Chapter 30

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 30

Chapter Title: Checkmate

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I stared blankly at the wound.

She gave an awkward smile. "Ah..."

"It's hideous, isn't it?"

"......"

Even though I wasn't crying, Lea fussed about and hurried off to fetch some medicine.

"Shall we continue the lesson? This tower was built three hundred years ago to honor his ancestors by the duke of that time..."

It was a strangely shaped spire.

It didn't seem built for lodging or any particular purpose—just a simple symbol.

Inside, there were only stairs, no separate rooms. Not even magic-powered lamps; just lonely torch holders.

"Wow!"

"Would you like to climb up?"

"Yeah!"

Ceria chuckled as she watched me hop up the stairs.

"What?"

"It reminds me of the little kids like my siblings."

"Ceria must've been a good big sister."

"Not really."

"Nah, you were."

I turned back to her as I climbed the stairs.

"You killed nobles for those kids, didn't you?"

"......!"

Her face stiffened.

Checkmate.

'I hoped it wasn't just you.'

The evidence was the burn scar on the top of her foot.

I'd seen it at the slave auction. All the slaves had the same mark on the tops of their feet.

'The man who tried to attack me had one too.'

And Ceria had the accent from Noxstone.

The border region where most of the foreign slaves were captured from.

"The dead noble was a slave trader, wasn't he? Ceria, you were one of the slaves he sold."

The noble hadn't taken in the weak and elderly to help them. He'd raised them to sell as slaves.

That's why Ceria could storm the mansion alone—she knew the layout well.

"How... how did you know..."

Ceria stared at me with trembling eyes, then let out a hollow laugh.

"You heard it from Duke Duvered, I suppose. I didn't think I could hide it forever, but I didn't expect to be found out this soon."

I rolled my eyes.

'Good. She's misunderstanding on her own.'

I'd prepared an excuse, just in case.

"You're right. He deserved to die."

"......"

"No one knew what he really was. Not even the kids he sold into slavery."

Ceria clenched her fists tight.

"Those innocent kids probably waited for him to come save them even after they were sold... just like I did."

"......"

"But I got lucky. I was smart, so I worked in his mansion. By the time I hit adolescence and got sold, I'd already figured it out sooner than the others. His true nature, that filthy bastard."

She'd escaped with everything she had, she said.

She'd rushed to the facility to save the children, but most had already been sold off.

"The ones unfit for sale were disposed of brutally..."

Ceria trailed off.

That explained why she'd killed the noble.

'But why come to Duvered of all places?'

Ceria dropped to her knees before me.

"Little One, someone like me, a trainee administrator, can't meet with His Grace. Please, I beg you—help me see him."

I jumped in surprise.

"If the duke sees your record, you're done for!"

Did she think someone heartless like him would spare her just because of a tragic past?

More like he'd say, "A fly in my estate," and hand her over to the guards.

"One of his subordinates is here. I need to find my sold siblings."

"What?"

"I heard it from another subordinate. I don't know why, but he said he was definitely coming to Duvered."

Suddenly, the nagging doubts in my head resurfaced.

The way he'd looked at me.

How he'd especially liked children.

How he'd measured my hand length at a glance.

"Jacob..."

I muttered.

"How did you know?"

A clumsy voice came from the bottom of the stairs.

As Ceria flinched and looked up, he leaped up in an instant and seized her throat.

"Guh...!"

Without a shred of hesitation, he hurled her down the stairs.

Thud!

Dark red blood pooled around Ceria as she tumbled from the high stairs.

Jacob turned to me.

"Huh? How'd you know?"

I bit my lip hard.

This tower was far from the main estate. As just a symbol, it wasn't heavily patrolled by knights.

That's why I'd suggested coming here—no people around.

I needed space to talk with Ceria, and I was sure she wouldn't attack me.

Jacob approached slowly.

"Not gonna talk?"

I didn't answer, just backed away step by step.

