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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Hare had a weak heart.
So, was Hare innately weak-hearted, or did she become weak-hearted over time?
The answer lies in the latter.
Hare was the type who became weak-hearted over time.
‘Tsk, that Hare acts too high and mighty. She thinks she’s a princess.’
‘She should live according to her status. Among the same trash. She thinks she’s not trash too.’
Hare could hear the gossip of the neighborhood women working in the brothel even from far away.
Due to her innately excellent ‘sense’, she had lived hearing things she shouldn’t have heard with her superior hearing.
‘Warm bread for sale! Would you like some bread?’
‘Tsk, this would be a bit hard to eat.’
Clearly, it was an expression of someone not wanting to even exchange words with her.
She could sense whether people liked her or disliked her through intuition.
Since there was no one in the world who liked beggars, she could also figure out that everyone in the world disliked her.
The innate ability given to Hare was slowly killing her heart.
And now, Hare realized that the moment had come to properly utilize that ability.
“Do you perhaps want to get out of here…? Should I help you…?”
-Uh, uhh…? You’ll help me…?
“Yes, I’m Hare. I’ll help you get out.”
I can avoid being caught by Mister.
If I use the information I’ve gained with my senses to the fullest, and if Mister is away, we can escape.
‘And, if one person disappears…’
If she reduced one competitor, Mister’s attention towards her would grow even more.
If there was a very easy opponent, it was right to send that child away first.
‘Since Saten doesn’t even want to leave, I can slowly persuade her to leave. Luna is stupid so it’s okay to leave her alone.’
Although she didn’t like how she often clung to Mister…
Still, Luna was not bad.
‘If I could send her out, I’d like to, but…’
Hare had already finished organizing her thoughts.
To put it into action, she just had to wait for the person’s answer.
The answer from Estia herself.
Estia, who had been silent, asked suspiciously.
-…You’ll let me out? How?
“I-I know Mister well.”
-…How well do you know him?
“Mister wakes up at 6:30 AM and immediately goes to the bathroom. It takes about 13 minutes. Then, after a light face wash, he goes to the kitchen. There he prepares breakfast and trims vegetables-”
-Ah, okay. That’s enough. I get it. I understand.
Estia had never seen the face of the girl on the other side of the door.
However, for some reason, she was scared and felt chills.
-Who remembers someone’s living pattern so creepily…?
“…What did you say?”
-Ah, it’s nothing.
She shouldn’t make eye contact when she got out.
Estia instinctively sensed this.
However, Estia’s doubts were still not fully resolved.
-Okay, let’s say you know that big brother well. What will you do next? It’s not the end just by knowing. You said there’s electricity flowing through the fence’s barbed wire. There’s no particular way to get out, right?
Oh, she said something quite smart, didn’t she?
Estia felt somewhat satisfied after finishing her words.
Hare was bothered by the title “big brother”, but she decided to answer her words for now.
She had to end the conversation before Mister noticed.
“…There is a way to get out.”
-What is it?
“The main gate is firmly closed so we can’t get out that way, instead, we can climb over the fence.”
-So, that fence has electricity-
“There’s a button that can turn it off… If we turn that off, it’s possible…”
If you pressed the button, the current didn’t flow through the chains at the very top.
Since she had seen Mister press the button, if she stole it and opened Estia’s door…
“You can get out.”
-Ooh… If I escape, I’ll give you a bottle of holy water! You’re kind!
At Hare’s confident declaration, Estia detected hope in her voice.
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Hmm.
Was this enough?
“You don’t need to study letters anymore from now on, Hare.”
“Yes, already…?”
Of course.
Hare had already mastered all of the letters, and there were no letters she couldn’t read.
If I continued to make Hare study letters like this…
‘She might accumulate 10 more question rights and find out everything about me.’
Hare had gained 6 at once, which was an unexpected result.
To prevent that from happening again, it seemed good to teach Hare dagger techniques starting from next week.
‘In that sense…’
I approached Hare, who was holding a book, and asked,
“Is there anything you’re curious about me?”
“Do-Does that mean I should use my question right…?”
“…If you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to.”
“No, no! I’ve prepared so it’s okay to do it now…!”
Rustle-
Hare took out a piece of paper from under the desk.
There were a total of 5 questions written on it.
‘…How many times did you rewrite this?’
Although only 5 questions were written, the paper was densely filled with letters.
Hare tightly held the question paper in her hand and began to ask me.
“What’s Mister’s favorite food?”
“Food? If drinks are included, it’s alcohol.”
“Hmm, alcohol… I don’t like Mister drinking alcohol…”
Hare’s expression seemed not very pleased.
Then, she lowered her gaze and started the next question.
“Have you ever been in love, Mister…?”
“…Love? Is that what you’re curious about?”
“Yes, I’m curious…”
Hare covered her face with the question sheet, she seemed embarrassed.
