Inside the barracks, the punitive expedition site.
The Prince is sleeping soundly, unaware of the world, while I watch the beasts with anxious eyes.
A wild boar and a rhinoceros are holding a strategy meeting late into the night with candles lit, sitting across from each other at a small table.
It is truly fascinating that animals can speak.
"Your Highness, you may stop by Rome and come back."
"Alright. As soon as I arrive in the capital, I'll stop by the Marquis's mansion."
Crazy.
This conversation means that as soon as the subjugation is over, on the way back, Nike intends to grab my fourth-oldest brother, Gabriel, and my third-oldest sister, Diana, by the hair and throw them in prison.
He won't kill them right away. They're a hostage meant to gather the superpowered individuals together.
"Wait! You're moving too fast!"
"I hurriedly cut in. Stop crashing into me!"
“Not fast!”
The excited wild boar immediately shouted.
"Vania, once the instant kill mechanic is complete, we'll proceed exactly as planned. Don't worry."
The rhinoceros drove me away with pretty words, but it means it intends to charge right now.
"No, there's a big problem. Assuming everything is ready, how are we going to break in?"
"Huh? Exactly the same as before the regression."
The wild boar frowned as if asking why such a question was being asked.
Do you know why Ryan was able to successfully break into our house before the regression?
It was precisely because of Richard's absence.
Richard Wassenberg,
Holder of the advanced behavioral abnormality type ability, <Shackles of Bondage>.
Do you think it is possible to enter as long as a skilled individual capable of complete restraint can hold out, regardless of the target's military power or scale?
What's the use of Reban's soldiers, armed with modern weapons, fighting against a hundred men one by one?
As long as Richard is there, I must helplessly stand frozen in that spot and just wait for death.
Of course, such a thing did not happen before the regression. This is because Richard had already committed suicide and was no longer in this world.
But this time is different.
Richard is alive, and he is a member of Wassenberg.
"I understand your excitement, beasts, but please calm down and listen to what I have to say!"
The day of the decisive battle. Naturally, Father will order Richard to defend the castle.
You're saying that since Richard is on our side, we can just ignore Father and stab him in the back when the time comes?
Then how will you guarantee Richard's safety?
The enemy camp was swarming with terrifying brothers with supernatural abilities and Wassenberg soldiers.
In fact, I was a traitor!
...When he shouts that, Richard is 100% likely to die a meaningless death.
Therefore, one of the things I asked Richard to do when I met him the other day was exactly.
"At that time, you have to somehow hide from Father's eyes and stay somewhere else."
That was it.
Well, for Richard, who had been living on the ground for so long and no longer had to worry about surveillance, it would have been easy to listen to.
"If Christa gets caught, Father's surveillance will definitely start on me again, too."
"...I guess so?"
"Then I have to take time again, until my father’s suspicion of me fades and his surveillance becomes lax."
"Don't push yourself too hard, brother.'
"Yeah, but... I'll definitely make it happen."
Now, seeing how Father has been constantly turning the disablement ability on and off lately—something he barely used a few times in his entire life?
With 99% probability, he's probably sitting Christa down after she stepped on his tail and lecturing her, saying, "Daughter, snap out of it."
In that case, Richard must also be suffering from his father's suspicion and surveillance, unlike before.
After finishing my explanation, I firmly told the two beasts who were recklessly trying to charge at me.
"For now, I'll let my brother know that we're all ready."
But
"We must absolutely not move until my brother's safety is secured."
And at dawn that day, I sent a voice to Richard.
Mirror's Eye - Book of Telepathy
***
[Brother, we are all ready. We will wait. However, there is no need to rush. I am not pressing you, so take your time and plan your escape. If you absolutely cannot find a solution, contact me via the secret means I mentioned earlier. Then I will think of a way to kidnap you and Christa.]
***
"How long are you going to keep doing this?"
Christa was facing her brother Richard's unfamiliar face. It was an expression full of annoyance.
“Why... did you come?”
Father was having a headache as Christa rebelled over Alexander's matter.
Crying and refusing to eat, she kept struggling and begging to be let out, leaving him in a helpless situation.
“Tell me what you want.”
If so, did the father send his son to try to appease a daughter he found difficult to soothe on his own? Or did the older brother come to find the younger sibling of his own free will?
She couldn't figure it out.
"Aren't you going to answer?"
Christa looked around with only her eyes.
The ears remained the same. The maids and guards stood pressed against the wall like a picture.
"Alex... Father is trying to kill Alex."
"So?"
Richard answered coldly to the words she had barely managed to utter while choking back tears. Christa flinched at his cold voice.
It had been ages since she had exchanged affectionate conversations or spent time with her older brother.
It was to ensure that they would not be suspected together if the crab's tail were revealed.
So?
It has been so long since she last saw her brother like this.
Christa could not recognize his sincerity.
"How long are you going to keep acting like this? You're all grown up now, you're not a kid anymore."
“Brother.”
"Think carefully about who the family you have to live with for the rest of your life is, Alexander. It's not that kid you can barely remember anymore, it's your father."
What's wrong? Has my brother changed? Or has he fallen for our snake-like father's tricks? Why did he come looking for me and say something like this?