Jacob tilted his head with a hum.

"The client said bring her intact, don't break her... Shame. Won't get full price now."

I glared at him as he muttered regretfully.

'When I regress this time, you're first on my kill list.'

But what was the best way to die painfully?

Fall from the tower?

Bite my tongue?

'Damn it, I need to die before he grabs me.'

His "client" who ordered me brought was surely some psycho pervert—getting captured and losing my mind was the worst risk.

'Yeah, falling to death it is.'

I bolted for the window, but Jacob was faster.

He grabbed my collar.

"So feisty. Fun to play with."

That was when it happened.

"What are you?"

A familiar voice rang out.

'Lea!'

Uni was behind her.

I yelled urgently.

"Run!"

Two women couldn't take a grown man.

Especially since Jacob had tossed Ceria down the stairs like a pro—he was clearly an experienced killer.

If they died trying to protect me, it'd be even worse.

But they didn't move.

As I opened my mouth to yell again—

Lea slammed one foot into the ground and closed the distance in a flash. Faster than Jacob, even.

Jacob twisted toward her. But whoosh! Lea leaped, spun in the air, landed on his shoulder with a smack!, and clamped his neck between her legs with a crunch!

"Grrgh...!"

Jacob's temples bulged, face turning beet red as air cut off.

Then Lea braced against the wall and swung her legs—whip!

Jacob let go of me and crashed to the floor.

I rolled across the ground and bonked my head.

"Little One!"

Lea rushed over, startled.

"Are you okay? Sorry, it's been so long, I messed up..."

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Aww, your forehead's all red."

My forehead was a bit red, sure—but Jacob was half-dead.

Uni dashed over, twisted his arm, and demanded.

"Where you from? One of the horse guys from the Blue Assembly? Orca of the Brown Wolves? Or the death row brothers of Karutano's dog oil?"

From the usually bright, adorable Uni poured out thick dialect mixed with names of drug cartels, human traffickers, and assassin guilds.

She grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the floor—like cracking a walnut.

"Spit it out before I gut you and roast your insides."

Oh...

As I watched Jacob get beaten like a dog, I snapped back to reality.

"...Lea, you're not just a maid?"

Lea waved her hands frantically.

"I am a maid! I just... dabbled in other things a bit in the past."

"Dabbled where?"

"In Ili... just briefly."

Ili—the elite knight order where everyone used aura, rumored to have mobilized over 100,000 in a battle lasting half a month? Duvered's top unit?

I swallowed dryly.

"Uni too?"

"No, Uni did some organization stuff before joining the estate..."

Uni flinched and protested.

"Just a little finance work!"

Finance... like loan sharking?

Uni tossed the foaming, unconscious Jacob aside, came to me, and waved her hands.

"But among the maids serving you, Little One, I have the lowest bounty!"

...So Daliah and Linda are wanted criminals too?

I realized I'd overlooked something.

Duvered took in administrators and hires regardless of background or origins.

Meaning criminals could already be mixed in.

'Ah, so that's why they call Duvered villains...'

I nodded blankly.

"I just followed the gods' teachings. There are people in this world who deserve death... no, who need to be sent to the gods' side."

—Said Daliah, the serial killer who'd slaughtered about a hundred rapists.

"We were poor growing up, never even ate out once, and Mother hated pasta, so..."

This was from Linda, the con artist who'd run off with enough gold to fund a territory's yearly budget.

"Little One, don't be disappointed!"

"We've all turned over a new leaf!"

"Yeah! We're living reformed lives now!"

I nodded with cloudy eyes.

"It's fine."

But the maids thought I was just being polite and burst into tears.

'I really mean it.'

Strictly speaking, before my regression, I'd been accused of trying to murder Mina too. Though mine was a false charge.

'Anyway, that's not the important thing right now.'

Lea entered the room with a grim face.

"The master calls for you."

I headed to the great hall in the main estate.