Episode 59

A war.

Don’t tell me this was the first Rose War that Derek Lagrange waged against the Euclids?

“Did Dietrich go to war? Is that why he isn’t in Dahlia?”

Yuric couldn’t answer my question right away. From behind, the sound of Veronica muttering cursed words such as that idiot or fool and so on could be heard.

“That can’t be true.”

Dietrich and Hermann’s first meeting was when they were 17 years old. Because Hermann was 17 years old when he first entered the battle.

‘The sequence of events is different from the novel.’ 

Could it be that Dietrich entered the battlefield much earlier than Hermann? Even the knights who could skip the enlistment had to be at least 16 years old.  

The war against Euclid was not even a part of the successor game.

“. . . . but Alphonse didn’t go. I saw him in Liatris.”

"Of the successor candidates, Dietrich is the only one participating in the war right now, Anissa."

“Why?”

“Because he’s the strongest.”

“But Dietrich is only thirteen years old.”

Yuric held my cheeks when my face distorted into a slump.

“We are Lagrange. Age doesn’t matter when it comes to evaluating our combat abilities.”

I bit my lips at what Yuric said.

So, you’re saying, the reason he always came back injured was because he went to the battle himself.

“There’s no such thing.”

It was so unfair.

After the curse was broken, all the children who sought Dahlia had given up their succession or failed to qualify due to the  lack of ability, and for that reason, they were being abused or persecuted by their families.

Not a single one of the children were evil like the demons or villains in the novel.

‘What’s so different with Lagrange?’

There were many times when they couldn’t forget the habit of pointing their swords at their siblings, but other than that, they’re normal.

They liked to play tag more than seeing blood by poisoning each other’s food or learning how to assassinate, and they laugh at the simplest of jokes.

“The children of Lagrange are just children.”

These normal children only grew up being brainwashed that they were terrible humans mixed with demonic blood and had to be villains.

‘The curse of Asmodeus, if only those pieces had been destroyed earlier—‘

I shook off Yuric’s hands that held me when I had a sudden flash of thought.

As expected, I had to take that piece of Vassago from Dietrich.

“Where is Dietrich right now?” 

I jumped off of Zagan and entered the office again. Veronica glared at Yuric and shook her head.

“Huh?”

“Maybe he’s in the basement. But it’s better if you don’t go.”

I quickly left the room despite her dissuasion. When I left the noisy gambling room and went down to the basement, a pungent smell of fish tickled my nose.

Ungreased, the old wooden steps creaked whenever they were stepped on.

The wooden door of the storage room was as bad as the stairs, and the handle was tattered, but the basement was soundproofed and quiet enough that I could hear my breath.

“Dietrich?”

Silence.

Only the silence greeted me that not even the sound of an insect passing by could be heard.

As I stepped carefully, wondering if Dietrich was really here, the sound of something like fingernails scratching the floor rang.

‘What’s that sound?’

At the same time, I heard Dietrich’s voice in front of me.

“Anissa.”

The basement was a long, rectangular storage room, with items presumed to be liquor barrels arranged on both sides. 

Dietrich rose from among the barrels that were almost as big as my body. 

Without a single lamp, the basement was very dark and the only yellow light in the room was emanating from the candlestick that was in Dietrich’s hand.

“Why are you here?”

But even with that scarce light, I could tell that Dietrich’s hands were covered in blood.

‘So it was the smell of blood coming from here.’

I frowned at the smell of the disgusting fish-like scent and ran to him, frightened by the blood dripping on his fingertips.

“Are you hurt again?”

“. . . . .”

Both the surroundings and  Dietrich's clothes were black, so I couldn't tell properly, but it wouldn't be a normal injury if blood flowed on the floor.

I raised his arms in alarm.

“Are you okay? Answer m—“

“I asked how you got here.”

Dietrich gritted his teeth as if in anger and grabbed me by the shoulder. Dark, red handprint marred my white dress.

“It’s dirty. Don’t come here.”

He was more surprised at the stain on my dress than I was, so he backed away. 

I approached him, ignoring his words.

“Because Veronica said that brother is here. What’s with all this blood? Are you hurt severely?”

“. . . . . No.”

Dietrich, who answered my question, was no longer looking at me. Instead, he peered at his hands that touched my body.

“S-S-Save me! Please, help me!!”

As I was nearing the sound, I heard a faint sob behind the barrel. Someone was crawling towards me with their fingernails scratching the floor.

