I’m the Future Crazy Male Lead’s Mother Chapter 84

I quickly read through Silvestain’s letter.

The letter was quite a bit longer than I had expected, but I managed to get through it by speed-reading. Then I stood there frozen for a moment.

“…….”

“Lady Cilia? Is something wrong? You don’t look well……”

Carl’s pleased expression, which had probably been expecting to see his little sister happy to receive a letter from her older brother, slowly faded. He carefully studied my expression.

When I hurriedly touched the corners of my mouth, I realized they had stiffened without me noticing.

“Ah…… No, it’s nothing. It’s just that Silvestain said something difficult to understand again.”

“I suppose it has something to do with the research he said he was conducting? Silvestain is quite something. When you look at him sometimes, he’s almost excessively passionate. Hahaha.”

I quickly relaxed my expression and brushed it off because I didn’t want Carl to worry. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to find anything strange about it. Judging by the hearty laugh he gave as he said that you couldn’t hide the blood of the Evanroar family, he seemed to believe me.

I appropriately nodded along as he went on about my dedication to farming and Silvestain’s obsession with his research, then naturally slipped out of the room.

“…….”

With each step down the corridor, my pace gradually slowed. My feet felt heavy, as if each one weighed a thousand pounds.

The letter from Silvestain, hurriedly crumpled and tucked into my bosom, felt like shackles fastened around a criminal’s ankles.

“If what Silvestain said is true…….”

Dragging my heavy feet along, I somehow made my way toward the rice fields where the magic circle should have been completed. It was the only place where I could be completely alone right now.

Just as Elston had said, a huge magic circle that hadn’t been there before now perfectly surrounded the rice fields. Several complicated formulas had been layered over one another, and even someone as ignorant of magic as me could tell that it was no ordinary magic circle.

But what did that matter?

My heart, which should have been filled with joy, felt completely empty.

“You’re saying I have to go to that island?”

Muttering to myself, I plopped down onto the cut tree stump where I often sat while supervising the Black Hawks. Since winter was just around the corner, a thin layer of frost had formed on the stump.

My nose felt strangely cold, so I sniffed and breathed out a puff of air before taking the letter from my bosom and unfolding it. Silvestain’s neat handwriting filled the pages.

He had spent an entire page proudly telling me how happy he was that I had taken an interest in Ruben, as well as boasting at length about the research he had conducted so far.

It was a good thing I could speed-read. Otherwise, the letter would probably have been in the campfire by now.

I turned to the next page.

[……So I’ve continued researching Ruben all this time. And I obtained a very meaningful clue. You see, I learned about a ruin that the Siaster family manages.]

A ruin managed by the Siaster family.

He hadn’t written where it was or given its exact location. He only said that it was a small island not far from the Siaster estate, a place unknown to ordinary people and not even marked on the map.

[There’s no doubt that there’s a clue about Ruben there. Apparently, a worker who used to travel by ship was shipwrecked and drifted onto that island, where he happened to discover a certain tower.]

So that worker must have been the important informant Silvestain mentioned finding last time.

[As luck would have it, the tower’s door was open, so he peeked inside and saw some writing about an existence that would bring destruction to this world. He became curious and wanted to go inside, but before he could, someone came out of the tower, so he couldn’t enter. Do you know who that person was?]

Judging by the context, I had a pretty good idea who it was.

Dazar Siaster.

[Apparently, it was Duke Dazar Siaster. He glared at him with those frost-sharp golden eyes and suddenly summoned a sword. The worker said he desperately cried and explained that he had ended up on the island by accident after being shipwrecked, and only then did Dazar let him go.]

Silvestain’s handwriting began to look increasingly scrawled, almost as if the letters were flying off the page. It didn’t seem to be because he was in a hurry, but because he was far too excited.

[That’s incredible information, right? You have no idea how much alcohol I had to buy that worker to find this out. I told him never to tell anyone about it. How amazing that you happened to ask exactly about this. Fascinating, isn’t it? But he couldn’t remember where the island was. I wonder if there’s any way to find out…….]

There was nothing of importance after that. I folded the letter up again almost as if crumpling it and tucked it back into my bosom.

“So…… in order to find out whether Axion really is Ruben, I have to find that tower…… No, first, I have to go to that island.”

And Dazar was probably the only one who knew where that island was.

……How on earth was I supposed to get to that island?

Judging by what he had done to that worker, there was no way it was a place just anyone could enter.

And there was no way Dazar would tell me about such a place.

