Chapter 208
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Ferda brought Olivia out.
It was getting to be time to leave.
Olivia casually asked an attendant,
“Is the Second Prince still demonstrating the weapons?”
“Yes. Even though I told him ten minutes ago…….”
The representative ought to formally bid them farewell before leaving, but he was distracted by something else.
‘I do enjoy having more time with Mr. Ferda, but…….’
To act like this when he should be demonstrating his qualifications as the emperor’s representative.
Olivia forced down her disgust and said,
“I suppose we should go meet Brother.”
“Let us do that.”
Ferda acted as though he did not mind.
Olivia walked beside Ferda.
“Oh my, that’s new. Was it added during the renovations?”
“Yes.”
“That one is fashionable in the Empire. I suppose you decided to follow the trends after all, as I suggested?”
“Now that more people are starting to gather, I suppose it seemed necessary.”
Though she was not particularly curious, Olivia asked about the changes.
Olivia thought she was beginning to understand why women became fools in front of men.
They did so because if they did not at least make conversation, men would not speak to them.
His face after emerging from the magic-engineering laboratory was truly peculiar.
It showed satisfaction, yet was also filled with dissatisfaction.
“Well?”
Ureas answered Ferda’s question.
“I liked it very much! I would have liked to fire that heavy magical cannon as well, but…… they were reluctant to let me.”
Ureas glared at Burnell as though displeased.
Burnell approached Ferda and whispered into his ear.
“He kept pointing the rifle muzzle at the researchers, so I had no choice. He said he wanted to see how powerful the cannon’s explosion was, but if he made one wrong move…….”
“……”
There was truly no more shameless man in the world.
Ferda patted Burnell’s shoulder a couple of times to show his appreciation for the trouble he had gone to, then said to Ureas,
“I am told the spell formula has not yet been stabilized, so it could explode if mishandled. I apologize for the confusion.”
“Is that so? How dangerous could it be just because it exploded…….”
Exactly.
I should have just told them to let him use it, danger be damned.
It would have been satisfying to watch that body blown to bits.
While cursing inwardly, Olivia leaned slightly toward Ureas.
“Brother, please do not say such things.”
“Huh?”
“What if you were injured? Are you trying to burden me with another worry?”
Olivia skillfully made her eyes fill with tears.
The utter good-for-nothing lout Ureas was flustered by those tears.
“S-Sister! Of course I was joking! Would I really go around doing something so dangerous and make you worry, hmm?”
He placated Olivia until she finally smiled, then relaxed.
Olivia quietly shifted her gaze toward Ferda.
Her eyes resembled those of a circus performer who had tamed a lion.
Ferda was not particularly pleased.
“I will see you off.”
Ferda led them along the path indicated by the carpet.
Then, in one of the corridors leading to the door, a woman was blocking their way.
Only one person could be so rude with guests present.
Valdrova.
A woman with a woman’s body, two pairs of fearsome horns, and a tail.
Her utterly gentle face was hidden behind a mask again.
Everyone bowed their heads according to etiquette.
“We pay our respects to Her Highness Valdrova, the Great Aspect of Fire.”
“A-Are you leaving now?”
Valdrova asked, forcing her voice.
Since the question was directed at Olivia, she answered.
“Yes. I had a pleasant conversation with the Regent.”
“I see.”
Valdrova’s movements seemed somewhat restless.
Then, unable to restrain herself, she slipped between Olivia and Ferda.
Olivia knew what was happening.
It was the jealousy of a woman who did not want to see the man she had set her sights on walking with another woman.
Olivia had thought Valdrova had a somewhat vacant side, but in the end, she too possessed a possessive streak.
Olivia was certain of it.
But she was spectacularly mistaken.
Her left hand fidgeted as it became entwined with something soft.
She felt a chill at first, but soon realized that it was a hand.
Valdrova’s hand.
“Ehehe…….”
Valdrova laughed bashfully.
That laugh shattered the entire scenario Olivia had drawn up in her mind.
There was no wall created by jealousy or anything of the sort; Valdrova simply wanted to hold Olivia’s hand.
Realizing once again that Valdrova’s intentions were pure, Olivia felt embarrassed.
Olivia smiled and squeezed that hand.
Ureas and Olivia climbed into the carriage waiting outside the gate, while Valdrova waved them farewell.
* * *
“Our guests have left.”
“Are you sad to see them go?”
“No. It’s only natural, just as Lyudmila must return eventually, isn’t it? Besides…….”
Valdrova quietly approached and took Ferda’s hand.
“I’m not very good at this sort of thing…….”
