Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
Volume 3 Chapter 28: Interlude ~ The n.o.ble Lady"s Choice Part 1~
Lish.e.l.la Van Avar was sitting alone in the darkness of her own room.
A few days have pa.s.sed since the misfortunate party at the villa.
So far, Lish.e.l.la had no idea how to explain the events which transpired over the last few days.
During the party, as soon as her Father - Count Avar - saw face to face with Lily Morton, his face twisted in anger unlike anything Lish.e.l.la have ever seen before, and attacked her without warning.
His movements at that moment were quick and swift, uncharacteristic of his fat and obese body, and his attendants also changed while they rushed to Lish.e.l.la"s side.
Lily Morton also seemed surprised for a bit, but then she just smiled at Lish.e.l.la, bowed gracefully and clashed with her Father.
Even though it was a rough battle, Miss Morton did not lost any of her elegance not even for a second, making Lish.e.l.la forget the fact that they were in the middle of a serious crisis.
However, now that she tried to recall the events of those evening, she realized that some of the details were fuzzy and foggy, as if something was interfering with her memory.
Next thing that she knew was that she was surrounded by the guards and court magicians escorting her to safety, saying that the robbers managed to infiltrate the villa and were here to steal the magic stones.
Since she was directly involved in this incident she was interviewed by the authorities, but her testimony proved next to useless to them.
That is because once she came to her senses Lily Morton was nowhere to be seen, and no one even remember her being there in the first place.
She also kept silent about her fuzzy memories, thinking that it might get in even more trouble.
The authorities had their hands full with the stolen artificial magic stones as it was, and Lish.e.l.la was secretly hoping that because of that they wouldn"t press the matter any further.
For a while the investigators were following some promising leads, but once those proved false on ended in a dead end, they were forced to approach the matter from a different side altogether.
That is because there was a report of a huge magic disaster occurring in the direct neighborhood of Melias.
The royal palace was in uproar with various speculations, saying that the cause of the incident was the dungeon situated near town, that there were hordes of monsters emerging from inside of it, that there was a white fog that covered the whole mountain that sometime later obliterated the whole mountain, and that it was none other than a dragon that finally resolved this magic crisis.
Amongst other things, the Avar family suffered great losses since their territories were afflicted by the magical fog.
The situation needed to be resolved as soon as possible, but alas, her Father was in a state of coma and wouldn"t wake up.
Mother was of no help, either, crying all the time while staying locked inside of her private chambers.
From her stay at the royal palace, Lish.e.l.la was aware that her family was suspected of orchestrating the whole magical stone affair.
Something had to be done, but whether it was to be serving time for their crimes or spending the rest of their lives trying to make amends for it, it wasn"t something that Lish.e.l.la could decide on her own.
It was a decision that the whole of the Avar family needed to make as one.
And since both the head of the household and his wife were unable to make any sort of decisions, it fell onto Lish.e.l.la"s shoulders to make that call.
And she would do anything to save her family from crumbling into ruin.
Even though it would cost them their reputation.
The only thing she was willing to hide was the fact that she met "that person". It was her special memory, hers and hers alone.
Then, Lish.e.l.la boarded the carriage and went throughout their dominion, meeting with people she have never met before, looking thorough various doc.u.ments in an attempt to minimalize the damages and start rebuilding.
It was a good thing that other than the artificial magic stone business, her father left other people in charge of various things.
Thanks to that they managed to avoid unnecessary confusion, and it was easier to resolve various disputes, give permissions and move on with the reparations.
Remembering the time she spent in the study while giving instructions and solving through mountains of paperwork, Lish.e.l.la couldn"t help but smile being filled with that mysterious feeling of fulfillment and duty.
Thanks to "that person" her body was strong enough to endure this kind of work, something that would normally be un.o.btainable for her by any normal means.
And although she couldn"t see her family all that often because of all the work that needed to be done, Lish.e.l.la was not overcome with despair, instead focusing all of her efforts on the rebuilding process.
Now her efforts were finally starting to bear fruits, and because of that she decided to call it a day for today and go to sleep in her own room at her mansion where she spent most of her life until that point.
As soon she was alone, Lish.e.l.la went to bed, but there were so much thoughts going on through her head that she was unable to fall asleep.
