Episode 112

Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps moved busily outside the wardrobe.

“Are you in here~?”

Despite confirming that there were intruders in his room, Logan showed no signs of panic.

On the contrary, he hummed a tune as if he were truly playing a game of hide-and-seek.

‘This lunatic.’

His complete lack of concern about who might be hiding sent chills down my spine.

“Not here, huh? Not under the desk either.”

“……”

“Then… behind the curtains?”

He announced every place he checked, almost as if he wanted us to hear.

Because of that, Edwin and I held our breath, frozen in place.

He might have been acting playful, but there was no way he didn’t realize he was steadily approaching the wardrobe we were hiding in.

‘What should we do?’

Even as my body trembled from the approaching footsteps, I desperately tried to think of a way out.

‘Should I just burst out now and pretend we were playing hide-and-seek?’

No matter what, even if Logan was a spy, he wouldn’t dare harm Edwin, the young heir of a duke.

But then, memories of that bastard surfaced, making me hesitate.

 

“But, Grandpa Gordon, what about Emma and… Svel—no, Sven?”

“…Actually, Logan was the one who recommended both of them.”

 

Logan wouldn’t have hired Emma and Juliac for no reason.
TL/N: I don’t remember this person lol

He must have fully understood Edwin’s reserved nature—his tendency to remain silent so as not to trouble his father.

And he could very well use that as an opportunity to harm Edwin.

I bit my lip hard and immediately scrapped my initial plan.

‘Then… if we get caught, I’ll just lunge at him and bite his nose off. That’ll give Edwin time to escape.’

Grandpa Gordon always said I had strong teeth. He even said I could bite a few more times without a problem.

But before I could fully settle on Plan B, another problem surfaced.

‘…What if the door won’t open?’

I had clearly heard the sound of Logan closing the door after entering.

If some kind of sealing magic had activated again and the door wouldn’t budge, all I’d be doing was making him even angrier for no reason.

“Waaah!”

“……”

“Hm. Not under the bed either. Then where could you be? Come out, come out, wherever you are~”

In the meantime, Logan had drawn even closer.

Listening to his insane mutterings, I kept racking my brain for a way to get Edwin out safely.

‘Think, Belze. You’re an adult, aren’t you?’

Step.

Unfortunately, there was no other place to hide in the plain, uncluttered room.

The moment his footsteps halted, a shadow stretched through the crack of light peeking beneath the wardrobe door.

“What a shame. There’s only one place left.”

Logan muttered in an unsettlingly amused tone.

‘Damn it, I don’t know anymore.’

There was no more time to think.

His nose, his legs—whatever I could reach.

I braced myself to burst out of the wardrobe and throw the first punch when—

A movement beside me.

Someone moved just a fraction of a second faster than me.

Then—

Whoosh—

The wardrobe door swung open, and the darkness was instantly flooded with blinding light.

“Ugh.”

The sudden brightness stabbed at my eyes, making me instinctively raise a hand to shield them with a groan.

But that moment didn’t last long.

“…Young Lord?”

Logan’s stunned voice rang out.

I forced my eyes open despite the sharp light—

Only to find Edwin standing before us, the one who had opened the wardrobe door.

“You’re here?”

As if nothing had happened, Edwin stepped down from the wardrobe with complete composure.

Then, he reached a hand out toward me.

“We’ve been caught, Belze. Come on out.”

‘W-What is he doing?’

I was utterly baffled by Edwin’s sudden actions.

However, under Edwin’s insistent gaze, I had no choice but to get up and step out.

Just like when he had placed me inside the wardrobe, he effortlessly lifted me and set me down on the floor.

“…Hah.”

Logan, who had been watching the entire sequence of actions with a dazed expression, finally furrowed his brows deeply.

“…What exactly were you doing in here?”

“As you can see.”

At Logan’s sharp question, Edwin casually shrugged.

“Playing hide-and-seek.”

“In my room? Inside my wardrobe?”

“It just happened that way. The window was open, you know?”

“…That shouldn’t have been possible.”

Logan muttered meaningfully, his eyes scanning Edwin and me from head to toe.

His chilling gaze made me shrink slightly.

But Edwin, as if he had nothing to hide, met it head-on with complete confidence.

Logan, still incredulous, pressed further.

“…You claim you were playing hide-and-seek, yet why did you tear up my painting?”

“Sorry. It wasn’t on purpose.”

Edwin responded effortlessly, without hesitation.

“I got caught on it while playing, and the paper ripped. But then I noticed something behind it, so I got curious.”

“I thought you had already completed your etiquette training.”

Logan scoffed, tilting his head.

“Breaking into someone else’s room wasn’t bad enough? You even destroyed their belongings.”

