Chapter 97
Chapter 97
Flip.
Only silence hung in the court count's office.
Under the light of the mana lamp illuminating the old wooden desk, Corinth frowned as he read through the papers in his hand.
"……."
A deep, impossible-to-hide look of bewilderment swept across his expressionless face.
The document he was reading now.
It was the detailed report on the "visit to the Rosenberg estate" that his second son, Cassian, had submitted an hour earlier, tearing at his own hair as he wrote it.
[10:20 p.m. After confirming the subject's shoulders had tensed, wrapped my disguise cloak around the subject. Observed the subject's ears turn red.]
[10:30 p.m. The subject approached me and had me check the perfume notes. The distance was extremely close.]
'Troublesome.'
Corinth tightened his grip on the papers in his hand.
How on earth had things come to this?
It had only been an hour ago, right after his second son had just come up to the capital from the frontier.
In social circles, hadn't people been calling his second son vile names like a barbarian who ate with his hands, or Farne's ignorant brute?
But not only had he bewitched the Academy's youngest genius professor with his talent,
'He seduced the Empire's saintess and Rosenberg's young lady at the same time?'
And even stirred things up so that it would be the other side getting impatient first?
"No middle ground. None at all."
A dry sigh slipped from between Corinth's lips.
He really did have no middle ground.
He'd thought the boy was crawling along the ground, only to find that he'd blown straight through the ceiling and was lounging on the rooftop, leisurely looking down below.
Creak—.
Then the firmly shut office door opened with a heavy scraping sound.
In contrast to his second son, his eldest son Harun—who worked as the chief agent of the intelligence bureau and never once gave him cause for worry—came in.
"I'm sorry. My leave from the palace ran late."
Harun's face was weighed down with deep dark circles and exhaustion he couldn't hide.
Understandably so. Given the unprecedented crisis of the Academy, the church, and the Imperial Family all becoming tangled together, and the need to control the information, he must have been drained dry.
Without taking his eyes off the papers, Corinth silently nodded.
"It can't be helped. That brat Cassian went and caused a huge incident with the imperial palace and the church. Good work."
"Not at all."
Harun gave a light bow and stepped up to the desk.
"So."
Harun asked cautiously.
"The matter you urgently summoned me here to relay additionally about... surely that's related to Cassian's final destination?"
"Yes."
At Corinth's firm reply, Harun's face darkened noticeably.
Through the intelligence network, he had already confirmed that Cassian had boarded a freight wagon heading toward the Rosenberg ducal residence outside the outer city gate.
But there was no way to trace what happened after that, thanks to Rosenberg's heavily guarded estate perimeter.
"Read it."
Corinth nudged Cassian's report across the desk.
Harun carefully took it and began reading the text with a solemn expression.
Sssh, sssh.
Only the sound of pages turning filled the quiet office.
And a little later.
"……Haa."
Even though he had not yet finished half of the report, a deep, heavy sigh escaped Harun's lips.
The eldest son's eyes were wavering.
After reading through every last word.
Harun finally couldn't hold it in and let out a hollow laugh.
"Heh. I've finished."
"Your thoughts?"
"On this, I don't know whether I should call it amazing or unbelievable."
Harun pressed at his furrowed brow, as though he simply couldn't accept this reality.
"Then the suspicion His Highness the Crown Prince had last time about the young lady and Cassian... that really was a valid suspicion?"
"Yes."
Corinth gave a heavy nod with his fingers interlaced.
"This matter... how do you plan to handle it?"
Harun's voice dropped a little lower.
No explanation was needed to see that this was a dangerous situation.
The court count's second son, enjoying secret trysts with the ducal house's legitimate daughter who had been slated to become the future Crown Princess—and, ultimately, the Empire's Empress.
He had practically stepped on the Imperial Family's reverse scale.
But.
Fortunately, Corinth's hand was not completely empty.
"We'll have to think it through from here on out."
Corinth took a cigar from the drawer and toyed with it.
"This lunatic seems to have, in the middle of all this, built a defense wall that isn't easy to touch."
"I see. Understood."
Harun quickly ran the political calculations in his head and agreed.
"There really are quite a few forces that could stand on Cassian's side and protect him right now. Even Professor Iris alone is the most legitimate direct heir of the Academy's magical lineage."
