Chapter 139

Here’s the English translation in a comedic anime style:

“Doing such a mess and just walking away, huh.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of head he had.”

—

“Hey, Carsein! Can’t you come back right now?!”

—

Carsein didn’t even pretend to hear her as he walked out. Arina gritted her teeth and shouted.

But even though she shouted, Carsein didn’t look back and left.

“Damn that brat!”

Seeing him act so recklessly, blood rushed to her head. This time, he caused trouble and just walked away?

I don’t have a clue how to punish this guy.

Arina stormed off angrily towards the open door.

Claire came into view as Arina stomped over.

Come to think of it, Claire was here too.

It seems she just arrived and witnessed this situation, which only made Arina sigh more deeply.

“Claire, I’ll leave the cleanup to you. I need to catch that brat right away. Try to settle any compensation with money or items if possible.”

“What?”

“You can’t just let him walk around causing trouble. It seemed quiet lately, but he caused another scandal, damaging the family’s honor. We can’t just let this slide.”

Settling compensation wouldn’t be too hard for Claire either.

With rage-filled steps, Arina chased after Carsein.

“Wait, sis!”

It was no use trying to stop him at this point.

This was serious. She needed to hear Carsein’s side of the story.

She wanted to know what happened.

Right now, she felt like she needed to chase after her sister to persuade him, but she couldn’t just follow blindly.

‘If I leave too, things will get worse.’

Claire looked around the room.

Tables were overturned, chairs were broken.

Tea spilled on the floor, and broken teacups were scattered everywhere.

The female nobles stood far apart, while the male nobles looked battered.

It was chaos in this room where Carsein had caused an incident.

Back then, they might have given Carsein a hard time with his sister, asking why he caused another accident.

But.

‘Carsein wouldn’t cause an accident on such an important day.’

She didn’t think so anymore.

Somehow, a foul smell was in the air.

In this unsettling place,

‘I need to understand the situation first.’

She hadn’t been able to gather all the details by the time she arrived.

They need to explain the situation before she can make any judgment, so Claire decided to ask them first.

“Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Could you explain what happened here?”

When she asked, one of the nobles groaned and raised his hand.

“I’ll explain, Miss Claire.”

“What’s your name?”

“Hemnan Modrich from Count Modrich’s House.”

“Oh, Modrich’s House.”

She didn’t have much connection with their family.

But she heard something.

-Those knights from the Modrich family who blocked the road were all dismissed!

-Really? Wow, it feels like a weight has lifted off my chest.

When she stayed in Rusmaier looking for Carsein,

she heard people from the territory talking about the Modrich family.

‘That sounded suspicious, but since it was Carsein’s territory, I didn’t think much of it. But…’

Somehow, there was a foul smell in the air.

And when she first arrived, she heard something too.

-…What’s this? What’s stuck to Hemnan’s foot?

‘The foot.’

She couldn’t hear the beginning part, but something was stuck to this man’s shoe. That’s what Carsein said.

“Please tell me slowly.”

Let’s hear it from the start.

Before checking his shoes.

***

Hemnan couldn’t control his rising smile.

Of course not.

The situation was going in his favor.

He tried to beat up Carsein, but instead, he got beaten up badly. That was unexpected, but he was still a fool.

Although he was angry right now, he could pay back more than just himself by hurting other nobles.

Where does it end?

News would spread gradually and reach the duke’s house, but this time, news reached the duke’s house directly.

There was no need to spread it further because Arina Bargrand happened to be here by chance.

It wasn’t hard to explain what happened.

He didn’t even need to say anything, relying on others’ acting and the situation to finish explaining.

Even if he added misunderstandings or made up things, Carsein didn’t resist.

Soon, he left the place, and Claire Bargrand also arrived.

Everything went smoothly.

‘Huh, hahaha.’

Hemnan had to tighten his stomach muscles to prevent laughter from escaping.

This situation was perfect.

Since Arina appeared, the situation was already getting better, but the environment was set perfectly for Carsein to take all the blame.

Like driving a wedge, Arina chased after Carsein,

and all that was left was to deceive Claire somehow.

“Please tell me slowly.”

When he heard that, all the nobles smiled.

Many were intoxicated by their victory. The young ladies were even hiding behind fans.

Hemnan tried to hide his rising smile as he told Claire what happened here.

It wasn’t difficult.

Just like with Arina, all he had to do was highlight Carsein’s mistake.

It was just an accident with tea, and some items broke accidentally.

He apologized for the accident, but Carsein responded with his fists, and others who tried to stop him got beaten up instead.

Even though he got beaten up badly, it was good evidence to expose Carsein’s misdeeds.

As an actor on this stage, Hemnan looked forward to what Claire would say next. He felt a little sad that Arina had already left.

But.

To his surprise, Claire was silent.

‘Huh?’

He thought Claire would surely express anger and say how she’d deal with Carsein and refuse to give compensation.

When he thought that, his neck was suddenly grabbed.

“Gah?!”

“Ha! You bastard! Are you calling that a statement?”

“Young lady?”

What’s going on? Hemnan blinked in disbelief.

But the grip on his collar was undeniable.

It was indeed Claire’s hand.

“An accident? You’re crazy. You deliberately provoked Carsein. Did you really think I’d fall for your lies without blinking?”

“W-What are you talking about! Lies!”

“Huh. Your mouth is still open. You’re trash who doesn’t know your place.”

