I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 22: Didn’t Know! -

“Wear this.”

I took off the outer coat of my butler uniform and draped it over Arin.

Then, I lightly drew a line across my palm with the blade.

“And from now on, I’m going to sprinkle this blood on your head. If you don’t like it, say so now.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Got it. Thanks for your valuable input. Not that I asked for it.”

As I sprinkled the blood flowing from my palm onto the crown of Arin’s head, I explained the details.

“In this weather, no matter how good their eyesight is, it’ll be hard for them to find us. Except for the rare moments when the blizzard stops, they won’t be able to see us – not even the yetis. Sound? Out of the question. Vibration? Not a chance. The only thing left is scent. These enhanced yetis are tracking me with their freakishly developed sense of smell.”

“Yeah. I thought so too.”

Arin’s face was smeared with blood, and despite her usual blank expression, she somehow looked slightly annoyed. Probably just my imagination.

“We’re going to use that. We’ll deceive them. But before that...”

Deals must always be clearly defined in advance.

“Do you want anything?”

“...Huh?”

“Honestly, you’re not gaining much from this. If you ignore me in this situation and move forward, you’re practically guaranteed to take first place.”

“...?”

Arin tilted her head as if she had no idea what I was talking about.

I sighed and tried to explain more kindly.

“Tell me your desired reward. I’ll grant it.”

Not to brag, but I’ve got a lot of money.

...Because Firnea raised my salary by about thirty times.

Not that I accepted it without hesitation. I resisted vehemently, which is why it’s only thirty times – it was originally a hundred times.

Thanks to that, I now have a fortune that most butlers couldn’t even dream of.

Carriage, house, elixirs? I was ready to put anything on the bargaining table.

But Arin shook her head.

“I don’t need anything. You helped me too.”

“...”

Was she serious?

Even if there were a hundred more mages and giants, they wouldn’t have been able to capture Arin.

I frowned and replied.

“I doubt you would’ve lost to them.”

“But before that, you gave me a ride in the carriage and didn’t charge me.”

“That was just my whim. And the task you’re about to do isn’t something that can be compensated with three fairy tales.”

“You braided my hair.”

“I did that because I was bored.”

“Hmm...”

Arin, looking troubled by my insistence that I had to give her something, finally answered.

“Then, in the future, do me one favor.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“...As long as it’s within my power, I will.”

“Thanks.”

Arin smiled slightly.

“...”

For some reason, that smile gave me a slight sense of unease.

****

Back when she lived deep in the forest.

Arin °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° once heard this from her grandmother.

“What do you think is the difference between a beast and a human?”

“...”

Arin couldn’t answer. Her grandmother, slowly threading a needle, continued to speak.

“A beast lives to avoid death, while a human dies to live. That’s the difference.”

“...?”

Her grandmother gently stroked Arin’s head as she struggled to understand.

“A lion hunts a deer to avoid starving to death. A wolf fights another wolf to avoid being killed by it. A rabbit drinks water to avoid dying of thirst... They live according to the instincts engraved in them to avoid the imminent threat of death. That’s why they’re called beasts.”

“Humans are different?”

“They’re different. That’s why–”

Still with a kind expression.

“I hope you live as a beast.”

“Okay. I will.”

Arin replied.

Even if the villagers called her grandmother a witch, Arin loved her.

There was no reason not to listen to her.

****

“He’s underestimating me.”

Misellini muttered coldly.

Bloodline Manipulation not only enhanced the senses of the controlled beasts but also allowed synchronization. Naturally, he had blocked off the sensation of pain.

In other words, the scents the yetis detected, Misellini could also smell.

And there was the scent of humans mixed in. Including the target, three people.

Of course, he had ignored them since there was no reason to attack examinees who were bound to fail anyway...

But it seemed the target thought differently.

The scent got mixed. And soon after, only one remained.

The target had eliminated two examinees in an instant.

There was no need to do that. Different routes, no particular reason, and most importantly, the target should have realized by now that he was being targeted, so why waste energy on unnecessary fights?

Misellini was certain. This was a declaration of war.

The yetis weren’t even considered enemies. It was as if the target was saying, “I can still handle this much. Bring it on.”

“...Tch.”

Misellini suppressed the feeling of blood boiling within him, an unfamiliar sensation after so long.

It was a feeling he was well-acquainted with. Ever since the day he had been treated as nothing more than a fake noble solely because the Creshel Family’s secret technique was sorcery. Ever since he was denied invitations to any social gatherings, looked down upon by worms of nobles who couldn’t even match his family in scale, wealth, or ability – all clinging to the glory of their past like insects.

