Speculation Is Merely Speculation
Speculation is merely speculation. Isabelle laid out her guesses one by one. “As you already know, Rood, the loss of memory in this case is highly unusual. It doesn’t feel as though the memories themselves were tampered with, but rather that only our existence within them was erased. Don’t you agree?”
“Then is this a curse as well?” Rood asked. Having been burned by curses before, his mind went straight to that possibility.
“A truly masterful shaman might be capable of it, but applying such a spell simultaneously to every single person in the mansion strains belief.” Isabelle swiftly refuted his guess. “Setting aside curses for now, let’s list the known methods of memory manipulation… We can also rule out fairy pranks and the memory-eating mold.”
“Why exclude those two?”
“A fairy prank would explain why everyone lost their memories, but a prank is still just a prank. At this point, the memories should have returned, yet they haven’t.” Isabelle continued. “The memory-eating mold could account for both situations, but if that were the case, the duchess should have shown clear symptoms as well. She didn’t.”
“How do you even know about such a mold?”
Isabelle gave a light wave of her hand. “When someone sits beside you saying how amazing you are, it makes you want to dig deeper. It’s something you could do easily enough, Rood.”
Rood’s expression turned sour at her words. Even if you gave me days, I still don’t think I could reason the way you do.
The humility of a clever person is a virtue, but the humility of a peerless genius can look like deception.
“Then do you know what method was used to wipe the memories of both the duchess and every servant in the mansion?”
“Hmm. I can’t be certain, but it seems most convincing to assume there exists some kind of object that interferes with memory.”
“An object?”
“It doesn’t appear to be a natural phenomenon. The situation is unprecedented and leaves a bad taste, but for now that is where my reasoning leads.”
“That’s unexpected.”
“Hm? What is?”
Rood spoke without reservation. “I thought that with your abilities, you could solve any case just by hearing about it.”
To Rood, Isabelle’s deductions were an overwhelming force. When he had been poisoned, she instantly identified the toxin and neutralized it. In a war where complex, trivial variables could flip the board, she crafted the optimal strategy and led them to victory. Not long ago, she had identified the wolf causing chaos in the village and even offered aid—based solely on the few lines of report he had sent.
At his words, Isabelle let out a small laugh and gave his waist a light nudge with her elbow. “Aww~ Flatter me all you like, but I still have nothing to show for it~”
She added, “Speculation is merely speculation. I’m often wrong, too. So, Rood, do not place blind faith in my reasoning. I would rather you stay by my side and watch over everything carefully.”
“Even if I watch, I don’t have any advice worth giving you.”
Isabelle smiled brightly and kept her gaze locked with his. “Someday. Someday you may solve my problems in a way I never imagined, yes?”
“Well, I’ll do my best. Oh, and one more thing.”
Rood decided to ask about something he had kept to himself until now. “During the wolf incident, my mind was hazy, but I saw it clearly. You were…”
He had seen the moment Mael charged at Isabelle, and the way she had used magic. Not the cute, delicate appearance she wore now, but the form of a mature, slender woman.
The instant Rood brought up that day, Isabelle stuck her tongue out in an embarrassed little smile. “Hehe, so you saw. Have you been holding onto that from that day until now?”
“I wondered if maybe I had seen wrong… but the more time passed, the less I could forget it.”
At his answer, Isabelle straightened her posture, then began creaking like someone with stiff joints. “F-forgot… What exactly do you mean by that?”
Rood, realizing he had misspoken, hurriedly added, “I mean, it was so strange to see a person change in an instant that I couldn’t forget it.”
“Ah, so that’s what you meant? Ahaha…”
Isabelle laughed awkwardly, then hung her head. “That is what I was originally meant to look like.”
“What do you mean?”
“My current body… is one in which I have deliberately suppressed my growth.”
Rood asked, puzzled, “Was there any reason to go that far?”
“Because I was born with a terminal condition. Even without intervention, it would not have been strange for me to die young.”
Isabelle rose from the sofa and forced a smile toward Rood, but he could not hide his inner shock.
“Terminal… condition?”
“Yes. Even in this body, the days I have left… if things go as expected, will not be many. Somewhere between one and two years.”
It was far too short. That was why it made no sense.
“Is there truly no way to live longer?”
“I once received an examination from a man known as the Divine Physician. He spoke of possibilities that were nearly nonexistent.”
The Divine Physician. The nickname belonged to an unparalleled doctor from the eastern nation of Ho, said to be able to cure any illness. Rood had heard stories from mercenaries of Ho as well, so he understood how grave Isabelle’s words truly were.
“Nearly nonexistent… yet he said it was possible, didn’t he?”
“Indeed. However, the ingredients needed to treat the illness…”
Isabelle’s voice trailed off, then she let out a small laugh. “I’m sorry. It’s so absurd it’s almost funny.”
