Chapter 85 - Investigation

In the mansion’s drawing room, Albrecht sat across a table from Renée, still unable to collect himself. He blankly replayed the words he had just heard.

["Yes, well..."]

'Why?'

Why had she reacted that way to his apology? It was him, not just anyone! None other than Albrecht himself was apologizing!

The questions would not stop.

After questioning himself at great length over a situation he had never experienced in his life, Albrecht began to arrive at a conclusion that bordered very closely on self-justification.

'Ah, the Saintess is blind!'

Renée was blind, and therefore had no way of knowing Albrecht’s beauty. That must explain her reaction.

The eternally beautiful darling of all. An angel descended from the divine realm. The most perfect creation.

Were those not all descriptions one could appreciate only by receiving visual information?

Only then did Albrecht nod in acceptance. Feeling considerably better, he was about to speak again when another thought occurred to him.

'... Then what about my voice?'

His thoughts froze.

Even his voice was incomparably sweet. Why, then, did neither the Saintess nor the apostle beside her marvel at it?

No, putting everything else aside—even if he allowed for the Saintess’s blindness, the apostle was witnessing Albrecht’s beauty, was he not? How could he remain so indifferent?

Albrecht felt his heart pounding. His golden eyes, sparkling as though the midday sun had been set into them, wavered with anxiety. A tremor spread from his fingertips through his entire body, and an air of precarious instability began to emanate from him.

Watching him from beside him, Count Vaishur wanted to flee on the spot.

He had foreseen this situation, but that did nothing to ease the ache inside him.

Self-love incarnate. A child who knew nothing of the world. A catastrophically poor ability to read the room, without the slightest shred of tact.

He understood why his superior, who possessed all three qualities in equal measure, could not comprehend the situation. Still, could he not maintain a little composure? They had not come here for a social visit.

He truly, desperately wanted to escape. Unfortunately, that was impossible.

This was his own mansion. Fleeing it would only leave him out on the street.

A long sigh escaped Count Vaishur. He glanced at Albrecht, then at Renée and Bera opposite them, before speaking.

"Your Highness, perhaps it is time we got to the point."

"Ah."

Albrecht jolted in surprise, shook off his dazed expression, and cleared his throat.

"I had something on my mind for a moment. How rude of me to neglect my guests."

You are the guest here.

Those words rose within Count Vaishur, but he held them back. He was a man who firmly believed in the duties of a subject devoted to his nation and the imperial family.

Truly, the situation made him sigh despite himself.

"May I now get to the point?"

At Albrecht’s tremulous question, Renée nodded.

"Yes."

Another one-word answer. Albrecht’s eyes trembled once more.

"R-right! Then let us begin!"

He cleared his throat twice before continuing.

"I have come here because of what happened last night. The reason the apostle of oaths visited the gutter seems to overlap with our own purpose, so I have come to request your help."

Renée’s fingertips twitched at his words.

This was for a different reason than earlier that day. Bera had visited the gutter. Hearing that brought back the scene before the prince’s arrival: Bera barely forcing the words out in a voice she had never heard from him before, and herself unable to say anything in response.

In the end, Albrecht’s arrival had brought their conversation to an inconclusive end.

She should have said something, anything, but she had missed her chance and failed to get the words across.

Renée curled the hand on her lap into a fist and spoke.

"... What sort of help do you mean?"

"I would like you to join us in investigating the gutter."

Renée flinched again. Bera, seated right beside her, sensed it and questioned Albrecht.

"Why are you investigating it? I believe you should explain that first."

His tone was as surly as ever. The difference was that his irritation was more pronounced than usual. His anger and frustration with himself had tangled together within him, producing that tone.

His feelings were utterly undisguised. Once again, bewilderment appeared on Albrecht’s face.

"Q-quite right! Goodness, I keep being careless today!"

He accompanied the words with a forced "Ha ha!" Then, struggling to suppress his discomposure, he continued. A serious expression took its place.

"People have been disappearing."

"... Since when has people disappearing in the gutter been anything new?"

"Not in the gutter. Across the capital. I mean incidents occurring simultaneously in every district except First through Third Avenues."

First through Third Avenues—the districts where the nobility lived. Albrecht was saying that people were disappearing everywhere else.

Naturally, Bera’s expression hardened. Renée reacted the same way, sharply raising her lowered head and turning toward Albrecht’s voice.

... Really, he should not have felt this way at a moment like this, but Albrecht felt a little delight brighten his face now that the two were finally paying attention to him.

Renée asked, "Shouldn’t you be taking action? If this is happening over such a wide area..."

"It is not as easy as it sounds."

It was Count Vaishur who answered. Looking at Renée and Bera, he added an explanation in a tone laden with difficulty.

"We cannot conduct an open investigation at present. If we go poking around carelessly, the entire case could be buried."

"Why?"

Renée’s question was only natural.

This was happening across the imperial capital, no less. Across Parvan, a city so vast that several ordinary kingdoms’ capitals would have to be joined together just to match its size.

That would mean at least hundreds of missing people. How could an open investigation be impossible in such a serious situation?

Bera supplied the answer to Renée’s question.

"... The suspects are nobles. Is that correct?"

"Oh, you are quite perceptive, Apostle."

It was less a matter of perception than a conclusion made possible by his knowledge of the Empire.

Disappearances on such a massive scale, yet the nobles’ residential districts remained untouched. Albrecht visiting the gutter to investigate them. And now Albrecht coming in person to request help from outsiders like them.

