Bab 275: [Chapter 275] Master, are you married?
A chilling sound of tearing air dissolved into the darkness.
Cledwin sighed wearily, watching the assassins fall one after another in the dormitory backyard. The endless assassination attempts, the petty quarrels… he couldn't imagine how he had endured all this and graduated during his school days. He could handle it because he had Neris, but how did he endure it in this life?
"Coo… cough, I, I didn't hear about this, kkk!"
One of the men, whom he had habitually spared, coughed up blood and said something obvious. Cledwin replied nonchalantly.
"I've gained some experience, so it's different from when I was a kid."
The assassin naturally didn't understand what he meant. Cledwin swung his sword without a word, cleanly severing the man's windpipe.
"Don't you want to ask about the route of intrusion?"
A man in white clothes, who had come out into the courtyard, asked. He was the son of a lord under Meindlandt, a rare theology student in Meindlandt. Objectively, his divine power wasn't great, but even that small amount of healing power had been a great help to Cledwin during this time.
Cledwin shook his head.
"I already know."
"Really? How?"
"You must have told me."
The man in white clothes' face hardened. The sharp edge of the bloodstained sword pressed against his Adam's apple in an instant.
"Why, why are you doing this?"
"Yes, you betrayed me."
"What?"
This man had held a fairly important position among Cledwin's subordinates for a long time. While Talprin knew some medicine, it couldn't compare to the rapid effectiveness of divine power. So, if this man had been loyal to his lord, he would have gained considerable status when Cledwin later inherited the dukedom.
But that didn't happen. Instead, this man chose to side with Duke Tipian and put his lord in danger.
Cledwin narrowed his eyes, recalling the night he almost died. The other subordinates who had been in the dormitory came out and surrounded him, clamoring.
"What's going on, Your Highness!"
"Are you alright?"
The man in white clothes hesitated for a moment, then apologized, seeing Cledwin's resolute gaze.
"…I have nothing to say. But I couldn't help…."
"I'm not really interested in the reason. I know you and your father have been giving my information to the elders. No one can survive."
The man in white clothes' face turned pale. But before he could utter a word of complaint, Cledwin was already swinging his sword.
With a gruesome sound, a human corpse tumbled across the courtyard in the dead of night. Talprin approached, his face a mixture of emotions. Cledwin smiled, finding the younger, less guarded expression amusing.
"That guy…."
"He wouldn't have known he was a spy. I didn't know either, so don't worry about it."
"How did you find out?"
"Because I almost died from being tricked once."
When? How could I not know about something so big? Talprin looked confused. Cledwin smiled faintly, then narrowed his eyes sharply, his expression stern.
"Talprin, there's someone you need to watch over."
"Yes. Who is it?"
"My wife."
"Master, are you married?"
How could I not know about something so big? Talprin's jaw dropped, and the other subordinates who were dealing with the bodies around them flinched in the same way.
"It's both true and not true. Don't ask questions. Keep an eye on her. She's the illegitimate child of the dormitory you're infiltrating as a manager, and her name is Neris Tryud. She's the most beautiful and intelligent person in the world, so she'll be noticeable, you won't miss her. Listen carefully. Your top priority from this moment on is her safety. Watch her carefully, and if anyone tries to touch her, deal with them yourself."
Could this be our master? Talprin began to seriously try to find any signs of disguise from Cledwin. Cledwin, oblivious, entered the luxurious dormitory building where he was staying, lost in thought.
After seeing Neris by the lake that afternoon, Cledwin had been quietly watching her. He had actually tried to speak to her about twenty times, but each time, his body involuntarily moved away from her sight. He would have to study when she was 'completely unaware' of him.
This world was bound by strange laws. Cledwin, who had given up on approaching her directly, tried to shout from afar, even wrote a note and threw it, but nothing reached Neris. Something happened in between, and his shouts were drowned out by other noises, and the note was ruined. Even absurd coincidences occurred.
'Like fate.'
It felt like everything was hindering him, preventing Cledwin from ever reaching Neris in this world, no matter how hard he tried. From the blades of grass by the roadside to the body of a 16-year-old he was currently inhabiting.
And he hated that fact.
"Wait, Master! Neris Tryud? Did you say Tryud? The new student who's being sponsored by the Elandria family?"
Talprin, who had just come to his senses, chased after Cledwin and asked urgently. Cledwin replied casually, as if throwing the words away.
"Yes."
"No, but suddenly, wife? What? She's a twelve-year-old child!"
"I've been waiting. It's okay."
"I don't understand anything right now! Did you eat something strange today? You didn't eat anything someone gave you, did you?"
"Shut up. More importantly, did you not hear what I said earlier? Pack the necessary things and go to her. I'll join you around morning."
"Yes?"
Talprin, bewildered, but still went to carry out his lord's orders. Cledwin looked around at the other subordinates who remained, his eyes gleaming ominously.
He had only followed Neris for a day, since it was the weekend and she wouldn't be meeting her classmates. But even that was enough to tell how much she was already shrinking back. Seeing her with her head down, her shoulders hunched, turning away from the sound of her peers laughing in the distance.
