HSTYM 04

Chapter 4

“Herace!”

Herace knew very well how desperately her father clung to the Lianeric Ducal Family. She had grown up hearing the legends of the Lianeric family until she was sick of them.

She had heard over and over about how great the family was as one of the founding families of the kingdom, how brave and clever the previous Duke had been, and how pitiful Young Master Xenon was because he had been pushed aside by the schemes of his evil uncle, even though he was supposed to succeed his father.

Yet in all those stories she had heard until her ears were sore, there had never been even a single mention of Xenon’s unbearable personality.

It was ridiculous. Judging by what her father had said yesterday about keeping it a secret from her mother, he probably knew about it to some extent too. As expected, the moment Herace mentioned her mother, Viscount Lorca’s face turned completely pale.

“I already told them that you would go.”

“That’s your problem, Dad.”

“How can you say that? If your mother finds out, I won’t live out the rest of my life in peace.”

“How could you put your own daughter into a den of demons like that? That boy isn’t normal at all.”

“Who are you talking about? You don’t mean the Young Master, do you?”

“I mean exactly him.”

Viscount Lorca let go of Herace’s arms and let out a long sigh.

“He wasn’t always like that.”

So he does know that something is wrong with him.

Her father must have been very desperate. After all, he was willing to send his daughter to that ‘strange person.’

No, judging by the number of children gathered in the garden, if all of them were the children of Lianeric retainers, Herace might actually have been one of the later children to be sent there.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally exposed the weakness of the Young Master he cherished so much.

“Unlike the previous Duke, who was kind and gentle, our Young Master is a little special. Even when he smiles, it doesn’t feel like he is smiling, and he is extremely cold.”

“‘Our’ Young Master? Why don’t you worry about your own Herace first?”

“But Herace, I think someone as thoughtful as you would have noticed. He isn’t really enjoying himself like he appears to be. He is simply drowning in deep sadness.”

Herace remained silent for a moment and stared at Viscount Lorca.

Had ‘the children who lacked spirit’ not meant the children who ran away, but those who failed to notice the twisted nature of the Lianeric Young Master?

At Lambert Mansion, Herace had thought that the Young Master and his playmates were all the same.

Xenon played with the children who had been sent to become his friends, while the children, who had noticed that the Young Master was not in his right mind, played along with him because they wanted to get their hands on the jewels.

“I thought you could persuade the Young Master. And doesn’t he actually want you?”

“……”

What her father wanted was not a playmate who would be bribed by money and accept the Young Master’s childish behavior.

He wanted someone who could bring him back to his senses.

It was probably an idea he had come up with after seeing Herace’s personality. Compared to the other children, she was relatively free from money problems, and she had a sharp side that was unusual for someone her age.

But Herace could not accept her father’s wishes.

First.

“What does that matter? Maybe he just needs a new toy.”

Herace Lorca knew the value of her life.

The look in Xenon’s eyes at Lambert Mansion had been what people would call the eyes of someone who had gone mad. He was still a child, yet there was no focus in his eyes, and all that remained was his dry voice as he smiled and said that he was having fun.

How could she possibly train someone like that?

“No, my daughter. This time, he only wanted you. He clearly said that today he wanted only Viscount Lorca’s daughter to be brought to him.”

Second.

“Don’t you even worry about me?”

Herace Lorca did not like going against those above her. By nature, she preferred things to go smoothly rather than stepping forward and fighting to get what she wanted.

Yesterday at Lambert Mansion, she had been so desperate that she had even ordered them to bring her carriage and talked back in front of the Young Master.

But now that she thought about it, her heart still trembled.

She must not do that again.

What Herace had learned yesterday was that going along with the Young Master just because she wanted a little money was simply a way to shorten her own life.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re trying to throw me straight into the mouth of that violent, bad-tempered Young Master who has nothing but a high status.”

“I trust my daughter. And you know this too, don’t you? Before the previous Duke met with his misfortune, he once saved your life when you were a child…”

Watching Viscount Lorca begin to ramble on, Herace expressionlessly covered her ears with both hands.

But Viscount Lorca did not stop talking.

Even without listening, she already knew what he was going to say.

The previous Duke of Lianeric had once saved Herace’s life, and her father had been so deeply moved by this that he had begun to devote himself to the Lianeric family.

He would then explain that serving Xenon, the previous Duke’s son, was the only way he could repay the rest of his loyalty.

As a member of the Lorca family, Herace could not escape that proud honor and responsibility either.

After that, he would probably spend ages listing all of Xenon’s good qualities.

There was only one thing worth listening to here.

‘I trust my daughter.’

