I am the heroine's godfather!

"Hehehe... Mr. Lantra, I wonder if you still remember the name 'Sicana'."

"...!"

Lantra was stunned: "Sikana! You, where did you hear that name?"

"I never expected you would still remember this name."

The man gave a hoarse laugh, holding the knife to Lantra: "But you've probably forgotten his voice by now."

"..."

Lantra seemed to have thought of something and fell silent.

The man chuckled softly. "It's been a long time, Mr. Lantra."

"...You are Sikana?"

"Ah, yes, it's me, that poor ant who was falsely accused and imprisoned, Sicana."

Lantra was silent for a long while before he said, "You've been released from prison?"

"As you can see, Mr. Rantla."

"...Then why did you do such a thing? Didn't you finally get out of prison?"

The old man was puzzled: "What happened on Narcissus Street, you did it, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do this? You were finally released! You can kill me if you hate me, but why hurt innocent people? Do you know that doing this could put you back in jail!"

Hearing Lantra's words, the man—that is, Sicana—laughed: "Jail? Hahaha...Jail? So what?"

Sicana's tone grew increasingly agitated: "As long as I can get revenge, what does it matter if I go to jail, or even sell my soul to an evil god!"

"revenge?"

Lantra fell silent for a long time before sighing, "What happened back then was indeed a frame-up by those people, and it's understandable that you want revenge. But what about your family?"

"family?"

Sicana gave a sad smile: "Mr. Rantella, I have no family left."

"......What?"

"They, those beasts!"

Sikana's voice turned somewhat manic, carrying a chilling coldness: "Those beasts broke my father's legs and left him to freeze to death in the street. They stripped my wife naked, dragged her into the street, gang-raped her, and then threw her into the river! My child was only seven years old at the time, and they threw him into a dog pen where he was bitten to death! My mother witnessed all of this and went completely insane!"

Lantra's pupils trembled, and even Charlotte and Laura, who were hiding behind, felt a pang of sympathy upon hearing these words.

“Mr. Lantra, you say I should live a good life now that I’m out of prison, but my family is dead. How can I possibly let them go!”

Sicana roared, "Why? Why do we have to suffer like this, while those beasts get to wear gold and silver and live a life of debauchery in their manor!"

"I want revenge, Mr. Lantra! I want revenge!"

"But these guys are nobles! I can't kill them, I can't even question them!"

"Thank goodness, thank goodness the Order found me and gave me power!"

“Mr. Rantla, look, I have power now!”

Sicana was somewhat deranged, and Lantra's eyes widened: "You, you've become a cultist! You'll die! Cultists never have a good ending!"

"so what!"

Sicana interrupted him: "They can take my body, my soul, everything I have, as long as they can get revenge!"

Chapter 7 It's best not to do anything unplanned.

Lantra fell silent.

Sicana's roar silenced him. He didn't know how to offer advice—or rather, did he even have the right to? Such deep-seated hatred could only be resolved by annihilating the enemy.

"So, you killed people for revenge, right?"

"Yes."

"...Which number am I?"

"the last one."

"...Then let's get started."

Lantra closed her eyes: "But they are innocent, don't hurt them."

Sicana lowered her eyes: "You're still the same as before."

"do not want!"

Laura screamed and tried to stop him, but Caitlin held her firmly.

Charlotte bit her lip. She also heard Sicanna's resentful roar. She didn't know what to do for a moment, but she knew that Grandpa Lantra was a good man, so she didn't want him to die.

But what can she do?

Charlotte clenched her fist, her nails digging into her flesh, drawing out a few drops of blood.

The smell of blood was actually barely perceptible, but for some reason, it attracted Sicana's attention.

Sicana, holding Rantella hostage, turned around and saw Charlotte and her two companions.

For some reason, the moment he saw the blonde little girl, he felt his mind explode, and a venomous voice echoed in his head.

Kill her!

Kill her!

Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!

Kill her!

Sicana's eyes turned crimson.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Footsteps came from outside the door, which meant that the patrol office had arrived late.

Sicana knew that the best option now was to kill Rantla, take his ears, and escape.

But for some reason, Sicana couldn't move.

He couldn't take his eyes off Charlotte.

How long did it take? Probably just a moment, before the crimson filled his entire eye.

"what!!!"

