Chapter 34 Library (4)
The Library (4)
Breakfast.
It was the start of an otherwise unremarkable day, and one of the few times Adel and I spent together.
Which was why I often deliberately slowed my pace while eating.
I glanced at Adel, seated across the table for conversation. Unlike usual, she was picking at her food, her movements noticeably sluggish.
She, who would normally have polished off at least two bowls by now, had been chewing on the same piece of bacon for a long while—a clear sign of exhaustion to anyone who saw her.
The slight trembling of her fork only confirmed my thoughts.
"Adel, did something happen?"
"Ah... I stayed up all night."
She scratched her cheek, as if embarrassed.
But it didn't take long to realize that was a lie. The faint trembling of the muscles around her eyes and the slight redness in her irises were proof enough.
The reason for her condition became obvious almost immediately.
'She regressed.'
Questions bloomed in my mind—where had she regressed from, and why? There shouldn't have been any dangerous places among the locations she had visited.
Lost in thought, I barely noticed as Adel, perhaps finding the food unappetizing, gently set her fork down on the table.
Her behavior was so clearly different from usual that even Allen, let alone me, looked surprised, his eyes widening.
Perhaps noticing his expression, Adel offered an awkward smile.
"Sorry. I just don't have much of an appetite today."
"...I see. Get some proper rest, then."
"Yes."
She gave a slight nod at my words and left the table. Watching her go, Allen's face was filled with concern.
Even I, who rarely saw Adel, was worried about her current state—how much more so for Allen, who watched over her daily?
And considering she might one day become the matriarch of this ducal family, it was only natural to be anxious.
I, too, had been concerned enough to gift her a diffuser, but it seemed that alone hadn't improved her condition.
Just what had happened to leave her in such a state?
"I hope it's nothing serious..."
Allen muttered in a voice laced with worry. I felt the same, though I didn't show it.
Rather than dwell on it, finding out what had happened firsthand would put my mind at ease.
"Il-ho."
A black mist rose in the air. Tiny particles gathered, soon forming the shape of a small crow statue.
Il-ho—the leader of the Crows, a man unrivaled in espionage.
This statue was a type of communication artifact, created so that no matter where he was, he could relay information.
"Where did the young lady go last night?"
—The Imperial Library.
The library—and the Imperial Library, no less.
That alone made it difficult to pinpoint the reason for her regression.
Given Adel's aversion to using her regression ability, she wouldn't turn back time unless faced with death or something close to it.
I knew this from having tested her regression multiple times.
Which meant she must have died in that library.
To assassinate the young lady of a count family, quietly reading a book in a place as secure as the heart of the palace...
Even the boldest wouldn't dare attempt such a thing without good reason.
—The Emperor's Hand targeted her.
I froze at those words.
"A mistake on my part."
She had insisted on going alone, and I'd thought a library would be safe enough—never imagining something like this would happen.
Regret washed over me. I should have ignored her protests and assigned Evan to her.
At least I now understood why Adel had regressed.
The problem was figuring out why the Emperor's Hand had targeted her.
What reason could there be for the weakest of the Emperor's pawns to go out of their way to kill Adel?
—And the Princess saved the young lady.
"The Princess?"
Hearing that name here was unexpected. No—had the Princess even met Adel before?
To my knowledge, they never had. Then I recalled one time Adel had quietly slipped out late at night.
That memory, combined with the information that the Princess had saved Adel from the Emperor's Hand, led to one conclusion.
'Did she go to meet the Princess that night?'
It was a conclusion bordering on delusion.
Yet my honed intuition insisted it was the right answer. Not that I needed to agonize over it in my head.
I could just go and ask directly.
"I'll be back shortly."
"Understood. Take care."
Leaving Allen's words behind, I stirred the mana scattered within my body. A strange humming filled my ears as a pure white magic circle materialized.
Teleportation.
A spell that allowed instantaneous travel to any location—so long as the coordinates were calculated correctly.
Even if that place happened to be the very heart of the Imperial Palace, as long as my calculations were precise, the spell would activate without fail.