“Herace, as you know, you are a child blessed by God. So I believe you will be able to get along well with the Young Master without being overwhelmed by his presence.”

“Blessed by God, my foot… You just found me abandoned in front of a monastery.”

“Hey! You mustn’t say things like that. No matter what anyone says, you are the only heir of Viscount Lorca, and you will one day lead our family.”

Herace shook her head again and again.

Herace Lorca was an orphan picked up from the roadside, which suited her position as an extra who had possessed the body of a character in a romance-fantasy novel without a tyrant or a villainess.

She had been adopted by a wealthy family like the Lorcas only because she had been abandoned in a cradle at Saint Talia Monastery, an ancient historical site that had been protected since ancient times.

But that was hardly something worth calling a blessing from God.

Seeing the desperate look in her father’s eyes, Herace closed her eyes in despair and covered her face with her palm.

She understood that, as someone who carried the Lorca name, she had a duty to serve the Young Master of the family her family served.

But she knew very well that that boy was not someone who would change simply because she went there.

“Anyway, it has nothing to do with me.”

Herace answered coldly despite Viscount Lorca’s attempts to persuade her.

Viscount Lorca looked deeply disappointed and pouted.

It was an act of affection that would not work at all between this father and daughter, whose relationship was colder than the ice of the Arctic.

So Viscount Lorca finally used his strongest weapon.

“Herace, actually, the Young Master doesn’t have much time left.”

“Time? What do you mean?”

“It hasn’t been made official yet, but the Young Master may lose his life within three years at the earliest.”

“He’s going to die? Him?”

Viscount Lorca was so heartbroken after saying those words that he did not even scold Herace for speaking so casually.

“More precisely, the doctors believe he may not be able to reach adulthood, so they advised us to prepare for his treatment in a better place.”

He might not be able to reach adulthood.

Those words were basically no different from a death sentence with a time limit.

Herace remembered Xenon Lianeric from yesterday.

The boy who had sat cross-legged in light clothes and smiled carelessly was going to die soon?

She felt a little confused.

“So I want to hold on to even a single straw, Herace. At a time when he should be resting and taking care of his body, the Young Master is destroying himself.”

Herace remembered what had happened in the garden of Lambert Mansion.

Black lumps of mana had bounced around like rubber balls, attacking the boys and girls and sending them floating into the air.

That had surely been done by Xenon Lianeric, the genius mage who was known for his incredible talent.

The boy was supposed to be resting after receiving a death sentence, yet he was doing this because he wanted to play with children.

How worried must her father be, serving such a child?

“Please, can’t you help me just this once? Do it for your father.”

Herace looked up at her father as he asked her with his golden-brown eyebrows drooping sadly, the same color as his hair.

She let out a deep sigh and turned away.

The loser of this fight had already been decided.

Herace stood in front of the master suite of Lambert Mansion with an unwilling expression.

In other words, she was standing in front of Xenon Lianeric’s room.

The only thing she had been able to say yesterday, at the same place where she had been with her father, was that her embroidery lesson was tomorrow, so she would only come three times a week as promised.

Despite her rude words, the Young Master, whose thoughts were impossible to understand, had willingly accepted her terms.

Thanks to that, Herace had been able to avoid being nagged by her father all night.

But that doesn’t mean I’m grateful.

Herace tightly held the twin braids her nurse had carefully made for her, saying that she should have a good lesson today, and bit her lip.

It seemed that her nurse had been quite pleased that Herace had paid more attention to her appearance because she was going to the ducal residence.

Today, she had dressed Herace especially colorfully.

Viscount Lorca had laughed loudly on the way there, saying that his daughter looked cute, but Herace was not happy about it at all.

She felt like a clown going to make a king laugh.

I have to enter that room somehow…

That was when it happened.

A breath that felt like a sigh brushed against the back of her neck, which was exposed because of her twin braids.

She did not even know when it had happened.

Black hair softly brushed against Herace’s shoulder, and at the same time, she felt a heavy weight leaning against her.

“Hello.”

Herace’s brown eyes grew as large as a bull’s in surprise.

Xenon Lianeric was leaning against her shoulder, smiling lazily as if he found her reaction quite amusing.

“See you again, our Herace.”

“Wh, wh-why are you here?”

Her words came out all tangled as she tried to ask why someone who was supposed to be inside his room was standing here.

Perhaps he found Herace amusing like this, because Xenon watched her with a smile before finally lifting his head from her shoulder.

“I came out because I thought you might just leave like this.”

“Leave?”

“You were standing here because you didn’t want to go inside.”

“……”

Herace could not argue with him.