Chapter 24: A Tainted Confession

“Well, well. I never imagined you’d come to the Tsuchikurenai estate.”

Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei wrapped an arm around Soui Hinari’s shoulder.

Without letting go, he reached out and lightly touched her breast.

“Ngh.”

Her feverish body trembling, Soui Hinari let out a short breath.

Seeing this, her son, Soui Shuryakuma, was filled with rage.

“Let go of my mother…!”

He began to add to his Mask’s configuration.

Attack any who make contact with my mother.

In the middle of rewriting it, Soui Shuryakuma’s movements stopped.

Likely seizing that opening, someone approached from behind and shoved him forward.

“Gah!”

Soui Shuryakuma fell.

He aborted the configuration rewrite and tried to stand, but…

“Whoa there… Don’t you move!”

A giant of a man.

Tsuchikurenai Bakuou closed in, restraining him and slamming him to the ground.

Pinned and unable to move, Soui Shuryakuma yelled.

“She’s not someone you can humiliate like this!”

Thinking of his mother, Soui Shuryakuma shouted.

It pained him to his core, seeing the best mother in the world suffer.

But in response to his shout, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei tilted his head.

“…Hm? Those words… are you by chance referring to Hinari?”

He spoke his mother’s name.

That alone increased his disgust, but he set it aside for the moment.

Soui Shuryakuma affirmed it.

“That’s right… I’ve heard all the stories of her struggles. My mother gave up so much for my sake…”

How his father had tried to kill him.

How his gentle mother had killed his father for him.

Because she had killed his father, a man from a renowned family, she lost all support and became a target for other houses. Yet, she survived the warring era of the sorcerers all on her own.

To Soui Shuryakuma, she was a hero, a person he revered.

“Is that so? Hmm, I don’t think there’s a bigger slut than her, though.”

But Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei spoke as if the story were completely different.

As if he had never heard such a thing; that the story he knew was something else entirely.

Hearing such a vile insult directed at his mother, Soui Shuryakuma couldn’t help but scream.

“My mother is not a slut!”

The son declared.

Realizing that the boy’s will to rebel stemmed from his mother’s presence, Tsuchikurenai Hyakurei held Soui Hinari’s shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“Well, it makes no difference to me either way… Still, you betrayed us, and you must be punished for that, mustn’t you? …Hinari, tell him.”

Veins bulged on Soui Shuryakuma’s forehead in fury.

“Stay away… from my mother!”

He said, trying to break free from his restraints.

But Tsuchikurenai Bakuou refused to let him go.

“Shut it! You’re about to hear a story that’ll get you hard just listenin’!”

Pinned from above, Soui Hinari, breathing heavily, her face flushed, slowly opened her mouth.

Soui Hinari appeared youthful.

Through an arranged marriage, she was formally engaged to a certain man.

He was from a family of sorcerers rumored to be among the most powerful.

She was unable to find happiness there.

Was there a problem with her body?

Years passed, and still she could not bear a child.

It was an environment of endless verbal and physical abuse.

She served her husband—a man adopted into her family—as a mere tool.

And then, as if her efforts had finally borne fruit, Soui Hinari was able to conceive a child.

This outcome brought great joy to everyone around her, including Soui Hinari herself.

“Finally, you are with child, my lady.”

An old servant said.

He was a frail man, his entire body etched with wrinkles.

At the time, he had been entrusted with her personal care as her attendant.

He had come from the adopted husband’s family and was a man of considerable trust and respect.

“Yes… At last, I can be considered normal…”

Now she could be of use to her husband.

Seeing herself as a tool, Soui Hinari was relieved she could finally produce a child for him.

But her husband was not satisfied.

It was more that he felt they had merely cleared the first stage, and he was irritated that his plan was behind schedule.

“Pleased with yourself for bearing a single child?”

He muttered, complaining in front of Soui Hinari as always.

Is even this not enough? Soui Hinari’s spirits sank.

“Honestly, this ruins the whole plan. You’re good at nothing but dragging me down.”

The adopted husband had lost the battle for succession.

He had wanted a more exceptional child to create the next generation’s heir.

