It hasn’t been that long since I learned that Emily was from the Tales Marquisate.
To be honest, I hadn’t even wanted to know.
At least, not until Stan stood in front of me and recited her past in detail.
An old and prestigious house.
A family so wealthy that Loki himself fabricated and inflated charges against them.
At that point, whether I wanted to know or not didn’t matter. How many high-ranking families like that exist in the Empire?
Unlike houses like mine, which have been reduced to a mere name, when a family that had amassed both wealth and power is annihilated, it’s impossible not to hear about it.
Stan had spoken in a roundabout way, but the answer was already hidden in his words.
“Now that I think about it, maybe they do look a little alike?”
Cattleya and Emily.
The two did have an odd resemblance.
Not just in appearance, but also in their brilliance.
Maybe the blood of the Tales Marquisate really was exceptional.
Well, considering that the Ether Duchy had produced generations of outstanding mages, it’s hard to dismiss the influence of bloodlines.
It’s just a pity that, even though my family was counted among the founding noble houses, we didn’t have any such special talent.
“Anyway.”
That’s not what matters right now.
“Move, Stan. Don’t irritate me. Why are you blocking my way?”
“For someone barging into another person’s home uninvited, you certainly have some nerve saying that.”
I had come to see Emily.
Before trouble broke out, I needed to meet her first.
But this bastard Stan had the gall to block me right at the entrance.
“Emily isn’t at home.”
“Then there’s no reason for you to be standing here at the front gate stopping me, is there?”
“Ghh….”
Stan might be a clever man, but when it came to matters involving his younger sister, he could be unbelievably dense.
It was almost comical how easy he was to read.
“Tch, fine. I guess it’s better to tell you too while we’re at it.”
“Go home.”
“I know you hate even exchanging a single word with me, but listen. This has to do with Emily.”
“And why would you be talking about anything related to Emily?”
“Ah, this bastard… you’re relentless.”
It seemed he just hated hearing the word Emily come out of my mouth at all.
Fine. I’d have to put in the extra effort to phrase it more indirectly.
“How about this then? I’ve found a survivor of the Tales Marquisate.”
“……”
“Wow… look at that face. Someone’s about to kill me here.”
The difference in his expression when I spoke of Emily versus when I spoke of the Tales Marquisate was like night and day.
The boy who had seemed naive and harmless a moment ago vanished and was replaced by a cold, lethal assassin who looked ready to slit my throat on the spot.
“How do you know about that…?”
“If you’ve given me that many hints, expecting me not to figure it out would be ridiculous.”
“Tch.”
“Why’d you go and recite such sensitive information to me, anyway?”
“I wasn’t in my right mind at the time.”
“You’re no different now.”
You’ve never been in your right mind.
What’s this about “at the time”? There’s never been a time you were thinking straight.
“And where did you hear that?”
“There’s a way to find these things out.”
“Ha…”
Stan gave a derisive snort. Then he fixed me with a glare and said,
“Do you think our family hasn’t been searching for a survivor of the Tales Marquisate? Do you know how much we’ve…!”
“Who’s arguing with you? Of course you searched hard. But do you think you were the only ones looking? If there’s a survivor of the Marquisate, you think there’d only be one or two people bothered by that?”
“……”
“If anyone’s survived until now, it’s only because they know how to hide themselves completely. And you think someone like that would just be found because you’re chasing them?”
“Then are you saying you actually found such a person? Don’t make me laugh. Do you know how many scammers we’ve dealt with?”
“You think I’d run a scam on you?”
“Yes.”
Ha… where has my reputation gone?
“I’m not the one who found them.”
“Then what, are you going to say Safe Clown found them?”
“Close, but not exactly.”
To be precise, it was Yuna who brought Cattleya right in front of me.
“She came to me.”
But honestly, it was less that Yuna captured her and more that Cattleya allowed herself to be caught.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s not like I haven’t been treated like the Oracle before.”
“But you still have no proof that the person you met is from the Tales Marquisate.”
“Then let me rephrase what I said earlier. Why do you think people treated me like the Oracle in the first place?”
“That’s…”
“Well, I get it. You’re nervous for a lot of reasons. You’re afraid Emily might get hurt. Or you’re scared that if she really met her family, you wouldn’t know what choice she’d make.”
“……”
“Oh, is there one more? Once Emily learns the truth about her family, you’re worried about what she’ll think of your family, the ones she could call her enemies.”
“Enough.”
“Or maybe you’re afraid of how the Tales Marquisate survivor I meet will react.”
“Stop.”
“Fine, keep it up and you’ll end up hitting me. I’m a coward, so I’ll shut up.”
Anyway, I’d said everything I needed to say.
Now, the choice was his.
Of course, the real person who had to make the choice was someone else.
Even so, I could understand Stan’s feelings to some extent.
After all, Stan wasn’t a stranger; he was Emily’s family. His fear and worry were only natural.
“Haah…”
At last, after grinding his teeth in frustration, Stan let out a deep sigh as if the strength had drained from his entire body.
“Would it be alright if I met the person from the Tales Marquisate first?”
Wasn’t that, in its own way, a kind of courage?
Facing someone from the Tales Marquisate would be far more difficult for Stan than for Emily.
“Well, do as you like. You’re Emily’s guardian, after all. You’re more than qualified.”
“Then…”
“I’ll let them know about you first. You understand that whether or not you meet depends on their answer, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Then let’s call it a day for now.”
Originally, I had planned to take Emily to meet Cattleya.
Cattleya was practically a revenge-driven ghost who had clawed her way up to that position for the sake of her family’s vengeance.
