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IBP 36
“......What do you mean, a bad person? Young Lord.”
Duke Ardos asked with a puzzled expression.
“The nanny.”
Caligo lifted a water container.
The deep red liquid sloshed inside.
“This water is the medicine the nanny has been feeding me.”
The bewildered people looked at one another, tilting their heads.
“Medicine, you say?”
“Suddenly, I have no idea what's going on....”
Just as everyone was looking at Caligo with confused faces, he calmly continued.
“Therefore, until my brother arrives, I would like to request that the nanny and I be separated and that she be detained.”
Among the bewildered crowd, only Duke Ardos quickly grasped the situation.
His clear voice echoed through the room.
“Do you mean you intend to report the nanny's misdeeds, and that water is the evidence?”
“Yes, that is correct. This water is made from Parapo herbs. The nanny deceived me, claiming this water was good for my health.”
“......Parapo herbs?”
Duke Ardos narrowed his brows as if something had clicked.
“Parapo herbs are a great medicine if used correctly, but if misused, they are a drug specialized for brainwashing.”
Cutting Caligo off, the nanny intervened.
“B-brainwashing! How could I possibly do such a thing! I’ve n-never seen those herbs before. I have devoted myself to the Grand Duchy all this time; why are you doing this to me...?”
The nanny wore an expression of utter injustice.
‘The nerve of her!’
Like a brave puppy at the right moment, I planted my front paw firmly on the ground.
Then, I barked courageously.
“Huk! Those herbs! They were planted near the Young Lord's annex! It's super weird that the nanny says she's never seen them!”
Following my fierce attack, Caligo spoke intelligently.
“Nanny, do you not know what the most famous thing in the Grand Duchy of Rivera is?”
“.......”
“The things developed to kill magical beasts and protect humans as much as possible,” Duke Ardos answered for him.
“Are you referring to magic tools, Young Lord?”
“Yes.”
He pulled a small bundle from his pocket.
“This magic tool identifies the traces of a specific person. If you investigate the Parapo herbs planted near the annex, the truth will be revealed.”
Yesterday, while they were putting their heads together to discuss things, Caligo had mentioned it.
He said he didn't eat anything unless it had passed through the nanny's hands.
That was why he had brought the magic tool, though he admitted he hadn't expected to use it this way.
“Then, does this mean the nanny was actually brainwashing the Young Lord?”
“Unbelievable. I thought she treated him with such devotion despite the risk of a berserk state....”
The surrounding reactions were purely of disbelief.
The nanny spoke up hurriedly, as if making an excuse.
“Young Lord! This is absurd. How can you judge whether I fed you such wicked water simply because Parapo herbs were planted near the annex?”
As the nanny's words seemed plausible, the people looked confused again.
‘Right, I knew she’d go for that.’
I glanced at the other object in Caligo's hand.
With a click, he slowly turned on the visual recording sphere.
The visual recording sphere contained the wicked words the nanny had whispered to Caligo over the past few days.
“Young Lord Caligo Rivera. It is a relief that you have regained your health, but listen carefully. You must not have contact with anyone yet.”
“Actually, I’m not sure if that child called Coco actually healed you properly.”
“Isn't it all thanks to the herbs I gave you? Go on, take another sip.”
Caligo clicked the visual recording sphere off again.
He was no longer the frail and prickly boy.
He was the brilliant youth raised in the Northern Grand Duchy.
“......Y-Young Lord.”
“Is that all? Even yesterday, something like this happened.”
“You only know me, don't you, Young Lord? Since you lost both your parents at such a young age. Moreover, His Grace the Grand Duke is so devoted to you.”
“Is that so? Then, would it be possible for the nanny to make a separate request to Grand Duke Rivera?”
“Ah, but my hands are far too empty that I don't have the face to meet Grand Duke Rivera.”
At the words flowing from the visual recording sphere, everyone looked at each other and whispered.
“How dare a mere nanny treat the Young Lord like that.”
“She was even taking bribes....”
The life of the nanny, who had enjoyed manipulating the Young Lord, had come to an end.
Caligo looked straight at the nanny.
The nanny's gaze trembled violently at the sudden shift in the situation.
As if grasping at a final straw, she trembled and clung to the hem of Caligo's trousers.
“Young Lord! But I raised you....”
“I don't need it.”
“I-I will tell you the reason. If you l-listen, you will understand....”
The nanny's excuse was as follows.
Her family had lived happily in the Grand Duchy.
However, due to a sudden raid by magical beasts, everyone except her had died.
Her husband, who farmed, as well as her daughter and infant son, had died then.
In a state of mental instability, she became the nanny of the Grand Duchy because she was told her breast milk flowed well.
However....
‘My own child died without even getting proper milk.’
She claimed that whenever she looked at Caligo, such thoughts would occasionally dominate her.
Thus, she poured her misplaced resentment and anger onto Caligo.
Because she believed the cause of losing her family lay with the Grand Duchy's failure to properly handle the magical beasts.
She said that by brainwashing him and making him self-destruct as a useless human, her own pain seemed to vanish.
‘It's sad that her family died, but why is that Caligo's fault?’
Just as I was thinking that this was absolute nonsense.
Duke Ardos flared up in anger and asked why she had taken bribes then.
Everyone looked at the nanny with expressions of absurdity as she failed to answer that question.
Just as I was looking at him with a worried gaze, wondering if the prickly cat would be heartbroken by the true face of the nanny who raised him—
“Until yesterday, I wondered why you did it.”
“Y-Young Lord....”
“But now I'm not curious anymore. Whether in books or in reality, the intentions of bad people always seem boring and cliché.”
He whispered lowly into the ear of the shivering nanny.
“Now, I'm just more curious about the intentions of good people. So, leave now. You are nothing more than a scratch on my childhood.”
Caligo carelessly threw the visual recording sphere I gave him onto the floor.
And then, he trudged over to me.
‘What is this?’
He stood close beside me and subtly placed one paw next to mine.
‘Oh, I've seen this before!’
A cat friend I met on the street did exactly this. He'd subtly bring his tail next to me, and later, he'd even press his backside against me.
“It's not like I'm doing this because I like you or anything.”
“.......”
“It's just that I feel relieved being like this.”
Adding that one sentence made him look exactly like...
‘A grumpy little kitten!’
I smiled broadly and grabbed his shoulder.
“Then, let's go out quickly!”
From now on, the adults would be the ones to punish the nanny.
Ah, before that.
I pricked up my ears.
A small sound came from the visual recording sphere thrown carelessly on the floor.
Stretching my hind legs like a puppy, I stood on my tiptoes and shouted.
“Huh? Something else is coming out of the recording sphere! Duke!”
Duke Ardos picked up the visual recording sphere rolling on the floor.
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