She continued. “First, he told me to bring the fruit of the Sacred Tree that only ripens once every hundred years. It happens to bear fruit next year, but how could one possibly obtain it?”
The Sacred Tree—Yggdrasil. A tree cared for by the elves in the southeast. Its fruit was a holy relic eaten only by the elves themselves.
“And that is not all. He said I must consume the thousand-year snow ginseng that grows on Mount Blanc in the Empire’s far north.”
Thousand-year snow ginseng. During the time of the Gang Empire, predecessor to the nation of Ho, mana had not existed. They had grown strong through the sacred energy inherent in all things—qi. The snow ginseng was a prized ingredient for filling one’s inner energy. Now it lay in disputed imperial territory, making it nearly impossible for anyone from the Kingdom Alliance to acquire.
“Finally, he told me to bring Hwayum, and that mixing the three would create something called an ‘elixir.’”
Hwayum literally meant “fire to drink.” It referred to a crystal from Mount Iris in which ten thousand years of natural energy had condensed. In the days of the Gang Empire that once ruled the Jerre continent, even a single drop was said to greatly amplify one’s qi for an entire cycle.
“He said only the elixir could cure my illness. Looking back now, it may simply have been a roundabout way of saying it was impossible.”
Rood was at a loss for words. Even obtaining just one of the three would have sounded insane, yet all three were required.
“Still, thanks to the duchess’s request this time, I may be able to obtain an entry pass.”
“An entry pass? Where are you planning to go?”
“It is a pass allowing entry into Tleque, the country of the elves who cultivate Yggdrasil, the Holy Tree.”
Rood felt some of his worry ease at Isabelle’s words. While the fruit of the Sacred Tree was the easiest of the three divine items to obtain, Tleque was a special nation ordinary humans could not enter. Such entry passes were rare tokens granted only to a handful of humans who had provided great service to the elves.
“That’s a relief.”
Rood was glad that Isabelle had not yet given up on her own life. According to her, she had only one or two years left, yet even while believing it nearly impossible, she continued to strive. He gently patted her back.
“Wouldn’t it be enough if we simply obtained them from now on?”
“Obtain them… just like that?”
Isabelle turned to look at him. His words had sounded like a joke, and it wounded her. She had spent every day agonizing and struggling for a solution, only to reach the point of near surrender, yet he spoke as if he could accomplish it so easily.
But when she saw Rood’s face, her heart nearly stopped.
“I will do it.”
Rood. Are you truly serious?
His expression was utterly different from before—deadly earnest.
“I want to stay by your side for a long time. If possible, I want to protect you for the rest of your life.”
It was a decision Rood had already made. Even if the difference in status between them remained, even if she someday married another, it did not matter. Isabelle was already like his liege.
“So remain as you are. I will protect you. Whether it is your safety or your very life.”
“I… honestly cannot believe your words, Rood.”
“Believe them. I am the one who will become your one and only knight. If you cannot believe me, then why did you choose to keep me at your side?”
Isabelle was rendered speechless. If he thought he could not protect her, why had he been brought in as her bodyguard knight? To use her own logic against her in such a way…
She lowered her head, fighting back tears. “Fool. You are a fool, Rood.”
“From your eyes, everything must look like the work of fools, doesn’t it?”
At his joke, Isabelle let out a tearful laugh. Not to be outdone, she offered a jest of her own.
“Yes. I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad to believe in someone once in my life. After all, even if things go badly, I only have a year left, don’t I?”
Without realizing it, Rood placed his hand on her head and stroked her hair, steeling his heart.
I will protect her. Without fail.
The morning after Rood’s oath, the servants of the Voenac family were busy from dawn. The soldiers under Moneck’s command practiced formation and marching over and over, donning their crisp white uniforms. Servants carrying brushes and cosmetics flitted around Isabelle like hummingbirds, applying powder here and there.
Today even Isabelle’s attire was far from simple. She wore a splendid dress that balanced white and blue beautifully. Large amethyst earrings shaped like flowers, encrusted with countless diamonds, swayed from her ears.
“Oh my, Lady Isabelle! You look especially beautiful today!”
“Look this way too! My goodness, how can someone be so lovely!”
“Thank you for your help. Thanks to all of you, I seem to have finished preparing well.”
Isabelle rose from her seat and walked through the wide-open main gates.
Click, clack.
“Now, shall we begin?”
With the sound of the door opening, a considerable crowd of people appeared all at once. Soldiers stood on both sides with their swords lowered, and each time Isabelle passed, the blades parted like waves, opening a path.
“From this moment on…” Isabelle said briefly. “I shall conduct the appointment ceremony for my bodyguard knight!”