Chapter 91
Chapter 91
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Azure Dragon Festival (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Trembling hands.
Masato gripped the scroll tightly in his fist and fell silent.
A wordless standoff dragged on.
Finally, he spoke, his words halting and uneven.
"Is... this true?"
"Yeah."
"......"
He seemed about to say he couldn't believe it.
But in the end, Masato couldn't force the words out.
If he had any sense at all, he had no choice but to know.
This scroll showed memories.
He had felt every bit of the experiences I'd actually gone through, so there was no way he could deny it.
"Why......"
Why, indeed.
Masato, on the verge of blaming his own family, clamped his mouth shut.
He realized this wasn't the place to bring it up.
Right.
I was nothing more than a victim, after all.
Masato blaming his family wouldn't absolve their sins.
"......Why didn't you tell anyone about this?"
"Hm."
"If you'd spread the word to the public, bringing down our house would've been easy. No, at the very least, I wouldn't have been ambushed four times. ......Why?"
He's still got a naive side to him, this guy.
It probably wasn't because Masato was clueless about the world.
He was the heir to a noble house, rotten or not.
He knew full well that exposing noble corruption wasn't as simple as it sounded.
Commoners who got too uppity could just have their information silenced.
Yet he was saying this anyway—because his mind had gone completely blank from shock.
That's why I called him naive.
Freezing up from an unexpected turn of events was something only amateurs did.
"It wouldn't have mattered if I did. You know that."
"That's......"
Masato closed his mouth, as if to argue back.
He must have realized just how naive his own words had been.
Squeeze—
Masato, roughly crumpling the scroll, handed it back to me.
Then he asked,
"If so, then why hand this to me?"
"What?"
"If you were too afraid of noble authority to report it, you shouldn't have told me, the heir to the house. And yet you did. ......Doesn't that mean something?"
"Because I thought you were different."
"What?"
"You had doubts. About why a top-four contender dropped out in the first round. That alone isn't something a noble heir would do."
"......"
"Plus—you were aware of me, weren't you? You must have heard stories about me somewhere. And you used that as a clue to unravel your suspicions."
"Th-that."
"The very fact that you're talking to me right now is proof. So quit arguing and accept it. I just wanted to clear up your doubts. I have no obsession with bringing down your family."
Masato's shoulders slumped.
Had he finally relaxed?
He stared down at his now-empty hand, clenching and unclenching it.
Then he muttered,
"What do you want me to do?"
"That's up to you. Whether you expose the truth yourself or bury it in silence. It's all your choice."
"You sure about that? From your position, wouldn't it be frustrating if I didn't?"
"I told you. I trust you."
I'm beating around the bush here.
Hiiragi Masato would reveal the truth. No doubt about it.
If he weren't the type, this whole situation never would have happened.
"......Fine."
Masato turned away.
Standing at the alley exit, he said,
"I'll tell my father. I'll uncover every dirty secret the Hiiragi family has pulled behind the scenes."
"Good luck with that."
Masato walked off with heavy steps, as if that settled it.
But suddenly, he stopped and left one last remark.
"......Thanks for this. Sincerely. I almost ended up as a clueless clown hailed as a hero."
As he departed, Masato's back was that of a boy who could have truly been a hero, but whose light had been dimmed by malicious schemes.
After showing Masato the scroll and leaving the alley,
I wandered the streets in a daze. No real plans anyway.
With the top-four first round ending in a walkover, there wasn't much to do.
Second round was tomorrow.
Yoru versus Masato. Maybe I'd cheer for Yoru in the meantime.
"Ah."
Come to think of it, I had a promise with Yoru.
Something about revealing a secret, from the vibe of it.
Curiosity piqued, I headed to the spot she'd mentioned.
What could Yoru's secret be?
Would it be something that wouldn't make me see her as a stranger?
I couldn't be certain yet, but I figured it'd be fine.
Yoru wouldn't harbor some twisted secret.
That's what I believed.
Arriving at our promised spot,
"She hasn't shown up yet."
