Volume 1 - CH 21

「What do you mean your sister is being held hostage? 」

「My little sister works at the main residence in the royal capital. She has nothing to do with this, please… 」

Rita, who poisoned me says that her sister is being held hostage by my father. I should think of a way to deal with her after I rescue her sister.

「Well, let’s pick up your sister. Follow me, I don’t know her face. 」

「Eh? But I’ve been poisoning you, my lady… 」

「Don’t worry, you can’t kill the hidden boss with poison. 」

「Um, what? 」

「Never mind. Let’s go! 」

I unintentionally blurted out the knowledge from the game. Why am I so nervous about this? Is it because Rita’s sister is in danger? No, maybe I was nervous since this will be the first time I’ll meet my parents, and they wanted to kill me.

「Ryuu! Come on! 」

We rode on Ryuu’s back and flew into the night sky heading to the Royal Capital. The high altitude coupled with Ryuu’s black skin made us difficult to spot from the ground.

「Rita, where is the Dolknes’ family residence? 」

We were rushing out of the house, but I don’t even know where my parents’ house is. I forced Rita to follow me even though she is afraid of heights, so she kept her eyes closed.

「Can you tell me the way to the house from the Royal Castle? You don’t need to open your eyes. 」

「Y-yes. You go straight from the Royal Castle’s gate to the third main street to the right— 」

It’s as if we are looking at the map from the sky when I followed her directions. Because it was so dark that it’s hard to see the surroundings clearly, we relied on the building’s shape as the landmark.

「—two doors to the left. 」

「When you go through the gate, go to the right? 」

「Yes, the main residence building is L-shaped. 」

Compared to the residence in the territory, this one is bigger. They didn’t want to go back to the territory, after all.

「Rita, we’re getting off. 」

「You can’t do that, you’ll cause an uproar when you land in the garden. 」

Rita was worried that her sister is in danger, but the rest is assured.

「It’s okay, we will get off. Ryuu, fly above the house. 」

「My lady, what are you— 」

I’m going to jump off without a parachute. I’m a pro at this since I have been doing this many time now.

「I’m going to jump and sneak in now, don’t make any noises, okay? 」

Rita shook her head in silence. I think she has prepared herself for her sister.

「Thanks, Ryuu. You can fly around the area until I call you back. 」

With Rita held securely in my arms, I jumped off Ryuu’s back. I’m trying to be careful not putting too much power to accelerate my jump.

She clung to me with her eyes closed and never leaked a voice out.

We slowed down as we approached the ground and landed in the garden.

「We are here. Where is your sister? 」

「I think she’s in her usual workplace. My sister didn’t know anything. 」

We sneaked in into the house with Rita’s guidance and went to the servants’ quarter. We stopped in front of the door and made a small knocking noise.

「Sara, it’s me, Rita. 」

「Sis? What are you doing here? 」

The servants’ quarter were being shared along with several other people but right now there’s only Rita’s sister. I pushed Rita right into the room.

「Right, come in. 」

Seeing her sister is safe, Rita who is filled with overwhelmed emotions threw her arms around her and began to cry. Sara who didn’t know what’s going on with her sister looked so confused.

「What’s wrong? 」

I can’t help but explain the situation.

「Rita said you were being held hostage. You will be killed if Rita doesn’t kill me. 」

Sara was surprised when I said the word kill. I should’ve explained it better. It might be better if I explained it with discretion.

「Sorry, Sara. Thank you for all the time we spent together. My lady, please take care of my sister. 」

「Sister?! What are you talking about?! 」

Rita bid farewell to Sara as if it’s their last encounter. Where did you get the idea you need to say goodbye anyway?

「I won’t hand you over to the soldier, you know. 」

「Yes, I understand. If I won’t be able to see my sister anymore… 」

「I won’t snap you. 」

I’m a monster if I didn’t show any hesitation in killing you guys when you showed such affection to each other.  I’ve never killed anyone yet.

Moreover, she was being threatened and the real harm was I drank bad tea for a week. It’s not something to worry. I wonder if this would make Patrick call me a good person or soft-hearted.

「I don’t want to punish you. But we will have a further discussion about this later. 」

「My lady… No, I swear my loyalty and lifelong service to Lady Yumiela. 」

I feel like a new misunderstanding has arisen after I have solved the previous one. Let’s put this off for later.

「Please wait in this room, there’s still something I need to do. 」

I should’ve let them go but I won’t be able to protect them since I must meet some people.

I headed in the direction Rita has mentioned. The hallways were empty as I reached the room. As I stood in front of the door, I mentally prepared myself.

