The Master of Fake Tears and Skinned Rats

Unable to return to his own bedroom, Elliot spent the rest of the dawn fuming and huffing with rage, so I calmed him down and let him sleep in my bed. The bed was wide enough for two children to lie down without much trouble.

Naturally, we packed our bags as soon as the sun came up. Perhaps because this sort of thing happened often, the maids moved with practiced, disciplined efficiency. Even though they hadn’t come up when we screamed in the middle of the night, I could understand why they avoided Kyle Berinnon. From a servant’s perspective, an employer’s ill-tempered family member is filthier than dung and more terrifying than a gun.

“That psycho!” Elliot muttered, still unable to cool his head as he stomped his feet. Honestly, even calling him a “psycho” felt like a compliment to Kyle Berinnon. While I could guess the reason he acted that way, I didn’t want to understand it. I could grasp it as a sort of defense mechanism, but it was far beyond the realm of common sense. He was acting like a lunatic on purpose.

As we were leaving the mansion, Berinnon, standing behind us, felt like a cursed doll. To my surprise, however, he didn’t interfere; he just stood there watching us with a bright, beaming smile.

“Mother will be back in the afternoon. Wouldn’t it be better to say goodbye before you go?”

“Eat shit, you moron.”

“Is such vulgar language the fashion in the capital, Elliot?”

I clamped my hand over Elliot’s mouth as he tried to pour out a stream of curses. Even though I told him not to talk to a crazy person, Elliot couldn’t contain his anger. His fuse was shorter than usual—likely a mix of having screamed in the night and the deep wound to his pride upon realizing that what he’d been terrified of wasn’t a real rat carcass, but a well-made imitation.

The problem was that psychos of that type only found it more amusing the bigger the reaction they got. If you gave them a huge reaction once, they would surely raise the stakes of their “pranks” to see it again.

“Keep it in check, Berinnon. Next time, I’ll be angry too.”

“I’m looking forward to that.”

“Really? Are you saying that even after seeing me spar with Blodgett?”

When I clenched my fist and shook it, Berinnon blinked.

As expected, a fist works better than words for a crazy person. I suppressed the slight flicker of something like pity and steeled my heart. Regardless of his circumstances, I had no intention of quietly enduring such behavior. Berinnon had crossed the line, and he didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding his malice.

I had seen a few of these nasty types before. They delight in the pain others suffer because of their pranks, yet they are usually the most fragile when they experience pain themselves.

“Ah. I know the Vice Commander of the Candilhas from the capital is your brother. And that you learned swordsmanship from Sir Edward Spellman.”

“No. I don’t think you truly understand what that means yet. But if you want, I can make sure you find out.”

At my firm words, Berinnon pouted. Exactly. I felt a sense of relief and feigned a relaxed air. Elliot, looking very satisfied, pulled my hand away. He was definitely going to insist on buying lunch today.

“Then Llewellyn must be very sturdy.”

“What?”

“You won’t break easily. Right?”

“Crazy…”

Unfortunately, Kyle Berinnon was a lunatic who exceeded my imagination. After a moment of quiet thought, as if he had realized something, his cheeks even flushed a faint pink. The sight of him looking so ecstatic sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t even want to guess what he was imagining. At this point… it’s a very rude thing to say, but isn’t this a problem with his upbringing?

“See you later then. Elliot, Llewellyn.”

Kyle Berinnon—the little devil with the face of an angel—waved us off. “What does he mean, ‘see you later’? Psycho,” Elliot muttered in a disgusted voice. My thoughts exactly.

“Why the hell is that bastard suddenly acting like that?”

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, Elliot threw off his jacket and ground his teeth.

I weighed my conscience and sighed. Getting angry was one thing, but I wasn’t about to go around prying into someone else’s shameful secrets without a good reason.

“Don’t try to understand a madman.”

“Don’t dodge the question.”

“I told you, I was surprised too. He was so quiet until…”

“It’s not like you met him separately. If I ask Blodgett, he’ll tell me everything.”

Blodgett already seemed to harbor significant animosity toward Berinnon, so if Elliot asked, he would likely spill every detail. But if that happened, would Elliot just let it go? Probably not.

