rpbooks Chapter 172 : To You, Whom I Cherish and Hate (3)
Chapter 172 : To You, Whom I Cherish and Hate (3)
Chapter 172: To You, Whom I Cherish and Hate (3)
“…This has become troublesome.”
Muttering his honest thoughts under his breath, Frederick Lake dusted the stone powder off his fists.
‘Just what the hell has that Carter brat been doing all this time?’
He had predicted Eugene studied holy magic to cure the curse, but he never imagined the guy would become capable of using dark magic too.
‘No, more importantly… was it even possible to use holy magic and dark magic simultaneously?’
He did have his prejudices, but the user in question was Carter.
Because he knew the bastard’s choices and actions were all for the Empire’s future, he could trust him.
The problem was… he had not come here alone.
“Hhk!”
Barely covering his gaping mouth, Walter Clark desperately tried to hide his shock.
He could not decide how he was supposed to process this situation where all the common sense he knew had just been overturned in an instant.
‘…I shouldn’t have come after all!’
Since he had only hurriedly joined after being persuaded by the Dean, Walter still could not regain his composure.
At that moment, Frederick approached and threw an arm over his shoulder.
“Just provide support from the rear, Clark.”
“…Director?”
“We brought you here in case there were severely injured people… but judging by what I’m seeing, that probably won’t be necessary.”
“Ah….”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
After saying that—
Frederick swung his fists around and strode forward.
‘…Surely this isn’t part of your scheme too, Dale?’
.
.
.
Thursday evening.
One day before Eugene Carter, Michel Bernhardt, and Rubia Magnus infiltrated the Bernhardt estate.
After finally finishing the mountain of sudden work and attempting to leave the Administration Office, Frederick spotted a familiar face.
“…Dale?”
Waiting by the entrance, Director of General Affairs Dale Wedmeyer pointed inside with a faint smile.
“Mind if we talk for a moment, Frederick?”
“…Well, no reason not to. Come in.”
The moment they entered the office, Dale immediately got to the point.
“How’s that Carter brat been lately?”
“……You suddenly barge in here just to ask about some random kid’s wellbeing?”
Stretching his neck from side to side, Frederick answered indifferently.
“He seems busy. Just like you.”
“…I see.”
“You asked first, so now it’s my turn. What exactly are you plotting these days?”
“…I don’t know what you mean.”
“I’ve known you for twenty-five years. We were once close friends who shared the same ambitions. Did you think I wouldn’t see through you?”
“…….”
“Bernhardt’s been hit hard and is barely hanging on, but you don’t seem to be stirring things up over there. At the same time, it doesn’t look like you’re contacting the Special Task Force or Princess Edel either. Which means there’s only one faction left.”
It was a fairly reasonable deduction.
Of course, it was only suspicion, so denial would have been enough.
Touching the corner of his mouth, Dale asked with an utterly casual expression.
“…Do you think I’m involved with Princess Rachel and her faction, Frederick?”
“Listen, I don’t care who you’ve sided with.”
I just hope you’re not pushing yourself too far.
“I don’t want an old friend digging around everywhere and ending up in serious trouble.”
“…….”
At that, Dale spoke with a hardened expression.
“Given my position, it’s difficult for me to help you directly, so I have no choice but to ask this of you….”
His eyes carried the look of someone who had already made a firm decision.
“Keep an eye on that Carter brat and the Chairwoman. Before long, they’ll settle things with Bernhardt.”
“…Settle things?”
“And if possible, lend them your strength. The truth is, they don’t have enough people to face the Bernhardt Mercenary Corps head-on.”
“What are you talking about…?”
“Officially, I still belong to no side for now… but if you continue building a history of victories, then perhaps the day will come when we fight together as steadfast allies.”
Leaving behind only those cryptic words, Dale Wedmeyer quietly departed.
‘…Even after hearing something like that, most people would brush it off.’
Even though Bernhardt had suffered heavy damage from various incidents, it was hard to find someone crazy enough to charge into the Bernhardt headquarters alone.
If only he had not once taught that reckless bastard as his student, he would never have ended up in such a dangerous fight.
By the time Frederick reached Eugene’s side, he asked bitterly:
“…You do realize that if Bernhardt somehow manages to recover from this, both of us are finished, right?”
“That won’t happen, so don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah… fine.”
Then, after a brief pause, Frederick pointed toward the skeleton soldiers in the distance.
“Those things aren’t suddenly going to attack me or anything, right?”
“Of course not. Even if you accidentally smash them while fighting, there’s no problem. They regenerate anyway.”
“…Then I suppose I won’t hold back and just smash every last one of them!”
“No, you should still at least distinguish friend from foe—”
Ignoring his troublesome disciple completely, Frederick instantly charged between the skeleton soldiers and the mercenary corps members.
The second round had begun.
---
Part of her upper right body frozen after taking a direct hit from the Frozen Missile, Michel struggled to rise from the floor.
“You really are unbelievably stubborn.”
Smiling mockingly, Chloe stomped hard on Michel’s head.
The enhancement magic covering both legs only added to the force.
Crunch!
Even at the pitiful sight of Michel collapsing flat onto the ground while desperately trying to cling to consciousness, Chloe did not blink once as she stomped down again.
Crunch!
“You barged all the way here without even being prepared to kill me, so you should pay the price.”
Crunch!
“How dare you forget who I am!”
Crunch!
She raised her foot high and slammed it down with all her strength.
Again and again.
As if pouring out every ounce of resentment she had accumulated over the years.
Crunch!
“I… who I… am….”