Sicana roared and charged toward Charlotte.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Lantra felt the blade against his back disappear. He opened his eyes and saw Sicana rushing towards Charlotte.

The change happened so fast that all Lantra could manage to cry out, "No!"

Charlotte froze. Her brain screamed an alarm, telling her to run, but her body seemed to be bound by some mysterious force, unable to move an inch. She could only watch helplessly as the blade drew closer and closer to her.

In her final moments, Charlotte closed her eyes.

Perhaps, I am going to die?

I'm sorry, Dad, I haven't been able to avenge you yet.

Like a revolving lantern, past memories surfaced and flowed slowly until finally settling on that always unreliable guy.

If I die, will Loran be sad?

For some reason, Charlotte both wanted him to be sad and didn't want him to be sad.

If he's sad, does that mean I'm even slightly important to him?

Little Charlotte had already experienced the immense pain of seeing someone important die, so in the end, she hoped Lorraine wouldn't be sad. She didn't want the man who had taken her in and given her a new home to suffer that pain.

Goodbye, Lorraine.

However, the imagined pain did not materialize. Charlotte opened her eyes and saw a faint glow emanating from the necklace Loran had given her. A transparent light enveloped her, preventing the blade from advancing any further.

"Ahhh!!!"

Sicana roared, but the blade was firmly blocked by the light shield, leaving only his shout to pass through the shield in vain and echo in Charlotte's ears.

What's this?

Charlotte was stunned.

Could it be...

"Loran?"

Just then, the protective shield shattered, scattering glass-like shards. Laura's family, who had just breathed a sigh of relief at the appearance of this strange shield, now worried about Charlotte again. Strangely, however, the blade, now unobstructed, remained suspended in mid-air, unable to advance an inch no matter how hard Sicana tried.

"Don't even think about it, you can't break free."

A somewhat lazy voice came from the scattered fragments of the protective shield, and a figure emerged.

It was Lorraine.

"Hey, little Charlotte, aren't you here as a guest? Why have you gotten yourself into such a mess?"

Loran crouched down and ruffled Charlotte's hair.

Charlotte was silent for a moment, a sense of relief spreading through her.

She suddenly smiled and said, "Because you arrived too late."

"Oh dear, oh dear..."

Loran gave a helpless smile.

------------------

What happened next was simple: Loran handed Sicana over to the patrol officers who arrived late and were still confused about the situation, and then took Charlotte on their way home.

Charlotte remained somewhat silent throughout the journey.

So much happened that night, both in Sicana and in Lorraine, that Charlotte needs time to process it all.

Loran knew this, so he didn't say anything more.

The two walked on in silence. The moonlight shone down, and the city was somewhat desolate at night. Recently, because of what Sikana had done on Narcissus Street, the city was in a state of panic, so there were hardly any people on the streets at this time. Only the moonlight and starlight shone down, illuminating the two figures, one big and one small.

"Loran".

Charlotte suddenly spoke.

"what happened?"

"I don't know."

Charlotte lowered her eyes and expressed her doubts word by word.

"Did that guy named Sikana really do something wrong?"

"Yes, I made a mistake."

Charlotte was stunned. She had expected Lorraine to say something comforting, or to tell her that Sicana was also forced into it, but she never expected Lorraine to say something like that.

This made Charlotte feel that Lorraine was just brushing her off, so Miss Charlotte pouted like a pufferfish, looking a little angry.

Seeing Charlotte's adorable expression, Lorraine found it somewhat amusing. He patted Charlotte's head and chuckled, "Let me guess, what is my lovely Miss Charlotte thinking?"

"Well, I guess you think that guy named Sikana was forced into it, and that he's not actually a heinous person, right?"

"......Um."

Charlotte was silent for a moment, then nodded.

Lorraine continued, “But Charlotte, you must understand that the people Sicanna killed before—you may not know, Mr. Rantla was not the first victim, there were three before him—the four people, including Rantla, were all innocent.”

"..."

“Sicana may have a tragic past, and the hatred and injustice that led him to do these things tell us that there are extenuating circumstances to his crimes.”

“But my dear Charlotte, ‘excusable’ doesn’t mean these things are right.”

"These reasons only tell us that Sicana is not a bad person by nature, but what he did was wrong. Wrong is wrong, and wrong things cannot be made right, no matter how many reasons there are."

Chapter 8: The education of children should begin as early as possible.