“Pfftt!”


  A shameless laugh was heard.

  It was Vieze’s son, Belsach, who had called me.

  A man with brown hair and brown eyes, who did not resemble his mother, Seral, at all and instead, just looked like a replica of Vieze.

  That grumpy looking face had many flaws but even then, women would never stop approaching him due to his status of being the eldest son of the Lombardi family.

  “Hhaaha!”


  But what was in front of me right now was just a little boy who I’m assuming must be around ten years old.

  He was someone who engaged in all kinds of nasty things, so I was the one who had to clean up and deal with his mess. He was really someone who made me tremble whenever I saw his face, but as a child, he was pretty cute.

  “Are you laughing at me?!”


  However, that temper wasn’t cute at all.

  Still, I was about to apologize because I thought I’d end up feeling bad later.

  “This filthy half-blood dares to laugh at someone!”


  But offensive words kept leaking from his mouth.

  “Half-blood?”


  Little by little, I began to remember.

  My cousins, including Belsach had cursed me to death just because my mother had been a commoner.

  “Brother, I think that half-blood must be pissed off right now?”


  As I turned my head towards the voice that just poured into the air, I could see my second uncle’s first son, Astall, standing next to him.

  If Belsach had made me crazy due to his disorderly private life and violent incidents, then Astall had troubled me by becoming addicted to gambling.

  He had become a good target for the other gamblers because he was a powerful, brainless idiot whose innermost thoughts would be visible to everyone.

  Eventually, he almost got kicked out by grandfather and before he entered the Lombardi knights faction in his later years, there were several buildings that Astall had already sold away due to gambling debts.

  That’s right, these two would always stick together and pick on me.

  “What would you do if I was angry?”


  “Are you going to cry again and pee?”


  At that time, I had been very afraid of these two.

  Even if it was just a child’s prank, the bullying by them had been very vicious.

  I was too young and powerless to deal with their pure malice towards me because as the saying goes, children are more cruel than they seem.

  So, previously, whenever I would come across these two, I couldn’t even run away and would only tremble, so that everything would just end quickly.

  Sometimes, it would just end with ridicule and some insults, but on days when Belsach wasn’t in a good mood, he would end up bruising me.

  When my father would show anger due to it, Vieze and Laurel would often rebuke him and say ‘that’s how young kids grow up but it’s too much of a joke.’


  “Ha.”


  But I suppressed my anger. Then I asked something.

  “Belsach, how old am I now?”


  “What?”


  Belsach looked at me strangely as if I had suddenly asked a weird quesiton.

  “How old am I?”


  Originally, I wanted to make my voice more intimidating and deep but since this was a child’s body, I was limited in that sense.

  “You don’t even know that?”


  When I spoke in a way that disregarded and looked down on him, Belsach replied angrily.

  “You’re seven years old! I know!”


  Oh, I see, you mean I’m seven?

  “Right. I’m seven years old. And you’re ten, and Astall is eight years old.”


  There was a difference of about three years and one year between us, so I was able to calculate their ages.

  “Now that you’re that old, how can you be so childish?”


  Originally, children like to think they’re all grown up.

  “You shouldn’t make fun of your cousin by calling her half-blood like that.”


  I tried to coax the two as nicely as possible.

  What do the kids know about this? All the fault lies on the adults.

  But Belsach’s mood turned rather nasty.

  “Cousin? Childish?”


  Somehow, somewhere, it seemed that something bad was going to happen.

  I turned myself around because I sensed he needed something to vent his anger quickly.

  Belsach, wheezing, looked down at me threateningly.

  “Is she crazy?”


  And then he raised his hand high.

  But for some reason, he waited for a while before hitting me.

  As if he was expecting me to be afraid.

  But when they didn’t get the response they wanted, Belsach and Astall became perplexed.

  And their embarrassment was expressed by the act of hitting me.

  “Ahh!”


  The raised hand grabbed my hair and pulled me as hard as it could.

  With that power, my knees and scalp burned as I fell hard on the ground.

  When I looked up, I could see a few strands of my hair ripped out in Belsach’s hands.

  “Haha! What a sight!”


  The face, pointing at me and laughing at me, was the same as the face of the one who treated me as a maid, asking me to go out to the fountain and do the laundry every time I encountered him in my grandfather’s office.

  The anger that I had suppressed inside me by thinking of him as a child soared back.

  “For the lowly half-blood. Are you trying to teach me?”


  Belsach said while pushing my head down.

  “Just because you have the same last name, you’ve started deluding yourself into thinking you’re one of us.”


  Astall smiled meaningfully behind him.

  “You’re not a Lombardi. So get the hell out of here, you half-blood.”


