Chapter 35

If Aisha managed to pass the second trial as well, the next heir candidate would be decided through a vote by the attendants.

And judging by how those people treasured that brat like gold and jade—

Looks like she’ll win.

It was unfair.

It was only because she was from the direct line.

What did it matter if he possessed a power? Because he was from the branch line, nobody even praised him!

“This is so unfair... seriously....”

Tex’s clenched fist trembled.

Meanwhile.

Aisha was covering the werewolf’s wound so the monster would not feel unnecessary pain until it was taken away.

Fortunately, once the bleeding stopped to some extent—

“Phew. Mister! Did you see that?!”

Her eyes sparkled with joy.

Ever since being adopted into the direct line, she had felt she needed to pull her own weight.

And thanks to the decent reactions erupting around her, Aisha’s grin stretched all the way to her ears.

“Brat. You haven’t won yet.”

“His Grace seems to be smiling even more broadly, though.”

Calypse tried to calm the child down.

But Knox, who had been watching the two of them, cut in.

Come to think of it, Calypse was smiling enough that he did not even realize it himself.

In the end, he let out a low laugh and leaned back against his chair.

“You wouldn’t understand since you don’t have children.”

“Well, yes. The young lady is certainly admirable and lovable, but I do not smile like Your Grace does.”

Knox shrugged.

“And the biological reason young children appear cute is because, in order to protect their relatively weak bodies—”

“Mouth.”

“Hmph.”

I can’t hold a conversation with him for more than a minute.

Calypse shook his head with a tired expression and looked back toward Aisha.

“......?”

Something was strange.

The werewolf was no longer around the child who was happily hopping about.

Just moments ago, it had been whining helplessly, unable even to walk.

“Knox. The werewolf handling?”

“It was about to proceed now.”

“Then why is the werewolf...”

Calypse trailed off mid-sentence, then abruptly rose from his seat with an alarmed expression.

“Aisha!”

“Why, mister... huh?”

A monster that should not have been moving was moving.

And not only that—it had leaped above Aisha’s head, jaws spread wide.

***

The characteristics of werewolves?

This was not something I knew because I used to be a spy.

Over the past few days, I had studied the traits of the monsters used in previous heir selection trials in preparation.

Pack instincts. Brutality toward anything not considered one of their own.

Still, because of the relative weakness in their hind legs, they were actually a pretty favorable monster matchup for me.

“Gooood! Now I just need to somehow handle the other five like this too!”

You do not understand what I mean?

Then unfortunately, you have been selected for this examination!

Hehe... I’m going to win. I’ll win and become a golden seed.

I pulled out the wire I had prepared beforehand from my pocket.

Since anything considered a weapon was permitted in the testing grounds, I had prepared quite a few things.

But then—

“Aisha!”

Suddenly mister was calling me with all color drained from his face.

Just moments ago he had been smiling warmly.

Something was strange.

“Why, mister... huh?”

Suddenly it felt as though the world had been swallowed by darkness.

And then I felt a sticky gaze.

“......?”

When I instinctively raised my eyes toward it, beneath the sky a giant foaming maw came crashing down toward me.

Tap tap—

I managed to dodge, but perhaps because I had twisted my ankle too abruptly—

“...Ow.”

Crunch.

My left ankle twisted with a nasty sound and immediately swelled thick and red.

With this, running and jumping were no longer possible.

Should I try throwing the dagger again?

But for some reason, the werewolf was far more agitated than before and much faster now.

Mister was right. I got excited for no reason even though I hadn’t won yet.

Reflect on yourself, me.

Pouting slightly, I surveyed the situation ahead.

No matter how I looked at it, that werewolf was not normal.

First of all, it was standing upright on hind legs that should have been unusable, completely ignoring the structure of its muscles.

Foam was even bubbling from its jaws like waves.

Grrraaagh—

And judging from the fact that there were no black pupils inside its purple eyes, something was seriously wrong.

“See! There’s no way that huge idiot would cry from one little dagger!”

At that moment, applause rang out.

The owner of the applause was Tex, who had jumped to his feet looking emotional.

“She still hasn’t passed yet, right? Right, aide?”

“...Doesn’t something seem strange?”

“To my eyes it just looks a little angry. Aren’t monsters always a little strange?”

The surrounding murmurs.

Knox’s flustered expression.

Even Calypse hurriedly descending from the spectator seats to enter the training grounds.

“Capture that werewolf immediately!”

At mister’s command, the nearby knights prepared to throw chains.

But—

“Then naturally the heir will become Tex.”

A voice laced with ridicule pierced through all the noise.

“If the trial is stopped just because the werewolf is dangerous, then it sounds to me like that child simply lacks the qualifications to become heir.”

“I don’t care, just protect the child already!”

Even under Marquis Lilith’s criticism, mister did not stop.

The problem was that I froze at the marquis’s words.

If this happens, then Tex becomes the heir.

No.

“No! I’ll keep taking the test!”

As I shouted with all my strength while backing away, the knights who had been about to block the werewolf halted in place.

Calypse did too.

“Mister, if you take even one more step, then the direct-line adoption is canceled!”

“You think canceling an adoption is easy? You’re in danger right now, Aisha!”

“Just try stopping the test!”

One difficult truth about life:

Reality was different from novels. Even if a magical girl transformed, even if the protagonist was having an important conversation, enemies still attacked out of nowhere.

Disasters happened fast.

While my gaze turned away in panic over whether the match would be stopped—

“No!”

The red eyes staring at me suddenly widened.

The moment I realized something had gone wrong and turned my head, a foam-filled maw and sharp molars greeted me right in front of my face.

Ah.

I’m going to die.

I don’t want to die. Mister worked so hard to save me.

And then—

“Dandelion.”

A familiar voice sounded from somewhere.

It was Lucas.

To hear Lucas’s voice at death’s door.

We’re close, but I don’t think our relationship was tragic enough for that.

My clenched fists trembled in proportion to my fear.

But something was strange.

Come to think of it, I could not feel the pain of being torn apart by sharp fangs, nor could I hear people screaming.

“......?”

Sensing something odd, I slowly lifted my eyelids—

“Looks like the authority of the Kreutz family has gotten pretty weak.”

Black hair fluttering in the wind came into view.

“You’re trying to kill a five-year-old brat by turning a monster insane with some ridiculous poison like this?”

That irritated young voice sounded painfully familiar.

The back of a boy a full head taller than me.

And beyond him, the monster trapped inside a gigantic pillar of ice had frozen in place as though time itself had stopped.

“...Wait a moment, that person... doesn’t he look exactly like His Grace...?”

“Could he possibly be a young lord of the Kreutz direct line?”

“Weren’t both young lords missing?”

People began murmuring.

Among them, several turned pale as if realizing something while glancing back and forth between Calypse and Lucas.

“No way... no way that’s...”

“Why can’t you just say he looks like the duke’s son? Is the phrase forbidden or something?”

Tap—

Lucas lightly kicked a pebble, resolving everyone’s curiosity, and the seated attendants reflexively rose to their feet.

“...What did you say?”

“Then could that possibly be Young Lord Lucas, who disappeared at the age of three?”

“...Lucas.”

At that moment, a low voice rang out above my head.

“?”

When I looked up, mister had somehow already approached and was holding me tightly in his arms.