Chapter 16: 16

I dropped the bouquet and stepped back.

My back touched the cold stone wall. I couldn’t step back any more, so I just sat down.

“How was the way to the castle?”

Hugo pulled out a red-hot awl from the black pot.

The boiling water wet the floor as if it would melt everything.

“It, it was comfortable. Really…”

“Lie.”

I pretended to be Lily as much as I could, but Hugo declined it at once.

Oh, did I get discovered?

“It couldn’t have been comfortable.”

A white-haired man approached me one step at a time.

The embers behind his back cast a shadow over me.

The shaky tongue didn’t listen. I should hurry and beg, ‘I’m sorry! It wasn’t my purpose!’.

The 9-year-old’s body was pitifully vulnerable to fear.

Hugo gently knelt down and reached his smooth hand out towards my face.

I had no choice but to close my eyes.

These were fake words, the last resort of a liar.

Tuk.

His hand touched my cheek, not my hair.

Lily’s second brother stroked me. Gently, as if to appease a frightened small animal. 

Although it was a muggy basement with boiling water, his body temperature was quite cold.

I slowly opened my eyes and checked him.

It wasn’t a look at the fake.

Hugo raised his thin eyebrows as if genuinely worried about me.

“Shh… it’s fine. It’s scary just thinking about it, right? That’s right, no matter how much you smile outside, fear does not go away easily.” 

What else does this mean?

“Because neither my father nor my brother are sensitive at all. After all, I am the only one who can take care of your heart.”

Lily’s brother hugged me up and took me one step at a time into the lab.

As I passed a lab bench full of flasks containing suspicious liquid, I saw a square object covered in a blackout.

Taller than Hugo, it rattled and shook.

“I heard it through a letter during subjugation. They said you’re back. On the way to the castle, you were attacked by evil spirits, and one stupid servant broke the concealment magic and almost die… He’s more fortunate to have been punished by father. If it was me, I would have torn him to death.”

Hugo went through the blackout.

An unexpected gift was revealed.

A cage that could easily fit three or four wolves.

And in it…..

“Hiccup.”

You’re driving me crazy, you idiot.

“I’m sorry I was late yesterday. As soon as I got the letter, I withdrew immediately, but since it’s the first reunion in 10 years, I still can’t come empty-handed.”

Hugo held the heated awl in his hand and grabbed my shoulder.

As if he was giving a wonderful gift to his beloved sister.

“You can poke and play with it as you like. Until you feel better.”

Skeletons were folded layer by layer and with trembling movements. A monster that was still alive even after being incapacitated by cutting off its limbs.

Woo, woo, woo, the evil spirit trapped in the cage cried. Sadly, very sadly.

“It’s amazing. It hasn’t cried since I brought it here.”

Contrary to his words, Hugo’s sapphire eyes were indifferent. As if seeing a stone rather than a living thing.

As I stood there and trembled, doing nothing, Hugo knelt down on one knee and took a handful of mine.

“No need to hesitate. This is the best way to heal trauma.”

No way. Rather, it seems that a new trauma will arise!

“Think of that time. Wasn’t it scary? Even now, Lily, your body is trembling.”

You are scarier than evil spirits!

Is it normal to hunt down any wild boar and torture them for hitting you in the mountains?

“If you become stronger than your opponent, you will no longer be afraid. Just like I did.”

Why do you say it like it’s your own business…! Oh, I guess it’s really your business.

“Have you ever felt like that?” 

I quickly changed the subject.

If it wasn’t about that monster, anything was fine.

I tried hard to change the topic… but Hugo didn’t fall for it and gathered his thin eyebrows.

“Lily, don’t you like the present I made for you?”

That’s why I don’t like a quick-witted brother.

“That, that.”

“If you can’t afford it, just say yes.”

Hugo was surprisingly docile and put the awl back in place.

He hugged me in an instant, placed me out of sight of the demon cage, and even massaged my feet.

What should I call this? A sweet weirdo…?

“Your legs must have hurt, but I’m sorry I made you come down on foot. Since the magic of the World Tree interfered with the study of black magic, the walls and stairs of the laboratory were made of different materials.”

“It’s, it’s okay.”

“…I wanted you to be happy.”

Hugo looked depressed. Well, I was worried that I wouldn’t like presents the whole time I came here.

Even if he didn’t spit it out, it seemed that I could hear his inner thoughts, ‘My gift is worse than a bunch of garbage flowers.’

I shouldn’t have said something like ‘Whatever Hugo gives me, I like it!’ It was late, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I opened my mouth with difficulty.

“Brother Hugo, give me another present instead.”

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“What do you want? Dress? Jewel? Just say anything, I will give you even the ancient magic tools right away.”

I guess he was just waiting for these words.

