After gaining a brief grace period from Heini Rosales, I considered persuading again at the Portren mansion, but ultimately I turned away.
The Inspector affiliated with the royal family also expressed her willingness to engage in bloodshed.
I thought there was surely some compelling reason they wouldn’t back down, but surprisingly, that reason became clear quite easily.
Hack! Hack!
“Michelle? Are you okay? Should we go to the hospital?”
“Your face has turned so pale.”
“Oh, no. I’m fine. Going to the hospital won’t help; I can just take the medicine I have at home.”
“……”
Returning to the hotel, I found Michelle coughing continuously, her complexion deteriorating in seconds, while Rin and Hayun took care of her.
Now that I think about it, she had been coughing during our meal earlier and seemed to rub her hands together even though it wasn’t cold outside.
“The medicine is just at home?”
I immediately threw her onto my back and headed back outside the hotel.
“I confirmed that all the inspectors have left, so I’ll take her back and come right back.”
“Should I come with you?”
Rin looked at Michelle with pitying eyes. It seemed she couldn’t just leave a patient like that alone, but I shook my head.
I didn’t think Rin could keep up with my pace.
“Sen, come here for a moment.”
“Hmm?”
Sen approached, surprised that I was calling her, pointing to herself for confirmation.
“Find out which hotel Heven Len is staying at and check how long he’ll be there.”
“……Is that a request?”
It was a sudden question, but I knew she wasn’t someone who would move purely out of goodwill, so I nodded slightly.
Anyway, I had enough money from this hotel to be comfortably wealthy right now.
“Got it.”
Sen left with a strangely satisfied expression, and I headed back to the mansion with Michelle in tow.
‘That’s some serious exercise since morning.’
Since the distance was a bit far, I tried to go quickly, but I also adjusted my pace in case Michelle got too cold. Just then, she asked in a small voice from behind.
“Mr., is my dad a bad person?”
“……”
“The people from earlier were knights, right? I heard knights protect people. If a knight came to my dad, does that mean he’s a bad person?”
‘What do I do about this?’
Mikael Portren is undoubtedly a villain.
But saying that directly to Michelle was out of the question.
However, the girl smartly buried her face into my back, sniffling without a reply.
“So he really is a bad person after all.”
“Really?”
“I used to see strange people following my dad. They had their faces covered or looked creepy. Villain-like people.”
They were probably Tudogs.
It seemed like they were implanting the powers and bodies of magical beasts from the Forest of the Demon Realm into themselves.
“Is dad getting arrested now? Is that what’s happening?”
“……That’s right.”
I didn’t want to give her false hope with vague answers.
Mikael Portren had enough crimes that could almost guarantee his death penalty.
Sniff, sniff.
I slowed my pace for her sake. Suddenly, I remembered a similar situation that had happened to the two of us in the past, back in the Forest of the Demon Realm.
‘……’
The girl with tears in her eyes.
A child who should be attending school and sharing sweet love with boys her age was burdened with far too heavy a weight and ultimately crumbled.
Even when I asked what was wrong, she didn’t answer me, probably because she didn’t want to burden me with her problems.
“I’m, I’m sorry for showing such an ugly side.”
Even apologizing like that, the girl stubbornly got up and forced a smile, telling me to have breakfast together.
“What were you carrying back then?”
The empty question, filled with only doubt, was whisked away by the wind, fading into meaninglessness.
As the girl’s sobs slowly subsided, we arrived at the Portren mansion. The servants in front of me greeted my return with cheerful smiles, but…
“I would like to see Mikael Portren.”
They were visibly taken aback by my sudden declaration. However, thanks to Michelle chiming in next to me, I was able to enter without much hassle.
“Are you going to persuade our dad, Mr.?”
“If possible.”
“……”
Michelle, with an odd expression, released my hand and dashed down the wide corridor, and I followed the servant’s guidance to Mikael Portren’s office.
“……So you brought our Michelle back? Thank you.”
Mikael’s expression was clearly not good.
He was visibly on edge, looking as if he would explode at the slightest provocation, but he was making an effort to hold it in.
After the servant left, I opened my mouth.
“For Michelle’s sake, you should stop and surrender now.”
Mikael’s blood vessels bulged on his forehead, but he took a deep breath, placed his hands on his desk, and asked.
“You know something, don’t you?”
“I’m staying at an old wooden hotel at the city intersection. The grandma there is quite nice.”
His eyes widened as he clenched his fists tightly.
The emotions he had been diligently suppressing were now pouring out, but rather than a waterfall, it was a calm stream with depth.
“So it wasn’t due to the connection between Hayun Len and Heven Len that you approached us?”
“Well, let’s just say it was a coincidence.”
