#023 What Is It?
Infinitely suspicious, but there was no real reason to refuse. Chezare wasn't the type to push her off a cliff after offering help. At least, that's how he'd always appeared in Catherine's eyes.
She obediently closed her eyes. No sounds reached her, not even the slightest rustle. How long had she stood there like that? Growing impatient, Catherine opened her eyes.
"……Chezare?"
Chezare was gone. The surroundings were unnaturally still. Even though it wasn't full autumn yet, a bone-chilling cold permeated the air.
Catherine instinctively sensed that the mansion's atmosphere had changed. She dashed to the kitchen first.
No sound of running water. Roze, who should have been prepping ingredients, lay collapsed on the floor.
"Roze? Are you okay?"
Rushing over and cradling her, Catherine was relieved to feel the woman's body still warm. For whatever reason, Roze had fallen asleep mid-peel, knife still in hand.
Magic.
Just in case, she draped a blanket over her and headed to the garden. Against the blue sky, the river-like white clouds hung frozen like a painting, no longer moving—as if time itself had stopped.
"Demian!"
The man in the straw hat leaned against a stump. Catherine lifted his hat to check his face. As expected, he was asleep. But it looked like he'd been dozing all along, not suddenly knocked out.
"Half the day wasted slacking off, huh? No wonder the garden trimming's so slow."
Demian didn't stir. Not from tickling his side, not from a full-powered kick to the thigh, not even from threats to yank out every hair on his head and leave him bald.
"Definitely magic……."
The only suspect who came to mind was Chezare. If putting everyone, Catherine included, to sleep was his "business," then what the hell was the reason?
Nyaaoong.
Then, a familiar cat cry came from outside the door. Bright yellow fur like early spring forsythia, tiny body. It was Yaong.
「Catherine, what's going on inside? Magic's on the mansion—I can't get in.」
As she approached, the little fluffball poked at the iron gate with a paw.
Pzzzt.
But the moment it touched, a harsh crackle repelled it.
「Kyaa! Hot, hot!」
On a hunch, Catherine opened the door. Unlike the cat, the gate swung smoothly aside, and her body fully exited the mansion.
Shhh.
"Ah."
Only then did the heavy silence enveloping her vanish. The frozen clouds began drifting again, the air warmed comfortably, and the sound of wind whispered nearby.
Yaong, mid-lick of its soot-blackened paw, grumbled.
「That man's doing.」
Catherine knelt, waiting silently for the cat to elaborate on "that man."
Yaong's small, sparkling eyes gleamed as it intoned gravely, like unveiling a grand conspiracy.
「The scary, powerful thing coming for you. That silver-haired devil who's even more annoying 'cause he's hot…….」
Chezare, as expected.
Yaong suddenly rubbed its closed jaws furiously against Catherine's palm. Catherine warned quietly.
"Don't say his name out loud."
「Huh? Why? You're so weird, Catherine. You treat that scary, terrifying thing like it's nothing and even get protected by it.」
Scary and terrifying existence. Yaong's description was spot-on.
Catherine said nothing, just stroked the cat's chin.
「Did you eat besties or something?」
"Besties?"
「Best good friends!」
Friends, huh. Feeling the purring vibrations under her fingertips, Catherine reflected on her relationship with Chezare.
"Not at all. The reason he protects me is……."
Why?
Does he like me?
If she didn't know his true nature, she might've thought that. But as time passed, such optimistic assumptions faded.
The real reason he accommodated her was crystal clear.
"'Cause I'm useful to exploit?"
Chezare had hidden the magic circle in the basement long before Catherine owned the mansion. Yet intruders kept coming steadily, and she was likely the curtain shielding it from their eyes.
Yeah, that made rational sense. Strangely hollow, though.
She'd known it already, but voicing it felt different.
「But you left the mansion just fine.」
"It's not consideration on his part—his magic just doesn't work on me."
「Huh? Why doesn't magic work on you?」
"Born that way. Not immune to all magic, though……."
That was how she'd figured out Chezare's identity in the first place—her unusual constitution that nullified magic.
「Hmmm.」
Yaong, who'd been purring with eyes closed, suddenly perked up.