I opened the door and two pairs of eyes stared at me. They were having a snack while drinking wine. They seemed happy.

「Who are you? How did you get in? 」

「Good evening, I’m sorry for interrupting your time. Ah, would it have been better if I told you the reason why I’m home? 」

「You’re home? …Black hair, oh no, don’t tell me?! 」

「It’s nice to see you for the first time, Father, Mother. I am your daughter, Yumiela. The daughter that you tried to kill. 」

My parents looked more ordinary than I had anticipated. Looking at their situation, I imagined them to be fat and greasy, but they didn’t have any distinctive features.

They have golden hair but we didn’t share any resemblance. If they hadn’t been living in this house, I would’ve doubted if they were my parents.

「Damn those guys, I paid them a lot of gold… 」

「You are admitting that you tried to kill me. 」

「It’s because you betrayed us in the first place! Didn’t you hate us for sending you off to our territory?! 」

From this meeting, I found out that I don’t hate my parents that much. Of course, I don’t think they’re suitable to become nobles, and they didn’t raise me as if I was a delicate flower.

「What do you mean by betrayal? 」

「We know the moderates are planning to dispatch the troops. Because of your association with the moderates, you are putting us in a difficult situation. 」

I know I’m closer to the moderate faction. But the reason is that I want to keep the extremists at a distance.

「And the troops deployment? 」

「Under the direct control of the kingdom, the soldiers are preparing for a large-scale deployment. And you thought I was involved in that. 」

I’m starting to see the big picture.

The kingdom is preparing the soldiers for the monsters’ progress to resurrect the Demon King. The extremists who got the information must’ve thought that the moderates, led by the King, were planning to invade other countries.

They are concerned that the deployment will strengthen the moderates’ influence.

And the fact that I, the trump card for the war, was under the protection of the Royal Family cemented that idea. Refusing all the invitations that the extremists sent to me also played a factor.

Therefore, all my actions put my parents in a bad position among the extremists. That’s why they tried to assassinate me rather than letting me fall into the hands of their political opponent.

「There won’t be any troops invading other countries. I have no intention to wage a war myself. 」

「Why not?! House of Dolknes will grow even bigger if you make a military achievement. You might get a position in the central government. We won’t be called a wannabe anymore. 」

If you don’t want to be called a central wannabe, why don’t you try focusing on enriching the territory?

「Father, why don’t you go back to the territory? I think the fiefdom is big enough, you might even be able to start some business. 」

「Don’t be absurd! We have the local officers to manage the fief and we only need to receive the taxes! 」

「What about you, Mother? 」

「Do you want me to live in the countryside? You even had that awful black hair! How did I give birth to a child like you? 」

These parents are hopeless. From the beginning, I didn’t put any expectation on my parents but even as a noble they are hopeless.

That’s why I decided to treat them as nobles, not as their daughter.

「Father, please give up your title. 」

「What are you talking— 」

「This is title usurpation. You won’t say no, right? There’s only one heiress for House of Dolknes. 」

When I hinted at the murder, my father’s face which had been red with anger, paled.

「So-someone! Call the guards! 」

「Is there any guard that can defeat me? If you have that kind of guard, you should’ve sent them to assassinate me… 」

「You can’t do this to your own parents— 」

「I don’t want to hear that from the person who sent assassins to their child. Oh, Mother? You’re not going to run away, are you? 」

I rushed to my mother who was about to get up from her chair to escape.

「Yumiela, there’s a lot of good marriage proposal coming your way, right? You’ll be happier if you marry into a big family. 」

「I’m happy enough with my life. 」

And some people might like that… maybe.

「You have black hair, remember? You can’t just be normal and be happy, you know. 」

「Some people have told me they like my black hair. Please don’t assume my happiness. 」

I can’t see any more meaning in this conversation. I used my magic to release black spheres around me for intimidation.

「Now, choose. You can go under house arrest and live a somewhat inconvenient life, or you can die gracefully here? 」

「Yo-you aren’t the kind of person who would kill… 」

Why are you talking like a parent now?

「Do you know what happened to the assassins you sent to me?」

Well, all of them are alive, but looking at my trembling parents, they probably didn’t know that.

「I can make something disappear using my dark magic. It’s convenient because I wouldn’t be bothered dealing with a dead body. 」

They finally gave in when I used Black Hole to make the chair disappear. My parents cried like children and begged for their life.

「F-fine, I’ll do it! I’ll do as you say! Just please don’t kill me!! 」

This whole fiasco has convinced me that I had a strong aversion for murder. I’ve killed a lot of monsters and acquired an unimaginable strength for a human, but it’s a relief to know I have a heart.