Chapter 3
All around her, the smoke transformed into spears, swords, and other blades, then began to press in on her.
"..."
With a cigar between my lips, I began scrutinizing her reaction as though dissecting it.
Every hand gesture, movement, and breath.
Swish.
"Hmm?"
As though dousing my reaction with cold water, Mist spread both hands and raised them above her head.
It was unmistakably a gesture of surrender.
Had she been overwhelmed by the thick smoke and the blades pressing in from every direction?
No, that wasn't it.
From the moment I had met her until now, she had always maintained an expressionless face.
I had met quite a few people during my life in the back alleys and the time I had made a name for myself in the underworld.
No matter how skilled someone was at keeping a poker face, as long as they were human, their emotions inevitably showed in their actions, if not their expressions.
The trembling of their body, the rhythm of their breathing, the movement of their eyes—even something like the muscles in their temples twitching unconsciously.
Based on my experience, she looked far too composed.
"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry."
At the same time, I withdrew every smoke-made weapon around us as though nothing had happened.
The smoke covering the floor also slowly faded away, and I continued speaking as though the threat I had just made had been a lie.
"I thought it was too strange. You realize your story is full of holes too, right?"
Feigning composure, I deliberately used a more flippant tone to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
I had confirmed it from that reaction just now.
The woman before me wasn't someone who would yield to threats or pressure.
If that was the case, I needed to change the way I acted depending on the person.
I had to speak in a way that would make it easier to obtain even a little information.
"Try to understand. I was born and raised in the back alleys, so I never received an education."
I briefly set my cigar down in the cigar holder on the desk beside me.
I had put down the weapon most essential to using the ability I had just described.
"How about that? I even put down my weapon. Consider it a sign of my remorse."
I said that while smiling casually at her.
She still had both hands raised in a gesture of surrender.
"But how long are you going to keep your hands up?"
At my words, Mist's expressionless face broke into a gentle smile that didn't suit her sharp eyes.
..."Until you clear away the smoke above my head."
I turned my gaze and looked above Mist's head for a moment. The smoke had been secretly aimed at her crown.
I had hidden it so that it could transform into anything at any moment, but she had noticed it?
"Oh, dear. I forgot?"
Only fools showed signs of panic here.
"Sorry. Sometimes it's difficult to control my ability when I strengthen it."
It was a laughable excuse. I probably didn't believe my own words, and neither did she.
However, neither of us particularly cared whether my words were true.
Maintaining the situation and keeping the conversation from breaking down was more important.
"There, it's gone. You can lower your hands now."
Mist slowly lowered her hands and showed me a gentle smile that didn't match her sharp gaze.
It was an impossibly perfect smile, the kind anyone could tell she had learned to perform.
"First, I acknowledge that there were uncertainties in my explanation. I apologize."
As she said that, Mist gave a slight bow.
"I will explain the current situation of the Nebla Ducal House."
Mist then slowly explained the situation of the family.
As befitted a family known as the ruler of the underworld, it was a remarkably dynamic situation.
All the direct descendants had been wiped out through intrigue, betrayal, and poisoning.
In an ordinary noble family, the collateral branches would surely have succeeded the family in such a situation.
Though called collateral branches, they still carried the blood of that family.
However, the Nebla family was no ordinary noble house.
It was a family with only a direct line, deliberately avoiding the creation of collateral branches that might produce internal enemies.
"That is the current situation of the Nebla Ducal House."
But the Nebla Ducal House wasn't foolish.
Aware of their unusual nature and the risk that their bloodline might one day end, they had been keeping track of every move made by those who unknowingly carried Nebla blood.
And now, faced with the danger of their bloodline ending, they were gathering the children born to Nebla descendants scattered throughout the country.
In other words, they were gathering illegitimate children.
That was what she said.
"Hmm..."
As I listened to her, I leaned back into the chair and crossed my legs while looking at her.
Well, if that was the situation, I could understand why she had come looking for me.
I had wondered why I had awakened mana and possessed such talent, and now I knew it was because I carried the blood of the Nebla Ducal House.
"But why didn't you tell me this right away?"
..."It was a test."
"A test?"
When I voiced my question, she readily nodded, then looked at me with a sudden, chilling gleam in her eyes.
"No matter how dangerous the situation of the Nebla Ducal House is, we cannot accept a fool."
Furthermore, if someone ordinary entered the ducal house, it went without saying that they would be assassinated or poisoned immediately.
In other words, she had deliberately mentioned becoming head of the house to gauge my reaction.
In plain terms, she had said it to test the waters?
If someone was dazzled by the prospect of becoming head of the house and failed to conduct even a proper verification, they failed the test.
