Chapter 137: The hopeful suspicion

"We should quickly sneak into my room so no one would notice us...!"

Mason whispered, tiptoeing after Cranberry, who was walking casually through the empty hallways.

The red-haired girl would only briefly stop before an open door or a passage and gripped her baseball bat a bit tighter each time she heard someone passing, but thankfully for everyone else, she never had to use it.

Thought that could be partially contributed to her reasonably high LUC stat...

"Ah, this is the door...! Umm...? Big sister Cranberry...?"

Mason perked up when the two of them approached a door to his room, Cranberry even opened the door, but after a brief look, she closed it and continued moving through the hallway pulling the brown-haired young man with her.

"We'll return later, let's continue exploring for now..."

Cranberry said absentmindedly as if she was waiting for something.

"O-oh... okay... if you want to..."

Mason agreed slightly confused.

Cranberry wasn't going to let go of him so he didn't have a choice in that regard anyway.

"Ah! No! You can't!"

After few more minutes, when Cranberry was about to open a small door under a staircase leading to the higher floor but got stopped by Mason.

"Ha? Why?"

She frowned when he got in front of her and barred the door with his own body.

"It's the entrance to the basement! It's where my father treats other members of my family! What if you will get infected?!"

Mason's eyes shook with genuine worry, so Cranberry held back the sigh that was forcing its way out of her mouth.

She couldn't ditch Mason just yet, her backup plan in case things went south depended on him.

She couldn't kill him no matter how much he annoyed her.

Not yet at least.

"Alright~ Let's check out the higher floors real quick too!"

Cranberry seamlessly transitioned from the cold, expressionless face to the bubbly happy one.

"Ah! Okay! There's actually a nice spot on the second floor where I used to hide when..."

Mason breathed out with relief and smiled back, but then he flinched mid-sentence and blushed.

"There's a room with lots of books that no one really enters so I made it into my secret library..."

He quickly changed the backstory of the place he wanted to show the red-haired girl, hoping that she wouldn't pry any further.

"Sure, let's go there."

And she didn't, but definitely not because she was tactful...

The truth was she simply didn't care enough to get interested in some obviously sad memory of a guy she had no connection with - except the one made up by the system...

The two of them continued the exploration undetected for a few more minutes before arriving at Mason's hiding spot.

Only when they both were inside, Cranberry did let go of Mason's wrist.

"It's a room of the maid who was nursing me."

The young man said closing the door.

He then walked towards the window and opened the curtains, letting the daylight illuminate the bookshelf on the opposite wall.

"She really loved books and used to read them to me when I was little..."

Mason approached the bookshelf and gently caressed the books on the highest shelf.

"I've been told that my mother died giving birth to me... and that maid... it will sound really silly, but when I try to imagine my mother in my mind I always have the face of that maid..."

Mason smiled softly.

Funnily enough, the books he was touching at the moment were all in old elvish...

Actually, every book on that shelf was in elvish.

"Ha. I understand."

Cranberry nodded mechanically while looking at the window and tapping her finger on her waist impatiently.

"You know... I actually..."

Mason started speaking but he hesitated and blushed.

"You know about the ridiculous rumors that some people keep spreading about my family, right? That we kidnap elves and steal their beauty?"

He asked.

"Yeah, I do."

Cranberry nodded.

"...because of something like that, the elves don't seem to like us at all... right?"

"..."

He asked awkwardly and Cranberry just silently waited for him to continue.

"The-the thing was... that maid was an elf. I'm sure of it. I remember her long ears, and how she used to compare them to mine... she seemed to really love it... and always kept saying that I have my father's eyes..."

Mason fidgeted.

"Oh...?"

For the first time since they entered the room, Cranberry looked straight at him.

"You see... I've always been told that my mother died giving birth to me... but could it be that... I'm that maid's child...?"

Mason asked anxiously glancing at Cranberry.

It definitely wasn't something that should be discussed with just anyone during a casual conversation.

But for Mason, who had the fake memories implanted by the system, Cranberry wasn't a stranger but a friend close enough to be treated like family.

Therefore, he shared his suspicion with someone else for the first time.

"That would explain so much...! Why everyone treats me like a stranger! Why my father acts so cold towards me, but I often see him watching me from a distance with such gentle eyes...! If I was a child of a mistress, an elf no less, that would explain everything!"

Now it was clear that Mason wanted to take Cranberry to this room just so he could share what he couldn't write in letters in fear of being discovered.

"Because of those nasty rumors the elves dislike our family, and many of our clansmen blame the elves as the source of those false rumors! It's a vicious cycle of hate!"

"Haa..."

Cranberry let out a half-assed gasp and nodded.

It really seemed like Mason had no idea that all of those rumors he called false, were in fact true...

"I suspect that the elven maid, my actual mother, was forced to leave the mansion because..."

*CRUSH*

A sudden explosion coming from the outside shook made the windows tremble and caused Mason to stop talking.

"What was that...?"

He asked fearfully.

But at that moment Cranberry grabbed his wrist again and pulled him towards the door.

"We're going to the basement."

She declared with an evil grind.

"B-big sister...?"

Mason trembled, unable to oppose the red-haired girl.

"That maid you think was your mother... was she pretty?"

Cranberry asked while pulling him through the corridors leading to the staircase.

"Was she...? Of course, she was! She was an elf!"

Mason furrowed his brows and scoffed as if Cranberry was making fun of him.

"And one day she suddenly disappeared?"

The girl asked and felt that the young man flinched.

"How did you...?"

He asked confused.

"Let's check out the basement then... I have a feeling that we might find some clues about her there~"

Cranberry hummed, smirking non-stop.

"You...! You think so...?"

At first, Mason wanted to deny the possibility, but then he furrowed his brows.

It was something that he never considered... but what if...?

"Big sister, do you really think so...?"

He asked while they were descending the stairs.

"Definitely~"

Cranberry answered without facing Mason - and her smile when she said that could only be described as 'villainous...