My Death Flag Shows No Sign Of Ending

Episode 10

While Kazuki was reading the report written by Jake at dusk, he was called by Hayden, who had come back to the mansion.
Thinking -No way , and listening to the servant who had come to call Harold, he carried his legs towards Hayden's study.

Looking at Hayden's face, who had been waiting there, the bad premonition changed into conviction. This was because Hayden, who normally had a stern expression most of the times, seemed to be in a good mood.
He started talking as soon as Harold went inside the room.

「Rejoice, Harold. I have good news」

「Good news?」

Although Kazuki knew what Hayden would tell, with an attitude as though he was listening to it for the first time, he asked.
Though it was sad, he couldn't help it.

「A notification from Tasuku-dono reached today. For a short while, Erika-jou will be staying in the Stokes house」

As expected- thought Kazuki.
For Hayden, it seemed as though Erika freeloading was already a decided fact. Even for the Sumeragi, from the start this must have been their true motive.
But still, Kazuki tried to resist.

「I'm not enthusiastic, living together with that girl」

「No need to be shy. Because, the relationship between you and Erika-jou has officially been recognized by both families」

But Hayden misunderstood that he was feeling shy. Maybe because he was cheerful, there was no sign of him paying attention to Harold's words properly. Even though he tenaciously tried after that, without being able to overturn the desicion, eventually Kazuki unwillingly went to welcome Erika.

The next day, Kazuki went towards the East entrance which connected the Stokes territory to the highway, to welcome Erika. It seemed that the plan was that they would arrive early in the morning, but since she had shown herself yesterday, probably they had lodged in a nearby inn.
Kazuki, in a gloomy mood, was being rocked inside the carriage.

(Rather, isn't the schedule too tight?)

Even though the time it would take for a one-way trip should have been around 6 to 7 days even if they had hurried, since they had arrived the very next day, either they had no intention to listen to the reply or they knew that Hayden would accept. Well, it was probably the latter.
Either way, the possibility of this being a development not present in the original work, was high. The origin of this was without a doubt, the letter written by Kazuki.

In other words, you reap what you sow- while getting depressed, before he knew it they had arrived at the East entrance.
When he got down from the carriage with heavy steps, which seemed though he had shackles around his legs, Erika and an unknown woman diagonally behind her, were standing there.

「To be welcomed by Harold-sama personally, it is an honor」

「Ha, even though you don't mean it」

Even today, starting to destroy human relations, Harold-mouth.
About 3 months had passed with him being together with this mouth, and Kazuki was getting to the point of being in admiration at the number of variations in sneering.

While feeling his useless growth, Kazuki turned his gaze towards the woman behind Erika.
Her age must have been in the later half of her tens to the mid-twenties. With a large white ribbon, her chestnut-colored hair was tied up in a bundle and reached until her waist, which left an impression.

「Who is that?」

「Juno, my attendant. She will look after my daily necessities during the stay」

「I am Juno ～」

Stretching out the words, Juno bowed with sluggish movements. Coupled with a limp smile, she was a woman with a calm atmosphere.
And Kazuki didn't know her. That is, she was a character who hadn't appeared in the original work.