The Villainous Family is Against Independence

The Severes family was thrown into chaos by the crude warning letter from an unknown sender.

Viscount Dorus was a branch family of Severes, and Pavo Dorus was the Viscount’s son.

Though not direct, he carried Severes blood and thus held a fairly important position within the family.

Kidnapping such a person was, in essence, a challenge to the Severes family.

An emergency meeting of the Severes family was called.

All vassals, including the head of the family Richard Severes, and even Count Felix Hicklemeyer who had been absent, were summoned.

Though no one told her to attend, Elodie also voluntarily joined the meeting.

“Wasn’t that Pavo fellow serving as Lady Elodie’s attendant? I believe he went to the Perdia mansion with her.”

At one vassal’s words, everyone’s eyes turned to Elodie, who was sitting next to the family head.

[Everyone’s looking at me, how embarrassing.]

‘They’re not looking at you.’

Inwardly retorting to the self-absorbed Greed, Elodie maintained a calm expression.

Though she had been acknowledged, in reality, she had merely bought the right not to be opposed with money.

Naturally, as some vassals didn’t consider Elodie as the heir, she had anticipated that the arrows of attack might come her way.

However, the rebuttal came from an unexpected source.

“Pavo returned to his home on his own in the middle of his duties. So this kidnapping has nothing to do with the young lady.”

Viscount Dorus himself defended Elodie.

With Pavo’s own father stepping forward to declare her uninvolved, no one else expressed doubts about Elodie after that.

‘Unexpected. He couldn’t have grown fond of me while I was educating him.’

Elodie looked at Viscount Dorus with fresh eyes. Viscount Dorus wasn’t the type to take sides based on personal feelings.

The meeting continued.

“The last place Pavo was seen was at a members-only club on Toinette Street.”

“And his whereabouts after that?”

“Unclear.”

At that moment, Duke Severes, who had been quietly observing the situation, asked a question.

“Are there any suspects or forces presumed to be the kidnappers?”

At that instant, one person flashed through Elodie’s mind.

‘…Gabe Jenade?’

Given his connection to the god Irkala, he might be after the sin’s sealing stone.

But that was just speculation; there was no evidence.

She had asked Gretel to keep an eye on him, but there were no peculiarities, so there were no grounds for suspicion.

Who on earth could it be? The kidnapper after the sealing stone.

Felix, who had been silent, interjected with a question.

“The power of the sealing stone that Severes sealed was immortality, right? Could it be the work of some madman dreaming of immortality?”

“They should know of the terrible price they’d have to pay for making a contract with a sin.”

“Well, that’s true.”

It was just a casual suggestion anyway. Felix shrugged and leaned back.

After that, opinions about the kidnapping continued to fly back and forth. However, no useful ideas emerged.

A moment later.

Silence fell over the meeting room.

Everyone had the same thought, but as it was an uncomfortable topic, they hesitated to speak up.

Eventually, one vassal looked at Viscount Dorus with a bitter smile.

“No matter what, we can’t hand over the sealing stone. It’s Severes’ duty after all.”

“That’s right, Viscount Dorus.”

“……”

Viscount Dorus remained silent.

No matter how precious one’s own flesh and blood might be, one couldn’t give up the sin’s sealing stone to save just one person.

He knew. He understood it rationally.

But as a father, he couldn’t help the searing pain, as if his insides were being carved out.

Was this how he had to lose his child, so futilely?

One vassal patted Viscount Dorus’s shoulder as if to comfort him.

“We’ll do our utmost to search for now, but……”

After a brief pause, what followed was an unbearably cruel sentence.

“In the worst-case scenario, you’ll have to give up on Pavo.”

The face of Viscount Dorus, who had been trying to maintain his composure, finally crumbled.

There was no choice but to give up.

‘Oh, Pavo, my boy.’

Always an unfilial son, and now driving the final nail into his heart.

Just as Viscount Dorus was about to bow his head to the vassals’ decision.

“No.”

“……!”

Cutting through the sorrowful silence, one person’s voice rang clearly through the meeting room.

Elodie looked straight at Viscount Dorus and said firmly.

“We won’t give up.”

“……Young lady.”

Viscount Dorus called out to Elodie in a choked voice.

She continued to look around at the vassals in the meeting room with a serious expression.

“We won’t give up. We’ll keep searching until the end.”

“Of course, we didn’t mean we’d give up right away.”

“We were just considering the worst-case scenario.”

The vassals added, as if making excuses.

“Isn’t it too early to talk about giving up over just one threatening letter?”

“……”

“Elodie is right. We haven’t even done anything properly to be talking about giving up.”

Duke Severes agreed with his daughter’s words.

At that moment, a vassal who felt provoked by Elodie’s words asked heatedly.

“Are you going to save Pavo even knowing he dislikes you?”

Elodie’s gaze turned to that vassal.

Even if he’s an annoying guy who hates me-

“That doesn’t matter.”

“……”

“Because he’s a member of my family.”

Elodie’s eyes were unwavering.

“I will definitely rescue him from the kidnappers’ hands.”

It felt as if those words would truly come to pass.

Elodie narrowed her eyes as she looked down at the crude threatening letter.

