SIWALL Ch 42

Elliot shivered his body like a small animal that had sensed a crisis, then put the letter inside the drawer and locked it up securely with a key. He didn’t forget to rattle the drawer once, either.

Even if a sudden worry had struck him, having made such thorough preparations brought peace of mind.

Just as Elliot was thinking this, someone suddenly pounded loudly on the door.

“Ghostwriter!”

Elliot creakily turned his head toward the door.

A group-customer-level storm was knocking on his door.

∞ ∞ ∞

“The way out is this way~”

Elliot kindly extended both arms toward the doorway. However, Generwin, who had climbed onto Elliot’s bed with his shoes still on, was simply lying flat on his back.

“Let’s rest just a little bit, huh? I wanted to come play in your room, ghostwriter.”

“Since when have we been that close—?”

“Oh! Hey, Camembert! Did you come, too?”

Camembert, who had climbed up onto the bed, sniffed at Generwin’s cheek as if smelling new furniture.

“Uwah, that feels weird!”

With that, Generwin chuckled. Then he let out a small “Ugh” and forcibly stopped his laughter.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hm? What is?”

Having said that, Generwin brazenly feigned ignorance. A fabricated innocence covered his face like a mask.

Elliot trudged over and pulled Generwin’s shirt up toward his chest.

“Are you a pervert, ghostwriter?”

Generwin looked surprised, but with a degree of resignation, he wore a bright, hollow smile.

Generwin’s body was packed with purple bruises and wounds. The parts hidden by his clothing were cleverly chosen and beaten, and signs of blows primarily avoiding vital points were visible.

“Did your older brother do this, sir?”

Elliot asked calmly.

“Well, yeah. Who else would do this to me besides that man? Ladies don’t beat people up in such a filthy way.”

Complaining with a pretense of cheerfulness, Generwin pulled back down the shirt Elliot was holding.

“Why? Why would someone treat a person like—?”

“Haha, ghostwriter, are you worried about me?”

Perhaps it hurt his stomach to laugh, as he only produced a sound of laughter from his throat.

“You know Lady Violet, right? The one the ghostwriter exchanges the most letters with these days.”

“Yes, Lady Violet Flint.”

“That lady, well, she went and sent a proposal of marriage.”

“Pardon?”

“The ghostwriter did such a great job with the work. Truly befitting the author of The Flower Blooming at the Tip of a Sword.”

Generwin gave a weak, yet playful thumbs-up.

“Then why does your brother beat you, sir?”

Is doing this to a person something a human wearing human skin would do? And to his own younger brother. His own flesh and blood.

When Elliot asked with a momentary surge of anger, Generwin explained in detail.

“It’s because the power of the Flint Marchmate is strong. There are four Sword Masters in our Empire, and one of them is the Grand Duke, and another is the Margrave. There’s also a lot of talk that Violet will become a Sword Master in a few years.”

So she was a Sword Master candidate… No wonder she exuded such overwhelming spirit…

Nodding, Elliot recalled the contents of the letters he had received up until now. He solidified his resolve that he must never act up in the future in the letters sent to Violet, and Generwin provided some additional explanation.

“My brother is worried that I might become the adopted son-in-law of the Flint Marchmate and threaten him somehow, you see. Do you know what he says even while beating me? He asks if I’ve been tricking him all this time to stab him in the back like this. He’s sharp, I’ll give him that. Even I didn’t expect this marriage proposal.”

Generwin carefully raised his body from the bed. Now that he looked closer, cold sweat was beading on his forehead.

“So I can’t go to any women’s houses for the time being. My brother’s nerves are completely frayed, and he’s currently investigating the women I meet. Therefore, ghostwriter…”

Generwin brought his hands together with a clap. He winced in pain from the motion, making a face.

“Let me sleep here for a bit!”

Naturally, absolutely not…

Elliot covered the front of his glasses with his hand, looking like he was about to cry.

He’s so damn pitiful… What do I do…

∞ ∞ ∞

If the place Elliot was staying had been Elliot’s own house alone, he would have agreed instantly. However, this was Elliot’s house, and Elliot was living in this room temporarily in the concept of lodging. Therefore, Elliot said he needed to get permission from Elliot, and Generwin reluctantly agreed, saying that sounded right.

And the result of asking Elliot was…

“No.”

Naturally, it was a ‘NO’.

“Every single employee in my mansion is carefully vetted and trained. While I haven’t paid attention to the assistants or servants employed by the staff, ever since that fellow Dalin, I’ve been filtering everyone out strictly.”

Elliot spoke rapidly without pausing. The voice he added right after was practically bone-chilling.

