I Reincarnated as the Villainess's Brother, and my Family may Fall to Ruin

Chapter 9: Please Don't Make Children Cry

As my brain was trying to catch up with what was happening in front of me, it seems all eyes were accusing the duchess.

Fuck me...

Although I was surprised at first, there's no way in hell that the duchess was actually the one that pushed her sister down the stairs. I don't have actual proof other than what the game told me about her character though...

Either way, I don't even see why she would push her.

Not to mention, it's suspicious that she would be named a culprit when she was just almost attacked on her way here. These series of events seem all too convenient for the person that seems bent of getting rid of the duchess.

Just like as if it was on cue, as soon I finished my thought, they demanded a motive both from the duchess and the maid.

There was so much commotion and yelling that could be heard. A lot of it was from the viscountess, throwing accusatory words at the maid, calling her out for slandering her daughter. There was chatter amongst the people of the estate, debating whether it was truly the duchess or not. People beginning to speculate that the duchess only carried on an "act" and she was actually two faced all along.

I was just near the back, observing the situation, and it felt really tense. Once again, thank god for my stoic face. This whole atmosphere is nerve-wracking. As I look around, I look at the duchess and Violet, who was clinging onto her tightly, behind her.

She looked like she was frightened and confused. That would make sense since she probably doesn't even have an idea of what's happening, and any child would be afraid of being amongst a huge crowd like this. Even if she has a hard time reading the atmosphere, when there's this much hostility in the air, there's no way she doesn't notice it.

Hahhh... this definitely isn't good for a developing child to see.

On another note, why are you guys worrying so much about who's to blame, WHEN THE PERSON UNCONSCIOUS IS STILL ON THE FLOOR THERE! CAN WE GET HER TO A BED OR SOMETHING?!

As I was thinking this, Kairos gathered everyone's attention. He put his hand on his mother's shoulder, to calm her down.

"Mother, calm down. We have to look at the situation with a sound and rational mind. There is something important we have to remember."

Thank god someone reasonable showed up—

"My sister... even if she is our blood... we can't give her special treatment. We have to look at this like a proper case."

Ah, did I saw reasonable? I mean bat-shit crazy. Do you guys all not see the plainly visible unconscious woman that may have a concussion on the floor, or even maybe a broken bone?!

Get. Your. Priorities. Straight!

Getting sick of this charade, I finally decide to speak up.

"K—... Uncle... is it okay for her to stay like that?"

Caught by surprise that I suddenly spoke up, or maybe he just forgot that his sister was literally just sprawled out on the floor like a rag doll, his usual calm face got ruffled a little. He quickly recovered and then cleared his throat.

"Quick, bring my sister to her room and call for a doctor immediately."

Great, finally. Your welcome by the way. Man, these people are starting to get on my nerves.

Either way, after everything was settled down, a doctor came and checked up on her.

It seems that she will be alright with rest and that it was just a mild concussion and a sprained ankle, and it was nothing life threatening. The viscountess and the duchess let out a sigh of relief once hearing the diagnosis. Which still only made me think that the duchess couldn't have been the one that did it. If she was the culprit, wouldn't she be more anxious that she was going to be okay? It makes no sense for her to be relieved when no one(other than me) was looking at her.

Man, just as I'm just getting started with the mystery of the missing viscount, now there's also the case of the pushed villainess.

It seems like the current investigation is currently being handled by Kairos, and he's placed everybody involved in the case in separate rooms and he intends to interview each of them separately.

The two main people involved would be the maid, the witness, and the duchess, the current suspect according to said witness. There are also some other servants who were there just before the scene and who were there just after the scene and found the body.

Everybody unrelated to the case were sent to return to their rooms or go back to doing their work.

Thus, I was stuck with Violet in my room.

It seems like she doesn't know what's really happening, but she seems to also understands that the situation isn't looking good for her mother, but she might also just be glaring at me cause she doesn't like me.

"... what's going to happen to mother? Why isn't she here with me? Did something happen to Aunt Arethusa? Why can't I go outside?!"

As she started to bombard me with questions, they became more like demands for me to answer her. However, that was obviously because she was anxious and confused. What, do you expect a five year old to be able to understand things like this?

While I was thinking about the best way to answer her, she took my silence as an act of hostility apparently, because she suddenly started yelling at me!

"YOU BETTER ANSWER ME! THATS THE LEAST YOU CAN DO WHEN YOU'RE JUST A COMMONER!"

Annoyed that she's already talking about things like this, especially the fact that Virgil is technically not a commoner, I kind of might've been a little bit too harsh with my words, but I just wanted her to be quiet for a moment.

"Silence."

I only realized after the fact that my word choice might've been too cold and that my stoic and stern face might've not been the best thing when trying to calm down a scared child. Fuck...

My realizations were confirmed as Violet's face turned from surprised to tearing up, to full on crying.

Fuckkkk....

Ah! Don't look at me like that! I didn't mean to make her cry!... what am I doing... I'm an adult... I literally just made a child cry...

...

that sounded really bad out of context... and also in context I guess...

But seriously, what am I supposed to do with this? Violet just stood there bawling her eyes out, crying out for her mother, to the point her legs gave out and she sat there on the floor crying.

Ahhh... it's just getting worse by the second!!!

Without thinking, I outstretched my hand and pet her on the head. Of course, this caused her to stop crying for a second from the surprise, before resuming. I just continued to comfort her and hug her as she let it all out.

...

As she calmed down, she continued to wipe her tears and sniffle.

"Don't worry... she'll be okay..."

"Hic... h-how would... snf... you know?!"

"... Since she's your mother, shouldn't you believe in her? Since your mother did nothing wrong, you shouldn't be worried then."

She looked surprised for a second, but I don't know what from though. Could it be the fact she realized that she accidentally believed there could be a chance that her mother was guilty due to her panic? Or, maybe from the fact that I recognize her mother as HER mother, and not mine, since she hasn't learned that people can share yet. Either way, I'll forgive her for either since she's just a child and she'll learn things more as she grows up.

As she calmed down, she slowly dozed off, probably from using up all her energy crying, and fell asleep. Picking her up, I tried my best to carry her to the bed in the room, but it was kind of hard since I'm only one year older than her and I still only have the body and strength of a child.

After setting her down and tucking her in, I sat in one of the chairs in the room, to begin my own investigation.

What? Did you think I was just going to sit back while such a big mystery is afoot?

Using my shadow magic, I head out of the room to listen in on the witness's conversations.

There's no way I'm not going to try to solve this for myself.