“You may do so whenever you wish.”
“I cannot embarrass you in front of other people.”
Her hand was as soft as silk, and her nails were smooth as polished jade.
Holding hands had become perfectly natural by now, so why did it still make his heart flutter so much?
Ferda walked along the path he had taken with Valdrova.
“Did you enjoy your time with Princess Olivia?”
“She was extremely intelligent. She spoke well, and she was beautiful too…… I might even have fallen for her.”
Ferda could not let those words pass him by.
“There is room for only one woman who loves women in this castle.”
“Can’t there be two?”
“Then one of them will have to disappear.”
Ferda intended to kill Penelope without mercy.
Despite that murderous aura, Valdrova continued speaking.
“So we talked for a while…… and I suggested that we become friends.”
“Friends with the princess…… What did she say?”
“She said she would.”
Ferda did not overlook the subtle emotion he sensed in her.
“But your voice sounds troubled.”
“Well, it’s just that…….”
“If it is burdensome to speak of, you need not.”
Seeing her hesitate, Ferda showed consideration.
Her fingers fidgeted as she thought it over, and then she opened her mouth again.
“It’s just…… you know.”
Valdrova remembered Olivia’s expression.
When she asked whether Olivia could become her friend, Olivia accepted.
But Valdrova had seen it clearly.
The emotion in that beautiful face was one she had often encountered herself.
“I realized that becoming friends with everyone…… isn’t an easy thing.”
* * *
The ceremonial court carriage used for royal occasions passed through the main gate after completing the departure ceremony.
At that moment, Olivia raised her hand and stopped the carriage.
“Why?”
Ureas asked, still basking in the afterglow of happiness from handling the magic-engineering equipment.
“I simply want to return alone.”
“Hmm, all right……. I understand.”
His face was deeply disappointed.
Olivia smiled gently and carefully stroked Ureas’s hand.
He had said that her hand felt like the touch of the mother he loved.
“It is only because my thoughts are a little tangled.”
Ureas looked sulky, but he had no choice except to let her go.
Olivia climbed into the prepared carriage.
Only when she thought she was completely alone could she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“This is exhausting…….”
It felt as though a month’s worth of fatigue had piled up all at once today.
It had certainly accumulated while she was with Valdrova, but she could not blame her.
Valdrova had not made her this way; she had simply exhausted herself.
Since she could only see her own ugly side, she decided to forget the whole thing.
She laid out her bedding and tried to get some sleep.
“Hm?”
At that moment, she felt something foreign inside her clothing.
She carefully pulled it out.
“Ah.”
It was a red handkerchief that did not match her clothes at all.
It was the item Ferda had given her after she had spilled her tea because she had foolishly jumped to conclusions.
She had forgotten to return it after wiping it clean.
“……”
Olivia looked down at the handkerchief and thought.
What would she have done if this belonged to another man?
She would certainly use it as an excuse to strike up a pointless conversation.
So she would have a servant return it immediately, leaving no opportunity for that.
Or she would quietly drop it on the floor and insist that she had never received it.
Olivia gazed silently down at the handkerchief.
A scent different from the flowers filling the carriage began to waft up.
Olivia brought the handkerchief to her face.
The scent lingered strongly alongside the memories.
The scent of spilled black tea and her own perfume on her hand.
This isn’t what I’m looking for.
She searched more deeply within it.
It’s there.
Joy welled up in her as though she had found a ray of light in a pitch-black cave.
The scents of tea and perfume gradually faded, and that fragrance became clear.
It was Ferda’s scent.
In Olivia’s mind, Ferda’s hand appeared vividly.
“Lord Ferda…….”
The handkerchief in her hand seemed to caress her cheek.
It was an extremely vulgar and base fantasy, but Olivia could not stop.
She simply wanted to believe that some part of Ferda was in her hands.
* * *
The Arken Empire, the underground torture chamber of the Imperial Palace.
The chamber was exactly like that: intense light on one side, deep darkness on the other.
When it came to obtaining information, no means or methods were off-limits.
Five executioners skilled in torture and two mages monitoring the victim’s condition surrounded a man.
The man’s name was Ferri Yurei.
As the Duke of the Heinkel Kingdom, he was absolutely not someone who belonged in a place so thick with the smell of blood and filth.
His face was so conspicuously swollen that it was difficult to recognize his original features.
“Did you sleep well, Duke?”
“……”
“You couldn’t possibly have slept properly. Every time you tried to sleep, we smashed your hands with clubs, after all. Haha!”
“……”
“I imagine your wish is to sleep for about three hours. I could grant that wish, you know?”