  “I told you not to say it.”


  “What?”


  “I told you, don’t call me a half-blood.”


  I, who had fallen on the ground, lifted one foot and kicked Belsach’s shin.

  It wasn’t a very strong kick, but the shin area hurts quite a bit even if one hits lightly.

  “Arghh!”


  Belsach screamed loudly and fell backwards, clutching his legs and rolling around.

  I immediately stood up with the book that had been dropped next to me.

  “Th-this!”


  I could feel Astall step closer in surprise as he tried to help.

  I turned my head to the side without saying anything and stared at that child, Astall.

  That alone caused the timid Astall to become terrified and stop at his place.

  I glared at him one more time so that he could stand there quietly and then approached Belsach, who was still rolling around like a puppy.

  “This spoiled puppy.”


  I wasn’t wrong.

  My first uncle, Vieze, had no manners and often behaved like a dog to his wife and Belsach was a seed that had been produced to be just like his father.

  Puppy was just the right word.

  A fearless puppy.

  I’ll fix your habits.

  “You, you crazy bi**h!”


  He was in pain, but his mouth was still alive and loud.

  With the book that I was holding, I began to use it to repeatedly smack Belsach’s shoulders and arms.

  It’s a pretty thick book so it will hurt.

  “Aghh! Ahh!”


  “Again and again! Half-blood! Half-blood! You made me mad by saying half-blood! You were asking to be beaten! Shouldn’t have done it!”


  “Ast-Astall! What are you doing! Argh! Get this nasty thing off me! Ahh!”


  Belsach called Astall desperately but the small child was already trembling.

  The little boy, who was only eight years old couldn’t help it anymore.

  “For me! Because of you! How hard it is for me! I know it!”


  Ignoring the hand that was trying to push me, I continued to smack Belsach with the book.

  “Ughh, kggh!”


  Even though I had only smacked him a few times, this young child’s body was out of breath and my arms felt weak.

  If Belsach would have acted rebellious and hit me back, I would have been instantly knocked out, but fortunately, I was safe.

  He started crying.

  “Ahhh! Nngh, save me!”


  My ears were stinging because of how loud his voice was.

  It was then.

  The door of the office burst open and a loud yelling sound was heard.

  “What a fuss!”


  A middle aged man with a huge, intimidating presence whose neatly arranged white hair and beard gave the impressions of a lion’s mane appeared in front of me.

  “G-grandpa.”


  It was my grandfather, Lulak Lombardi, the patriarch of this Lombardi family, who was staring at the scene of Belsach lying on the floor and me smacking him with my book.

  “Belsach!”


  Soon after, someone came screaming from the office while calling out his son’s name and pushed me roughly.

  “Ah!”


  It was incomparably strong compared to how I had been pushed down by Belsach a while ago.

  The book fell far away, and my palm and wrist became sore as I used them to reduce the impact of my fall and avoid hitting my head.

  “Tia?”


  That’s when I heard an affectionate voice.

  My father, who came out of the office belatedly, saw me and approached me with surprise.

  “Oh my god! Tia, your wounds!”


  It’s probably because I look like a mess right now.

  Belsach was the one crying, but apparently, my condition was much worse.

  “Brother, Father! Father!”


  But I know how loud Belsach is, and he’s going to make it worse than it is.

  “You! Apologize to my son right now!”


  He asked me to apologize without even bothering to listen to the whole story.

  My eyes turned red and I turned my head away, because I didn’t want anyone to see that face.

  “This, this cheeky thing!”


  Then, Vieze stretched his hand out as if he was about to hit me right away.

  “Brother!”


  I felt my father hugging me and protecting me.

  But judging the situation, it seemed like he would end up hitting my dad who was blocking me.

  “Stop it!”


  However, the immediate situation was temporarily suspended as soon as my grandfather voiced out in anger.

  Vieze was still struggling, but he couldn’t say anything anymore and stared at me with his eyes as if he was going to kill me.

  In the quiet hallway, only the whimpering of Belsach rang from time to time.

  Me? I was quietly laying down in my father’s arms and hugging him.

  To be honest, I’m flattered.

  I wanted to leave a good impression on my grandfather but from the beginning itself, I messed up.

  All because of that stupid Belsach.

  My grandfather, who took turns looking at Belsach and me for a while, then looked at Astall.

  The boy was already hiding away while holding onto my second uncle, Laurel’s clothes.

  Only

  “Astall, what happened?”


  Grandfather asked.

  Astall looked up at his father for a moment and then replied.

  “B-Brother Belsach and I were just walking and this half, no, this Florentia suddenly started hitting us.”


  No, but can you see what that loyal dog is saying?