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17. I am an Adult
“……Me?”
Rache asked back involuntarily.
Of course, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about returning to the Grand Duke’s estate at all. However, because he was someone who had stormed out of the house in a manner close to running away and had been holed up in the Guardian dormitory for several years, he couldn’t bring himself to say he would return to the Grand Duke’s estate now of all times.
Herose had told him he could return home at any time, but……. How should he put it? He didn’t feel completely at ease. He didn’t have a thick enough skin for that.
So he had planned to return to the Guardian dormitory for today, and then later, after testing the waters, sneak back home…….
“Yes. You. Why aren’t you coming?”
He didn’t expect Daphne to act like this. Facing an unexpected situation, Rache’s eyes wavered.
“That, uh, well.”
Rache could not hide his flustered state and stammered.
“I’m going too?”
Then he ended up asking a very stupid question. Asking if he was going too. What kind of thing was that to say? Anyone watching would think he was being dragged somewhere he shouldn’t go. Rache’s face turned red.
However, Daphne’s reaction was a bit strange. Usually, Daphne would have scolded him, asking if that was even a question. But Daphne tilted her head a few times, then scurried over to Rache.
“You.”
“Uh, yeah?”
Daphne’s expression as she looked up at Rache was slightly stiffened. Daphne soon let out a sigh and clenched her fists tightly.
“Are you still feeling bitter toward me? Because of how I bullied you in the past?”
The reason Rache had stormed out of the house was due to his discord with Daphne. He had run away because he felt he would eventually go crazy after hearing so many harsh words from her.
Daphne, who already knew this from hearing about it, offered a clean apology even though it wasn’t her own doing.
“It seems I wasn’t in my right mind back then.”
“……What?”
“I’m sorry. But while I believe I’ve apologized before, originally, a good person is meant to apologize several times for the same thing.”
“…….”
Rache’s pupils wavered even more. He looked down at Daphne, his mouth agape, unable to offer any kind of answer.
It was true that Daphne had apologized to him.
And it was true that she had recognized him as a real ‘brother.’
So Rache thought his relationship with Daphne had become somewhat decent now.
But…….
“So, can’t we go together?”
He didn’t expect her to directly ask to go home together like this.
The Grand Duke’s estate. In other words, the mansion of the Achion family—to Rache, there was a psychological distance such that it could be called ‘someone else’s house.’
The son of a dead comrade-in-arms. A hanger-on who wasn’t chosen for adoption, but was taken in out of necessity. Wasn’t that exactly who Rache was?
Knowing this all too well himself, Rache had always maintained a strange sense of distance from the people of the Achion Grand Duchy. Instinctively.
However, since Daphne, the ‘real princess’ and not Arius or Vipera, spoke to him as if it were natural for them to go together…… his heart felt strange. A bubbling emotion rose to his throat.
“……Are you counting me as family too?”
“What?”
Daphne frowned deeply.
“What kind of dog-shit talk is that?”
At the sharp words, Rache reflexively curled his body. As expected, had he said something unnecessary? Had he overstepped? His throat felt parched.
But.
“Of course you are family, aren’t you. Why are you asking such an obvious fact? What, are you sick somewhere? Did you get hit in the head wrong last time?”
Hearing Daphne’s words that followed one after another, Rache felt his mind go blank in a different sense than before.
“Let’s go without further ado. My legs hurt from standing for so long.”
“…….”
Of course, family.
For some reason, his eyes grew hot. Rache kept his head bowed and looked only at his toes. It was because he didn’t know what kind of reaction to show.
Just then, Kenrick Dried, who had been standing next to him watching the conversation between the two, gave his back a poke.
“What are you doing?”
Kenrick Dried smirked and pushed Rache forward.
“Hurry up and go. Go rest for a bit and then come back.”
“……Ah.”
“If you rest for too long, your spot will be gone, so come back after a reasonable amount of time.”
“…….”
Rache raised his head and looked at the other Guardians.
Nike and Fiona, who knew his inner circumstances at least roughly, also nodded as if agreeing with Kenrick Dried’s words. Guardian duties are important, but what’s more important than that is the love and peace among family. Furthermore, since Rache was still in the status of an apprentice Guardian, he was fully entitled to take a rest.
“Then……”
Rache said, pulling up the corners of his mouth.
“I will be back home.”
Then he followed Daphne toward the Grand Duke’s carriage.
As soon as Rache boarded the carriage, Arius and Vipera hugged him tightly, and such a sight made them look truly like ‘family.’
And, in fact, they were family.
***
With a jolt, the carriage shook.
Immediately after, Artson, who was tied up and shoved onto the floor of the carriage, frowned deeply.
“Ah! Are you driving with your feet! Do it properly! My back is killing me!”
At that, elf Teiti, who was holding the reins, ground his teeth.
“Hahaha. It seems I have caused the great Dragon’s back to ache. I have done quite wrong. Should I just jerk the reins right here? Then the carriage will overturn, and you’ll forget all about things like back pain. Hmm?”
“…….”
No, well.
I said one thing and he gives ten back…….
Artson, feeling slightly discouraged, asked Shio who was in the seat next to him.
“Is it okay for an elf to be like that?”
At his question, Shio stared blankly at elf Teiti’s huffing profile.
“He is…… an elf who defies even Lady Daphne.”
“Ah. Understood.”
Artson nodded submissively. Then he changed the subject.
“But, what are you going to use me for after taking me?”
He asked while looking at Shio.
“No, Daphne said she would educate me. But is that possible? I don’t even really know what she intends to educate me in, and in the first place, I don’t really want to be educated. Isn’t it over if I say I don’t want to?”
Shio blinked his eyes slowly while looking at Artson. Wow, this stupid dragon. Why does he have no learning ability? Shio shook his head.
“Try that.”
“Huh?”
“If you want to be beaten like crazy by Lady Daphne again.”
“Ack!”
Artson shrieked in horror. It was because the memory of being beaten by Daphne came back vividly.
“Ah, I remembered it again. Crazy. Crazy……. No, how does she pick where to hit so well? I was hit an immense amount, yet not a single bone was broken. She really picks and hits between the joints!”
“Wow, I know that! Being beaten so it hurts like crazy, but being perfectly fine the next day!”
When elf Teiti chimed in as if he knew well, Artson asked.
“What. Do you get beaten a lot too, elf?”
“Yes! I get beaten an immense amount!”
“Still, I probably have it worse? I was beaten truly to the point of death!”
“Me too? I was also beaten an immense amount!”
“I had it worse!”
“…….”
Just why are these two competing over such a topic? Shio shook his head once more.
“Anyway.”
Shio clapped his hands together. Artson’s gaze, which had been in a war of words with elf Teiti, turned back.
“Once we return to the mansion, there will be work that Lady Daphne will have you do. Do it well on your own.”
“She’s going to make me work?”
Artson tilted his head with a pout.
“What do you think she’ll make me do?”
“Hmm…….”
Shio, who was falling deep into thought, answered with an expression as if he figured it out.
“In my opinion, most likely……”
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