“A coincidence… quite the shoddy coincidence.”
Clicking his tongue, Mikael now regarded me as a complete enemy.
“Were you the one who brought the Inspector along?”
“That too was a coincidence.”
“These coincidences keep piling up.”
He rapped sharply on his desk, producing a sound.
I calmly waited for him, but a satisfying answer didn’t come.
“I refuse; I’ve already formed an inseparable bond with Tudogs.”
“Think about Michelle.”
As I touched his sore spot, Mikael slammed both hands on the desk, making it tremble.
“How dare you mention Michelle’s name in front of me! I might just chew your head off before I get the chance!”
“……”
“Do you really think anyone else cares for Michelle as much as I do? After losing her mother, I became her sole support. If I disappear now, it’ll truly be the end!”
“Michelle is stronger than you think.”
“What do you know about my daughter?! Fine! Let’s assume you’re right. You brought her to the mansion after seeing her in poor condition, huh? Where do you think I got the medicine to cure a disease that even hospitals can’t?”
“……”
“Tudogs! You little brat! The herbs they bring from the Forest of the Demon Realm are the only way for Michelle to survive!”
Mikael clenched his fists, taking deep breaths, overwhelmed with emotions.
I felt like his hands were slightly bigger, but I avoided mentioning it.
“Why did I create the Murder Hotel and let those crazy brats in to provide either corpses or live people inside? It’s all to save my daughter!”
The father’s anguished cry.
A man who could only clasp his hands over the lifeless hands of his wife, who succumbed to illness, Mikael Portren.
And now another monumental tragedy approached him.
His daughter, Michelle Portren, afflicted by the same disease as her mother.
The man who could not lose his daughter after losing his wife ultimately signed a contract with the Tudogs and created a factory of sorts to provide people.
“What if I can bring back those herbs?”
I probed cautiously, but of course, he scoffed.
“Looks like the kid has some loyalty. Knowing about Tudogs makes you think you’re something special, huh? The Forest of the Demon Realm is home to monsters beyond anything you can imagine.”
“……”
“Kid, that whole forest could be referred to as a single magical beast without miss.”
“If I bring back the herbs, will you turn yourself in?”
Mikael hesitated for a moment at my serious expression but soon shook his head.
“No, as I just said, I’m already deeply involved with Tudogs. If I get dragged off to the royal palace and locked up, I have no idea what they’ll do to Michelle.”
“Of course.”
I knew, but I said it once more.
Having learned too much about them due to relying on Tudogs for the medicine Michelle needed, if Mikael was arrested, it was very likely that all the servants in this mansion would simply vanish overnight.
“Kid, I know you’re worried about Michelle. Thanks to that feeling, I’ll just let this slide. Leave Bethel and return to the Academy today.”
“……”
“I won’t ask what happened to the hotel’s grandma or anyone else. The power of the Deathspider she possesses is something humans can never comprehend. If she says she escaped, Tudogs won’t be able to chase her very deeply.”
After a sigh, he rubbed his forehead with his hand.
“Leave the hotel empty. It could be evidence, so my people will come tonight to burn it down.”
“Heini Rosales is a persistent inspector. Especially since her life is on the line here.”
“I already know about her. They’re suspecting that she killed the second son of the Reiros family during an interrogation. That’s why I’m doing the deal with the Len family, so don’t worry about it.”
In that moment, Mikael seemed to realize his slip of the tongue, looking startled as he gazed at me.
“Deal?”
“……”
“Well, fine. I don’t know what the deal is, but it seems there’s some connection between the families.”
“Damn it, just leave. Forget everything you saw here and live like a normal student. This is sincere advice.”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that.”
At my starkly firm reply, Mikael Portren let out another deep sigh.
“What do you think you can do as just a student?”
“Social status doesn’t matter.”
“Then let me change my question. Why? Why are you going this far?”
“……”
This time, I stumbled a bit in my response, but it didn’t mean I didn’t have an answer.
In the fleeting moment where my vision darkened with fluttering eyes, memories of the past surfaced.
A very distant, now impossible future that nonetheless remains a memory for me.
“Are you growing pumpkins? I want to see them too, Mr.!”
“Wow, you built an amazing house! You must be a family man when you become a dad.”
“That place called the Forest of the Demon Realm seems a bit scary, but I feel okay being with you, Mr.”
“Oh, my mister……”
In a very dark room, even the smallest flicker of a candle wouldn’t be so noticeable.
The candle that could light up all darkness swiftly became the center of that dark room.
The chatterbox girl was the candle that illuminated my life, which had been nothing but darkness.
“I’m expressing my gratitude.”
To the talkative girl who showed me a small yet clear light, awakening me from my long time without light as a magical beast.
