Power, she thought.
She frowned and looked at him.
"Power? I don't have anything like that."
She was certain.
She had once hoped that she, too, would be given some kind of ability.
But she truly didn't have even a speck of power. It had been verified through Rodbel's tests, so it was certain.
"Unbelievable. To possess such power and yet... Wait a minute, you."
Suddenly, he rushed over and stared intently into her eyes.
Startled by the sudden action, she blankly stared back at his eyes.
He frowned suddenly and muttered.
"I don't know who it is, but they sucked it all out so well."
"Sucked out? What are you talking about..."
"Just like it sounds. Someone scraped and stole all of your mana. Right now, you're, well, just an empty shell."
"..."
It was difficult to understand at once.
Extract mana? An empty shell? What on earth was this...
But the man didn't give her time to think.
"It seems you and I are in equally miserable situations. How about it, miserable Rodbel girl? Will you make a contract with me?"
"...If I make a contract, can I really change everything?"
"That depends on you. But I can guarantee this one thing."
His face gradually came closer.
His obsidian black eyes reflected her completely.
He moved his lips, which were as red as blood.
"At least you won't die as futilely as you did this time. How about you dragging them into the abyss this time?"
"..."
There was no need to think about it any longer.
After all, if she didn't make a contract with this man here, it would all end just like this.
'I don't want that.'
If she could change it, she wanted to change it. So...
"...Okay. I'll do it, the contract."
"I like it. With this, the contract is complete."
The man's head, close enough to feel his breath, tilted like a clock hand.
She reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.
A cold energy spread through her body through their touching lips.
"We'll meet again soon."
Because I'll go to where you are.
With those words, her consciousness faded.
And when she opened her eyes again...
"I'll open it if you apologize!"
A snake with a crimson tongue flicking was right in front of her.
'That's strange?'
The white-haired boy tilted his head, looking at the silent door.
Why is it so quiet?
Soon, he raised his eyebrows sharply and shouted at the attendant next to him.
"Hey! Are you sure you put it in properly?"
Startled by the young tyrant's anger, the attendant replied hastily with a subdued face.
"Yes, yes. I definitely put it in. A really scary-looking one, too."
"Then why don't I hear anything!"
The boy, Vancis, made a disgruntled expression as he glared at the silent door.
"Shouldn't he be crying and begging for his life by now?"
Miracle would cry and fuss even at a worm the size of a finger.
"Why is it so quiet!"
As Vancis shouted with a dissatisfied expression, the attendant, who had been watching for his mood, spoke cautiously.
"Um, perhaps..."
"?"
"Maybe he's already fainted, so it's quiet?"
"What? Fainted?"
His neat brow furrowed.
"I just wanted to see him cry because I don't like him. I didn't intend to make him faint."
"..."
The attendant had a hard time managing his expression for a moment.
And for good reason.
'Locking him in a room with poisonous snakes, and he didn't want him to faint?'
The attendant couldn't help but make a disgusted expression.
Even a demon wouldn't be so innocently cruel.
"Hmm."
Vancis, who pondered for a moment while rubbing his chin, pointed to the door and said.
"If he's fainted, he won't cry even if we wait longer."
"Yes, that's right..."
"Tch, how boring. Just open the door."
"Ah, yes."
At the order, the attendant hurriedly approached the door.
He let out a sigh he had been holding back.
'I'm tired, really.'
It's always like this since the black-haired half-Rodbel came to this mansion.
Vancis, who was anxious to devour that child, always tormented him by using the attendant.
He doesn't know how much he suffered to get that poisonous snake this time.
He had to get one that looked scary, and he was so insistent. Snakes that aren't poisonous are mostly small and docile, so he had no choice but to get a poisonous snake.
He didn't tell Vancis that fact, but he wouldn't care whether it was poisonous or not anyway.
Now, he doesn't have any sense of guilt.
No one in this mansion feels sorry for the half-Rodbel.
Otherwise, they would be chased out of this place by the two brothers who hate the new addition.
The eldest son had entered the academy and lost interest in the half-sibling, but the second son, Vancis, was not.
The already arrogant and selfish young master ran even more rampant.
Cleaning up after him became entirely the attendant's responsibility.
'Ugh.'
Why did he have to become the second son's attendant and suffer like this?
'I'd rather die.'
Thinking that dying now might be better for the half-Rodbel, the attendant unlocked the tightly locked door.
Clang.
Opening the door, the attendant looked for the girl who must be collapsed somewhere with tired eyes.
'Huh?'
But nowhere was the figure of the collapsed girl to be seen.
"What? Where is she?"
Vancis, who followed him in when he didn't hear anything, asked with a sulky face.
"Um, well..."
That's right. Where did she disappear to?
He couldn't bring himself to answer that, so he trailed off, but at that moment.
Whirring.
─Thud.
Something flew from the inside and fell in front of Vancis and the attendant.
It was a pure white pouch rolled up at the entrance, and it was faintly wriggling.
"What's this?"
The attendant had an ominous feeling in his head the moment Vancis picked up the pouch with a puzzled expression.
"W, wait a minute, young master!"
The attendant shouted urgently, but it was already too late.
As Vancis lifted the pouch, the loosely tied entrance opened and something fell out with a thud.
The attendant's face turned blue when he saw it.
With crimson scales and the thickness of an arm, sharp fangs and a crimson tongue flicking, it was the poisonous snake Carzo, which the attendant had personally obtained and thrown into the room.
"U, uwaaaaah!!"
The attendant screamed in horror, and Carzo's head snapped towards him.
Only then did he realize that Carzo was sensitive to sound, and he quickly covered his mouth, but he was a step too late.
Hiss!
Carzo, who flew towards the attendant, didn't even take a few seconds to bite his shin.
Crunch!
"Ugh, uaaaaagh! Y, young master! Please get this off!!"
The attendant shouted, jumping up and down.
But no matter how much he struggled and shook his legs, Carzo, who had firmly embedded its teeth, would never fall off.
The attendant, feeling the poison slowly injected, rolled back his eyes and fell.
"Tsk, how frivolous."
Vancis clicked his tongue with a dissatisfied face and drew the sword he had at his side.
Swoosh.
The sound of the sharp blade scraping against the inner wall of the scabbard spread in the room.
He then approached the attendant, who was foaming at the mouth and convulsing, and plunged the sword straight down.
Swoosh!
Carzo was instantly cut in two. Still, the head embedded in his shin did not fall off.
"Ugh, disgusting."
Vancis knocked off the head from his shin with the tip of his sword and wiped the blood on his sword with the unconscious attendant's clothes.
Then he got up from his seat and turned his head.
"You're pretty good, aren't you?"
On the bed that Vancis turned to look at, a black-haired girl wearing a tattered dress was standing with an indifferent expression.
Her red eyes went to the unconscious attendant and slowly continued to Vancis.
The moment her emotionless eyes reached him, Vancis flinched without realizing it.
He was the way he was, but the sight of the girl - Lucia - who was not disturbed even after seeing a person bitten by a snake and fainting, felt alien for a moment.
Not only that, but Lucia's appearance, silently staring without expression, was somehow eerie.
Vancis, whose pride was hurt by the fact that he was overwhelmed by Lucia even for a moment, shouted as if nothing had happened.
"Hmph, I'll just let it go this time, but don't think it'll be okay next time!"
As he shouted that and tried to turn around, a deep voice that suddenly sounded caught his ankle.
"I used to be so afraid of you."
"?"
"Looking at you again, I don't think you're a big deal, Vancis."
"Wh, what?"
What is she saying right now?
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