CH 97

Then why did you show up?

I swallowed this word and waited quietly for the man’s next word.

“I didn’t want to ruin your birthday celebration.”

“Who are you?”

“They must have kidnapped you in order to call me out so fearlessly.”

“Who kidnapped me?”

“It’s the first time you’ve been congratulated by so many people, right?”

The man was only saying what he wanted to say, as if he didn’t want to answer me. I remained silent, staring at the man as he awkwardly stood up.

“Your father doesn’t appear to be aware that the blessing becomes weaker on your birthday, does he?”

“What?”

“I didn’t realize how simple it was to break in when there were so many people here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why were you born into this family?”

I hated mixing words with this guy, but he was giving me some really significant pieces of the puzzle right now, and it was obvious that the blessing he was talking about is the blessing of the demon that had been passed down from generation to generation in Conler.

But my pride was hurt to ask again.

“I came because I thought it would be hard if useless things showed up and ruined your party,” 

Don’t you know, you showing up ruins it even more? If you don’t know, I really want to let you know. But there’s no need to provoke you. I think you’ll get mad if I say this.

“If they get angry and kill you because of your temper, isn’t it a problem?”

“What?”

He said it in such a harsh way that it overshadowed my earlier declaration that I didn’t want to provoke him. My personality isn’t all that bad, in my opinion.

The man’s smile remained constant, perhaps because he wasn’t in a bad mood. It was quite unexpected.

“Because you tend to be too obsessed with life.”

It was a strange word. I grimaced. With his index finger, the man lightly tapped my cheek.

After he touched my cheek, I wiped it. When he saw my reaction, the man laughed as if he was amazed.

“But I didn’t know it would be filled up like this.”

The man’s attention returned to my wrist. It was clear that Rex’s bracelet was bothering him. Instinctively, I wrapped my bracelet.

“The Conlers are indeed troublesome, with Estin being the worst.”

As he looked at me, the man spoke seriously.

“I’m always by your side, Mary.

“Don’t be there. It is unpleasant.”

“You got dumped.”

“I didn’t get dumped.”

“See you next time.”

“Why me?”

“If you grow up a little bit, you’ll be engaged to me, not Demimore.”

“I don’t want to.”

Despite my feistiness, the man kept responding indifferently. The man was certainly attractive, but for some reason I didn’t warm up to him. Of course, I’m not the type of moron who enjoys everything attractive or attractive-looking. In any case, even if your face isn’t attractive, it must exude positivity. I don’t dislike it; I’m just not a fan.

“It’s not yet time, Mary, so I’ll be back.”

“Don’t come even when the time is right.”

“Oh, the castle of Conler is so uncomfortable.”

The man gave me a wink before vanishing. I stared blankly at the scene, recalling the man’s last words. He described Conler’s castle as “uncomfortable.” That implies that this is Conler’s castle. I made the decision to leave this space.

“Oh, the window.”

The ground seemed far away as I peered out the window. It was obvious that this was the room on top of the castle. I exhaled a long sigh. How will I go down there?

“Mary!”

I was leaning against the wall because I wanted to rest a little longer before getting down when the door to the room I was in flew open. Grand Duke Estin was there, as well as Lucas carrying Rex. I crouched down before hazily rising. So the man disappeared because he knew Grand Duke Estin was on his way.

“Are you alright?”

Grand Duke Estin asked while grabbing my arms. Despite how excellent it was, I felt awkward. My arms ache. Grand Duke Estin gave me a conflicted look as I cautiously nodded. Dad, I’m sorry. Your only daughter is kidnapped every time.

You must have ran up to the tower, but you don’t appear to be at all exhausted. Particularly Lucas, who was carrying Rex on his back.

“That’s a relief, sister.”

“Master Rex made it easy for us to locate the lady.”

Lucas said, placing his hand on Rex’s shoulder. How on earth? I stared at Rex with surprise as he spoke, awkwardly wriggling his hands.

“As I mentioned earlier when I gave you a gift, I infused the bracelet with a tiny bit of my mana so I was able track it.”

“Ah, I see…….”

The man was leery of the bracelet Rex gave me because of that.

“I apologize if I offended you.”

“Oh, no! Thanks to you, you were able to come to my rescue so quickly.”

When I stared blankly at the bracelet, Rex sobbed again.

The bracelet appears to be the reason the man left so quickly.

By the way, Rex is way too sweet. He is probably a child who is concerned about other people’s feet, even if that nsomeone purposefully extended his leg for him to step on. I smiled as tenderly as I could and patted the bracelet Rex gave me dearly.