"……."
"The Rosenberg ducal house also, if we're being strict about it, has now fallen out with His Highness the Crown Prince, so they have no choice but to speak for Cassian's position."
The Empire's strongest fighting force and the Empire's most powerful noble house.
Those two pillars were firmly bound together around the student named Cassian.
"And there's one more card that's just as dangerous."
At Corinth's words, Harun tilted his head.
"Hm?"
"The saintess has gone over to him as well."
"……Hm?"
Harun's mouth fell open.
This was an unimaginable turn of events.
He knew Cassian was behind the Pope's surrender in the grand assembly hall and the saintess's liberation.
But who would have thought that even that saintess's heart had fallen entirely into his younger brother's hands?
Corinth let out yet another sigh, as though the ground itself were giving way beneath him, and muttered,
"To think all the Empire's core power players got caught up in my son's love triangle."
The magic school, Rosenberg, and the saintess of the church.
All the power in the Empire outside the Imperial Family was precariously pinned in place by the flimsy pin called Cassian Del Farne.
At Corinth's self-mocking lament, the dazed Harun snickered and threw out a joke.
"What can you do? He's your son, after all."
"……Be quiet."
When Corinth shot him a cold look, Harun hurriedly cleared his throat and composed his expression.
"Ahem. Then regarding this matter, how should I report it to the Imperial Family?"
"There are four days left until the upcoming weekly regular report, yes?"
"Yes. That's right."
"I'll decide within three days."
Corinth slowly rose from his seat and gazed at the dawn outside the window.
"Until then, report every matter related to Cassian directly to me, down to the slightest breath."
"Understood."
The Empire's chessboard had been completely overturned.
And the one who had overturned that board was probably, by now, sleeping soundly and peacefully in his bed, snoring away.
* * *
At the same time.
The vast estate of the Rosenberg ducal house.
Contrary to what she had told Cassian—that she'd come straight back inside after seeing off the guest—Elysia still had not returned to the mansion and was wandering through Star Tree Forest.
Rustle, rustle.
Over her shoulders still rested, carefully, that cheap ash-gray cloak Cassian had draped over her.
"Young lady."
The maid Emma, who had quietly followed behind her, asked in a worried voice.
"It's already well into the early morning. The night air is quite cold—wouldn't it be better to go in now? Are you really all right?"
"Hehe."
Elysia smiled brightly, drawing the cloak's collar close with both hands.
"The cloak is warm, so I'm fine. I'm not cold at all, Emma."
"Then that's a relief."
Emma gave a small smile with her eyes and stepped one pace closer.
Elysia stopped walking and slowly looked up at the glowing leaves of the star trees woven across the night sky.
Clear starlight filled her eyes.
"You know, Emma."
"Yes, young lady."
"I'm glad... it feels like I was able to show Mother."
"……Young lady."
Emma's voice trembled faintly.
A soft curve formed on Elysia's red lips.
"Come to think of it, I'd always believed this Star Tree Forest still held my mother's warm touch and breath."
"……."
"I always came here only when I was hurt, or gloomy, or when things were hard. Only to be comforted."
There was a tiny bit of self-reproach in Elysia's voice, and at the same time, deep relief.
"I really was being too childish. Like a spoiled child who whines and looks for Mom's arms only when things are hard."
That was how it had been.
When she'd been hurt by Crown Prince Louis's coldness.
When she'd been crushed under the heavy responsibilities of her family and could hardly breathe.
When she'd had to rule as the idol of high society even while rotting away inside alone.
This beautiful forest had always been Elysia's refuge, silently hiding her tears and sighs.
But.
Even on the day she had realized her own shortcomings, Elysia's expression was still light and serene.
Only after it was resolved—no.
"Today was different."
More precisely, it was a problem she had only realized after Cassian solved it for her.
Elysia's violet eyes curved softly.
She slowly looked over the forest path she'd just walked side by side with Cassian.
"The face I make when I smile brightly."
"……."
"How my heart flutters when thinking about someone, and how happy I become."
Elysia gently brought one hand to her pounding heart.
The heartbeat coming through the cloak was light and steady.
"I'm happy because it feels like I showed Mother that pretty side of me for the first time."
And.
"I'm even happier because it feels like I showed Mother, for the first time, someone who has entered my life."