Chapter 5: A Good Deed Gone Wrong

Since Mikeron’s departure, I focused solely on processing the paperwork that had piled up for days.

Trying to clear all the tasks that had accumulated during the time I was crazy about Mariel was highly overwhelming at first, but gradually, I began to see the bottom of the pile.

With my mind finally at ease, I went outside for the first time in a long while for a change of pace and took a walk in a quiet park.

Bright sunshine.

A wind that, though chilly, woke me right up.

When I breathed out, white puffs of air dispersed into the void, and the surroundings were peaceful.

Everything was perfect.

“Waaah!”

Yes, everything was truly perfect—except for a certain child crying as if they had lost the entire world.

Although it was so loud that my ears ached, I simply ignored it.

It had nothing to do with me, and I trusted that their parents would come looking for them eventually.

However, even as time passed, no one who seemed to be the child’s parent appeared, and there was absolutely no one helping them either.

Everyone merely stole glances at the child, too busy going about their own ways.

Watching that spectacle continue made my mood sink oddly.

The child’s crying began to grow even louder.

The noise, which had been ignorable at first, gradually became irritating.

Frowning, I stood up from the bench where I had been sitting.

An strangely rising aversion swirled within me.

People do not bestow unconditional goodwill upon strangers.

Unless some busybody or hypocrite showed up, no one would help—just like now.

In that moment, a scene from my past flashed through my mind.

Everyone had simply whispered while looking in my direction, never approaching or stepping in to stop it.

As time passed, their bystander apathy only worsened, reaching a point where everyone just ignored me and went about their business.

Ah, thinking of something so pointless only ruined my mood.

Shaking my head, I turned around to head back.

As I walked, the irritating crying could no longer be heard.

Though the noise had long vanished, strangely, my sour mood did not improve.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.

The cold wind hitting my face woke me right up once again.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“There is no such thing as someone who deserves to die in this world… Even you can be loved, Count Kinesis! You are a wonderful person!”

I didn’t know why the moment Mariel saved me suddenly popped into my head.

If Mariel hadn’t helped me, I probably would have died right then and there.

“Ah, how annoying…”

Irritation flared up at my own indecisiveness.

I was no good-natured person like Mariel, but if I just went back like this, I felt my mood would be foul for the rest of the day.

Retracing my steps, I returned to where the child was.

The child was still crying as if the world were ending.

I approached the child.

“Why are you crying?”

The child stopped crying for a moment and lifted their head to look at me.

Their swollen eyes were completely red, showing just how much they had been sobbing.

“I-I… hic…”

The child couldn’t even answer properly.

The reason for crying was obvious anyway.

I changed my question.

“Are you lost? Did you lose your parents?”

The child nodded their head vigorously.

Letting out a low sigh, I took the child’s hand.

“I’ll help you find them, so stop crying. It’s grating on my ears and annoying me.”

Sniffing, the child nodded vigorously once again.

Would it have been easier to search if I had brought a servant?

Since I had only come out for some brief fresh air, I regretted not bringing one along.

Well, even if it hadn’t been a brief stroll, I wouldn’t have brought one anyway.

I walked around the vast park holding the child’s hand.

I had thought we would find them quickly, but the park was split into several areas and was incredibly large.

If I didn’t pay close attention to the surroundings, even I might end up getting lost.

As we were diligently walking around, the child stopped.

“S-Sorry. Suddenly, my legs…”

I was about to let out a sigh but closed my mouth upon realizing the child was warily watching my expression.

I bent down and scooped the child up.

The child was heavier than I had expected.

Staggering like a tree branch swaying in the wind, I barely managed to regain my balance and walked forward.

‘I should try going over there this time.’

***

“Count?”

“…”

The moment I came face-to-face with Mikeron after wandering around for so long, I was speechless.

Why on earth was Mikeron Leilight here?

Was this some sick joke of the gods?

I didn’t understand why I had to run into this eyesore of a man so frequently.

And of all times, in a situation ripe for misunderstanding.

Sure enough, Mikeron was looking back and forth between me and the child, assessing the situation with a highly suspicious gaze.

Quickly setting the child down, I spoke in a hurry before he could say anything.

“Wait. I think I know exactly what you’re thinking, so please don’t say a word.”

“Openly kidnapping a child in such a wide-open space… You certainly have guts.”

“Ah, seriously.”

This was exactly why I told him not to say anything.

In any case, he was a man who didn’t have a single likable quality.

“Don’t you have anything better to do, Duke? I don’t understand why we keep running into each other like this.”

As I snapped at him with irritation, Mikeron’s expression also soured.

“I am merely leading an investigation after receiving reports of a magic beast sighting nearby. More importantly, that child…”

He brought up the original topic again.

Since I had no intention of doing anything bad to the child, I had a perfectly clear conscience.

Thus, I spoke up proudly so he could hear clearly.

“They seemed lost, so I was simply helping them.”

“The Count?”

Mikeron’s eyes widened.

That arrogant expression, a mix of shock and disbelief, disgusted me to my very core.

‘Annoying bastard…’

“If you don’t trust me, why don’t you help them yourself? You’re good at meddling in other people’s business, after all.”

As I sneered, his cold face turned even more grim.

I glared right back at him.

‘It’d probably be better for the child to get help from Mikeron than from someone like me.’

Just as I thought that, the child grabbed my sleeve.

“Please don’t leave me behind…”

The child looked up at me with tearful eyes.

Children’s minds were simple, so they seemed anxious about the person who had been by their side suddenly vanishing.

