Tensei Shitanode Tsugi Koso wa Shiawasena Jinsei wo Tsukande Misemashou

Chapter 60 – Just Deserts – Cecil’s Point of View

One fourth of my blood. That was all that connected me to grandfather… As in, we had no real relationship.

I may have once been expected to inherit the Steinbert family, but I’ve been abandoned and branded as a failure due to my repeated outbursts of magic, so we no longer had even family to connect us.

Though in all honesty, I never cared for the succession of the Duke title… I was just frustrated that I wasn’t acknowledged nor accepted by them.

I thought that one day, I’d like to get even… So, with the current situation, the only thing I wanted to say was, “Serves you right.”

To the expressionless man whose only connection to me was one fourth of my blood, to this man that rejected and abandoned me, it felt like I was allowed to say at least this much.

Though I’m not really that happy with his condemnation. I just can’t afford to like someone who looked down and took advantage of others. That was all there was to it.

And yet, this wrinkled old man that was restrained in a way that he could neither move nor use magic, stared at me… He was no longer expressionless, he was now showing me his full murderous rage… Not like he can do anything in his current situation, but it was still pitiful to not see even one bit of affection in him.

“You should have been satisfied with the position of Duke and head of the Magic Institution. Your greed was your downfall, old man.” I told him.

I truly pitied him. An old man that could have easily lived the rest of his life in peace decided to be greedy and try take over the country… What for? He wouldn’t even be able to enjoy it much, since a man as old as him probably had no more than ten years left in him.

“Shut it.” He said.

“I don’t think someone as small as you have any power to order me around.” I replied.

“You have the power!” He exclaimed, “If you had it, why didn’t you use it from the start!? If you had shown your usefulness, then…”

What’s the point of bringing that up now…? It’s not like I’d ever allow myself to just become a pawn that existed to fulfill this man’s ambitions.

“You’re saying a lot for someone who gave up on me as quickly as you did. Moreover, I didn’t actually have the power from the start… It was only thanks to Liz that I am now able to use magic.” I told him.

Truly, she was quite the girl… Smart, but also reckless and stupid. A crazy girl that ran through an uncontrollable magic swirl, headbutted me, got filled with scratches, then helped me control my magic by not only calming me down, but also diluting the magical power within me.

It’s hard enough to transfer your magical power to someone else… But to also dilute it? And to do it without hesitation? I wonder if there is anyone else that could do this kind of thing.

And yet, after going through all that danger, she pushed me towards using magic again and helped me practice it.

And she also… Saved me. Because of her, I can use magic, I can laugh, and my parents even… Well, we aren’t quite at the happy family stage, but they at least acknowledge me now.

Liz really granted me a lot of things. She told me to pay back my debt of gratitude with interest, but instead of paying back, I feel like I’ve only been accumulating more and more debts.

Though even without a debt, I want to help her. To Liz, who faced me head on even when I ignored her, I want to give a proper reward for all her help.

“I don’t care about your ambitious goals, nor would I ever want to help you even if I did… But your future was settled on the moment that you involved and hurt Liz. Feel free to spend the rest of your short remaining life regretting that.” As I told him that, I turned away and left, ignoring the hateful eyes of this old man who shared one fourth of my blood, and that would soon be executed… From now on, I have no grandfather.

With my first errand finished, I walked towards my next destination within this dungeon… The destination that made me decide that it was better to not bring Liz here.

For Gilles was accompanying me to the next location. We didn’t exchange even a single word as we walked, yet he didn’t hate me anymore, not since I told him that I had no romantic feelings towards Liz at least.

But right now, he didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk. Possibly out of anger, or maybe sadness… After all, he did kill his father, and also… We’re going to visit that person.

At least Liz seems to have calmed down now. I don’t know what Gilles did to her in order to get her face as red as it was, but this was not the time to ask, because, “We’ve arrived.” I told Gilles.

It was honestly getting hard to keep walking next to him when he was like this, so I was glad that we reached our destination.

And only now that Gilles heard me call him, he raised his head. Now, he stared directly to the idiot who was inside the cell right in front of us.

