The day of the Knighting Ceremony arrived.
The day I did not even want to remember.
The day Mother had been brutally murdered.
‘If only I hadn’t been such a coward back then.’
After running away from the swordsmanship tournament, I had shut myself in my room to escape all the criticism and ridicule.
Looking back, I had truly been pathetic.
Mother called for me.
I refused, grew angry, and snapped at her.
But Mother did not give up.
She spared no effort trying to bring me back into the light.
‘She was the same that day.’
Mother knocked on my door as soon as morning came.
The market was open, so she suggested that we go eat something delicious.
She said she would cook my favorite food and went shopping alone.
It was noisy outside.
Everyone had gone to watch the Knighting Ceremony.
But the house was quiet.
So quiet that it felt unbearable.
And.
‘Why did I feel so lonely that day?’
It must have been because I could not hear Mother’s loving voice.
Her voice telling me that everything was all right and asking me to eat with her…….
Then, as if it had been a lie, Mother’s voice vanished.
‘Come out! Hurry up and come out! Your mother is dead!’
When I finally ran to the back alley, Mother’s discarded corpse was waiting for me.
‘I should’ve gone with her. Then…….’
No.
What would have changed even if I had?
Back then, I had been a cowardly wretch, a piece of trash hiding in his room.
Sometimes I thought it might have been better if I had died with her.
At least then, I would have tried to save her.
“I’m sorry.”
While Mother was slashed, stabbed, and brutally carved apart,
I hid in my room and did nothing.
But this time would be different.
I would not waste the chance to turn everything back.
I would find the bastard who killed Mother and ask him why.
‘They called it a simple robbery, but it wasn’t.’
They said it had been a crime for money because she was killed in a back alley crawling with beggars, vagrants, gamblers, and other people from the bottom of society.
But that was not true.
‘The wounds left on her body told me that the killer had been trained with a sword.’
I was certain.
The swordsmanship I later learned in the army had confirmed it.
Why had someone done such a thing?
What could they possibly have gained by killing a powerless woman?
I had spent a very long time thinking about the reason.
But nothing came to mind.
So I would find them and ask.
Why had they done it?
Had someone ordered them to?
Then I would find every last person involved.
“I’ll kill them all. Not one will escape.”
My gaze sharpened.
“Pietro—!”
At Mother’s call, I quickly concealed the dense killing intent inside me.
The old hinges creaked, and Mother’s bright smile appeared.
“I’m going to the market. Would you like to come with me? I’ll make you something delicious.”
Yes, of course.
This time, I’ll go with you.
I’ll protect you.
No matter what.
***
“Young Master, your eyes look rather fierce.”
After glancing around us, Lina emphasized that I should relax my expression.
“Yes. We have come out together for once. Can’t you walk with a smile?”
“Perhaps a cookie would help.”
“You’re right. Lina, you’re so clever.”
What had happened to the stiff girl who insisted that she could not follow Mother’s orders?
Now the two of them worked together better than anyone.
I held the cookie Lina gave me between my teeth and put on the most peaceful expression in the world.
Judging from Mother’s and Lina’s gazes, they did not agree.
But there was nothing I could do.
I had to save Mother.
“Oh, my apologies.”
The market was packed with people. Even when I twisted my body and pulled in my shoulders, I kept bumping into others.
It would be difficult to notice even if someone dragged Mother away.
Then the incident must have begun here.
‘All right. Who is it?’
My eyes moved as I meticulously examined my surroundings.
The expressions of people passing by.
The gazes stealing glances at us.
Even the breath of strangers brushing against my skin.
Things I ordinarily would never have noticed.
That aside.
‘Did she always buy this much?’
The shopping basket I was carrying looked ready to burst.
“Son, isn’t that heavy? Should Mother carry some?”
“I’m fine. It isn’t heavy.”
Lina tilted her head.
Her gaze clearly asked whether I was pretending to be strong when anyone could see that it was heavy.
“If you don’t believe me, try carrying it your…….”
“My! Look how fresh this pumpkin is.”
