Episode 44

 I don’t think it’s still necessary to win the lottery if I can go to this gambling house every day. I shrugged and reached out to the merchant.

“The mowney.”

“. . . . this can’t be happening. You! You cheated!”

“Huh?”

“There’s no way you can find all those balls! You must’ve done something!”

The red-faced merchant raised his hand as if to hit me. Startled, I fell back as I saw the thick palm approaching.

Bang!

With the sound of the table hitting the floor, several balls hidden by the merchant came out and rolled on the ground.

Only then did the children gasp when they realized that they have been deceived.

“What? The uncle is responsible for this trickery, right?”

“Give me back my money!”

Some of the angry kids rushed to the merchant, but he didn’t care and started to yell at me.

“Huh? What kind of trick did you use, you little bitch!”

The merchant approaches me with gallant strides over the angry children. The merchant who got up was a lot bigger than I thought. Though that’s to be expected as he was a man in his middle years.

‘D-Dad.”

I was afraid of men at his age. The memory of being beaten came to me like a habit and my body trembled at the thought of it.

I froze on the spot without even thinking of running away from the memories of my previous life. It was difficult to think properly on the account of the fear that was on an entirely distinctive level from what I experienced from Alphonse.

My legs that were usually full of vigour trembled like a leaf.

“Come here! You won’t?!”

‘Wake up! He’s not your dad.’

I shook my head continuously. I couldn’t prevent the appearance of the merchant and my father from overlapping.

“What’s the owner doing, not stopping such a child from entering the gambling house?”

‘The nerve of you to say that when you’ve been making money off those kids!’

It was shameless of the merchant, who was a grown-up, to be furious but, I was unable to try and rebel against him and held my head with my arms.

It was because this was all so familiar to me that I raised my hands first as I used to.

‘I’m scared!’

Alphonse may be older than me, but in the end he’s still a child. It wasn’t that scary because I was ignoring him implicitly.

However, the thick hands of an adult were frightening enough for me to want to die. He sneered at my form crouched down like a worm.

“Yeah, you must’ve done something, huh? Huh?!”

I wanted to get up and run away, but I couldn’t move any further, just stuttering with my back hunched. The man who approached quickly grabbed my weight and lifted me up.

“N-No! I didn’t do anytheng lak cheat!” (I didn’t do anything like cheating!)

I stared at the man while floating in the air. The children screaming behind him came into vision.

‘Where did Yuric and Veronica go?’ (Rosie: I’ve been wondering the same thing.)

As I scanned the surroundings to look for them, my vision suddenly turned upside down.

Ssssssss.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

With the sound of a black snake grazing the floor, the man screamed and threw me away.

I lifted my head at the pungent smell of trees at the tip of my nose. I was still in the air, but the merchant who had me by my neck just now flew far away.

‘Why am I still in the air when that man is right over there?’

When I looked at my body, a giant snake crawling on the floor wrapped around my waist. It may seem disgusting, but I wasn’t scared because it had gentle-looking eyes cutely blinking at me.

The snake soon moved its tail slowly and handed me over to its master.

“Detrie!”

It was Dietrich.

‘Then that snake must be Basilisk?’

The pet snake of the Villainous Grand Duke of Lagrange was said to have been raised since he was still young. 

“Why awe you hewe?”

“That’s my line. Why the hell are you here?”

I looked around to find Yuric and found him kneeling near Baal with his hands clasped together. He looked like a student who received a hard scolding by his teacher.

“You wait here.”

“Huh?”

Instead of looking down at me who was cuddled in his arms, without blinking, Dietrich glared horribly at the man who held my neck earlier.  His aura was a rare reddish color.

Although it didn’t smell as terrible as Derek’s, Dietrich’s aura was tinged with the smell of blood.

He was a man who could kill a person without giving off a murderous intent. 

“What are you, bastard!”

The merchant, who struggled to get up, raised his voice as if it was unpleasant that he was frightened of a child.

‘You better shut your mouth.’

You just got blown away by Dietrich but you must still be out of your mind. I thought I knew how he would end so I clicked my tongue inwardly.

“Dietrich Lagrange.”

“What?”

