Chapter 21
1.
I'm looking for a bed.
It was soft, and pretty nice, too.
At the end of the hallway was Doloris's study.
Next to it was her bedroom, next to that Ruby's room, and next to that, my room.
No, there was what had been my room.
The bed had vanished from my room.
Late that evening, Ruby, Doloris, and I ended up sleeping together.
My goal of subtly starting to sleep alone from today onward had been ruined, after all.
So we had no choice but to sleep cozily as a family of three….
I guess this was how a beaver whose home had been destroyed felt.
I lay down on the bed.
Ruby was sleeping in the middle.
As always, the order was Doloris, Ruby, and me.
I wonder how long passed as I lay there wide awake.
“Shh….”
Doloris raised a finger to her lips and got up.
Then she slowly walked around the bed and approached from the other side—my side.
“Ruby doesn’t wake up easily once she falls asleep.”
“That does seem to be the case. She sleeps a lot, too.”
“…Actually, her body is rather weak. Ruby’s.”
Doloris wore a bitter expression.
Was she projecting her own circumstances onto her?
“Is something wrong with her?”
“No, nothing in particular hurts.”
Ruby’s body was weak, yet nothing hurt?
I wondered whether there was anything I could do.
That was when.
“Lionel.”
Doloris whispered as she gently stroked my forehead while I lay there.
“Yes.”
“You said earlier that you were going to take off her foot coverings, didn’t you?”
“…I-I did.”
Doloris always wore shoes, so I couldn’t know for sure.
If the shoes themselves had been equipment, they would have caught my eye, but they looked like ordinary dress shoes, so no information appeared.
That was when.
She slowly lowered the blanket, and then.
- Sliiip….
“These are what I usually wear.”
Doloris sat on the edge of the bed and took off her slippers.
……
And what came into view was.
─────────────────
[Tmir’s Frozen Footing]
[Unique Equipment] [★★★★★]
[Compatibility][2/100] - [Deadly Poison]
─────────────────
[Cold seeps into the bones and is amplified, with a yin-energy amplification synergy with Gorgon’s White Gauntlet. Current manifestation is at half strength.]
[The cause of the closure of 2 of the 9 meridians of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.]
─────────────────
『A frozen heart walks on frozen feet.』
- Tmir, Queen of the Frostbite Tribe -
─────────────────
A pair of translucent socks made from thin sky-blue fabric.
As though a membrane had been drawn over them, snowflake patterns were engraved across their surface.
And what caught my eye was, of course, the compatibility rating, the deadly poison assessment, and the fact that they were the cause of two blocked meridians.
They even had a synergy with Gorgon’s White Gauntlet, so I couldn’t imagine how severe the yin energy had been before she took off the gloves.
“Lady Doloris.”
“Yes.”
“Are all your equipment pieces cold-element equipment like this?”
That brought up a fundamental question.
Was this woman’s entire loadout made up of equipment this chilly?
Doloris looked at me for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“…Only the gloves and shoes that cover the extremities.”
“I see.”
“The rest aren’t this bad.”
I nodded. I thought I had heard somewhere that covering your hands and feet kept your body warm.
But wrapping them in something this cold didn’t seem like it would help.
So the reason I hadn’t recognized them when I saw her shoes was that her actual equipment was a pair of socks.
- Fidget.
Perhaps embarrassed by having her bare feet exposed before me.
Doloris’s toes moved slightly.
Her feet were white and smooth.
They might even awaken a fetish I hadn’t had before.
I was glad I was the only one seeing them.
“…These….”
I had wanted to rip off her gloves immediately back then, but I hadn’t had enough trust with her.
Now, though, wasn’t it different? I thought I could say something like this much.
“Maman.”
“Yes.”
“Would it be possible for you to go around without wearing them?”
……Huh?
I suggested that Doloris take off her socks.
2.
“Mmm… Lionel, my feet feel a little strange.”
“I’ll make you a new pair soon.”
She hopped lightly from foot to foot as she prepared to go out.
There are no socks inside her shoes.
I had told her to take off those socks, but I hadn’t said she shouldn’t wear anything at all.
Yet she put on her dress shoes with completely bare feet and stood by the front door.
Well, all right.
Considering her taste, perhaps going barefoot was better than wearing something else halfway decent.
“I’ll be back. Ruby, get plenty of rest today… and you too, Lionel. No using your right hand until tomorrow.”
