novelraw Chapter 206 : Chapter 206
Chapter 206 : Chapter 206
Chapter 206: Household Matters (6)
"My father is more foolish than I am."
Grand Heir Elaine often criticized Grand Duke Aratus, but—
"You know what? I'm actually not that close to His Highness. Rather awkward, in fact. Such a difficult person to approach."
Grand Heir Elaine addressed Grand Duke Aratus as His Highness and found him difficult.
"I'm closer to my aunt."
And she called the Intelligence Bureau Director "Aunt."
"But she's such a burdensome person."
He hadn't heard much about it.
My personality is terrible.
Elaine said that and acted mischievously, but Harad knew well it came from a place of comfort.
The terrible personality part was actually true, though.
Just not quite garbage-level.
Elaine would bring up Harad's family but rarely spoke of her own.
She knew that was what truly caused hurt.
But once you get close, she talks more, and what she's already said multiplies.
Eventually, stories that were never told before come out.
"Looking back, not being close and finding someone difficult is better. Better than being close and finding them burdensome."
To Harad, it was just another ordinary day.
To Grand Heir Elaine, it was her aunt's death anniversary.
"The latter means they want a lot from you, you see."
"What did she want?"
"She saw my uncle in me. Said I resembled him."
Elaine touched her face.
Though she wasn't pointing at her face specifically.
Elaine resembled Grand Duke Aratus.
The atmosphere was so vicious that it was hard to notice, but if you looked closely, the Grand Duke was quite handsome too.
Uncle.
Grand Duke Aratus's younger brother was the opposite.
His face was frightening, but his heart was gentle.
And he loved to have fun. That's how he met the Intelligence Bureau Director too. While traveling around the continent for pleasure.
"What kind of person was the Intelligence Bureau Director?"
"She was an amazing person. Not a good one, though."
Elaine quietly gazed down at the gravestone.
That was all. Grand Heir Elaine was someone who could swallow death with composure.
"She's the very person who prevented me from living as I pleased."
"That story again?"
"Indeed. I'd like to tell my past self once more."
Elaine laughed emptily.
It was a smile the Grand Heir showed carelessly only to Harad.
"That the Intelligence Bureau Director is nothing, so it's fine to live as you please."
"Didn't you say you were close?"
"Does that matter? What matters is that I found her burdensome."
"......"
"Just need to secure a reasonably comfortable retirement."
Harad took it as it was.
He had no real connection with Elaine's aunt—that is, the former Intelligence Bureau Director.
The Intelligence Bureau Director operated on the continent, and her occasional returns were secretive.
Harad rarely had occasion to meet her.
"Now you just ignore whatever I say."
"How should I respond when we're practically strangers?"
And while you're bringing up pointless hypotheticals at that.
What past self.
"You know what? My aunt hated you. Enough that she would have killed you if given the chance."
Harad furrowed his brow.
This was the first he'd heard of it.
"Why would she kill me?"
"You're a Mage, aren't you? A clear stain and weakness for Serzila."
"She never showed any sign of it."
"She wouldn't be Intelligence Bureau Director for nothing."
Deception is the Intelligence Bureau's basic quality.
The Intelligence Bureau Director was the head of the Intelligence Bureau.
"But is that even allowed? Regardless of how it looks, Grand Duke Aratus permitted it."
"That's not permission—it's neglect. Whether you lived or died, my father wouldn't have cared at all."
It was true.
All Harad had received from Grand Duke Aratus was survival.
"That you've grown this much is your achievement. Not my father's."
"......"
"Ah. Mine too, I suppose. I'm also the one who protected you from my aunt."
Elaine puffed up with pride and strutted.
"Should I give thanks?"
"Offer alcohol together. You must pour it yourself by my side."
"......"
"Answer."
***
The Intelligence Bureau Director was the wife of Grand Duke Aratus's younger brother.
A Superhuman who took on the position of Intelligence Bureau Director after that brother died.
'Benus Serzila.'
Harad recalled the Intelligence Bureau Director's name.
Next to surface was that lunatic.
'Ios of the Ivory Tower.'
In his previous life, Ios reached 5th Rank and killed the Intelligence Bureau Director.
The reason was that the Intelligence Bureau Director, who had briefly returned to Serzila, noticed Digger.
It wasn't revealed at the time.