Elodie was very displeased to have her prey snatched away before she could even begin proper mental training.

‘I’ll be the one to deal with this.’

***

Severes’ search was futile.

They deployed all their forces to search for Pavo’s whereabouts, focusing on Toinette Street where he was last seen, but they couldn’t find any leads.

Since I had boldly declared in front of everyone that I wouldn’t give up, I also put in a request to Mario, but there was no news back.

Perhaps not understanding my attitude, Greed asked.

[Didn’t you dislike that guy anyway? Do you really have to find him?]

“Of course, we have to find him. This is directly linked to the family’s honor.”

[Humans live such tiring lives. I don’t understand why they try to keep alive those they dislike.]

“I agree that it’s a tiring way to live.”

From the start, my intention to save Pavo wasn’t for his sake.

Even if he were to drink himself to death somewhere, it wouldn’t matter to me at all. Well, I wouldn’t shed a single tear.

But since the kidnapper had openly declared war on Severes, I couldn’t just sit idle.

I am the heir to Severes, after all.

As the future head of the Severes family, it was only natural to protect family members.

Since we need to find out the kidnapper’s identity anyway, let’s consider saving Pavo as killing two birds with one stone.

I connected to Gretel to inquire about the whereabouts of the only person I suspected.

“Miss Gretel. How is Gabe Jenade?”

[The last time I saw him was this morning, and it seemed he was holed up in his research lab.]

It was the same report as always. Gabe was so shut up in his magic tower that it almost seemed a waste to use Gretel’s power.

‘Maybe it’s not Gabe.’

Then who on earth is after the sealing stone and doing this?

As I fell silent in thought, Gretel cautiously called out to me from the other side of the communication device.

[Elodie? Is something wrong?]

“I just have some things to think about.”

[If, if it’s okay with you, I can listen to your worries!]

“Actually, a member of our family has been kidnapped. We’re having trouble because we can’t trace their whereabouts at all.”

[Kidnapping? How could they do such a terrible thing… May I ask the name of the person who was kidnapped?]

I could guess Gretel’s intention in asking for the name.

She probably meant that if it was someone she had come into contact with, she might be able to find them with her clairvoyance.

But I didn’t think there would be any connection between Pavo and Gretel.

Still, just in case, I told her Pavo’s name.

“It’s Pavo Dorus.”

[Pavo Dorus? Ah! That person! I have had contact with him! He grabbed my hand without permission once!]

“Wow, he really is a scoundrel.”

That came out automatically. To think he even had a history of making advances on Gretel.

But that also meant we could now know about Pavo’s situation.

Who knew his debauchery would be helpful at a time like this!

‘Well done, you libertine!’

I’ll have to thoroughly correct his behavior after rescuing him.

I was already feeling better, as if we had found Pavo Dorus.

“Can you use your clairvoyance to see what situation he’s in now?”

[Yes, just a moment.]

Gretel fell silent, probably using her power. After a while, she shared what she was seeing with her clairvoyance.

[Um… He’s blindfolded with his hands and feet tied, trapped in a dark space. Oh, oh my. It seems he’s crying?]

At least we confirmed he’s alive. I’m not curious about the crying part.

“What about the location?”

[It’s close. In the basement of an old building near Toinette Street.]

I thought that if he was still alive, he would be nearby since not much time had passed since the kidnapping.

Now that we’ve confirmed Pavo is safe, it is time to get information about the kidnapper.

“Are there any people around Pavo?”

[Ah, I’m sorry… I couldn’t see that far.]

Gretel’s clairvoyance was a very useful ability, but its duration was very short.

But that was enough.

“It’s okay. Thanks to you, Miss Gretel, we know the location.”

Although we couldn’t find out the kidnapper’s description, it was a significant achievement to have learned about Pavo’s survival and location.

***

Pavo, who had been unconscious, gradually regained consciousness.

His head felt like it was about to split. No, with this level of pain, it might have already split.

He couldn’t see anything in front of him.

“Mmph, mmph…!”

Moreover, he had a gag in his mouth and couldn’t speak. Naturally, his arms and legs were bound.

The fact that he was tied up and couldn’t see anything induced extreme fear.

He struggled, trying somehow to escape this situation.

But there was no way his tightly bound hands and feet would come loose.

“Ugh, ugh…”

The cloth covering his eyes became damp, soaked with tears.

He tried to recall his last memory of why he had ended up like this, but perhaps because he had been drinking heavily, nothing came to mind clearly.

He vaguely remembered talking to some pretty woman.

‘Save me, please, someone save me…’

He desperately pleaded inwardly, but his wish wasn’t granted.

How much time had passed?

His whole body ached as if he had been beaten from staying in one position for so long, and he felt like his stomach was sticking to his back from not eating.

That’s when it happened.

Creeak-

A sound like an old door opening was heard.

Pavo’s entire body stiffened with tension. Someone’s footsteps gradually came closer and then stopped abruptly at his head.

“Do you want to live?”

It was a woman’s voice.

“Mmph, mmph!”

“I don’t want to harm you either, but…”

But?

Doesn’t that sound like she has no choice but to harm him?

Sensing the aura of death, Pavo began to struggle with all his might.

“Mmph!”