All he had to do was enter the Academy.

But before that –

“I need to crush him thoroughly.”

Now, the blizzard was so fierce that even with enhanced vision and binoculars, he couldn’t see a single silhouette.

He intensified the synchronization with his sense of smell. The scent became stronger.

A bit too strong.

“...?”

Misellini felt something was off.

This was – definitely the scent of blood.

After pondering for a moment, Misellini’s lips curled into a sinister grin.

‘That bastard made a mistake!’

The target was “bleeding.”

He had thought the fight ended too quickly, dismissing it as an overwhelming display of power, but that wasn’t the case.

The target had been injured during the process of taking down the other examinees.

Even a small wound would be a huge advantage for tracking.

But it wasn’t just a small wound.

From the intensity of the scent, it was a serious injury. One bad enough to hinder proper movement.

“...”

Misellini calmly calculated the situation.

Someone of that caliber would surely have a way to heal himself.

He’d probably put some distance first, then heal. The external wound would remain, so if he sent the yetis after him gradually –

“No...”

This was an opportunity.

The odds were slim, but if that unknown opponent managed to keep advancing for the next two days and took down every yeti that attacked?

There was less than a ten percent chance, but it was still a possibility.

On the other hand, what if he attacked right now with the fifty yetis he had gathered?

Could that bastard, in his current state, take down fifty yetis and himself?

Misellini deliberated, running through the calculations over and over again, assuming that the target could take down yetis with a single blow.

And finally, he came to a conclusion.

“All units, charge.”

There wasn’t even a sliver of a chance.

Misellini was certain of his victory.

He mounted the back of a yeti and ordered it to run at full speed.

“Graaargh!”

The yetis resisted briefly. It wasn’t outright defiance, but more like hesitation – a warning that advancing through this blizzard was too dangerous.

But Misellini had no intention of listening to their whining.

“Shut up and run.”

When the opportunity presented itself, he took it.

That was his greatest strength.

The scent grew stronger. Gradually, he drew his sword and pushed through the final curtain of the blizzard.

“...Huh?”

But instead of the target wearing a butler’s uniform –

There was a strange woman.

She was barely wearing anything, only draped in thin rags.

Despite being in a state that should have left her frozen to death, the snow around her was melting.

The peculiar thing was –

‘It’s not sorcery?’

It wasn’t magic either. And yet, he couldn’t sense any mana flow.

The woman noticed his presence and looked his way.

Their eyes met, and Misellini felt a chill down his spine.

‘...’

There was something unnervingly lifeless about her eyes.

She wasn’t using her own mana. Instead, she was grasping the ambient mana and wielding it.

Such beings were called witches – those destined to fall into the deepest pits of hell.

He felt an instinctive revulsion, but there was something far more urgent than that.

Blood was still running down the crown of her head, not yet dried.

And that was the source of the scent he had been chasing.

“...Fuck!”

Misellini immediately ordered twenty yetis to spread out.

“Find him! No matter what!”

If the scent of blood had split in two, he would have immediately realized it was a decoy.

But it hadn’t. The scent only emanated from this woman.

‘I should’ve looked closer...!’

Whatever that bastard did, he somehow managed to sprinkle blood on this woman while erasing his own scent completely.

...How? If he had spilled blood, he should have been injured.

While Misellini was racking his brain over this, the woman muttered to herself as if she found the situation amusing.

“So they really came.”

“Get lost. I don’t have time to deal with you.”

Misellini was doing his best to suppress his anger.

As much as he wanted to tear the decoy apart for deceiving him –

He couldn’t afford to waste energy on some unknown opponent. He had to make the most efficient decision.

Leaving only twenty yetis behind to secure the area, he commanded the remaining ten to –

“Graaaaaaah!”

Before he could even finish his thoughts, one of the moving yetis let out a horrible scream and collapsed.

“...”

There was only one person capable of that.

Misellini glared at the decoy with eyes brimming with murderous intent.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The woman, who had just sliced through a yeti’s neck with a single swing – the same way the target did – whispered softly.

“Sorry, Grandma.”

“...?”

It was a completely unrelated statement.

Misellini was so dumbfounded by the sudden words that he couldn’t even respond.

The woman continued.

“I know it’s not true. But...”

“Take that bitch down first!”

“I want to believe.”

Her sword darkened, turning black as night.