novelraw Chapter 208 : Chapter 208
Chapter 208 : Chapter 208
Chapter 208: Household Matters (8)
The Barrier Knights loved fire.
They found stability through Harad at the boundary.
Harad felt he could understand the hearts of those knights.
'Was it this kind of feeling?'
There was no need to do anything in particular.
Just by Harad being at the boundary, the knights grew warmer.
Right now, Ellen was playing that role for Harad.
She was simply lying still, even sleeping peacefully, yet it was effective. His irritation did not rise.
Though he was suffering from aftereffects, his emotions remained stable.
'No. Perhaps it's because she's asleep.'
If Ellen were awake, this would be an awkward situation.
"What shall I do for you?"
Benus asked.
Her tone was somewhat calmer.
In truth, Harad had waited quietly for her to calm down.
"It seems you have a loyal subordinate watching over Ellen and Arika. Am I correct?"
"You are."
Benus confirmed it.
Arika looked shocked. Not a shock from betrayal, but from ignorance.
"However, you are in no position to point that out."
"Not pointing it out. Rather, I think it's excellent. People and information must be layered to leave no gaps."
"That is good advice."
Benus nodded.
As the Intelligence Bureau Director, she could not help but like such words.
"Ellen suspects whether I know her identity."
"Let her do so."
"How?"
"I, as the Intelligence Bureau Director, noticed that suspicion through Arika. That is why I came to this place. Is that not what you desire?"
Benus grasped Harad's intention precisely.
"As expected of the Intelligence Bureau Director."
"Over something like this?"
Benus snorted.
"Ellen couldn't do it though."
"......If she wanted to, she is a child who could. I interrogated you, and discovered that the suspicion was merely a concern."
Benus, whose arm bent inward, changed the subject.
"If you had truly approached that child knowing her identity, I would have killed you."
Benus looked regretful that things had not turned out that way.
'So that's why she was angry earlier.'
Looking at it now, it was not permission but a deferral.
"That will be enough. Very well then."
It could be covered up sufficiently.
But beside them, Arika shook her head.
"Speak."
Arika glanced at Benus before speaking.
"......I believe you are both underestimating Lady Ellen too much."
Arika softened her words about seeing Ellen as a fool.
"Even if she trusts people easily, she is not someone who easily retracts her own will."
Arika glared at Harad as she spoke.
She had always been that way, but she had become more so since meeting Harad.
"Indeed. She does live as she pleases."
Ellen had developed a clear sense of self.
It was the reward of regression.
"How vulgar."
"But those are Ellen's words."
"How direct."
"......"
Harad turned his gaze to Arika.
"For the record, I did not underestimate her."
"I did not either."
"......"
Benus was definitely a strange woman.
"The point is this. Why did I, who need to make Elaine dream, only spend time with Ellen? And why did I only tell Ellen about dreams?"
"Correct."
Arika nodded with a surprised expression.
Harad seemed like someone who had been inside Ellen's head.
"Why on earth did you do that?"
Why did you create such an awkward situation?
Arika openly reproached him.
"From my position, Ellen was more comfortable than Elaine. Because she was a hostage."
"I know you were rude even when she was the Grand Heir."
"I am the same, but the other party is not, is she? If it had been Elaine, she would not have accepted things at face value. Someone made her family education difficult."
"Are you shifting your incompetence onto others?"
Benus clicked her tongue.
"You know what? Ellen is quite shameless too. She curses well. Like someone I know."
"You damn sly cradle robber. Show proper courtesy."
Harad turned his body entirely toward Arika.
Talking with Benus made his head throb.
"Well, it's not such a difficult problem."
Arika's eyes narrowed.
What are you going to do? That seemed to be her look.
"Approaching frequently and talking a lot. In such cases, it's usually one of two things. Either there's a hidden agenda, or there's genuine interest."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"The former is sinister. The latter is pure."
Harad had been the former.
"I'll try to be pure from now on."
Perhaps to some degree, he already was.
* * *
"When will she wake up?"
"If it's short, it will be short, but it won't be longer than her usual sleep time."
"Then there's not much time left."
While active on the continent, Benus even knew Ellen's sleep schedule.
"Do you have anything left to say?"
"We're done."
"Then let's go."
Benus extended her hand.
Harad handed Ellen over.
"Handle her carefully."
But then.
"Why are you angry?"
"I'm not."
Benus had a face that anyone could see was displeased.
"If there is information you want, go through Arika. I will at least listen once."
