Hakushaku to Yousei

The London sky was unusually cloudless.

Amidst the echoing of various signals, the steam whistles and the shouts of sailors, was this perfectly formed crowd of people aiming to board the pa.s.senger s.h.i.+ps that crossed the Atlantic Ocean? For while there were refined travelers, there were the laborers that dreamed of striking it rich amongst them too.

"I have to go."

"But there"s still ten minutes until departure."

Lydia"s father, who had sensibly boarded ahead of time, was probably beside himself worrying about whether Lydia would miss boarding or not. However, Edgar, who was reluctant to part, lifted up the hand he was tightly grasping and kissed its gloved fingers.

He was Earl Edgar Ashenbert, and Lydia"s fiancé. Although he was known as an earl of many love affairs and had gained a reputation throughout high society for being a philanderer, he suddenly reversed his conduct and for some reason continued to make advances only on Lydia.

Lydia had no means of confirming this, but had decided to trust him for the time being.

Although they were about to be married, the more they were alone together, the more Lydia felt that she ought to be careful about acting improperly, due to the excessive skins.h.i.+p*.

"I"ll also be going to Scotland next week. Even though we won"t be able to meet for a little while, you"ll be able to endure it right?"

"I"d like it if you felt just a little bit lonely though."

She still wasn"t used to conversing like lovers. Even so, Edgar smiled as if he was having fun.

Due to this, Edgar was in the position to see Lydia and her father off today. Even though he said that they would be apart for only a few days, he suddenly seemed very reluctant to part.

Feeling embarra.s.sed by Edgar"s long, steady gaze on her, Lydia quickly averted her eyes, and the conversation, elsewhere.

"Don"t tell me, you were the one that uncovered it?"

"Since we won"t be able to meet for awhile, I just didn"t want this precious time to be interrupted."

"We"ll meet again soon."

That"s true, something like that had happened before.

"It"ll be alright. Please don"t worry."

Ever since she became engaged, her surroundings, and Lydia herself, were changing little by little.

"But, you have important business to attend to, right?"

In preparation for marriage, Edgar was thinking that as the head of the Ashenbert family, he needed to strengthen his standing as an earl even more.

When he appeared in society, he garnered much attention as a flashy and attractive earl, but that wasn"t enough in order to restore the family name. It was also necessary to have a track record within Great Britain.

"There"s nothing that"s more important than you. Ah, that"s right, that"s why, if you said that you don"t want to be apart for even a moment……"

"You don"t understand. In the whole world, only you can make me do your bidding at any time."

"I won"t do things like forget you, so please don"t worry."

"There"s no way something like that would happen."

I already have though -- is what Lydia wanted to say, but she swallowed these words.

"You"re wrong, Lydia. From now on, the ones that will feel dejected are all the men in town. They"ll definitely realize that a wonderful woman was taken away by an outsider."

Finding a short pause, Lydia tried to definitely board the s.h.i.+p this time when she caught a glimpse of the young man who acted as a valet standing behind Edgar.

"By the way, I don"t see Nico anywhere?"

The fairy cat named Nico was Lydia"s childhood friend and also her partner when she worked as a fairy doctor.

That Nico had been getting along well with Raven nowadays. Even so, Raven might have thought that boarding the s.h.i.+p without saying anything was rather cold-hearted.

I wonder if that sounded forced.

Even so, Raven, who hadn"t opened up his heart to anyone but Edgar until now, seemed to think of Nico as a friend. Having been informed of this by Edgar, Lydia, who thought that it would be undesirable for Raven"s developing emotions to regress, became irritated with Nico"s cold-hearted att.i.tude.

"Well then, Raven, we"ll meet again in Scotland. Please keep Nico company for me at that time too."

"Heeeey, Lydia! If you don"t come quickly, the s.h.i.+p will leave---!"

"Oh, Raven, good timing. I"ll give you one of these."

"Lydia, be careful."

I wonder if, as a lady about to marry into n.o.bility, I"m able to act the part just a little bit.

While feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed, Lydia scooped Nico into her arms, then hurried towards the s.h.i.+p.

＊　＊　＊

When the long summer suns.h.i.+ne finally began to disappear, Edgar headed towards a certain pub near Charing Cross.

From downstairs, the creaking of floorboards and the clapping of hands along with sounds of dancing rang out. Removed from this boisterous merrymaking, this floor had a long haired carpet that erased the sounds of footsteps and m.u.f.fled the gentlemen"s conversations.

From a seat deep within, a middle aged man stood up.

The one beckoning him was Duke Glen. He was an influential aristocrat that Edgar had recently started to become close with.

Introduced as Connaught, the leader of an influential clan of the Highlands, the man seemed tough despite his small build.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Connaught."