Setting aside my friendship with Elliot, it was an undeniable fact that as the heir to one of the most prominent families in the capital, he possessed a very aristocratic mindset. He had come back quietly only out of respect for Lady Berinnon’s face; if he found out there was a flaw in Kyle Berinnon’s status, he certainly wouldn’t let it slide, if only for the sake of his own pride.

“You act like you care about everyone, but you don’t actually pay that much attention to others. Explain what happened that made you start crawling around Kyle, unable to ignore his words—and why that bastard is suddenly acting out like a dog whose tail was stepped on.”

If Elliot decided to go and find out, it wouldn’t even take half a day. If the kids knew, it wouldn’t be a secret among the adults either.

“I just… I felt bad that he didn’t seem to get along with the other kids, so I wanted to look out for him. He’s your relative, too. And it’s hard to ignore the Baroness’s kindness.”

Elliot’s eyebrow shot up. It’s a plausible enough excuse, so keep talking, his face said.

“Besides, Blodgett is too straight-laced. If I stayed with him, I’d get healthy, sure, but I wouldn’t gain anything else.”

“And you think that guy can give you what you want?”

“He seemed like it.”

When I added that he had offered to show me the “inner side,” Elliot drummed his fingers against his thigh. His aura was noticeably calmer than a moment ago.

“You said Kyle has no friends?”

“I can’t be sure since the only peers I’ve met are the Blodgetts, but probably.”

Elliot snorted.

“With a personality like that, it’s not surprising.”

I didn’t know if the twisted personality came first or if he was ostracized because of his status, but I certainly didn’t want to keep someone who acted like he did last night close to me.

“The Lady will come looking for us. You and I are probably the only ones that kid has ever brought home as ‘friends,’ so she won’t just let that fall apart.”

“I suppose so.”

“Still, he’s the type who tries to listen to his mother, so he’ll follow along.”

I smiled at Elliot, who was clearly still displeased.

“I’ll try to keep a tight leash on him.”

Though it was shocking, I felt that it might actually be better that Berinnon had revealed himself this way. He was definitely still young. I was busy contemplating how to bundle up and drag along his clumsily exposed true nature.

“Elliot.”

As expected, Lady Berinnon visited before the day was out. I could imagine how flustered she must have been when she returned home and heard we had gone back to the hotel.

Following our pre-arranged story, Elliot said, “We just felt like we were imposing too much. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.” The Baroness let out a sigh of relief and checked again to see if anything had happened.

“If anything did happen, please, forgive him. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional. Kyle was very upset, too. I’m away from home so often because I’m busy, and the boy is so passive that he doesn’t have many friends. Perhaps he’s just awkward at interacting with peers… But it seems he was so happy to finally meet a relative his own age.”

He doesn’t have friends because he’s a piece of work, not because he’s timid. I poked the side of Elliot, who was struggling to control his expression. Keep your face straight. However, at the Lady’s next words, even I nearly failed to maintain my composure.

“The boy is so tender-hearted… I worry so much because he seems clumsy at expressing his own opinions.”

“Pardon?”

Tender-hearted… I forced a smile, recalling Berinnon laughing while saying I was sturdy and wouldn’t break easily.

The Lady spent quite a while talking about how timid and frail her son was—but also how soft-hearted and angelic he was.

It was an ordeal to listen to, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell the poor Baroness—who clearly didn’t know her son’s true nature—that ‘Your son put a rat carcass in my bed as a prank; well, it was a fake, but still.’

Elliot argued strongly until the end that we should shatter that ridiculous delusion, but I didn’t think the seemingly delicate woman could handle it. In truth, Elliot knew it was more beneficial to keep it covered and use it as a weakness to control him, but he was mostly just being grumpy.

And then, she finally got to the point.

“So, if it’s alright, could I ask you to stay with Kyle for a few days?”

“Stay with him?”

“A sudden schedule to go to Derta came up, and I was already worried. Even though there are people at the house, I can’t feel at ease leaving the child alone…”

Elliot and I didn’t answer immediately, pretending to hesitate as planned. In truth, we had only expected her to ask us to “get along” with Kyle; we hadn’t anticipated her asking us to live with him for several days.

This is quite the… I chuckled inwardly as I looked into Lady Berinnon’s teary eyes. If one were fooled by that innocent and lovely face, they would surely be in for a disaster.