The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 11.

The Terrace was peaceful in the midday sun. Kaius lay sprawled on an outdoor sofa bed, lost in thought.
He stretched his arm and tilted the small glass vial in his hand this way and that. Sunlight poured through it, making it glimmer.
“The headaches are truly gone.”
It had been only a day since he drank the medicine Charlotte had given him from the Pharmacy Room. The headaches that had plagued him relentlessly had vanished as if they’d never existed. That wasn’t all. Last night, he had slept soundly for the first time in years.
“This leaves me without grounds.”
He hadn’t genuinely believed she’d poison him outright, but he had prepared himself to use any lack of effectiveness or side effects as leverage to pressure Charlotte.
However, the remedy worked far too well, leaving him no choice but to acknowledge Charlotte’s skill.
Kaius suddenly recalled her confident face from the Pharmacy Room yesterday.

“To seek revenge, you must first stay alive, mustn’t you?”

Was she truly willing to help him with his revenge?
As he drifted in light contemplation, he heard a commotion near the Terrace. Kaius lowered his gaze to check below the railing.
“…What is this now?”
It was Charlotte, emerging from the path leading east to the castle. Her arms overflowed with a basket of fruit, and she was humming and walking with a dancing gait.
Her pale, slightly frizzy white hair swayed left and right with each step.
Charlotte suddenly stopped and looked around hurriedly. She set the basket down quietly, plucked an orange, and devoured it in an instant. She tossed the peel into the grass and began walking again with a gentle sway.
Without thinking, Kaius let out an incredulous laugh.
…This is the Capital’s worst witch?
He’d sensed it from their first meeting, but Charlotte Schmidt seemed clumsy compared to her sinister reputation.
Since his days as a prince, Kaius had met with countless aristocrats—cunning creatures who concealed serpentine malice behind flirtatious smiles, and greedy fools who didn’t even bother to hide their desires.
So he could read anyone’s intentions with ease. It was simpler than breathing for him.
Yet Charlotte Schmidt, met in person, was…
“A few screws loose, it seems.”
Quite literally, she seemed almost naive.
Even as the words left his lips, Kaius paused. It was utterly absurd.
A witch appearing naive?
Could such a thing even be said of someone who wielded Black Magic?
Yet Charlotte, much as he disliked admitting it, carried an atmosphere subtly different from any Black Mage he’d encountered before.
“Your Highness.”
Vasiel opened the glass doors of the Terrace and stepped in. He paused upon seeing Kaius’s grave expression.
“What are you doing?”
“…Brooding?”
“Sir?”
“The information I asked for.”
“Yes. The documents you requested.”
Vasiel handed over the papers.
Kaius straightened his posture from where he’d been leaning toward the railing and settled back against the sofa bed. Pages rustled in his hands.
“According to the records, she was adopted by the Schmidt Earl at approximately ten years old. Since there are no unusual incidents noted, it appears she had not yet mastered Black Magic at that time. I suspect she may have learned Black Magic of her own accord after being taken in by the Earl’s household.”
“She learned it herself, then.”
“Since Black Magic is passed down in such a closed manner, I couldn’t find definitive records, but the earliest suspicious activity regarding Charlotte Schmidt’s Black Magic was detected around age fifteen.”
Kaius scanned through the papers.
The records contained an account of an incident at Schmidt Earl’s birthday celebration where the eldest grandson of Marquis Aiser’s family had been thrown from a horse and lay bedridden for roughly a week.
“Quaint by current standards.”
“She hadn’t even made her Debutante yet. As the documents note, for the year following that, her use of Black Magic appears to have remained at a similar level.”
It was true. Most of the incidents listed below were too ambiguous to classify as crime. They were closer to children’s pranks.
“Taken comprehensively, it would be difficult to conclude that she was directly involved in ‘that incident’ as she claims.”
Kaius set the papers down on the table with a sharp tap.
It was what he’d expected anyway.
No matter how formidable Charlotte Schmidt was, it seemed unlikely she’d committed such a grave crime at merely eleven years old.
Especially seeing her now.
“The Schmidt Earl and his wife were foolish indeed, allowing their adopted daughter to acquire Black Magic.”
“That… I suspect it may have been a calculated adoption.”
Kaius, who had worn a bored expression throughout, lifted his eyes.
“They adopted a child with great potential to raise her as a Black Mage?”
“I cannot say the Earl and his wife were necessarily targeting Black Magic, but…”
“Still, the fact remains that they picked up a solitary orphan girl with exceptional magical aptitude.”
Vasiel did not answer. It was a silent affirmation.
Kaius’s gaze lingered on the stack of documents for a moment.
Since turning fifteen, Charlotte’s various misdeeds and suspected involvement in Black Magic seemed in almost every case to trace back to the Schmidt Earl House. The Count and Countess appeared to have treated each incident as Charlotte’s independent action and punished her severely each time.
Yet now, seeing everything compiled together, certain inconsistencies jumped out at him.
Enough that one might wonder how they’d escaped discovery for so long.
“This is rather interesting.”
Kaius fell silent in thought.
“Vasiel.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe there exists a Black Mage in this world who is not wicked?”
Vasiel could not answer readily.
He knew all too well what lay beneath Kaius’s question.
Charlotte Schmidt was certainly called the Witch of the Capital. Even if she were not a perfectly flawless Black Mage, the fact remained that she wielded Black Magic with considerable ease.
Yet having observed Charlotte’s behavior these past few days and now looking at the files before him, there was something murky about simply defining her as evil.
“Never mind. Get out.”
Kaius appeared to understand the meaning in Vasiel’s silence, and stretched out on the sofa bed with an irritated air.
Yet for some reason, Vasiel did not immediately leave his seat and hesitated.
“What is it?”
“…Miss Charlotte Schmidt has regenerated a considerable area of the Eastern Grounds.”
Kaius’s brow furrowed.
“That witch did?”
“Yes. I kept watch through today to be certain, and it is indeed regenerated. I observed the farmers planting new saplings there today.”
Kaius’s eyes shifted.
Now that he thought of it, he remembered her saying yesterday in the Pharmacy Room that she’d distribute Antidote to the estate folk working in the Orchard. It seemed she’d gone further, regenerating the land itself.
“…Irritating.”
Kaius felt the doubts he’d only just begun to settle stirring once more. He was certain that if he looked in a mirror now, his expression would be rather complex.

