To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

During his time away from Liv, Walter was able to calm his mind a little. Although she was a detestable being, he realized that blindly showing hostility towards her wasn’t a wise action. After all, there was an enormous power behind her.

So on his way back to the Empire, he decided to treat Liv the same as before when he saw her, but.

-My dear sister, are you thinking of imposing divine punishment on me again?

Seeing her, he couldn’t help but say that, as if something was boiling inside him. She was the one who had pushed him into hell, after all.

But Walter also found that he didn’t just hate Liv anymore. Come to think of it, it wasn’t Liv who had punished him, but the gods. How could Liv have possibly stopped the will of the great gods? Moreover, seeing Liv’s face brought back memories of the times they had shared before.

“She wasn’t originally a stupid child.”

Whenever he told her various stories, Liv always used to look at him with sparkling eyes. Liv was a child who always quickly learned whenever he taught her something new.

“What should I do with my sister…”

Her marriage to Duke Lartman was truly an unexpected story.

The eyes of Duke Lartman that he had seen were clearly filled with affection. No, anyone who saw Duke Lartman and Liv together would be able to see Duke Lartman’s affection for Liv. That’s how deeply Duke Lartman loved Liv.

It felt strange that someone in such a high position liked Liv. He couldn’t quite put it into words, but what was certain was that it didn’t feel particularly good. And the reason for that was probably…

“The Emperor’s hound, I don’t like it.”

Walter wasn’t particularly fond of the tyrant August, and after going to the Merna Empire and broadening his view of the world, his antipathy towards the current Emperor had deepened even more.

‘Yes, the reason I feel bad now is probably because he’s the Emperor’s hound.’

Perhaps the reason he didn’t like Liv’s marriage to him was because he didn’t like the partner. Because it wasn’t good for the Hamelsvoort family to be involved with the Lartman family.

‘…She said she was sick.’

Recalling that several doctors had been called but none could find the cause of Liv’s illness, he found it even harder to concentrate on his book.

‘Why am I acting like this?’

Eventually, Walter left the book he was reading and headed outside.

‘I should look around the house after a long time.’

He planned to greet the servants he used to know and see if anything had changed in the house. …And also meet the doctor who had examined Liv.

But as he was heading towards the kitchen on the first floor, Walter’s footsteps stopped when he heard voices coming from inside.

“What should we do about Miss Liv now?”

“How would I know if you ask me?”

“Are we all going to be fired?”

At those words, Walter’s expression slightly frowned. Quick-witted as he was, he could immediately understand what they were talking about.

‘It seems they’re talking about how they dismissed Liv as a fake Saintess.’

But with the recent wedding and the temple’s official recognition, they could no longer dismiss Liv as a fake Saintess. Now Liv was a daughter of the Hamelsvoort family, the wife of Duke Lartman, and a ‘being who receives the Supreme God’s love’ officially recognized by the temple. In other words, she had become someone the servants had to revere and serve.

So those who had been dismissing Liv until now were hesitating, unable to approach Liv or dismiss her. If they suddenly changed their attitude, Liv might find them strange.

“The Count and Countess are treating Miss Liv so well now. We shouldn’t go against their will. In fact, she’s probably the person we should impress the most in this mansion from now on.”

“That’s right, Miss Liv has risen to an even higher position than the Saintess or Young Master Walter, the heir.”

Although there was talk about himself, strangely, Walter didn’t feel bad. Rather, it was their attitude towards Liv that bothered him more.

“Then should we just pretend we don’t know anything and treat the young lady well?”

“Actually, I didn’t dismiss her like you did. So it might be okay.”

“Then just like this…”

At that moment, Walter entered the kitchen. When Walter appeared, the servants there froze in surprise.

“Y-Young Master…”

They looked terrified, probably because they had been caught talking behind their master’s back, but Walter smiled gently.

“It’s been a long time, everyone. I haven’t greeted you properly yet.”

Thinking it was a chance for forgiveness, they hurriedly exclaimed:

“W-We’re so glad you’re back, Young Master!”