Before long, the magic circle was complete. The faintly vibrating circle drew toward me, enveloping my entire body.
The sound of wind rushed in from somewhere, and in an instant, my vision flipped upside down.
Thud.
Had I slammed my head against the floor? A sharp, stinging pain flared. As expected, no matter how carefully I calculated the coordinates, discrepancies were inevitable within the Imperial Palace.
After all, the Imperial Palace was a place where magic itself was sealed—though not enough to completely neutralize the magic of an Archmage like myself. Still, it was enough to interfere with coordinate calculations, and there was nothing I could do about that.
As I exhaled and rubbed my forehead, I heard the muffled sound of someone stifling laughter behind me.
"Pfft... Hah..."
Turning my head, I saw the Crown Princess covering her mouth, shoulders shaking as she tried—and failed—to suppress her amusement. I shot her a pointed look, but her laughter showed no signs of subsiding.
"Keh... Khehe..."
"...Would you kindly stop laughing?"
"But asking me to hold back after seeing that is just cruel, don't you think?"
She said it was simply too absurd—the man once called the Iron Blood Duke suddenly smacking his head against the floor and wincing in pain.
The problem was, from my perspective, there was nothing funny about it.
"Ahah, keh... Alright, alright, I'll stop."
After another pointed glare, the Crown Princess cleared her throat with a "Ahem."
"More importantly, what happened to your eye?"
I had noticed it earlier, but her incessant laughter had kept me from asking properly.
At my question, she absently fiddled with the blindfold covering her left eye. What could have happened in the few months since the feast?
"Oh, this?"
She spoke as if it were nothing.
"The Emperor's handiwork."
With that, she removed the blindfold.
Beneath it, there was no wound—not even a scar. But when she opened her eye, the golden iris was clouded, dulled.
Unconsciously, my brows furrowed.
"Tasteless, isn't it?"
"What happened?"
"I misjudged a step, and this was the result."
She said it as if it held no weight at all.
Just like when she had lost her ring finger before, she seemed almost indifferent to the state of her own body.
The reason, of course, was that curse placed upon her.
As if unwilling to speak further on the matter, she closed her mouth and replaced the blindfold.
A brief silence settled between us, and perhaps finding it stifling, she was the first to speak again.
"So, why are you here?"
Her gaze was questioning.
"Adel von Este."
At the name that left my lips, she fell silent once more. She must have already guessed why I had brought it up.
In moments like these, pushing just a little further was all it took.
"You already know, don't you?"
"Haha. I didn't think it'd be exposed in just one night."
She gave a slightly awkward, thin smile.
"I should probably refrain from deceiving you from now on, Duke."
As she admitted it, the pieces in my mind began to connect.
The reason Adel had secretly left at night, why she had spent those nights in the Duke's library—and why she had gone as far as the Imperial Library.
And most of all, why she had been attacked there by the Emperor's hand.
It was clear now. Adel had undoubtedly learned of my rebellion plans from the Crown Princess.
"You told her. About our plan."
At that, her smile vanished, and she looked at me. The composed demeanor she had shown earlier was gone without a trace.
"Being too perceptive can be a flaw, you know."
She sighed as she spoke. The fact that she didn't deny it confirmed my suspicions.
"Why did you tell her?"
"Miss Adel is the key to our plan, isn't she?"
When I nodded, she continued slowly.
"Isn't it stranger if the person at the center of it all doesn't even know the plan?"
She wasn't wrong. Adel was pivotal—she would have had to learn of the plan eventually. But...
"There was no need to tell her so soon."
At that, she hesitated.
She tilted her head slightly, as if unsure what I meant. After a long moment of contemplation, she seemed to realize something and spoke again.
"You think she might betray you?"
"There's no guarantee she won't."
"Honestly, with how distrustful you are..."
She exhaled deeply, muttering under her breath. After a pause, as if carefully choosing her words, she continued.
"At the Hunting Festival, you saved Adel from that Calamity-level Monster."
"I did."
"Isn't that enough?"
"What exactly are you so worried about?"