CH 19

I felt an instinctive fear at the sound of his cold voice.

‘You…..you mean me?’

I snapped out of it as the thought occurred to me.

Maybe this isn’t the time for me to be whining.

The original Sasha Winchester got surprisingly little attention, but for some reason, I was getting all the attention she deserved.

Seriously, what if Jin felt anything resembling vigilance towards me?

I’d be dead.

Considering the vicious hands of Jin and Othello in the original story, I could only hope to die a nice death.

“Uyaya…….”

I could feel the aura of the black flame emanating from Jin’s body in my immediate surroundings.

To express that I am harmless to him, I reached out to Jin.

Jin’s eyebrows twitched as my thick, mochi-like hand touched his cheek.

“Jiji! Jiji!”

Jin, take a look at me. I’m just a little baby.

You can’t be a brother and be mean to a baby. Hmm?

Anyway, as soon as I grow up, I’m going to move out and hunt down the elixir.

“Oya…….”

I conveyed my thoughts to Jin through an intense glare.

Though all that came out of my mouth was a pathetic babble.

“Oh my…… no way…….”

I heard Maya’s voice behind me.

I didn’t always like the idea of Maya interpreting my gibberish on her own terms, but right now I could only hope that she was interpreting it in a good way.

“You’re pushing now?”

I felt my face flush as she came over and looked at my butt without hesitation.

That’s not……!

For your information, the baby’s body hasn’t developed muscles yet, so even the smallest things require quite a bit of concentration and effort.

But if Jin understood that I was holding his face and struggling to do my business…….

His wariness might turn to contempt.

“……?”

Fortunately, Jin didn’t seem to understand Maya’s words.

Maya sniffed around my arse, then turned to Jin.

“Ah, when the lady starts to make a big deal…….”

“…….”

“…….”

F*ck. Damn it.

While pulling myself out of her grasp, I made the disastrous mistake of rubbing my lips against Jin’s cheek.

Maya and Jin were both staring at me as if time had stopped.

This… … Has time really stopped? When that thought crossed my mind, Maya drew in her breath.

“I just…… just saw the little miss kiss the young master…….”

Thankfully, she had stopped trying to tell us why she was sniffing my buttocks.

I babbled, looking at Jin with innocent baby eyes, and he stared at me for a long moment with his eyebrows furrowed.

His face was much stiffer than the one that had threatened me earlier.

“opyapya…… opya…….”

“Oh, do you think she just said brother?”

Maya was excited, but Jin didn’t speak.

I looked at him with an uneasy expression, then smiled awkwardly.

Was I mistaken to think his eyes wavered for a moment?

In an instant, his eyes were back to their usual calm, cold, uncharacteristically boyish stare.

It was a long time before his lips curled.

“……as expected, it’s fun.”

His tone was casual, but I felt a cold sweat run down my spine.

After a moment, Jin turned to Maya with a small sigh.

“By the way, Maya, bring me my muffler.”

Maya, who had been looking at me with a peculiarly friendly expression on her face, clapped her hands with an ahhh.

“That’s right,I’ll bring it right over here…… just give me a minute.”

Maya, don’t leave me!

I glanced at Maya and then back up at Jin.

His dark eyes were still locked on mine.

I was flailing my arms and babbling, trying to play a trick on him that wasn’t really a trick.

It’s strange how babies can’t stay still.

“U-pya, upya-pya……”

At the sound of my squeaky voice, Jin’s lips twitched.

“Looks like Robin’s going to be with you all the time now.”

“Uyaya?”

“What you just did.”

The surface of his eyes reflected my chubby, cute face.

“If you do that to Robin, I think I might kill him.”

At that moment, every hair on my body stood on end.

I couldn’t even tell if he was joking or not, because his expression remained as cold as ever.

You can’t kill Robin…… because in the future, when I’m gone, you’ll be Robin’s owner.

“Euyaya…….”

After a brief hiccup, I sucked in a breath and naturally wiggled my hand.

It was funny how babies reacted in time.

But when I heard Jin’s next words, my heart skipped a beat.

“I know you can understand me.”

“Ueung……?”

My voice was fading, and Jin’s presence seemed to swallow me whole.

How much does he know……?

Or maybe I’m just dreaming.

I recalled what was known about the Jin from the novel.

If Othello was a movement wave, Jin was a brain wave. A child who would stand at the pinnacle of Winchester.

A quick thinker, to say the least, and he held the organizations of the entire country in the palm of his hand.

Without Evan, he would have taken over the empire.

“Ueung……”

But even a black flame can’t see into a person’s thoughts.

Even the Shadow of the Abyss can only indirectly reveal the memories a person has been through.

So the fact that I have this status window floating in front of me will never be known.

“I wish this was a little bigger and easier to find in the dresser…” 

And just in time, I heard Maya’s rambling and her footsteps. She had brought along the muffler.

Jin whispered to me one last time, almost threatening.

“I keep thinking differently today, Sasha.”

A moment later, he backed away from my bed.

After taking the muffler from her, I watched him walk away without a backward glance and let out a small sigh.

Maya, oblivious to my pace, was enjoying herself, saying, “Everyone likes you”.

And then a warning popped up in front of me.

[※Causality rate with a specific person has reached 5%]

[※Please be careful, your causality reading is very high for your level]

I suddenly remembered the scene from my dream.

Swearing under my breath, I pulled up the character view.

Sure enough, as I suspected, my causality with Jin Winchester was newly above 5%.

* * * 

Beads of sweat trickled down his fine jawline.

The wooden knife drew a sharp line, and the needle-like black energy from the knife pierced the scarecrow with a brilliant stab.

The scarecrow cracked and shattered.

Staring at it, Othello sheathed his wooden sword.

And then he heard the sound of footsteps. He didn’t have to turn to know who it was.

That’s what happens when brothers are born at the same time.

“I see you’ve improved from last month.”

The voice came from Jin.

“I’m not there yet.”

His breathing, which had been a bit labored, was now even and steady.

He sheathed his wooden sword and turned around.

“Sasha seemed fine, though a little shaken up.”

“And father.”

“He dissolved the Afinizu, which was the right thing to do.”

Othello paused, but then nodded.

It was no secret that the Afinizu, no matter how historic, was of little use to the current House of Winchester.

It would be better to get rid of it.

By now, the sky had turned gray and the dusk was settling on the earth.

“Soon it will be night.”

Othello thought back to earlier.

A cold fire burned in Othello’s eyes when he heard that Afinizu had tried to use Shadow of the Abyss on Sasha.

But unlike when he had tried to pounce on Chenoa, he had listened to Jin. Jin had told him to wait, that he’d be back to assess the situation.

There was no denying that he was quicker to assess the situation than Othello was.

The red of the sunset mingled with the blue of the night, coloring Jin’s sky-blue hair.

Jin’s lips twisted.

“How about we go hunting for a change?”

The corners of Othello’s mouth twitched upward at Jin’s words.

“Sounds good.”

For those with Winchester blood running deep through their veins, the night was a great playground.