“Haha, we missed you so much, Young Master.”

However, Walter had no intention of pretending not to know anything as they wished. Instead, he continued speaking with a gentle smile.

“You were having an interesting conversation.”

“Th-That…”

“It seems you dismissed Liv a lot while I was gone.”

When he was in the mansion, they were at least mindful of him, but after Walter left for his studies, there was no one to be mindful of, so it probably got worse. As if his guess was correct, the servants’ expressions hardened. They looked like they thought Walter would scold them, but what came out of his mouth was the opposite.

“But what does it matter?”

“P-Pardon?”

“Even if you dismissed Liv, what does it matter? You only knew my sister as a fake Saintess, right?”

“Th-That’s…”

“Then you have no responsibility at all.”

As he smiled with his eyes gently curved, they somehow looked even more terrified. It was as if they were trapped in a confined space with a murderer. But Walter didn’t care about their expressions.

‘This should do it.’

Walter didn’t want the servants to misunderstand that all members of the Hamelsvoort family were on Liv’s side. Now that the servants knew that Walter didn’t view Liv favorably, they wouldn’t bring up Liv’s story in front of him in the future. He turned around with a smiling face and left the kitchen.

* * *

In the place Walter had left, the servants all looked at each other with pale faces.

“D-Did you see the Young Master’s expression just now?”

“Yes, I saw it…”

“It, it was really scary.”

Walter had always been kind, and was a person who consistently treated others with a smiling face. So occasionally, naive new servants or nobles from other families would underestimate Walter, but.

Those who had served Walter closely for a long time knew well.

Walter smiles even when he’s angry.

“Ah, he must mean for us to properly apologize to the young lady?”

“Th-That’s right. It felt like he was calling us shameless.”

“Yes. It felt completely sarcastic.”

“Especially at the end, that ‘you have no responsibility at all.’ That was totally irony.”

“This won’t do, let’s go apologize quickly.”

The servants rushed to Liv’s room to apologize. Even as they went, Walter’s brightly smiling face was imprinted in their minds.

* * *

“Young lady, we’re so sorry for all this time…”

“What?”

“When it was revealed that you weren’t a Saintess, we talked behind your back and dismissed you…”

Liv looked with bewildered eyes at the people bowing and apologizing to her. She had been thinking of going out since she had pretended to be sick enough for the day, but what was this all of a sudden?

The servants who came to apologize to Liv were those who had dismissed Liv after it was revealed that she was a fake Saintess. After Liv proved her power at the temple, it was obvious that they didn’t know what to do, but why this sudden apology now?

“I understand. It’s okay.”

Liv had no particular ill feelings towards them, and there was nothing for her to gain by oppressing them. As she accepted their apology for now, the servants’ expressions brightened.

But among them, only one person was wearing a dark expression, and that was Verena, the head maid of the mansion.

“What’s wrong?”

When Liv asked her, noticing that gloomy atmosphere, Verena hesitantly answered.

“…I’m too ashamed. In fact, we wouldn’t have any right to complain even if we were driven out of this mansion. But you accepted our apology. Not knowing you were such a good person… No, actually, we knew you had a kind nature. We just picked on you based on rumors.”

“Hmm.”

“If Young Master Walter hadn’t told us, we probably wouldn’t have thought to apologize to you.”

“Brother did?”

Liv’s eyes widened. They were apologizing because of Walter?

“Yes, Young Master Walter made us realize that while rumors were partly to blame for how things turned out, we also had some responsibility.”

“I see…”

Answering like that, Liv couldn’t hide her puzzlement. Walter would hate her more than anyone else, so why would he help her receive apologies?

“Hmm…”

She couldn’t understand what Walter was thinking at all. How could she understand the thought process of someone who had gone mad after experiencing divine punishment… He was even harder to understand than Hayden. Is this how other people felt when looking at Liv herself?

At that moment, Liv’s eyes shone as if she had made a decision. She was going to observe Walter from now on.