To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

At those words, Hildegard’s eyes widened. She covered her mouth again and asked in a small voice.

“How on earth? What happened…”

“There was an argument when our brother tried to take me to volunteer work. I fell down the stairs and died then… So he probably received divine punishment of repeating the same time dozens of times.”

Hildegard shuddered with a pale face. She seemed to be genuinely terrified by the story Liv had told.

“The talk of divine punishment always gives me chills…”

“That’s why our brother hates me. It’s natural since he received divine punishment because of me. He went to study abroad in the Merna Empire to avoid me too.”

“Ah, so that’s what that meant…”

Hildegard nodded, understanding the meaning of the letters they had exchanged when Liv was in the Lartman Duchy. Walter’s departure for Merna wasn’t simply because he was ashamed that his adopted sister was a fake Saintess. Walter hated the object of terror that had brought divine punishment upon him.

“Even though it wasn’t my intention, I feel sorry for our brother. That’s why it’s uncomfortable to see his face.”

“Ah…”

“He was really a good person until he experienced divine punishment because of me. Our relationship became strained all because of me.”

At those words, Hildegard’s face darkened just like Liv’s, and silence fell over the room.

* * *

‘I’ve shown enough signs of being sick for today.’

After coughing up blood a few times in front of the maid, Liv headed to the library of the Hamelsvoort mansion. Lying in bed all the time made her body ache unbearably. She always read books when she had free time. What she found particularly interesting was knowledge related to this society. Liv was always fascinated by things that humans had created entirely with their own power, without borrowing the power of gods.

While looking for a book from the bookshelf containing sociology-related books, Liv discovered a book placed on the desk beyond the bookshelf. As there was no one around, Liv’s steps naturally moved towards the desk. What was placed there were all law-related books.

‘Who was reading these?’

The Count and Countess Hamelsvoort wouldn’t be interested in such things, so then…

Recalling that Walter had studied law in the Merna Empire, Liv’s face became troubled. It seemed Walter had also visited this library, and it would be better to slip out unnoticed.

At that moment, Liv’s eyes were drawn to a stack of papers spread out on the desk. On the front page of the paper, the following was written:

[King Melek of the Kingdom of Umma was famous for making wise judgments since ancient times.

One day, when two women claimed a calf as their own, King Melek decided to make a judgment for them.

King Melek asked both of them if they were willing to give up the calf, and both women said they needed the calf.

So King Melek ordered the calf to be cut in half, and at that moment, one woman cried out that she would give up the calf. Then the king gave her the calf.

The other woman even lost the cow she already had.

Can the judgment method used by King Melek be applied to property ownership disputes in the Holy Hilysid Empire?]

Walter had said he majored in ancient law. Thinking it was quite an interesting problem, Liv turned her body towards the bookshelf. But Walter was standing silently behind her.

“Oh, Brother.”

“Liv.”

Walter smiled gently as he looked at Liv.

“So you come and go in the library. Yes, you’ve always liked new stories.”

“Yes…”

“So what were you peeking at so curiously?”

As he said this, Walter’s eyes were filled with contempt for Liv.

“You, who can’t live without the gods, what could you be interested in from the human world?”

“…I just looked at the writing on the paper.”

“Is that so?”

Walter took one step closer to Liv, and as Liv backed away, her back hit the desk. Walter then reached out his hand to her.

“Let me see.”

He picked up the paper that was behind Liv.

“My sister, so you’re curious about the answer to this problem?”

“…Yes.”

“Of course, I can explain it for my curious little sister.”

For Liv, Walter’s sudden kindness was even more frightening, but she decided to listen to his explanation for now. Walter’s gentle voice continued.

“We can find two principles here. One, when a dispute arises over the ownership of an object, the object is cut in half fairly. Second, however, in the case of living things, only one owner can exist. So if a similar situation occurs in this country, we should determine one owner of the calf.”

Hearing this, Liv tilted her head. Walter’s expression slightly frowned.

“Is something strange, Liv?”

“Yes, it’s different from what I thought…”

“Indeed, my omniscient sister, would you tell me the answer that I, a fool, couldn’t think of?”

Because he used a sarcastic tone, Liv felt a little relieved. Yes, Walter should treat her like this.

“Well, I think to understand this judgment, we need to know about King Melek of the Kingdom of Umma. Originally, the concept of collecting taxes wasn’t well established in the Kingdom of Umma. People tried to protect their own possessions.”

