Episode 59
Belzeon was utterly shocked by the twins’ sudden intrusion.
While he stood frozen in surprise, the twins, having busily climbed through the window, chattered noisily as they looked around the room.
“Wow, I thought a temple would be all rundown, but this room’s pretty nice?”
“Yeah. This is decent. We should get something like this for the count’s residence.”
“Eh, not really.”
As they offered their assessments, Belzeon set Chesha down on the floor and stood up.
He quietly drew the demonic sword from his waist.
The chilling scrape of metal echoed, and both twins froze.
Shielding Chesha behind him, Belzeon pointed the sword at the brothers.
Ishuel blinked rapidly in disbelief at the blade aimed at him.
His long platinum eyelashes fluttered.
“B-Brother…”
Unlike the shocked Ishuel, Karha remained composed.
He furrowed his brow.
His eyes, now fiercely narrowed, glared at Belzeon.
Karha’s hand moved to the sword at his waist.
But he only rested it on the hilt.
After gripping it briefly, he ultimately didn’t draw it.
Karha exhaled and fully released his hand from the sword.
“Enough already.”
A twisted smile revealed sharp fangs between his lips.
“Blowing up the count’s residence, leaking info to assassins… Thanks to that, Ishuel and I nearly died for real?”
“Leave.”
Belzeon didn’t lower his sword.
He retorted in a cold voice.
“If you don’t want to die this time for sure.”
Karha clenched his jaw so hard the muscles bulged, and Ishuel bit his lip.
The atmosphere, lightened by the twins’ arrival, plummeted back into hell.
“You wanna try me?”
Karha smirked crookedly and finally drew both his swords.
A murderous intent began to seep from him.
“If you don’t want to die, go home quietly.”
Hidden behind Belzeon, Chesha sighed inwardly with a “Heh.”
She had been horrified enough seeing the townhouse explode, but that hadn’t been the end.
Of course, that alone wouldn’t have been enough to hold Kierne and the twins…
‘Hiring assassins too.’
And now, he was brandishing a sword right in front of them.
Indeed, one shouldn’t mess with Belzeon.
‘Anyway, I can’t let brothers come to blows.’
Chesha swallowed a sigh and toddled forward.
As she entered the swords’ reach, Belzeon hastily swung his blade away.
Karha raised one eyebrow in surprise at Belzeon’s action.
Chesha planted herself firmly between Belzeon and the twins.
Then, stretching her hands out decisively to both sides, she cried,
“Stop it!”
All three brothers flinched.
They all looked at Chesha.
She narrowed her eyes sharply, alternating her glare between Belzeon and Karha as she scolded them.
“Put the swords away!”
“…Uh, sorry.”
“…….”
Karha apologized first and sheathed his swords.
Belzeon silently returned his own to its scabbard.
Once everyone obediently complied and put away their weapons, the tension eased somewhat.
The three brothers looked at Chesha with subdued spirits.
Under the boys’ intense gazes, Chesha sighed with a “Hoo” and said,
“I’m not going back.”
The twins’ eyes widened at her declaration of refusal.
Ishuel quickly exclaimed,
“It’s a misunderstanding, sister!”
Wondering what she had misunderstood, Chesha tilted her head, and Ishuel knelt down.
Meeting her eye level, he said carefully,
“You’re a Basilian.”
He seemed to have been dwelling on what Belzeon had said.
“Father thinks of you as a Basilian too. Everyone does, so…”
Ishuel placed both hands on his knees, looking quite small and pitiful.
Chesha noticed his lips.
He had bitten them so much they were wounded.
With those injured lips, Ishuel murmured dejectedly,
“This is my first time having a little sister… I wanted to be nicer to you…”
Karha squatted down beside Ishuel.
“Baby.”
The blunt call carried affection.
Like Ishuel, he knelt and extended a hand to poke Chesha’s cheek.
Pressing and releasing her plump, freshly baked bread-like cheek with his finger, he said,
“It’s boring without you. The house is too quiet.”
Unlike his bold stance against Belzeon, Karha asked in a whiny tone,
“Can’t you come home with your brothers?”
Chesha clamped her lips shut, unsure how to respond.
The twins genuinely wanted her back.
She had imagined them hunting her down with fire in their eyes, seeing her as a tool for the Little Saints’ Prayer Assembly and a toy for amusement that had escaped…
‘Why are they acting so pitiful?’
It put Chesha in an awkward spot.
‘If the master finds out I’m the witch, I’m dead!’
As she chewed her plump lips, unable to speak easily, the twins’ eyes and mouths drooped sadly.
‘Ack!’
It was the pitiful attack that weakened Chesha’s resolve the most.
Watching them like that, Chesha momentarily wavered, forgetting her own situation.
Until Belzeon snatched her up as if reeling her in.
“Stop it.”
Holding Chesha, he looked down at the twins.
“Trying to slyly manipulate a young child with immature judgment to get what you want. It’s shameless.”
He rebuked them harshly.
The twins, who had worn drenched-puppy expressions, clicked their tongues and reverted to their usual faces.
“But we mean it.”
Karha retorted to Belzeon, clearly annoyed.
“You should rethink it too. It’s impossible anyway. How’s Father supposed to bring back the dead? Is he a god?”
“…….”
“Just pretend to go along, and help him without getting caught. It’d be good for everyone. We get a youngest sibling, and Father gives up his futile dream.”
Chesha was genuinely surprised.
She hadn’t expected Karha to think like this.
He seemed the most thoughtless.
‘He’s got hidden depths?’
Belzeon looked taken aback too.
Karha sighed heavily in frustration and continued.
“And even if you revive Mother, it’s meaningless. She wouldn’t want it anyway…”
Recalling the past, Karha murmured softly,
“Mother abandoned us.”
It had been so long since Mother fell ill.
The once briefly shining serpent’s castle had reverted to its original gloom.
Each time Mother’s pained moans echoed, the castle sank deeper into darkness.
Every day, Karha picked flowers for Mother, who couldn’t leave her bed.
He made a bouquet of fresh, vibrant blooms she loved most and tiptoed to her bedroom.
In case she was sleeping, he muffled his presence.
‘She’ll like it, right?’
As always, she would smile brightly at Karha’s gift.
It pained him to see her weary, suffering face when she was ill.
This was Karha’s way, after much thought, to make her smile.
Hoping for even a brief moment of joy upon receiving the flowers…
But upon reaching the bedroom, Karha couldn’t enter.
Kierne’s voice leaked through the slightly open door.
“Why do you keep saying that?”
Kierne raised his voice.
He seemed quite angry.
‘Mother’s sick.’
Whatever it was, did he have to yell like that?
It annoyed him anyway.
Karha pursed his lips into a triangular pout.
Kierne’s voice grew harsher.
“If I did something wrong, if I upset you…!”
Before the shouting Kierne, Mother smiled faintly.
She slowly moved her lips.
In that instant, Kierne cut off his fierce tirade.
Lest he miss her words, he shut his mouth and fell silent.
She whispered softly,
“You did nothing wrong.”
