A Dangerous Person

Garnet, the leader of Black Bandana, had lived with one thing firmly in mind.

So long as one set foot on this land, even saints could not avoid getting filth on them.

She had encountered humanity’s ugly side from a young age.

As the future leader of Black Bandana, she had been made to adapt even to stories that might be too harsh for a child.

In fact, when she was young, she had lived consumed by hatred and distrust of humanity.

But because she had overcome such harsh conditions, she developed cool, discerning judgment.

By judging everything objectively and predicting what lay ahead, she proved her abilities and became the greatest information broker.

This was the conclusion Garnet had reached about Ferda.

He was dangerous.

Waldrova’s fiancé.

The lord of Hestia Village.

Someone with the makings of a great ruler, capable of embracing an evil dragon.

Even though he went on about such things, she knew exactly what kind of person he was from everything she had seen.

“That man will use you until you’re no longer useful, and then throw you away.”

Like a dog after finishing a rabbit hunt.

“He must have lured you by promising to help find your younger sister, right?”

“……”

The moment his younger sister was mentioned, the smile vanished from Zed’s face.

“It must certainly be a lie. He’s merely using knowledge that only you possess to make your necklace and manipulate you.”

“……”

“Emilia. How do you think he knew that name? If he weren’t involved, it would be a name he couldn’t connect to you even over an entire lifetime.”

Emilia.

Zed had been frantically searching for his sister, whose survival remained uncertain.

The reason he went around seducing women was that he needed money.

The reason he needed money was to become a nobleman.

And the reason he wanted to become a nobleman was to discover Emilia’s whereabouts.

‘Come to think of it…… it is strange.’

Ferda had known and mentioned that name.

How could that be possible?

The questions spread like sparks setting a new fuse alight.

Had he really acted while knowing that a clue about his sister was in the Imperial archives?

Or had it merely been a ploy to draw him in?

More fundamentally, how did he know that Emilia and Zed were connected?

‘Surely not…….’

Could he be someone involved in the massacre of the red-eyed race?

Was that the reason Garnet had said he was dangerous?

Had he been manipulating Zed all this time while wearing a mask?

-Pfft.

At the same time, Waldrova’s laughter could be heard.

That laughter pulled Zed out of the sticky swamp of suspicion.

“He’s not that kind of man.”

“That’s the textbook pattern of someone being scammed.”

“I know. People who get scammed always end up ruined like that.”

Garnet was the leader of Black Bandana.

Black Bandana’s information network was so exceptional that it could practically be said to foresee the future.

Yet Zed had watched Ferda from close by.

Whatever kind of person Garnet had determined Ferda to be,

he was certainly far removed from the man Zed knew.

-The moon is beautiful.

-They say tonight is when the moon is at its largest.

Hearing those words, Zed reflexively turned his head and clicked his tongue.

“Good grief, what am I supposed to do with this kid…….”

“What?”

“Wait here. I’m going somewhere for a moment. Stay put.”

Zed hurried off somewhere.

The conversation continued.

Garnet realized that Ferda and Waldrova wanted to dance with each other.

A short while later, Zed returned from wherever he had gone, carrying something in both hands.

“A violin?”

“I asked the orchestra, and they said they had a spare. Here.”

He handed something to Garnet.

It was a flute.

“What’s this?”

“A flute. You know how to play it. We’ve played together before, too.”

“So?”

“Let’s go to the garden and play together.”

“……You mean I have to play along too?”

“Moonlight doesn’t have the right feeling when played solo. It has to be a duet.”

“……”

Garnet was inwardly startled.

Zed had left in the middle and couldn’t have known, but Waldrova had personally brought up the Moonlight Step.

Had he figured everything out from that one comment about the moon being beautiful?

“You said we should try being like the Swallows, didn’t you? Let’s confirm the harmony we had back then through music. What do you say?”

“……Sigh.”

To use those words at a time like this.

Garnet glared at him reproachfully, but Zed merely laughed slyly and brushed it off.

Unable to resist Zed’s smile, Garnet accepted the flute.

Thus, she went along with Zed’s intentions and moved with him toward the garden.

They played a duet of Moonlight, drawing out its atmosphere.

Ferda’s eyes met hers.

Then, as if he had made up his mind, he asked Waldrova to dance.

They danced.

Beneath the moonlit sky, they glimmered softly as a beautiful pair.

Even Garnet, who rationally sought information, could feel nothing but beauty at the sight.

‘Is this what it is?’

Watching them dance, she began to understand, if only a little, what Zed had seen and become certain of.

He was a cold man who never hesitated to kill.

