“……Is it true that Sarka’s father tried to kill Sarka?”
One afternoon, at a tea table Baigarten had called him to, Ruslan asked abruptly.
Since Ruslan had chosen not to return to the scholarship student dormitory, Baigarten frequently checked Sarka’s room and called Ruslan out whenever there was a chance to assess the situation. He probably wanted to check on Ruslan’s safety from time to time and snatch him away from Sarka’s grasp, even if just for a moment.
It was both a thankful measure out of concern for Ruslan, and a strict measure to monitor and warn Ruslan not to leak Sarka’s secrets.
In any case, none of that mattered right now.
At the question thrown with a serious expression, Baigarten’s eyes widened, then he soon composed himself and set down his teacup.
“……Sarka’s father didn’t try to kill him! Even if it’s true their relationship is terribly bad, still, he’s not someone who would kill his own biological son!”
Baigarten vehemently denied it. Furrowing his brow with an almost horrified look, he seemed to think Sarka’s father was quite an admirable person.
Well, when Ruslan first heard about it, he too had imagined that Sarka’s father, famous for respecting humans, would be a very gentle and peaceful person.
To Baigarten, who was puzzled about where he’d picked up such talk, Ruslan organized and relayed what Sarka had said.
Soon, as if understanding, Baigarten let out a deep sigh. He corrected the situation in a somber tone.
“……The ones who tried to kill Sarka were……conversely, the Pureblood Faction vampires.”
Ruslan’s eyes grew huge.
“What? Aren’t they the same ideology? Why would they kill him?!”
Baigarten looked at Ruslan with slightly ambiguous eyes, as if the story was complicated. His expression seemed to be calculating how much he should say.
But soon he seemed to conclude that since they’d come this far anyway, he should provide some explanation. Letting out a short sigh, Baigarten explained dryly.
“Sarka’s mother’s clan is an incredible prestigious family, even among Pureblood vampire clans. It’s practically the center of the <Pureblood Faction>, and as great as its prestige is, so too are its power struggles. Didn’t I say Sarka’s mother passed away the year before last due to complicated circumstances? ……In reality, you should see it as her being purged after losing in a power struggle.”
Ruslan gasped.
Baigarten added with a dark face.
“When Sarka’s mother passed away, all the people related to her were eliminated simultaneously.
All of Sarka’s siblings, his stepfather, his mother’s concubines, servants, attendants, semi-slaves……, what we’d call lower-class workers. Everyone died without a single person left.
Naturally, Sarka, being the eldest son and legitimate heir, was also priority number one for elimination, but he miraculously survived and barely managed to escape to his biological father’s clan. In reality, even now if he’s cast out from his father’s clan, he doesn’t know when or how he might die.”
“……!!”
Ruslan stared at Baigarten blankly with his mouth agape.
Baigarten had a bitter expression.
“……When Sarka, who had fled, requested protection, Sarka’s father demanded just one thing as a condition for accepting him.
Abandon <Pureblood Faction> ideology and become a complete <Coexistence Faction> member.
……He said if Sarka refused, he couldn’t recognize him as his son.
Since losing his father’s protection meant losing his life, from Sarka’s position it must have felt like his biological father was saying he’d kill him unless he abandoned his beliefs.”
“…….”
Ruslan swallowed dryly.
For a long while, Ruslan froze, unable to say anything, thinking of Sarka’s face.
He’d always thought those were unpleasant eyes, dead like a pollack’s, but suddenly those eyes felt different.
……His family……
Even the servants, attendants, and workers, not a single one left…….
His chest grew heavy.
The attitudes that were always expressionless, irritated, and sharp like a blade in all directions suddenly seemed to hold different meaning.
If it happened the year before last, he was a boy who had lost his family and closest people in an instant just two years ago.
Having barely survived that crucible alone, fleeing to a clan with the opposite ideology…….
Ruslan fell silent, immersed in a heavy feeling.
Baigarten continued explaining with a complicated expression.
“……Anyway……Sarka accepted that condition, and at first it seems he tried fairly hard to become <Coexistence Faction>. Sarka’s father also worked hard to raise his son as <Coexistence Faction> using this opportunity……. But, as you can see……”
“……It ended in spectacular failure.”
At Ruslan’s miserable assessment, Baigarten sighed. As if following him, Ruslan also sighed repeatedly.
Watching Ruslan silently with a heavy expression, Baigarten also made a gloomy face.
“……In the end, as the price for keeping his beliefs, he was practically……how should I say……exiled to this human school.
