TVRP 06

Chapter 6

When the silence continued, my sister muttered,

“You don’t want to talk, do you?”

I noticed the disappointment in her voice.

‘Damn it!’

Just imagining my sister lowering her head with a disappointed expression made my chest ache.

In the end, I slowly crept toward the door.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Don’t you want to open the door?”

“……It’s a little difficult right now.”

I glanced at Olga lying unconscious on the floor and broke into a cold sweat.

“I understand. Then can you at least listen to me from there?”

“Mm-hmm. Go ahead.”

“Lily, about what you said to me earlier.”

‘If she means what I said…….’

I remembered shouting that Eden belonged to me and that she shouldn’t touch him, and asking if she was trying to take him away from me again.

My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and guilt.

“I-I didn’t mean that.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

There was a hint of laughter in Eloise’s voice.

“You know, Lily, I’ve never once wanted anything that belonged to you.”

“…….”

“If Father really did give you a friend as a present, then I’m happy for you, too. There isn’t anyone your age in this territory, so you’ve never had a chance to make a friend, have you, our Lily?”

Eloise hesitated before adding,

“Of course, friends aren’t things you can give and receive as presents…… Hmm, we can talk about that properly later. Anyway, what I wanted to say is…… I’m sorry. I’ve spent all my time lying in bed, so I’ve never properly taken care of you.”

I was startled by Eloise’s apology.

I was the one who had behaved so badly, so why was she apologizing?

Thinking it made no sense, I raised my voice without realizing it.

“Why are you sorry, Sister?! It’s not your fault that you’re sick and have to stay in bed! Don’t apologize!”

Eloise had been physically weak since birth.

She was so frail that she rarely even left the separate residence where she stayed for the sake of her health.

It wasn’t something she could be blamed for.

Seeing my kind sister blaming herself again made my voice rise involuntarily.

A brief silence followed.

A few seconds later, I heard her cautious, gentle voice from beyond the door.

“Thank you for saying that.”

There was a hint of surprise in her voice.

Come to think of it, I realized this was probably the first time I had ever spoken to my sister like this.

I had always done nothing but tease her and whine at her.

I had taken out most of the stress caused by Father’s indifference and the servants’ contempt on her.

‘What a pathetic person I was…….’

I lowered my head at the thought of the past that had continued until only a short while ago.

“I’m really happy right now, Lily.”

Eloise’s voice was slightly excited, as though my words of comfort genuinely made her happy.

Even though they had come from someone like me, who had been nothing but cruel to her and tormented her whenever I got the chance.

“Um, I want to see your face…… Are you really not going to open the door, Lily?”

My sister carefully asked again.

I wanted to face her properly and sincerely apologize for everything I had done to her.

I truly did.

But right now was the worst possible timing.

I deliberately turned my gaze away from Olga lying on the floor and whispered through the door,

“Not right now. I’ll come see you later, Sister.”

“Really?”

There was another note of delight in Eloise’s voice.

“I’d really like it if you came to my residence.”

“……Yeah. I’ll definitely come.”

This was probably the first time I had ever had a normal conversation with my sister like this.

The thought that we were talking just like ordinary sisters made an overwhelming emotion rise from deep inside me.

“I’m happy.”

Eloise spoke in a voice filled with a smile.

“I’ll wait for you.”

“Yeah. Wait for me.”

“Um, and, Lily.”

Eloise hesitated before continuing.

“Th-that friend you called a doll…… You know people can’t be dolls, right? You shouldn’t treat him the way you played tricks on me. Friends are precious.”

“Uh, y-yeah, of course. I know.”

That’s my Lily.

“Then I’ll see you later.”

Only then did I hear the sound of my sister walking away.

I rubbed my reddened eyes again and again.

‘My sister really is too kind.’

Just thinking about my sister’s warm voice made my chest ache with emotion once more.

Could there really be another person in this world as kind as her?

What had I been doing to someone like that all this time……?

“Waaah.”

Even as I sniffled, I did what needed to be done.

I had to quickly clean up the remnants of magic scattered everywhere.

As I swept up the fragments glowing in brilliant rainbow colors, a groan escaped me.

“Good grief. Good grief.”

‘How many days of my life is this going to cost me? How many days of my lifespan just flew away?’

“Sniff. This is really sad.”

The thought that my second life, which I had barely managed to obtain, had been shortened even a little made me so upset that tears welled up in my eyes.

