98 – Third-class play – 7
Hestia hugged me as hard as she could in front of the Count. She rubbed her cheek against my arms like a kitten. I was taken aback by her sudden action. Then Hestia pinched my side. Of course, so as not to be seen at all in the eyes of others.
“Suck!”
I was instantly blown away by her sudden attack. Hestia gently removed her hand from my side and whispered.
“You’re not stupid, are you going to stay like this? Opportunities like this don’t come often.”
I finally understood her intentions. With her slightly exaggerated gesture, I raised her arm and hugged Hestia tightly. Then, she glanced at Hestia’s face. If she was satisfied with my response, she closed one eye and gave her a wink.
The two of us hugged each other warmly like the final scene of a movie. In Hollywood, they go one step further and kiss each other like they’re going to eat each other, but unfortunately, since it’s for everyone, they decided to be content with hugging.
In that state, I slowly stroked the top of Hestia’s head and watched the count and his soldiers behind her. Everyone seemed bewildered as if they hadn’t grasped the situation properly yet. Among them, the count seemed to have come running in a hurry, and his hair was tousled and his clothes were in a mess.
“Mikhail! Thank you so much for saving me!”
“Huh? Uh. That, right.”
“You showed up and helped me when I was in the most danger! It really has been a lifesaver for me.”
Even in the middle of it, Hestia repeatedly shouted thank you to me as if everyone would listen.
She wasn’t a very good actress. Because her tone was quite awkward. Of course, the situation was so dramatic that not only Count Jira, but also the soldiers who rushed after the Count, said that they were glad that Hestia was acting as her, and shed tears.
Seol-ah, who knows everything, looked at Hestia with an expression asking what she was doing for a moment, and she immediately laughed as if she was dumbfounded. However, no one was looking at her expression in this situation, and thankfully Seol-ah kept her mouth shut. Lisa, too, seemed to realize that it was time for her to keep her mouth shut, so she crossed her hand over her tightly closed lips and made a gesture to keep it shut.
“Profit, hang on! I’ll pass! Hestia! Are you okay?”
“Cordelia? Wait… , No. I didn’t expect much.”
The one who evoked the atmosphere was Cordelia, who, like the Count, broke through the walls of the soldiers and jumped out. She seems to be in danger, so she told me to wait at the castle, but she followed as expected. To be honest, she didn’t expect much that she would be waiting. In a situation where Hestia is in danger, she can’t just suck her finger while Cordelia is stuck. And vice versa for her.
Hestia pulled her head out of her arms at the sound of Cordelia’s voice. In an instant, she slipped out of her arms and ran to Cordelia. The two girls ran around holding each other’s hands. It was a little cute because he acted like his age.
After a short chat time, Hestia came back to me and grabbed my hand. Her direction as she held my hand as she led her was in front of her earl, who was still sweeping her chest in surprise. The Count shook his head as if he was dumbfounded when he read Hestia’s intention to hold my hand and bring her to his side.
“You are clever even in this situation. I raised her daughter very well.”
“Who did you learn from?”
“I am. I was thinking of doing it even if I didn’t have to push my back like this.”
The Count coughed loudly and straightened his back. As he hurriedly came, he tidied up the tangled hair. It was a very fleeting moment, but even that moment changed my impression. The count hesitated for a moment, perhaps embarrassed, then bowed his head to me.
“Mikhail. Thank you for saving my daughter.”
“No.”
I was flustered, not knowing where to turn. Of course, I expected to be thanked by the count, but honestly, I thought it would end with a handshake. The Confucian spirit in me caused a game in a situation that made me bow my head to the elders, and to the prospective craftsmen.
“Okay, so please raise your head. Aren’t there too many eyes to see?”
“No. Now, regardless of whether you’re a count of the Empire or your prospective craftsman, you’re just the father of the one person who owes his daughter’s life. Say it again Thank you so much for saving my daughter.”
The Count thanked me long enough to satisfy himself, then looked up again. To be honest, the more the Count said that, the more my conscience grew. He has never done anything grandiose enough to say he is a lifesaver. All I did was that my mind went out of my mind and I collapsed alone. The fact that things worked out was only possible because Lisa collapsed by herself. Seol-ah also smiled bitterly.
“So, can you explain how it happened? Where is the culprit and who is that girl over there?”
Everyone was concerned about Hestia’s safety, but what’s as important as that is the arrest of the criminal.
The Count glanced in the direction of Lisa, who was standing there with an innocent look on her face, and asked where the culprit was. Since the Count knew nothing of the situation, he must have never thought that the girl with such a harmless face in the world and the daring kidnapper were the same person.
At that time, Seol-A stepped out.
“That child is… , A child who was imprisoned together with Miss Hestia. She couldn’t say how shocked she was. The hijacker disappeared in an instant as soon as he heard the sound of the soldiers.”
“Disappeared? There are few people in the Empire who are familiar with space magic enough to get him out of here in an instant.”
As if the story of the culprit had disappeared, the count grabbed his temple. The count didn’t seem to care much about Lisa’s identity, perhaps focusing on the story of the culprit. But Hestia was different. Hestia showed signs of bewilderment at Seol-Ah’s sudden action.
I know that Seol-ah has a lot of knowledge that Lily doesn’t know through her knowledge of the original work. So even if she acts incomprehensible, she must be thinking of something, she does and she can move on.
