Chapter 101 - A Play (2)

2

Sand stained the moon a little red.

Dust in the sky turned it red, and people turned red when they bled. That accidental coincidence unsettled me.

'It looks like the moon is bleeding.'

I walked, dragging my unease behind me like a shadow. In the distance, I heard servants chattering and murmuring.

"You cannot behave like this here, my lady!"

"This is the residence of House Ivansia!"

"However much His Highness the Crown Prince favors you, at this hour..."

Lady Silver Lily, walking beside me, muttered curtly.

"An unwelcome guest indeed."

Her tone betrayed contempt for the Inquisitor—no, for Lady Golden Silk Blossom.

"If she has barged in at this hour, she can hardly be seeking an impromptu tea with me. Butler, was this visit arranged in advance?"

"No."

I was bewildered too. Wasn't it already past midnight? There was no reason for the Inquisitor to see Lady Silver Lily now.

We had discussed this the day before yesterday.

["For the time being, I'll work as Lady Silver Lily's personal butler," ] I had said, adding, ["Both to learn more about her and to clear this stage."]

「Hmm.」

For a moment, an unreadable expression crossed the Inquisitor's face. Even so, he smiled broadly as he always did.

「Yes! It's for the mission, so it can't be helped.」

「I'll be fine. Off you go, Death King!」

That was what we had agreed.

Or should have agreed.

"Bring me my butler!"

The voice drew closer as we walked.

"Butler! I came here knowing full well you're inside!"

The residence's garden.

Even the dark night sky could not entirely conceal the spring lingering in the flower beds. The magnolias blooming white bowed their heads, struggling beneath the weight of spring suspended from their bodies. The moon was red. Its light was reddish as it fell on the magnolia petals, making the garden look as though purple magnolias were in full bloom.

"Ah!"

A magnolia petal fell.

"You were here after all! Butler!"

The Inquisitor shoved aside a guard at the main gate. The guards hesitated, unable to lay rough hands on a baron's daughter.

While they hesitated, he gathered up his skirts and strode into the garden. The purple magnolia petal that had just fallen crumpled beneath his shoe.

"I was worried when you still hadn't returned so late at night."

"..."

"Really. Making your mistress worry until she has to come in person—doesn't that disqualify you as a servant?"

The instant I saw the Inquisitor, my unease peaked.

His hair.

In the moonlight, his golden hair had grown longer than it had been yesterday.

"My lady..."

"You're my one and only butler, and my childhood friend. You mean more to me than an ordinary servant. Would I seem terribly undignified if I asked you to understand that?"

It wasn't just his hair. His face, his appearance. Traces of the Inquisitor still remained, but somehow he looked unfamiliar.

'Did he use a Divine Art to change his appearance?'

Why?

"At any rate, you mustn't stay in a place like this. Even the garden's flowers seem steeped in poison. Come! Butler, let's go back together."

"Insolent creature."

As the Inquisitor tried to approach me, Lady Silver Lily barred his path.

"Creating a disturbance in the dead of night is itself a grave offense punishable by caning. Do you know where you are, that you dare raise your voice? Kneel at once and confess your wrongdoing."

"Oh? Do you mean to strike my calves with a switch?"

The Inquisitor smiled.

"If you intend to strike me, make sure you strike hard, my lady. I'm curious what will happen when I show His Highness the marks left on my calves. His Highness and I will have one more memory to share."

"H-how shameless...!"

The ducal attendants trembled. Officially, Lady Silver Lily was the crown prince's fiancée. Yet the Inquisitor was speaking of calves and shared memories in front of her. The servants glared at him, their faces flushed.

Lady Silver Lily murmured quietly.

"Is that so?"

The servants flinched and froze at her voice. A chill briefly swept through my chest as well.

"I suppose it is."

Her voice was that cold.

"How sweet of you to wish to make memories during your school days. Indeed, at a baron's daughter's age, one can roll in a field of shit and still romanticize it as a memory. Since you wish to make lovely memories, I shall assist you as a noble of the Empire."

Lady Silver Lily raised her left hand.

"Bring me a switch."

The attendants trembled.

