Chapter 41: An unexpected offer
The tense pause that ensued at that moment was definitely more eloquent than any words.
I just opened and closed my mouth like a fish, unable to muster any other reaction.
Meanwhile, Serpens Strange took a few more steps inside and stopped, still looking at me in bewilderment.
"Ma’am, when you said you needed to step away for a moment, did you... mean this?"
"Oh, yes."
Since my body was still under the control of the system while I was completing the story quest, the answer just slipped out of my mouth. However, perhaps it was even better that way this time. After all, I myself could barely function normally at the moment due to the shock that had overcome me.
In the end, I really didn’t expect this person to follow me here. And even more so... that we would meet here under such circumstances.
"Serpens, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I waited for you in the carriage for half an hour, but you never showed up. So, I thought something might have happened to you and decided to come after you."
I shook my head.
"Ah, I see."
"Lady Weinstein, excuse me, but what are you doing here?" Serpens asked again. "And... who is this child?"
The moment the man’s suspicious gaze fell on the child behind me, my heart almost stopped. To be honest, this situation was truly out of the ordinary. At least, if only because in the original game storyline, Lionel Ferder never met his real father.
Now they were looking straight at each other.
Damn. From the outside, this scene really did look quite exciting.
Nevertheless, despite this, I saw no hint of shock or surprise in Serpens’s gaze. Did he really not recognize him? Even though I already knew that neither Serpens nor Lionel had ever suspected the other’s existence, couldn’t such a situation have aroused at least some suspicion?
After all, Lionel looked very much like his father, even as a child. How could that have gone unnoticed? I found it hard to believe that someone as intelligent and perceptive as Serpens could not have had even a hint of suspicion about this.
Therefore, I could only find one explanation for everything that was happening — the script for this game was designed so that the two would not recognize each other. Otherwise, I simply refused to find any logic in it!
"Nothing serious," the game script answered for me. "I came here to meet an old acquaintance I hadn’t seen in a long time. And this boy... I met him here by chance, and we talked a little."
Hearing my answer, Serpens blinked in confusion.
"Is that so?" he asked again. "In that case, lady, if you’re done here, we can go back..."
"Not yet," I said unexpectedly.
"What?"
"There’s one more thing I haven’t settled."
"What is it?" he inquired. "Can I help you with that?"
I paused before answering.
"The thing is, I want to take this boy under my wing," I said slowly.
"....."
"Excuse me?" Serpens asked in surprise, and deep down, I asked myself the same question.
"This child. I met him by chance, but I was intrigued by his abilities. So I thought it would be wrong for his talent to be wasted in a place like this."
Okay... I had just come to terms with the fact that this game was simply going to destroy me.
"First the main character, and now one of her love interests... Why bother with trifles? Let me gather all the characters in this game under one roof and take them all under my wing!" My indignation at that moment knew no bounds.
"Lady, what talent are you talking about?" the man asked in confusion.
"This boy is capable and mature beyond his years. Besides, even though he’s just a street kid, he’s quite well-mannered. That’s why I think we can’t let such talent slip away."
When I said that, the surprise on Serpens’s face didn’t diminish in the slightest. However, after thinking about my words for a few seconds, he soon seemed to accept my latest strange idea and sighed.
"Okay, I understand..." Serpens nodded. "In that case, how exactly do you plan to deal with him?"
Of course, the answers were not long in coming.
(Keep the boy for myself.)
(Hand him over to Serpens.)
Needless to say, which of these two options I chose without hesitation?
At least this time, the game didn’t cheat me and actually allowed me to make a choice. However, I can’t say that the situation itself particularly inspired me...
"How about taking him as your apprentice?" I suggested.
"What? Me...?" Serpens asked in surprise.
At that moment, he looked closely again at the boy, who seemed to be hiding behind his mistress’s skirt. For some reason, he had a strange premonition at that moment.
"Wouldn’t it be good if you trained him to be your assistant, who would be completely devoted to our organization?" I said. "Besides, in the future, he could even replace you in this position."
"....."
For the next minute, Serpens Strange remained silent.
Of course, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Lady Weinstein’s sudden proposal really took him by surprise. Why did his mistress suddenly want to take a child under her wing, especially from such a place?
But on the other hand...
"During my time with her, I became convinced that the lady is a truly perceptive person and very similar to the late master. And if she really saw something remarkable in this child... then it must be so."
In the end, the man simply agreed.
"Very well," he sighed, "Lady Weinstein, if that is your wish, I will gladly accept him."
After these words, he bowed his head respectfully, and I nodded in satisfaction in response.
"Wonderful. In that case, I will buy this boy out of the brothel right now."
Although I said this with a smile on my face, my secret desire at that moment was quite different.
"Please, just shoot me right here and now, and let me go to the other world in peace!"
***
Buying Lionel Ferder out of the brothel turned out to be not so difficult.
When I approached the owner of the establishment with this proposal, he gladly agreed to sell me the boy without even asking what I was going to do with him.
In the end, I had to pay almost half of what I had paid for the pink jade earlier.
Yeah... Sometimes I could only smile at the true cruelty of this world, where a precious trinket was worth more than a human life.
Well, in any case, this time such indifference definitely played into my hands.
Now the three of us were returning to the estate.
Looking at the boy with tousled silver hair sitting in the seat opposite me, I had mixed feelings.
When Lionel learned that I had decided to buy him out of the brothel, he reacted without much emotion.
Or rather, he just nodded, as if he were merely an object whose sale or purchase was no big deal.
Although I even felt a little sorry for him because of that, but... anyway, sooner or later it was bound to happen to him, wasn’t it?
According to the original plot of the game, the old Count Ferder was supposed to buy Lionel out of the brothel in two years. So the homeless boy, who originally grew up as the son of a prostitute, inherited an aristocratic status that allowed him to later enter the palace.
However, despite the fact that this turn of events really looked like a real blessing that had fallen on the head of a poor orphan, in reality, everything was not so rosy. After all, when the boy broke free from the shackles he had been in before, he immediately fell into others.
Having suddenly become the successor to the old count, Lionel’s life was filled with a whole set of rules and restrictions that he was obliged to obey. In other words, he paid for his rise in social status with his freedom and literally became a prisoner in a golden cage.
In addition, his new adoptive father, the old count, was also a very peculiar man.
Ultimately, the count had good reason to choose this particular child, who had grown up in similar circumstances and had such striking good looks.
Although there was no reliable information about this in Lionel’s biography, possibly due to censorship of the game, there were still quite direct hints that Lionel was subjected to more than just strict discipline for the sake of his upbringing at the count’s estate...
Ultimately, it was no coincidence that this character had the most complex personality in the game, and completing the romance storyline with him had a happy ending was quite a challenge.
And now, unintentionally, I had "saved" Lionel from this fate... Whether it was good or bad, it’s too late to judge now.
Fortunately, after I bought Lionel out of the brothel, this damn story quest finally ended. I felt incredible relief when I was able to control my body again and say what I wanted.
Meanwhile, throughout the entire journey, I also felt Serpens’s scrutinizing gaze, which clearly indicated that he was still not satisfied with the explanations I had given him earlier. Based on this, I really should have clarified the situation before giving him the boy to raise.
So I deliberately decided to choose a convenient excuse to do so. Glancing at the boy, who was wearing old and worn-out clothes, I thought that I should buy him at least one new set of clothes.
"Serpens, please stop here."