22
“Kyaa, is the Princess angry?”
“She looks angry!”
“She must be!”
Kya-kya!
The twins persistently carried me down to the first floor, set me down, and then ran away laughing.
Thanks to them, I ended up watching their retreating backs before I even had time to be flustered.
‘And I was going to praise them.’
Remarkable fellows.
Should I decide to praise them tomorrow?
Left alone on the first floor like that, I walked in a different direction instead of heading to where the carriage usually was.
‘Come to think of it, if I go this way, isn’t it the middle institution?’
The story I heard from the maids during lunch today.
Thanks to that, I was planning to go a little further out with the intention of checking something.
‘The servant will wait until I come anyway.’
This is the elementary institution area, and as of now, there is almost no danger.
If it were a time when I was treated like a hollow shell as before, it might be different, but in my current famous state, there would be even less danger.
‘I didn’t think of those older brother bastards for no reason today.’
I already knew how those guys lived around this time, but still.
‘I need to grasp the situation.’
Since they say there’s a family meeting soon.
‘First off, all three of them should be in the middle institution…….’
The elementary institution and the middle institution are located somewhat adjacently.
So they share the same garden, and to my knowledge, if I go straight in this direction, that institution should appear.
Soon, I had to stop in my tracks while toddling along.
‘A sound?’
The sound of voices was heard from somewhere.
I stood on my tiptoes and headed toward the direction of the sound.
It wasn’t difficult to kill my presence with the agility I had increased thanks to Pierre putting me to work diligently lately.
When I peeked my head out slightly while hiding in the bushes, I saw boys huddled together not far away.
‘Hmm? Are they kids from the middle institution?’
The size of the Aquasiadel mansion was vast enough to be compared to a village.
Every educational institution follows the law of the jungle. The strong monopolize everything.
Therefore, opportunities were conversely given to everyone.
Theoretically, even a member of a collateral branch could rise to the position of a successor candidate alongside the direct line based on their achievements in the educational institution, provided their strength was great enough.
What influences this is the ‘power of water,’ and for a collateral member to face off against the direct line, they absolutely had to awaken this power.
The kids receiving education at the middle institution range from a minimum of 8 or 9 years old up to a maximum of 17.
After that, they are guaranteed their status as adults.
‘According to my memory, this wasn’t a place where kids gathered. What happened?’
Looking at their size, the boys seemed to be from the middle institution.
Though the atmosphere was quite menacing.
“Hey, can’t you hear? This guy seems to be deaf.”
“What. Is he a moron? Or is he ignoring our words?”
As I mentioned before, the structure is such that the direct line cannot help but be superior to the collateral branches.
Currently, officially, every direct line member except for me has awakened the power of water.
And my older brothers above me were all at an age to be in the middle institution.
‘Which means…….’
I frowned.
‘It’s a situation where it wouldn’t be strange even if they were the bosses.’
Why is that guy being bullied over there?
Through the gap where the boys are gathered in a swarm, I see a boy crouching down.
For some reason, his hair was gray-colored.
Pearly white skin.
Jewel-like blue eyes.
……There was no way I wouldn’t know.
That beautiful boy in that shriveled-up posture over there is my third brother.
Agenor.
‘Let’s see, was the gap between him and me five years? Six years?’
Then it means he must have just recently left the elementary institution.
I recalled Laila’s words.
“Princess, you are the first since your third older brother to fluster me this much.”
Seeing as she said this, it doesn’t seem like his personality has changed much from the cycles I knew.
‘But why is his hair color like that?’
Watching intently while hidden, I clicked my tongue.
Ha, that guy…….
‘He’s hiding his hair color with the power of water, isn’t he?’
The characteristics of the killer whale direct line manifested from the hair color and hair style, no matter what anyone said.
I myself have hair that is jet-black at the base and becomes silver as it goes down, don’t I.
This hair was no different from proof that one was born into the killer whale direct line.
However, the third brother seen over there was subtly hiding that proof with his own power.
Merely revealing his original blue eyes blankly.
Looking at those hollow blue eyes, I felt both a sense of welcome and absurdity at the same time.
“You, you’re a face I haven’t seen before…… don’t you know that everyone who comes here has to greet us first?”