She slyly avoided the subject and placed a pumpkin the size of her own head into the basket.
The basket I was carrying!
“No, what are you planning to make with a pumpkin…….”
THUD!
Someone slammed into me while I was still speaking.
What the hell……?
“P-please move! Coming through!”
A person had stacked goods so high that they blocked her vision and was weaving around wildly, forcing her way through the crowd.
She was heading toward Mother.
I threw aside the shopping basket and pulled Mother into my arms.
CRASH-CLATTER—!
A woman fell amid the tumbling goods.
A black dress and a white apron.
She was unmistakably a maid.
“Ow, ow.”
She rubbed her scraped knee and looked between Mother and me.
“My apologies…… Young Master Pietro?”
“You know me? Then again, I have attracted some attention lately. Still, charging at me like a tank is a bit much.”
“My apologies! I’m truly sorry!”
Her words were apologetic, but her pupils moved frantically.
The way she kept examining Mother and me was suspicious.
“Pietro, I’m all right. That is enough.”
Because I could not take my eyes off the woman, Mother must have worried that I would cause trouble.
She gestured for me to step back and approached the woman.
“Are you all right? Oh dear, that must hurt.”
“I’m fine. I’m truly fine. I apologize.”
Repeated apologies.
A gaze darting around restlessly.
I was just about to suggest that the two of us have an intimate conversation alone rather than let her leave when—
“……Selly?”
“Oh, Lina. It has been a while.”
Lina stepped forward and called the woman’s name.
A strange atmosphere flowed between the two women.
Lina appeared uncomfortable.
Selly was smiling brightly.
Her eyes were far too cold.
“Isn’t that too much to carry alone? You couldn’t even see where you were going.”
I naturally moved to shield Lina with my body and pointed at the bread and flour scattered across the ground.
“Ah, well…….”
“Wasn’t there anyone who could help you?”
“Well, everyone is busy preparing for the ceremony. The Duke ordered the work done, but there was no one available, so I tried to do it alone and…… I’m sorry!”
“Where were you going?”
Mother looked at Selly with sympathy.
“To the back alley. His Grace said the people there should be allowed to enjoy today as well, so we were ordered to distribute food.”
The back alley.
What a coincidence.
“Oh dear, that must be difficult. Son, let’s help her.”
So this was it.
This was why Mother, who had gone to the market, had been found dead in the back-alley slums.
I gathered the basket lying on the ground and handed it to Lina.
“Mother, I’ll move all of this. You should finish shopping with Lina.”
“N-no.”
I picked up the baskets of spilled bread and the sacks of flour.
Selly’s pupils shook violently.
“Will you? There are sacks of flour too. Won’t they be heavy?”
“They will. But who else is going to carry them? I’m the man here, so I should do it.”
Mother gave a dry laugh and patted my back.
Telling her to hurry along, I hoisted a sack of flour onto my shoulder.
Mother waved with a proud expression.
“Then let’s meet here again later.”
“Yes. I’ll see you later.”
Mother and Lina departed.
Selly watched them disappear, not knowing what to do.
The sight made a hollow laugh escape me.
“Hey.”
Selly shrank at my icy voice.
“You should answer.”
“……Yes.”
“Look at my face.”
She turned stiffly and met my eyes.
Her face was filled with despair.
“It looks like we have a lot to talk about, doesn’t it?”
“No, well…… I don’t think we do.”
“Hmm? Why not? We need to move this. Where are we taking it? Lead the way.”
I gestured to the flour on my shoulder and the basket of bread in my hand, wearing an expression that asked what in the world she was thinking.
Selly’s eyes trembled.
I urged her to move quickly because everything I was carrying was heavy.
She reluctantly began walking.
***
Unlike the market, which was filled with the smells of delicious food, spices, and fragrant fruit, even the stench of the back alley was different.
Piss, shit, something rotting, and an indescribable foulness forced their way through even when I covered my nose.
The ground was muddy from never receiving sunlight.
“How far are you planning to go?”
Selly stopped in the middle of the back alley.