Haaaaaa. I let out a long sigh and clutched my throbbing head.

 

***

 

……I was certain that was what I had thought just the day before yesterday.

“Let’s go! Hmm? Cilia! Let’s gooo!”

“……Va, Vanilla?”

How had things ended up like this?

I froze like a statue in the middle of spreading butter on my bread, my mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

“Family has to go on a trip! Family triiip!”

“Umm……?”

“We have a villa! We’re going during the Period of Rest. Dazar said so. Secret villa!”

I had no idea where Vanilla had heard about a family trip, but she was definitely talking about the island Silvestain had mentioned.

“It’s right next to hereee. It’s a secret island. You know? So we have to leave behind people who aren’t family. Hmm?”

“…….”

Whisper, whisper. Vanilla glanced at Morocanil, who was sitting across from me, and spoke in a tiny voice. But there was no way Morocanil could have failed to hear her, despite how quiet she was.

And of course, neither could Dazar.

“……Vanilla?”

Dazar placed his knife on the table, his face unusually flustered. Then, thanks to the glance he threw in my direction, I had to desperately convey with my entire body, I don’t know anything.

I felt unnecessarily guilty.

What on earth is going on all of a sudden while we’re eating?

Things had started with Vanilla asking for a family meal.

Dazar came, so we have to eat together!

It had been a while since we had all eaten together, but Vanilla stubbornly insisted that we have a meal as a family.

Apparently, she hadn’t been feeling well while Dazar was away, so Dazar and I roughly agreed to go along with it and have dinner together.

Axion was supposed to stay with Carl.

I’m in charge of monitoring Dazar, so I’ll be joining you as well.

Whaaat? No!

Naturally, Morocanil ended up joining us too.

I could practically feel the awkwardness in the air as I uncomfortably cut into my steak……

People really do need to eat meat.

I didn’t.

Whether they were awkward or not, the head of the household had been away for a while and had only just returned, and Vanilla had personally asked for something delicious, so I happily enjoyed the steak the chef had prepared with his utmost skill.

And then, out of nowhere, Vanilla brought up the subject of a family trip. She suggested that we visit the villa during the “Period of Rest,” when the entire world would freeze over.

And what was more, there was no doubt that the destination was the very island I had been racking my brains over just two days ago.

Heavens…… No, did Vanilla hear my wish or something?

Vanilla puffed out her cheeks slightly and spoke confidently.

“Why? Dazar. We said we were gonna go together. You said families go together.”

“……Yes. We did say that. But I meant the Siaster family. Cilia isn’t a Siaster.”

Dazar answered with a slight furrow between his brows. Vanilla chewed on her lip before lowering her head completely. Before I knew it, tears began to drip down onto her dress.

“Then…… Cilia aren’t family?”

“……Urgh.”

Dazar grimaced. His face was filled with an unusual amount of bewilderment, making me realize once again that he was secretly rather weak against Vanilla.

“I…… wanted to…… make…… memories…… with Cilia…… Sniff, I wanted to…… go together…… with Dazar……”

Well done, Vanilla!

The tears falling one after another were heartbreaking, but this wicked adult was cheering Vanilla on.

Because this was my chance to go to that island.

After several rounds of Vanilla’s tear attacks and Dazar’s sighs, Dazar finally raised both hands in surrender.

They say there’s no father who can beat his daughter. He was the perfect example.

“Fine, fine. But shouldn’t we ask the person involved for her consent first?”

No. He hadn’t surrendered yet.

Dazar looked at me expectantly.

You’re going to refuse, right? You’ll refuse, won’t you?

His eyes seemed to say exactly that.

But I smiled at him and answered firmly.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

“……What? Why are you going there?”

“Why? Weren’t we family?”

“……!”

Dazar’s eyes widened at my answer. At the same time, his cheeks seemed to turn slightly red, though perhaps I was imagining it. I wanted to take a closer look at him, but I couldn’t because I had to catch Vanilla, who had thrown herself into my arms.

“Yaaay! Family trip together!”

The two men watched the two of us, who were practically radiating a warm and cheerful atmosphere, with completely different expressions.

Dazar looked flustered, his face slightly flushed.

And Morocanil silently watched us without revealing a single emotion.

……Then is Morocanil staying here?

As the person officially assigned to monitor Dazar, was that really okay?

The thought briefly crossed my mind, but honestly, that didn’t matter.

What mattered was that I had managed to go with them.

To the island where there might be a clue about Ruben.