But if they calmly assessed the situation, they passed. Something like that?
"Puhahahaha!"
Hearing that, the absurdity of it all made laughter burst from me.
It was an extreme family, a clan made up of nothing but lunatics.
After laughing for quite a while, I spoke to her as she watched me silently.
"Then did I pass that test?"
She flinched for a moment at my words.
She closed her eyes briefly, then looked at me with eyes containing a light I couldn't describe.
"Yes. If you didn't pass, who could?"
I didn't know what the test consisted of. But I could make a rough guess.
The assassins who had been targeting me for about a year were probably part of it.
And her reaction just now had revealed one more fact to me.
'This woman really isn't ordinary.'
She had remained calm despite my threats, and her smile was far too perfect, as though she had been trained to act.
Finally, she was someone who could freely reveal the test used to select the next head of the family.
It was simply the natural conclusion.
They wouldn't entrust such an important matter to an ordinary maid.
She was probably an agent secretly raised by the ducal house.
"..."
"..."
The two of us silently stared at each other.
I looked at her as though asking whether she had anything else to say, and as though asking whether she was the one who had ordered the assassins targeting me.
She calmly let my gaze pass over her, as though to say she hadn't done it.
After the standoff continued for a while, I let out a short, deep breath and ended the psychological warfare.
I didn't think this was the time to engage in such a leisurely battle of nerves.
"Well, fine. Then what happens to me, having passed that test? Are you going to tie me up, kidnap me, and forcibly deliver me to the ducal house?"
My interpretation of her words was roughly this.
You’ve more or less figured out how capable I am. Why don't you just speak honestly?
Hearing that, she answered me with a perfect smile.
"Surely not. I am merely an ordinary maid."
I have no intention of revealing my identity, and I am merely an ordinary maid, so how could I kidnap you?
After roughly interpreting Mist's words, I looked at her and spoke.
"Hmm. Then am I right to understand that it depends on my choice?"
"Yes."
How was I supposed to refuse in a way that would keep her from coming back?
To be honest, entering the ducal house right now would be like drinking from a poisoned chalice.
It was obvious at a glance that the place would be chaotic.
Furthermore, there was bound to be some ambitious person who had passed a test like mine and gone to the family.
"..."
Just imagining the situation was enough to give me a headache and make me feel exhausted.
"There's something I want to ask you."
Still, I didn't think she would give up just because I refused.
"How did the other direct descendants die?"
It was a random topic, nothing more than a kind of icebreaker.
I needed to buy time.
Without a proper reason or a convincing basis, it seemed she would doggedly follow me even if I refused.
"It's just something I'm curious about."
I knew it was strange to bluntly ask how someone had died.
But what could I do? This was the only connection I could think of that might keep the conversation going.
In response to my question, she calmly explained how the direct descendants had died.
"First Young Master passed away after being poisoned by Fifth Young Master. He used a new poison made by combining the Veil of Night with a poison called Lady's Kiss."
The Veil of Night was a colorless, odorless, deadly poison. Its greatest characteristic was its long incubation period.
Most deadly poisons took effect immediately, but this one slowly claimed a person's life several hours after it was ingested.
It was called the Veil of Night because poison taken in the morning caused death at night, when everyone was asleep.
Lady's Kiss was a fast-acting deadly poison that had once been applied to lipstick and used to kill male targets with a kiss.
He had combined poisons I had only ever heard about?
"Huh. The Fifth Young Master must have specialized in poisons?"
"Yes. He possessed exceptional talent for creating poisons."
After readily nodding at my words, she told me how the heirs had died.
Poisoning was the standard, assassination was a bonus, and later they even applied political pressure and disguised the deaths as accidents.
It was a full-blown slaughter in which they killed one another.
Even in a play, a story with nothing but deaths would make countless people walk out.
"Lastly, the tenth heir was assassinated at [Crocus Academy]."
As I listened silently, a rather familiar name reached my ears.
[Crocus Academy]?
"Wait."
"?"
"Tell me about [Crocus Academy]."
At my sudden interruption, she opened her eyes wide, then answered as though nothing had happened.
Where it had been built, what kind of education it provided, and even why the academy had been founded—she told me everything.
"Ha..."
I rubbed my dry, gritty eyes with one hand and let out a sigh.
I could feel Mist watching my sudden action, but I didn't care.
Ever since I had been reincarnated into this world, I had always wondered what exactly this world was.
Fantasy? Or, judging by the trains and airships that traveled around, could it be steampunk?
I had considered countless possibilities.
No way.
"Urgh..."
So this world had been a romance fantasy all along?