Guess I'd wait.
The night breeze brushed my cheek.
I stood there, feeling time slip by.
About an hour, two hours passed like that.
That's when I sensed something off.
"This is weird."
She's way too late.
I figured she might have something come up, but this was excessive.
Knowing Yoru, she wouldn't just ghost me. If she had a reason to be late, she'd have let me know ahead of time.
Besides, she was the one who'd set this up to reveal her secret.
Common sense said she wouldn't stand me up.
Which meant......
I shot to my feet!
'Something's happened.'
Something bad had befallen Yoru.
No other explanation.
"......"
Did those Hiiragi bastards mess with her again?
No. They didn't have the manpower left for that.
Besides, Yoru wouldn't go down easily to those guys.
So...... some other problem.
'First, I need to find her.'
The issue was,
how to track Yoru in the teeming crowds of Aosens.
No communication magic tool to pinpoint her.
'......No.'
I knew how.
Our relationship had started as Yoru's prank.
But after eating that candy laced with her blood, I could tell.
Because she'd told me herself.
She could sense my location through the blood flowing in my veins.
So, the reverse should work too.
I closed my eyes and focused on my heartbeat.
Thump, thump.
Searching my bloodstream for traces of Yoru's blood.
Then I spread my senses wide, seeking energy with the same signature.
"......Found you."
The other side of the mountain.
That's where Yoru was.
But—something was wrong.
Her heart was pounding wildly.
Pumping so furiously it was hard to imagine she could take it.
Her heartbeat was as frantic as if she'd sprinted a hundred-meter dash.
Pop!
I bolted off immediately.
Toward Yoru.
**
Kurotsuki Yoru hadn't been able to sleep a wink all day from the tension.
She'd boldly promised Kline she'd reveal her secret, but as the time actually approached, her heart started pounding harder and wouldn't calm down.
It wasn't that she felt no excitement or anticipation.
But it was closer to fear, really.
'I'm scared.'
How would Kline react once he knew her secret?
Would he ignore her? Feel disgusted?
Or accept her without a care?
She believed and hoped for the latter.
But for some reason, her past made her worry it would be the former.
It pissed her off seeing him sleep so peacefully, oblivious.
"......Hmph."
Tomorrow she had to duel that Hiiragi heir, and here she was fretting over this.
Self-mockery didn't help.
She had no idea who would win against Masato—their skills were evenly matched.
If she lost in the top-four second round, the timing to reveal her secret to Kline would get awkward.
That's why Yoru had decided to do it today.
Kline had a walkover in the first round anyway, leaving him free time.
Having made such a grand promise, Yoru went all in and arrived at the spot early.
The sun was still a ways from setting, but it didn't matter.
She wouldn't be able to focus on anything else with her mind all jumbled anyway.
She sat on a rock, staring blankly at the sky.
Yes, Yoru was watching.
Others saw her eyepatch and assumed she was blind.
But behind the black patch sat two perfectly healthy eyes.
She simply couldn't show them to anyone.
"......Will it be okay?"
Yoru reached up and touched the skin around her eye.
She was resolved.
When Kline arrived, she'd remove the eyepatch and reveal the truth.
Show him the bare eyes she'd hidden her whole life since her mother's death.
Then—Kline would accept her.
She couldn't help trembling anyway.
As her faintly quivering fingers brushed the eyepatch,
"!"
Yoru leaped to her feet.
Her breath came in sharp gasps.
Hah, hah—
Her heart raced.
Her blood boiled.
'It's nearby.'
The scent of blood like her own.
Not the blood she'd given Kline.
The filthy blood Kurotsuki Yoru had been born with.
Blood bestowed by her direct ancestor.
She felt its presence.
And close by, too.
Declaring she was here.
Come find her, it beckoned to Yoru.
"......!"
Grind.
Yoru bit down hard and kicked off.
One target.
Her father.
The man whose name remained unknown—the fourth cadre leader of the Crimson Blood Cult, called "Graiver."