“Oh, not like that. Just something… something else. You can read me a book.”

At least it doesn’t have to be a monster. With that in mind, I looked around the books piled up like a mountain.

Whatever the experiment was, the table was completely messed up with notes and potion stains.

“…Is it really enough for me to just read a book?”

Hugo blinked his eyes. He wondered if it could be a gift.

“Yes, I told you last night. You can read it in the correct pronunciation.”

“Go up right now. I will also make you tea.”

Hugo got up and went down the stairs. As I was following him, I suddenly turned to the animal cage.

I didn’t want to mention it, but at the same time, strangely, I was drawn to the monster.

“Brother. That monster, isn’t it dangerous to leave it like that?”

“It’s fine. If it’s within the barrier of the World Tree, the monster’s ability to regenerate will be weakened. It’s still taking damage and just holding its breath.”

It was still an awkward story. As I struggled to look away, a large book on the bookshelf caught my attention.

This book was exactly what I needed right now.

*** 

“…The three gods made a bet on who was the best god. As time passed, it finally came to a conclusion…”

“Hugo, brother, let’s have some tea.”

Academy lounge.

While Hugo was reading the book, I had one thought.

‘It would be perfect if he worked in a nursery school.’

It had both a good and bad meaning.

Hugo’s accent was perfect.

The problem was that it was so accurate that a machine seemed to be talking.

In other words, It made me sleepy. 

I slurped my fruit tea, which I didn’t know what kind it was, and turned through the thick book I had brought from the lab.

<Nobility Yearbook> It was a wonderful trick to find the main character of the original novel at once.

Because Benny was the count’s son by setting. 

‘Since he’s an illegitimate child, there won’t be any portraits, but what about the father of the main character?’

Obviously, the features of the characters in the fantasy novel were taken from the mix of the parents’ traits.

In other words, finding a guy with Benny’s characteristics would solve the problem.

I thought, ‘It’s genius!’. Until I realized that there was no answer. I found that silver-haired nobles were common, and purple eyes were rare, but they did exist.

The problem was that there was no ‘Count’ of silver hair and merciful-looking eyes. No, all the counts didn’t have silver hair. 

There was at least one person who was like a silver fox in the marquises, viscounts, and even in the lowly aristocratic families, but all of the counts’ families had dark hair.

“He must have been five years old.”

While I was flipping through the yearbook with Hugo, I found a portrait of himself as a child.

The kid with the glasses looked cute and smart.

“In this year, the power of the spirit blossomed, and Her Majesty the Emperor conferred the title of Archmage to me. It was expected. I was already superior to any garbage in the academy.”

“Huh? But I’ve heard that your power is sealed right after you’re born…”

“It’s not a perfect seal.”

He explained briefly, as if he expected my question.

“If you fall into a crisis without an adult to protect you, and you die without the power of God, wouldn’t it be a waste of your precious blood?”

I guess so.

“When you get a big shock, a little bit of your power leaks out. either physically or mentally. If the body accepts that it as ‘dangerous.’”

Ah, there was an emergency escape.

“Of course it’s not easy… but that’s what happened to me.”

‘If you were 5, was it 10 years ago? What the hell happened then… Ah…’

Lily’s disappearance. Everything was explained in five letters.

“Even if all the spirits at the academy came running, they couldn’t calm me down.”

Hugo rubbed his chin with a gloved hand and let out a laugh.

It wasn’t just scorn, there was a clear hatred.

“You don’t like academy people?”

“Yes. Very.” 

It was absolutely determined.

“Do you remember the guy you saw on the way? A man with dark eyes.”

“Yes.”

“5 years old. I came into the academy to learn that I was a spirit, and he told me I was a hybrid born into a beast family.”

I lost my words for a moment. A hybrid… Hugo shrugged casually.

“I was scared. Because he had no doubts, only because he believed that he would receive the title of Archmage. Even if he looks like that, he’s a trash of the royal family.” 

“That’s… “

“Well, I expected that far. It is said that the spirit of House Bauner has been ostracized for a long time. Since I was born, I have never seen anything other than myself, but… I kept ignoring him and he crossed the line.”

“The line?”

Hugo sighed and lowered his voice.

“He insulted me. That all my research on black magic… was in vain.”

On second thought, Hugo was quiet for a moment and raised his thin mouth sharply.

“So I took it from him. Isn’t it great to see the long-awaited title of the Archmage that he so desired and spent all his time just to get this position, be given to a person he always saw as a nuisance?” 

It was the smile of a villain. When I noticed, Hugo coughed heavily and returned to a soft ‘brother’s face’.

“Can I tell you something good?”

“Yes…”

“Lily, you must be a spirit.”

“Yes?”

I thought it was just a joke, but looking at Hugo’s face, it wasn’t.

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