Chapter 101. < Drama. (2) >
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Translator: thursdays Editor: Yahiko PR: LightBrin
2.
The sand on the moon made it look a little red.
Its dust made the sky red, just as a person made their surroundings red when they spilled blood. These unrelated facts made me uncomfortable.
‘It looks like the moon is bleeding.’
I walked forward, and that uneasy thought dragged behind me like a shadow.
In the distance, the servants were buzzing about.
“Miss, you can’t act like this here!”
“This is the residence of the daughter of the Duke of Ivansia!”
“No matter how much His Highness favors you, at this time…”
The Lady of the Silver Lily, who walked with me, muttered.
“The gatecrasher is none other than she.”
Her tone clearly revealed her contempt for the Heretic Questioner—no, the Lady of the Golden Silk.
“Seeing that she’s here at this hour, she hasn’t come for tea. Butler, was this visit planned?”
“It was not.”
I was also disconcerted. Wasn’t it past midnight already? The Heretic Questioner had no reason to meet the Lady of the Silver Lily at this time.
He and I had talked two days ago.
[For now, I’ll work as the Lady of the Silver Lily’s personal butler], I had said. [It’s to get information about her and about how to beat this stage.]
「Hmm.」
The Heretic Questioner briefly made a peculiar expression.
Still, he smiled widely like usual.
「Okay! It’s for the mission, so it can’t be helped.」
「I will be fine. Have a safe trip, Death King!」
Like that, we had agreed on it.
At least, I thought we did.
“Bring forth my butler!”
The voice became closer as we walked.
“Butler! I know you’re here!”
The garden of the Lady of the Silver Lily’s quarters.
Even the dark sky of the night could not cover the springtime in the flower garden. The mature white magnolias’ heads drooped, overwhelmed by the weight of the season. The moon was red, and the moonlight reflected off the magnolia petals were ruddy. Thus, the white magnolias of the garden looked like pink magnolias in full bloom.
“Ah!”
A magnolia petal fell.
“As I thought, you were here, butler!”
The Heretic Questioner pushed aside the guard at the gate. The guards were hesitating as they could not recklessly hurt the daughter of a baron.
The Heretic Questioner took the moment to hoist up her skirt and stride into the garden. Squish. The pink magnolia petal that had fallen earlier was trampled under the Heretic Questioner’s shoe.
“I was worried when you didn’t come back.”
“……”
“Really. Making your master worry and search for you personally… Doesn’t that disqualify you as a servant?”
I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw the Heretic Questioner.
The hair.
The Heretic Questioner’s moonlit blond hair was longer than it was the previous day.
“Milady…”
“You are my one and only butler and childhood friend. You mean more to me than any ordinary servant. Is it too undignified for me to ask that you recognize this fact?”
It wasn’t just his hair. Face. Appearance. Even though traces of the Heretic Questioner remained, his appearance was somehow unfamiliar.
‘Did he change his appearance with the sacred techniques?’
Why?
“In any case, you shouldn’t be at a place like this. I feel like even the flower garden is poisonous. Now! Butler, come here and let’s go back together.”
“Impertinent woman.”
When the Heretic Questioner tried to approach me, the Lady of the Silver Lily stood in her way.
“This sort of disturbance at nighttime is a felony that should be punished with a las.h.i.+ng. Where do you think you are to raise your voice like so? Get down on your knees and admit your errors, immediately.”
“Oh? Are you going cane me?”
The Heretic Questioner grinned.
“If you’re going to hit me, please hit me firmly and with strength. Your Ladys.h.i.+p, I wonder what will happen if I show the scars you leave on my calves to His Highness the Prince. The memories shared by the prince and I will increase again.”
“D-disgusting…!”
The ducal servants shuddered. The crown prince’s official fiancée was the Lady of the Silver Lily. Yet, this upstart spoke of showing her calves to the lady’s fiancé and making memories right in front of her. The servants’ faces turned red, and they glared at the Heretic Questioner.
The Lady of the Silver Lily quietly whispered, “Really?”
Flinch. The servants froze when they heard her voice.
My chest chilled in an instant, as well.
“Then, I shall do so.”
That was just how cold the Lady of the Silver Lily’s voice was.
“Your desire to make beautiful memories during your school days is lovely. Indeed, if it’s you, you can even lionize a memory of rolling in a dung field. If you want to make some wonderful memories, I, as a n.o.ble of the empire, will a.s.sist you.”