She was someone who would do anything for revenge—
But that also meant she cherished her family that deeply.
So, she had no reason to dislike Emily.
However, her feelings toward the Robinhood family were another matter entirely.
“Still, it was something we needed to address sooner or later.”
There must have been an easier path.
If she met Emily first, it would have been easier for Cattleya to forgive the Robinhood family who were the ones who had indirectly driven the Tales Marquisate to ruin.
But even knowing that, Stan still chose to meet her himself first.
It meant he was ready to face that hatred head-on.
“Well, I guess that’s what you’d expect from a member of the main character party.”
Acting all cool, aren’t you.
***
I owed Emily a lot. True, I was the one funding her research, but the only reason I agreed in the first place was because it came from Emily’s own goodwill.
But aside from research funding, she never really asked for anything else.
And what about the fact that she regularly made inventions for me?
The equipment she created is something I still use all the time.
Technology that money can’t buy.
And she hands it over for nothing more than the cost of materials…that’s no small thing.
After all, members of Ex Machina always install self-destruction devices in their inventions to prevent their technology from being leaked.
So, in a way, this whole matter was also my way of returning a favor to her.
And if I paid off a bit of that debt now, maybe later I could firmly tell her not to stalk me.
“Let’s see…”
Unfortunately, I had another problem to take care of before heading straight to Andvaranaut.
“First, this… and this. Oh, and I’ll need this too. Tch, not enough. Do I have to go buy more?”
Naturally, my own safety came first.
Forget the Tales Marquisate, if I can’t secure my own survival, how can I help anyone else?
As it is, it wouldn’t be strange if I were poisoned anytime, anywhere, in any way.
Depending on how quickly Loki finds out about my existence, my lifespan could be cut short in an instant.
If I don’t want to die so soon, I need to prepare an antidote in advance.
Besides, I already said I’d hand some over to Cattleya.
“It’s too risky for me to go outside… Yuna, could you run an errand for me?”
“Johan? Didn’t you lecture me this morning about having a sense of shame?”
“Ahem…”
“So I guess you see me as some easy woman. Is that it? You think a powerless commoner girl can just be pushed around by authority?”
“How can you twist it like that? And are you really the type to get pushed around?”
“Hmph. You spoil Emily but just work me like a servant. I’m going to sulk.”
She’s laying it on thick today…
Judging by her half-baked acting, this clearly wasn’t going to work as things were.
Fine, maybe I had been a little neglectful lately.
“What’ll it take for you to run the errand?”
“Kiss me.”
“Yuna, don’t you think you’re pushing things a bit too far all at once?”
I mean… there’s supposed to be a process, right?
“There’s also the matter of atmosphere. Are you really okay with throwing away your first kiss like this? Honestly, I’d feel a bit disappointed.”
“Disappointed? Really?”
“Mhmm, I would.”
“Fufun… well, I guess there’s no helping it then.”
Oh boy, she’s pleased with herself.
“Johan.”
“Huh? Oh. What is it?”
“I guess I really am an easy woman. Even when I know full well what you’re up to, I can’t seem to resist.”
“……”
With that, Yuna suddenly hopped up from her seat, arms wide open, and charged straight at me.
“I’ll let it slide just this once!”
She wrapped her arms around me in a hug. A hug wasn’t anything unusual for us.
If anything, her clinging to me like this was practically an everyday thing.
I patted her back in my own way of showing some sincerity.
“And here’s a bonus.”
Smooch.
Then Yuna pulled back after planting a kiss on my cheek. Since it was close to my ear, the sound seemed unusually loud.
“Puhihi.”
The same bashful smile as always….but this time, her face was bright red.
She asked for a kiss, but now she’s all embarrassed over just a peck on the cheek?
“Johan, your face is red. Are you blushing over a little peck on the cheek?”
…Though, maybe I wasn’t in much of a position to talk either.
***
With the slip of paper listing what she needed in hand, Yuna left the cradle.
“Puhihi.”
She recalled Johan, unable to meet her eyes and instead keeping his gaze fixed on the note, and smiled again.
“How cute.”
Maybe it was the embarrassment, but Johan had told her to buy an unnecessarily long list of things. Still, she found even that cute.
A lot to buy? Then she could just go with a friend. And if she went with a friend, she could brag about what just happened.
“Melana, come with me.”
“Huh…?”
Before shopping, Yuna headed to where Jeff and Melana were staying.
Thanks to Andvaranaut’s support, Jeff and Melana had been able to put an end to their life on the run and were now living in hiding.
The two of them were leading a quiet life in a modestly sized house.
In truth, it was only possible because Johan had lent a hand.
“Wh-Why…?”
“There’s a lot to buy, so help me out.”
“Me?”
“Mhmm.”
Melana was at a loss. To be honest, she wasn’t all that close to Yuna. In fact, hadn’t Yuna disliked her?
At the very least, they weren’t close enough for Yuna to suddenly show up and insist they go out together like this.
Where’s… where’s Jeff?
Melana felt a prickle of danger.
This wasn’t about work; it was just suddenly, “Let’s go shopping”?
Could this be a pretext to lure her out and kill her?
“Hurry up.”
But today, Yuna was feeling generous.
At this moment, Yuna considered Melana a friend, because even though Melana knew who she really was, she wasn’t someone who would target Johan.
“So, how have you two been lately?”
“Wh-What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on. How far have you gotten? As for me… well… today I went as far as a kiss.”
“Ah, r-right.”
…of course, it was on the cheek.
Yuna trailed off, boasting to Melana.
“R-Right.”
Melana could easily foresee that hellish times awaited her from now on.
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