Chapter 20 - The Raven in the Cage
The Feodosiya family was... what could you call it? A household straddling the line between commoner and noble. They held no official title, no rightful territory to call their own. But just five years ago, they basked under the Imperial Family's protection. That made them feel just right for stepping into an academy teeming with nobles.
But Lurua had never been pleased with the position her bloodline afforded her. If you asked when that started, it was from the moment she was born right up until five years ago. Without fail.
So Lurua went about her business without a single complaint. Today, as always, she flipped open her notebook and got to work. Surveillance. Espionage. Recording. That was the only path to survival for her now.
"Grand Duchess, my dear friend, Lagrange Grand Duchess!"
"Yes."
And so Lurua quietly listened to the conversation between these two highborn ladies, jotting it down meticulously in her notebook.
"I'm so jealous of you. How do you have such a kind, responsible man as your uncle—!"
Haa—.
"One thing you should know: he's not blood-related. It's just a title that stuck because I've known him since I was little."
"I know. I know."
"But do you really need to be this thrilled? All he agreed to was giving Zigrinde some lessons so you could face her!"
"Exactly. You get it. That's precisely what's great about it! He doesn't abandon either side. He was considerate of my selfish request... Honestly, it felt like he really listened to me. I'm pretty happy about that."
"...Hmph."
"He's definitely different from the last professor, right?"
"You can't even compare them. Compared to that perverted bald old creep, our uncle is a billion times better."
The aftershocks of yesterday's Golden Rose Casino debacle hadn't even faded. The new professor had arranged a rematch for the grand duchess's revenge, tickling her heart just right... And so, from this morning, Irina had been sitting there with a grin ear to ear.
As Sion said, what was so great about a mere promise of private lessons? But personal judgments weren't important. Lurua tried to erase yesterday's events from her mind as best she could and filled her notebook.
Scritch, scratch—.
Grand Duchess Pernova seems to think she's close with Lagrange Grand Duchess. Lagrange doesn't really respond properly to anything, but still a valid route for tracking Lagrange's movements. Requires attention.
Irina Pernova. Her reddened ear tips, her slightly quicker speech, the awkward excitement peeking through her northern boldness... She's thrilled. Really thrilled. No attempt to hide it, so she's easy to read.
Her twin brother, heir to the next grand ducal house, would never show such blatant weaknesses, would he?
Scratch, scritch—!
Grand Duchess: poor emotional control. Or perhaps doesn't feel the need with this target? Sion Lagrange isn't easy prey, so likely can't separate personal from professional. Grand Duchess seems like a pure-hearted fool.
And so, leaving her own little critiques behind, she sorted the necessary from the unnecessary.
"By the way, Irina."
Sion Lagrange spoke in her usual irritating tone. Or rather, her one redeeming quality as the only normal person—a sharp barb.
She fluttered her fan.
"This is the sixth time you've brought up my uncle?"
"But I want to talk about it again."
"That's enough. Please stop."
"Why? I like him."
"......"
The fan hid her expression, but Lurua caught it clearly. When talk of Joseph showed no sign of stopping, the grand duchess's fan movements quickened noticeably.
This is interesting.
Scritch—.
Lagrange Grand Duchess shows significant discomfort at Grand Duchess's repeated Joseph mentions. Cause unknown. Requires further observation.
"Lagrange Grand Duchess. Isn't it amazing when you think about it? The professor is only a little older than us, retired after slaying the Demon King, and now he's a professor... He's no ordinary man."
But right then, as Irina praised Joseph and Lurua jotted it down verbatim—
Crack—!
Lurua suddenly pressed too hard on her pen nib and snapped it.
"Ah, ahh...."
Dangerous.
"Huh, Lurua? What's wrong? Did your pen break?"
As expected, it drew too much attention. Lurua hurriedly hid her notebook's contents and replied.
"Ah, yes. It did. But don't worry about it. I have spares."
"Good. If you need one, just say so. My golden pencil case always welcomes your requests."
"Thank you...."
Aigoo.
......