However, she seemed to separate public and private matters.
It was thoroughness befitting the Intelligence Bureau Director.
"I want to know about the Saintess of the Church."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"You cannot do it?"
"Do not try to provoke me."
"Very well."
Even Benus seemed to find it difficult to learn about the Saintess.
It meant the Church was hiding her that thoroughly.
'Either a treasure or a disgrace. For now, the latter.'
The Saintess was likely a Mage.
"There are quite a few Otherworld Mages hiding on the continent."
"So?"
"You don't need to openly capture them, but if you see them, capture and interrogate them."
"Just interrogation?"
"It would be better if you killed them."
Benus nodded.
If anything, it was an ideological verification. Mages usually had their hearts inclined toward the Otherworld.
"What information do you want?"
"Anything is fine, but it would be better if it's about the moon or fire."
Benus's eyebrows twitched.
Both the Grand Duke of Aratus and Serzila were conscious of the moon. Ellen must be involved in that unknown story.
"I will think about it. Is that all?"
"One more...... No, that's all."
Harad was about to speak, then shook his head.
This question was one that should be asked to the person herself as a matter of courtesy.
Benus stared at Harad before soon turning around.
She held Ellen like a princess.
"I will always be watching."
"I don't mind. As long as you don't teach Elaine strange things."
"......You bastard."
That curse was the end.
Benus immediately stepped over the fallen door and went outside.
"Shadow. Are you Jis?"
A voice was heard from outside.
Benus seemed to have discovered Jis.
In other words, Jis had revealed himself.
Harad had sent him out together with the subordinates.
'He was blocking them.'
Earlier, when Benus had attacked, he must have revealed himself while preventing the subordinates from entering.
"Stop."
Benus's voice was heard again.
It seemed they had been in a standoff until now.
"Shadow Jis."
"Yeah."
"I heard you are Ellen's friend."
"Right. Am I not allowed too?"
"Continue to get along well in the future."
It was completely different from when she talked with Harad.
Benus's voice was sickeningly gentle. It was impressive acting.
"Okay!"
Jis shouted brightly from outside.
That was the last. Though no footsteps were heard, Harad sensed that Benus and the subordinates had left. He could no longer feel Ellen.
"I got permission."
"......"
"She told me to become even closer friends with Ellen."
The shadow wriggled inside.
"She seems like a good person, Ellen's mom."
The shadow danced cheerfully.
Benus had aimed for that dance.
If Benus asked anything in the future, Jis would obediently answer.
Because Benus was a kind mom.
'Does she not trust me?'
What Harad had received was not permission but a deferral.
She would watch further.
It did not particularly matter.
There was nothing more to hide anyway.
"Harad, were you truly sinister?"
Arika suddenly spoke.
Sinister or pure. Those words seemed to bother her.
"I was sinister."
"......"
"However, I was earnest."
Arika stared at Harad.
Harad did not avoid that gaze.
It was quite a long time.
Long enough that the bored Jis drew pictures on the floor with shadow.
It was also woefully short a time to convey sincerity.
"I will believe you."
However, the time that had passed had been worthwhile.
Arika soon nodded.
"But how will you become pure?"
"I don't really know that either."
Women.
Harad scratched his neck. It was an unfamiliar topic.
"Even if you don't know, you'll do well."
Why does she believe in me?
Harad tilted his head.
"Pfft."
A laugh was heard then.
"Did you just laugh?"
"I did not."
Arika was covering her mouth with her hand.
That gesture was somehow desperate.
"Pfft."
"But you are laughing."
Arika was puffing out her cheeks.
Anyone could see she was holding back laughter.
"It feels like I can't do without this now. Kuk."
"......Were you this kind of person?"
"Lady Ellen likes this appearance more."
That was true.
"Pfft."
"......"
* * *
Benus Serzila.
She was a perfect person. There was nothing to criticize about her.
Suffocatingly so.
But Ellen knew that she was originally an eccentric person. She was more hot-blooded than anyone, and that was why she had come to the North. She was a woman who suited her uncle more than anyone.
The title of Intelligence Bureau Director was a result acquired later.
Benus hoped Elaine would be the same. Because she knew of her uncle's death.
Elaine often felt that the Intelligence Bureau Director was burdensome. But she liked Benus Serzila as a mother. At least for Ellen, that was the case.
It seemed that was the same in dreams as well.
-Where are you going?
Elaine in the dream spoke.
From her polite speech, it was during her time as Grand Heir.