“Okaaay.”
“Yes.”
Doloris bent down, kissed Ruby and me on the forehead while we were still sleepy, and left.
She had gone to buy the mineral and lubricant I had requested.
She could have sent a servant, but apparently she felt she had to inspect them herself.
Though, honestly, it would have been better just to leave it to a servant….
Worried about her taste, I had asked to go with her, but.
‘Lionel’s face mustn’t become known yet.’
She had imposed a lockdown with those words.
Well… I understood what she meant.
I watched her back disappear outside the estate, then.
“Yaaawn….”
- Grab.
I caught Ruby, who was yawning as she tried to return to her room.
“Eek.”
“Weren’t you saying today was a day off?”
“But, well.”
“Today, play with me.”
Based on Ruby’s lifestyle so far.
She barely ever went outside.
If you’re a child, to put it bluntly, you should be running around and playing, putting your body through all sorts of movement.
When I was in elementary school, there was a kid who was as frail as Ruby, but he got healthier after being sent to a taekwondo gym.
He even entered some competition and came back with a prize.
This didn’t seem to be a case of overgeneralization; Ruby’s situation seemed similar.
Hadn’t she supposedly not even gone to school until she was thirteen?
Besides, Doloris had said that nothing in particular was wrong with her, either.
“Play…?”
“That’s right. I’ll play with you, oppa.”
“You’re not my oppa.”
Why had she suddenly gotten so serious….
[Sigh]
“All right. Just follow me, then.”
I took Ruby’s hand and moved.
I already had a place in mind.
I crossed the hallway and arrived in front of a large door.
“Here.”
“This is….”
This was where Doloris had carried me in her arms over the +20 work gloves.
The room where I had been stuck on her lap and forced to listen to her.
I remembered taking a quick look around the room then. There had been all sorts of things.
There was exercise equipment, too.
And a chessboard.
It looked like the perfect place to play.
I grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.
- Creak….
Beyond the door was a soft sofa. A bed.
A chessboard, bookshelves crammed with books, and exercise equipment.
Other unidentifiable objects were scattered around chaotically, too.
“What do you think of this place?”
“This place.”
Ruby stretched, then added.
“It’s Master’s sisters’ room.”
……?
As far as I knew, Doloris’s sworn sisters were the people who had climbed the Tower with her.
Oh, was this something like a reception room….
- Flinch.
My body stiffened.
I had thought we could use it comfortably, but.
Did that mean we should retreat? Using it without asking permission first made me a little uneasy.
That was when.
“You can do anything except play chess. Master said so.”
“Oh, really?”
“I like it here, too.”
Whew, what a relief. Ruby liked it, too.
Reassured, I entered the room and naturally headed toward the exercise corner.
There was a jump rope beside a ridiculously shaped barbell, along with a few other things that looked useful.
“Ruby, over here….”
I began, but.
Ruby had already gone to the bookshelf, buried herself in a beanbag beside the desk, and opened a book.
……Good grief.
Sheesh.
Well, all right.
She’d come over later if she got curious.
I decided to start exercising.
Ruby wasn’t the only problem, actually.
I was a problem too.
After stepping on that pedal yesterday and hammering away a few days ago, I had felt it keenly.
I needed to build up my strength.
There was an old saying that weight training as a child would stunt your growth.
That was just a myth.
Apparently, unless the weight was heavy enough to compress your growth plates, it actually helped.
Right, Yuna?
[Yes, that’s the conclusion.]
“All right, then.”
I rolled up my sleeves.
I picked up the jump rope lying closest to me.
Let’s start with cardio.
Thirty minutes passed like that.
……
I lay sprawled out with my head pressed against the floor.
Why is this so damn hard?
Jumping rope, lifting dumbbells that I estimated weighed one kilogram, and doing push-ups.
Circuit training that cycled through those three exercises.
My body gave out exactly four laps in.
I had even done the push-ups with my knees on the ground, and lifted the dumbbell with both hands.
Sweat poured down like rain.
Right, I’m a baby, after all….
Baby heart rate, baby lung capacity, baby stamina….
I could build them up from now on….
I barely raised my head and looked toward Ruby.
Ruby seemed more interested in my pathetic display than in her book.
- Startled!
When our eyes met, she flinched, turned her head away, and hurriedly shifted her gaze back to the book.