There are a lot of strange things going on in this world.
Everybody seemed to omit that fact, but right after the party ended, Lily Morton and the other lady that was accompanying her disappeared.
She was a weird woman, with really curios and unnatural hair color, but Lish.e.l.la was hoping that she would stay with her at the mansion a little bit longer.
What"s more, no matter who she asked about her, n.o.body seemed to know who she was and where she was from.
Even the servants at the mansion and the other girls that attended some of the tea parties together with them had no memories of those women ever coming here and existing in the first place.
But Lish.e.l.la remembered.
One woman with mysteriously gold eyes and hair black as the night with traces of red in them. Another woman with golden hair and purple eyes. Others may have forgotten about them, but for Lish.e.l.la the time she had spent together with them was irreplaceable.
They were the reason why she was able to bring herself into action and work towards bringing her domain back from ruin.
She heard Lish.e.l.la"s voice.
She got angry on her behalf.
She told her that even though she lived a quiet and uneventful life, she could still be happy.
But above all else, she told her that she could be her friend.
It was thanks to them that Lish.e.l.la was here at this very moment.
From the perspective of who she used to be, she had done some preposterous tings during the last few days.
But she felt glad that she had an opportunity to meet them.
However, for as long as she stays in this room, he is always going to remember.
Were they really able to fulfill her wish?
She went to see her Father only once, but there was no sign of "that person" there.
Without him being there Lish.e.l.la felt as though she was struck by a thunder and was about to faint, but once she looked at her chest the mark of the contract was still there, still intact.
She still did not quite understood some of the things that the two women were saying, but she believed that they would keep their promise.
Finally giving up on going to sleep, Lish.e.l.la got out of bed and looked at the night sky from behind the closed curtains.
Although outside was completely dark, she could still clearly hear the wind howling on the other side of the window.
The room was filled with a cold, fresh night air.
It was the same kind of night as that fateful night, when she met "that person" for the first time.
He would look at her from the darkness on the other side of the window, huge and mysterious, telling her various kinds of stories.
Even after signing a contract with him, he would visit her every single night, even when she was struck with fever and had to go to bed early.
Sometimes, when she would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, he would still be there, right beside her bed.
He would stay there by her side, without saying a word, and would make his leave shortly before morning.
The morning after those visits she would always feel better.
But just the fact that she knew that he was still there somewhere was making here more than happy.
But it was hard for her to know that even though if she was to have a fever, he wouldn"t be by her side anymore.
She felt as though she was dreaming, and if she was to wake up it would all but disappear.
He was the one who gave her back her health.
Even if that demon was just something straight out of a fairy tale, for Lish.e.l.la he was a very important person: a teacher, a friend, a family.
He was someone whom Lish.e.l.la could not simply describe with words alone. At least that"s what she thought.
Lish.e.l.la is a n.o.ble.
Even if she wanted to live her own life the way she wanted to, the only real environment she would ever know in her life would be the world of n.o.bility.
Her life would always be revolving around making friendships that would benefit her, finding a husband that would make her life free of worries and maintaining good relations with other n.o.bles.
The sense of life for the aristocrats was inevitably connected with the survival and well-being of their house. Lish.e.l.la learned about that really early in her life.
That is why she neede to be vague and not let others exploit her for their own gain.
However, those two were more important to her than that.
Lish.e.l.la let out a sigh in the darkness.
Soon enough, even her finger started to get cold.
She neede to wake up early tomorrow. So even if she didn"t wanted to do that, she needed to get at least some rest.
A night"s breeze brushes against her bed.
Looking towards the window, it was open and the curtain was gently flapping in the wind.
Then, what entered the room was an incarnation of the night, bringing the cold air with it.
Yes, of that she was certain.
This time around, it was a female silhouette.
The silhouette looked as though it was floating in the air.
And even though this mansion was covered in anti-break-in spells, this person didn"t trigger any of them.
Lish.e.l.la went stiff for a moment, but then she was overcome with relief as she recognized that funny outfit with a top hat, and the stunning beauty that accompanied it.
It was the person who promised to be Lish.e.l.la"s friend, and the same one that disappeared mysteriously right after the party a few days earlier -- Lava Figura.