The full story came to light later.
When they realized the connection between Digger and the Otherworld.
That is, when it was already too late. That Ios was the culprit was revealed then. Until that point, they'd only assumed it was the work of the Empire or the Church.
'Her abilities are certain, at least.'
In his previous life, the Intelligence Bureau Director was killed by Ios.
Put another way, it meant she had gotten right up to Ios's chin.
"......"
Intelligence Bureau Director Benus silently stared at Harad.
It was a multifaceted gaze. Her pressed lips showed interest, but her eyes were cold.
Harad thought the Intelligence Bureau Director was feeling indignation.
Serzila judges by ability.
The Intelligence Bureau Director is demanding. She was someone who judged many things beyond just ability.
'She still has that continental air about her. Is it because she operated on the continent?'
She was also from the continent.
The Intelligence Bureau Director had originally been an Empire noble, but she was a woman who fell head over heels for Grand Duke Aratus's younger brother and brought her entire knight order as part of her dowry.
'That must be them.'
Nineteen.
No, eighteen excluding Arika.
They were the Intelligence Bureau's elite and the Intelligence Bureau Director's long-standing confidants.
The gazes stung.
What the Intelligence Bureau Director was feeling now, they felt too. Perhaps even more intensely than she did.
"Are you not ready to talk yet?"
When Harad remained silent, the Intelligence Bureau Director spoke first.
"Ugh."
It was then that Ferrard groaned.
He was trying to regain consciousness. A knight's Aura was tenacious indeed.
"What a cool-headed snake you are. You said you felt no resentment."
The Intelligence Bureau Director snorted.
"It's valid. Words of apology have no effect."
The Intelligence Bureau Director tilted her chin.
One of her confidants lifted Ferrard like a bundle.
He had failed to kill his ego, and he had failed his mission.
If either failed, he deserved death.
Ferrard had failed both.
'If you can't kill your ego, you should die.'
That was what the Intelligence Bureau Director in his previous life used to say constantly.
An amazing person, but not a good person.
That's what Elaine's words in the previous life meant. The Intelligence Bureau Director was an extremely strict person. Someone who treated people like chess pieces.
"That's my share."
Harad said.
The confidant who was about to take Ferrard away stopped and looked at the Intelligence Bureau Director.
"So he's prey. Valid."
The Intelligence Bureau Director tilted her chin toward Harad.
Ferrard fell before Harad.
"Yes, you kill him."
The Intelligence Bureau Director seemed interested.
Perhaps she wanted to see magic.
The Intelligence Bureau and Mages surprisingly had common ground.
Exploration and inquiry differ by a hair's breadth, after all.
"I won't kill him."
Harad had no intention of killing Ferrard.
"Once he recovers, I'll let him go. I dislike hunting without reason."
The corner of the Intelligence Bureau Director's eye twitched.
"Unacceptable. Investigator Ferrard must die."
"Didn't you say it was my share?"
"Only the right to kill. Since you've refused, I'll take it back."
The Intelligence Bureau Director was inflexible.
A confidant approached again. Harad rolled Ferrard with his foot and placed him under his own feet.
"Ellen will dislike it."
"......Presumptuous, Mage."
"The Grand Heir will stay quiet. But inside, she'll hate it."
"......"
"Ah. Maybe now she'll hate it openly too. Because I'll make it that way."
The Intelligence Bureau Director's face turned vicious.
Harad grinned.
"So let's talk about your business instead. Isn't that why you came?"
This time Harad tilted his chin.
Toward the door. It meant to dismiss the confidants.
"Aren't there too many listening ears? That'll be inconvenient."
"......"
"Frankly, I'm displeased. Like I said before—this is my house."
The confidants seemed even more displeased.
From all directions, not just gazes but Aura could be felt.
Things that were usually surely covert were openly pressuring Harad.
All of those things combined didn't match up to Grand Duke Aratus.
But Harad couldn't laugh it off. He was irritated. It was because of the aftereffects. The Origin, reacting to the Aura and emotion, spat out flames.
"How dare."
One of the confidants muttered quietly.
The Aura and killing intent grew thicker. The flames reacting to it also grew larger.
The interior of the annex was engulfed in fire.
It looked as if Harad, the confidants, and the Intelligence Bureau Director were all gathered inside a house made of fire.
