Chapter 82
Mediating family disputes.
As a proper elder of the household, that is the duty and role one must naturally take on for the family's peace.
Florencia, the mistress of Edelheid, had long carried out that role as well.
She had only ever sided with the children she had borne.
Renoa, the illegitimate daughter, had always been excluded from that hypocritical mediation.
But then.
“Silvia. What kind of manners are those to use with your sister? Apologize at once.”
Today, Florencia sided with Renoa, not Silvia, and stepped in to mediate.
The Florencia who had tried to slap her only yesterday.
At that, everyone in the hall froze as if time itself had stopped.
Silvia's smug expression stiffened in an instant. Idella dropped the fork she'd been chewing on to the floor.
The second son, Lowell, stared at Florencia with his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
Cassius set down the spoon he had been about to bring to his mouth.
Renoa was no different. Though she was frowning, the shock on her face was obvious.
It was the first time she had ever been protected by Florencia.
It was hardly strange that anxiety came before joy.
“Uh, Mom? You're taking that woman's side now? And sister? That woman?”
“Silvia.”
“Did you already forget what that venomous snake did to us yesterday? And you want me to apologize? Why should I?”
Silvia, flustered, rattled off a torrent of questions.
Yet there wasn't the slightest wavering in Florencia's expression. With a stern face, she rebuked Silvia.
“Fighting between siblings isn't proper noble etiquette. Even if Renoa is a half-sister, she is still your sister. Apologize at once.”
“But...!”
“Now.”
Florencia's betrayal dealt Silvia a considerable shock.
Tears of grievance streamed down her cheeks. In a choked voice, she apologized to Renoa.
“S-sorry.”
“......”
Florencia's gentle gaze now turned to Renoa.
“Now, Renoa. Your little sister has apologized, so as the older sister, shouldn't you be generous?”
“......”
“Renoa?”
“......I’m sorry too, for hitting you.”
Florencia nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Good. Family members shouldn't fight. Isn't it wonderful to see you reconciled? Now, let's eat again.”
Florencia resumed eating as if nothing had happened.
The others merely watched one another warily.
Cassius rose from his seat.
“Cassius. You're already done? Work must be tiring, so you should eat well, shouldn't you?”
Like any ordinary mother, Florencia worried over her son with a warm, affectionate tone.
But Cassius gave her a cold look before leaving the hall without a word.
Back in the study, Cassius.
He sank heavily into the chair.
With his eyes closed, he quietly meditated.
Then, in an instant.
-BANG!
He slammed his fist into the desk.
Sprawled over the desk, Cassius only let his shoulders twitch intermittently and could not get up for a long while.
***
Rion and Renoa also returned to their room.
Neither of them could easily shake off the shock from earlier.
Florencia's behavior was just like that of a mother treating Renoa as her own daughter.
That Florencia, who had despised Renoa to the bone.
“There is a saying like this: if a person changes overnight, they die.”
At those words, Renoa briefly wondered if Florencia might be about to die.
'No. No, that's not it.'
Renoa immediately denied it.
Even if she had suffered the humiliation of kneeling before Renoa, she was not the kind to take her own life.
Even if she ever thought of death, she would not leave alone. She would use any means possible to hurt Renoa and drag her down with her.
No, if she succeeded at that, she probably still wouldn't die.
Then there was only one thing to think of in this case.
“She's already dead.”
Florencia was dead. What was moving now was not her.
Just a puppet controlled by Cersia.
Realizing that, Renoa felt goosebumps rise on her arms.
To Renoa, Florencia had once been a wall.
The mistress of the most prestigious, most formidable ducal house in the empire.
That duchess had been murdered inside the manor. Worse still, a puppet was now impersonating the lady.
People merely felt that something was strange; they didn't even know she was dead.
Of course, from the moment the witch took over the duke's body, she had thought something like this might happen.
But witnessing the tragedy before her eyes made reality hit all at once.
'Is there even a single normal human left in this manor?'
Maybe not only Florencia, but the others in the mansion were puppets too.
It was truly a dollhouse made by a witch.
Renoa opened the chest of drawers beside the desk and took out a bracelet.
It was the magical tool that restricted mana use, the one Renoa had worn at the imperial banquet.
Renoa slowly stroked the cold black metal.
“How is the plan coming along?”
“We haven't received any separate news yet.”
Recently, people from the imperial palace had entered the duchy.
On the surface, it was a gift from the crown prince for his friend Renoa.
In truth, it was an infiltration by key imperial figures to root out the witch.
The people they had already hidden throughout the duchy were surely busy preparing for the witch hunt.
The bracelet Renoa had received had also been mixed in with the crown prince's gift.
If this bracelet were put on the witch, she would become an ordinary person unable to use even a single spell.
Then, according to the imperial family, she would no longer be able to switch bodies.
All that remained would be to hand the weakened witch over to the imperial family. The rest would be handled on their side.
It was a simpler job than expected.
But.
“Rion. Let's move the plan up a little.”
Renoa did not want such a clean ending.
