As though terrified that he might be thrown out at once, Chase hurriedly poured out excuses in a voice at odds with his still-expressionless face.

Faced with that deathly pale face and those bony shoulders, even Noel’s fury—and his intention to seize the boy by the scruff of his neck and drag him out immediately—vanished without a trace.

It made him feel like some shameless thug robbing a snot-nosed child of his pocket money.

Scratching the back of his head, Noel ultimately backed down.

"Who said you had to leave?"

"Thank you...."

Apparently relieved by Noel’s answer, Chase fidgeted with the hem of his clothes and whispered softly.

The matter of the room would resolve itself soon enough. Noel had firmly ordered the butler to handle it, so he would surely find Chase another proper place to stay. For now, Noel might as well finish gathering the information he had originally come for.

"You. What’s your surname?"

"...Surname?"

"I know your name is Chase. I’m asking for your surname."

"Surname...? I’m just Chase."

Chase tilted his head as though he knew nothing beyond his own name. Noel had thought it might be easy to learn the %^@# he was most curious about.... His brow furrowed when matters failed to unfold as expected.

"Do you simply not want to tell me? Were you always alone, then? What about your parents?"

"...I don’t know my surname or my parents. I just never had any."

Is that really true?

Closely studying Chase’s expression, Noel continued.

"Where and how did you live before coming here? Before Father found you, I mean."

"In the forest...."

With every question, Noel was the only one growing more frustrated. No matter what he asked, he received no clear answer. Did Chase truly not know, or did he simply refuse to tell him? There was no way to distinguish between the two.

After a disjointed exchange consisting of nothing but curt answers, Noel gave up asking about his past. Instead, he posed the most important question he needed answered today.

It concerned the tremendous talent the butler had made such a fuss over and praised so extravagantly.

"Do you even know what Father saw in you that made him take you into the Winslow ducal house? I heard you possess immense hidden magical talent. Did you know that? What can you do with that magic?"

"What is... magic?"

What the hell does this boy know?

A wave of exhaustion abruptly washed over Noel. That dim-witted answer completely crushed his determination to uncover Chase’s secrets.

And I’m supposed to torment a child like this until he becomes corrupted.... He looks at least five or six years younger than me.

Noel felt as though he had become the most despicable piece of trash in history.

He was staring at Chase with his mouth pulled into a gloomy line when a hypothesis suddenly flashed through his mind.

What if some strange status window is floating in front of him too, just like mine? If he received some sort of mission from the System and is only pretending to know nothing about magic, then everything makes sense.

That’s it! He must have some reason to deliberately feign ignorance and hide what he knows.

Once the thought occurred to him, Noel decided to test the boy without hesitation.

"Do you also have a Sys—"

He had not even finished uttering the word "System."

[Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!]

A skin-crawling alarm shrieked in his ears as a bloodred light flashed across his entire field of vision.

[Warning: A severe deviation from the original story route has been detected.]

[Penalty: Coughing up blood]

"Fuck...!"

Cough!

Before he could even finish the curse, something hot surged up from deep inside him. Noel vomited a gush of blood. Dark clots poured endlessly from his mouth.

Are you fucking insane? You can’t make someone cough up this much blood! You’re going to kill me at this rate, you damned System!

[Directly disclosing information related to the original story is strictly prohibited. If another such attempt is detected, Noel Winslow’s death will be carried out immediately.]

Death?! You never even warned me about that beforehand. Stop this bleeding first! You fucking lunatic of a System!

Still coughing up blood, Noel raged inwardly.

The System remained perfectly unruffled, continuing to display text before him.

[Noel Winslow is the only individual in this world who possesses knowledge of the original story. If you are truly determined to die, we recommend that you continue running your mouth. Damn you, Noel Winslow.]

Noel bit down hard on his lower lip at the System’s chilling, unequivocal warning.

Running my mouth, my ass. And what do you mean, “Damn you, Noel Winslow”?! What gives a mere System the right to speak to me so insolently?

It was absurd, but he did not even have the strength to argue. All he could do was continue retching up blood. As his vision spun, he saw Chase’s legs in front of him. The boy had climbed down from the sofa and now stood there awkwardly.