Sarka probably doesn’t want to worsen the situation further either, so outwardly he’s acting like he’s adapting to the human school, pretending to obey his father’s orders……but I don’t know how long even that will last.”
A somber sigh flowed.
Baigarten frowned, then confessed his true feelings with a serious expression.
“……Honestly speaking, I’m worried Sarka might lose his will to live.”
“……Will to……live?”
Ruslan’s eyes wavered.
Baigarten made a bitter expression. Deep worry dwelled in his blue-green eyes.
“……At this school, Sarka is spending days that even I can see are too boring, dull, and lethargic.
Have you ever seen him leave his room? He doesn’t even eat breakfast and holes up in his room. When I try to open the door out of concern, he snarls like a wildcat hiding its young, suddenly throws a perfectly good carpet into the fireplace saying he doesn’t like it, breaks furniture……. Every single day he tries to hole himself up alone in gloomy places like the archive room…….
……Actually, thinking about it, it’s natural. His biological mother passed away, his younger siblings, stepfather, even servants—everyone he’d known since birth all died……. What pleasure could there be in a life without a single friend of his own kind, with even his supernatural powers forbidden and under surveillance…….
……If there is one, maybe tormenting you and me to death……?”
At the serious conclusion, Ruslan unconsciously drooped his shoulders.
Ruslan and Baigarten briefly looked into each other’s eyes, exchanging tender sympathy and sorrowful camaraderie for each other.
Suddenly Ruslan hesitantly asked.
“……Is that why……you’ve been turning a blind eye……to Sarka breaking the rules?”
Baigarten hesitated, then made a slightly guilty expression.
Baigarten awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, then glancing at Ruslan replied.
“To be honest……to some extent.
He’s really a boy who turns your insides out, but thinking about it, his insides are also completely twisted in the situation he’s in. If I too act as strictly as his father here and that boy gets even more twisted, I feel like there’d really be no answer.
Of course I also have the duty to protect the humans at this school, but how should I put it……. Rather than a beast tightly bound, wouldn’t a beast loosely bound and occasionally allowed to play some minor pranks better resist the urge to really break the cage and bite people……?”
Baigarten spoke with an utterly serious expression. Ruslan didn’t feel his metaphor was like a joke either.
Baigarten slyly glanced at Ruslan and added as if making excuses.
“This incident too……compared to randomly bothering this human and that human like before, I’m currently observing thinking it might actually be better to concentrate on one person whose secrecy can be managed. I’m worried that if I report to Sarka’s father and escalate things unnecessarily, the relationship between those two might become truly irreparable, so……I’m a bit……like that…….
……I’m sorry. I really have no face to show you.”
Baigarten apologized solemnly, his solemn face full of deep guilt.
With a worried expression, Baigarten pressed whether Ruslan had been hurt by Sarka’s pranks, but Ruslan vaguely evaded while thinking about Sarka’s state of mind.
About the inner heart of that boy who was always languid, indifferent, and irritated.
“……Is Sarka……going to be okay?”
At the quiet question, Baigarten was silent for a moment.
He made a bitter expression, then said with complexity.
“Honestly in my view, day by day……I can see Sarka getting exhausted. As Sarka said, he must feel it’s no different from life trapped in a livestock pen……. If one morning Sarka opens his eyes and thinks, ‘I should stop living this filthy life and do what I want and die’……
……At that moment, won’t the worst massacre or major terrorist incident in history occur and the entire student body be found as miserable corpses…….”
Baigarten muttered, immersed in contemplation with a truly serious expression. Ruslan also felt that worry was quite realistic and got chills.
A chilling silence flowed between the two for a moment.
Baigarten, who had made a horrible expression, quickly changed the atmosphere as if trying to erase that frightening image.
“……So, how about we coax Sarka into going out this weekend?”
“……Going out……?”
When Ruslan blankly asked back at the unexpected suggestion, Baigarten spoke solemnly with the most serious expression in the world.
“……If we help Sarka find some pleasure in living, won’t he torment us less?”
“…….”
Ruslan was convinced.
Until then, Ruslan had thought that clever plan was quite plausible.
He was also scared that Sarka, who sprawled with a face looking like he’d die of boredom holed up in his room all the time, might come up with fresh ideas to torment Ruslan again at any moment.
So the suggestion to shift that bored cat’s interest elsewhere sounded quite tempting to Ruslan’s ears too.
That the outing would end with such results—neither Ruslan nor even Baigarten could have imagined.