But what she saw before her now was merely a boy who wanted to make a good impression on one woman.

The performance came to an end.

Ferda and Waldrova parted and went their separate ways.

Zed gazed down at them fondly and muttered,

“If not me, who else would push that kid forward? Isn’t that right?”

Zed sighed as though he couldn’t help it.

Still looking down at them, Garnet opened her mouth.

“Zed.”

“Why?”

“You really understand women.”

“Well, since one wrong move could get my head chopped off, I had to be desperate.”

“There’s something even you don’t know.”

“What is it?”

Zed turned his head with a silly grin, only to be struck speechless.

Beneath the moonlit sky, Garnet was gazing at him with deep, unreadable eyes.

Her golden eyes stared directly at Zed.

She seemed about to give him some sort of answer, but then abruptly turned her head away.

Zed could not understand the meaning behind her eyes.

* * *

Having savored the afterglow, Ferda tried to return to the ballroom.

Even if he went back to his room, he thought he should at least show his face for a little while.

Then, in the corridor, he unexpectedly ran into someone he knew.

“Oh! Sir! Where have you been?”

It was Malcolm.

“I just went to the garden for a moment. What about you?”

“I went to the bathroom. It looked like you went with a lady. How did it go?”

“She went back.”

“What? At this late hour…… Isn’t it dangerous?”

At Malcolm’s worried expression, Ferda blinked.

“You didn’t know? She is Grand Duchess Waldrova, the one you ought to be loyal to.”

“What? Th-that was the Red Dragon, Lady Waldrova?! Come to think of it, she had horns on her head……!”

Ferda sighed at the sight of him realizing it belatedly, when everyone else had already noticed.

Never summon this idiot again.

“Did you carry out the mission properly?”

“It was a mission given to me by Your Excellency the Regent, so I gave it my all, but I couldn’t complete it.”

“Why?”

“Because I had to dance with Princess Arken……”

Hearing that, Ferda became genuinely concerned.

“Did you eat something bad?”

“No. Everything I ate was delicious, but……”

Malcolm scratched the back of his head as he spoke.

There was no reason for him to lie, but it was still difficult to believe without question.

Ferda looked at Malcolm as though he pitied him.

‘It seems he’s suffered quite a lot mentally, one way or another.’

When people overwork themselves, they sometimes begin to see and hear hallucinations.

Malcolm himself knew that what he was saying made no sense, so he awkwardly glossed over it.

“A-anyway, is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

“Hmm……”

Ferda had never expected much from Malcolm; if he could just get through this without incident, that was all he could ask for.

“There is.”

But Malcolm surely wanted to feel useful, so Ferda gave him another mission.

“Just give me the order!”

“It seems that when the Grand Duchess danced, someone cursed her as a murderer and a mass murderer.”

Remembering his conversation with Waldrova, Ferda asked him,

“I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but does anyone come to mind who might have been that person?”

“Someone like that……?”

It was, in practical terms, a question almost impossible to answer.

Since Ferda himself had said it might have been a hallucination, he was certain to be chasing the tail of a ghost.

Still, afraid he might foolishly latch onto someone and go around demanding to know whether they had cursed her, Ferda was about to say it had only been a joke.

“I know who that person was.”

“Yes, that person…… What?”

Ferda’s eyes sharpened.

Had that idiot just said he knew?

“Say that again.”

“Uh…… I mean, I know who the person who insulted Her Highness Waldrova—the person Your Excellency the Regent mentioned—is.”

“Are you saying someone really said that?”

Ferda’s face twisted viciously.

Malcolm was frightened by the sight, but he answered anyway.

“Yes. Since Your Excellency had given me a mission, I was keeping an eye on several people. It was very quiet, but when I passed by, he said it. He laughed scornfully and asked why a murderer was there.”

“……”

“It was just something he muttered to himself, and I only knew that he was some important person. I didn’t know he was the Grand Duke…….”

Hearing that, Ferda felt his mind grow faint.

Waldrova had said that she heard voices whenever she was surrounded by people.

He had assumed it was simply the result of psychological pressure, and she had thought the same and tried to overcome it.

‘Then that means it wasn’t a hallucination.’

There really was someone trying to get under her skin, someone in the blurred boundary between fantasy and reality.

-If I heard someone say that to me, I……

“Malcolm.”

Ferda uttered the two-syllable name.

Even the foolish Malcolm recognized the seriousness of the situation.

“Y-Yes!”

“I know you’re an exceptionally dull fellow. But I value your loyalty more highly than anyone else’s.”

“Th-thank you?”

