Delusion (13)
Seraphina comforted for a long ti before leaving the room.
She looked back several tis, but I rely leaned against the doorway, waving my hand.
The door closed, and I was once again alone in the room.
Her warmth seed to faintly linger.
The next day, I attended classes as usual, and went about my daily routine.
It was as if I would be truly unable to do anything if this inertia disappeared.
Around evening, I bought a suitable sandwich and plenty of snacks from the street in front of the academy, then headed to the church.
The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the street.
As I opened the church door, Estelle, sitting in a chair, turned around and waved her hand.
"Lavin? What's that in your hand?"
"I brought so dinner, have you eaten already?"
Estelle shook her head.
I took out a sandwich from the bag, which contained sandwiches and snacks bought with the money I received from Levina.
It was a very ordinary sandwich, with ham and cheese.
We sat side by side at the end of a long bench and began our al.
After we finished the sandwiches and started on the snacks, I was the first to speak.
"This weekend, Levina and I decided to go sowhere, just the two of us."
"Levina, just the two of you?"
Estelle repeated the question.
Her voice was laced with surprise.
I nodded.
"Even when I had a younger sibling before, and we were quite close, I don't think we ever went out anywhere just the two of us."
Estelle said that, then shrugged her shoulders.
"But then again, I was too young at the ti, so I can't quite rember."
She munched on her sandwich, swallowed, and then opened her mouth again.
"So, where are you going?"
"We haven't decided yet. Just, probably sowhere quiet and secluded, just the two of us."
"It's hard to see you two as normal siblings."
"We were never really 'normal' to begin with."
Just then, Estelle looked at my hand.
My palm was all scraped up.
It was a wound from inside the room yesterday.
"What happened to your hand?"
"I fell."
I vaguely brushed her off.
"Give your hand."
Estelle said.
I hesitated for a mont, then extended my hand.
Estelle gently clasped my hand as if to enclose it.
It was warm and soft.
A faint light enveloped my palm.
With a stinging sensation, the wound vanished in an instant.
As if it had never been there.
Estelle, still holding my hand, opened her mouth.
"So, Lavin, what else do you want?"
Estelle asked, as if she could see right through .
"I want to beco the head of the family."
Upon hearing that, Estelle started to open her mouth, then pressed her lips together tightly.
She glanced down once, then looked back at .
Her red eyes were shining.
"If you beco the head of the family like that, do you have any thoughts on what you'll do next?"
I took a bite of my sandwich with one hand and didn't answer.
Because there was no such thing.
"If you haven't thought of anything else, how about marrying ?"
Estelle asked casually.
As if we were discussing what to have for dinner.
I was quite flustered but tried my best not to show it.
"First of all, didn't I tell you I had a fiancée, even if we weren't married?"
"You did. While whining that you were about to be dumped."
"The annulnt... seems to have fizzled out."
At that, Estelle frowned slightly.
"What do you an 'seems to have'?"
She let go of my hand, which she had been holding.
"And anyway, don't those mighty nobles only marry for vested interests, politics, and money, not love?
They're the type who only make loveless marriages."
Estelle rose from her seat and sat closer to .
"Look, I only have you."
She said in a serious voice.
"No matter how much I'm praised in the church, or how cautious those nobles are around , afraid to say a single wrong word, I'm happier eating dinner and chatting with you here."
Estelle always speaks with conviction.
I envied that.
Because I, who vaguely thought I should do sothing, or had to do sothing sohow, had rarely spoken or acted with conviction.
"......"
"I don't know much about power, but if you marry , who would dare criticize you?
And I'm sure I can love you much better than that fiancée of yours, with whom there was even a talk of annulnt.
At least I wouldn't discard the person I love just because a little problem arises."
I cramd the remaining sandwich into my mouth, chewed for a long ti, then swallowed.
Then I said in a low voice.
"Estelle. You know I'm not the kind of person who can decide on marriage, engagent, the future, or what I want to do next.
Only the esteed head of the family can decide such things, not ."
"Then what should we do?"