It had to turn into a mess for Renoa to have a gap to exploit.
Otherwise, the family would end up in Cassius's hands, and Renoa's place would disappear completely.
She could not allow that.
“Bring the plan forward...? What do you mean?”
“We're going to subdue the witch one step ahead of the imperial family.”
They would become the ones to get the credit for the witch hunt.
Then Renoa would become the hero who protected the family from the witch, and she would secure some standing.
“Wouldn't that be dangerous? I think it'd be better to wait and play it safe.”
“No. We absolutely have to do it for our future.
“Mm...
When Rion hesitated, Renoa pressed the point again with force.
“The duchess died just yesterday. Can you guarantee there won't be even greater damage in the next few days?”
Rion could not answer right away.
If he could have been certain of that, he wouldn't have let Florencia die.
His own safety and Renoa's came first, but Rion also wanted to prevent innocent casualties if he could.
“Understood. Let's give it a shot.”
***
Lately, Cersia had been so busy she hadn't even had time to catch her breath, repairing Renoa's mana circuit.
Because she hadn't even had time to gather her thoughts, she'd caused a small mishap, but it wasn't worth worrying about.
“So black magic really is the only way?”
She had drawn on all the knowledge she had accumulated, but could not find a suitable method beyond that.
Only one thing.
Black magic could do it.
A taboo that bent causality by making a bargain with the world.
Under equivalent exchange, a sacrifice would be offered to heal Renoa's mana core.
Since witch blood also flowed in Renoa's veins, the risk was lower than for ordinary people.
But that very risk was the problem.
If one touched black magic, the mana circuit itself would change. For the rest of one's life, one would be able to handle nothing but black magic.
From Cersia's point of view, a body optimized for black magic might actually be easier to handle.
Yet what she coveted was a vessel of pure, flawless quality that could perfectly contain any kind of magic.
It wasn't as if she'd gone through all this trouble just to obtain a defective piece already stained with black magic from the start.
“I'm going crazy.”
She really would go completely mad.
“More importantly, how are things outside?”
Cassius had apparently reported something recently, but she'd been so busy she couldn't remember.
She stepped out of the laboratory for a moment to clear her head.
As Cersia strolled through the corridor in Duke Pascal's body, Renoa and Rion came into view from the opposite side.
“Renoa!”
“Ah, Head of the House.”
“What brings you all the way here?”
“I came to see you, Head of the House. I have a gift I wanted to give you.”
“A gift? From Renoa? To me? Really?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I am who I am now. I wanted to properly express my gratitude.”
A smile spread across the duke's lips.
'A gift! I've never gotten one before! I'm so moved!'
Until now, Renoa had looked like a pretty doll that resembled her, but now she looked different.
Much cuter, perhaps?
More lovable, perhaps?
Was this what humans felt as maternal love when they looked at their children?
Was this why humans had children? Was it worth the pain of carrying them for ten months and giving birth?
I think I kind of understand their feelings now!
“What kind of gift is it? What is it?”
“It's nothing grand.”
Renoa took a small velvet box from inside her clothes.
When she opened the lid, a black bracelet with a metallic sheen appeared. Jewels were set along the rim.
“It's a bracelet. I thought it would suit the Head of the House, so I had a craftsman make it separately. What do you think?”
“What an incredibly stylish bracelet!”
In truth, it was just a luxurious-looking bracelet, but because Renoa had given it to her, she liked it much more.
“If it's all right, may I fasten it for you myself?”
“Of course! What mother could refuse when our lovely daughter offers to fasten it for her... I mean, where on earth would a father even be!”
The duke even hummed cheerfully as he readily held out his wrist.
Renoa carefully lifted the bracelet and brought it to the duke's hand.
Just as the bracelet was about to pass through his fingers and reach his hand.
“……!”
The duke sensed something was wrong and instantly pulled his arm back.
At the same time, he moved his other hand and attempted to cast a spell.
But that level of reaction had already been anticipated.
Rion, standing behind Renoa, shot forward like lightning.
Point-blank.
A speed impossible to follow with the eye.
It was far too fast for the duke's body to react to.
-Tak!
He snatched the bracelet from Renoa's hand and shoved it onto the duke's wrist.
It was a movement as smooth as flowing water.
The mana that had been gathering at the duke's fingertips, now that he was forced to wear the bracelet, scattered like a lie.
“W-What is this...!”
The duke's face turned pale. He could no longer draw up the mana in his core.
The helplessness of being stripped of everything as both a mage and a witch.
“How is it, Head of the House? Did you like the gift I gave you?”
Renoa's low, mocking voice rang out.
“R-Renoa? What is this? My mana won't move.”
“It's a magical tool made by the imperial family. A mana restraint devised to capture witches.”
“Th-the imperial family? A witch? A mana restraint? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.”
The duke, completely unable to make sense of the situation, let out a stiff laugh.
Renoa ignored him and smiled softly at Cersia inside the duke's body.
“Would you like to have a quiet little talk with me for a moment, Mother?”