The Lady of the Silver Lily lifted her left hand.
“Bring me a cane.”
The servants trembled.
“Y-young Mistress…”
“Haven’t I ordered you to not call me that here?”
“If the crown prince finds out about this…”
“Did you think I’d send you off kindly after the mess you’ve created in the residence of the duke’s people? If I send you off quietly, will our family name not become sullied? Law is more important than anything, and the crown prince is the one who must uphold it.”
The servants swallowed their breaths. They didn’t look convinced. ‘But,’ the servants protested silently, ‘is the crown prince the type of person who would do that?’
n.o.body could voice their protests.
“My left hand is still empty.”
The Lady of the Silver Lily’s voice flowed.
“Bring a cane. I will not repeat myself.”
Her servants’ shoes busily moved on the road where the pink magnolias fell to retrieve a cane from the building.
They bowed their heads as if they were afraid of showing their faces in the moonlight. Only two people, the Lady of the Silver Lily and the Heretic Questioner, kept their heads high.
“Milady.”
Eventually, I had no choice but to get closer to the Heretic Questioner.
“What’s wrong? Why did you come here at a time like this?”
“I came to get back what is mine. You’re making me state the obvious.”
The Heretic Questioner beamed at me.
“I had been waiting since the morning, but you didn’t come back, butler. At first, I thought that there must have been something important, but then I heard that you were with the Lady of the Silver Lily.”
The Heretic Questioner pressed his hands to his cheeks.
“I realized it right away. The lady must have taken hold of your weakness and blackmailed you. That’s her specialty. Poor butler. You were involved because of His Highness and me…”
“……”
I didn’t understand.
What was he talking about?
“Don’t worry.”
The Heretic Questioner’s smile was bright, as always.
“I won’t let her take anything from me, whether it’s the prince’s favor or your allegiance. A cane? She can hit me as much as she wants. I came for you, butler. She’s the one who will be hurt more the more she whips me.”
“No… Sorry. Just a moment. Please excuse me.”
I stepped a little closer to the Heretic Questioner so that the others around us did not hear our words. Fortunately, n.o.body stopped me.
“Milady.”
“Yes.”
I gulped and whispered,
“Heretic Questioner.”
There was silence.
“What?”
My heart was pounding.
My lips were dry. My tongue couldn’t move. Was it always so difficult to articulate words one by one to weave a sentence? Slowly, I opened my mouth.
“When spring comes.”
“Pardon?”
My heart.
“Heretic Questioner…”
“What are you talking about, butler?”
“If you’re playing around like last time, I really will get mad. I mean it. I’m asking seriously right now. Please answer me properly. How high is your immersion rate?”
The Heretic Questioner blinked.
“Hmm? Butler, are you playing around? Were you thinking of old times? Or was your head messed up from being with Her Ladys.h.i.+p for a day? Oh, butler. With gentle tolerance, I understand.”
“When spring comes…”
“It has.”
The Heretic Questioner laughed.
“Spring has already come, butler.”
No,
“Isn’t it a beautiful season?”
It was the Lady of the Golden Silk who laughed.
“I-I brought what you wanted…”
The servants who had scattered to the building returned. Heads bowed, they offered the cane to the Lady of the SIlver Lily.
It was thin.
I guessed that they must have been struggling to find the most slender cane in the mansion. Was that their way of caring for their master?
“Find another one.”
However, the Lady of the Silver Lily was heartless. The servants flinched and turned back.
“Find another one.”
This order was repeated four times. Each time, the cane became thicker. The servant bit his lip and held out the fourth cane. The Lady of the Silver Lily held it in her left hand.
“Lady of the Golden Silk.”
“You can call me by my name, Your Ladys.h.i.+p.”
“Sylvia Evanail.”
“Yes, Miss Raviel Ivansia?”
The sun and the moon faced each other.
“You have invaded the personal territory of a ducal family member and caused a disturbance. You have spoken no words of apology. There is a strict hierarchy in the empire that you impudently, horribly ignored. In the name bestowed upon me by His Majesty the Emperor, I will punish you for your crime.”
“Crime? I know my own crime best.”
The Lady of the Golden Silk smiled sweetly.
“It is my crime to dare to be born to a baron family from the countryside and to be loved by the crown prince.”
That—that wasn’t something one should have said in front of the prince’s fiancée.
“I apologize for being loved.”