He wanted to take her out of here quickly. He wanted to catch any opportunity, never taking his eyes off her. But there was a clear reason why he had returned to the dormitory for now.
To clear out anything that might hinder him from protecting her.
"Is everyone here? …From now on, the people I'm going to mention will be coming out."
This side needs to be clean, without any traitors, so I won't have to worry about it later.
***
"Ugh, it's dirty. It touched a thief!"
"Poor Alecto."
Neris's small body froze at the sound, which they made after they came first and shoved her hard with their shoulders. Cledwin, who was watching from outside the window, clenched his fist.
Talprin, who had been watching them all from a nearby tree, scoffed softly.
"Calm down, are you going to beat up twelve-year-old kids, what is this?"
"They're being mean."
Several weeks had passed since that night when Cledwin had purged all the traitors from his academy dormitory. That meant it had been several weeks since the two men had been following twelve-year-old Neris Tryud.
Cledwin had tried everything. He had even tried to have Talprin talk to Neris, and he had pressured the teachers to punish the mean classmates who bullied her. But nothing had worked.
The people in this world reacted to Cledwin as if he were a living person, with no unnatural aspects. But with just one person, Neris, no matter what he did, his influence was cut off in the middle.
He had managed to approach her when she was asleep and oblivious to the world, but it was pointless to talk to her then. If he tried to talk to her and she woke up, this body would run away on its own.
Thanks to this, Cledwin had to watch Neris's suffering, which she hadn't spoken about in detail, with his own eyes. Without being able to approach her, or hug her.
<Dad, you still haven't talked to Mom, have you?>
The ball of light continued to talk to Cledwin, staying with him. Cledwin answered comfortably, as the ball of light's conversations were not perceived by others.
"Right."
<How much longer?>
"I don't know."
<Yawwwwn, this is boring. Dad, read me a fairy tale!>
"Alright."
Cledwin pulled out a fairy tale book from his pocket. He read the book with one eye while watching Neris with the other. It was a routine that had been repeated every day since he had succumbed to the ball of light's persistent nagging a fortnight ago, so his movements were familiar.
"Once upon a time, in a faraway land…"
He couldn't say he read the fairy tale well enough for a child to enjoy it, even as a compliment. But the ball of light blinked happily, just enjoying listening to Dad's voice.
Neris, within Cledwin and Talprin's sight, had just been released after being subjected to some unpleasant words from her classmates. Talprin clicked his tongue, watching her walk with her head down and shoulders hunched, as if afraid of making eye contact with anyone or bumping into someone and offending them.
"I heard she's been isolated like this ever since she was accused of stealing gold coins, even though she didn't do it, right? Judging by the circumstantial evidence, it seems like the daughter of Baron Nine did it."
"Angarad Nine?"
"Oh, you know? Yes. Megara Ricandelos was seen taking the Baron's daughter around before and after the incident, so it seems like she's behind it. We're also investigating that side, wondering if there's something between the Ricandelos family and the Elandria family."
Cledwin thought it was unlikely that there was any power struggle between the two families. Megara Ricandelos had always disliked Neris. The ball of light spoke in a sulky voice.
<Dad, you haven't finished reading the book yet. Read more!>
He was completely out of his mind. Cledwin sighed.
"Alright."
He faithfully continued reading the fairy tale from where he left off. Talprin spoke, as if remembering something.
"As you instructed, I've put pressure on the families of those who are particularly mean to Miss Tryud. You ordered me to make them financially distressed to the point of having to drop out of school, but strangely enough, they miraculously recovered, so it was difficult to go that far. But they've been sufficiently punished."
If it had been the real Talprin, he would have undoubtedly carried out Cledwin's orders. But he couldn't do that here. This was Neris's memory, and nothing she remembered changed. Her classmates had to stay with her until graduation.
The ball of light urged him when Cledwin stopped reading the fairy tale to listen to Talprin.
<Da-ad! Please keep reading the book!>
"Alright, alright. One at a time."
The last sentence was addressed to both the ball of light and Talprin, so Talprin heard it. Talprin looked suspiciously at his lord, who had been acting strangely lately. He must be having a bad headache from eating something wrong, what should I do?
"I've been talking to myself all this time…."
Cledwin didn't reply. He was too busy continuing to read the fairy tale.
Neris approached the back of the classroom and opened her locker. She took out a short letter from inside. Talprin pretended to know about it.
"That's what Rianon Berta put in there last night. One of Yayan's subordinates saw it when we were at Miss Tryud's dormitory. You told us to report even the smallest things related to Miss Tryud, so I copied it here."
"Give it to me."
Cledwin, finally finished reading the fairy tale, reached out to Talprin. The note Talprin handed him read, "I want to be friends with you. Nona."
Cledwin knew very well how arrogant Rianon Berta was and how much she despised Neris. There was no way a girl like that would have put this letter in just to become friends with Neris.
But Neris, in her innocence, read the note and smiled excitedly. Even in the short time it took her to get to her seat, she looked at the note three times and smiled happily. Cledwin sighed. If only he could whisper a word to her.
<Mom is so small and cute, isn't she, Dad?>
The ball of light, oblivious, floated around leisurely, making carefree noises.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone