房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Zoemi frowned and nodded his head in understanding.

"..."

For a few seconds, the room was silent as Miriette and Benevirau were looking at Zoemi with concerned expressions while Elsby was busy sulking, when suddenly...

"EH?! Wait! Hold on! What did you say?!"

Elsby jolted up and cried out in shock once Zoemi's words sunk in.

"Arisu is the reincarnation of Cherro. If everything is the same, then I believe that guy was the son of Carcassuss and Kirisu. He messed up your – by that I mean the Ghosts as a whole – plan to assassinate the royal family three centuries ago because he was creepy as fuck and tried to kidnap the second princess instead."

The black-haired boy said, casually counting on his finger the things he learned by watching the events of the different timeline.

"Oh, and he is messed up in the head and believes himself to be a hero. Did I get everything right or are there actually some differences?"

Zoemi added looking away from his hand with extended fingers and gazing at the flabbergasted Elsby.

"That little sleazy creep is back...? Impossible...!"

The pure disgust that was shown on the jet-black-haired young woman's face would be enough to convey her feelings about the mentioned youth even if for some reason her voice didn't carry through.

|I see. Good to know that she managed to stay true to herself.|

While Zoemi was smirking, his own voice resounded in his mind, but the black-haired boy wasn't the one to think the words.

|I was wondering when you will speak up – I was beginning to think that you went into hibernation even though you were only a plush bear.|

Although it weirded him out initially, Zoemi realized what was happening within a single heartbeat and cheekily snickered at the original personality.

|I have slept enough, but I also don't intend to interfere with your life unless a chance to help my master will show itself.|

The original personality seemed to struggle with irony and sarcasm at the moment so his answer was on the serious side.

|Ah, so right now you see an opportunity like that, then?|

Zoemi asked curiously without looking away from the shaken Elsby – which honestly just looked as if the black-haired boy was giving her some time to process the revelation that was just bestowed upon her.

|Look at this.|

Instead of explaining things by talking, the original personality showed the black-haired boy two visions in quick succession.

The first one showed Elsby, who looked a bit younger than the one sitting on the floor of the room in the Banemor mansion. The vision was from a first-person perspective and judging by the point of view, it was what the toy bear carried by the second princess was seeing.

The slightly younger Elsby was leaning down and patting the toy's head with a gentle smile.

The vision had no sound, but the black-haired boy could vaguely make out what she was saying to the young second princes from the movement of her lips.

Then, the next vision was also from the same perspective, but this time it was a chaotic scene of a massacre where members of the Ghosts of Bellcephora were murdering the royal family.

Elsby was there too, she was fighting and killing like the others, but her expression was vacant as if she wasn't really conscious of what she was doing.

That latter one was a direct confirmation of what Elsby had already told or very strongly implied to Zoemi during their last, not-so-friendly meeting.

|Alright. I will give her the benefit of the doubt – but if things turn ugly, I am blaming you.|

|Feel free to do so.|

The black-haired boy sighed internally and grumbled in his mind, to which the original personality responded in casual confidence.

"Cherro has been looking at you strangely, young princess. Even though he and I are in the same group, we aren't friends. If you have any concerns about him, do not hesitate to tell me..."

"!!!!!!!"

Zoemi took a deep breath and said seemingly out of nowhere, making both Miriette and Benevirau look at him with concern – but as for Elsby, her reaction was far greater than that.

The young woman shuddered and almost fell on her back – and would tumble like that if she didn't support herself with her arms in a timely manner – and even started backing off like that while staring wide-eyed at the black-haired boy.

"...was what you have said to the little second princess at some point. Did you not? It seems like you had your suspicion, but let me clear it out for you. Better late than never, I suppose."

Zoemi didn't move from his spot and certainly wasn't going to chase after Elsby – instead, his words were enough to make her stop in place and tense up, waiting for him to actually continue.

"He was hurting her. Very, very badly. Enough for her trauma to persist even after she died, making it impossible to move on. And Kirisu knew all along. So by any chance, if you are in the mood for revenge and are willing to join forces, I will certainly welcome you as an ally. This time seriously, with no strings attached... as long as you will not try to kill anyone important to me."

The black-haired boy revealed, without getting into much detail. It was unnecessary in the first place.

After all, Zoemi didn't say out loud everything that he read from the lips of the younger Elsby in the vision.

---I know that look, I know those eyes, my own father, step-mother, and even my step siblings looked at me like that. I know exactly what that means. If he ever approaches you, contact me through this boy.---

Those two sentences held way too much disturbing information that Elsby probably didn't want to be revealed in front of others, so Zoemi kept it to himself.

...but one look on the jet-black-haired woman's face was enough to let him know that she realized that he does know – or maybe it was just her intuition. Or instinct. One or the other, maybe even both.

"..."

Despite staying silent, the jet-black-haired woman looked up as if she tried to glance at the murky-black sphere at the top of her head.

Although Zoemi didn't have access to her thoughts and was not going to ask the sentinel about it, he was completely sure that the two were talking using the improved message spell created by him.

"Grandpa, Elsby will be staying in the mansion. Are you okay with working together with my little ones and making sure that the Ghosts of Bellcephora will not bother her here? It would be preferable if they didn't even realize she is here."

The black-haired boy nodded his head although nothing was actually being said and ended up turning to the dark-blue-haired young-looking man.

"No problem – although actually, it would be okay if you kept your sentinels close to you. I fended off the Ghosts in the past and I never stopped honing my skills. I will keep our territory safe, including everyone in it... as long as they do not wish harm upon the Banemor family."

Benevirau nodded his head before straightening his back proudly and declaring with confidence. His last words had definitely carried some degree of hostility towards Elsby, but at least it was a subtle threat and not direct aggression.

While the dark-blue-haired man was announcing his stance on the subject, he also began to cast a defensive spell without any delay.

A thick, milk-like fog began rising from the ground, enveloping the Banemor estate completely basically erasing it from existence, while a bit thinner, and more normal fog covered the land outside, wearing thin and disappearing only near the borders of the Banemor territory.

"Yeah... no wonder that Rethaq hated you so much, sir Benevirau. Your fog is so much stronger than hers was."

Elsby sighed while peeking out of the window without standing up.

"She and Kiorterell were directly in the death of young lady Learen – the young master's mother. The only thing that I feel about that piece of trash is disappointment that I didn't take part in her demise."

"I shredded her from the inside while blocking off the ability to activate her darkness blade. Comparing them both is an insult to grandpa."

Benevirau shrugged his shoulders and glared in the general direction of the jet-black-haired woman, while Zoemi looked to the side, talking in a dismissive tone as if it wasn't a big deal and only a necessity that had to be done.

Elsby tensed up and raised her shoulders defensively, looking cautiously between the two men before cautiously glancing over at the dark-haired girl with the stipe of platinum hair in her fringe.

"You have the guts to look for encouragement from the person who looks just like the older second princess if one of you didn't murder her. I even have some platinum hair. What is your intuition telling you, Elsby?"

"...?!"

Unfortunately for the jet-black-haired woman, Miriette was straight up furious – funnily enough, the dark-haired girl wasn't that much bothered about the thing she said. The only reason she said it was because she figured out that would be something that would upset Elsby the most.

...and she was right about that...

But still, Miriette was actually so spiteful, because Elsby was a member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora, and obviously the Ghosts were responsible for the death of Zoemi's mother.

Miriette was a spoiled noble lady through and through and she certainly didn't feel like acting as a bigger person and forgiving a member of said Ghosts even though Zoemi seemed to want to cooperate with one of them.