The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 37: Reading in Between the Lines

Chapter 37: Reading in Between the Lines

"And that’s how the English managed to keep a steady hold on Calais for over 200 centuries under King Edward III’s rule back in 1347." Hilda explained with great enthusiasm.

Having long since exhausted her knowledge of Calais’ role in the World Wars, she had now devolved into sharing medieval knowledge about the port city. Luckily, though, Callum didn’t seem to have any issues with this.

In fact, he seemed even more intrigued.

Apparently, Callum had some kind of fixation on knights and swords, which stemmed from an early age filled with reading.

And he wasn’t particularly alone on this childlike fixation.

’He likes knights too?’ Nadia thought, still being carried on Hilda’s back.

Like Callum, she also had a childhood filled with books. Although unlike him, who preferred thick novels with serious themes, she liked reading light-hearted fairy tales.

Stories about a heroic and selfless main character saving a damsel in distress from a devilish villain were something Nadia always loved reading, even now. And if she had to name a favourite...

It would have to be the story of Saint George and the Dragon.

Squee...

Waking up from her daze, Nadia looked towards the tall, double doors of the warehouse, which had opened every so slightly. She then witnessed two people walk from behind those double doors, one whom she recognised, while the other she didn’t.

A tall man with a muscular build and an air of discipline.

This was, without a doubt, the Boss Elias had spoken about. But there was something else that Nadia noticed... the Street Rat was acting strange.

The man was covering the right side of his face that was constantly wincing, his palm held directly over his eye. He gave off the impression of someone who was socketed right in the eye.

’Odd...’ Nadia thought.

She then decided to get Hilda’s attention.

Hilda, who was indulging in an enthusiastic conversation with Callum, felt Nadia nudge the side of her neck.

"Hm?"

Before Hilda could inquire about this, she sensed the approach of someone behind her.

Turning around, she was immediately met with the torso of a man. In the middle of raising an eyebrow, she craned her head all the way up to match Ross’ gaze, who was staring down at her.

Ross’ physique was nothing to scoff at. Standing at the towering height of 6ft5, coupled with his build, he looked more like a goliath when compared to Hilda, who was much shorter than he was.

Naturally, because of this, anyone who stood in Hilda’s place would obviously sense a bit of intimidation from the man.

’HE’S HUGE!’ Seraphine shouted, her eyes widening in shock.

She hadn’t ever met someone so tall before! She knew Ross was tall in the story, but it felt far more daunting in real life...

’Is this really the body a seventeen-year-old can achieve?’ Seraphine thought in amazement.

Nadia also had similar thoughts to Seraphine, except they were much more monotone. Because, in reality, she didn’t really care all too much about Ross’ physique for one simple reason.

’She can handle him.’

Feigning sluggishness, Nadia rested her chin on Hilda’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

Although Ross did look strong on the outside, she was certain that Hilda wouldn’t break a sweat putting him on the ground, as she did to her.

’I’ll just keep {Truth Finder} on, just in case, though.’

She doubted something would happen, but it wouldn’t hurt just to be safe.

Ross gazed down at Hilda with a calculating gaze. He scanned the woman’s red eyes, the gentle smile on her lips, and the way she seemed to tilt her head at him. All these features should depict that she was in a friendly mood.

And yet...

’She’s scary...’

Ross felt an imaginary sweat roll down the side of his cheek. The instincts in his disciplined mind felt something was amiss with how Hilda portrayed herself. Because of this, his view of Hilda’s gentle smile became warped to appear more sinister than it should have.

He gulped.

’Damn rat!’ Ross cursed Elias in his mind.

Ignorant of the slight panic she had caused Ross, Hilda spoke:

"So you’re the boss, hm~? You seem oddly familiar... Ah, aren’t you the one who volunteered to jump out of the plane first?"

Ross stiffened in place, surprised that Hilda remembered him because of that.

After he regained his composure, Ross nodded, and with a straight back, he planted his fist over her Heart.

With a straight back, he planted his fist over his Heart.

"Yes, that was me. The name is Ross Kestrel, Miss Hertel. And it’s an honour to meet you, and I hope you’ve been faring well." He said in a clear voice before dragging Elias in front of him, "I hope you could look past my subordinate’s treacherous behaviour. I’ve already administered his punishment."

