The expression on his face, as if he were about to cry at any moment, suggested I must have been quite terrifying.
Yet, I had never particularly tormented Sayri. Naturally, I couldn't understand why he was reacting so hypersensitively.
To figure it out, I narrowed my eyes and stared silently at Sayri, who averted his gaze. While doing so, he kept stealing glances at me.
……Ah, Sayri was looking precisely at my neck. At the vivid evidence of the decapitation encircling it.
Once I realized that, the fleeting interest I had felt instantly cooled.
"Well, it seems you remain a half-wit even as time passes?"
When I spoke, twisting my lips askew, Sayri's face flushed red. On his hesitant face, poorly concealed shame and fear were visible.
"Aren't you a bit old for this? At around ten years old, shouldn't you be outside hunting rabbits or something?"
"Hunting rabbits...?"
"Other young masters your age often go out to do so. I can't fathom why you're here in the garden, tormenting this little puppy."
"I'm not tormenting it, I'm pl-playing with it."
I offered a sneer towards Sayri, who was struggling to protest, and strode purposefully towards the puppy's pen. Up close, it was clear.
The puppy had a sandbag tied to its body.
"If you can't catch it without tying on something like this, it seems you should start going to the training grounds today and beg anyone you can find to teach you. Even though the knights of that training ground are all utterly useless in skill, at least they would know how to hold a sword."
This time, Sayri's face turned pale, devoid of color.
"For a boy born bearing the name of Roam to be this incompetent, I suppose it's understandable you're too ashamed to even show your face."
I poured out a torrent of insulting remarks. The fear that had filled Sayri's face was now mixed with a sense of defiance towards me.
However, his habit of immediately averting his eyes whenever they met mine remained unchanged.
"If your body is dull, then study harder to sharpen your mind. If you intend to become a live-in son-in-law in another household, shouldn't you have at least one thing to boast about?"
When I gestured towards the door and spoke, Sayri's pupils shook violently. He seemed to want to say that this was his room.
But his stammering lips ultimately failed to utter any words of resistance.
Only after calmly evicting the room's owner from his own room did I deliberately remove the smile I had been wearing.
Indifferently, I opened the door of the puppy's pen.
Then Mori, who had been holding his breath inside the pouch, poked his head out and called out to the puppy with concern.
[We must untie that pouch first! He'll suffocate!]
"I intended to do so even without your urging."
As soon as I untied the tightly bound sandbag, the puppy gasped for air heavily. Its limbs still hung limp and listless.
So much so that even Minte approached the puppy worriedly, poking and prodding it.
"Let's take him to my room first."
I stood up, cradling the puppy—small enough to hold in one hand—and left the room.
Sayri, whom I had chased out, was nowhere to be seen.
'He clearly seemed to have had his pride deeply wounded...'
I came personally and went to such trouble to provoke him, so now he should be clinging to his mother's skirts, crying to be given the position of minor duke immediately.
'Having met the Crown Prince, he must know his mother has marked him as the successor.'
So, I hoped Sayri would hurry and pester his mother. To say she shouldn't use me, that he would do it himself.
Thus, his mother would persuade his father, his father would secretly summon Lilia, and they would decide to support Maxel.
That natural sequence of events should proceed as quickly as possible.
'Only then can I safely entangle Roam and Maxel together.'
Honestly, everyone is unbearably lazy. I clicked my tongue in irritation.
If Sayri quietly let things slide today, I thought I would have to visit this place a few more times to relieve him of his small animals.
* * *
During the sluggish days that followed, I troubled Sayri a few more times.
Not content with the puppy I had taken from him, I later seized a newly acquired kitten and handed it over for someone else to raise.
After repeating such acts a couple of times, Sayri glared at me resentfully, his face pale as he gasped for breath.
「If you're going to take my animals, then at least give me that cat by your side!」
For him, who always acted like a mute fool in front of me, to make such an insolent demand meant I had stirred him up quite effectively.
「What insolence are you demanding?」
Of course, he quickly backed down at my cold voice.
「If you want to hunt, then run outside and catch rabbits. Don't play childish games noisily outside my window.」
After my cold rebuke, Sayri no longer played hunting games with small animals in the garden.
He might have found another place out of my sight... but at least Mori no longer had to peer worriedly out the window.
During this time, I also heard a bit of social news; it seemed the Roam family was being talked about quite a lot lately. Even though Mother was tirelessly working to establish her authority.
As soon as I heard that news, I picked up one of the invitations that had flown to me and left the mansion.
