The Young Master I Carefully Raised Became Obsessive

“Because this kid has a lot of mana.” Duke Orchid rolled his eyes annoyingly. Although he didn’t go into details, the reason he wanted to remove Ardion’s mana was simple.

The crown prince, Rowell, wanted to get rid of Ardion. Apparently, Ardion had more mana and power than he did, which would be intrusive and threatening to the throne.

But if I obeyed what Duke Orchid wanted me to do to Ardion, I would die, and I couldn’t afford that.

“Laila, I think you understand enough by now?”

“Yes, I fully understand,” I said briefly and stepped back. Regardless, it was time to leave the room in a graceful manner. Before leaving, I didn’t forget to give Ardion a passing glance.

He was still looking at this place with the same wary eyes. For a moment, our eyes locked onto each other.

Let’s do our best, Ardion.

Ardion glared at me and turned his head away.

Well, children are always like that at first.

Honestly, I thought Laila was similar to Ardion in a sense. The only family she had was her half-brother, but he had sent her here as if he had abandoned her.

I tried my best to maintain my composure. Fortunately, Ardion didn’t look at me again. 

❋ ❋ ❋

Ardion's residence was decided to be the room next to mine, which meant his room was set up in the crappy basement since my room was also in the basement.

Fortunately, I would be able to teach Ardion properly without Duke Orchid's notice.

Based on the original flow of the story, Laila had listened to the duke’s words and neglected Ardion until the end.

So, if I did that, I would die later, like the story had portrayed it.

I would never let that happen to me. I knew that it was better to teach him good manners.

Anyway, I would train him well before he met the female lead. That way, I would be able to recover my health by receiving mana from him.

It was a pretty good plan.

I headed to my room with light steps. As soon as I opened the door, I heard a squeak, snapping the stillness of everything. 

“Master, welcome back.”

The thing in front of me was none other than a black mouse. It was a mouse the son of Duke Orchid had cruelly tormented, and I had only just managed to save it.

I was truly grossed out at first, but since I had mana that could communicate with animals, I allowed the mouse to strike up a conversation with me. Surprisingly, the mouse understood and spoke fluently like a human.

“Derol, I told you not to say things like that.”

“But, Master, if you return, shouldn’t I welcome you?”

Derol had good manners, which was unusual for a mouse. Additionally, since he hated dirty things, he always kept his body clean, which made his fur clean and shiny.

I got on my knees and looked at Derol.

Looking into his pitch-black eyes, I said, “Honestly, I feel burdened every time you say something like that.”

It sounded ridiculous. Derol jumped up and squeeked at me in greeting, but I wanted none of it.

“Master, don’t say that. You’re making me sad.

“By the way, the room is clean. Oh, I cleaned it up with my friends.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “Derol, you didn’t invite the cockroaches again, did you?”

“Master, my friends are different from other cockroaches. They live as cleanly as we do…”

I shook my head in helplessness. Derol cleaned the room with those creatures for my benefit. Since it didn’t mess up my room, what could I do?

I sat down on the bed. Derol jumped up and landed steadily on my lap.

He tilted his head and examined me. “You looked unwell.”

“Derol, I think I’ll get busy soon.”

"Why? What happened?”

“A new person appeared in this mansion.”

“Do you mean Ardion?”

“How do you know?”

“I went to Duke Orchid’s office earlier and heard it briefly. Ardion will stay here forever.”

Derol was quite quick with news. He would always go around the mansion and then squeak to me, telling me all kinds of news.

“Anyway, I need to get something like an arithmetic book or a history book.”

Suddenly, a knock sounded, and the door flew open, stunning me and Derol. He was startled and dashed into his mouse hole. Contrary to his calm tone, he was actually timid, especially towards people.

He wasn’t like that to me, but he avoided everyone else.

On the one hand, it was a fortunate matter. If he didn’t avoid people, no one would stop and pity him because, in the first place, everyone who worked in this mansion like me was trained to kill mice.

“Laila, are you sleeping again?”

It was Benji. Although I had already met her early in the morning, she was the only person I spoke with here.

“Didn’t you get the report? I’m doing something new now.”

“I heard about it from the head maid. But you still have to do what you always do.”

"What?"

“Duke Orchid is like that.”

Oh, that was right. There was nothing surprising about it.

I could only jump out of bed. Recalling something, I asked, “Benji, do you have any basic textbooks like arithmetic books or history books?”

