The World’s Strongest Are Obsessed With Me

Chapter 3

Throughout the month following the funeral, several relatives from the extended family came knocking on their door with a lawyer in tow to talk about appointing a representative. Their determination to benefit from the Pesteroz family was palpable.

Once they got through the door, they immediately went after Dahlia, mostly because they already knew Hikan wasn’t going to hear them out. But Dahlia was also committed. She knew she’d fill her future with black clouds if she ever did or said something that would hinder Hikan in any way. So whenever they approached her, she repeated the same words like a parrot.

“I don’t want anyone else besides my brother.”

“I want my brother to be the master of the house. I don’t want anyone else.”

This somehow spread a rumor in society that the youngest daughter of the Pesteroz family loved her brother dearly. Dahlia thought it was very exaggerated, but she also knew it would work in her favor by lowering Hikan’s wariness of her.

In the end, the extended family members failed to instate a representative because of Dahlia’s fervent denial. She could finally take a breath of relief. In fact, she was relaxed enough to visit her closest friend's mansion for a cup of tea.

“Goodness, Dahlia, I didn’t know that was going on while I was gone," Duchess Blueport said in a warm voice.

Dahlia watched her pour the tea into the teacup in an elegant sweep. Duchess Blueport had just reached her early forties and had beautiful brown hair. She was a Transcendent like all four masters of the duke families.

Dahlia heard the duchess’s talent allowed her to create large barriers that could keep everything out from within. However, it was also said that the duchess had been in a major fire accident before her magic flourishment, suffering terrible burns and losing her husband in the process.

Perhaps it was due to the trauma of that day, but Duchess Blueport always wore gloves and a mask, leaving just her mouth and chin revealed. She also disliked people touching her. Not only did she refrain from going to any social events, Dahlia hadn’t even had the chance to hold her hand even though they'd known each other for quite a while.

“Are you sad that your father passed away?”

“To be honest, I don’t feel a thing. Isn’t that strange?”

“No, it’s possible. It’s all right to feel that way," the duchess said. She smiled softly before pushing the tea she'd just poured and a saucer of sweet chocolate chip cookies over to Dahlia. Unlike her nanny, Duchess Blueport always gave Dahlia something sweet to nibble on whenever she was in a bad mood.

She’s a nice person.

Dahlia bit into the cookie and smiled at the duchess.

While they were both Transcendents, Hikan and Duchess Blueport were completely different. Dahlia had never seen Duchess Blueport lash out in frustration or rage. Besides, she was one of the few people Dahlia could rely on, since Dahlia didn’t have a mother.

When Duke Pesteroz abandoned Dahlia after the grief of losing his wife, Duchess Blueport couldn’t bear to see Dahlia ignored and took care of her. Their relationship continued to Dahlia’s current age of thirteen.

But she also treasured Duchess Blueport for another reason. She was one of the characters who didn’t appear in the main story, just like Dahlia. So Dahlia was building up all kinds of familiarity with the duchess in her mind.

She knew, of course, that a character like Duchess Blueport couldn’t have been created out of nowhere as she had been because her first son, Lewain Blueport, was one of the male leads of the game’s main story. Dahlia had wanted to meet him, but according to Duchess Blueport, Lewain was in the Blueport duchy and wasn’t planning on visiting the capital for the next four years. Since Lewain was called Duke Blueport in the game, Dahlia knew the duchess was going to retire from her position before his appearance.

“It’s been thirteen years since you last met your brother. How do you feel?” Duchess Blueport asked with a smile.

Dahlia hesitated for a moment before whispering in her ear. “He’s scary. Really scary.” She held up a finger beside each side of her head to make horns.

Duchess Blueport laughed, amused by Dahlia’s actions. “Most normal people are scared of the Transcendents. There have been some incidents too.”

Dahlia nodded in agreement. Normal people were always scared of the Transcendents, not only because of their power, but from the risk of a Transcendent going on a rampage.

Most of the time, strong Transcendent individuals were managed by the royal family’s intervention (mostly the emperor), while the four duke families tried their best to stop a Transcendent from going on a rampage in order to maintain a positive social image.

There were times when that all failed. The incident from thirty years ago, when Duke Artus had annihilated an entire group of Imperial Palace magicians, was the most notable example. Even the people who were scared of talking about the Transcendent had spoken out in anger.