“Trash? That’s too harsh…”

Claire’s face showed a menacing expression, and Hemnan instinctively shrank back.

“I met Carsein by chance here. So, I invited him and suggested we share tea and conversation. How is that a lie?!”

He had to speak up.

If there was a misunderstanding, he should clarify it.

“Hahaha! You want to suggest sharing tea? You met me by chance and invited me here? To talk?”

Claire’s laughter echoed through the room.

The nobles held their breath, unsure of the situation.

“Keh!”

Claire, without giving him a chance to explain, used magic to throw Hemnan into a chair.

Naturally, Hemnan’s shoes pointed upwards, and Claire pulled out a fragment from his shoe.

“Hey, Hemnan. You said you dropped it accidentally and broke it, right? Carsein said you stepped on it and broke it.”

“Yes.”

“So, you admitted it was a lie with your own words, trash.”

Claire said mockingly.

“The Turmor flower hairpin has very weak durability. But it won’t break just from falling.”

“Young lady. Where’s the contradiction? Weak durability yet it doesn’t break?”

“Even if you threw it out of the building, it wouldn’t break. Even if you dropped it off a cliff, it wouldn’t break.”

Hemnan immediately tried to shout that it was nonsense, but Claire tossed the fragment in the air as if to answer.

Surprisingly, the fragment floated in the air before landing.

“What… is this?!”

“The Turmor flower has a property that prevents itself from breaking under large shocks. That’s because it’s imbued with magic. But you claim it broke just from falling?”

“Cho!”

“Wrong. It was crushed by being stepped on. That’s how all the fragments scatter and embed in the shoe.”

Claire sat cross-legged on the remaining chair, showing the fragments embedded in her shoe.

Claire’s recreation matched Hemnan’s situation exactly.

Hardening and fragmenting.

When she recited the second property of the Turmor flower, he could no longer lie.

“Um, maybe there was a misunderstanding. I…”

“How dare you frame my brother with false accusations?”

He tried to make excuses,

“But that’s not all. You lied to my sister and even to me. Is this just a misunderstanding?”

Claire was already ready to ignite with fury.

“I’ll take this as a challenge to the Bargrand duchy, Hemnan Modrich.”

Hemnan’s face turned pale.

A challenge to the Bargrand duchy?

What nonsense is this?

If Father hears this, he won’t just let it go. If the Modrich family causes damage, they’ll be kicked out of the family!

He had to find a way to turn the situation around.

But.

“Hey! Everyone…”

“How dare you lie to the Bargrand family?”

“You’re a despicable person. Huh, hmm!”

“You should have just let me handle it!”

Now he was receiving the same treatment he inflicted on Carsein.

There was no escape from this crisis.

Today was the day Hemnan Modrich’s reputation would be tarnished.

***

After seeing the message that the spring outing episode was cleared, I could leave that place without any worries.

There were no warning messages.

No penalties. No choices left.

Even if Arina or Claire came out and started spouting nonsense, it didn’t happen.

This must be the answer.

Instead of catering to the family’s preferences and reading the situation, I needed to oppose with valid reasons to escape the situation.

I wanted to escape from that house, just like Carsein was trying to escape from this family.

“Heh.”

I found this quite satisfying, almost laughing out loud.

Yeah. Somehow, I need to escape from this house.

My method wasn’t wrong.

I could pretend to comply with their demands until the right moment, then prepare to escape boldly, not secretly.

Just like in reality.

One more run-through would do.

As emotionless as possible.

Rationally and realistically.

—

“Ding!”

“Oh, this is the power of a perfect clear.”

▶Episode IV: Spring Outing has been cleared.◀

▶Successfully triggered results beyond the choices.◀

▶Calculating rewards.◀

■Rewards

▶Perfect clear reward: All penalties are erased!◀

[Target: Penalties from Episode IV’s risk level, affinity penalties, choice penalties.]

▶Perfect clear reward: No additional choices appear!◀

[Target: Risk level choices, affinity choices, additional development choices for Episode IV.]

▶Perfect clear reward: The schedule is fully wrapped up, and it will notify you once whether Episode I occurs. Until then, you are granted free action time.◀

All penalties disappearing was enough, but all the choices for one episode vanished.

Originally, the dukes would gather again with the nobles for some meetings, and Carsein would be dragged along, but now no messages appeared.

One entire episode disappeared, and the constraints placed on me were limited to one episode, but they were all gone, replaced by free action time.

But they wouldn’t easily give up everything.

There’s one flaw.

“Episode IV’s, means it doesn’t apply to the next episode?”

How annoying.

So, only things related to Episode IV are okay?

“…Fine. Where am I? Better to take whatever I can get.”

Being dragged around everywhere and drawing a new family portrait is better than wasting time here.

Returning to the duke’s mansion might affect the next episode, so I decided to stay at the hotel where I was staying.

But, of course, he would be here.

“Carsein…”

A blond kid was looking at me from the entrance.

Tsk.

I expected Isabel to stick to him.

Of all times, when two sisters weren’t around, I had to bump into the last one.

“Fine. I’ll just ignore him and go in.”

Anyway, the episode is cleared, and this place is still under the influence of Episode IV.

Flora probably won’t trigger Episode V right away.

But when I tried to ignore him and enter, Flora grabbed my arm.

“B-Blood…! Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me, Carsein…”