‘…I did date before falling into this world.’
When I was young I had tried it in high school.
I wondered if I should count that as dating, but if I had to answer.
“I have experienced it.”
“…I see.”
…Her reaction wasn’t good.
Hare’s tone as she answered was subdued.
However, that gloomy emotion was brief as she continued to ask questions.
“Then. Who do you like best among the four of us…?”
“…”
I couldn’t answer that question hastily.
Answering who I liked best wasn’t a very wise thing to do.
Even if there were criteria, it was an act of ranking, and for Hare, who harbored feelings for me, it was better not to answer.
It would be best to evade.
“I like all of you.”
“…I’ll move on to the next question. Do you have any plans this evening…?”
“I do have plans. I’m planning to go out for about an hour.”
He would have answered if she had just asked about plans.
Why did she use a question right at such an important moment?
It was a bit disappointing as the action of the clever Hare, and then she asked the long-awaited final question.
Hare, with only one question right left, finally asked,
“Who is the woman who looks close to you in that frame…?”
“…”
Her.
She could be called my teacher, and she had treated me specially.
Although she was no longer in this world, if I were to answer honestly about her…
“Nadia Aina. My colleague, teacher, and friend.”
And.
“The person I loved.”
Hare’s face was covered by the paper so I couldn’t see her expression.
However, I seemed to know without seeing, that she was hurting.
“Was that answer enough?”
“…Yes, it was enough, Mister. That’s enough now…”
For the sake of appropriate distance, I hurt Hare.
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-Hare. I’m going out for a bit. Rest comfortably.
“…”
For the first time ever, Hare didn’t respond to Mister’s words.
Bang-
The front door closed.
Hare had to act now to get Estia out.
But she didn’t want to move.
“I feel bad…”
She didn’t feel good.
She felt bad.
Her chest kept aching.
Hare couldn’t feel good after hearing that Mister had loved someone.
Somehow…
“It feels like something was taken from me…”
She had learned that love was beautiful, but why did Mister’s love make her feel bad?
No matter how quick-witted Hare was, she still couldn’t understand the identity of her own emotions.
She was young, and lacked education.
As Hare lay on the bed for a while, spending time in emptiness, she suddenly realized.
“Ah, right. Mister went out…? I-I don’t have time…”
Now she really had to move.
She needed to quickly send the other kids out of the house.
She didn’t need the other kids.
They were not needed in this house.
Hare opened the door and headed to the living room.
She already knew the location of the key that locked Luna’s room and the electricity button for the fence.
“Mister always went to Luna’s room, and lifted the sofa… It must be under the sofa…”
It must be here.
Hare bent down to check under the sofa.
‘Found it.’
She discovered a key and a switch with a square button.
Hare held them in her hand and headed towards Luna’s room.
However, the problem was from now on.
“Security is the issue…”
There was a door.
It needed to be opened using a key and it needed to be opened using magic.
The latch fixing the door needed to be removed.
“…It’s easy but difficult.”
At least opening the door using the key was possible, it was a very easy task.
The biggest problem was magic, the magic fixing the door was the problem.
‘…I can’t use magic, to solve this…’
She didn’t like it but she had no choice.
Reluctantly, she had to ask her.
“…Saten. Help me.”
“Why should I do that? It’s bothersome.”
I really hate cooperating with her…
But, I have no choice.
I have to do it for Mister’s sake.
With this, even Saten should be able to cooperate.
Hare confidently shouted at Saten.
“…I’m going to help the others escape. I need your help.”
“Why should I do that? You’re disturbing my reading. Go away.”
“…Don’t you want to learn magic from Mister? If so, it would be more efficient to drive out two people.”
“Hmm, not bad for an insect. Efficient, you say. Let’s hear it.”
“If we release two people, his attention will naturally turn to us, if we do that, your time to learn magic will increase.”
Saten thought deeply about this rational proposal.
“The benefits of doing it are greater than the benefits of not doing it.”
Saten, moved extremely calculatingly.
She didn’t ponder for long, but got up from her seat and headed to Luna’s room.
She observed the door closely, then cut her wrist and sprinkled blood on the door.
Then she shouted.
“Using blood as nourishment, release the barrier.”
Crash-!
With the sound of something breaking, the barrier fixing the door disappeared.
At that moment, the door opened and Luna and Estia appeared.
Estia shouted, relishing her freedom.
“Haha-!! Thank you, Goddess-!! I’ll go pray-! Glory be to heaven-!!”
However, unlike the excited Estia, Luna’s expression didn’t look happy.
Rather, she looked troubled.
Luna cautiously said to Hare.
“…Hare. I-I’m not going. This doesn’t seem right.”
“What’s not right, Luna…? You’ve always wanted to leave…”
Saten was cutting their leg chains with blood magic.
However, Luna had no intention of leaving the room at all.
