STM 10

“Why not?”

“Please look over there. The people who tried to reach the carriage all collapsed like that.”

Collapsed on their way to the carriage? Why? The monster didn’t even come this way. Who could have done it…

[The human kept the promise~~ The human came~~ I kept it too, and the human kept it~~]

Colorful waves spread before my eyes, and the spirit flapping in the air met my gaze. Then I remembered what I said.

‘Stay here and protect your Petal. I’ll lure the monster elsewhere, and if someone comes, you must block them.’

Could the people lying on the ground be that spirit’s doing?

I couldn’t speak since people were around, so I only glared at it. How did that tiny thing even manage that?

“Lord Lu, please step back.”

Marvin grabbed my arm and pulled. I reflexively yanked it away.

“Let go. Don’t touch me.”

“What?”

The look on Marvin’s face made me realize my mistake. I hated being touched, so my reaction was harsh. As expected, Mo caught the danger and offered options immediately.

[Signs of suspicion on target’s face exceed ninety percent. Recommended Adeye Lu responses:

Marvin, you lied to me! You said this place was safe from monsters! (Pout and press against Marvin’s chest while grabbing his butt with both hands.) I’m scared. When the monster appeared, you didn’t even protect me. I hate you, Marvin! (Throw yourself into another man’s arms and slide your hand up his crotch.)]

Crotch. That single word turned all my anger and confusion into disbelief.

Damn, again with the crotch. And what did the guy next to me do to deserve this?

I turned my head in shock and met the eyes of a bearded man in his thirties. He looked away awkwardly.

Huh?! Why did he twist his body like that?

[Person Information

Coachman Dickin – The driver who brought Lu to the resort. During the trip, he helped relieve Lu’s urges by hand two times. A person of great service.]

Great service, my ass! I wanted to drag Lu out of hell just to curse him. But Marvin was still staring with suspicion, so I couldn’t explode. Of course, I had no intention of following Mo’s suggestions. But I could act spoiled.

“I’m going home. I can’t stay in a place where monsters appear!”

I shouted like a brat and stormed forward. The startled crowd called out, but I shouted louder.

“Don’t follow me! You want me to stay in this wretched place?! I’m leaving right now! I hate all of you!”

I pointed straight at Marvin and the coachman, then turned away. Voices buzzed behind me, but my body stiffened from nerves, so I couldn’t look back. Did it work? Did I seem like Lu?

[No. If it were Lu, the crotch…]

‘Forget it! Acting spoiled is close enough, right?’

[You must act even more spoiled. Raise your tone.]

Luckily, that part wasn’t hard. I needed a coachman anyway.

“Bring me a coachman right now! I have to go home immediately, so the coachman, Not you! Bring another coachman right now!”

***

The Adeye family. A bloodline of clairvoyants. Once provincial nobles, they built immense wealth through trade by using their gift.

But ten years ago, the head and his wife died in an accident, and their daughter, Adeye Lantuya, was severely injured.

Since then, her body weakened to the point that she could hardly move, but with a brilliant mind, she led the Adeye family to the top.

“All the gold of the continent flows to Adeye.”

People said this without exaggeration. The family was so rich that Lu’s reckless spending barely mattered.

But Lantuya was famous for being colder than anyone else when her older brother caused trouble.

She sent him to a resort disguised as a hospital, telling him to stop drinking and getting into accidents. And now he showed up only four days later, so there was no way she’d welcome him warmly.

Of course, I didn’t care.

“You can’t see the matriach right now.”

After a full day’s ride, I finally reached the mansion, and the head butler blocked my way. Mo’s information appeared next to her face automatically. I called her name without mistake.

“Amita. I rode the carriage nonstop for a whole day. Can’t you see? The window broke, and I breathed in dust the entire time. I want to wash right now, no, I want to jump into bed and lie down. My whole body hurts, my stomach’s empty, and I’m dying of exhaustion. But there’s something even more important than all that.”

“No matter what you say, you can’t see the head.”

“I still need to see her.”

At my words, Amita had a confused look.

So it worked. According to Mo, Lu had never once called his sister “head.”

Maybe that’s why she reacted. She quickly regained her usual expression, but she still gave me the answer I wanted.

“Please come inside. I’ll ask the matriarch for permission.”

The brown wooden door was carved in a classic style. It was the kind of door you would find in any noble house, but if the wealthiest person in the whole of Tubain, the matriarch of the Adeye family, was behind it, anyone would find it strange. Too plain? But I had no room to care about that.

Not only that, I couldn’t even tell how long this hallway was or how many guards were watching me. So even when the maids I passed gave me openly displeased looks, I ignored them and just walked faster.

Right now, the only thing I could do was hold myself back from taking a deep breath out of nervousness before the meeting.

“I’ll warn you beforehand. The head’s health hasn’t been good lately.”

The Lantuya’s chief aide told me this in a cold voice while I waited in the reception room. I immediately asked with a serious look.

“Why? Did something bad happen recently?”

“Do you really not know? It’s because of the incident you caused, Lord Lu.”

I tried to look worried to gain a bit of favor, but I only lost points. Damn it, what kind of mess did Lu make this time?

Mo, who had already scanned through all of Lu’s records, gave me the answer right away.

[He saw a man he liked on the street, grabbed his crotch, and dragged him into a nearby temple to have sex. The problem was, dozens of villagers praying inside caught them in the act.]

Ha… this bastard Lu, seriously. So that’s why he got dumped into the resort. Lucky he didn’t get thrown in jail.

“She’s frail to begin with, so even a little stress harms her body. If you’re going to bring up something upsetting, you must let us know in advance so we can prepare.”

Did they prepare an ambulance or something? Well, at least they were willing to prepare. That worked for me.

“Then prepare.”

The chief aide raised her eyebrows.

“Is it something that will shock the head?”

“Probably.”

“Lord Lu, whatever trouble you’ve caused, you can just tell me. I can handle it myself…”

“That’s why I can’t.”

Now her eyes turned cold. But no matter how icy her gaze was, I couldn’t help it.

“I didn’t cause trouble. What I have to say will make her happy. Believe me.”

Her reaction mirrored the head butler’s. She frowned at me but still decided to listen, even if not fully convinced.

“If this brings any harm to the head, even if you’re Lord Lu, I won’t stay quiet.”

To get a warning like that from the chief aide said plenty about Lu’s standing in this house.

Of course, I was still too tense to care. Even if she had pointed a knife at my throat, I wouldn’t have been able to focus on it.

Click.

The thick wooden door opened smoothly, and finally, the matriarch of the Adeye family, Lu’s younger sister, appeared before me. She sat at a desk, her head lowered as she worked, but I could see her face clearly.

It was almost identical to the face I’d seen in the mirror. No doubt about it, they were siblings.

But if her frailty was true, she did look thinner and smaller than Lu. There was nothing particularly distinctive about her herself, but the room was another story.

On the library’s ceiling, ropes connected to several bells hung across every corner. From what I’d heard at the resort, bells that signaled monster attacks were hardly ever used in the Imperial Capital.

Confused, I turned my gaze again, and something else caught my eye. On Lantuya’s desk sat a dome-shaped object made of thick cloth, with a hose-like tube connected to its center.

What’s that?

It looked like something familiar, so I stared for a moment, when a stern voice cut through the air.