Naturally, the general public opinion swayed toward removing all Transcendents from the empire. The former emperor had to come up with special measures against the Transcendents in order to calm the angered public. Some dozen mandatory laws were added, including timely updates on every Transcendent person’s mental health. Due to his efforts, there had been no reports of a Transcendent causing destruction from a rampage since then. At least, up until now.

According to the events mentioned in Ouroboros' Labyrinth, a Transcendent was going to go on a rampage very soon.

While there were no details on how or when, there was a hint that the Transcendent was going to rampage during a party. From that point onward, most Transcendent individuals would continue to erupt in a rampage until tthe royal family became helpless.

Please be careful of your Transcendent son, Duchess, Dahlia warned inwardly.

Duchess Blueport was smiling gently, ignorant of Dahlia’s concern. It was lonely to be the only one to know about the future of the world. Dahlia pouted. “But I’m not scared of you, Duchess Blueport. My brother acts like he’ll sell me off somewhere all the time. That’s why I’m scared of him.”

“Hmm.”

“What if he arranges a marriage between me and a horrible old man? Or he might bring in a man to marry me so I can make a lot of Transcendent babies for the Pesteroz family...”

Duchess Blueport spewed out the tea she had been drinking. She looked shocked. She stared at Dahlia as though she'd heard something she shouldn’t have. “Wh-where did you hear such a thing? Did you hear it from the maids?”

The idea was, naturally, created from Dahlia’s own imagination. “N-no, not them," Dahlia said, trying to gloss over the subject. Perhaps she'd been lost in her thoughts for too long. But it seems possible considering all the things Hikan did in the original story.

Dahlia glanced at the duchess to gauge her reaction and decided to speak honestly. “That’s why I have a plan. I’m going to run away as soon as I’m an adult and can be independent.”

Duchess Blueport panicked, as she hadn’t expected Dahlia to think that far ahead. “Isn’t it a little early to be thinking of running away just because your brother is scary? It hasn’t even been a month that you’ve been with him.”

Dahlia sighed. I knew it. That’s how anyone would react.

Duchess Blueport looked at Dahlia’s disappointed slouch and immediately patted Dahlia’s hand with her own. “I’m sorry. I think I keep relating to young Duke Hikan instead of you because I’m a Transcendent myself.”

Oh, so she might be putting herself in Hikan’s shoes. Dahlia regretted her blunt honesty.

“Being a Transcendent is lonely and solitary. Please, try to be friendlier with your brother, Dahlia. In return, if you need any help in getting closer to him, tell me, and I’ll help you in any way I can.”

They were warm words. But would she be able to grow closer to Hikan? She could still feel her heart shrivel whenever their eyes met.

Dahlia didn’t give a reply.

* * *

Hikan and Dahlia continued to coexist without major incident. Perhaps it was because Hikan noticed that Dahlia was getting plenty of love from Duchess Blueport.

“This is unexpected.” When Dahlia heard him say that, goosebumps ran down her back. It meant she had one more reason to be alive in his book.

Just because they weren’t fighting, though, didn’t mean they were on good terms. Hikan was very annoyed with her because Dahlia tried to appeal to him as much as she could during their time together.

Perhaps she'd started off on the wrong foot with him. Her image as a stupid, innocent little sister who loves her brother meant she had to keep acting as though she liked him.

But I’m actually scared to death.

Dahlia sighed. Hikan hadn’t even started his magic flourishment yet, but he already seemed inhuman. She felt like he could erase her with a twitch of his finger.

But I can’t think of any other way to lower Hikan’s guard…

So she continued to show her one-sided affection to him with wide smiles while crying tears of pain inside.

When she first learned origami from Madam Mashu, she folded a wishing turtle to give to Hikan. It was just to show how much effort she was putting into their relationship. Wasn’t there some story in my previous life about folding 1000 paper cranes to get a wish granted?

“What is this?”

“According to Madam Mashu, this turtle grants wishes! So I was hoping it would grant yours...”

“I don’t need wishes. Get out.”

She was rejected. Obviously. Dahlia held the wishing turtle and wished for Hikan to trip and fall in front of other people. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

After that, she learned how to draw. She drew Hikan to the best of her abilities and showed it to him.

“What is that? Did you draw a demon?”

She couldn’t admit that the drawing was Hikan, so she dragged herself back to her room.