"Eat unless you want to die.'
"No. I have to threaten Father like this so he can't lay a hand on Alex."
"Listen to me! I'm seriously sick and tired of this!"
Richard stood up and let out a loud scream. Christa was startled and instinctively shed tears. It was unfamiliar and frightening. It was the first time she had seen her brother like this.
"Let's stop this. You would have known by now. No matter what you do, you are still in your father's palm. So please, snap out of it and behave yourself, okay?"
Brother, what's wrong? Have you forgotten everything we promised each other back then? You said that even if it's hard, good days would come someday, and that we should hang in there and endure.
She couldn't understand it at all and wanted to open her mouth and ask, but Christa didn't.
Because the fact that her brother once harbored resentment must not reach her father's ears.
"I'll handle it myself. Get out of here. It's hard for me to see you, brother..."
"Father is right. Only when the dog dies will you find a place to turn and come to your senses."
"What?"
Far away, her heart sank.
Richard's gaze, as she looked up, was unreadable and was simply terribly cold.
"I don't understand why my family has to suffer from discord for so long because of just one dog."
"Are you... Serious?"
"Yeah. You're more important to me than that kid, so Father explained to me why we have to get rid of him, and I fully understand."
“Brother!!!”
Despite the earnest plea, Richard's face was expressionless.
No sympathy or compassion whatsoever.
Just like someone whose emotions have been castrated.
"Christa, no matter what happens in the future, let's trust each other."
But at the moment she was about to collapse, why did that old promise come to mind?
"I might change so much that I won't even remember who I originally was. Because I have to forget myself, too."
Yes, you promised.
"So please, just you, just you remember me. That I will never change. That I am the most precious thing to myself... please don't forget."
Let's believe it, believe it
And remember.
She doesn't know why her brother is suddenly acting like this toward her, or why he is trying to shake, torment, and provoke her feelings to such an excessive degree.
There must be a reason.
The reason...
Ah. Yes.
Christa realized something she had failed to consider because she had been so preoccupied with Alexander's affairs.
Father must have definitely started suspecting Richard because of her.
Then...
Countless eyes and ears. An honest conversation is absolutely impossible.
And so, in an instant, only the gazes of the two people met in the air.
***
Edgar was going to Christa's room.
Richard, perhaps concerned about his younger sister, who had stopped eating and drinking and was causing a disturbance, asked if he could meet him, and Edgar agreed.
Richard said he would try to persuade his younger sister, but Edgar felt a bit uneasy.
Christa is a cunning daughter who has been deliberately concealing her treasonous intentions against her father for several years.
Richard, the only brother she relied on.
Therefore, Edgar had no choice but to keep a close eye on Richard as well. He tightened his eyes and ears and resumed the surveillance he had neglected.
However, the son was the same as always, and Edgar still could not read Richard's mind.
For some reason, it is even more suspicious because there is not a single suspicious point.
Suspecting the ability-using kid he had to boss around like a puppet 24 hours a day was quite nerve-wracking, but he didn't want to be a fool and get stabbed in the back either.
One mistake, failing to control Christa, is enough.
He wants to believe that Christa and Richard are on completely different paths, but will anything happen that would make him trust them?
Even if Richard succeeds in persuading Christa and his daughter becomes obedient, it is still doubtful, and the same applies if he fails.
Really, it's a headache...
Quang!
In front of his daughter's door.
Edgar stopped abruptly at the sudden loud noise.
"Aaaargh!!!"
“Young Master!!!”
The moment a terrible scream flew into his ears, Edgar's eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.
<Incapacitation>
No way? This can't be. This can't be. I never imagined this at all. Christa... Richard? It makes no sense. No. Really.
Edgar ran over in one go and opened the door.
The ominous prediction, which he desperately hoped would be a baseless fear in an instant...
"Richard!!!”
...Regrettably, it remains spread out just as it is.
His son collapsed with his body reduced to a rag, completely covered in blood, his face unrecognizable. As he clutched his torn abdomen with his hands and gasped for breath, he could only tell that he was barely clinging to life.
Richard struggled to hold back his organs spilling from his abdomen and snapped his head back to look at Edgar. Tears welled up in his wide-open eyes, filled with agony.
Edgar roughly shoved his trembling hand into the inside pocket of his jacket. He grabbed a cold medicine bottle.
Diana's salvation medicine that he always carries around.
He opened the cap and shoved the medicine bottle into his son's mouth as he coughed up blood. It wouldn't flow properly into the gushing blood.
"S-Swallow!!! Swallow!!!"
The light was fading from his son's eyes. Edgar was horrified. This cannot be. This cannot be.
Richard, hovering between life and death, tenaciously swallowed a sip of the blue medicine along with the blood clot coming up.
That moment.
As it flowed, the organs were restored, and the abdomen, which had been torn apart in a horrific state, healed as if time had been turned back.
As the pain subsided, the son's eyes looked at ease. However, due to the mental shock, he immediately closed his eyes. He had fainted.
"Huh, huh. Haa."
Edgar, his body drained of strength, slumped down blankly.
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