Volume 1 Chapter 11 – It Was Fun, Wasn’t It?

“Ah, Ashvin. I never expected you’d come here. I thought it would take a little longer… but your oh-so-obvious attitude made it easy. Honestly… I’m helping both of you, and yet you’re doing this.”

Even while witnessing the scene, Marcel showed no sign of panic, speaking as casually as ever.

That usual nonchalance clashed completely with the situation, creating an unsettling vibe.

“What is this!?”

Her younger brother lay collapsed and covered in blood.

Multiple swords were thrust into his body.

They don’t seem to have been driven in deeply.

Even so, the fact that these blades were embedded clearly indicated severe injuries.

By any account, this was no ordinary situation. Ashvin shouted at Marcel, but…

“Whoa! Don’t suddenly shout like that—you’ll give me a fright. Do you want to end up like this too?”

“…………!?”

Ashvin flinched, rendered speechless.

Looking at her younger brother, she recalled the person she used to be—the version of herself who had been tortured to the brink of death.

Back then, she thought it would have been fine just to die.

Her fear of death was minimal.

But now, having experienced ordinary happiness—tasted it even—she had come to recognize anew just how terrifying death truly was.

“You don’t want that, do you? I mean, you wouldn’t want to return to how you were when I first found you—beaten up, your face all swollen… you wouldn’t want to look that hideous, right?”

As if to amplify that fear even further, Marcel whispered.

Ashvin’s trembling intensified even more.

“He and I had a wager, you know. I would abuse you, and you would endure it. As long as you could bear it, I’d take care of both of you.”

“……!?”

This time, the trembling wasn’t from fear but from sheer astonishment.

She couldn’t help but fix her gaze on her younger brother.

If that were the case—then that dark expression, and that rigid look on Marcel’s face when he saw you—seeing all that, I can’t believe I ended up yelling at him!

“Why… are you doing this?”

“It’s my little hobby, I guess. I love it when someone reacts to what I do—and the stronger the reaction, the better. And you know, people tend to give a stronger response when they’re in pain, right? That’s why.”

Watching Marcel, Ashvin understood why the man who had been violently abusing her had so readily complied.

At first, she had thought it was because he was the lord’s son.

That might have been part of it, but in truth, it was something else. It was fear.

He must have been terrified of Marcel. This warped, completely unhinged personality—despite not even being fully grown—could make even grown-ups tremble.

“Normal people would run away when faced with such pain. That’s why I decided to use someone’s dear one as a shield. When you do that, they’ll fight tooth and nail to protect the one they love—even at the cost of their own safety—and they stop running away. Just like him right now. He prays that Ashvin’s sweet, pleasant life will go on, and instead of fleeing, he doesn’t even complain. It’s marvelous! Well, it’s a shame he nearly wet himself at the end—but that’s why I’m giving him a little punishment.”

Revealing the truth was a pleasure in itself.

Marcel, in high spirits, informed Ashvin of the grotesque deal that had been carried out behind her back.

“N-no… I—I didn’t know about that… that all this was happening!”

Her younger brother—who had endured everything in secret, desperately protecting her—had suffered in silence.

What had Marcel said to him?

Ashvin was nearly crushed by guilt. Her younger brother had every right to lash her to pieces.

But he didn’t.

He simply offered her a smile—a smile filled with tender affection, even as he lay collapsed and drenched in blood.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s not good, huh. But since it’s over today, you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Eh…?”

It was Marcel who cut that off. One only wields a sword to beat someone this defenseless.

So, with a clumsy upward swing and an equally clumsy downward swing… he decapitated Ashvin’s younger brother.

“Since you got found out, it’s over. That was pretty fun. Bye-bye.”

“――――――”

In an instant, blood splattered all over the room.

Ashvin couldn’t think of anything. Her mind went completely blank… nothing at all.

“Now, what should I do with you? For his sake, I’ll give you a little reprieve. In the meantime, go find someone dear to you. I could hurt you next time, but your face is so amusing that I might just go and torment your loved one once more!”

Marcel babbled on with nonsense, but none of it registered in Ashvin’s mind. Yet when a hand patted her shoulder and his final whispered words reached her, they pierced her heart and refused to fade away.

“If you keep entertaining me, you can stay here and keep living off my affection. It was easy, wasn’t it? Fun, wasn’t it? Living completely carefree while offloading everything onto your little brother.”