pouted.
And this was my brand-new room for the first time.
“What are you to me, brother? Ugly, does it hurt?”
“A lot. And I’m not ugly…”
“That’s unsafe. I’ll hold you.”
“No, I can walk by myself.”
“Trying to run again?”
“Why run? I’m going to my room.”
“I’ll take you there.”
“I like walking myself.”
We glared at each other with wide eyes.
Weird.
Even though I’d never seen him before, why does he feel so familiar?
Every time I drew from the capsule, strange people popped out, and I must have been losing my mind.
When Erev, suspicious of me, helped me up, he didn’t think I was lying.
“Here, hold my hand… hey, ugly!”
As soon as I stood up, I bolted again.
Then I looked back and stuck my tongue out at Erev.
“Hmph, tricked you! Nyah.”
Just try to catch me!
“…Huff. I’m out of breath.”
I ran to a corner of the garden where no one was.
Perhaps because it was shaded at the back of the mansion, it was unusually dark, even though it wasn’t night yet.
I took out the cornet and pressed on the gems, but Mafius didn’t respond, as if he somehow knew what I was about to say.
“You said to call only if necessary.”
He had said only in an emergency.
I put the cornet back and kept tapping the ground with my toe.
“….”
Actually, I was writing letters with my foot.
Ion Sarnia White.
Amother White.
Erev… the last name must be White, right? Like mine. Then Erev White…
The surname really is the same.
“…Family.”
Real family? What kind of family is this?
My heart fluttered uncomfortably as I pressed it with both hands from running.
I really have a family now.
Even if the way it happened is completely strange, it’s real.
After hiding for a while and catching my breath, my mind cleared.
I had been planning to call Mafius, but I changed my mind. Even if I did, he’d just tell me that if I didn’t need a family, use them as a tool.
For now, I decided to stay as I was.
Maybe the answer will come this way.
By now, the sun was setting, and it was gradually getting darker outside.
Although I had run away, so much had happened today that I was tired and my feet felt heavy.
‘What should I do?’
Because I had run so far, returning from the garden was very exhausting. Even inside the mansion, my feet ached, and I just stood in the corridor.
Looking around quickly, I opened doors one by one.
‘I’ll stay in the room a bit longer.’
Other rooms were packed with treasures, so I hastily opened the third door and found a storage room for food.
It was fairly empty, so I quietly entered and closed the door.
I decided to stay here until I finished thinking.
“There’s so much food…”
There were more than ten sacks of flour, enough to last through the winter just with what was here.
“I’ll eat a bit later.”
I looked around and sat down in a corner.
Amother had finished urgent matters and came out to find Ion.
His pace gradually slowed, and he stopped suddenly, as if lost in thought.
It was an unexpected summons.
No one had ever called him like this before, but when he responded to the irresistible call, there stood a child—his daughter.
He didn’t even know he had a daughter, but seeing her, the image was permanently etched in his mind. Though he didn’t show it, they were forcibly connected.
Her lemon-colored hair was tied into pigtails like cotton candy, and her pale cheeks were round and plump, giving her a cute face.
Her deep sky-blue eyes were full of surprise and fear.
Seeing that frightened gaze, his chest tightened involuntarily.
Even watching a dying human was boring to him.
Amother, without solving why this was happening, decided to protect the child first.
He noticed her trembling slightly from fear, despite pretending to be brave, and made his decision.
He thought he could solve the mystery while keeping her safe.
Barat must have wondered as well and asked if she was his daughter.
But after that first etched encounter, Amother’s mind kept returning only to thoughts of his daughter.
Something else may have come to mind, but he couldn’t recall, so he assumed the forced connection must be a misunderstanding.
It didn’t matter.
He had been thinking life was boring anyway.
However, he sensed Ion’s presence not in her room, but elsewhere.
‘She’s in the storage room…’
Why is my daughter there?
Confused, Amother headed for the first-floor storage room.
