My brother Richard was a good man.
He was the one who cared the most for and cared for his half-sisters, Krista, Alex, and me.
But he was weak.
The person who had the hardest time surviving in a rotten family.
“Vania, this is my lover.”
When he was nineteen, he introduced his lover to me with a shy face.
I thought it was fortunate.
I knew Richard was weak-willed, and by that time, I had a vague idea of our family's behavior.
I thought that if there was someone to give him a place to rest, even my weak-hearted brother would somehow be able to survive in this corner of the house.
“Oh, father... Please, please...”
It was in the spring of his twenty-second year that Richard's mind was completely shattered beyond repair.
His father tried to marry Richard, who was of marriageable age at the time, to a woman from another family.
How could Richard marry someone else, leaving behind the lover he had cherished and loved for three years?
Naturally, Richard knelt before his father and cried and begged him to take back the order.
Father did not say yes or no, and gave no answer.
But not long after...
Richard's lover disappeared without warning.
She disappeared from the world without a trace.
Of course, it must have been my father's doing.
“My lord, you didn’t kill him, did you? Father, please... spare that woman... I was wrong...”
Richard immediately went to his father and begged him again, and as his father wished, he became engaged to a woman he did not know.
A week after that.
Richard's lover came back alive.
That was the good news.
And a week before the wedding.
Richard committed suicide.
That was the unfortunate thing.
My brother, Richard, was found on his bed in his room, having drunk poison and fallen into a sleep from which he would never wake.
“...you crazy bastard.”
No matter how many times I cursed my father, it was never enough.
Richard's gift.
After staring at the rabbit-shaped brooch in the jewelry box for a while, I put my thoughts aside and got up.
This time, Richard will meet his lover again. And again, after saving her, he will take his own life.
But I don't intend to interfere with their meeting. Rather, I just hope they meet sooner.
Because right now, even if I wanted to get Richard out of that terrible place, I couldn't.
That's why.
Unlike before the regression, neither Alex nor I will be by Richard's side, so he will definitely need a lover to survive.
“Wait, brother.”
But the tragedy will not be repeated.
No matter what happens.
“Even if it’s hard, just hold on a little longer.”
This time, I will definitely go and save everyone without being late...
“What are you doing?”
I heard a voice from behind me and turned around to see that it was Ryan.
A wide open door.
The living room outside the door was bustling with the sounds of people packing their bags.
‘Oh, I was packing...’
I was about to pack my jewelry box when I saw Richard's gift and lost my mind.
Ryan's expression was bitter, as if he had seen and heard everything I did, including my mutterings to myself.
“That’s right, Dad. I have a present for you.”
"What?"
I was worried that the atmosphere would become gloomy, so I took out the gift I had originally planned to give Ryan before leaving Belzer.
By the way, we're leaving Belzer in two days. The demonic crisis is imminent.
Only Ryan and our mercenaries who were assigned to the punitive force remained.
“Ta-da!”
He was the one who cared the most for and cared for his half-sisters, Krista, Alex, and me.
But he was weak.
The person who had the hardest time surviving in a rotten family.
“Vania, this is my lover.”
When he was nineteen, he introduced his lover to me with a shy face.
I thought it was fortunate.
I knew Richard was weak-willed, and by that time, I had a vague idea of our family's behavior.
I thought that if there was someone to give him a place to rest, even my weak-hearted brother would somehow be able to survive in this corner of the house.
“Oh, father... Please, please...”
It was in the spring of his twenty-second year that Richard's mind was completely shattered beyond repair.
His father tried to marry Richard, who was of marriageable age at the time, to a woman from another family.
How could Richard marry someone else, leaving behind the lover he had cherished and loved for three years?
Naturally, Richard knelt before his father and cried and begged him to take back the order.
Father did not say yes or no, and gave no answer.
But not long after...
Richard's lover disappeared without warning.
She disappeared from the world without a trace.
Of course, it must have been my father's doing.
“My lord, you didn’t kill him, did you? Father, please... spare that woman... I was wrong...”
Richard immediately went to his father and begged him again, and as his father wished, he became engaged to a woman he did not know.
A week after that.
Richard's lover came back alive.
That was the good news.
And a week before the wedding.
Richard committed suicide.
That was the unfortunate thing.