“I just want to live.”

Why did that remark keep surfacing now?
“…And yet when I suggested watching her for a time, he was displeased. What wind has blown him to defend that woman?”
Vasiel stiffened.
He opened his mouth and replied carefully.
“I merely reported the facts. My judgment may differ from yours.”
………
“As for your inquiry, I dare not answer. But if you ask whether Miss Charlotte Schmidt is the same as the Black Mages you’ve observed before… I confess I cannot say with certainty.”
Kaius, stroking his jaw, waved his hand dismissively.
“Very well. Now go.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Vasiel bowed formally and turned to leave, but Kaius caught him and stopped him again.
“Vasiel.”
“Yes.”
“Report to me in detail about that woman’s actions henceforth.”

***

I’ve been rather happy lately.
“Um…”
As I woke late and wandered through the Garden, someone called me in a small voice. It was a young maid in uniform.
She looked about cautiously before approaching, then lowered her voice to a whisper.
“The Orchard… I heard about it from Charles.”
Ah.
I smiled brightly.
“Do you need some too?”
Nod, nod.
“Do you have the payment?”
“Yes!”
The maid answered briskly and drew a checkered handkerchief from her pocket. When she untied the knot, a mouth-watering slice of Strawberry Tart appeared.
Wow, jackpot.
“Will this… be enough?”
“That’ll do.”
My mouth was already watering.
I told her to wait a moment, then withdrew a small glass vial from my pocket and handed it over—the very potion I’d distributed to the laborers in the Orchard days ago.
The results had exceeded my expectations, and word spread fast. People began seeking me out, which meant I’d taken to conducting quiet transactions and accepting food as payment.
“My roommate said that after drinking this, her chronic sinusitis cleared up completely. Is that really true?”
“Well… sinusitis can result from poor condition, so…”
“Thank you so much!”
“Sure, see you next time.”
“Yes!”
The maid scurried off. I waved as if to say come back soon, then bit into the Strawberry Tart. The pastry crumbled delightfully on my tongue—exquisite.
“Mmm, this really is delicious.”
Nothing beats something sweet.
My side business was turning out better than expected. Between the food I received and my regular rations, I never went hungry anymore.
I was humming softly as I stepped into the corridor.
“Um… Mage?”
Oh no. Another customer.
I brushed the pastry crumbs from my lips and turned around with a practiced smile.
This one was also a maid in uniform.
“Do you need something as well?”
“Pardon?”
“What?”
So the potion wasn’t what this was about?
Then why call me?
I stood there tilting my head in confusion when the maid delivered news that hit like a thunderbolt.
“The Grand Duke has summoned you. He wants you in his Office right now.”
Plop.
The Strawberry Tart fell to my feet.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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