Chapter 179
That night, Monica stared down at the ground from the attic window, her face taut with tension.
"...It takes courage to climb down from a window, doesn't it, Nero?"
"If you close your eyes and jump straight down, it won't be scary."
"...No, if I close my eyes, I won't know when to land..."
Following the message Heidi had sent, Monica had snuck out of the attic that night and was trying to make her way to the forest, but even getting from the attic to the forest had already proven to be a major ordeal.
Even a member of the Seven Sages would be afraid to jump from such a height.
If Rin, a high-ranking wind spirit, were here, it would be no trouble at all, but since Monica couldn't ask for Rin's cooperation, she had no choice but to manage on her own.
For a while now, Monica had even secretly practiced flying magic, but it still wasn't stable. This was simply a problem with Monica's athletic coordination. More than anything, she was bad at moving her body while devoting her attention to a magic formula.
As she kept telling herself, All right, here I go, go, Nero jumped onto the windowsill and looked up at Monica.
"Are you really sure you don't need the great me to come along? You're meeting that squishy bastard, right?"
"...Yeah, I'm fine. Nero, you stay here and keep watch."
When Monica told Nero this in a firmer tone than usual, Nero's eyes, deeper gold than the moon, glittered.
"I'm your familiar, after all. If you need help, call for me properly. I'll bite apart anything that stands in your way and sweep it away with my tail."
Until now, Monica would have shrunk back, saying, "That's way too violent..." But now, Nero's presence was strangely reassuring.
Monica had been lonely in one way or another while Nero was hibernating.
"Thank you, Nero. Yeah... I'll be counting on you."
"Make sure you do."
"...Yeah."
Cyril Ashley had repeatedly told Monica to learn to rely on others.
Even now, she was afraid to expect anything from others, but she was beginning to change little by little.
"It's okay. I can rely on people properly now."
Those words were half meant to convince herself.
Nero grinned smugly and smacked Monica's hand with a paw pad.
"Then good. Go on!"
"Yeah!"
Monica set one foot on the windowsill and jumped. Then, feeling the spring night breeze sweep over her entire body, she activated her chantless magic.
A strong wind enveloped Monica and gently caught her at the moment she landed.
Monica overshot slightly and bounced on the cushion of wind before flopping onto the ground with a splat, but she quickly brushed the dirt from her clothes and stood up.
(...Let's go. This is where the crucial moment begins.)
＊ ＊ ＊
At the designated entrance to the forest, Heidi stood waiting in her Serendia Academy uniform.
"...I've been waiting for you. Please, this way."
Heidi set off into the forest with a lantern in one hand. Monica followed silently.
The cold spring night wind swept through the forest, and the rustling trees hid the moon in the night sky.
Heidi followed a pathless route with unerring steps, eventually stopping in front of a large zelkova tree.
Leaning against the tree was a handsome blond man—Felix Ark Ridill.
But Monica immediately realized that it was someone else.
"...Please stop disguising yourself as people I know."
"Oh, but today's real subject is 'him,' isn't it? Surely no other face could be more fitting for this occasion, hmm?"
With exactly the same face as Felix, Euan chuckled.
When Monica slightly frowned at that cloying voice, sweet as scorched honey, Euan raised the corners of his lips into a smirk Felix would never have worn.
"Now, shall we check our answers? Tell me your answer, please, Monica Everett, the Silent Witch."
Monica wondered where to begin, but decided that she was no good at such maneuvering and chose to ask directly.
"...Is a physician named Artur someone you know?"
"We studied body-manipulation magic together in the Empire. A former friend and a traitor. A lousy bastard who stole my research results and hightailed it to a neighboring country."
"That man fled the Empire over ten years ago, didn't he? By then, you had already perfected your body-manipulation magic... am I wrong?"
Euan narrowed those catlike eyes and tilted his head coyly.
"Absolutely correct. Shall I reward you with a kiss using this face?"
"...I'll pass."
Body-manipulation magic was legalized in the Empire only after the current emperor took the throne.
Until then, even in the Empire, body-manipulation magic had been treated as forbidden magic. So Euan had never made the results of the research public... but one man had taken them out of the country.
That was Artur—the physician who had been called Arthur at Duke Clockford's estate.
"You see, I've been chasing that hateful man for a very, very long time. Then, a year ago, I finally learned that he had been sheltered at Duke Clockford's estate... though he had long since died by then."
Until a few seconds earlier, Euan's eyes, visible beneath the soft blond hair, had been the same blue as Felix's.
They grew murky and sluggish, like water clouded with moss, and finally turned pitch-black, with no bottom in sight.
"And while investigating the cause of Artur's death, I... no, to be precise, my master, realized something."
"..."
