Chapter 12
I reached out my hand to Martina, who was sitting on the floor.
She looked a little startled but hesitated briefly before taking my hand.
“T-thank you,” Martina said in a weak voice.
“I’m sorry about what happened today… I’ll apologize on your behalf.”
I shook my head.
“Why would you apologize? The one with the messed-up personality is on that side.”
Looking toward where Rose had disappeared, Martina hung her head low.
“Rozetin isn’t usually like that, but… something bad happened today.”
I nodded but then paused.
“…Wait, what did you just say?”
“Huh? I said something bad happened today…”
“No, before that.”
“That Rozetin isn’t usually like that…?”
I widened my eyes, staring at Martina.
“Rozetin?”
Rose’s nickname was Rozetin? That was her real name?
I covered my mouth with my hand.
Rozetin Grimaldi.
That was Rose’s full name.
She was the only daughter of the Marquis Grimaldi and one of dozens of children living in that household.
Which basically meant…
“Her parents, the Grimaldis, are completely insane.”
By my standards, the Marquis and his wife were societal evils, irredeemable trash.
“They’re so bored they abuse children.”
From what I remembered, it wasn’t physical abuse. But in some ways, it was even worse.
You could tell what was happening in Rozetin’s home just by the number of children being adopted into that household.
I asked Martina, sitting across from me,
“How many children are currently in the mansion?”
“Well, the Marquis brought in a four-year-old yesterday… so probably sixty-two children.”
I slowly put down my teacup, mouth agape.
That was probably just the children currently in the mansion. Who knows how many more had disappeared without a trace.
Even dogs or cats weren’t brought in so irresponsibly.
My appetite completely vanished.
“Insane…”
The Grimaldis adopted so many children purely out of selfish greed.
They probably said the same thing to Rozetin this morning:
“Rozetin, your ability is terrible. How do you expect to enter the Academy? Because of you, we have to keep adopting more siblings. Don’t bring shame to the Grimaldi name.”
“Remember, Rozetin. Our family doesn’t need incompetents. If you truly carry the blood of the great Grimaldis, at least show yourself to be superior to your siblings.”
I let out a deep sigh and asked Martina,
“Do you think Rozetin has gone back to the mansion?”
Martina shook her head.
“She normally would, but not today. There’s a party happening in the mansion right now…”
“A party?”
“The child who came yesterday manifested an elemental ability…”
“Wait, you said that child was four years old?”
“Yes. They can barely speak.”
“But they manifested an ability?”
Martina nodded. Usually, manifestation occurs between ages ten and fifteen.
Some children manifest earlier, but… four years old, and an elemental ability?
I understood why the Marquis and his wife, obsessed with powerful abilities to the point of perversity, would throw a party.
“That must be why she was in such a bad mood.”
I recalled Rozetin, pale and trembling, and shivered at the memory.
“Ugh, this feels so uneasy.”
I remembered Rozetin because she appeared in the novel.
Of course, it wasn’t a hopeful episode. The scene was…
“Selenea’s execution.”
Selenea meets someone in the underground cell just before being executed for killing Eria.
That someone was Rozetin.
Through the rusty iron bars, Rozetin spoke first to Selenea.
“Selenea. So I meet you here.”
And she asked,
“Who did you kill to get here?”
When Selenea didn’t answer, Rozetin laughed like a madwoman, muttering,
“I told you, you’d be abandoned. I already knew, I knew everything! Soon your neck will be cut. But who could save you, huh?”
“…Shut up, Rozetin.”
“No, Selenea, listen. Do you know what I did? I… killed my siblings. I killed my mother and father.”
“….”
“I agonized hundreds, thousands of times. Why is my ability so useless? Why am I so incompetent? But now I understand. My ability… was meant to kill everyone.”
Rozetin shook the iron bars with her hands, stiff with dried blood, shouting,
“Selenea! How’s my ability? Isn’t it amazing?! I’ve finally inherited the Grimaldi blood! So I’m not incompetent! I’m not incompetent anymore!!”