I decided to keep quiet about the fact that the book was upside down.
I barely managed to get my body upright.
I felt like I was going to die from exhaustion, but Ruby kept staring at me panting, which was somehow bruising my dignity.
“…Oh, what’s this?”
I pretended to be interested in the chessboard while resting and observing it.
Actually, I had played quite a lot of chess, too.
It had originally been one of the quiet games Yuna recommended to help me quit rhythm games.
But then I suddenly started playing chess seventeen hours a day.
Yuna watched me for two weeks, then banned chess too.
The online chess matchmaking environment back then was… utter hell.
Even the AIs that had learned to tell how other AIs selected their moves had started playing in ways that evaded detection.
In other words, cheaters who couldn’t be caught were taking over the board, so playing in that environment had been training at the extreme.
Of course, as an AI-hater, I never used one.
By then, I had already developed a Luddite mindset that wanted to slaughter every machine.
My rapid rating in online chess was around 2,500.
I knew it. That was actually insanely impressive, but the point was not to make a fuss about it.
Naturally, Not for me.
So just by looking at the board, I could tell who was winning, but….
“…Black is getting crushed?”
This was more like being completely shredded.
The number of pieces was roughly even, but after two or three more moves, Black would be destroyed.
“Ruby, who is this?”
“…White is Master.”
Oh, Doloris.
She was absolutely demolishing Black.
“She comes sometimes and takes turns playing chess. She makes one move, then comes back another time and makes another… But she hasn’t come for about a year. It should be about time for her to come.”
“…I don’t think she’s ever coming back.”
I wouldn’t come back either.
I’d probably shut myself away rather than continue playing from this position.
I shook my head at Black’s pathetic skill and said.
“I’m going to get some water.”
“I want lemonade.”
“Can I pour it on your legs?”
“Let me think about it for a moment. Hmm, no.”
I traded silly jokes with Ruby as we headed toward the kitchen.
I felt like we had gotten fairly close. Was it because we slept together?
Even this must have been part of Doloris’s arrangements…?
The kitchen was at the far end of the first floor of the estate.
Several servants were quietly preparing for the afternoon.
“Could I have one glass of water and one lemonade, please?”
“Yes, Young Master. I’ll have them ready shortly.”
- Click-clack.
One of the servants filled a glass with water.
Another poured the lemonade they had prepared in advance.
While waiting for them to be ready, I happened to sneak a look at the mirror beside the kitchen.
“What the hell.”
My appearance was reflected exactly as it was.
My hair was soaked with sweat, my face was flushed, and my shirt was drenched all the way up to the collar.
I looked like an outright beggar.
I held a glass and the lemonade in each hand and left the kitchen.
I was walking down the hallway toward the reception room when.
- Click.
At the very end of the hallway.
A woman dressed entirely in black was walking inward with firm footsteps.
Her coloring was the exact opposite of Doloris’s.
A black velvet dress, black gloves, and even black boots.
Even her hair was black with a hint of purple, seeming to drink in all the light.
And most importantly, she was tall.
‘Okay.’
I knew at once.
She was important.
I lowered my head slightly.
“Hello.”
The woman paused for a moment and swept her gaze over me from head to toe.
“Espresso.”
“…Pardon?”
“Grind the beans only twice, and not too finely. The water should be eighty-five degrees. No higher.”
What the hell was she talking about?
She left those words behind, opened the reception room door, and went straight inside.
- Eek…!
I thought I heard Ruby shriek in fright from inside.
The door closed.
Was she telling me to make her coffee?
“Good grief.”
Well, if she wanted me to make it, I had to make it. She looked like someone important.
I did look like a beggar.
Maybe she had mistaken me for a servant, or perhaps she simply didn’t care.
I set the lemonade and water down beside me and headed for the kitchen.
When I arrived, I spoke to the maid.
“Um… someone came by. She said, ‘Espresso, grind the beans only twice and not too finely. The water should be eighty-five degrees. No higher.’”
……!
I recited the request exactly as Yuna had noted it down. I wouldn’t have remembered it otherwise.
An elderly servant from the back of the kitchen came walking out.
“Lady Isabella has arrived.”
“Yes, well, she was a little… dark.”
“When His Grace is away….”
The servant looked at me for a moment, then smiled gently.
It seemed to take about five minutes to make the coffee.
She held out a tray to me.