“Why do you need them?”

“Well, I’m going to try studying something new. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to join the academy.”

I was indeed open with Benji, but I didn’t tell her everything. I had a resolution to keep my distance from everything because I was unaware of what could happen in the future if I were reckless.

Benji eyed me up and down.

I questioned her with a smirk. "What’s wrong?"

“I didn’t know you were even thinking about going to the academy. Tuition is expensive there.”

“I know, but I will work diligently and save up. Also, if you can give me those books, I will surely finish everything on my plate today!” 

Benji nodded.

Does that mean she agrees? I asked once more, “Are you going to help me, my dear Benji?”

“I’m going to my hometown this weekend, so I’ll bring them to you afterwards.”

"Thank you."

Right after I spoke, Benji held out a rag to me. “Then please, do my work for me.”

I took the mop and left my room. While walking by, I noticed the door of Ardion's room was slightly ajar.

I took a quick look. It seemed the room hadn't been cleaned properly yet. I felt like I had to go there after finishing my work.

To be honest, my mopping task would end quickly. I was good at using water magic and could do many things with it.

It wasn’t a big deal, but I never showed it to anyone. The real problem was the mana that enabled me to use magic was gradually running out.

Anyway, only Duke Orchid knew I was good at using magic.

Thankfully, he didn't spread this information. He must have done it to prevent my price from increasing.

After climbing the stairs and walking down the hallway, I arrived at Benji’s place.

I hummed and started mopping with water magic. With just a flick of my finger, the floor became shiny.

While mopping the floor, I heard loud footsteps. I immediately grabbed the mop. It would be embarrassing if I got caught using magic for no reason.

“What is this, it’s so dirty here.” Jonok, the son of Duke Orchid, gazed at me in disgust.

Without heeding anything, I said, “Don’t worry. I will finish cleaning in a little while. Now, could you please get out of the way? It’s dirty.”

Jonok frowned. “Did you just call me dirty?”

“How is that possible?!” I widened my eyes at him as though this were the first time I had ever heard such words.

Jonok licked his lips menacingly. “If you keep acting like that, sooner or later, I will break your leg.”

I simply smiled and lowered my head. Inside my head, I was commanding him to disappear as quickly as possible.

Finally, I heard a thump. It seemed Jonok was leaving. At first, I was angry when I heard his words, but now, I felt bad.

I pointed my finger at his back, but he coincidentally turned to look back at me. 

Shocked, I did my best to look away, pretending I had done nothing, and continued on with my job.

He approached me and stopped right in front of me. There was no need to look up. 

“That dirty little rat you’re raising…”

I lifted my head and saw him grinning. Why was he being so mean to me? My expression turned bitter.

“I will kill that bastard someday, so don’t you dare make a fuss.”

“Master, I—”

Jonok raised his hand, cutting off my words.

“That’s why you’d better act properly in front of me,” he demanded, unyielding. His eyes were just like his mother's, both pretty. No, actually, it was their faces that stood out.

However, because of her poor personality, her beauty didn’t attract much attention.

“Are you not answering me?” Jonok took a step closer towards me.

Like he wanted, I put my mop down and lowered my head in the politest way possible.

“Trust my father, it was your job to kill rats.”

Jonok thought I was doing my own thing behind his father’s back. He was half-right and half-wrong.

Duke Orchid used me, but I never actually acted arbitrarily. Well, I never did what I was told to do properly either.

Anyway, this was the best way for me to raise funds and receive mana from Ardion.

He looked at me emotionlessly before leaving. I glared at his back and silently cursed. It won’t be long before you can’t walk around with your head held high!

In my room, I had organized the evil deeds that Duke Orchid had committed so far. After I thought about my accomplishment, my frozen face slowly softened. Soon, a smile spread across my face, then a hum came from my mouth.

Anyway, being free from all this wasn’t so far off.

❋ ❋ ❋

When I returned to my room after cleaning, Ardion's door was still open. Still, I knocked on his door just in case. But he said nothing in return.

I glanced inside and saw him curled up in his bed. Even when I opened the door and entered, he didn’t look at me once.

I slowly made my way to him. But he still didn't move, and his blanket remained covering his head.

I sat cautiously on the edge of the bed. Right afterwards, I heard a murmuring sound from inside the blanket. He felt me sitting on his bed.

"Go away." Ardion turned away.