The baron’s daughter gently held the hems of her skirt. She sank on top of the magnolia-filled garden and bowed her head to the lily standing before her.
Her mannerism was flawless.
“I am sorry for receiving more love than Miss Raviel Ivansia.”
“……”
“Is this apology enough?”
The wind blew.
“By the way, Miss Raviel Ivansia. I’m curious. Is this really my crime? Love is only meaningful when it is received. It is shared between the one who loves and the one who receives it, so is it solely my responsibility? Perhaps…”
No words followed that ‘perhaps.’ Instead, she laughed. A petal hanging onto a black branch fell.
The Lady of the Silver Lily quietly raised her left hand.
“You dreadful thing.”
The cane tore through the night air.
“—–.”
The Lady of the Golden Silk did not scream. She didn’t even groan. Her back was straight, and a smile was carved onto her face like some sculpture. She did not shake.
He, no, she was convinced of her victory.
[The immersion toward the character is deepened.]
So, to me, it seemed that the one bleeding was the moon.
[Currently, your immersion rate is 40%.]
On that night, the moon was a little red with sand.
When the sky was covered with the dust on the moon, when humans bled on the ground, it turned red. Cough. The thick air caused the Lady of the Silver Lily to cough. Her cough sounded coa.r.s.e.
No one spoke.
Only the whistle of the cane and the sound of coughing filled the garden in the night.
“Sylvia!”
A torch light swayed.
“Sylvia! Are you there, Sylvia?”
The sound of footsteps broke the silence. Beyond the gate, the crown prince was running, holding a torch. The guards scrambled to him. With an uproar like this, there was no way the prince wouldn’t find out.
“Syl…”
The prince stopped in front of the gate.
“……”
Looking into the garden, he fell silent for a moment.
“Raviel…!!”
His tone was different from when he called out to the Lady of the Golden Silk.
“Step aside!”
The prince pushed the ducal guards away. There were none among them who would block the path of the nation’s foundation. The prince ran straight to the side of the Lady of the Golden Silk’s side.
“How, no matter how much she… How…!”
“I’m fine, Your Highness.”
“I’m not fine! Like a fool…!”
The prince looked over the Lady of the Golden Silk.
Then, he turned his head to stare at the Lady of the Silver Lily.
“You spiteful woman!”
Words become scars.
“How could you treat Sylvia so cruelly?!”
Those who inflict the pain do not know it because they cannot see the scars.
“It is the law of the empire, Your Highness.”
“Is the law more important than the people?”
“It’s more important than an individual.”
“That’s why I say that you’re spiteful! You’re like a witch!”
The world was probably divided into those who knew and those who did not. The prince fell into the latter group.
The Lady of the Silver Lily coughed and sighed.
“Are you going to punish me?”
“……”
The prince’s face grimaced. Just grimaced. He could not answer the Lady of the Silver Lily’s question. He shook his head as if she didn’t deserve an answer, but he was just avoiding it.
The prince didn’t have the guts to take responsibility for the Lady of the Silver Lily nor the skills to deal with her.
“Let’s leave, Sylvia! You shouldn’t be in this sort of place.”
“Ah.”
The prince hugged the Lady of the Golden Silk.
In the prince’s embrace, the Lady of the Golden Silk looked at me.
“Butler.”
Heretic Questioner.
“Butler, come with us.”
“……”
I didn’t answer.
As I looked at that person, I murmured in my thoughts as though I was praying.
‘Character window.’
Swish.
Letters bloomed before my eyes.
+
Name: Sylvia Evanail
Favorability: 90
Favorite Genre: [Romance]
Disliked Genre: [Politics]
Favorite Characters: [One Who Loves Me], [Crown Prince], [Butler], [Teacher], [Uppercla.s.smen], [Undercla.s.smen], [Cla.s.smate]
Hated Character: [Raviel Ivansia]
Favorite Plot: [The Victory of the Strong], [True Love]
Dislike Plot: [The Defeat of the Weak], [Backstabbing]
Psychological state: ‘Raviel Ivansia. I won’t give you anything.’
+
The Heretic Questioner’s t.i.tle was not there.
The word [Fairy Tale] under the favorite genre or [Human] under the favorite character category was no longer there.
“Butler?”
The Heretic Questioner was swallowed by the role of the Lady of the Golden Silk.
“You’re coming with me, right?”
With that, I could predict the end of this run.