Just as she'd hypnotized herself to ignore it as much as possible.
How was she supposed to deal with this?
She had her duty from the emperor: "Surveillance of the Lagrange family, convertible to assassination at any time." Even pretending to be detached, she was just as fixated on the professor as Irina or Sion.
Of course she was. Why wouldn't she be?
Just yesterday's memory. The dark VIP lounge. The moment all the lights blazed on. The several-hundred-kilogram chandelier free-falling with Valentina—and him ordering her to catch it without explanation.
No normal person would ever command a girl he was teaching to do that.
Raven....
He'd uttered the name of her obscure unit—her own squad—directly and made her do it?
Thinking about that, she couldn't help but wonder just how much he knew about her.
If she'd known, she wouldn't have let her guard down. Showing such a sloppy side as Irina because of grades...
If not for that, she could have hidden it!
Hmm, but... something feels off. Like I'm missing something.
But then, a sense of incongruity hit Lurua.
Crushed by classes by day, surveillance by night. She'd long since discarded such stray thoughts from her double life.
Even blinking a few times didn't dispel the unease she felt toward Joseph.
......
Come to think of it... Her doubts had naturally focused, since yesterday, on "how much" he knew about her—not "why".
Because she vaguely assumed she knew the reason, right? Joseph. Demon King slayer. Retired hero, faded but ever-shining savior of the world. A man like that might naturally know someone from the Raven unit.
A figure like him might know her mission.
...Yeah. That had to be it.
Eh?
But at that realization, Lurua froze, pen in hand.
......
Wait a minute. Something's fundamentally wrong here.
If Sion reacted like that, then Professor Joseph must be incredibly close to the Lagrange family.
So if he knew her mission and intentions, why wasn't he saying anything? Taking any action?
My Lagrange surveillance mission is busted. So on the way to or from yesterday... he could have quietly taken me out, right?
But he hadn't.
Instead, he'd said he wouldn't pry into her private life. He'd used his authority to fix her attendance slip-up. He'd assumed she could handle it and ordered her to catch the chandelier. And praised her: Well done.
He'd even given her the exam.
When he had every reason to kill her, he'd helped her with everything.
......
"Wha...!?"
That thought struck, and Lurua slowly scanned her notebook.
Dense pages of surveillance logs. Lagrange Grand Duchess's movements, habits, relationships, points of concern.
Staring blankly at them, she suddenly recalled five years ago, when she'd first joined the assassin unit.
The instructor had said: Every action has a reason. If someone shows you kindness without clear intent, that's your survival instincts screaming.
So suspect. Suspect and—
Suspect, then strike first.
Live like that.
Having etched that lesson into her body over five grueling years, Lurua could only agonize.
If Joseph knew she was the emperor's spy, there had to be a reason for his behavior.
Definitely!
But...
If that reason was what she was dimly imagining right now...
Wouldn't that make it not a trap?
Let's sort this. The Lagrange family knows who I am. But that person isn't treating me as an enemy—instead, protecting me. That means...
It didn't make logical sense.
...Unless he was trying to help her!
Then, did this man somehow see through the fact that she wasn't truly loyal to the emperor?
That she wanted to run away...?
"Ha, haa...!"
Lurua let out a short breath.
No. She couldn't think like this.
For an assassin and spy like her to emotionally interpret the actions of her target's associate—that was a fatal mistake in itself.
Emotions cloud judgment. Clouded judgment means death.
She knew that. Better than anyone.
But.
...Well done.
Just those words. Words she'd never heard once in five years.
Lurua knew that all too well.
So, in the blank space at the bottom of her notebook, in handwriting utterly unrelated to her mission logs...
Very small, almost illegible, she wrote one line.
Scritch, scriiitch—.
Sir Joseph: intent unknown. Will continue monitoring.
And as she lifted her pen...
...After hesitating for a long while,
She added even tinier text beside it.
—Perhaps
And that was it. She closed the notebook.
Even if she'd finished writing it, if it turned out not to be true...
She just didn't want her delusion shattered.
That was all.