「Anyway, guy-girl drama's always messy and pointless. Sigh…… I was gonna nap while you petted me, but that's ruined. I'll come back once the magic lifts.」
Yaong wagged its tail and trotted off. Catherine watched its retreating form for a long while before returning to the mansion.
The change was instantaneous. The moment her foot crossed the threshold, the dark, icy air enveloped her again.
Having left and returned, she could pinpoint the source of this chill clearly now.
The basement.
"Hm."
The wooden door, once locked, now stood wide open as if mocking her. And somehow, she imagined horrific screams echoing from below.
"Suspicious as hell."
No doubt. Going down there would show her something she couldn't unsee. Worst case, she'd never open her eyes again.
So, Catherine's plan was simple.
Head to the bedroom and sleep it off.
Chezare-related business? He'd handle it perfectly, as always. She could just nap like Roze and Demian, or read if sleep wouldn't come.
But what if he asks why only I'm fine?
Tell him straight about her innate constitution? But something felt off about revealing it outright.
And Catherine's gut had never been wrong.
What was nagging at her so much?
Then, a sudden rustle.
"Cough……."
A dying man's hack. Catherine flinched, turning toward the sound.
Right beside the basement door, a man covered in blood lay sprawled. No—he was crawling up.
Her feet froze. Danger. Overwhelming fear locked her body.
The man extended a trembling arm, as if about to plummet back.
"Sa… save……!"
No more words. He was yanked back into the basement darkness far faster than he'd crawled out.
Crunch, crunch.
The heavy silence of seconds ago felt like a dream. Catherine held her breath, backing away slowly.
That thing lurked right below in the dark.
Whether it was Chezare, who knew. Escaping this space was what mattered now.
The raw sound of bones being crunched rang clear.
Don't think. Don't imagine what's happening down there.
"……Ah, so that's it."
From beyond the dark veil, polished shoes gleaming with luster emerged.
"Now I get it."
Their eyes met, and Chezare stepped from the shadows, flashing that familiar soft smile.
"What were you overcomplicating? I wondered why you heard nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing. Even resisting my magic to stand here unscathed…… Magic Nullification, right?"
Magic Nullification. The power to neutralize magic. Her innate constitution.
Catherine stepped back without a word. Not the mood for cheerful affirmation.
"In the Iterana Empire, those with Magic Nullification are nationally nurtured talents, Miss Panya. As an imperial subject, you'd have completed magic education per imperial law."
She could guess what he was driving at. Damn.
Her throat burned. The familiarity in his gaze from minutes ago had vanished without a trace. Like the day they first met.
"That education surely included 'Demonology.' Am I right?"
"Yes."
"Then, Miss Panya. What color are my eyes right now?"
"……Pretty purple."
And purple was the color of demons.
"First time hearing 'pretty' in my life."
Catherine quietly lowered her gaze.
Demon.
Incredibly, the Duke of Christopher was a demon. If this got out, it'd shake not just the empire but the world.
No angle where that benefited Chezare.
But if someone who knew appeared?
I'd eliminate them quietly too.
That's why she'd tried to keep distance. Letting her guard down as they grew closer was the mistake.
Nap? Reading? A hollow laugh escaped. She'd made such a foolish call, even briefly.
Careless actions had exposed her constitution.
"It's been ages since someone fooled me this completely…… Impressive."
With a flat tone, Chezare snapped his fingers.
Snap.
Her breath eased like magic. The rigid air flowed like a river again. The mansion's halted time resumed.
Chezare, face nonchalant as if nothing happened, said to her,
"Business done. These ones were well-equipped, so it took a bit."
That distance felt even greater. Like perfect strangers.
So all his kindness was fake? ……Did it matter? He'd genuinely helped her.
Don't regret it.
She'd known a being like him treating her like a friend was laughable.
Just a bit disappointing that even that kindness was gone now.
"Gonna kill me?"
Chezare's reply was immediate.
"Probably."
He turned to descend, then paused.
"Oh, watch out for your sister. She brought the trash I cleaned up."
Catherine's mind tangled into knots.