“And yet, you’re going to let an outsider, Generwin Tulion, sleep in your room?”

“The bed is wide anyway, and—”

“Are you saying you will sleep in, the same, bed?”

An unfathomable madness was dwelling in Elliot’s eyes.

So this is why he was a ‘crazy ML’ [obsessive male lead].

Elliot stared menacingly at Elliot with eyes that looked slightly unhinged. Elliot painstakingly reeled in his gaze, which was naturally lowering itself out of humility, and made something akin to a protest.

“We’re men anyway. It doesn’t matter at all if we sleep in the same bed—”

“When you slept with me, did it not matter then either?”

Why does he phrase it like that?

As if… as if… really, as if they had actually slept together. Of course they did sleep, but that sleep wasn’t that kind of sleep…

Elliot’s eyes were spinning wildly.

Realizing that Elliot was confused, Elliot took a step closer and said it as if driving in a wedge.

“Your bed is mine. Do not lend it to another man.”

Ins-, ins-, insane…

Elliot dropped his jaw and looked up at Elliot. Elliot stood there shamelessly without a shred of embarrassment, even after delivering a line straight out of a Korean drama male lead.

Anyway, the bottom line was that it was absolutely out of the question, so Elliot had to devise another method. Perhaps thinking the same, Elliot tossed out a simple countermeasure.

“Why on earth are you worrying about a guy who can just sleep at a high-end inn?”

“That is…”

Elliot had indeed brought this up.

However, the moment he hid away in some inn, Generwin’s brother would quickly find him and drag him back home.

There was only one place in the empire right now where Generwin’s brother couldn’t easily break in and where Generwin could safely recover his body: Grand Duke Elliot Teron’s house. As it turned out, Generwin had even climbed over the dog-hole by the back gate of the mansion today to escape and run here.

However, the fact that Generwin was being abused by his brother was a secret. So Elliot tried to make up a different excuse. That was if Henderson hadn’t abruptly walked in.

“Your Grace the Grand Duke, the Junior Marquis of Tulion has arrived.”

“At this hour, of all times.”

Elliot muttered meaningfully and glanced sidelong at Elliot.

Stiffened with sudden tension, Elliot tried hard to take a deep breath.

“I’ll be right there.”

Henderson hurriedly left the bedroom to convey Elliot’s words. Elliot threw a black robe over his pajamas, tied the waist cord, and took off his hat and neck pillow. Then, at a rapid speed, he found the hair-dye potion, drank it, and slapped on a mask. The sequence of actions was so fast that Elliot stared blankly at him for a moment.

And when he became the black-haired, masked Grand Duke Teron with a perfectly public persona, Elliot said to Elliot:

Elliot Brown, come along.

Why should I go there? he thought, but by the time Elliot came to his senses, he was already stepping into the parlor along with Elliot.

The man sitting in the parlor stood up upon seeing Elliot enter.

That man had intensely red hair like Generwin’s. Though slicked back neatly, his hair had strong volume, so a few strands fell forward. His brownish-lucid eyebrows were very thick, and he had a handsome nose, giving the strong impression of being quite a handsome man even if his appearance fell somewhat short of Generwin’s. Furthermore, though slightly shorter than Generwin, he possessed an unapproachable, piercing aura.

Yet that vanished in an instant the moment he smiled. He greeted Elliot with a courteous and amiable attitude.

“It has been a while, Your Grace.”

Elliot couldn’t believe that the man before his eyes was the exact same person who had tormented Generwin for so long and even beaten him. If he hadn’t seen it in the original work, Elliot would have thought Generwin was lying.

“Junior Marquis Tulion, you must know what it means to me for you to visit the Grand Duke’s residence at such a late hour.”

“Ahaha, calling me Junior Marquis is so devoid of warmth. Please call me Theseus. And I sincerely apologize for calling upon you at this hour. There is an urgent matter within the family, so I had to make haste and seek Your Grace’s help.”

Theseus’s smiling face truly resembled Generwin’s. Wearing that smile, he looked past Elliot to Elliot, who was standing behind him.

“However, I’d prefer not to involve even a servant in our family’s private affairs.”

With that, Theseus flashed a gentle, smiling gaze.

“You there. Wait outside. I have matters to discuss alone with Your Grace. Would you keep watch outside for a bit?”

“Uh… Yes, yes, understood~”

“No. Stay here.”

Elliot’s voice abruptly cut in between the two of them.

Theseus looked at Elliot as if he didn’t understand, but Elliot’s two eyes were directed solely at Elliot.

“Stay here. There is no need to go out.”