# 67 - 67
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“Too, Tullia. What do you mean by that?”
Viscount Lilius shouted in a voice that sounded like he was about to faint.
"Kill you? Me?! No matter what happens, how dare you discredit your little uncle like that! My heart is truly torn!"
Viscount Lilius, who was screaming disgustingly, even his hands were shaking like a “truly wronged person.”
I was so exhausted that I could barely speak properly, but now I had to make my intentions clear and take over the reins from Viscount Lilius.
As I struggled to gather my strength and continue to speak clearly.
“The young woman’s words actually make sense.”
I heard one of the butlers speaking from behind him, a member of the Senate.
“They could use the reverse logic of ‘no way would they hurt someone publicly in front of that many people’ to actually try to hurt Miss Tulia, right?”
“Duke Ergan! Please watch your words!”
“Duke Ergan is an elder among the Senate.”
I didn't know why he suddenly sided with me, but I certainly thought he was as wise as an old servant.
He said exactly what I was trying to say.
“There is also a saying that to catch a tiger, you have to enter the tiger’s den.”
Oh.
That's what I was going to say too.
Thanks to Duke Ergan, I was able to maintain my strength, even if just a little.
"Adele. I'm. There."
Because it was difficult to speak for a long time, I mumbled unintelligible words, so Adel immediately ordered the servants to move me.
The place where the knight had been standing moments before.
The place where I fell after the arrow hit me about ten minutes ago.
In the surrounding area, several apples were scattered and broken.
They looked exactly like broken hearts.
Keep trying, keep trying...
With Adel's support, I moved to sit in a wheelchair.
My thigh was almost cut off, so I couldn't stand.
Mental strength.
Mental strength.
Wait, Tullia.
“You said there was something… about me?”
“Yes, that's right! You couldn't see it, but this little uncle hit the apple very precisely! I think there's something wrong with the magic tool!”
Viscount Lilius said, then added in a slightly lower voice.
“Your deceased mother, it seems... There are also rumors that she was involved in black magic...”
Then, the crowd that had been silent immediately started muttering again.
The difference from the previous loud commotion was that they were busy exchanging glances with each other.
the curse. That bastard.
He was truly someone I could not forgive no matter how generous I tried to be.
In the midst of all this, trying to make Tullia seem like some kind of witch, and even linking Tullia's mother to her.
The story that Tullia's mother had an affair with a heretical priest and died while escaping was an open secret.
But black magic.
How was he able to connect that and expand on it in this way?
If he were a good person, his intelligence would be impressive.
Well, perhaps this is how he, despite being the youngest, was able to control the internal affairs of this vast region.
Tullia from “The Time” was just mean, naive and stupid – she would never have been a match for someone so intelligent.
correct.
So.
Looking at Viscount Lilius, who was still hesitating and feigning wariness, towards the demonic nature that might have existed within him.
"Yes."
I answered clearly.
“Then I must be hit by an arrow again.”
"What do you mean by that?!"
The person who just shouted is just.
She seemed startled by her outburst, and immediately bowed her head deeply like a proper head maid.
However, when I saw Adel who was sincerely worried about me and Tulia, I felt a warmth in a corner of my cold, hard heart.
'Don't worry.'
I sent telepathic messages to Adil alone while looking at Viscount Lilius.
Maybe because I was angry, the pain seemed a little less than it was before.
Viscount Lilius appears to have concluded his calculations in the meantime.
How did you know?
Because he was screaming with an expression full of shock.
“Tulia! How can I shoot you with an arrow again?!”
Viscount Lilius' eyes sparkled slightly as I looked at him.
They say that all nobles should be able to do some light acting.
Did Viscount Lilius become a great actor because he belonged to a great noble family?
“I can't shoot you at all! If you knew how much my heart was torn apart earlier, you wouldn't be able to ask this little uncle such a terrifying request again!”
He lies.
If I ask Viscount Lilius to shoot an arrow again.
This time, Viscount Lilius will “deliberately” hit me.
Because that would be more useful.
Viscount Lilius shot an arrow at me once before.
This incident has already become too big.
It had turned into a huge incident that could not be resolved at the level of Viscount Lilius or even at the level of Nigella.
Countless nobles were watching.
Not just one or two, but more than half of the Grand Duchy's entourage.
No matter how powerful Viscount Lilius, and even his brother Nigella Fraser, was a number they could not buy.
When Grandpa returns, a trial will be held, an investigation will take place, and punishment will be meted out one way or another.
“And Viscount Lilius is a cunning person.”
Maybe he even noticed that I was somewhat involved in this arrow incident.
“Although that would actually be difficult.”
How could a noblewoman, who was only fifteen years old, manipulate a magical instrument?
Anyway, if Viscount Lilius had another chance to fire an arrow, he would have hit me without hesitation.