Estelle asked calmly.
"No, how are you going to beco the head of the family?"
I looked at the floor and said.
"If I keep her locked up for a while, won't sothing happen, sohow?"
"That's too vague."
Estelle replied and rose from her seat.
"By the way, about the Duchess, it was too much to keep her in a coffin all day, so I just let her loose in the basent and occasionally throw her so food."
"Ah, thanks for taking care of it."
"So, when are you going to kill her?"
"I'm not going to kill her."
Estelle sighed.
"Well, that's not bad either.
Though it's a bit troubleso for ."
"Since we're on the subject, I'll go see her. Can you give the key?"
Estelle took out an old iron key from her pocket and handed it to .
I carried the bag containing the sandwiches and headed to the basent.
I unlocked the door and slowly walked down the stairs.
Without saying a word, I threw the bag in front of the rather haggard and slly Duchess.
The Duchess's face was gaunt, and after being confined for a few days, she looked hollow-eyed.
She glared at for a long ti, then opened her mouth.
"How did you manage to charm the Saintess?"
"Indeed."
"Lavin, tell what you want."
After descending the stairs, I took out a sandwich from the bag and threw it to the Duchess.
She tried to catch it with her hand, but her grip must have been weak, as she dropped it.
The sandwich fell to the floor.
"This is what I wanted to do."
"Are you exacting revenge from your childhood?
You're quite petty for a man.
And not particularly bold either."
The Duchess scoffed.
"No."
I shook my head.
"While I do resent you, you're not the child born from a woman I loved who carried another man's seed, so why would I go to such lengths?"
Upon hearing those words, the Duchess gnashed her teeth.
"How could soone like you possibly entangle yourself with the Saintess?
Or are you thinking of selling the family to the church?
It seems your mother's blood hasn't gone anywhere; you'll sell anything from your body to your soul."
"Whether I sell the family or not, or what I do with the Saintess, that's not what's important."
Since there wasn't a single chair to sit on in the basent, I just sat on the creaking stairs and looked down at the Duchess.
"What's important is, Levina. Is she crazy?"
"Why, does the position of family head look so tempting to a re bastard like you?"
The Duchess asked mockingly.
"Yes. It looks very tempting."
I replied calmly.
"But don't worry.
Perhaps because I have lowly red blood mixed in , I don't want to act as disgusting and ugly as you people."
Each ti I spoke, the Duchess's eyebrows twitched, as if sothing displeased her greatly.
"Just, stay here for a while, and if I'm lucky enough to inherit the family, I'll release you sowhere suitable.
After that, you can spend the rest of your life holed up in so villa, surrounded by male prostitutes, or do as you please."
"What if you don't inherit it?"
"Then I'd be dead already.
You don't particularly like asking such foolish questions, do you?"
Upon hearing that, she remained silent for a long ti.
Just as I was about to get up, she opened her mouth.
"Where is Klusel?"
"Klusel is......."
"Don't you even know your uncle's na?"
The Duchess rebuked.
"I don't really know what happened to that man."
I vaguely understood why Estelle had been able to capture the Duchess so easily.
The Duchess and the family head's younger brother must have been busy tumbling around, and it must have been too great a blessing to let even a little of those noble sounds reach those nearby, so they would have dismissed all the guards and everything.
By the way, I really don't know where that uncle-figure is.
I thought about asking Estelle, but decided against it, finding it too botherso.
Because he would have taken care of himself well enough.
I looked at the Duchess, who wasn't even touching the bag containing the sandwiches, cookies, and drinks, and began taking out its contents and placing them on a small shelf nearby.
Silence fell.
Neither tension nor awkwardness flowed.
This small basent was filled with mutual unpleasantness.
Then, the Duchess broke the silence, speaking in a low voice.
"Even if you miraculously beco the head of the family, no one will acknowledge you, and no one will accept you."
"It's always been that way."
"......"
"And I don't particularly wish for such things anyway. I'm not a person like you."
Having said that, I left the basent.
An unpleasant voice ca from behind , but I didn't bother to turn back.
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