“……Normally, I should take it to her myself, but since the person who requested it is Young Master Lionel, I can’t bring it to her. Lady Isabella is that sort of person….”
“Yes, of course I’ll take it.”
She looked incredibly troubled.
I didn’t particularly mind.
When I answered, the servant looked somewhat relieved and placed the coffee cup on the tray.
“Do you happen to know where Lady Ruby is?”
“She was in the reception room.”
The servant gave a bitter smile at my answer.
“I see. Please take good care of her.”
The servant carefully placed the tray in my hands.
I carried the coffee out into the hallway.
Judging by her reaction and the rudeness she had shown me on our first meeting.
‘Hmm, she must be an idiot.’
I had a feeling she would be quite difficult to deal with.
I even found myself thinking that, compared to her, Doloris might rank near the top in terms of a duchess’s personality.
Assuming she was one of Doloris’s sworn sisters, she was probably a high ranker, too.
Before I knew it, I had arrived in front of the reception room.
- Knock, knock.
For some reason, I felt like I should knock.
When there was no answer, I opened the door and entered.
The first thing I saw upon entering was the empty beanbag where Ruby should have been.
It was empty.
Where had she gone this time?
I was turning my head to deliver the coffee when.
……
Lady Isabella was.
Sitting in front of the chessboard.
Pfft….
I had to hold back my laughter.
So you were the Chess Noob?
On the outside, she looked like she might be a grandmaster.
So you were a chess scrub after all. I see.
Perhaps she was thinking, because she brought a finger toward her mouth, then subtly lowered it.
Unfortunately, this was not a position where thinking would produce an answer.
“The coffee is here.”
“Leave it there.”
I set the coffee down on the table beside her, then pretended to leave while hiding behind her and looking at the chessboard.
- Sip.
“Is the coffee in this house the problem…?”
People who were bad at something always blamed everyone else.
“If it weren’t for the gloves, I wouldn’t have come…. Ah, I hate this….”
She continued muttering something to herself.
But then I heard one thing I couldn’t simply ignore.
Gloves?
Could she mean my +20 work gloves? Doloris was the only person who knew about them.
I thought perhaps she might have told her.
Well, she surely hadn’t said, ‘Go ahead and die.’
I trusted Doloris. I had entrusted her with complete authority over everything anyway.
And then.
They say a long think ends in a blunder.
Isabella’s finger came to rest on a knight.
Then the knight lifted slightly off the board.
I’m sorry, but the moment you take that, your queen will be gone within three turns.
Of course, that assumed Doloris made the theoretical moves, but even without that, it was obvious her kingside would be torn apart.
She had already picked up the piece and lifted it from the board, so touch-move applied.
Now she had to move it. That was the rule.
It was a fairly important rule, I’d say.
But then she suddenly shook her head rapidly.
And placed the knight back on its original square on the chessboard….
“Wow, that’s cheating.”
“W-what?”
I tilted my head and asked with the innocent expression of a child who knew nothing.
“Isn’t that against the rules?”
I could tolerate anything, but not cheating.
Fucking cheaters. The enemy of my entire life.
Isabella stared at me, completely dumbfounded.
She opened her mouth, then looked at me.
“What are you?”
“I’m Lionel, Ruby’s friend.”
“……You’re not a servant?”
Isabella looked at me as though she couldn’t believe it.
Then she suddenly pulled up the corners of her mouth and said.
“I’ve lost interest.”
- Clatter….
She knocked all the pieces over.
Well, well. She’d found herself a convenient excuse.
Then.
- Crash….
She neatly set all the pieces back up on the chessboard.
“You seem to play chess well. You know the rules, too.”
“A little.”
“Are you close with Ruby? What family are you from… Ah, never mind.”
“I am, but I don’t know about her.”
Since she had asked about my family, she must have assumed I was the child of some minor noble house.
Unexpectedly, Isabella didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.
She seemed happy to have found an excuse to overturn the game just now.
Well, if I had been in her position….
She smiled with an extremely pleased expression and asked me.
“Want to play a game with me?”
……
Chess?
…With me?
“…Yes, I’d like to.”
You?
I held back my laughter.
And sat down across from her.
“I’ll play White.”
- Swish.
The chessboard turned around.
Even in this situation, she had taken the advantageous White side against a child.
‘Wow.’
I felt that she needed some education.