She desperately repeated the same words, even until the executioner dragged her away.
Recalling the novel, I bit my lower lip. Martina watched me with a puzzled expression.
After a brief pause, I finally stood up.
“I really didn’t want to get involved with anyone.”
But it seemed I would have no choice but to find Rozetin.
Besides…
“To my knowledge, Rozetin’s ability isn’t useless at all.”
It was actually a beautiful power, far too valuable to be treated as useless in the Grimaldi mansion.
Rozetin could make flowers bloom even in midwinter.
With a single light gesture, new leaves sprouted from withered weeds, and dying trees came back to life.
Her ability was “Blossoming.”
Rozetin walked along the back path of the Tigris mansion, roughly rubbing her cheeks. Her eyes were bloodshot.
“How can she be so calm? How?!”
For someone powerless…
She muttered under her breath.
A powerless person shouldn’t be so relaxed. They shouldn’t just lie on the grass, staring at the sky.
The world wasn’t kind. Without ability, you were abandoned.
But Selenea had been strange. No, maybe even crazy.
Even without an ability, she dared to say she could kick Rozetin out. Calling the mansion “our house.”
I could clearly see her, confidently saying ridiculous things.
“…She’s insane. Completely insane.”
How dare a powerless person defy a Manifestor? How dare she confidently reject her advice?
Without ability, you couldn’t do anything. You’d become useless.
You couldn’t even open your mouth without permission.
Rozetin remembered her fifteenth birthday.
The smile on her parents’ faces when she first manifested her ability, unimpressive as it was.
The smile they never showed her, their own daughter, only to her siblings.
From that day, Rozetin could speak in the house. She could have good food and wear pretty, expensive clothes.
But most importantly, the look of disdain in her parents’ eyes changed.
Though they weren’t pleased with her ability, at least now they seemed to have hope in her.
“If you work hard, you can improve your ability. Train your magic and control it! Then you can truly be a Grimaldi!”
She trained until her eyes strained and her ears rang.
To make her unimpressive ability slightly better.
…But
“Even though she hasn’t manifested.”
Unlike Rozetin, Selenea was confident without any ability. She even seemed somewhat happy.
Though she had a bad relationship with Duke Tigris, she called the mansion “our house” and smiled.
And faced Rozetin, a Manifestor, head-on.
Rozetin couldn’t understand why it hurt so much.
It felt like her chest was being burned with hot fire.
She slumped weakly to the ground.
“Ian! From today, you are the Grimaldi’s hope. Show everyone your ability!”
Her father’s words made her recall her sibling creating small droplets from maple-leaf-like hands.
A far superior ability compared to her own meager one.
“Ugh…”
A thin sob escaped her tightly clenched teeth.
She had no idea what to do next. She wasn’t even sure she could pass the Academy.
No matter how hard she tried, she felt she would never be loved. Forever, until she died.
Tears fell from her eyes, overcome by fear.
Then…
“What? You didn’t get far.”
Rozetin shot her eyes open and looked up.
Selenea had appeared, her hair flowing in the wind, looking down at her.
“…What.”
Though she tried to sound hostile, her voice was weak.
She wiped her tears roughly and got up. She couldn’t just stay seated in front of this troublesome Selenea.
But suddenly, a dizzying vertigo hit.
Rozetin lost her balance without realizing it, and Martina appeared from somewhere to catch her.
“Rozet…!”
Even Martina’s eyes were glistening with tears.
Rozetin remembered what she had said and coldly pushed her hand away.
“Martina, are you stupid?! Did you forget what I just told you?!”
Martina didn’t answer. She just lowered her eyes, hesitating with a timid expression.
Then, a little distance away, Selenea spoke.
“What do you mean, don’t answer? You shouted at her like ‘How dare you touch me, orphan?!’ in such a sharp tone.”
Rozetin and Martina turned toward her, shocked.