***
My brother, Richard, was found on his bed in his room, having drunk poison and fallen into a sleep from which he would never wake.
“...you crazy bastard.”
No matter how many times I cursed my father, it was never enough.
Richard's gift.
After staring at the rabbit-shaped brooch in the jewelry box for a while, I put my thoughts aside and got up.
This time, Richard will meet his lover again. And again, after saving her, he will take his own life.
But I don't intend to interfere with their meeting. Rather, I just hope they meet sooner.
Because right now, even if I wanted to get Richard out of that terrible place, I couldn't.
That's why.
Unlike before the regression, neither Alex nor I will be by Richard's side, so he will definitely need a lover to survive.
“Wait, brother.”
But the tragedy will not be repeated.
No matter what happens.
“Even if it’s hard, just hold on a little longer.”
This time, I will definitely go and save everyone without being late...
“What are you doing?”
I heard a voice from behind me and turned around to see that it was Ryan.
A wide open door.
The living room outside the door was bustling with the sounds of people packing their bags.
‘Oh, I was packing...’
I was about to pack my jewelry box when I saw Richard's gift and lost my mind.
Ryan's expression was bitter, as if he had seen and heard everything I did, including my mutterings to myself.
“That’s right, Dad. I have a present for you.”
"What?"
I was worried that the atmosphere would become gloomy, so I took out the gift I had originally planned to give Ryan before leaving Belzer.
By the way, we're leaving Belzer in two days. The demonic crisis is imminent.
Only Ryan and our mercenaries who were assigned to the punitive force remained.
“Ta-da!”
I gave Ryan a gift.
A gift I bought when I went out to play with Alex the day before yesterday!
As soon as I saw it, I thought of Ryan and couldn't help but buy it...
“What is this?”
As soon as Ryan received it, he became obsessed.
“Try it on!”
Yellow adult cape.
The cape has a hat attached to it, and when you put it on, you turn into a lion.
Ryan, who had been wearing a cape, was asked to put on a hat. Ryan, who hesitated but did as he was told, was astonished.
“What is this!”
“Ahahaha!”
The hat features lion ears and a mane. When worn, it has a strap around the chin to tighten the hat to a perfect fit, and two brown pompoms dangle from the tip. It's quite adorable.
“Vania, do you have more luggage to carry...? Phew! What’s that look like? It’s the very embodiment of a beast!”
Merchen burst into laughter when he came into my room to help me move my luggage.
It's so big that even though it's an adult cape, it feels tight, like a child's cape is being forced on...
Still, it was cute. I'm satisfied.
“You want me to wear this and walk around outside right now?!”
“So cute! Actually, it’s a set with me.”
I have one too. I'm a pink rabbit.
“Huh...”
“It’ll be cuter if you pull the hat strings tight.”
I put on my cape and pulled the pink pom-pom straps all the way up to make my hat look more presentable.
"Try using it when you want to show off your cuteness to someone. Pull the string and make their eyes sparkle. No one will be able to refuse a request from a cute cub lion."
“You’re playing.”
Ryan grumbled, but didn't take off his cape right away.
Then, he glanced at the commotion outside, closed the door, locked it, and came over to me.
“Hey, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
"My half-brothers. Not the ninth and tenth you asked to be spared. The sixth, seventh, and eighth below me."
“Yes? Yes...”
“You never told me about those kids, did you?”
That's right. That's right...
I didn't put it on the death list, and I didn't even ask Ryan to save them...
“Is there a reason?”
“...”
I hesitated to answer.
To tell the truth, I still haven't decided what to do with those brothers.
“That’s, um...”
I know full well that I am not in a position to judge anyone.
So I was thinking about it.
Ever since I left home.
“Ha, f*ck.”
Dark red hair. Bright red eyes.
A man with a somewhat rude expression dismounted from his horse, swearing.
He is Mario Wassenberg, the sixth prince of the Wassenberg family.
Mario hasn't been feeling very well lately.
Because David, the eldest brother, gave him a bothersome task, and he has been searching the streets for a month to do it.
“Find traces of Ratan.”
Mario's order is to track down the demon 'Ratan', who has been causing trouble for nearly a year.
The order was to find traces of Ratan beforehand, as if he caused another disturbance, the imperial family would surely ask Wassenberg for help.