-Aunt.
Elaine stood before Benus.
-My daughter.
Though she had the appearance of the Grand Heir, Benus called Elaine daughter.
-Right now I am the Grand Heir.
-Yet you are my daughter. The daughter I raised and taught.
-You are being emotional right now.
-Only for tonight. Tomorrow I will return to normal.
Elaine's eyebrows twitched.
When Benus moved to the left, Elaine moved in front of her.
-Move aside.
-I asked where you are going.
The atmosphere was strange.
It looked exactly like she was blocking her.
-Beyond here is a place unrelated to you, Aunt.
Beyond.
Only then did Ellen realize it was the Inner Fortress.
It was a familiar path. Just a little further behind Elaine was Harad's annex.
-There is one. I thought there was none.
-What do you mean?
-The stone that rolled in has embedded itself too deeply.
Elaine's face hardened.
-It will become a stain and weakness of Serzila.
Benus's target was Harad.
Ellen noticed it was not a simple meeting.
-He is a Mage permitted by His Grace the Grand Duke.
-Do you truly believe that?
The Benus in the dream was going to kill Harad.
That was why Elaine blocked her path.
-He is worse than ornamental. You are the only one who feels attracted to him.
-The knights also feel attraction.
-That attraction occurs because you are by his side.
It was a difference between dream and reality that Ellen could not understand.
The Harad of reality was competent.
He was not ornamental, and the Grand Duke summoned him and gave him orders whenever he was bored. Also, the knights fell for Harad on their own.
The Harad in the dream was not.
Compared to reality, he was incompetent and always stuck to Elaine.
When Harad led Ellen in reality, in the dream it was Elaine who led Harad.
-It has become difficult to hear news of my daughter. News of the Grand Heir grows more frequent with each passing day.
Benus said.
It seemed that Elaine in the dream had reduced the frequency of her activities as Ellen.
It meant something more enjoyable had occurred.
Ellen understood at once what Benus was trying to say.
-Why are you blocking me in that form?
Elaine Serzila had to be perfect.
If she wanted to stop Benus, she should have come as Ellen, not Elaine.
-Why is Elaine being emotional, not Ellen?
-......
-Even if it were Ellen, she could not be this emotional.
Ellen had been taught that way.
Elaine in the dream must have been as well.
-I did not teach you that way.
But it was the Grand Heir Elaine who now blocked Benus.
-A stain and weakness of Serzila. You have already become one.
It was because of Harad.
If Ellen had changed in reality, in the dream it was Elaine who had changed.
-Tumors must be cut out as quickly as possible.
-......
-Move aside, Grand Heir. This is for the Grand Heir's sake.
Benus spoke soothingly.
It was a familiar, rigid voice. She always used that tone with Elaine.
When she was like that, Elaine had to listen.
Benus hoped she would.
The North was the same.
The Grand Heir had to be perfect.
Ellen knew that was an illusion.
-I refuse.
Elaine in the dream also.
So, that woman also seemed to know.
-Do not touch Harad.
-Grand Heir.
-Next year I will be Grand Duke.
Benus flinched.
So did Ellen. Though it was a dream, she felt fear from Elaine.
-Ornamental. He may be that to Grand Duke Aratus, but not to me.
-......
-Harad is mine.
Ellen realized then that her rival was not in her right mind.
-So turn back. Before I cut out the Intelligence Bureau Director who has just become a tumor.
That woman was threatening.
Benus, who was both aunt and mother.
Blinded by a man.
'Crazy woman.'
The Benus in the dream turned her back.
The dream showed that face. A face that had been betrayed by her daughter, terribly pitiful.
'I must not become like that.'
Seeing that face, Ellen vowed.
And she woke from the dream.
"Ellen."
Benus was looking down at her.
"Are you all right?"
Benus's voice reached her ears gently.
It was a mother's worry. However, Ellen did not feel it was gentle. The ceiling visible beyond was familiar. It was the Grand Heir's room.
"What about Harad?"
She had definitely been in Harad's annex.
"Where is Harad? Don't tell me you killed him? You didn't, right?"
You didn't kill him.
Seeing Benus's face, Ellen openly felt relieved. And then she questioned her.
"Why did you do that to Harad? He's someone whose body is already weak, so why on earth......"
"That fucking cradle robber bastard......"
"Mom, did you just curse Harad?"
"......"
Benus's face became pitiful.
Though not as much as what she had seen in the dream.
At least that was how it seemed to Ellen.