"Your arrogance pierces the heavens."
The Intelligence Bureau Director said calmly.
Harad read confusion in that voice.
It must be because the presence and power of the fire were different.
She couldn't understand that chaos.
"You're a mere Hostage. Now that you've reached 5th Rank, do you think you've become someone great?"
"5th Rank is indeed great. I'm not a Hostage—I'm your daughter's escort."
"......"
"I can't part ways even if I want to. Ellen has no intention of letting me go."
The Intelligence Bureau Director hated Harad.
Enough that she would kill him if given the chance.
'It wasn't planned.'
The reincarnated Harad suddenly grasped what Elaine in his previous life had meant by those words. His gaze was seized by the Intelligence Bureau Director sitting on the fire-covered sofa.
'Like a beast.'
It was killing intent intense enough to sting his entire body.
That intensity—Harad instinctively knew it was the essence and Aura of the Superhuman named Benus Serzila.
The Intelligence Bureau Director of the past was an impulsive woman.
Enough to abandon everything and pledge herself to the North for the sake of a single man.
'Aura is individuality and conviction.'
And sometimes a rule stricter than doctrine.
Just as people become half-hearted at tasks they dislike, a Sword Master is reluctant to perform acts that betray the conviction that is their essence.
Because it's not an act their essence desires.
If forced, their Aura weakens.
That's why the essence of Aura is called a knight.
Because it's wielded according to its owner's heart and will.
'Was she refusing?'
Harad realized why the Intelligence Bureau Director in his previous life had been killed by a mere Ios.
A shadow fell across his vision.
The Intelligence Bureau Director's hand was right before his eyes. At this rate, she would grab and crush him.
Harad's eyes looking at the hand turned jet black. But it wasn't enough. It was a Sword Master's attack. The response had to be proportionate......
It was then that the door shattered.
CRASH! The suddenly fallen door struck the ground and ignited flames. Ellen stood using the fallen door as a platform.
"What the hell is going on here?"
She was the complete opposite of Grand Heir Elaine.
When Ellen got angry, her voice became hot. Her expression even more so.
At that heat, the flames covering the annex weakened.
Soon they disappeared. It wasn't Harad's will. The Origin decided on its own. No, it was because it resonated with Harad's emotions.
"What are you doing, Mom?"
Ellen was glaring not at Harad or the fire, but at the Intelligence Bureau Director.
"Put that hand down."
The Intelligence Bureau Director lowered her hand.
"Fuck?"
Ellen, who had approached, furrowed her brow.
The Intelligence Bureau Director frowned at the sudden profanity too, but Ellen didn't care at all.
Elaine might be one thing, but Ellen was that kind of person.
Ellen looked up at Harad's face with her face scrunched up.
"Dear, are you hurt?"
There shouldn't be any sign of it.
Ellen immediately noticed Harad's aftereffects.
Looking into those eyes, the aftereffects vanished completely. More precisely, his emotions melted away completely. That was why the flames disappeared.
He'd been irritated and displeased.
He thought it was because of the aftereffects. Remembering Elaine from his previous life was part of it too.
Both were correct.
But there was one more thing.
"Who did this to you?"
Because Ellen wasn't by his side.
'That's what I hated.'
Harad smiled bitterly.
Ellen scrunched up her face even more.
"Which bastard did this?"
It was me.
Harad hesitated for a moment. Then suddenly he made eye contact with the Intelligence Bureau Director.
"Your mother did."
"What?"
Ellen's head whipped around like lightning.
The Intelligence Bureau Director shook her head at tremendous speed.
Her face was flustered, unlike her. Impulsive and regretful. That was this woman's True Nature.
"What kind of mess is this...... Ah, shi......"
The curse cut off midway.
Ellen, who had been glaring back and forth between Harad and the Intelligence Bureau Director, suddenly collapsed.
Harad caught her as if accustomed to it.
"Good."
The Intelligence Bureau Director was indeed an excellent Stimulus.
"......You bastard, what did you do?"
The Intelligence Bureau Director growled.
Her attitude was quite different from before. She truly was a child born from the heart, it seemed.
"Something good for everyone. Probably."
"......"
"So let's talk now."
Harad smiled brightly.
"First of all, I don't think we can part ways."
It felt like his head was finally working properly now.
"Because I think I can't do without her anymore."