Hestia is not. It was only during the interrogation earlier that she could take into account that she had been told in advance by Wilhelm, but now this is a suspicious behavior no matter who sees it. She defends the kidnapper and tries to cover it up like nothing happened.
“Ms. Lily. What the hell is this….”
I embraced Hestia, who was protesting. Hestia gasped for a moment and drew in her breath. It doesn’t hurt too much, but I strained her arm so much that I couldn’t speak.
“Eup, up!”
“Hestia, I will explain everything later, so trust me.”
Hestia slapped my forearm with a blushing face, as if she was choking or ashamed. I whispered into her ear. Hestia looked up at me with her doubtful eyes, and she nodded her head. I loosened her arms and let her Hestia go.
“I’ll explain it properly later.”
The count cleared his throat and turned her head away, as if he had thought of us as close friends. He gave instructions to the soldiers as if he was slowly clearing his place.
“It will come back soon.”
“Yes!”
The soldiers answered in one voice. The count looked at us, who were standing there as if our feet were stuck here, asking why are you guys still? Then, Hestia stepped in front of her.
“Father. Can we take this child home here?”
“Huh? Let the soldiers do that.”
Hestia seemed to want to send everyone else away first and listen to a more detailed explanation.
“That, I think the child is in shock. If it wasn’t for us, they wouldn’t even try to talk.”
“It would still be dangerous.”
“Because Mikhail is by my side.”
Seeing her quite tenacious attitude, the count nodded her head with a strangely dejected expression, wondering what she was thinking.
“After. I can’t help it. That’s why they say raising her children won’t do much good.”
“Da, it’s not really like that….”
“Okay, take your time and come back. However, she should never sleep out. Even if dirt gets in my eyes, that’s okay!”
Hestia hurriedly tried to come up with an excuse, but the Count had no intention of listening. She gave up her further explanation and called for Cordelia, who stood by the count’s side. Cordelia deserves to hear this too. It’s weird that she came all this way and left her out.
“Miss Cordelia. Miss Cordelia will go with you.”
“Huh? Will Lady Deneb go with you?”
However, it must have seemed quite strange to the Count, who had a strange misunderstanding. He asked the count as if he were puzzled.
“So I told you. It’s not really like that!”
Hestia was irritated with the Count. She’s like a student who gets annoyed with her real parents, so she laughs for nothing. I like her dignified and smart appearance as usual, but she is also cute when she met Cordelia and like she is now, she is also cute for her age.
And after a brief commotion, the Count and his soldiers vanished in an instant, like a lie. We also came up from the dusty basement. The first floor was used as a store for something, and there were tables and chairs. A bit of dust had accumulated, but the problem was resolved fairly easily with Hestia snapping her fingers.
She sat down in her chair, dusting her off with some kind of magic of her own.
“Now we can go into more detail.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
Cordelia asked with a bewildered expression. She must have been thinking about how to get Lisa home by herself. I gave Cordelia a rough summary of what had happened so far. As the story progressed, Cordelia’s expression became more serious, and when I finished, she jumped up from her seat and took a wary attitude towards Lisa.
“What, what are you thinking!”
“Why do you ask me that? Shouldn’t you ask that friend over there first?”
Lisa shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and pointed her finger at her tongue.
“Miss Cordelia. Calm down for now. We also made this place to know that. Right, Miss Lily?”
“Yes. Where should I start talking?”
Seola also sat down. All eyes on her were on her. I was also curious about her response. It was something I hadn’t even thought of standing up for Lisa there.
Seol-ah’s mouth, which had been tightly closed, opened.
“You all know that I was close to Wilhelm, right? That’s why I’ve heard the story.”
“About me?”
Lisa, who was looking at her fingernails with her legs crossed as if not interested in what we were saying, raised her head at Seol-ah’s words. Cordelia gasped in surprise. She cried.
“By the way, why is that person standing here casually? Shouldn’t she be tied up somewhere?”
“Never mind, kid. It’s impossible to escape from here anyway through the sorceress over there or the handsome brother over here. I have no intention of trying. So Wilhelm told you all about me?”
“Kid, kid?!”
Cordelia shuddered as if she was quite annoyed at being called a kid by someone who looked younger than her, but unfortunately no one cared about it. Seol-ah faithfully answered Lisa’s questions.
“Not exactly about you, but about you. He said he was growing his own intelligence organization without anyone knowing. Didn’t they say that if you bring children with no connections and do a little good to them, they’ll be loyal to you?”
“Lies!”
“Did you say that if you find out too much or have no use for it, you deliberately give the wrong information and put it into a dangerous operation? Even if you die soon, you don’t want to get your hands dirty.”
“It’s a lie!”
As Seol-ah continued to speak, Lisa’s expression became more and more serious. However, Seol-ah continued to say what she said or what she said.
“Oh, where did the laid-back attitude from earlier go? Did you really think Wilhelm that madman would help? You already know whether my words are lies or not.”
“You crazy b*tch!”
“People tend to curse when they have nothing to say. You are abandoned.”
“Shut up, shut up!”
I pressed Lisa’s shoulders as she tried to get up from her seat. She tried a few more times, but she quickly realized what situation she was in and gave up. There was no one on her side right now. She asked in a weak voice.
“Then why did you defend me there?”
“You don’t want to get revenge?”
“Revenge?”
“As you know, we don’t have very good feelings for Wilhelm. Well, it’s not like Wilhelm doesn’t have good feelings for us either. Isn’t the more information the better? And this should have been enough explanation, Miss Hestia?”
Hestia nodded her head.