﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 4 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
"Pfftt!"
Sudden laughter can be heard.
It was Vieze's son, Bellesac, who had called me.
A man with brown hair and brown eyes, who did not resemble his mother, Seral, at all and instead, just looked like a replica of Vieze.
That grumpy-looking face had many flaws but even then, women would never stop approaching him due to his status of being the eldest son of the Lombardy family.
"Hahaha!"
But what was in front of me right now was just a little boy who I'm assuming must be around ten years old.
He was someone who engaged in all kinds of debauchery, so I was the one who had to clean up and deal with his mess. He was someone who made me tremble whenever I saw his face, but as a child, he was somewhat cute.
"Are you laughing?!"
However, that temper wasn't cute at all.
Still, I was about to apologize because I thought I'd end up feeling bad later.
"This filthy half-blood dares to laugh at us!"
But offensive words kept leaking from his mouth.
"Half-blood?"
Little by little, I began to remember.
My cousins, including Bellesac, had cursed me to death just because my mother had been a commoner.
"Brother, I think that half-blood must be pissed off right now?"
As I turned my head towards the voice that just poured into the air, I could see my second uncle's first son, Astalliu, standing next to him.
If Bellesac had made me crazy due to his disorderly private life and violent tendencies, then Astalliu had troubled me by becoming addicted to gambling.
He had become a good target for the other gamblers because he was a powerful, brainless idiot whose innermost thoughts would be visible to everyone.
Eventually, he almost got kicked out by Grandfather and before he entered the Lombardy knights faction in his later years, there were several buildings that Astalliu had already sold away due to gambling debts.
That's right, these two would always stick together and pick on me.
"So what is she going to do if she's angry?"
"Are you going to cry and pee yourself again?"
At that time, I had been very afraid of these two.
Even if it was just a child's prank, the bullying by them had been very vicious.
I was too young and powerless to deal with their pure malice towards me because as the saying goes, children are crueler than they seem.
So, previously, whenever I would come across these two, I couldn't even run away and would only tremble, so that everything would just end quickly.
Sometimes, it would just end with ridicule and some insults, but on days when Bellesac wasn't in a good mood, he would end up bruising me.
If my father would show anger, Vieze and Roulier would often rebuke him by saying 'He was getting sour over children's fight.'
"Ha."
But I suppressed my anger. Then I asked something.
"Bellesac, how old am I now?"
"What?"
Bellesac looked at me strangely as if I had suddenly asked a weird question.
"How old am I?"
Originally, I wanted to make my voice more intimidating and deep but since this was a child's body, I was limited in that sense.
"You don't even know that?"
When I spoke in a way that disregarded and looked down on him, Bellesac replied angrily.
"You're seven years old! I know!"
Oh, I see, so you mean I'm seven?
"Right. I'm seven years old. And you're ten, and Astalliu is eight years old."
There was a difference of about three years and one year between us, so I was able to calculate their ages.
"Now that you're that old, how can you be so childish?"
Originally, children like to think they're all grown up.
"You shouldn't make fun of your cousin by calling her half-blood like that."
I tried to coax the two as nicely as possible.
What do the kids know about this? All the fault lies on the adults.
But Bellesac's mood turned rather nasty.
"Cousin? Childish?"
Somehow, somewhere, it seemed that something bad was going to happen.
I turned myself around because I sensed he needed something to vent his anger quickly.
Bellesac, wheezing, looked down at me threateningly.
"Is she crazy?"
And then he raised his hand high.
But for some reason, he waited for a while before hitting me.
As if he was expecting me to be afraid.
But when they didn't get the response they wanted, Bellesac and Astalliu became perplexed.
And their embarrassment was expressed by the act of hitting me.
"Ahh!"
The raised hand grabbed my hair and pulled it as hard as it could.
With that power, my knees and scalp burned as I fell hard on the ground.
When I looked up, I could see a few strands of my hair ripped out in Bellesac's hands.
"Haha! What a sight!"
The face, pointing at me and laughing at me, was the same as the face of the one who treated me as a servant, asking me to go out to the fountain and do the laundry every time I encountered him in my grandfather's office.
The anger that I had suppressed inside me by thinking of him as a child soared back.
"For the lowly half-blood. Are you trying to teach me?"
Bellesac said while pushing my head down.
"Just because you have the same last name, you've started deluding yourself into thinking you're one of us."
Astalliu smiled meaningfully behind him.
"You're not a Lombardy. So get the hell out of here, you half-blood."
"I told you not to say it."