The pretext was that, as the future minor duke, I would need to engage in social activities. Father couldn't bring himself to stop me.
Or rather, he had no grounds to stop me.
'Perhaps inwardly, he laments that it was easier when I was kept hidden?'
But it was already too late. I had revealed myself before everyone, and those who knew where I resided sent me invitations, even enduring the sharp glances of the Duchess of Roam.
There were that many hyenas obsessed with gossip and rumors, desperate to somehow form a connection with the Resurrected One.
The gathering I attended today was the same. A family of reasonably high standing, with a reasonably diverse group of attendees.
They were surprised and excited by my attendance. Perhaps because of that, many were particularly loud, trying to attract attention.
'With this noise, I'd rather listen to the Dullahans' conversations.'
Trying to be sociable after so long was mentally exhausting.
It was even more tiring because I wouldn't have attended if not for the purpose of moving about and stirring up gossip.
'By the way, don't they ever get tired?'
The attendees at the tea party were curious about the inner workings of Roam, which had been particularly noisy lately. With many rumors circulating, they wanted to verify the truth.
Though they couldn't ask outright, towards them with eyes full of curiosity, I merely offered an enigmatic smile.
Interpreting it is a matter of personal perspective. They will draw their own sensational conclusions.
While suitably mass-producing baseless rumors to make it seem like something was happening, a voice brimming with emotion was heard nearby.
"Oh, merciful Goddess. I give thanks for Your grace."
The noblewoman hosting today's tea party, which I attended, repeatedly prayed, calling upon the Goddess.
I don't know why she's thanking the Goddess when I'm the one attending the tea party...
As I pondered her incomprehensible logic, I soon shook my head and brushed off the thought. Then, busily, I took out my pocket watch to check the time.
"My, it's already this late. I should take my leave now."
"So soon? We would be even more grateful if we could host you until evening!"
Cries of regret erupted from all around. However, I firmly and decisively cut off their persuasions without wavering.
"I must go to the Lindea River tomorrow to exterminate Monsters."
It wasn't an empty excuse. I was diligently performing the act of exterminating Monsters at the Lindea River as well.
It wasn't any particularly grand battle.
After all, no one would think I had the ability to fight Monsters anyway.
I simply wandered around the Lindea River area, muttering made-up words that sounded like prayers.
The Monsters, already slain, naturally didn't appear. But the majority, unaware of the circumstances, firmly believed the Monsters weren't appearing because of me.
"Ah, I see!"
The noblewoman gladly saw me off. And once again, she offered a prayer of thanks towards the heavens.
Well, she seems to be a rather devout believer, I suppose.
Having reached that understanding, I boarded the carriage.
"Take me back to the mansion."
I have things to do as soon as I arrive, so I should catch some sleep in the carriage.
* * *
Upon returning home to the mansion, I immediately stood in the lobby without even changing my clothes and summoned the servants.
Then, I announced that rumors about Roam were circulating outside and thundered that I would find and deal with any servant who had lightly wagged their tongue externally.
The servants' panic at my sudden, unreasonable order was only natural.
"Wh-what? What do you mean all of a sudden?"
The butler tried to calm me down in confusion, but it was useless.
I was already deeply immersed in the role of the past Anelli Roam, who used to run amok.
"I've already heard the rumors outside. How dare you, having received the Roam family's grace, wag your tongue without distinguishing heaven from earth? I won't let this matter slide, so it would be wise to confess on your own. Then I'll allow you to leave on your own two feet."
When I subtly implied that they would face great hardship otherwise, the servants' faces turned pale.
Some even contorted their faces unbecomingly.
Unable to bear the increasingly hostile atmosphere, the butler attempted persuasion once more in a dignified tone.
"Matters of employment are under Madam's authority."
"How dare you defy my words?"
What could the butler do? To the servants, I am the successor brought in and seated by the family head himself, soon to be proclaimed the minor duke.
The butler floundered, saying he would handle it, and I grew even more indignant, shouting, 'How dare a lowly servant presume to punish a traitor who betrayed Roam on his own?'
"Sigh..."
The butler's face seemed to have aged a good ten years from my brief rampage.
As it was still early, the other family members were each attending to their own schedules. It meant there was no one to stop me if I decided to run wild.
Moreover, behind me stood Pallides, clad in full armor from head to toe, ready to obey my command at any moment.
Thus, I succeeded in expelling the servant before Mother finished her schedule and returned home.