"Y-Your Grace, the ducal heir..."

"I believe I ordered you not to address me so here."

"If His Highness should learn of this..."

"Would you have me let someone leave unharmed after creating a disturbance in the ducal residence? If I do, will word not spread and sully our family's name? The law takes precedence over all else, and His Highness is the very person charged with upholding it."

The servants caught their breath. They did not look convinced. 'But...' they protested silently. 'But His Highness is not that sort of person.'

None of them could voice the objection.

"My left hand is still empty."

Lady Silver Lily's voice flowed on.

"Bring me a switch. I will not repeat the same order again."

The servants' shoes hurried along the path strewn with fallen purple magnolias, off to find a switch in the residence.

They all bowed their heads, as though afraid even to let the moonlight illuminate their faces. Only two people here held their heads high: Lady Silver Lily and the Inquisitor.

"My lady."

In the end, I had no choice but to approach the Inquisitor.

"What is the matter? Why have you come at this hour?"

"I've come to reclaim what is mine. You're making me state the obvious."

The Inquisitor beamed.

"I've been waiting since this morning, but you never came back. At first I assumed something urgent had come up, but then I happened to hear that you were at her ladyship's side."

The Inquisitor touched his cheek.

"I realized at once. Obviously, she had found some weakness of yours and threatened you, hadn't she? That's her specialty. My poor butler. Caught in all this because of His Highness and me..."

"..."

I didn't understand.

What was he talking about?

"Don't worry."

The Inquisitor's smile was as bright as ever.

"I won't let her take anything from me anymore. Whether it is His Highness's affection or your loyalty. A switch? Let her strike me all she likes. I'll rescue you. After all, the more she strikes, the more she'll be the one getting hurt."

"No... I'm sorry. Please excuse me a moment."

I moved a little closer so that no one around us could hear our conversation. Fortunately, no one stopped me.

"My lady."

"Yes."

I swallowed and whispered to the Inquisitor.

"Inquisitor."

Silence.

"Yes?"

My heart pounded.

My lips were dry. My tongue wouldn't move. Had it always been this difficult to twist words together one by one, weaving a single sentence? Slowly, I opened my mouth.

"When spring comes."

"Yes?"

My heart.

"Inquisitor..."

"What have you been talking about, Butler?"

"If you're joking like last time, I'll really be angry. I mean it. I'm asking you seriously right now. Please answer properly. How high has your immersion rate risen?"

The Inquisitor blinked.

"Hmm? You seem to be the one joking, Butler. Are you remembering the old days? Or has spending a day with her ladyship made you a little strange in the head? Honestly, Butler. I'll be gentle and generous enough to understand."

"When spring comes..."

"Already."

The Inquisitor smiled.

"Spring is already here, Butler."

No.

"Isn't it a beautiful season?"

Lady Golden Silk Blossom smiled.

"W-we have brought what you ordered..."

The servants who had scattered into the residence returned. Heads bowed, they offered Lady Silver Lily a switch.

It was thin.

I guessed they had scoured the mansion for its most delicate switch. Was that the loyalty they could offer their mistress?

"Find another."

But Lady Silver Lily was merciless. The servants flinched and moved away.

"Find another."

The order was repeated four times. With each repetition, the switch grew thicker and rougher. Lady Silver Lily took the fourth switch in her left hand as the servant who brought it bit their lip hard.

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom, daughter of a baron."

"Why not call me by my real name, my lady?"

"Sylvia Evanail."

"Yes, Lady Raviel Ivansia."

The moon and the sun faced each other.

"You entered the ducal family's grounds without permission and created a disturbance. You have not uttered a single word of apology. The Empire has clear distinctions between high and low, yet your insolence is appalling. I shall punish you in the name His Majesty bestowed upon me."

"My crime? I know my crime better than anyone."

Lady Golden Silk Blossom smiled brightly.

"My crime is daring to receive the deepest affection of the Heir to the throne despite being born to a provincial baron's family."

That was not something one could say to the prince's fiancée.

"I'm sorry for being loved."

The baron's daughter lightly gathered her skirts in both hands. A single Golden Silk Blossom settled into the garden overflowing with magnolias. She bowed her head to the lily before her.