“I am the administrator of Saint-Dena and a noble from the Grand Duchy of Lagrange. And this kid you threw earlier is my younger sister.”

Dietrich was neither furious at the merchant, nor did he let out harsh words. Even so, sometimes calm words were scarier.

“I will display your neck in the plaza for the assault and desecration against a noble.”

“L-Lagrange!”

Only then did the man notice the tension in the air and took a step back. Even though they weren’t directed at me, my hands and feet felt numb because a life was at stake within his words.

The man wrapped his hands around his neck and began to cry and beg.

“I didn’t know she was a child from Lagrange! I really didn’t know, this is a cheap gambling house where no aristocrats would come and go.”

“You couldn’t have possibly been unaware that Saint-Dena is under the control of Lagrange, are you?”

“Yes, yes! I was ignorant! I will never make this mistake again.”

The man’s face brightened, as if he found hope in Dietrich’s question. He nodded with his mouth wide open.

“I am not so tolerant as to understand your ignorance.”

“I really didn’t know—Ughhh!!!”

Crack.

Then, I heard something pop. The sound was so scary that I closed my eyes and I couldn’t see what Dietrich had done to the merchant.

With the arrival of Dietrich, the people’s buzzing quickly died down.

‘I mean, he suddenly came out of nowhere.’

When I opened my eyes to the awkward silence, the situation seemed to have settled down.  The merchant was nowhere to be seen and even the children who flocked around me earlier ran away.

Veronica, the only one left by our side, clicked her tongue as though she was sorry for Yuric who was being punished.

“D-Detrie.”

I called out to Dietrich very cautiously because it seemed like his anger wasn't over yet, even though the merchant had disappeared.

Slowly, he put me down on the floor and bent his waist to meet my eyes.

‘I can’t look at you when you’re looking at me like that!’ 

“I asked why you were here.”

“That’s, you see . . . . .”

Shortly after he had just eliminated the merchant, Dietrich as he was now, was three times scarier than usual. I reluctantly opened my mouth in fear of being scolded.

“Explain, Yuric.”

While looking at me, Dietrich asked Yuric for an explanation. Yuric, who was kneeling with his hands held up like a punished student, answered to the unfair treatment.

“No, can’t I relax first before you ask?”

“Answer.”

“Before that, let me go!”

Yuric didn’t put himself for punishment voluntarily but was instead restrained by Baal’s shadow. As he continued to resist, Baal shook his head from side to side.

“Answer.”

Dietrich repeated his command. The color of his aura deepened. I flinched, scared that he would do to Yuric what he did to the merchant at any moment.

“The only reason I didn’t shut your mouth was so that I can hear your answer. Learn how to bark at people.”

“. . . . . Anissa wanted to go outside. I just happened to have something to buy as well.”

“How dare you carelessly bring Anissa outside without my approval.”

I felt sorry for Yuric so I bit my lips tightly. I was the one who convinced him to go without having to tell Dietrich. But I missed my chance to come forward when he opened his mouth once more. 

“I’ve entrusted you with only one thing. To protect Anissa.”

“. . . . . I was protecting her.”

“In your eyes, did the merchant look like he was just playing with Anissa?”

Yuric was unable to answer Dietrich’s question.

‘Oh no, what should I do?’

As I hesitated on my feet, he reached for Yuric, who didn’t give an answer.

“Then, let me play with you, too.”

The moment I found Dietrich’s aura turning dark red, I quickly stepped forward.

“I was the one who awsked him to gow out!”

“. . . . . Step aside.”

“I insisted, Yuri is not at fawlt.”

“I never said I wouldn’t punish you.”

“But Yuri is weally not in the wrong . . .”

I opened the backpack with tears in my eyes. A bundle of lottery tickets that filled the inside came out. Dietrich raised an eyebrow, dumbfounded at the amount of the lottery tickets I had with me.

“I pestered him because I wanted to hab these. It's my fawlt.”

“. . . . . Lottery tickets?”

“Un.”

“Why do you need lottery tickets?”

Spreading the lottery tickets on the floor, I rubbed my fingers and spoke.

“I was going to buy you something delishous when I hab the money.”