Why You Should Be Responsible For Him - Chapter 3 Part 1

I, Yveline Rovensdi. No, Yveline had perseverance, but she wasn’t as cunning as she is now.

Before being taken by Rovensdi, that is, when my mother was alive, Yveline had the perseverance to solve a boring puzzle of ten thousand pieces based on the map of Pantheon States. However, she wouldn’t risk her life to solve those puzzle pieces, even if more than half of them were correct. It could easily be overturned.

But now, I live more cunningly than anyone else. Not to solve puzzle pieces, but for ‘freedom.’ To escape from the clutches of Ceres Rovensdi, the man who killed my father and became the master of Rovensdi Family.

“Yveline, you’ll live all day just waiting for me with your neck stretched out.”

“…….”

“If I lose interest, you’ll dry up and die, poor thing.”

“…You crazy bastard.”

He was strangely obsessed with me. And he tried to tame me like a well-behaved dog.

Even during meals, I had to eat at the time Ceres wanted, the menu he desired, and the amount he wanted. On days when I refused to eat, the attendants tied my arms and legs to the chair and forcibly opened my mouth to shove food in.

Unchewed food passed down my throat, and even if it didn’t accept my body, I had to forcibly eat until Ceres ordered me to stop.

Blood flowed through the steak every time Ceres wielded a knife.

“Yveline, remember this. It’s not tasty if you force yourself to eat. Right?”

Even opening up my eyes in the morning required Ceres’s permission. Every day at 6 am, he came to my room, opened the window, and kissed my forehead. And I could only open my eyes when he called my name.

“Yveline.”

If I tried to wake up earlier or refused to open my eyes, attendants inevitably came and tortured me. They locked me in a small cell so cramped that only one adult could lie down, filled with dozens of roosters. Tiny bugs from chicken feathers crawled all over me, and besides the moist chicken eyeballs, nothing else was visible.

No water or food was allowed in the cell, and I endured being trapped for four days. To survive, I twisted the neck of a chicken and drank its blood. When a servant opened the door, the chicken carcasses I had killed or couldn’t endure fell out, and I staggered out of the cell.

Unlike me, covered in blood and stench, Ceres was dressed in a refined suit. Neat black hair neatly combed over his forehead revealed a smiling face.

“Now you know when morning should start, right? Remember this too, Yveline. Oversleeping is not good.”

I tried to kill that bastard, swinging even the chicken intestines scattered on the floor with all my might, but it was no use. Not only did I not have any strength in my body, but a servant blocked his way.

“Hey, you shouldn’t block between me and Yveline.”

When Ceres gestured, all ten servants who had gathered stabbed the man servant’s body with knives.

Splat.

In an instant, the servant who had been tortured fell in front of me, and after that, Ceres, who was smiling, gradually appeared. He slowly wiped my cheek stained with congealed chicken blood.

“You look very tired. Let’s wash up first and have a meal, my Yveline.”

I was gradually being consumed by this psycho. The more I resisted, the more he dragged me with him. Until I reached the point where I asked him for help in extreme situations.

I didn’t refrain from attempting to kill Cerese. I tried to stab his throat with a fork I had hidden, I tried to take advantage of the moment I opened the window to my room in the morning to throw him out, and I even set fire to his room.

However, most of my plans to kill him either fell apart easily through sheer force or were thwarted by the surveillance of servants living in the dreadful mansion. I was endlessly weak, powerless, and had nothing. It seemed like I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t obey his words.

So, I ran away.

It hurt my pride, but escaping without getting the revenge I desired was bitterly frustrating. But I ran away to survive.

No, I’m in the process of running away.

It doesn’t mean I climbed over the towering walls of Rovensdi at night. In fact, I hadn’t done such a futile thing since the time I almost got my legs cut off.

Pretending to give up everything, I acted like an obedient fool, imitating a well-behaved dog, a modest and well-behaved younger sister – whatever it took.

It seemed like my submissive behavior pleased him, as Ceres’s actions became increasingly excessive. And when that bastard licked his lips, I desperately endured the urge to punch his face.

Around a year later, I started making small demands on him. I wanted to study. I wanted to read many books. I wanted to test my skills. I wanted to become a sister that my brother could be proud of.

In front of Ceres, I acted appropriately stupid. I pretended not to remember what he taught me today and claimed not to know something he taught me yesterday.

And when I returned to my room, I studied like crazy until 6 am, the time Ceres usually came in. Then, I covered myself with a blanket and pretended to sleep when the time for Ceres to enter arrived.

By the time I’d done this so many times that I had the entire book memorized in my head, the Imperial Academy freshman exams were held.

Ceres naturally thought I would fail. So, he said, just try it for fun. And let’s eat something delicious in the evening.

“Yeah, I’ll be back.”

As soon as I got on the carriage, I burst into laughter like a madman. The coachman knocked on the door and asked what was going on, but I laughed so hard that tears burst out.

Never to be seen again, you stupid psycho.

The Royal Academy is a prestigious place known enough for people from distant lands to come for tests, even from the far side of the map. It is a place where all students must live in the dormitory.

For test-takers coming from distant places, the on-campus dormitories were open until the announcement of results. After the acceptance announcements, those who failed naturally had to return home, but those who passed could choose to stay in the dormitories until the entrance ceremony. After the entrance ceremony, everyone had to live in the dormitories.

I entered the academy as the top student. This meant that I could receive full financial support for tuition and didn’t have to return to that damn mansion. Even Ceres couldn’t reach me at the Royal Academy run by the imperial family.