“It’s fine, Rex. Thank you. I’m proud of you.”

“Well, Mr. Logan came up with the idea.”

Grand Duke Estin raised an eyebrow when Logan’s name was mentioned. He didn’t interact with Logan in any significant way. If Logan knew Rex had claimed it was his idea, he would be shocked.

“He is a better teacher than I had expected.”

“All because of my connections,”

Lucas stepped in in a playful tone, slightly hitting Grand Duke Estin in the back of the head and laughing. I could see why Grand Duke Estin took Lucas. Certainly, Lucas was a person who had the talent to make even the most serious atmosphere playful.

“So did you see the face of the kidnapper?”

“……Yes.”

I nodded carefully and all three men’s eyes turned to me. Grand Duke Estin asked about his appearance in detail.

“It was a man with purple hair and eyes,”

“You are good at drawing, so you can draw it yourself.”

“That’s right! You can draw it yourself.”

I shook my head violently. I definitely painted a human sketch before and they mistook it for a demon. I cannot confuse the investigation.

Instead, I decided to throw out the most important keywords.

“He said he was the God of the underworld.”

“God of the underworld?”

Grand Duke Estin and Lucas made eye contact. They looked puzzled as if it were an unfamiliar word. I thought Grand Duke Estin and Lucas might know something, but looking at their expressions it was clear that there was not much known about the underworld. 

“Teacher Logan may know.”

“Yes, I should ask Logan.”

Yeah, Logan is studying the underworld. Grand Duke Estin checked my body again if I was hurt.

“It’s hard.”

“What?”

“I don’t know why unexpected things keep happening to you.”

Rattle~

I felt my heart pounding at the words of Grand Duke Estin. Of course, I know that he’s saying this out of concern for me. He’s probably saying this because I was kidnapped even inside the castle. I understand it in my head, but…….

I don’t know what would happen if Grand Duke Estin gets tired of these situations. What if this situation repeats and continues and he begins to get tired of me? Isn’t this troublesome?

Concerning the original story, which I frequently dreamed about, I was anxious. There was no guarantee that it would proceed as the original, but there was also no assurance that it would not.

I believed that Demimore and I were on good terms, but as soon as he found out about the engagement, he informed me that he didn’t want to get engaged.

Therefore, I made the decision not to discuss the underworld saint or the engagement I had previously heard about. I’m not certain if he is the underworld’s god, and I was a little concerned about Grand Duke Estin Estin’s reaction if he learned that I was referred to as the underworld’s saint.

“Get on my back.”

“What?”

I was lost in thought, and suddenly Grand Duke Estin showed his back and sat down in front of me. No, you already checked that I was okay, but you still want me to carry on your back.

“Come on.”

I was hesitating in the back when Grand Duke Estin insisted. Perhaps if I didn’t get carried on his back, I would face it all day, so I carefully climb on his back but I’m really fine. I made eye contact with Rex as I climbed Grand Duke Estin’s back. He smiled slightly at me.

I remembered Rex, who refused when I asked him to get on my back during the picnic. At that time, I was just sad because I wasn’t able to carry him on my back, but after being in his situation. I think I understand Rex a little bit..….

I’m sorry, Rex. You must have been really embarrassed. Still, he came here riding Lucas’s back.

“I’m sorry.”

I was at the back of Grand Duke Estin when suddenly he apologized in a low voice. I could see why he was saying sorry to me, so I replied cautiously.

“I heard you cast a spell on me.”

“That’s why he couldn’t take Miss Mary far away.”

Oh, so that’s why I’m still here at Conler Castle.

He nodded at Lucas’ explanation. Somehow I felt fortunate not to see the face of Grand Duke Estin.

“I thought it was a needless worry. I apologize for being arrogant. I thought nothing would happen on your supposed happiest day. This won’t happen again.”

At the words of Grand Duke Estin, I hugged his neck a little tighter without replying. I felt sorry again when I heard the apology. It felt like Grand Duke Estin was caught up in these things because of me. The work of the imperial family must be making him busy, too.

“He must have been acting as the god of the underworld.”

“What a disgrace.”

Is it because I feel relieved or because I’m shaking at the constant speed while going down the stairs? I had a vague sense of drowsiness. In the meantime, I thought vaguely while listening to the conversation between Grand Estin and Lucas.

What if he’s not acting as the God of the underworld……?

What If he’s really a god, what should we do then?