“…Yes. That’s right.”

“Just a bit… Can you think for a moment?”

“Yes…”

Sharply, Matapju brought the chair she had been sitting on to Teddy.

There were no signs of anger, hatred, or sadness. Teddy, like dreaming, just sat there blankly.

‘You should cry, or express anger. Why are you… Why are you so powerless?’

It would have hurt less. It would have seemed less difficult.

Sessenia had thought about this moment hundreds of times. The situation when she told Teddy that he was a noble.

And in those hundreds of thoughts, Teddy had shown anger and despair.

Of course, she thought it would be like that, not this powerlessness.

Teddy, who always liked holding hands with Sessenia, seemed to have fallen into such despair that he was ready to let go of that hand.

Sessenia patted his shoulder.

On Gelroks, who had been watching all this, beads of sweat trickled down from his forehead.

How could he survive? How could he get out of this situation?

The moment he resented himself for not suspecting anything and playing along with the lies.

Then suddenly, he could meet the man sitting in the chair.

Or rather, by just looking at the one sitting there blankly, he could tell.

That noble, the man whose hair he had changed, looked much more dazed than he had thought.

A smile spread across Gelroks’ face.

He struggled to move his bound arms and leaned forward toward Teddy.

“Sorry, I was… for the money… I couldn’t help it.”

“…”

“My child, my child was sick. There was no other way… because there was no room for a sick child… That… the things coming from Matap could prolong a child’s life, but they were so expensive… So, please… Please spare me. I made a mistake.”

Teddy showed no reaction to those words. Instead, Matapju’s face stiffened.

“Gelroks.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Do you really think we are fools?”

“W-what…?”

“Do you think we wouldn’t even know the fact that you have no family?”

“T-that…”

The lies he spat out to get out of the immediate crisis were far too flimsy.

That sloppiness heightened Matapju’s temper even more.

“Why. Do you have a child you couldn’t even put on the family registry?”

“Yes. Y-yes, I have a daughter. A very weak child. Ev-eventually, with the money I received at that time, I managed to get some tools from Matap, but… she eventually died. So, you wouldn’t know. She… she died.”

“Oh. So, that’s why I don’t know?”

“Yes. Yes.”

Sessenia felt so foolish for having a brief moment of pity.

Still, she thought it wouldn’t be like this. How could he tell such a lie?
“For the past 20 years, it’s a well-known fact that you’re a complete scumbag. A guy who gambled away all the money in the house, even hitting his wife who had been living with him until she was about to die. What’s the deal with a husband like that?”

“Oh… Oh… Did I do that…?”

“In the end, the wife became unable to bear children, leading to divorce. This is a story from well over 20 years ago, but where did the child suddenly come from?”

“I am the mother. I misspoke. Haha.”

“You were a daughter, and now you’re the mother? Didn’t the mother die in her early years? What a funny story you’re telling.”

It was truly absurd. Creating non-existent children just to survive, and even dragging in the dead mother.

Sessenia felt even more disgust towards this person.

“Gelroks. You just committed one lie and one insult.”

“Me, me?? Insult…? S-so, all of this is because of me…”

“The lie about having a daughter, and another lie about the items from Matap being expensive.”

Gelroks, who understood the lie but couldn’t comprehend the insult part, shrugged his shoulders.

“What?”

“I’m saying that because you don’t know. The magical tools from Matap are indeed expensive. I left the pricing up to the creators because they are autonomous. But listen. Essential items related to people’s lives and things like that are unreasonably cheap.”

“Ha… Ha… It wasn’t like that 20 years ago…”

“I’ve been doing this for 100 years. What nonsense are you talking about? Have you lived for 120 years?”

“…”

“You probably didn’t know because you never bought such items. You just knew that things sold by Matap were expensive. Truly, you are the worst until the end.”

He mumbled with his lips, hesitating.

“I-I really apologize. I made ridiculous excuses just to survive. I really want to live now. I will live a good life. Please… Please…”

Matapju’s gaze turned towards Sessenia. Sessenia’s eyes, now cold and hardened, looked down at Gelroks.

“Perpetrators are always like this. In order to avoid their own sins, they commit another crime. Even now, instead of sincerely apologizing, they are pressuring Teddy in any way possible to save their own lives.”

“Oh, no. It’s not like that… It’s…”

“Even telling someone to forgive is another form of harm… Why don’t humans like you understand?”

It would have been better to just lie flat and apologize.

“Matapju, please punish Gelroks instead of me. After all, the law can’t deliver proper punishment to the perpetrators.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll scold him thoroughly.”