Moreover, during the entrance ceremony, I was already eighteen, so I wasn’t a minor according to the imperial standard. It was an age where I could make my own decisions outside the protection of a guardian.

Once I decided to enter the academy, nothing could forcibly drag me out!

I remember Ceres, sitting in the Rovensdi family carriage, looked at me through the window into the Royal Academy entrance and didn’t say a word. It left a strong impression on me.

At that moment, I grabbed my stomach, rolled on the floor, and burst into laughter. Even if people said I was crazy, it was okay. I was so happy that I was really going crazy. Because that bastard Ceres looked as if he had been hit properly and had a stupid expression.

After I entered the academy, Ceres didn’t provide any support. Enduring and enduring, he eventually waited for me to drop out and return to the Rovensdi mansion, to his arms.

* * *

Thud!

Electricity surged from the kicked sole of my foot to the tip of my head.

That damn golden statue.

I tried to kick it again, but guards were already rushing towards me from a distance.

Damn, I’ve been caught.

My eyebrows fluttering, I barely manage to outrun the guards before I found Ash

Today is the first day of tutoring, as promised with Ash.

He suggested having the tutoring session in his dorm room, but I flatly rejected it. Despite being the son of the chairman and having a spacious, comfortable, and luxurious dorm room in the academy affiliated with the imperial family, it was located on the opposite side of the building from my dorm.

“It’s hot, and my legs hurt. When will you stop going there?”

When I firmly spoke, he suggested, “Then to the senior’s room…” I waved my hand as if chasing away a pesky fly. My private space is not a place to enter casually.

The library, an empty classroom, and a lecture hall were all options, but the lecture hall was ruled out because it was a hassle to find an empty space every time, and the library was an inappropriate place to tutor, as seniors might be studying or making up classes.

But if we went out to the library’s outdoor terrace, the sun would be scorching and we would both turn into burnt potatoes.

Therefore, I chose…

A nearby abandoned building with plenty of empty lecture rooms. It was a building right behind the dormitory where I reside. Originally intended for renovation to accommodate practical lessons for martial arts subjects, it became abandoned as a new martial arts practice building was constructed all over with the donations from noble families.

The inside of the abandoned building was so filled with dust that it felt like walking through a fog.

Ash swung open the door of the classroom where we had agreed to meet with a bang! He greeted me with a smile, having kept the windows open for quite some time, making the classroom comfortably airy.

“Senior, you’re here?”

Ash’s voice was so lively that it made me angrier more.

You, you assh*le……!

I grabbed his collar to pull him down to my eye level.

“Either remove that pathetic statue, or you get removed. Choose.”

“Huh? Remove it? Why…”

“Because you’re embarrassing me, and I want you to do something about that statue!”

He finally seemed to understand, making a sound like, “Ah…”

Yeah, you wouldn’t be embarrassed, would you?

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking clearly, but it should have been bigger to showcase your majesty a little better……. I’ll make it five times bigger.”

“Are you crazy?!”

“If you don’t like that, I’ll build an academic building in your name. It’s definitely more like a thank you plaque than a statue.”

“I don’t see how it looks like a plaque!”

He’s crazy.

The more I argued with him, the more outrageous his answer became. He even went so far as to offer to produce a 30-dollar bill and shove my face in it.

It was mind-boggling. Eventually, I covered his mouth with both hands.

“…Alright, stop it.”

I lost. Fighting against someone whose logic didn’t make sense was truly difficult. He still had a face as if he didn’t understand why I was acting like this.

“Open the book.”

I sat down, planning to cover the golden statue with cement.

Yveline, let’s forget about the golden statue for now. We’re just thinking about the tutoring fee. Money, just money, money.

As I envisioned the piles of substantial cash that would accumulate in front of me, my mind gradually cleared. Just 10 seconds ago I wanted to punch Ash’s face in a corner, but now his face seemed unexpectedly adorable.

Ash straightened his back and neatly placed his hands on the desk.

“Imperial history is a flow. It’s better to study by understanding the overall cause and effect rather than cramming for the exam. It will be easier to remember and comprehend. Don’t think of it as studying, but rather, think of it as listening to a story.”

“Yes!”

I continued explaining step by step from the early days of the foundation, making continuous efforts to help him understand by drawing pictures in the empty spaces of the book.

Fortunately, Ash was a quick learner. The progress flowed smoothly, surpassing the planned amount of materials he’d set out to learn today.

We’re way past the number of pages we set aside.

When I stopped explaining and took a moment to think about something else, I felt a sharp pain in my throat.

Hmmm.

As I coughed lightly, Ash rummaged through his bag and handed me a glass bottle. Whether it was enchanted with warming magic or not, a chilling sensation spread through my fingertips as soon as I touched the glass bottle.

Enchanting with warming magic consumes quite a bit of mana to maintain it for an extended period… Is he a monster?

“It’s Camiller’s tea, I thought you might have a sore throat.”

“Uh, thanks.”

As I took a sip, a subtle floral fragrance spread through my mouth, and the refreshing, cool taste was evident. Gulping, I swallowed several times, the weight of the heavy bottle seemed noticeably lighter.

“Senior, is there something on my shoulder?”

“Ah, refreshing.”

I wiped my mouth and handed the glass back.

Thirsty, trying to resume the lesson, but something keeps drawing my attention. Ash was clearly right in front of me, yet my gaze was drawn towards the right side, specifically, Ash’s right shoulder.

What is that?

The black object was wriggling above Ash’s shoulder.

Wriggling?

“Senior, what’s on my shoulder?”

“Yeah, don’t move.”

“What?”