"Yes. We are considering the nobles as the ones behind these disappearances."

Albrecht made his meaning explicit.

"If there is a suspect, they must be among them. That is our supposition, but..."

"If you poke around in the wrong place, you will face considerable resistance."

"... Indeed. It is shameful to admit, but the current imperial family does not wield much power."

Bera understood exactly what Albrecht meant.

The current imperial family—or, more precisely, the current emperor—was too weak, so they had to tread carefully around the nobles.

Bera knew this because he had taken advantage of that very fact to strike deals with nobles in his previous life.

As imperial authority weakened, the noble faction’s influence grew. Naturally, factional disputes and secret deals became more rampant, plunging the Empire further into chaos.

There was little need to elaborate. This was also connected to the emperor’s decision to act three years earlier, on the day the seven days and nights of the midnight sun began.

An imperial journey to restore the imperial family’s greatness.

Of course, that journey had remained within the Empire and ultimately come to nothing.

Besides, it had never been necessary in the first place.

'The problem will be resolved when the crown prince becomes emperor.'

Four years from now, the first prince, currently the crown prince, would ascend the throne, ushering in an unprecedented golden age for the imperial family.

After briefly recalling his previous life, Bera looked at Albrecht and continued his questions.

"So that is why you went to the gutter?"

"Indeed. However I consider it, there is no better place to make so many people vanish without a trace, is there?"

Bera nodded. He was right. Nowhere was it easier to dispose of bodies than in the gutter.

"... The cartel that recently established itself in the gutter. Is that who you are investigating?"

"I am glad we understand each other so well. What do you say? Can you help us?"

The question brimmed with expectation—and certainty that the answer would be yes.

Bera scowled fiercely at that face, then turned to Renée.

The decision was hers. That was the thought behind his action.

From the sudden hush, Renée realized Bera was waiting for her opinion. Her fingertips trembled.

Of course they should do it.

That was what she thought, but the words that left her mouth were somewhat different.

"... Would you give me some time to consider it? This is not a question I can answer immediately."

She was asking for just a little time.

Suddenly, Albrecht’s smile fractured.

* * *

Albrecht, frozen stiff, left with Count Vaishur’s assistance.

Now only Renée and Bera remained in the drawing room.

With the two of them alone, the awkward atmosphere from before Albrecht’s arrival began to return.

Sensing Bera right beside her, Renée drew a deep breath and thought.

They could not go on like this forever. She had to ease the tension.

Fortunately, she knew how.

To convey her feelings, she had to speak them aloud, put them into words.

"Bera."

"Yes, Saintess."

"What do you think?"

Bera answered with more hesitation than he had ever shown before.

"... I will simply follow your wishes, Saintess."

"Will you really? I think you have already made that fine-sounding promise and broken it twice."

Bera jolted.

Seated on the same sofa, Renée felt his dismay through the movement.

"Once in the mountains, and once this time. No, you also kept your mouth firmly shut and fought the Draconians when we first met. So technically, that makes three."

"... I am ashamed."

"You should be ashamed. And sorry, too."

"I am sorry."

She was fine with it. Whatever life he had lived, whatever kind of person he had been, she did not care in the slightest.

That was what she needed to say. Why were the words coming out so cold?

Renée felt resentful of her own body, which refused to do as her heart wished.

"Bera."

"Yes."

"Was what you did really for my sake?"

Bera could not answer immediately.

Looking back, the feeling underlying his actions had been for his own sake.

Renée was so precious to him that seeing her in danger hurt more than being injured himself. That was why he chose to be the only one hurt instead.

That way, his body might suffer, but his heart would be more at ease than ever.

As Bera remained silent, Renée spoke.

"Bera, do you know something?"

"Please tell me."

"... You are precious to me."

Her words trembled a little.

Even in this situation, she felt embarrassed to say it.

"You are so precious to me that I don’t want you to get hurt."

Renée knew.

Bera cherished her, too.

Though his feelings took a form different from love, the way they treasured each other was exactly alike.

Renée slowly moved the hand that had rested on her lap to the side, feeling her way toward Bera.

At last, it came to rest on his hand.

"You want to pursue the light, don’t you, Bera?"

"... I do."

"And you said you needed me to do that."

"... Yes."

Renée squeezed his hand and continued.

"Then could you please trust me?"

Bera flinched, his fingertips trembling.

Feeling that tremor, Renée held his hand more firmly to steady him and continued.

"You said you could only pursue the light if you were with me. That means I am your light."

"..."

"Then trust me. I trust you, no matter what kind of person you were..."

Renée conveyed her unadorned sincerity.

She knew that such raw sincerity moved the heart more deeply than any magnificent words. She had learned that from Bera, and so she spoke this way.

"... So please, trust me a little, too. If I am your light, please don’t doubt that light."

Bera looked at the pale hand resting over his own and engraved her voice within him.

Had he failed to trust Renée?

Was that why he had tried to hide things again?

"Bera."

"Yes."

"Your answer?"

Bera considered it further, then answered.

"... You are absolutely right, Saintess."

His hand curled around the pale hand resting on it.

Their fingers intertwined, crossing over one another.

The answer that came to him was... yes.

He was someone who could not even trust the light he pursued.

Once again, it was Renée who had opened his eyes.

At that thought, Bera let out a small, rueful laugh and stroked Renée’s hand with his thumb.

In the profound quiet, their warmth remained joined for a long, long time.