“Kyaaah! It’s a ghost!!”

I ran to Dietrich screeching like a bird . He hid me behind his back as I approached. 

“Larmo.”

Dietrich muttered something and stabbed  a sword at the back of the crawling ghost, until it drooped helplessly.

Only then did I realize that the 'ghost' sobbing behind the barrel was a person.

“. . . . I-It wasn’t a g-ghost.”

Dietrich was not the one who got hurt.

With a candlestick in one hand, he lifted the body without difficulty and threw it behind the barrel.

Crunch. 

A weak, crushing sound of the dead rang out in the quiet storage room.

Shortly, Dietrich turned to me

It was dark so I couldn’t see properly, but I could sense that he was coming by his aura.

Dietrich was now in a very calm state. The murky aura was calm without a stir even though he killed a person just now.

“Was it an assassin?”

“No.”

He answered my cautious question as swiftly as a knife. I closed my eyes tightly and took a half step back.

“. . . . . Dietrich. Do you have the brooch that Vassago left?”

“It’s in the office.”

Ah.

Without realizing it, a low sigh broke out. I was a little surprised that the demon’s ether had no effect on him.

I have seen Dietrich deal with an assassin once or twice but I didn't know he would kill without any hesitation to anyone who begged “save me”.

No, did I really not know this?

The reason people feared Dietrich Lagrange more than anyone else wasn't his powerful mana or his cruel character. It was because he showed no emotion for his evil deeds.

I didn’t know why the description of 'The Rose Wars of Men’ came into my mind at that moment.

“Why?”

Before I knew it he was right in front of my nose, his hand reaching out to me. He let out a low laugh as I flinched to avoid him.

It sounded like a self-deprecating laugh, and also a cold cynical sound as if he was laughing at me.

“Why are you trembling?”

It was only then that I became aware of my body trembling.

“Are you afraid of me now?”

“. . . . .”

“There’s never been a single moment when I wasn’t me.”

Half of his face was covered by the shadows so I couldn’t discern it properly. He was still a boy but his sharp face lines were beautiful as if it was sharpened by a knife.

Cool black eyes shining like an obsidian ore.

Faced with that gaze, I stammered to open my mouth.

“N-No. I’m not trembling.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not something I don’t understand.”

“Dietrich.”

“If you run away, I won’t catch you.”

Run away? From what?

He spurted out mysterious words I didn’t understand and left the basement.

A pool of blood.

The candlestick he left illuminated a dark red liquid soaking floor. It was a terrible sight as if a ghost would really come out, but I was no longer scared.

I ended up hurting Dietrich.

How many puddles filled with a terrible smell of iron (blood) must we cross before we can become adults?

────── 〔✿〕──────

Saint-Dena was like a garbage dump in the vast Lagrange estate.

The lake housed all kinds of pollutants and emitted a foul smell, and humans who were worse than the filth from the drains came and went.

“You can handle it if I give your reins to manage this shitty district.” 

Veronica frowned, covering her nose with her pretty fingers. It was a very elegant gesture.

In place of Dietrich who didn’t respond, Yuric opened his mouth wide as if appalled.

“Aren’t you from Saint-Dena?”

“So what? You want me to give a generous score just because I’m home?”

Veronica shrugged her shoulders and moved the shadows extending from the tip of her feet.

“Move, you pigs!”

“Kekk keokk kek.”

As she swung the shadows like a whip, fat-bellied and rich-looking men crawled on the floor with tears dripping from their faces.

“Oh my. Look at them crying. How did they manage to kidnap young children and sell them as slaves with such weak wills?”

“By nature, human beings are only tolerant of themselves.”

As if agreeing with Veronica's words, Yuric folded his arms forward and nodded.

“Why, why are you doing this?! I paid enough money for Lagrange!”

“Do you think you can run a slave trade that’s strictly illegal just because of  money?”

You could. 

No, at least in Lagrange, that’s the way it has been. Knowing that, Veronica scowled, pressing the back of the slave merchant’s hand with her sharp heels.

“The only business that can make money in Saint-Dena is the slave trade! If you take all of us, the Young Master will lose his money line!”

One of the merchants who had little strength left, stood up and appealed to Dietrich.

“Young Master, you’re not as single-minded as Alphonse!”

The boy looked down at him with indifferent eyes and raised his foot. 

“I have never allowed you to talk to me.”

Kwak! (Sound of kicking.)

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