That being said, it was difficult for Edgar to understand anything about the Highlands. In order for an outsider to learn about the region, they needed to be acquainted with a master of the region at the very least.

He knew that Lydia"s late mother had left the McKeel clan, a clan of the Hebrides archipelago, and on top of that, a person of the McKeel clan had said that it was decided before Lydia was born that she would be the fiancée of the next clan head. Due to this, he decided to get himself involved with the clan"s matters.

"By the way, Lord Ashenbert, you"re interested in the development of the Highlands, is that right?"

"Yes, well, investing into a new industry would be good, but I was thinking that I wanted to try doing other things as well."

"Just increasing my a.s.sets has no meaning. Thinking long term, if I were to make a significant investment towards the development of Great Britain, then the Highlands would still remain untouched as a land with much potential."

"It was for this reason, Mr. Connaught, that I introduced Lord Ashenbert to you."

"You"re extremely young, yet you have such st.u.r.dy plans."

"Since my father pa.s.sed away early, I"ve had no choice but to protect the family name with my own efforts."

"Forgive my rudeness. I see, so we only have Duke Glen"s expectations. Then let me say this frankly. Our family is experiencing extreme poverty. Of course, it"s not just the Connaught clan, but many other clans have become unable to sustain themselves……"

"It"s particularly bad towards the islands where those who were unwilling to give up their land have started to die out. On top of this, acquisition of the land by outsiders continues to progress, so many are driven out from their family lands before they have a chance to renew their lifestyle."

When Edgar heard of this from Duke Glen, he thought that there was no disadvantage in making the Connaught clan indebted to him. Much like the McKeel clan, they possessed an extensive amount of land throughout the Hebrides.

"Mr. Connaught, is there any merit to me investing in your clan?"

He said that while leaning forward in excitement.

"Do you want to make an influential clan of the Highlands your ally? Is it your intention to crush the McKeel clan?"

While masking the resentment that sprouted in an instant, Edgar raised his head.

A young man, young enough to be teenager, put his hand to his chest and gave a forced bow of his head.

Prince had only just recently died in front of Edgar"s eyes. However, Prince was merely the product of a process akin to black magic, and was the key to preserving the organization. The memories of Prince still lived on.

Prince, who was a descendant of the royal family that was driven out of Great Britain, kidnapped a young Edgar, who was the eldest son of a n.o.ble family that happened to have ties to the same lineage,  in order to make him his successor.

Therefore Ulysses, ignoring the fact that he once thought of Edgar as a traitor, now treated him as his master.

Edgar said this with as much displeasure as possible.

Ulysses wasn"t bothered at all.

"I don"t want to hear it. Disappear."

"Can you not hear me?"

Of course, Edgar was the cause of this. That"s why, even though Ulysses kept up a polite att.i.tude, his inner frustration was unmistakable. He continued speaking while ignoring Edgar.

"This matter is irrelevant to your circ.u.mstances. I"ll do as I please when it comes to dealing with the Prophet."

"Didn"t I already tell you to disappear?!"

The contents of the gla.s.s were flung at Ulysses.

The boy"s hair became disheveled, exposing the scar of his damaged ear. It was something that Edgar had ordered his attendant, Raven, to do some time ago.

When Edgar started putting force into the hand gripping the ear, as expected Ulysses grimaced in pain. However, he raised the corners of his lips and grinned.

"What"s so funny?"

As he was thrust away with full force, Ulysses crashed into a nearby chair and got tangled up in a tablecloth before collapsing to the floor.

"The exact whereabouts of the Holy Land, if it"s Prince then he definitely knows. If you save yourself the ha.s.sle of searching, then you"ll definitely make it in time for the full moon."

If one looked down the main street, if it can be called that since it was barely a dozen yards in length, one would see residences scattered alongside it with fields and orchards spreading out beyond their gardens.

After airing out the house and unpacking their luggage, Lydia sat around the table with her father and Nico, and the three of them had a late supper. While relaxing at the dining table lit by candlelight, Lydia aimlessly looked around the familiar dining room.

"Lydia, for you, the time spent in this house may now be your last," said her father solemnly.

"But, even after I get married, I"ll still come home from time to time at least."

"It"s not like that. He even said that since you"ll be by yourself, I can come meet you whenever I want to."

Nico said, while stuffing his cheeks full of bacon.

"Eh, Nico"s also going to live at the Earl"s residence?"

"What? Nico, were you going to stay at home with Father?"

"Well…..I haven"t decided yet, you see."

Originally, he was a fairy that Lydia"s mother had brought along with her when she left the island that was her birthplace. Although he had the appearance of a cat, because he was a free-willed fairy who didn"t belong to anyone, there was no choice but to accept his decision concerning where he would live.