It was a wide space where several alleys converged.
The only place where the sky was visible and sunlight entered.
“Haven’t we gone far enough?”
“…….”
Selly trembled and gave an awkward smile.
“If you’re going to call someone else, hurry up. This is heavy.”
“Well…….”
“That’s what this is, isn’t it? You can call the person involved directly. This spot is dry, so I’ll put everything down here.”
THUD.
“Now! What are you going to do? Are we distributing the food here? Call your friends. Tell them to come and take it.”
“……Well, that is. No.”
After glancing around, Selly suddenly began running.
THWACK—!
Selly’s face snapped to the side.
Perhaps because it was meant to be distributed in the back alley, the bread was excessively hard.
Still, it was not a rock, so it probably would not crack her skull open.
“Don’t lose consciousness. I have a lot to ask you.”
As I reached down to force the woman pretending to be unconscious back onto her feet,
something flashed.
WHOOSH—!
A throwing knife flew through the air and lodged in the hard loaf that had struck Selly.
The attack had been aimed at Selly, not me.
I slowly stood while looking toward the place it had come from.
All the while, I waved the bread tauntingly.
A man emerged from the darkness with a vile smile.
Killing intent gleamed in the eyes above his covered face.
“You’re disgustingly lucky.”
“Was I lucky? Ah! You mean this?”
I pulled the throwing knife from the bread.
“It looks useful for slicing bread. Thanks.”
His gaze wavered.
At that moment, Selly shoved me aside and ran to the man.
If she wanted to survive, she should have run toward me instead of him.
What a shame.
“Hey! That’s the son, not his mother!”
“I don’t know! Hurry up and kill him! We can bring that woman here later!”
I ate the bread as I watched the two of them argue.
Tough and tasteless.
“Ptooey!”
“What?”
They both glared at me.
“Keep going. Don’t stop because of me.”
“You crazy bastard. A half-wit like you has the nerve to act arrogant? This is the back alley! Do you think anyone here will treat you like a young master?”
Perhaps bowing and scraping to me had wounded her pride, because she stood beside the man and poured out her anger.
She even urged him on.
“Stop wasting time and kill him! We have to bring his bitch of a mother here afterward!”
“Selly.”
“What? I said hurry up and kill him!”
“Shut up.”
“Choki?”
SQUELCH.
Selly’s throat split open, spraying blood.
The relatively dry ground was stained red.
“Wh-why are you doing……?”
“If you don’t earn your pay, you die. Nothing else to be done.”
Selly stared resentfully at Choki.
She gagged, desperately searching for a voice that would no longer come.
As the blood spraying from her neck dwindled, she slowly collapsed.
“Good grief. What is this? This place was already filthy enough. Then again, shit on top of shit is still just shit. Isn’t that right?”
His eyes curved.
His voice was filled with excitement.
Choki’s mad laughter filled the back alley.
He was the kind of bastard who felt ecstasy while killing someone.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Huh? Ah. This? It’s thrilling. Why? Are you curious?”
“No. I’m not curious. I think I understand after seeing how you use a blade.”
Unable to understand what I meant, he tilted his head.
That was fine.
I had not said it for him to understand.
“Well, well. It seems the rumors about you being a coward were false.”
Choki laughed as he watched me approach Selly.
He seemed to have decided that no matter what I did, I was no match for him.
“That confirms it.”
The sword mark on Selly’s neck was identical to the mark that had been left on Mother’s.
“Did you like it? Don’t worry. You’ll be reunited soon.”
“I’m not worried about myself.”
“……?”
When I stopped directly in front of him, he snorted in disbelief.
“I’m a little worried about you.”
“Madman.”
SQUELCH—!
Choki’s eyes widened.
Blood dripped from his hand.
“What? Did you think one stab would finish me?”
THWACK—!
CLANG—!
His blade fell from his hand, and blood scattered in every direction.
Choki’s eyes widened in shock.
I seized his blood-soaked face.
“Don’t die. I’m worried you’ll die too quickly.”
Choki’s blood-drenched face sliced through the air.