Chapter 5

“…What?”

He seemed quite flustered by the unexpected complaint.

That was understandable. A complaining hostage… But I was already not an ordinary hostage.

“Especially the soup is so tasteless—too tasteless! This is practically… child abuse.”

“Child abuse…”

“I know it’s rude to the cook, but the food tastes like garbage! Who exactly did you hire? They’re definitely embezzling money behind your back. Otherwise, there’s no way they could produce such a taste.”

“…”

I looked around and whispered.

“You don’t think… they’re an assassin, do you…?”

Adrian’s eyebrows subtly furrowed.

“Haha… That was a joke… Anyway, while I’m here, I’ll cook. If we keep eating this, we’ll get stomach problems soon. It’s amazing that everyone hasn’t gotten sick until now!”

There was no response, but I was satisfied that I had said everything I needed to say and smiled at Kay. However, Kay’s expression was completely stiff.

I faced that expression and immediately knew.

Something was wrong.

Kay made a tearful face and hid behind me, whispering to me.

“The leader… cooked it…”

“Ah…?”

“I am. The cook.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it tasted that much like garbage.”

“…”

The atmosphere instantly froze. It felt so cold that I wondered if winter had already come.

I smiled awkwardly and bowed to Adrian.

“Well… um… Have a good night!”

I grabbed Kay’s hand and turned around to quickly escape this place, but Adrian called me back.

“However…”

I stopped at that voice and looked at Adrian. Hurt eyes were looking at me.

“Is it really… garbage level enough to remind you of child abuse?”

No.

The garbage is me.

* * *

I looked at the boiling soup and muttered.

“If only I could turn back time…”

“Sister, even our leader can’t do that.”

Kay, who had been watching me cook, said matter-of-factly.

“Maybe a god could do it?”

“Hmm— I don’t know! Sister, do you believe in god?”

Usually the word “believe” implies relying on something, but god was meaningless to me. The one who gave me quests was no different from a god to me.

“I think they exist.”

“I think so too. I heard Airen’s blessing was real.”

Airen. One of the god names that the characters had mentioned several times. The god who bestowed healing blessings on the empire.

But this was last done 50 years ago. After the family that received the blessing used that power to plot rebellion, that power disappeared from the empire.

‘Maybe because of that, the protagonists rarely mentioned gods. Adrian… I wonder if he believes…’

Just as I became curious, Kay said to me.

“But our leader seems to believe in god. He prays sometimes.”

It was unexpected. Adrian praying. Did he have a god he believed in?

I couldn’t think of anything about this part and tilted my head when Kay continued.

“He doesn’t seem to like doing it. Rather, he seems to hate it. But he prays. Always. It’s strange.”

It was strange. Maybe he was directing resentment toward god that he couldn’t direct toward humans.

If that was the case, it made sense. This world had never been on Adrian’s side.

“But sister, when can we eat this?”

At Kay’s words, I checked the soup and it seemed about done, so I nodded.

“It seems ready. I’ll bring it to the dining room. Want to go ahead?”

“Yeah!”

I sent Kay to the dining room first and looked around the kitchen again.

The kitchen was overall very messy. It barely had the basics, lacking proper dishes, and what little there was looked old and worn.

I could tell that the dishes they first gave me were carefully selected as the best they had.

I ladled soup into a bowl that looked relatively new and entered the dining room. I saw Kay sitting alone at the dining table, humming.

She looked both cute and pitiful. I placed the bowl of soup in front of Kay.

“Try it.”

Kay picked up the spoon with an expectant face, scooped up a spoonful of soup, blew on it with a “hoo hoo,” then put it in her mouth.

After chewing several times, she swallowed what was in her mouth and looked up at me.

“Sister…”

A tear dropped from Kay’s eye.

Don’t tell me. Is it worse than Adrian’s food?

Before I could say anything in my panic, Kay said tearfully.

“It’s so… so very delicious…”

Kay overlapped with the image of cats crying when they eat something delicious.

“Eat a lot.”