Suddenly a strong wind blew, rattling the windows of the old house. Although it was summer, the nights were chilly. The curtains flew up and the lamp"s flame flickered.

Something that wasn"t of this world was strangely stirring up a fuss.

"Oh? I wonder who it is at this hour."

"But Nico, fairies don"t come to visit by ringing the doorbell."

"Master, someone claiming to be your son has arrived."

"Lydia, the Earl isn"t my son yet."

But, he became all the more bewildered.

As Nico said that, Lydia"s father gave a serious look of indignation.

Nodding, the housekeeper turned to go back when at that time, a different voice cut in.

Seemingly having entered without waiting to be received, a youth with long hair stood in the doorway. His luxurious wavy hair sparkled orange in the glow of the lamp, but in the shadows it also looked dark red. While he wore ordinary clothes, he gave the impression of coming from another world. Even so, he smiled cordially.

"…..a pain? …..therefore "Father"……?"

The youth just continued to smile and started to step towards Lydia.

"Wait a minute, who are you?"

That"s not the answer.

"It"s understandable that you wouldn"t know. I"m Aurora"s illegitimate child…."

"There"s, there"s no way that"s true!"

It wasn"t funny.

"Did you come just to tease my family? Would you mind leaving at once?"

"That"s enough."

Even if he left like this, it was true that she had become curious about just who this person was.

Her father heaved a deep sigh.

Saying so, he left the dining room.

"You"ll listen right, to my story?"

"You, you"re half-fairy right? Although you have a body of flesh like a human"s, your soul has the strong presence of a fairy"s."

Unsurprised that a cat had just spoken, he casually replied, "That"s exactly right."

"Lydia, you are also the same. However, while living in the human world, you seem to have a.s.similated with the humans quite well huh. Yeah, you look completely human."

"Wouldn"t you please call me big brother Brian?"

"Until you were taken to the human world as a changeling, you used to call me that. You probably don"t remember though."

"Y-You"re saying that I was a changeling?"

Since she was a child, Lydia had heard the whispered gossip that she didn"t resemble her parents. This, coupled with her reputation as the strange girl who could see fairies, made the children around her tease her by calling her a changeling.

"…….Please don"t tell lies. I"m the Carlton family"s, Father and Mother"s daughter."

It seemed that her mother"s relatives, the McKeel clan, had dealings with a fairy tribe where in exchange for continuing the practice of changelings, magical power would continue to get pa.s.sed down within the clan.

Knowing all this, it seemed even more so that Lydia mustn"t believe things such as her being a changeling.

Nonetheless, Brian made this a.s.sertion. Getting up from his seat, he started to talk in order to persuade Lydia while slowing crossing the room.

"If that"s so, then the real daughter of the Carlton family should be at your house in the fairy world, right? Take me there. Until I meet her I won"t believe you!"

"See? You"re spouting nonsense after all."

Died?

Thinking of this, Lydia began to acquire feelings of guilt.

"So, what did you want to do once you met your little sister?"

"Nothing in particular. I just wanted to see her. ……The family we have blood ties to, the McKeel clan, used to live on the surface after separating from the fairy tribe, but since the Unseelie Court fairies on the island have increased it became difficult to live here. On the next day of the full moon, the special day on which the path to the heavens opens up, we plan to leave this island."

"Philis Chyris."

Mother was a descendant of that fairy tribe. Lydia too, whether she was a changeling or not, was a descendant of Philis Chyris to some extent.

"Even though I"m descended from humans, once I leave this island and part from the human world, I"ll be able to live completely as a fairy. Before that, I wanted to meet my little sister."

"That"s why, I"m begging you. Before the day I leave the human world, won"t you please spend some time with your big brother?"

"It"s okay if you don"t believe my story. It"s okay if we even just pretend to be siblings. I just don"t want to forget that I had a little sister."

Half fairy, but also half human. It was hard to guess what a person like this was feeling, but coupled with the idea that while she was being raised as a human, her mother had known that her real parents were in the fairy world, was a feeling that Lydia could not forsake him.

In the end, Lydia ended up saying that.

"I wonder if this is going to be okay," Nico muttered in disbelief, while enthusiastically licking sauce out of a spoon.

After finis.h.i.+ng dinner, Lydia knocked at her father"s door. When she gently opened the door, the figure of her father, sitting in a chair by the window and gazing outside into the distance instead of at his open books, came into view.

She went to his side and squatted beside him, taking his hand into hers.

Lydia explained while deceiving him.

It might be that he remembered this when the young man suddenly appeared, calling Lydia his little sister, and that"s why he left his seat in the dining room.