Elias, who still kept a hand over his eye, looked back at Ross with a reluctant look that read: Do I have to show it...?

But after a hard stare from Ross, he sighed and lowered his hand, revealing an awful black eye.

Seraphine and Callum winced at Elias’ black eye, feeling bad for the poor Street Rat.

Nadia only frowned with a lazy look on her face, finding the punishment rather barbaric. But chose not to say anything, since the Street Rat definitely deserved it.

As for Hilda...

"Oh, dear~... I didn’t mean for this to happen!" Hilda yelped with a guilty look on her face.

Her words caused everyone to immediately go silent.

Everyone in her party turned to give her an odd look, especially both Seraphine and Nadia, who were certain that Hilda had expected something like this to happen.

While Ross and Elias blinked as they slowly processed Hilda’s words, they then said in unison:

"You didn’t?"

Ross’ face hardened as his evaluation of Hilda took a massive hit. Was he wrong in his assumption about her? Was she really unaware that Elias was scheming against her?

’No... there’s has to be more to it. Otherwise, why would she kill my Predicament?’

He needed to ask about that.

"Then... about the Predicament you killed—"

"Was it all because of that...? Oh, dear..." Hilda furrowed her brows in regret, looking to be on the verge of tears, "I’m so sorry... despite Mister Thorne’s promise, I just wasn’t comfortable being around a Predicament is all..."

Ross perked up slightly.

"Promise? What promise?"

He wasn’t told anything about a promise. Did Elias leave that out on purpose?

"Oh, he didn’t tell you? Mister Thorne had promised to escort us safely all the way here, even going as far as staking it on his Heart if something happened to us!"

Hilda tilted her head down, as if ashamed.

"Sorryyy... if I had known something like this would happen, I wouldn’t have killed that Scoundrel. Mister Thorne just didn’t deserve this kind of punishment..."

Everyone continued to stare at Hilda with varying levels of shock, not having expected her to suddenly become like this.

Callum pumped his fist with an inspired look on his face. He had heard tales that those who work for the LRM tend to be cold to people around them, even coming off as rude and arrogant to the point of condescension.

He had even heard they wouldn’t even apologise for something they did wrong!

’But she’s different!’ Callum thought, admiration for Hilda burning inside his eyes, ’To be so apologetic and kind, despite just wanting to show she was strong enough to protect everyone.’

That was the reason he came up with as to why Hilda had killed that Predicament; it was just to put everyone at ease that she was definitely capable of protecting everyone, if needed!

’Although it’s a bit of an unorthodox way to do it, I know she did it with good intentions!’

To send someone so strong, knowledgeable, and so modest... no wonder the LRM sent someone like her to act as supervisor for them all!

As Callum continued to Hilda in an even more admirable light, Ross was going through something of the opposite.

He was trying to read in between the lines.

’Is she saying the punishment I gave wasn’t harsh enough?’ Ross anxiously thought, ’Could it be she was expecting me to kill him because of this?’

Ross’ face darkened as tension rose inside his Heart. Did Hilda really want him to kill his subordinate over this transgression against her?

’No... otherwise, she would’ve done the business herself after killing the Scoundrel protecting him. So, why didn’t she do it?’ Ross pondered, now certain that Hilda knew about Elias’ plans, ’... It must be because of the promise Elias made.’

The act of staking something on your Heart was the same as saying you’ll gladly give up your own life for it. The GOHG salute was an example of this. And it was well-known that those who worked for the government took this kind of promise very seriously.

Ross’ face twitched uncontrollably as he felt the urge to punch Elias in the eye again. How can someone be so idiotic!

’At least it benefitted him... If I had to assume that the only reason this woman hadn’t killed Elias yet was so that she could see whether he would hold up his promise. And by killing our Scoundrel, she made sure Elias would follow through with his words.’

So in the end, it was all a warning not to pull something over her.

A warning to Elias — but also to himself; all under the pretence that it was just a misunderstanding.

When in reality...

"Hallo~?"

She probably just didn’t want to worsen the impression she had on the three around her.

’She’s more than meets the eye.’ Ross gulped, the back of his neck drenched in sweat. ’How terrifying...’