As the nagging remarks—a great source of stress for Soui Hinari—began to pile up, the servant interrupted.

“M-My lord… the lectures… they are bad for the womb…”

Hearing it was bad for the child in her womb, the adopted husband fell silent.

No matter the circumstances, he wanted the child to grow up healthy.

He spoke no more nagging words to Soui Hinari.

“…Hmph. Fine. We must have many children, and create powerful sorcerers…”

With a final glance at Soui Hinari’s swollen belly, the adopted husband returned to his own room.

She let out a sigh of relief, feeling the storm had finally passed.

“Thank you… so much.”

Soui Hinari expressed her gratitude to the servant.

The servant demurred, saying it was nothing.

“Not at all… My lord may not seem it, but he is worried about you, my lady…”

He was, after all, a subordinate to the adopted husband.

He had to put in a good word for him with Soui Hinari.

The husband never showed any sign of it, so the servant’s words held little credibility, but Soui Hinari nodded as if she understood, offering a superficial smile.

Still, there was one thing that bothered her.

Soui Hinari thought as she rubbed her swollen belly.

But… why…

I was sure I’d been trying my best. I actively had intercourse with my husband, timing it with my most fertile days. But I was never able to conceive. So why a child, now?

She was filled with so many questions.

“Hm? Is something the matter?”

The servant asked, narrowing his eyes as he studied Soui Hinari’s expression.

So as not to worry him, Soui Hinari plastered a smile on her face and said it was nothing.

“No…”

The small life dwelling in her womb.

She had finally taken her first step as a mother.

Overthinking was bad for the body.

But still, she couldn’t help but wonder.

(Why was I suddenly able to have a child?)

There was something Soui Hinari had thought for a long time.

That the reason she couldn’t have a child wasn’t a problem with her own body, but with the adopted husband’s.

It was something she could never say out loud.

It was wrong for a tool to think thoughts that went against its master.

And yet, the doctors had told her there was nothing wrong with her body, that she was perfectly healthy.

If the experts said so, then surely the problem wasn’t with her.

As questions and suspicions swirled in her mind,

the servant spoke up, as if to change the subject.

“But… now that you have a child on the way, you can’t drink. It must be tough.”

In her oppressive environment,

it had become her daily routine to have a drink at night, hidden from her husband.

The surrounding servants knew, but considering Soui Hinari’s circumstances, none of them would ever tell on her.

The servant’s words reminded her of a certain day.

The day her husband had verbally abused her so terribly that she drank herself into a stupor.

By chance, it was this very servant who had taken care of her.

Remembering this, an embarrassed look crossed Soui Hinari’s face.

“How embarrassing… Thank you for taking care of me when I was so drunk.”

She remembered nothing from that day.

So drunk that she couldn’t recall what a disgraceful state she’d been in.

And so, she added a word of apology to the servant whom she had troubled.

The servant waved his hands dismissively.

“Not at all… It will be nice when you can drink again, won’t it?”

The faint smile on his face was slightly unsettling.

But she couldn’t bring herself to feel disgusted by the servant who had been so kind to her, so Soui Hinari simply returned his smile with one of her own.

The incident occurred after she gave birth to Soui Shuryakuma.

The first thing sorcerers do is confirm a child’s Flow Power attribute.

If that attribute is compatible with the sorcerous principles of the mother’s or father’s side, a course of training is decided.

Some families hope for a transmutation of the Flow Power attribute, while others desire the child to possess the attributes of both the mother and father.

And so, a few days after the birth,

if there were no physical problems, the Flow Power attribute would be tested, but…

“Do’in…? With what man did you sleep?!”

A furious roar echoed, making all his previous anger seem like a lie.

The adopted husband’s rage was due to her infidelity.

The adopted husband… his name was Itoshimari Tsuneyoshi.

Nearly everyone in his family line possessed what was known as a ‘Zan’in,’ a Terminal Flow Attribute (an attribute with no further evolutionary potential, the result of repeated crossbreeding), and it never changed to another attribute.