"What?"
"I told you, don't call me a half-blood."
I, who had fallen on the ground, lifted one foot and kicked Bellesac's shin.
It wasn't a very strong kick, but the shin area hurts quite a bit even if one hits lightly.
"Arghh!"
Bellesac screamed and fell, clutching his legs and rolling around.
I immediately stood up with the book that had been dropped next to me.
"H-hey!"
I could feel Astalliu step closer in surprise as he tried to help.
I spun my head to the side without saying anything and glared at that child, Astalliu.
That alone caused the timid Astalliu to become terrified and stop in his tracks.
I glared at him one more time so that he could stand there quietly and then approached Bellesac, who was still rolling around like a puppy.
"This spoiled puppy."
I wasn't wrong.
My first uncle, Vieze, had no manners and often behaved like a dog to his wife and Bellesac was a seed that had been produced to be just like his father.
The puppy was just the right word.
A fearless puppy.
I'll fix your habits.
"You, you crazy bi**h!"
He was in pain, but his mouth was still alive and loud.
With the book that I was holding, I began to use it to repeatedly smack Bellesac's shoulders and arms.
It's a pretty thick book so it will hurt.
"Aghh! Ahh!"
"Again and again! Half-blood! Half-blood! You made me mad by saying half-blood! You were asking to be beaten! You shouldn't have done it!"
"Ast-Astalliu! What are you doing! Argh! Get this nasty thing off me! Ahh!"
Bellesac called Astalliu desperately but the small child was already trembling.
The little boy, who was only eight years old couldn't be of help anymore.
"Because of you! Do you know hard it was for me! You don't know!"
Ignoring the hand that was trying to push me, I continued to smack Bellesac with the book.
"Ughh, kggh!"
Even though I had only smacked him a few times, this young child's body was out of breath and my arms felt weak.
If Bellesac would have acted rebellious and hit me back, I would have been instantly knocked out, but fortunately, I was safe.
He started crying.
"Ahhh! Nngh, save me!"
My ears were stinging because of how loud his voice was.
It was then.
The door of the office burst open and a loud yelling sound was heard.
"What this fuss about!"
A middle-aged man with a huge, intimidating presence whose neatly arranged white hair and beard gave the appearance of a lion's mane appeared in front of me.
"G-grandpa."
It was my grandfather, Rulhac Lombardy, the Head of this Lombardy family, who was staring at the scene of Bellesac lying on the floor and me smacking him with my book.
"Bellesac!"
Soon after, someone came screaming from the office while calling out his son's name and pushed me roughly.
"Ah!"
It was incomparably strong compared to how I had been pushed down by Bellesac a while ago.
The book fell far away, and my palm and wrist became sore as I used them to reduce the impact of my fall and avoid hitting my head.
"Tia?"
That's when I heard an affectionate and worried voice.
My father, who came out of the office belatedly, saw me and approached me with fright.
"Oh my god! Tia, your wounds!"
It's probably because I look like a mess right now.
Bellesac was the one crying, but apparently, my condition was much worse.
"Father! Father!"
But I know how loud Bellesac is, and he's going to make it worse than it is.
"You! Apologize to my son right now!"
He asked me to apologize without even bothering to listen to the whole story.
My eyes turned red and I turned my head away because I didn't want anyone to see that face.
"This, this cheeky thing!"
Then, Vieze stretched his hand out as if he was about to hit me right away.
"Brother!"
I felt my father hugging and protecting me.
But judging the situation, it seemed like he would end up hitting my dad who was blocking me.
"Stop!"
However, the immediate situation was temporarily suspended as soon as my grandfather shouted in anger.
Vieze was still struggling, but he couldn't say anything anymore and stared at me with his eyes as if he was going to kill me.
In the quiet hallway, only the whimpering of Bellesac rang from time to time.
Me? I was quietly laying down in my father's arms and hugging him.
To be honest, I'm in trouble.
I wanted to leave a good impression on my grandfather but from the beginning itself, I messed up.
All because of that stupid Bellesac.
My grandfather, who took turns looking at Bellesac and me for a while, then looked at Astalliu.
The boy was already hiding away while holding onto my second uncle, Roulier's clothes.
"Astalliu, what happened?"
Grandfather asked.
Astalliu looked up at his father for a moment and then replied.
"B-Brother Bellesac and I were just walking and this half, no, Firentia suddenly started hitting us."
No, but can you see what that loyal dog is saying?
Reviewed by Lnovels
on
January 02, 2021
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