This time in the head.
Or towards the heart.
Certainly a place capable of completely destroying me and sending me to the afterlife.
Then he was making a fuss, saying that there was a problem with this magical tool.
Even if there is no problem?
Viscount Lilius was somehow insisting that he had been wronged.
Even if the Magic Tower intervened, and all kinds of magicians intervened, and it was recognized that there were no flaws.
I would have been dead already.
What is the benefit of exonerating the deceased after his death?
“Yes. Uncle Lilius.”
She smiled brightly.
No, I'm not sure if I smiled correctly.
My dry lips trembled as a cold sweat broke out over me again.
“Someone else should shoot me.”
“Huh?”
I looked behind Viscount Lilius.
Someone who has been buried in all the hype and has yet to catch people's attention.
But once you lay eyes on him, you will find that he is a very handsome man who will never let you look away from him.
One of the male protagonists of the Kuriko series, and one of the direct descendants of the Grand Duke.
One of Tullia's twins.
It was because Leon Fraser had come running, panting heavily.
“If Brother Leon shoots me, it will be a sure thing.”
* * *
“If Brother Leon shoots me, it will be a sure thing.”
Leon Fraser doubted his hearing for a moment.
correct.
He came running.
Because she was hit by an arrow.
No, if it had been just a bow it would have been different, but that magical tool that Tedric Fraser had boasted about buying was no different than a small catapult.
It was a weapon powerful enough to break bones even if it hit an average-sized man, and the petite Tulia Fraser, by his standards, seemed to have been hit by it.
This is the second time, no less.
No doubt his brother was there with her too.
But there was no trace of his brother.
Could there be a woman in this world who would be okay after being hit multiple times by arrows fired from a longbow?
Even a strong knight several times larger than Tullia would never be able to stand properly.
As evidence of this, Tulia Fraser was sitting in a wheelchair, looking at him.
No, she was pointing at him as she looked at him.
Unlike usual, even the dark circle surrounding her light green eyes seemed to have faded faintly.
Anyone could see that Tulia Fraser was seriously ill.
The fact that she had not lost consciousness at the moment was like a witch's magic.
In short, she looked like a crazy child.
Unless she's really crazy and wants me to shoot her.
Shoot an arrow.
From what I heard, it seems that that bow, no, that magic tool, has really serious flaws.
After being constantly hit by it like that herself.
And now they're asking me to shoot her with it again?
“Hmm, Young Lord Leon…”
A knight approached him hesitantly, carrying that huge magic bow.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on him, but Leon Fraser didn't care at all.
He walked with long strides towards Tullia, who was sitting there like a corpse about to die.
“Are you crazy?”
Tullia stared at him for a moment, then opened her mouth.
“Just… hurry up and shoot.”
“Are you really crazy?”
"Or let that man shoot me instead. How perfect. You'll see the body of your sister you hate so much here."
"What?"
“Brother Lycian would be really happy, wouldn’t he? Because you didn’t help me even for a moment, because of that petty pride. And I ended up getting shot by Lilius.”
"…amazing."
Did she really put poison in her mouth?
Why again?
What makes her so sarcastic again?
Her lips tremble, and yet, when she utters poisonous words, she pours them out without even breathing.
That's why he hated her.
Pink hair.
Light green eyes.
He had exactly the same appearance as the person he had seen when he was very young, staring at him coldly.
“Leon.”
That person always looked at him with warm eyes.
"Leon has Lycian, so you know you're not alone, right? Tullia is alone, so my mother has to take her. Poor Tullia. If I don't take her, who will?"
Ah, there's another similarity.
Whatever she sets out to do, she somehow succeeds in achieving it.
Just like that woman who simply abandoned the twins, abandoned her family, and ran off with another man.
Her pink bangs were disheveled, soaked with sweat.
Leon Fraser straightened his back, which was bent towards Tulia.
He's upset.
He had thought more than a thousand times that it would have been nice if he had that hair color too.
He had thought more than ten thousand times that if he had done that, that woman would not have abandoned him.
Leon Fraser, who strode back, glanced at Viscount Lilius, who was now looking at him with gentle eyes.
He knows.
What's inside?
What a snake of ambition and desire coiled inside!
“Did you console Tulia well? Shoot that child again with an arrow. She is already badly injured.”
Leon didn't answer.
But Viscount Lilius's smile did not fade one bit.
“It could be a serious injury, so instead of you, brother, shooting, it would be better for me to go back to using the bow again.”
That was when he spoke with a sigh, like an uncle who truly cared for his little nephews.
“I'll shoot.”
"…What?"
“Bring me the bow.”
“Young sir...”
I said: Bring him!
Leon Fraser violently snatched the bow from the hesitant servant.
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