067
A tense gaze was directed at Sister Diorose.
I gulped unconsciously.
“If it were a homunculus, there’s no way the head of the Pashayen family wouldn’t recognize it. You should have more faith in your family head.”
A faint smile curled up like a crescent moon.
“Shh. That’s all I can tell you. I need to go back now.”
“So, it’s fake, huh? If it’s not a homunculus, then what is it? What exactly are you guys plotting?”
Brother Mikard raised his voice in frustration.
But Sister Diorose didn’t reveal anything more and disappeared into the shadows.
As if she had never been there in the first place.
“There’s only one thing left for us to do—find it ourselves.”
“Should we form a detective team or something?”
At Naiad’s suggestion, Ilyad clenched his fist with determination.
Brother Elzen looked around at everyone and spoke calmly.
“We have to be careful. Don’t forget there are people within the family we can’t trust.”
“Got it!”
“Gather information quietly and bring it to me. I’ll analyze it. Don’t make any decisions on your own.”
Wow, Brother Elzen is really cool…
He gives orders so smoothly, as if he’s always prepared for situations like this.
What’s more surprising is that none of the older brothers objected to his instructions.
“Well, you’re the smartest, so of course you should take the lead.”
“Yup, understood!”
Brother Mikard and Ilyad agreed loudly, and Naiad nodded.
I also nodded along with them.
“Ppyap!”
Even Podong agrees.
“We were originally going to have a birthday party here.”
But now it’s turned into a secret plotting ground?!
Still, for some reason, I felt a little excited.
“For now, we have two things to do.”
Brother Elzen picked up a long tree branch and started writing on the dirt ground.
“First, investigate the shadow worm that Aunt Cecilia ate and track it.”
“Track it too?!”
Surprised, I almost screamed but quickly covered my mouth with both hands and whispered.
“We have to. Because someone must have fed her the shadow worm.”
“Hmm.”
“If we tell the adults while everything is still chaotic, the plan will surely leak in the process. The culprit will cut ties and escape. This is our chance to figure out who the snake coiled around our family really is.”
I had thought we could just tell the Admiral.
I blinked, wondering if we could really handle this on our own, but Brother Elzen kept speaking.
“First, I need to explain what a shadow worm is.”
“Mm-hmm.”
With the tip of the branch, Brother Elzen drew something plump, like a fat maggot.
“This is a shadow worm. If it enters the body, it takes control of the host. Normally, Awakened people aren’t affected by it. In fact, I’ve never even heard of someone using it on an Awakened.”
“…….…”
“So they must have let their guard down. Aunt probably never imagined someone would feed her a shadow worm.”
So that means Aunt is being controlled right now.
How do we get rid of the worm?
“The culprit is probably very close to her. Whoever it is, Aunt Cecilia isn’t someone to be taken lightly. But if they managed to feed her the worm…”
“If so?”
“Then the suspects narrow down to two—Leviwood or Bernstein Crighton.”
Just from this short conversation, we already have suspects?
I gaped in amazement, stacking another mental block of respect for Brother Elzen.
Now I understand why the older brothers trust his judgment so much!
‘Come to think of it, didn’t Brother Elzen say he was assigned missions before he got sick?’
Will I be able to do that once I turn ten and awaken my bijou?
‘Honestly… it seems impossible.’
I stared at the words written on the ground.
Under ‘Leviwood’ were Mikard and Naiad.
Under ‘Bernstein’ were Elzen and Ilyad.
“Then what about me?”
“Hmm, as for the youngest…”
“I want to help too! I was the one who discovered it first. I can find more clues too!”
My argument was valid.
But my brothers exchanged glances, as if they had already decided not to give me any task.
“I was the first one to find it. That means I contributed too.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“I have a right… right? I have a right too.”
Did I say that correctly? I was copying what I read in a book.
Anyway, I puffed up my cheeks and tapped the ground with my hand, making my brothers sigh.
“Alright, you’re not wrong.”
After thinking for a moment, Brother Elzen looked at me and gave a serious instruction.
“Aunt isn’t likely to do anything immediately, so you’ll stay close to her. You don’t have to do much—just follow her around whenever you see her.”
“Okay!”
“But no matter what happens, do not try to handle it yourself. You must report it to one of us or to Father, understood? Can you promise that?”
“Of course!”
I got my first mission!
Well, I won’t be doing it alone—Podong and I will follow Aunt Cecilia together!
“Now, for the second task. Joy will be in charge of closely monitoring the one claiming to be Luarel. She’s already secretly watching them right now.”
So that’s why Joy wasn’t here.
“In the meantime, we’ll conduct a separate investigation.”
“Specifically?”
“Whether that Luarel is real or fake, we’ll leave that to the adults. What we need to focus on is…”
Is?
“The reason the head of Velarion threw Luarel into our family.”
Brother Elzen used the tip of the branch to draw ripples in the dirt.
“If you throw a small pebble, it makes small ripples. But if you throw a boulder, the water surges and waves form.”
The circular ripples grew larger and larger.
“So why is Velarion controlling Aunt Cecilia? Why did they throw Luarel in here? What are they scheming?”
There’s too much to think about!
I grabbed my head with both hands. Suddenly, everything felt way too complicated.
“We’ll base our investigation on that.”
Everyone except me seemed to understand.
But that’s okay. I have the Spirit Kings on my side.
I’m not doing this alone.
“Then… let’s form a Kids’ Detective Squad!”
Whispering so no one else would hear, we all stacked our hands together and cheered softly.
It was time for the kids to go to bed.
***
Two days had passed since ‘Luarel’ returned to Pashayen.
During that time, Diegon had been gathering information, but he hadn’t found any definitive answers yet.
That was understandable—tracing Luarel’s past required sending someone all the way to West Gripel.
Even if they sent the fastest ship, crossing the sea still took time.
‘At least a month would be needed for a round trip.’
And that was an optimistic estimate.
Gripel used to be a single kingdom.
However, a revolution a few years ago overthrew the monarchy and split the country in two.
East Gripel remained under the control of the surviving royal family.
Meanwhile, West Gripel… unfortunately, it had fallen under the rule of the revolutionary forces.
With tight security, gathering information there would be no easy task.
Maybe that’s why they specifically mentioned West Gripel—to lure us into investigating it.
The problem was that, as Pashayen, we had no choice but to confirm it.
“Oh, Dad. Th-this is my first time eating something like this.”
Unbelievable.
Diegon looked at Luarel, who was seated next to him, then silently handed over a different fork.
The family meal had just begun.
They were supposed to be eating the appetizer, but Luarel was holding a large fork meant for steak.
‘This should be heartbreaking.’
But honestly, does it really matter what utensil they use as long as they eat?
‘Still, Shupetty never made such mistakes.’
While daycare taught basic table manners, the bigger reason was that Shupetty truly cared about food.
Not just a glutton, but a gourmet as well.
That’s why Shupetty always took great care in setting the table properly.
Even as a baby, she displayed as much table etiquette as she could manage.
“………”
“Shu, is that all you’re eating?”
As they continued their meal, Diegon noticed Shupetty’s behavior and immediately grew concerned.
The appetizer today was a salad with boiled squid.
Normally, Shupetty would have eaten much more squid, but right now, there were only about three pieces on her plate.
And even those, she was merely picking at.
As a father, it was impossible not to worry.
“Does the food not suit your taste?”
“No, it’s delicious.”
“Then are you feeling unwell, or is your stomach bothering you? Why are you eating so little?”
He wanted nothing more than to pull her onto his lap, cut the food into small bites, and feed her.
If this weren’t both a private and simultaneously formal ‘family gathering,’ he would have done so already.
And then—
Clang!
