Chapter 15: CH 13

I’d completely lost my appetite by now. As I put the key in place, I thought this was insane. What the hell was the author of this place thinking?

I went back to my room and flopped on the bed.

‘Why hasn’t Kid cleaned that place up and hung it up nicely instead?’

He didn’t have to leave the experiment like that.

The experimental records were hung like decorations. There was no way Kid hadn’t discovered it, and it seemed like they were put together on purpose. I couldn’t figure out what his intentions were.

So he wouldn’t forget his enemy? Was that his intention?

I covered my head in the empty dining room, hoping Seniel or anyone else would come soon because I was too scared to be alone.

I suddenly remembered this one horror movie I’d watched where this one person was so out of mind that he became foolish and ended up in a sanitarium.

I must calm down, I thought as I slapped myself hard on the cheek.

‘If I’m going to lose my mind, I should lose it in the smuggling ship! Now I must focus on surviving!’

After a while, Seniel came in. Haha, I greeted Seniel with a stiff smile.

“You’re home?”

“Have you waited long? I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I haven’t been here in a while. Have a seat.”

It felt like saying sorry was his habit.

I stared blankly at Seniel as I had seen the experimental records earlier. My gaze naturally went down and touched his well-stretched fingers. So that’s how…

“Vivi, you don’t look well. Are you sick?”

Me? Wouldn’t your fingers hurt more than me? It must’ve been cut…

“… Ah, no. It’s like this sometimes. Don’t worry. By the way, you’re used to calling my name now. That’s good.”

Seniel’s anxious eyes touched me. I turned evasive and laughed it off with a Haha.

The meal was quickly served, and I scooped the food with an awkward gesture.

‘I feel sorry for him, actually.’

Kid was a threat to me, so I couldn’t just feel sorry for Seniel, but he looked so pathetic.

‘Meet the female lead as soon as possible and be saved, poor fellow.’

“Is there something on my face?”

I must have been staring at him without realizing it. He looked me in the eye and fumbled and touched his face.

“Ah, it’s nothing. You just look handsome.”

“What?”

“What?”

What did I say? I couldn’t remember what I’d said before because I was so dazed. I just nodded roughly at his question while he looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and puckered lips before calming down again.

Meal time was soon over. Since I didn’t even try, there was no conversation throughout the meal. It was only at the end of the meal that Seniel spoke his words. “Is there anything else I need to do today?”

“Ah, this.”

I took out a flower placed on the chair next to me. Even in my ragged state, I still remembered to prepare flowers.

I prepared a different flower in case Kid thought I only gave him the same flower. I didn’t know the type, by the way. I just cut anything from the flower bed.

“Just put it in a vase like yesterday.”

“All right.” Seniel received the flowers with a sad expression on his face. Oh, you good, obedient boy.

After not eating much, I got up from my seat because my stomach couldn’t help it. Seniel got up from his seat and followed me, just like yesterday.

Then, I stopped before long. I looked back and held out my hand to Seniel. He just looked at my hand suspiciously.

“Let’s shake hands.”

“… What? Oh, yes.”

Seniel was skeptical and wary but obeyed me very well. Poor thing. His big, firm hand grabbed my hand.

When I grabbed the hand, I inadvertently murmured. “You’ve lived a very hard life.”

Seniel looked at me in confusion, and I shook my head as if nothing had happened in reply. I clasped his hands and shook them slightly.

“Let us continue to strive hard to survive.”

I left after patting him lightly on the shoulder. You, who’s as poor as me— No, poorer than me.

As I climbed the stairs, I wondered if it was right for me to cheer on Seniel to keep living, but I did not withdraw it. Now he just looked like a separate person.

***

As night fell, a chilly atmosphere descended on the room. I wanted to light a candle but couldn’t because I was afraid of touching Kid’s spirit.

Like the first day, I shivered with a blanket around my body. I remembered Kid, who murdered in various ways, and then I remembered what many people had done to him. I broke out in a cold sweat.

‘He probably didn’t notice.’

I was afraid Kid might’ve noticed that I had gone to the room. He was quick-witted, so he would notice right away if there was something odd. I felt terrible regret that I shouldn’t have been there.

‘Mom.’

I even thought it would be better if Kid would come quickly, threaten me with something, and leave quickly. Just shivering without knowing anything about the situation was too torturing.

Time ticked by.

‘Huh… Huhuhu…’

Sunlight poured in through the slightly open curtain.

Kid didn’t come to me even after I’d stayed up all night trembling with fear. It was very tiring.

Knock, I heard a knock on the door.

‘Did Kid come in the morning this time?’

But that thought soon ceased. Because Kid wouldn’t have politely knocked on the door. I put away the shocker device and told the guest to come in.

As expected, it was Seniel.

He came up to me with tears in his eyes that didn’t match his tall height— Scratch that. His handsome face and tears looked pretty good together.

Anyway. Oh, you good boy. It was only after seeing his face that all the tension in my body went away.

I’m glad to see you, too. Ah, it’s also nice to see your face in the morning.

I shouldn’t be glad because Seniel was Kid and vice versa. But it was really nice to see him. Because that meant I survived safely today.

***

Unlike last morning, when he’d walked around with messy hair, Seniel had tied his hair up beautifully this time. Perhaps Kid hadn’t appeared last night.

Seniel probably didn’t know that and still rushed here to check on me with tears.

My impression of him had changed from the first day, and I even thought about patting him on the shoulder before I stopped myself. It wasn’t my job to comfort him.

It would be a big deal if Seniel even had a crush on me. This kind of relationship between him and me was just right.

“If you’re done crying, you should go now. You need to go to work.”

“I’m sorry for being rude.”

I’m really sorry I’ve always had to do this, he muttered softly as he raised his face that had been lowered in a bow. My cold words hadn’t hurt him at all. Rather, he showed a faint smile as if he was really happy. Knowing everything about his situation but pretending not to know pricked my conscience. The compassion within me lifted its head, but nothing changed.

“You know tonight, too, right?”

“Yes. We will have dinner together. Thank you, Vivi.”

Thank you, he said.

I waved my hand and let him go. Unlike his arrival, his departure was quiet. I sighed a little as I looked at his back.

***

I didn’t mind staying up all night. What I did mind was trembling in fear all night long. Lying absent-mindedly on the bed, I blinked.

‘Tomorrow is the anniversary of the previous marquis…’

Seniel’s father, the former marquis and high priest. He was a heartless father who pursued honor, was greedy for his son’s power, and experimented with his son.

If there’d been someone to stop him, Seniel would have grown up as a good boy without the existence of Kid.

I continued to think absurdly as I looked into the air and then stopped. It was an unconfirmed hypothesis. This was in a novel. If the author hadn’t made such a setting, this place wouldn’t even exist in the first place.

I decided to think realistically again.

‘On the anniversary, Kid will come out and mess things up.’

I was very afraid. How wild would he be? It was even stranger if he didn’t run rampant. His father was the one who’d conducted such a ridiculous experiment. No wonder he couldn’t stay still.

‘It’s strange that Seniel is still kind after being experimented on like that.’

Because of the experiment, his good and evil were separated, and Seniel was the good side. Why hadn’t he rebelled badly before that? If he were so capable, couldn’t he just get rid of everyone and escape? Ah, there was the fact that killing would make holy power useless. However, I’d heard that priests had also participated in the war.

Was it useless because there was such a thing as restraints?

Ah. My thoughts went far again. Whether or not Seniel was kind had nothing to do with me.

I got up with my tired body.

I needed more protective gear to prepare for Kid, who might run rampant, like a neck protector and more shocker devices.