“Oh, if it isn’t miss Lizbeth’s servant.” The stupid earl’s son said while still somehow maintaining a scornful glare… Not only that, he actually started laughing after staring at Gilles’ hatredful eyes for a second.

Just how idiotic can this guy who dared to kidnap Liz be? Is he even aware that it was because of Welf’s interference that he avoided the death sentence and will instead stay imprisoned for life? This was a favor that His Majesty did for Welf… And that was definitely not because Welf had any fondness for this pathetic man whatsoever.

Gilles didn’t seem to mind the provocation that the earl’s son made… Because he was far too angry to be fazed by this kind of shallow taunting. Gilles may be expressionless right now, but that’s just because his anger went past the point of showing on his face… This was just a cold murderous wish for blood.

“Do you understand what you’ve done to lady Liz?” Gilles asked.

While he said that, I unlocked the door for him and let him inside the cell. I borrowed the key from one of the dungeon guards, after getting His Majesty’s permission, because Gilles really wanted to come here… His Majesty probably harbored similar feelings towards this son of an earl, as he decided to allow it even though we all knew that there was no way this pathetic pawn could have any useful information to give from being tortured.

The earl’s son seemed to be surprised by Gilles actually entering the cell, but he must have thought that Gilles wasn’t allowed to harm him, because he taunted Gilles again, “I didn’t do anything to her… That was so annoying. I was this close! If I had just tied her up properly, I’d have been able to do whatever I wanted!”

“You little…” Gilles words were filled with anger… Understandable. This unbelievably stupid son of an earl was doing his best to rush to his death… Not that this wish would be granted to him, “I see.”

Gilles controlled his anger again. It stopped being shown on his voice, but those murderous eyes… Those were eyes that he’ll never show Liz for sure.

“Let me ask you one thing. Which do you prefer, being dishonored for the rest of your life, or suffering from dishonor that persists even after death?” Gilles asked.

“Huh!?” The son of an earl was confused… Gilles didn’t bother with giving an explanation.

Instead, he waved his hand. This simple move created a gust of wind that made his robe flutter, and a large amount of knives fly towards the earl’s son head in the blink of an eye.

The sound of them piercing echoed through the dungeon… The sound of them piercing the wall. Each knife was extremely close to the earl’s son head, leaving him no room to move at all. Some had only one fingernail worth of distance between them and the stupid guy’s head.

… It was amazing that Gilles could use wind magic with enough strength to make knives pierce a wall, but also with enough control to make sure they didn’t hit the earl’s son, nor break when connecting with their target.

Part of it is most likely because he was from the Sevene household. He was raised to do the dirty job of the Steinberts, so he, of course, had to learn how to do all sorts of things while remaining unseen.

But Gilles magic is far above anything that was expected from just being a Sevene.

While I wondered about that, Gilles talked to the stupid son of an earl again, “It was my fault that you were able to kidnap lady Liz. My lack of ability made her go through a horrible experience… I should have incapacitated you and killed the person who was restraining Ruby… But this time, I’ll protect her. I’ll act without holding back, and will no longer restrain myself.”

“Gilles, try not to overdo it. Liz wouldn’t be happy to see you covered in blood.” I told him.

“Lady Liz will accept me even if my hands are dirty.” He replied.

“It doesn’t mean you should actively try dirtying them though…” I murmured.

“I know that she won’t like it, but… For this scum of a human being who dared touching my lady… Against this thing, I have to give proper retaliation.” Gilles replied. For the first time since he entered this dungeon, he smiled… A sharp merciless smile.

… Seems like whatever it is that Liz told him, made him completely remove any restraints that he had in his behavior. I hope she won’t be hurt by this.

Regardless of that, I had no intention of rejoicing on the suffering that was about to fall upon the stupid earl’s son, so I left the dungeon while leaving the key with Gilles.

How idiotic can that guy be? To turn a man like Gilles into this enemy…?

As I walked away, I sighed. I sighed as I heard the cries of pain from a pitiful man that was getting his just deserts.