Her etiquette was flawless.

"I'm sorry for receiving more love than you, Lady Raviel Ivansia."

"..."

"Will that suffice as an apology?"

The wind blew.

"But, Lady Raviel Ivansia, I'm curious. Is this truly my crime? Love only has meaning when it is received. Is it really my responsibility alone that the one who loves and the one who is loved are different people? Perhaps..."

Perhaps. Golden Silk Blossom did not finish what came next. Instead, she laughed softly. A petal hanging from a black branch fell.

Lady Silver Lily quietly raised her left hand.

"Vicious creature."

The switch tore through the night air.

"..."

Lady Golden Silk Blossom did not scream. She did not groan. She straightened her back. Even the smile carved like a sculpture into her face did not waver.

He—she—was certain of victory.

[Your immersion in the character is deepening.]

That was why the moon looked to me as though it were bleeding.

[Your current immersion rate is 40%.]

That day, sand stained the moon a little red.

In the sky, the moon turned red when buried in dust; on the ground, humans turned red when they bled. Lady Silver Lily coughed in the acrid air. It was a dry cough.

No one said anything.

Only coughing and the sound of the switch echoed through the nighttime garden.

"Sylvia!"

A torch swayed.

"Sylvia! Are you there, Sylvia!"

Footsteps broke the silence. Beyond the main gate, the crown prince came running, carrying a torch himself. His guards hurried after him in a fluster. With such a disturbance underway, there was no way he wouldn't hear of it.

"Syl—"

The crown prince stopped before the gate.

"..."

He looked into the garden and fell silent for a moment.

"Raviel...!"

He called Lady Silver Lily's name with a different warmth than he had used for Lady Golden Silk Blossom.

"Move aside!"

The crown prince shoved the ducal guards away. No one here could bar the Heir to the throne's passage. He ran straight to Lady Golden Silk Blossom's side.

"How could you, even so... How...!"

"I'm all right, Your Highness."

"I'm not all right! You fool...!"

The crown prince examined Lady Golden Silk Blossom, then turned to glare at Lady Silver Lily.

"Cruel creature!"

Words become wounds.

"How could you treat Sylvia so harshly!"

Because those wounds cannot be seen, the person inflicting them does not know.

"It is the law of the Empire, Your Highness."

"Is the law more important than a human being!"

"More important than an individual, yes."

"That's why I call you cruel! You witch!"

Perhaps the world was divided into those who knew that and those who did not. The crown prince was one who did not.

Lady Silver Lily coughed and drew a breath.

"Will you punish me?"

"..."

The crown prince's face twisted. That was all it did. He could not answer her question. He shook his head as though it wasn't even worth answering, but that was nothing more than evasion.

He had neither the courage to take responsibility for Lady Silver Lily nor the ability to contend with her.

"Let's go, Sylvia! You mustn't stay in a place like this."

"Ah."

The crown prince lifted Lady Golden Silk Blossom into his arms. As he held her, she looked at me.

"Butler."

The Inquisitor.

"You should come too."

"..."

I did not answer. Looking at him, I murmured inwardly as though praying.

'Character window.'

RUSTLE

Letters blossomed before my eyes.

+

Name: Sylvia Evanail

Affinity: 90

Preferred Genres: [Romance]

Disliked Genres: [Politics]

Preferred Characters: [Those Who Love Me], [Crown Prince], [Butler], [Teacher], [Upperclassmen], [Underclassmen], [Classmates]

Disliked Characters: [Raviel Ivansia]

Preferred Plots: [Victory of the Strong], [True Love]

Disliked Plots: [Defeat of the Weak], [Betrayal]

Mental State: 'Raviel Ivansia. I won't give you anything.'

+

The name Inquisitor was nowhere to be found.

The words [Fairy Tales] that had appeared under Preferred Genres, and [Humans] that had appeared under Preferred Characters, were no longer there either.

"Butler?"

The Inquisitor had been consumed by the role of Lady Golden Silk Blossom.

"You'll come with me, won't you?"

And I sensed how this iteration would end.