After cleaning up the magical remnants, my eyes fell on Olga’s body.

The biggest problem was actually Olga.

What if she woke up and told Father that I had caused a magic explosion?

“Damn Olga.”

Why did she have to act so horribly toward us?!

‘If she hadn’t done that, I never would have instinctively activated my magic!’

I was so angry that I kicked Olga’s foot.

Olga didn’t move at all.

“Is she dead?”

Eden approached me from behind like a shadow and muttered,

“Want me to teach you how to dispose of a corpse?”

I stared at him in horror.

“What are you talking about?! She’s breathing perfectly fine!”

“But she took the magic attack head-on, so—”

“Hey!”

I hurriedly grabbed Eden by both shoulders.

“I told you to watch what you say, didn’t I? I don’t know how to use magic. If I say I can’t, then that’s what you should believe!”

“You…… The more I learn about you, the stranger you are.”

Eden frowned.

“Why do you say you can’t do something when you actually can? I heard magic is a very rare ability.”

He was right.

I was only twelve years old. If people found out that a child this young could use magic, the academy would probably roll out a red carpet and whisk me away immediately.

But I had absolutely no intention of letting anyone discover my abilities.

“Listen carefully, Eden.”

I gripped Eden’s shoulders firmly.

“I told you I’d help you escape, right? Somewhere without monsters.”

“…….”

At the mention of escaping, Eden narrowed his eyes. He still looked suspicious of whether my promise was genuine.

“You saw what happened earlier, so you know this place is completely insane. Even the head maid has absolutely no sense of boundaries. And that’s not all. My older brothers, whom you haven’t even met yet, are even crazier.”

Thinking of my eldest brother, Edward, and my second brother, Lawrence, I shuddered slightly.

‘Those lunatics……!’

“What I’m saying is that you’ll never be able to escape on your own. You’re definitely going to need my help! But what if you get me branded as a genius mage because of you, and I end up being sent to the academy? Then you’ll be alone!”

I pointed at Olga.

“If people like her start bullying you, there won’t be anyone around to save you like I did today!”

“…….”

Eden continued to say nothing.

He simply stared at me with his beautiful golden eyes.

Still, he seemed to be listening carefully to what I was saying.

“So, you absolutely cannot tell anyone that I’m a mage. I’m not a mage at all, anyway! Understand?”

A few seconds later, Eden slowly parted his lips.

“If you insist, then I suppose that’s how it is. Let’s go with that.”

Fortunately, he wasn’t completely oblivious.

‘In the original story, he was portrayed as such an emotionless psychopath that I was a little afraid of him…… But he seems pretty normal for now?’

I tilted my head slightly.

In the original story, Eden was described as a monster who genuinely didn’t understand emotions, not merely as a metaphor.

He didn’t even understand the emotion called love, to the point that all he could do was obsess over the female protagonist without understanding why.

‘But the Eden right now…….’

Of course, he was still a rude and rebellious little brat, but he was better than when I first met him.

Perhaps he had lowered his guard just a little. Every now and then, he even made expressions that looked like those of an ordinary child his age.

It was as if he had evolved from a wild cat with its claws fully extended into a cat that would cautiously poke its head out whenever you brought out a treat.

‘Anyway, I’ve taken care of Eden’s silence for now.’

Now only the biggest problem remained.

“What am I going to do about that woman……?”

I stared at Olga lying unconscious on the floor and fell into thought.

Olga’s condition was quite miserable.

Her hair had been burned and curled from taking the magic explosion head-on. Her skin was covered in soot, and the bridge of her nose had turned an ugly blue from the bruising.

She looked completely different from her usual perfectly groomed appearance.

And then…… Oh, my God.

‘Is that a bald patch on her head?’

Perhaps it had been burned away in the explosion, but one section of her hair was completely gone.

“Pfft.”

Well, serves her right. I feel so much better…… No!

‘But I have to clean this up somehow. What am I going to do?’

Fortunately, Rossi’s circuitry was still intact even after all this.

I took the circuitry back and crouched down beside Olga, groaning as I thought.

I couldn’t let anyone find out that the magic Olga had been hit with was mine.

If that happened, I’d be dragged straight to an academy or research laboratory and treated like a lab rat.

‘I need to come up with something quickly.’

Before Olga wakes up, quickly……!

Clutching my pounding chest in anxiety, I desperately racked my brain.

Fortunately, before long, a reasonably useful idea came to me.

‘That’s it!’