Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

I was dumbfounded because I felt cheated by the husband I trusted.

“You said nothing was wrong?”

“Isn’t the wife all right?”

Aedis rolled his eyes and smiled ecstatically.

As if even if the sky collapsed in front of his eyes and an earthquake struck, so long as I was fine, the world would be very peaceful.

Stunned, I pressed Aedis’ cheek.

“Is that a good thing? Besides, why are you calling Kadan by his first name?”

“I can– call him.”

The answer came back slightly muffled as my hand was pressing down on his cheek. To think that he was cute even in this situation, I thought I was seriously ill.

Aedis was so unconcerned that even I relaxed.

“Who were the knights attacked?”

I had told Tolyman to keep the knights inside the castle if possible. Tolyman delivered it as it was my order.

Although it was not an order with strong sanctions, it was not difficult to guess which knight had the guts to break it.

“It’s Procyon and Agena. Both of them are fine.”

Why did I automatically picture the scene where Procyon sneaks out and Agena follows?

I let go of Aedis’ cheek.

“I need to go back to the castle.”

Then, the pupil that settled like a shadow inside the blue iris narrowed.

“There is still time to spare. The wife comes first.”

“…….”

Concerned and obsessive, his gaze scanned me over and over again.

“It’s great that you kept your promise, but in the end you accepted the power of the beast.”

“I don’t feel it at all.”

“Is this what the wife wanted?”

“Yes.”

“That’s fine, then.”

I stared at Aedis.

“Aren’t you going to ask me anything else?”

“The wife treats me unchangingly. That is enough for me.”

“You seem too humble. It’s just that I’m destined to live a good life from now on.”

I told Aedis how I had chosen not to die. When Aedis said I was going to be good, he chuckled.

“You should be the Pope, not God, Eve.”

“Yes, yes, donating and volunteering.”

I got up.

“I’ll wash my face and come back.”

It was early evening with nothing to do because I fell asleep as soon as I woke up.

After a brief wash, I contacted Shaula with Aedis’ help. As I didn’t have to worry about being told to die, I asked without hesitation.

“Shaula, what about Regen?”

But Shaula said something nonsensical.

―Your Grace, you said you were going on strike? Why don’t you take a break from paying attention to the castle?

I pursed my lips.

“How are you doing in the current situation? You must have heard that Procyon and Agena were attacked.”

Besides, Shaula had met Kadan before. She tried very hard to protect the unconscious me from Kadan. However, Shaula’s memory was comparable to that of a goldfish.

—They suffered because they were weak. I’m fine. I don’t know who the culprit is, but I’ll beat them. But the impression is a little familiar?

Oh…… She’s really unreliable. Did she forget?

Unaware of my thoughts, Shaula wriggled her eyes. It seemed that she didn’t know how to wink like Regen.

―That’s why Your Grace can continue to ride on the Master!

“Hey!”

Ahh! Raven! What did you say!

—So goodbye!

“Don’t go! Shaula!”

I called out to Shaula with a heated face.

No, it felt unfair if I got teased like that!

“Shauuulaaaaa!”

There was no answer to my anxious call.

“I’m sure you never thought so, but I’m your boss! Pretend to listen!”

When I screamed, Aedis laughed from behind me and said.

“Eve, it’s cut off.”

“I know. I know! I’m upset!”

Shaula didn’t think of me as her boss, though I did consider Shaula like a friend. But if I stay far away for a while, I thought she would forget my face, too.

Even though I made a reasonable guess, I put my heart down, slightly relieved. The atmosphere in the castle was still peaceful.

“Now I’m starting to worry about going back to the castle in a different sense.”

I’m afraid of who else Raven might have talked to…….

After filling my stomach, I left the room to organize my thoughts.

As I ate the food Aedis prepared, I heard the story of how the snake-like familiar saved Procyon and Agena.

It looked ugly, but it was a very calm snake. Anyway, since it was not a beast after all, I gently caressed it.

“Where is Kadan?”

“I ordered a familiar to search, but it seems that he noticed that the wife was not in the castle and decided to wait a bit. He’s saving his magic.”