“……”

“Didn’t you learn that you should apologize to the owner first?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

For a moment, it seemed like Edwin was at a loss for words under Logan’s persistent interrogation.

But it was just an illusion.

“I didn’t go anywhere I wasn’t allowed, Logan.”

“…What?”

“I can pay for the damaged painting. So what’s the problem?”

“……”

Edwin’s response was so unflinchingly bold—bordering on brazen—that Logan was left speechless.

His lips parted several times in sheer disbelief.

But despite his flustered reaction, Edwin’s words weren’t wrong.

‘That’s right. After all, Edwin is the rightful heir of this estate. No one except the Duke himself can reprimand him for anything he does here.’

If anything, the real problem was Logan, who had suspicious magic seals hidden within the manor.

At last, I understood why Edwin had stepped out of the wardrobe first.

Hiding was just a cover—an excuse.

From the beginning, he had intended to walk out confidently.

“You’re taking this too seriously. It’s not fun anymore.”

Looking up at Logan, who was now stammering in frustration, Edwin suddenly lost interest and turned to me.

“Let’s go, Belze.”

He grabbed my hand nonchalantly.

However, his palm was damp with sweat.

Even though he was putting on a calm front, he was just as tense as I was.

“Okay! Hide-and-seek’s over! What should we play next~?”

I chimed in with an innocent, carefree voice, playing along with the act.

But as we passed by Logan, my heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst.

‘Oh, right. I don’t have a heart.’

Then why did my chest feel like it was about to explode?

Logan didn’t stop us from leaving.

But just as we reached the door—

“Wait a moment, Young Lord.”

Edwin’s hand, which had just grabbed the doorknob, stiffened at the voice calling from behind.

“…Do you know what that text meant?”

“No.”

Edwin remained composed until the very end.

“I have no idea.”

He didn’t even turn around as he casually responded and twisted the doorknob.

Click.

But the door didn’t open.

“…That shouldn’t be possible.”

At the same time, a chilling murmur came from behind us.

“You’ve been studying ancient languages for two years now, haven’t you?”

“……”

“The words weren’t even that difficult. Yet you claim you don’t know? As the one who personally arranged for your ancient language tutor, I must say, I’m a little disappointed.”

Logan spoke smoothly, as if he had never been flustered at all.

There was a smile on his face, but it was dripping with mockery.

His words made my mind go blank.

He knew Edwin’s exact proficiency in ancient languages.

The grip on my hand tightened.

After a brief pause, Edwin suddenly turned around.

“…So what?”

Even in this terrifying situation, Edwin instinctively positioned himself in front of me.

“Are you planning to trap us here?”

“Of course not.”

Logan grinned.

“But if I let you go just like this, I’ll be in a bit of a bind. I need to ensure my own survival too, Young Lord.”

“So you want to negotiate?”

“The heir of a founding noble family ignoring heresy after discovering it….”

Logan repeated Edwin’s words mockingly, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

I didn’t even have time to be shocked by the fact that Logan had just admitted, out loud, that he was a heretic—and that Edwin already knew.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of an unconvincing deal?”

A tense silence stretched between them.

“I was expecting a much more… enticing offer.”

“You can’t kill me anyway.”

Edwin scoffed.

“You wouldn’t want to go from being a heretic to a heretic who murdered a noble. You’d be burned at the stake.”

“Haha. Kill you? How could I? I’ve grown quite fond of you, you know.”

Despite his words, Logan didn’t look the least bit sentimental.

Instead, he added with a smirk—

“I think it would be easier to simply erase your memories.”

Gasp.

The moment I heard those words, I sucked in a sharp breath.

Memory-altering magic—spells that violated a person’s rights—were strictly forbidden by law.

And those kinds of forbidden spells didn’t fall under normal magic.

They were curses or dark magic.

All the theories I had previously dismissed as far-fetched speculation were suddenly falling into place, one by one.

Logan was exactly what Ismail had warned me about.

A heretic who wielded dark magic.

This was the worst-case scenario.

At that moment—

“You can’t use high-level magic here.”

Unlike me, who had gone pale upon hearing Logan’s true identity, Edwin remained eerily calm, as if he had known all along.

“That’s correct. This so-called sacred ground… haah.”

Logan let out a deep sigh, looking as if he had a headache.

“Damn it. Erea’s been dead for ages, so why the hell does her residue still linger?”

He didn’t even bother hiding his identity anymore, openly denying the existence of the goddess.

Then, with a sudden snap of his fingers—

“But something like this is still possible.”

“……”

He murmured a short phrase in ancient language.

At that instant—

I felt my body, which had been standing just behind Edwin, suddenly lift into the air.

“W-What…?”

I barely had time to register the sensation of floating before—

Whoosh—!

Like a lifeless object, my body was flung forward uncontrollably.

“A-Aahh! Edwin!”

 

 

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