"Because he was only ignorant of human common sense, he didn"t mean to insult Mother. He also didn"t mean to hurt Father……"

"Lydia, you don"t have to worry. I was just remembering a little about your mother. After many months have pa.s.sed, rather than feeling lonely or sad, whenever I remember her it feels like I"m talking to her after a long time."

As Lydia smiled, her father also smiled fondly at her and gently stroked her head. Just like when she was a child, Lydia placed her head on her father"s lap.

"Mother was definitely grateful to Father, who did all that for her. That"s why she also told me that it was fine for me to take pride in my ability to see fairies. She said that it was because a person who accepted me for who I am would definitely appear someday."

What exactly was he was talking about, Lydia wasn"t able to understand well.

"The Earl is choosing to get involved with fairies. It"s not that this can"t be thought of as reckless but…..by just being different from me, I expect that he will be a good partner for you."

Although he didn"t have mental prowess like Father, unlike Father, he was in a position where he couldn"t avoid dealing with fairies.

I wonder if I can become one.

"Aren"t you cold?"

"No, I"m fine."

"You know, when you were born, your mother seemed truly happy. "She"ll definitely grow up into a healthy and beautiful woman," she said."

"Lydia, we were always worrying about how to keep our elopement from causing you pain."

"……If that"s so, then it"s alright. However, it was because I tend to be unreliable as a father."

Although she came with the intention to comfort her father, in actuality, she might have come and snuggled close to her father in search of something that could deny her worries about being a changeling.

The existence of the fairy tribe on her mother"s side of the family was definite proof that her mother was a changeling. That"s why he would notice that Lydia might also become insecure.

The girl murmured, while believing in her mother and father, who were more definite blood relatives to her than some brother who suddenly appeared.

＊　＊　＊

"……What is the matter, Earl?"

While listening to his story, he suddenly fell into deep thought, and seemed to be s.p.a.cing out.

"Yes, um, it"s been 2 weeks since those two from the McKeel clan have departed London, but they don"t seem to be especially moving differently compared to the rest of the clan."

They had come to search for the daughter of Aurora, who was a descendant of a fairy tribe.

Just in case, Edgar had ordered an a.s.sociation of his comrades to pay close attention to the a.s.sociation of London residents affiliated with the McKeel clan, but Paul came to report that there seemed to be no reason to worry.

In the parlor of the Ashenbert residence, with the painter Paul right in before his eyes, Edgar brooded.

Would they really give up so easily?

It seemed that, just as he feared, there was some sort of antagonism between the McKeel clan"s Prophet and Prince"s organization. That"s why Ulysses was getting involved with the McKeel clan"s movements. He was trying to incite Edgar into burying the Prophet.

"I understand. Let"s stop with the surveillance. After that, Paul, I think I"d like to quit being the leader of the Scarlet Moon soon.  After all, Prince has died, and I don"t think there is any necessity to me being the leader anymore."

In order to interrupt the words of a worried Paul, Edgar stood up.

"Um, Earl, do you also already have no use for me? Not as a member of Scarlet Moon but……"

"Okay….."

"I"m sorry, but I have some business to attend to now so you"ll have to excuse me. Ahh, but please take your time here and drink some tea."

Paul had noticed that Edgar was carrying some burden all by himself.  Perhaps he had also perceived that Edgar cut his ties with the organization called "Scarlet Moon" in order to act on his own. That"s exactly why Paul had wondered whether he could lend his strength, even as an individual. While he felt grateful, Edgar also thought that that would be inexcusable.

After checking the hallway and closing the door, Raven entered the study.

He spread the map out on top of the table.

"So they occupy more than half of the island. I heard that where Lydia"s mother used to be was in the northernmost village. So that means, somewhere in this area must be where the Prophet is sleeping, the Holy Land."

Ulysses had said that if it were Prince then he would know.

"What is this blank piece of land? If it doesn"t belong to any clan, then I wonder if that means an outsider purchased it?"

The village of Lydia"s mother was also said to have had a lot of people that left or died. Edgar knit his brows.

"Who can say? I get the feeling that the theft of the islands is just the situation brought about by human selfishness. However, the fact that a great many landowners have had no choice but to sell their land is probably due to the effects of the famine brought about by crop failure, and the bad things piling up might be, as the McKeel clan believes, due to the influence of some wicked magic."

As long as those guys were fixated on Lydia, and as long as the Prophet was an existence that threatened Edgar"s life, then there was naturally no other choice but to regard the Prophet as an enemy. He sympathized with the McKeel clan"s misfortune, but he wasn"t going to be a victim for their sake.

"Understood. But how is the next full moon special?"

Therefore, even if you ask "how", Edgar didn"t know very well himself. Raven also tilted his head in confusion, but it seemed to be essential to the Prophet.
"Before that, we have to go to Lydia"s hometown. Please make the necessary preparations."