Soui Hinari’s Flow Power attribute was the rare ‘Homura’in.’ When these two combined, the result would be either a dual-aspect type possessing both attributes, an inheritance-type that receives the attribute of the father or mother, or a no-ability type that has neither.

A transmutation into a unique-type would not result in one of the basic Shichiyou Ryuin; therefore, a Do’in attribute meant there was a possibility she had coupled with another man.

That was why the adopted husband was enraged.

To quell his anger, she frantically shook her head.

“It’s a misunderstanding… I have never, with anyone but you, I swear!”

I have no memory of it. I am a more obedient tool than anyone. There’s no way that tool would turn a blade against its master against its own will. I know my own low self-esteem and lack of self-worth better than anyone. I would never do anything to betray him, she thought.

She approached him to try and calm him down, but

the adopted husband thrust out a hand as if to shove her away.

He struck her, and as she fell to the ground, he cursed her horribly.

“Don’t touch me, you filth!! You whore!”

Scum who fell for another man.

In his eyes, her worth had hit rock bottom.

She held her cheek, appealing to him with tear-filled eyes.

The commotion reached the ears of the surrounding servants.

But they only watched the scene from outside the room; no one dared to enter.

The adopted husband now had the look of a man about to commit murder.

“It’s not true, it’s not true! I swear, I would never!”

Lying on the floor, she continued to prostrate herself.

His rage was like that of a vengeful god.

She kept pleading, desperate to calm him.

But no fool would lend an ear to a tool.

He immediately summoned the servants to find the culprit.

Soui Hinari had spent all her time inside the estate.

It was unlikely she had gone out and conceived, so he suspected the deed was done by someone within the household.

And then, he found a servant with a Do’in attribute.

It was the crafty old servant who had come with him.

When summoned, explained the situation, and threatened, he confessed at once.

“F-Forgive me, my lord… It was a moment of weakness!”

The adopted husband’s hand went to a nearby sword.

I’m going to be killed, the servant thought, and screamed through his tears.

“While my lady was drunk… sh-she seduced me!”

It was an act to shift all blame onto Soui Hinari.

Hearing the servant’s confession, her eyes went wide, her face pale.

“Eh…?”

Her mind went blank.

I… seduced the servant.

Hearing those words, her voice failed her.

The adopted husband kicked the woman sitting on the floor with all his might.

“You bitch!”

There was no one left here who would stop him.

As he kicked her again and again, she desperately tried to explain.

“N-No… that’s not what…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence.

The adopted husband assaulted her again and again and again.

Then, his face still contorted with rage, he breathed heavily through his shoulders.

It seemed even this mindless violence was not enough to vent his frustration.

“It’s not my son… Shit! Dammit all!”

His hand reached for the sword.

First, his eyes fell on the nearby servant.

Whatever the reason, the act of betraying the master he had served for so many years was worthy of ten thousand deaths.

“N-No, my lord! Please, calm down, plea—gyaaaah!”

Without letting him finish, he cut the servant down.

Blood sprayed, seeping into the red of the tatami mats.

Faced with their maddened master, the nearby servants were terrified and scattered like spiders.

Next, the adopted husband looked at her.

But without laying a hand on her, he first moved to erase the stain on his honor.

He exited the room.

He walked down the hall, advancing like a floating specter, and gripped his sword tighter.

“Where is Shuryakuma… I’ll start over… I… all this time, I walked the right path, I was walking the right path… what is this, what the hell is this?!”

Hearing those words, Soui Hinari, who had collapsed on the tatami, shot her eyes wide open.

Start over. Those words probably meant he would leave the Soui house.

And the fact that he said Soui Shuryakuma’s name… a chill ran down her spine at what he was about to do.

“W-Wait… Please wait! What are you doing?!”

Soui Hinari rushed to the adopted husband, holding him back.

As if her restraint meant nothing, he backhanded her.

“Silence! Where is Shuryakuma?! I’ll—I’ll start over! I won’t accept this shitty life! I’ll return to the main family and start over again!”

He would kill Soui Shuryakuma.

And start his life over.

That was apparently his decision.

“No… oh, no… Shuryakuma, Shuryakuma!”

Her husband was going to kill her child.