This was a story she had heard both from history books and from El, the god of the national religion of the Kingdom of Umma.

“King Melek, who ascended to the throne at this time, had the strongest power of anyone and strictly collected taxes from people. If people didn’t pay taxes to protect their property, he punished them.”

“So what’s your opinion on this law?”

“This case… I think it means that King Melek actually destroyed the property of those who didn’t pay taxes to the state. The woman who was willing to give up her calf, that is, who was willing to pay taxes, didn’t lose her property, but the woman who wasn’t willing to give up the calf even lost the cow she already had. In other words, if we apply this law to modern times…”

Liv’s mind worked quickly.

“In this Empire, when there’s a property ownership dispute, the answer would be that the state should just take away the object that caused the dispute.”

“Ha.”

Walter laughed as if in disbelief.

“That’s quite an innovative idea.”

“You probably know about the history of the Kingdom of Umma too, Brother… That’s not so much a wise judgment as it is closer to a threat that the state will take away private property if necessary.”

Usually, Liv couldn’t even look Walter in the eye properly because she felt sorry for him, but for some reason, the words flowed smoothly now.

At that moment, Walter’s purple eyes scanned Liv as if observing her.

“Yes, indeed my sister is very clever. Of course, that’s why you receive the affection of those beings.”

“Ah…”

Only then did Liv remember that Walter hated her. He would probably be uncomfortable if they continued talking. Absorbed in the conversation, Liv had momentarily forgotten about her relationship with Walter. She avoided Walter’s eyes and quickly left the place.

* * *

“How annoying.”

Walter glared at the spot where Liv had left. He didn’t like her meddling in his work. To Walter, Liv was nothing short of a disaster that had come into his life. But feeling somewhat uneasy about completely ignoring Liv’s words, he looked up books on the history of the Kingdom of Umma and.

“…This interpretation would be more correct.”

He realized that Liv’s words were right.

“Hmm.”

He thought about Liv. His young and small sister, whose harmless face reminded one of a small animal. Once they were not on bad terms, but after ‘that incident’, he came to hate his sister.

Walter clearly remembered the sight of Liv falling down the stairs. Liv’s eyes were filled with terror as her body floated in the air after letting go of the handrail, and soon the stairs were stained with blood with a loud noise.

“L-Liv…?”

He ran to Liv, not caring that his clothes were soaked in blood, but Liv, who had fallen head-first, couldn’t move her body at all. He put his trembling hand under Liv’s nose and confirmed that Liv had completely stopped breathing. And at that moment.

Who has harmed my child?

Walter would never forget that terrible moment…

Those beings said they would impose divine punishment on him, and when he came to his senses, he was standing at Liv’s funeral.

‘What is this…’

Walter thought it was so strange that he had suddenly skipped time, but no one else seemed to be aware of that fact.

Walter lived for a year like that, becoming a wreck, sunk in remorse for having killed Liv.

When he came to his senses, it was Liv’s funeral again.

Next, thinking it might mean he should live properly, he took revenge on those who spoke ill of Liv. But regardless of his actions, time inevitably went back again.

So Walter tried becoming the head of the Hamelsvoort family, marrying Princess Louisa, entering the temple to become a priest, fleeing to the Kingdom of Valeno, reaching an unknown country in the East, successfully establishing a merchant group, killing the Emperor and being imprisoned and executed, rolling around in the slums, becoming a mad murderer, becoming a believer of the Lufahid religion, and repeatedly committing suicide.

But time kept going back to a year ago.

He had repeated this life with a one-year time limit countless times. The relationships he had formed would forget him, the achievements he had built up would become bubbles, and he couldn’t know the future beyond one year.

“Liv Hamelsvoort.”

Long after he had started living a life of just reciting the name that had made him live such a life.

For the first time, he opened his eyes not at the funeral, but on top of the stairs.

Liv was looking at him with round eyes.

“You didn’t die this time.”

Walter was finally able to escape from that terrible divine punishment.

He could no longer think as he had before. Everything in this world felt meaningless, he didn’t desire anything, and he didn’t know what to do.

However, there was one thing he understood clearly. He had to escape from Liv, the cursed being living in the same house. He who had been studying theology quickly changed his major and left for the Merna Empire to study law, and only now had he returned to the Hamelsvoort family.