Eventually.
Only when Michel’s body stopped twitching entirely and lay limp like rotten meat—
Did Chloe Bernhardt stagger backward and let out a hollow laugh.
“Hah.”
It was this easy?
Killing this damned bitch?
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve finished things long ago. Don’t you think?”
Tap. Tap.
Poking the back of Michel’s head carelessly with her foot, Chloe asked:
“Hey, are you really dead?”
“…….”
“I asked if you’re dead.”
“…….”
“So you really… died.”
My older sister.
The one I cherished more than anyone, and hated more than anyone.
Unidentifiable emotions filled her entire body, causing her knees to buckle on their own.
Collapsing in front of Michel, Chloe lowered her head.
“…If only we could’ve lived like back then.”
Back when we knew nothing.
We lived relying on each other.
A genius incomparable to anyone, and an ordinary person who never wanted to compete with anyone.
That was Michel and herself.
Inside their secret hideout, they shared countless stories. Experienced countless things. Achieved countless things.
The memories created there were her treasure and pride.
But.
The older sister she trusted so deeply firmly shut the door to that place and never approached her again.
Even when their siblings openly looked down on her.
Even when her parents constantly compared them and told her, “We’re disappointed you’re our child.”
Even when the servants whispered behind her back.
Even when the Academy labeled her a failure.
If only her sister… if only her sister stayed by her side, that would’ve been enough.
But Michel Bernhardt closed the doors to her heart and shut down every avenue of communication, focusing only on preserving her own life.
That was when hatred first began sprouting within her younger sister’s heart.
At first, she hesitated.
But only briefly.
Ironically, the more she hated her sister, the more her own position improved in equal measure.
Their siblings praised her.
Their parents acknowledged her, saying she had “finally come to her senses.”
The servants bowed their heads to her.
And at the Academy, she took first place.
Hatred became habit.
And before she realized it, that habit had become her true feelings.
She wanted Michel to fear her.
She wanted Michel to bow before her.
She wanted Michel to sincerely apologize.
She wanted Michel… her sister… to look at her.
But that never happened.
Both of them closed their hearts to one another while piling up different emotions.
And in the end, they arrived at this conclusion.
This was simply… that kind of story.
Drip.
Drip.
“…Idiot.”
Tears streamed endlessly down her face as Chloe cried silently.
After crying for a long time, she gently stroked her sister’s limp hair while staring blankly into the air.
“How did we end up like this…?”
Where had things first gone wrong?
When her sister became the Chairwoman of Karbenna?
When her sister started being bullied by all the direct descendants?
When her sister closed the door to their secret hideout?
When her sister became part of the direct line and met her?
…Or perhaps, from the moment they were born?
“…….”
She did not know.
But regardless, there was no turning back.
She fought to survive.
And she killed to survive.
That was all.
Even so.
Even then.
“…I wish Sister hadn’t died.”
Her lowered head refused to rise.
When the pool of her sister’s blood on the floor touched her shoes, it instantly lost form and turned into dust.
And then—
“So now you finally call me ‘Sister,’ little sister.”
“…Huh?”
By the time she raised her head at the impossible voice—
It was already too late.
The corpse of the sister she thought she had killed with her own hands was nowhere to be seen.
Startled, she hurriedly stood and glared ahead, only for a sharp pain to suddenly stab through her head.
“Ghk!”
“I understand your feelings now.”
Hearing the voice, Chloe gritted her teeth and shouted.
“Where are you?! Get out here now!”
“I chose not to tell you the truth, and it was my fault for failing to look after you properly. I understand that well.”
“So at the very least, I promise you this.”
“I’ll make sure those two who drove us to this point pay for their sins.”
“Shut up! Come out right now! I’ll kill you!!”
Even while screaming hysterically into empty space with bulging veins, tears continued flowing from her eyes.
Watching that heartbreaking sight silently from the entrance of the study, Michel abruptly turned away.
Her younger sister would never understand what had happened to her, not even if she died and came back to life.
That when she activated the Eye of Illusions and Wood Chain simultaneously, she had also cast Hallucination Field across the entire second floor of the villa.
Nor that after deciding to infiltrate the Bernhardt estate, she had already obtained Resistance Elixirs from Professor Walter Clark long ago.
“…This is better.”
After venting like that for long enough, the sleeping spell she had prepared beforehand would activate and put Chloe to sleep.
By the time she awoke, everything would already be over.
The chaos that occurred here would spread throughout the Empire once more, and responding to the citizens’ fierce demands, Edel Ribenia would mobilize the Imperial Correction Bureau to arrest them.
Without understanding anything at all, Chloe would receive punishment appropriate for the sins she had committed.
“…Yes. It’s already too late, Chloe.”
The past could not be undone.
A decision already made could not be withdrawn.
If one committed wrongdoing, punishment had to follow.
And if one reflected, one had to seek forgiveness.
That truth applied equally to herself.
Having abandoned the younger sister she loved in order to ensure her own survival, she had no right whatsoever to resent Chloe for hating her.
But even so.
Even if those words only came after believing she was dead—
They were still salvation.
“…….”
Silently wiping away the tears gathering in her eyes, Michel briefly glanced behind her.
That was the greatest expression of gratitude she could offer.
Then she walked forward with even greater determination.
She had not expected to encounter Chloe after visiting the study just in case, but this only confirmed one thing even further.
At the root of all of this—
Was her father.
And so she headed toward the small room located at the far right end of the second floor.
The place where her fate began.
The place where every story began.
Toward the “Playroom.”