Mario travels to Tauber, Delmen, and Dorf, known as the haunts of Ratan...
He followed the traces.
With almost all the townspeople wiped out, finding a proper witness is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But some results were not entirely lacking.
“Is that you?”
The ruined Dorf estate.
"Yes, my lord. He is said to have left Dorf the day before Ratan's appearance and survived."
The soldiers dragged a nervous middle-aged man towards Mario.
“I have a question for you. Answer to the best of your knowledge.”
“Yes, yes.”
A middle-aged man bowed in fear at the sight of Mario in fancy clothes.
“Haven’t you seen Ratan?”
"Yes, I heard a monster appeared while I was in a nearby estate doing business. I was lucky to survive."
“Have you been in Dorf all along before?”
"Yes."
“Did you see anyone unusual while you were in Dorf?”
“Are you a special person...?”
"Uh. Is there anyone you remember? Not the villagers, but outsiders."
“Outsider... Hmm...”
The man frowned and pondered.
Mario asked further.
“...A crazy person, or something?”
"Ah!"
Then the man's eyes widened.
"You said someone was crazy, so I remembered! Yes, I remember. He was a very handsome man. He said he was some kind of prince? He was the heir?..."
“Hoo.”
Mario's eyes lit up.
It was consistent with the testimony he heard while searching the previous Ratan haunts and the nearby territory.
I put on my cape and pulled the pink pom-pom straps all the way up to make my hat look more presentable.
"Try using it when you want to show off your cuteness to someone. Pull the string and make their eyes sparkle. No one will be able to refuse a request from a cute cub lion."
“You’re playing.”
Ryan grumbled, but didn't take off his cape right away.
Then, he glanced at the commotion outside, closed the door, locked it, and came over to me.
“Hey, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
"My half-brothers. Not the ninth and tenth you asked to be spared. The sixth, seventh, and eighth below me."
“Yes? Yes...”
“You never told me about those kids, did you?”
That's right. That's right...
I didn't put it on the death list, and I didn't even ask Ryan to save them...
“Is there a reason?”
“...”
I hesitated to answer.
To tell the truth, I still haven't decided what to do with those brothers.
“That’s, um...”
I know full well that I am not in a position to judge anyone.
So I was thinking about it.
Ever since I left home.
***
“Ha, f*ck.”
Dark red hair. Bright red eyes.
A man with a somewhat rude expression dismounted from his horse, swearing.
He is Mario Wassenberg, the sixth prince of the Wassenberg family.
Mario hasn't been feeling very well lately.
Because David, the eldest brother, gave him a bothersome task, and he has been searching the streets for a month to do it.
“Find traces of Ratan.”
Mario's order is to track down the demon 'Ratan', who has been causing trouble for nearly a year.
The order was to find traces of Ratan beforehand, as if he caused another disturbance, the imperial family would surely ask Wassenberg for help.
Mario travels to Tauber, Delmen, and Dorf, known as the haunts of Ratan...
He followed the traces.
With almost all the townspeople wiped out, finding a proper witness is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But some results were not entirely lacking.
“Is that you?”
The ruined Dorf estate.
"Yes, my lord. He is said to have left Dorf the day before Ratan's appearance and survived."
The soldiers dragged a nervous middle-aged man towards Mario.
“I have a question for you. Answer to the best of your knowledge.”
“Yes, yes.”
A middle-aged man bowed in fear at the sight of Mario in fancy clothes.
“Haven’t you seen Ratan?”
"Yes, I heard a monster appeared while I was in a nearby estate doing business. I was lucky to survive."
“Have you been in Dorf all along before?”
"Yes."
“Did you see anyone unusual while you were in Dorf?”
“Are you a special person...?”
"Uh. Is there anyone you remember? Not the villagers, but outsiders."
“Outsider... Hmm...”
The man frowned and pondered.
Mario asked further.
“...A crazy person, or something?”
"Ah!"
Then the man's eyes widened.
"You said someone was crazy, so I remembered! Yes, I remember. He was a very handsome man. He said he was some kind of prince? He was the heir?..."
“Hoo.”
Mario's eyes lit up.
It was consistent with the testimony he heard while searching the previous Ratan haunts and the nearby territory.
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