The snake flicked its tongue as it recounted its own achievements. I thought of the Cyclamen castle I had seen in a dream where the beast intervened.

It was covered in cobwebs. It might have something to do with Eleonora’s poor condition.

Even though the beast’s actions toward me were arrogant meddling, it was true that he was worried about me.

…… inhibitor. I wanted to wash the unpleasant words out of my head that I didn’t want to think of again.

According to the beast’s words, Aedis was strong from birth. It seemed that he had the qualifications of being the strongest in the world even before Kadan experimented on him.

Rather, Kadan’s experiments made Aedis unaware of his powers. So that meant that Kadan’s experiments had never been successful.

In the end, the fact that Aedis didn’t age or die was purely due to his own ability.

Kadan didn’t help at all, and acted as an inhibitor, in the beast’s words.

Hmmm. It seemed that Kadan also needed to realize the reality.

Also, Aedis said that it was okay for him not to listen. But it seemed that he would be interested in what the beast had said, minus the beast’s narrow-minded personal opinion.

So only about five seconds?

“Aedis.”

“Yes, Eve.”

I raised the corners of my mouth and smiled softly.

“I love you.”

“…… what?”

“If anyone bothers you, I will defeat them.”

Including Kadan who can’t figure out his place.

“Eve, are you okay?”

I am in my right mind.

I organized my thoughts. The reason Kadan was saving his magic was to catch me, and to jump out in case of an emergency.

He’s a guy with no self-respect. He wouldn’t even care if he looked ugly. Wasn’t it like that at the quarry, too?

I turned my palms over. They were still the same as usual. Soft feeling on the pearly skin. I didn’t feel any strong force at all.

I looked up.

“Aedis, will Kadan, like you, notice that I have changed?”

Aedis didn’t take his eyes off me for a second.

“If given time to observe.”

“Hmm.”

Now, I thought that Kadan would not be caught off guard in front of Aedis. However, if I was alone, there was a high probability that I would be underestimated, no matter how much I inherited the beast’s power. He’ll urge to quickly make himself into an immortal body.

Aedis’ fingers rubbed my eyes. The hand felt exceptionally cold as the heat rose to my face.

I was neither angry nor upset. I was postponing it until later in order to get revenge.

Aedis noticed that I didn’t want to talk about it right then, and didn’t say anything. He just smiled lightly.

“Eve, you look like a villain.”

“Yes. I am going to do bad things.”

I will never see Kadan turning Cyclamen castle into a mess. How long had it been since I had gotten rid of its stigma as an ink block?

I raised my chin and smiled happily. I maintained a bright expression, but my insides were bubbling.

Even if I could really fill a lake with gold or build a tower in the mountain, I wouldn’t be happy at all. I just wrapped the worry up, but the beast passed on his powers in hopes that I would escape from Aedis.

It started with the assumption that Aedis wouldn’t let me go even if my feelings weren’t the same anymore.

Calling me girl, he didn’t listen to me and treated me like a weak pet.

I would have endured whether or not the whole world told me to die.

Oh, the more I thought about it, the angrier I became.

“Aedis, can you take me to the Crystal Gate?”

I didn’t ask to go ‘together,’ I just asked him to take me. Aedis understood my meaning.

“That’s easy, but I wonder what your intentions are.”

Since the beast was already dead, I turned the arrow of my rage toward the culprit, Kadan.

“I’m going to start a fight between the father and son.”

“…….”

“That’s what Kadan is aiming for. Exactly, it’s the ability I have. If I go somewhere else, he will come after me.”

Beyond the Crystal Gate was Gilbert, who was transformed into a beast. And the dream that the beast showed was Kadan’s plan. That didn’t necessarily mean the future would happen like that. So, it could be changed at any time.

He played with my husband and step-sons in turn, so I will have to face it.

If I wanted to use the power given by the beast, I had to live a good life. So I will just pay back what those three suffered, no more, no less.

In fact, Gilbert deserved what he suffered, but I decided to be generous to him for a limited time.