“So I’ll ask you. Can you swear that there isn’t a shred of falsehood in what you said?”

“How could I lie to Your Excellency?”

“Yes, I don’t think you’re lying. But if what you just said is true, I can no longer remain still.”

Ferda’s hold on reason was hanging by the tip of his little finger.

He wanted to savor the afterglow of the dance he had shared with her, and he did not want to stain this night with blood.

“Even now, I want to ask for the name of that insolent wretch and tear off his head. In other words, that man’s life depends on whether you’re telling the truth. So I’ll ask again.”

Ferda asked in an even deeper voice,

“Did you truly hear those words clearly with your own ears?”

That ominous voice was enough to make someone deny even something they knew to be true.

But Malcolm did not.

Though he was bumbling, he was a knight who upheld his convictions.

A knight had to do his best to carry out any mission he was given, and Malcolm had done his best.

“I-I’m certain! I heard it clearly!!”

“Then tell me who it was.”

“As for who it was…….”

Malcolm mentioned the exact name.

* * *

The Beginning-of-Spring Festival ended before midnight, but music and laughter continued to echo beyond midnight.

The vitality of young people burned beneath the chandelier flames, unaware that the moon was waning.

Those who acted cocky without knowing their limits naturally ended up unconscious and sprawled all over the castle.

Whenever that happened, the servants who had been keeping watch quickly carried them out and handed them over to the servants waiting outside.

Of course, there were also those who did not enjoy the late-night banquet.

In the middle of the night, while the joyful banquet was still in full swing, a procession of departing carriages could be seen here and there in the deep forest.

These included families whose schedules were tight because they had taken on their lords’ duties as part of their heirs’ training, or conservative families that would not even permit their members to stay in another lord’s castle.

It was the hour of monsters, but that posed no problem for them.

Their escorts were the finest warriors representing each family.

Protecting them on the ground, no matter what, was their duty.

Boom!

But nothing could be stopped.

Something flew down from the sky toward a carriage.

“Cough, cough……!”

“I-it’s an ambush!”

“Young master!”

Despite the ferocity of the attack, the carriage was only half-destroyed.

At that speed, the carriage—and everyone inside it—should have been reduced to pulp.

The wooden wheels were unharmed, and only the roof had been blown away.

There was no time to marvel at such exquisite control.

They could only review the information they had been given.

Whatever else it was, the attack had been fired at a carriage carrying a young nobleman.

And what had flown at them was not a shell, but a living creature.

“Crossbowmen! Fire!”

The elite crossbowmen, already prepared to fire at any moment, aimed their crossbows at the intruder in unison.

Fwoosh!

Bolts left only sound behind as they flew from strings so powerful that one person had to draw them with both hands.

They moved faster than sound, but more slowly than light.

A single streak of vivid blue light beneath the moon split the intruder in two, and it fell to the ground.

They had expected it, but their opponent was no ordinary creature.

The captain of the guard drew his sword and released his aura.

“You filthy monster bastard! I’ll bathe my sword in your blood…… Ugh!”

He drew his sword, but that was all.

The captain could not move.

Even the captain himself found it strange.

He was a knight of a ducal house and the top graduate of the knight officer academy, having surpassed more than a hundred other talents.

He had also traversed countless battlefields and proven his courage, earning the nickname Lightning Tiger.

His courage was boundless, and his martial prowess was exceptional.

But he soon understood.

No matter how exceptional he was, all of it was meaningless compared to the being standing before him like a god.

No matter how hard a human strove or how high they rose, they could only surpass ordinary people while remaining within the limits of humanity.

There were things humans could not face, no matter how much courage they summoned.

The being he was witnessing with his own eyes was one of them.

The forest was dark, and beneath the leaves lay darkness as black as pitch.

What could be seen within it was the figure of a girl.

And behind that figure was the silhouette of enormous wings several times her size.

Glinting gray eyes.

Unnatural eyes split vertically like slits.

“Ah……”

Even though it was night and their five senses were unreliable, they clearly recognized the being before them and gave voice to it.

“D-Dragon!”

The knights who had tried to form a brave formation lost their will to fight and wet themselves in terror.

Even the captain could barely remain standing.

‘If I swing my sword—or even show the slightest murderous intent…….’

That girl would take his head without hesitation.

The girl’s figure did not say another word.

She picked up something inside the shattered carriage as though it were a piece of luggage.

It was the young nobleman they were supposed to protect.

Whoosh!

Then she vanished from the spot at the same speed with which she had flown in.

The entire sequence took less than a minute.

The guard detail had failed, and the young master had been abducted.