As I pouted, unable to callously push the child away, Mikeron spoke as if deeply surprised.

“You say all kinds of harsh words to me, but you seem to have a soft spot for children.”

“It’s nothing like that, so be quiet.”

Leaving Mikeron behind, I took the child’s hand and began to walk again, but for some reason, he followed after me.

Didn’t he say he came to investigate a magic beast?

At first, I thought our paths simply overlapped, but his steps were far too persistent to be a mere coincidence.

Eventually, I stopped and whipped my head around.

“Why are you following me? Go look for your magic beast.”

“Our paths just happen to be the same, so do not misunderstand.”

Was it really just my misunderstanding?

Perhaps my intense dislike for Mikeron had made me overly sensitive.

Though displeased, I chose to believe his words and walked on with the child.

Yet no matter how far we walked, Mikeron continued to follow behind me.

‘”Misunderstanding,” my foot.’

I hadn’t realized it, but he was quite a good liar.

He was likely following me to keep watch because he couldn’t trust me.

I could feel his intense gaze drilling into the back of my head.

Just as I turned around, fully intending to give him a piece of my mind, Mikeron spoke first.

“I believe that is the person.”

“What?”

“The person you have been looking for, Count.”

Mikeron pointed with his index finger toward a woman standing some distance away.

The pale-faced woman was looking around, searching for someone.

Just as Mikeron said, she was undoubtedly the child’s mother.

Before I could even speak to the child, the small hand I was holding slipped away, and the child’s back quickly dashed past my eyes.

“Mommy!”

At the child’s voice, the woman immediately turned her head.

The small body leapt right into her embrace.

I stared blankly at the sight of the child being held by the woman.

The child wept sorrowfully in the woman’s arms, while she gently patted their head, whispering that it was alright.

Staring at the scene, I pressed my lips together and quietly turned away.

Then, Mikeron Leilight, who had been standing beside me, caught me.

“Are you just leaving?”

“What else should I do? Do you want me to extort a reward from her?”

“You know that’s not what I meant. Why do you always act like that…”

Mikeron trailed off and let out an irritated sigh.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t understand the meaning behind his words.

He probably meant I should at least receive a proper thank-you before leaving.

But I wasn’t someone adored by everyone like Mikeron.

I had no desire to boast of my assistance, only to face the gaze of someone terrified out of their wits upon recognizing me.

“They found each other, so that’s enough. I will take my leave.”

As I walked away without regret, Mikeron did not stop me this time.

But the gaze trailing behind my back felt as if it wouldn’t detach for a long time.

***

I returned to the mansion, dragging a body that was more exhausted than refreshed by the stroll.

To think that the result of showing goodwill to a stranger was running into Mikeron.

Whenever I ran into him, I felt as if I aged ten years on the spot.

‘I really pray we never meet by chance again.’

While I was slouched over, rubbing my temples, the butler knocked.

Upon receiving permission to enter, he walked into the room.

In his hand, he held some letter.

The moment I saw it, an ominous premonition began to rush over me.

“What is it?”

“An invitation to a party arrived while you were out.”

“An invitation?”

Invitations addressed to me were mostly sent to confirm if my eyes were truly crimson, or to summon a convenient target to gossip about.

Thus, even before my regression, I had avoided tea parties and party invitations as much as possible.

“I don’t care who sent it, tell them I’m not going.”

Though the matter should have been concluded with my refusal, the butler didn’t take a single step.

I had a bad feeling.

Vaguely guessing what he was going to say, I tried to ignore him until he left, but even after a considerable amount of time passed, the butler stood as still as a statue.

With him standing there like that, it was impossible not to pay attention.

Clutching my aching head, I asked testily.

“What? What on earth do you want to say?”

“Count, I think it would be wise for you to accept the invitation.”

How did his actions never once deviate from my expectations?

I grimaced in sheer disgust.

“I’m not going. It’s obvious what kind of remarks I’ll hear if I go.”

“This old man is simply worried that you have no one to open your heart to, Count. As long as you are human, you cannot live entirely alone forever.”

“…”

A gaze filled with concern was directed at me.

I rolled my eyes, but doing so couldn’t entirely avoid the butler’s eyes tracking me.

It wasn’t as if fire was shooting from his eyes, yet my skin prickled for no reason.

The butler was the only person who had looked after me in this dreadful mansion.

Although it remained true that he, too, had been a bystander, I knew that given his position back then, it was the best he could do.

Because of that, I tended to be soft-hearted toward the butler.

Before my regression, the butler had once visited me after my title of Count had been stripped.

My memories of when I was crazed were jumbled and chaotic—some things I remembered, some I didn’t, and some were in fragments—but the image of the butler holding my hand and weeping remained vivid in my mind.

Naturally, consumed by hatred back then, I had pushed him down and fled from the spot.

I didn’t know what had happened to him after that.

Recalling the image of the elderly butler weeping made me feel strangely solemn.

In the end, along with a heavy sigh that burst forth, I declared my surrender.

“Fine. I’ll go. I said I’ll go, so please stop looking at me like that.”

The moment I accepted, the butler’s face brightened instantly.

What was so great about it…

I pouted bluntly.

“Then I will send a reply stating that you will attend.”

“Sure.”

The butler bowed and left the office.

Resting my chin on the desk, I sank into thought.

“How long has it been since I last went to a party?”

Rather than feeling excited about attending a party after so long, I already felt my energy draining away.

Slumping onto the desk, I let my upper body go limp.

Just thinking about it was exhausting.

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