The reason wasn’t because she liked this room, but for another reason.
“I-I can’t leave here! The financial support for my family will be cut off!”
It was a realistic reason.
The support sent to her family would be cut off.
That meant her family living in the countryside would starve to death.
‘I have to protect my family… and my siblings… I’m the eldest daughter of the family…’
Because of her sense of responsibility as the eldest daughter of the family Luna couldn’t take a single step out of the room.
Meanwhile, time was passing, and Mister would return soon.
‘…Luna will be fine. Yes, it’s okay not to drive her out…’
Later, when it was just the three of them after driving everyone else out, that would be when she’d drive her out.
In the end, Hare decided to give up on Luna.
Saten and Luna returned to their rooms, and all that was left was Estia, who seemed anxious, her hands trembling.
Hare ordered her to follow.
“…Follow me. I’ll help you escape.”
“Oh, o-okay…! But you look less scary than I thought? With pink hair, you even look cute-”
“…What did you say?”
Chilly-
Hare glared at Estia, her red eyes shining.
Along with Mister’s truth, her plans kept going awry, so her current state wasn’t good.
Cracks were starting to form in her fragile mentality.
Estia flinched in surprise and tried to change the subject.
“Ah, it’s nothing~ Nothing at all~ Sh-Shall we escape~?”
Whistling, Estia followed behind Hare.
They passed through the stairs, through the living room, and reached the entrance.
They opened the door and stepped into the yard.
In the yard, there was a tall iron fence and barbed wire with magical power swirling around it at the top.
Hare looked at it and pressed the button.
Beep-
With that, the current stopped, and only sharp barbed wire remained.
“…Climb over there and escape.”
“Why did this big brother make the fence so tall! I’m terrible at physical activities!”
“…I’ll lift you up.”
Hare, feeling even worse lifted Estia’s body to help her reach the fence.
The process was very strenuous for Hare.
‘He-Heavy…’
It was a difficult task for Hare, who didn’t have much strength to begin with.
However, it had to be done.
Hare used all her strength, even the strength she used for suckling, to lift Estia to that height.
It was a distance where Estia could reach if she stretched out her hand.
“Es-Escape…!!”
Estia gripped the edge of the fence and gradually climbed towards the top of the barbed wire.
The barbed wire was sharp and painful, but Estia didn’t care.
‘Once I get out, I’ll definitely drink holy water…!!’
Perhaps because her desire was clear, she was able to exert superhuman strength.
Finally, she climbed over the barbed wire and regained her freedom.
Then she shouted energetically,
“Haha-!! Escape! Escape! Apostle big brother is dead now~ How many holy knights do we have! Over 800 holy knights from the church will be fully mobilized! Haha-!!”
“Huh…?”
What did she just say…?
Holy knights…?
They’ll kill Mister…?
Hare wondered if she had misheard and asked,
“Wh-What did you just say…? What are you going to do to Mister…?”
“Of course we have to punish him! Even if he’s an apostle of the Goddess, kidnapping is a crime. He must be punished! That’s what our holy knights will do! Hare, was it? Don’t worry too much! We’ll come to save you too! Hehe-!!”
Estia shouted as if she was happy.
However, her voice was no longer audible to Hare.
‘I-I made a mistake… If I let her out… I-I didn’t know a report would be made…’
Stupid.
Idiot.
I shouldn’t have made such a mistake…
Hare hit her head repeatedly.
Nevertheless, since the situation hadn’t changed, she thought about how she could change this situation.
Ironically, the key was right near Hare.
‘…It’s not a crime if information doesn’t leak out.’
It became a crime because people knew about it.
‘If there are no witnesses, a crime is not a crime.’
The button, if she let the current flow, Mister might not die.
Instead, that child would die, but…
‘It’s okay. This is better than Mister dying…’
It-It’s okay even if a person dies…
For Mister’s sake, Hare will always be a bad child…
Hare placed her finger on the button.
If she applied just a little force, that child would die.
No?
I can save Mister.
It was not killing Estia, but an opportunity to save Mister.
‘Mister is more precious to me. If Mister isn’t in this world, I have no reason to live.’
My savior.
Other people can never hurt Mister.
Hare, who had already finished rationalizing to herself.
Hare was about to apply force to her finger on the button.
At that moment.
A cold man’s voice was heard from behind her.
“Hare, what’s going on here?”
“Ah, Mister…? Wh-Why are you here…?”
Mister’s voice sounded tired as if he had run from far away.
Mister was turning his gaze, assessing the situation, and at the end of that gaze was Hare’s hand.
Hare’s hand trying to press the button that would make the current flow was caught.
“Ah, aah.. Mister, that’s not it.. I-I wasn’t-!!”
“…I think I need an explanation. Hare.”
“…”
Hare had become a bad child right in front of Mister.
She felt like she wanted to die right then and there.
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