Kay nodded vigorously and began eating as if she might dive into the bowl. Kay, who had been eating deliciously, suddenly stopped and muttered.

“It would be nice if the leader ate some too…”

“Right.”

That day I fled from Adrian like I was running away.

Until I reached my room, my expression remained dark, and while Kay told me it would be okay, his expression kept coming to mind and bothered me.

I wanted to properly apologize when we met again, so I asked Kay.

“When will the leader come?”

“I don’t know. Why? Do you want to see the leader?”

A hostage wanting to see her kidnapper wasn’t even funny.

But I wasn’t an ordinary hostage either, and Adrian wasn’t a common kidnapper, so it seemed okay.

“Yeah. I want to see him.”

* * *

Three days had passed since I was kidnapped.

With Adrian not even showing his shadow, I carefully asked Kay.

“Kay, the leader hasn’t been visible, is he perhaps away?”

“Huh?”

Kay’s eyes rolled around as she answered. It was clearly an expression of being hit right on target.

Ah, as I thought. No wonder he was too absent.

Flustered Kay firmly grabbed my skirt hem. I placed my hand over Kay’s hand.

“I asked because I haven’t seen him except for the first day I came here.”

“Sister, you can’t run away just because the leader isn’t here…”

“I won’t go, so don’t worry. Even if I left this place, I don’t know the way.”

Kay visibly relaxed at my words. Looking at the child, I turned my eyes to the window.

The sky was overcast with clouds. A groundless anxiety crept up. Since Adrian’s role was that of a villain, I couldn’t help but worry.

But all I could do now was hope for his safe return.

Today, the fifth day, Adrian still didn’t return.

It had been raining outside the window all day. When the sun set, the rain became even heavier. Thunder and lightning began, and the old mansion quickly became eerie.

Kay pretended to be mature, but thunder was still scary, so she came to my room with a pillow.

“Sister… can I sleep with you?”

“Sure. Come here.”

When I spread my arms toward Kay, she ran over and climbed onto the bed. She must have been constantly tense from the thunder sounds because as soon as she lay down next to me, she made soft sounds and fell asleep.

Looking at sleeping Kay, I couldn’t seem to fall asleep at all, so I quietly left the room and walked through the corridor.

‘I hope Adrian returns today…’

Not knowing any news was frustrating. As the main villain of the novel, he probably wouldn’t meet a meaningless death, but knowing how all villains in stories end, my anxiety kept growing.

While I was building up worries, lightning struck once more. I was startled for a moment and almost dropped the candle I was holding.

I gripped the candlestick tightly and calmed myself when suddenly heavy footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor. My body froze at that sound.

Currently, only Kay and I were in this mansion. There were no servants either.

Then the owner of the footsteps could only be Adrian returning.

But the footsteps were too heavy and rough to be Adrian’s. I could feel the footsteps getting closer to me.

Should I turn around? Or should I just run to my room?

While I was contemplating, lightning flashed again and wind blew. The candle went out. At the same time, a damp hand grabbed my shoulder from behind.

I was so startled I couldn’t even scream and slid down to sit on the floor. Then I heard a surprised voice from behind.

“Miss! Are you okay?”

Unable to calm my pounding heart, I turned around and looked up at the person asking about my well-being.

A huge man was standing there. I wanted to lose my mind from shock, but the man lighting a fire was faster.

A magical device emitting light from the man’s hand illuminated the corridor.

Only then did the man’s face come into my view. Short-cut gray hair, gray eyes, and a face full of scars. A bear-like build… I knew this character.

Lucian Leblanc.

The biggest brother of the rebel group and someone Adrian trusted and relied on. He wasn’t someone who would harm me.

I thought he was dead, but he was alive.

A sigh of relief naturally escaped. But my shock wasn’t easily calmed. The man extended his hand to me and apologized.

“Miss, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Can you get up?”

I tried to take Lucian’s extended hand and stand up, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate. I seemed more shocked than I thought.

“Not right now, maybe in a little bit.”