Chase’s face had gone deathly pale with shock at the sight of Noel covered in blood. As he approached, their eyes met.

"Are... are you all right...?"

"...No."

Does this look all right to you?

Leaving Chase and his idiotic question behind, Noel panted for breath and staggered to his feet.

Drops of blood streamed from the corner of his mouth and splattered onto the floor.

I need to get out of here immediately.

What more could he possibly learn from a young child who could barely communicate? There was no reason to remain.

He had learned nothing and lost a bucketful of blood. It felt as though he had coughed up a lifetime’s worth in the span of two days. If he forced his body to endure any more, it would hardly be surprising if he dropped dead on the spot.

Desperate to lean against something and lie down, Noel rationalized his retreat as he headed toward a corner. He picked up a scrap of cloth that had been tossed there carelessly and roughly wiped away the blood running down his chin.

God, I’m dying....

At this rate, he truly might bleed to death before he ever had the chance to die from failing the quest.

He would have to summon a physician as soon as he returned to his room. He should down a few restorative potions as well and replenish his strength.

[Summoning a physician will be pointless. You will merely be informed that there is nothing wrong with your body.]

How very helpful.

Noel glared at the infuriating System window, then turned toward the door. He could feel Chase’s gaze boring into his back, but he left the annex without so much as a farewell.

As he trudged through the garden on his battered legs, cool air brushed his cheeks. The chilly breeze swept over his fevered face, but did nothing to cool the turmoil inside his head.

To make matters worse, Noel had taken only a few steps before sinking weakly to the ground. His head was still spinning from however much blood he had lost. His bloodless fingers looked almost white beneath the sunlight as they rested on the grass.

Even breathing sent an ache through his chest. Still, he could not remain sitting on the ground like this. He was forcing his dizzy mind back into focus and preparing to move when the butler, who had been watching from nearby, spotted him struggling to rise and came running.

"Gasp! L-Lord Noel! Blood—there’s blood...!"

Noel had wiped his mouth, but the remaining traces of blood around his lips were glaringly obvious to the butler. The sight of the dark red stains glistening in the light sent him into a panic.

Worse, he feared Noel might have caused some monumental disaster. No matter how angry he became, drawing blood was... not exactly unheard of. But this time, Noel himself appeared to have been harmed.

At first, the butler had lingered nearby because he feared Noel might hurt the child the Duke had brought home. But now he wondered whether that boy Chase might instead have done something to Lord Noel....

What if someone demanded to know why he had failed to serve his master properly? The butler’s head reeled, tangled in every worst-case scenario imaginable.

"Stop making such a noisy fuss. You’re making my head pound."

"But what happened...?! Wh-what is all this? What...!"

The butler’s face was even paler than Noel’s. As he continued thrusting his face in front of him, Noel waved him away irritably.

"Never mind that. Go clean the annex from top to bottom immediately. I can’t believe you left it in such a filthy state."

"B-but...."

Noel’s brow tightened at the butler’s questioning voice.

Why does he keep arguing over every word? None of this would have happened if he hadn’t given Chase the annex in the first place.

Of course, that was not true.

All the butler had done was assign him a room. Noel alone had created this situation. Even so, irritation was irritation.

"Don’t make me repeat myself. Why did you give Chase that annex tucked away in a corner when there are perfectly good rooms available? He’s only a chil—"

[Warning]

Noel abruptly cut himself off at the single word flashing before his eyes and nearly bit his tongue.

Why am I being warned now? What did I even do?

He had no idea what was happening. Just as confusion made his mouth go dry, another message appeared.

Thankfully, perhaps, Noel’s eyes swiftly scanned it.

[This display of sympathy is inconsistent with Noel Winslow’s character. Correct it immediately.]

[Time Limit: 5 seconds]

[Penalty upon exceeding the time limit: Coughing up blood]

You issued a warning because I showed concern for how that boy is being treated, and that wasn’t villainous enough?

Noel resented the System for interfering in even the smallest details, but the pain of the penalty he had just suffered remained far too vivid.

[4, 3, 2, 1]

Chapter 6

Comments