"My master is a very perceptive person, you see. The order was for me to investigate the matter. I used the chess tournament and school festival as stages to approach Felix Ark Ridill, in order to confirm that fact."
Euan broke off and gave Monica a sidelong glance. Was Euan telling Monica to speak from here on?
Monica slowly steadied her breathing, then opened her mouth.
"...Ten years ago, another person died in the fire in which Artur-san died... He was then-Prince Felix's attendant, and his name was Isaac Walker."
According to Bridget, he was a boy with a scar beside his right eye whom Felix had looked up to like an older brother.
"...He hadn't died ten years ago at all. Then whose was the boy's body that was found at the fire scene?"
There was only one possible answer.
"...The real Prince Felix."
The fate-star of Felix Ark Ridill had been invisible for the past ten years, even to the power of the Star-Seer Witch.
Of course. By then, the real second prince was already dead.
Monica tried to swallow, but failed. Her mouth was so dry that there wasn't even any saliva to swallow.
After taking another deep breath, Monica spoke the truth about what had happened ten years ago with dry lips.
"...Ten years ago, the real Prince Felix died under some circumstances. Duke Clockford then ordered the physician Artur to use body-manipulation magic on His Highness's attendant, Isaac Walker... so that he would have exactly the same face as the prince."
It was no wonder that Bridget had failed to realize this.
To the people of Ridill Kingdom, body-manipulation magic was not something they often encountered. Even Monica, who knew it existed, had never imagined that the technique for changing someone's face had already been perfected ten years ago.
...Ike was Isaac's nickname.
It was precisely because Monica knew the young man named Ike that she had been able to realize the truth.
"...And the duke murdered Artur to silence him, then burned Artur and the deceased real prince together, disguising the murders as a fire."
Monica tightly resisted the urge to lower her gaze and stared straight at Euan.
"You approached His Highness... to verify that man's face, didn't you? A mage skilled in body-manipulation magic can identify traces of the procedure at close range."
Euan clapped theatrically, then smiled and said, "Well done," as if praising a small child.
"That's as far as checking answers goes. Now, it's time to negotiate."
Now that the truth of the past had come to light, what mattered was what came next.
Euan and Heidi were people of the Empire. Ridill Kingdom and the Empire were not currently enemies... but Duke Clockford wanted to start a war.
It was easy to create a pretext for war. For example, they could accuse the Empire of driving dragons into Ridill Kingdom through its recent land-development projects.
"What are you going to do with this truth...?"
"Of course we'll expose it. And we'll do so immediately after Felix Ark Ridill ascends the throne."
"...!!"
That was unquestionably the worst possible timing they could have chosen.
As Monica turned pale, Euan laughed cheerfully and spoke.
"Of course, we won't announce it under the Empire's name. All we have to do is put that truth, along with the evidence, into the hands of nobles in Ridill Kingdom who oppose Duke Clockford... Count Bright, for instance, don't you think?"
Count Bright. He was Casey's father, who had once plotted Felix's assassination.
Why was Casey's father's name being brought up here? It didn't take much thought to see why.
"We have a few connections with nobles in Ridill Kingdom, you see... Through the Kingdom of Randell, to be precise."
The Kingdom of Randell was a small country sandwiched between the two great powers of Ridill Kingdom and the Empire. For the past few decades, it had kept out of trouble by gauging both sides' reactions, but apparently it had recently begun leaning toward the Empire.
Euan intended to pass along the truth that the second prince was a fake through the Kingdom of Randell to the nobles in Ridill Kingdom who opposed Duke Clockford.
If that happened, it was not hard to imagine internal conflict breaking out in Ridill Kingdom.
The Empire could weaken Ridill Kingdom without moving a single soldier.
"Oh, I should mention, killing Heidi and me here to silence us would be pointless, you know? I told you, my master knows everything... Now, do you know why I agreed to play along with your answer check?"
Euan gazed at Monica with eyes tinged with pity.
"...Because even if you learned the truth, there'd be nothing you could do."
That was exactly as Euan had said.
The Empire had realized that Felix was a fake. And presumably, it had prepared evidence as well. All it had to do was expose the truth when Felix became king.
...And Monica had no means of stopping them.
"Say, Silent Witch-san. My master has a proposal for you."
"...?"
As Monica slowly raised her face, Euan spoke in a coaxing, catlike voice.
"Would you like to come to our country?"
"...Huh?"
Monica's eyes went wide in blank astonishment at the unexpected words, and Euan winked with a playfulness wildly out of place.
"This is the main reason we accepted your invitation. My master... His Majesty the Emperor wants to take you into his service."
Euan held out a hand to Monica.
A hand stained with the blood of many people waved invitingly at Monica, beckoning her closer to it.
"From now on, abandon a Ridill Kingdom that is going to decline and come to our Empire. Silent Witch-san Monica Everett."