“……”
“What a stubborn bastard. Shall we turn up the voltage?”
Crackle!
“Aaaaagh! Aaaaargh!”
Electricity coursed through Duke Yurei’s body, making him convulse violently.
“Speak up already. Tell us who you really are.”
“You filthy imperials……. I am Duke Ferri Yurei of the Heinkel Kingdom……. No matter how much humiliation I suffer in a place like this…… do you think I would sell out my kingdom?”
“Whether you like it or not, that is what will happen, Duke.”
The interrogator said,
“The world outside is in an uproar over whether to go to war. The Heinkel Kingdom is no different. But the Heinkel Kingdom wants peace.”
“Who dislikes peace? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m saying that when something happens, someone has to take responsibility.”
“The kingdom…… intends to cast me aside?”
“That’s right. Your territory is overflowing with evidence of demon sympathizers. So they are saying that you are a demon sympathizer as well, and that you refuse to acknowledge it as a duke.”
“……”
“You would be better off speaking while you still have value. All we need is a single testimony.”
“……What testimony do you want me to give?”
“You only need to say that the Heinkel Kingdom has demon sympathizers as well.”
“Then what will you do with me?”
“We will release you. If necessary, we will even support you so that you can spend the rest of your life in comfort.”
“Even if I am a demon sympathizer?”
“Whether you are a demon or not is irrelevant to us. What we need is a justification.”
Duke Yurei closed his mouth and lowered his head.
No one was coming to help him as he slowly died.
Even the news reaching him from outside painted a desperate picture.
The world was turning its back on him.
Betrayal.
That sense of betrayal always led to another betrayal.
Duke Yurei opened his mouth.
“Heh heh heh…… Hahaha!”
He burst into laughter.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Isn’t it ridiculous? How could I not laugh when a man calling himself a torturer is this incapable of lying? You’re trying to cast me aside, so I should betray them? Do I look like I would do such a thing just to save myself? You fools! You know nothing of honor as nobles, so how could you understand me—uggggh!”
Electricity coursed through him, forcibly silencing his mouth.
“It makes no difference. The war has to happen anyway.”
“Cowardly…… despicable imperial bastards…….”
“Farewell. You will meet your end as a miserable demon’s pawn.”
As he shouted his farewell,
Crash!
The sound of a glass bottle breaking rang out.
Everyone’s attention instantly turned toward it.
One of the executioners had accidentally broken a glass bottle, spilling white powder across the floor.
“Sorry. My hand slipped.”
“Stay alert! Who is that, executioner?”
“I do not know either.”
“What? Are you playing with me?”
“It truly is an unfamiliar voice. Who are you?”
The executioner raised a torture dagger and asked menacingly.
The five executioners assigned here all knew one another.
That high-pitched, clear voice was unfamiliar.
“Oh, me? Don’t bother trying to find out who I am.”
In that situation, the man remained composed.
In his hand, he precariously held a glass bottle filled with crystal-clear liquid.
“Because my hand is about to slip again.”
It dropped to the floor.
Crash!
Boom!!
The instant the powder and liquid mixed, explosive smoke engulfed the entire torture chamber.
“Cough, cough!”
“What is this…… What…….”
Before they could finish their questions, the executioners collapsed one after another.
The mages quickly deployed barriers to keep the smoke out, remaining unharmed.
The silhouette of the person who had set off the smoke bomb came into view.
The mages manifested attack magic circles.
Since it was a top-security room, they attacked without mercy.
At that moment, a red light pierced through the smoke from the executioner’s silhouette.
As the light reached the mages, their magic circles faltered at the same time.
“What is this……!?”
It was not merely a magic circle drawn on a hand.
The barriers shattered as well.
The safe zone vanished, and the smoke seeped through gaps in the mages’ defenses.
“Damn…….”
The remaining two collapsed with a thud, and silence descended.
After all but two had been knocked unconscious, only two remained.
The mysterious executioner and Duke Yurei, whose mouth and nose were covered with cloth.
Duke Yurei was desperately holding his breath to avoid passing out.
“You need not hold your breath, Your Grace. The mask filters the smoke.”
Trusting those words, Duke Yurei drew a breath.
Just as he had said, Duke Yurei did not collapse like the others.
“By the way, your face looks completely different from when I first saw you. You must have eaten well during your captivity. Your face is all puffy…….”
“Who…… are you?”
Even Duke Yurei had never heard that taunting voice before.
“You know who Ferda Valdrova is, don’t you?”
There was no way he could say that he did not.
“I am his messenger. I came here under orders to help Duke Yurei escape.”