“Seeing as there’s no black at all in your hair, you seem like a collateral member with thin blood, right?”
“Exactly, how did a guy like this even flow into our class?”
I looked at the snickering boys with pathetic eyes.
The external standard by which collateral members established superiority even among themselves was whether any black was mixed into their hair color.
None? Then they were usually ignored immediately.
“There’s no place for a guy like you here, why don’t you just leave? No one’s going to stop someone like you.”
Another characteristic of the direct line is the white spots that look like eyes on both sides of the crown of the head.
This was a characteristic that only the direct line possessed.
My brother was in a situation where he had hidden even these spots with his own power.
“……D-don’t, don’t, don’t do it.”
Oh, really?
‘You’re doing all sorts of things.’
When a voice trembling timidly flowed from Agenor, the boys stopped talking for a moment.
Soon, the boys who were looking at each other burst out laughing, “Wahahahaha!”
“Hey, did you hear this bastard’s voice? I thought he was a goat. Baaaa~”
“Hey, someone give him some paper. Do you eat it? We had a goat shifter in our family?”
“I have paper! Should I bring it?”
As I’ve said several times already, killer whales aren’t born with good personalities and are violent enough to be called the ‘bullies of the sea.’
This tendency becomes more prominent as the bloodline is inherited more strongly.
They act as if their tempers are bad like untamed beasts or as if something is broken in their heads.
And among them, that guy Agenor, my third brother…….
‘He was a crazy guy who enjoyed being bullied…….’
The beautiful boy smirked while no one was looking.
I looked at my brother with pathetic eyes.
‘Ah, now I remember.’
As I said, in the previous cycle, I returned only after running away from the family and becoming strong, then I beat down my brothers and took the position of the Family Head.
To put it another way, it means we only properly faced each other after we had both grown up.
Because of that, I didn’t know in detail what kind of school days these brothers spent.
However, there was a lot I had picked up here and there from my subordinates.
A lot, at that.
“The Lord Agenor of school days? Aaaaaaah!”
“Why is he acting like that?”
“He must have graduated from the same class as Lord Agenor.”
“Why is that?”
“Ahem, well…… the Lord Agenor at that time was really…… well, unique. At first, he went around hiding as if he were a collateral member, and then…… after getting beaten up a bit……. Around the time he decided it was enough, he had a record of almost killing several of his classmates.”
Among the things I came to check today, there was certainly a matter related to that Agenor.
But to actually see the person himself. I don’t know whether to say I’m glad or troubled.
‘That, that was exactly as the subordinate said.’
Agenor was a brother who spoke very little.
“What, why do you seek out bullying and go around getting hit? I can’t imagine it. Just why? This won’t do. Bring the person himself!”
And he always took it upon himself to play the hated role.
I, too, was only able to hear the story of why he enjoys being bullied after I defeated him in the 3rd cycle…….
Did he say he liked it because that moment was when he received the most attention?
It’s a way of thinking that I simply cannot understand.
‘What a twisted human.’
Perhaps in this cycle too, that human intended to live like this.
“Hey, try eating it. I said try eating it?”
“Goat brat, I said try eating it, why aren’t you saying anything! Are you ignoring me?”
Starting with someone giving a poke with their foot, an atmosphere was created as if a beating would occur at any moment.
Agenor’s eyes trembled.
Seeing that sight, there was a part that came to mind.
“I didn’t intend to kill my classmates from the start……. I just thought about it, but actually being hit didn’t feel particularly good……”
He had a face as if he hadn’t thought this far.
I clicked my tongue and picked up a stone in one hand.
Am I worrying about Agenor?
No, then you’re making light of a crazy killer whale direct line.
‘If he uses his strength, all those guys die.’
Finally, it was when Agenor closed his eyes tightly at someone’s kick.
“Stop it.”
The boys stared at me with their feet still lifted.
Looking around, there were no other whale vassals or aquatic animal shifters, only killer whales.
Ha, our class was the same.
These things are a total boy gang. I can tell, I can tell. Tsk tsk.
“Who are you?”
The biggest and fattest one glared at me while huffing.
Then, the boy beside him widened his eyes and urgently poked the biggest one.
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