6. Much Ado About Nothing - 17
6. Much Ado About Nothing - 17
Roughly one hour before the engagement ceremony was to begin.
"You sent for me, Lord Marquis."
Kain, having been informed by Bianca, stepped into Marquis Castana's study and found the marquis waiting, his expression oddly rigid as he sat lost in thought.
"...Welcome, Young Duke Estel."
"Why did you summon me? The ceremony is nearly upon us."
At Kain's mildly incredulous question, Marquis Castana let out a deep sigh before answering.
"Since it is you before me, I will speak plainly. Not long ago, we managed to identify the spy who infiltrated House Castana."
Kain's eyes lit up at the marquis's words.
"That is excellent news. In that case—though this comes somewhat late—does the engagement automatically become void?"
Marquis Castana quietly shook his head from side to side, staring at Kain, whose mind was clearly still full of thoughts of escape even at this stage.
"Regrettably, it seems the engagement must go ahead. And the reason I asked you here is precisely to request your cooperation in that."
"...What?"
Kain frowned, utterly unable to grasp what the marquis meant. Without a word, Marquis Castana handed him a book.
"What is this?"
"You will understand once you see it."
Kain took the book and began to read through its contents, page by careful page.
"...Hah."
Before long, after finishing the very last page, Kain let out a hollow laugh. The contents of the book Marquis Castana had handed him were simply too absurd.
"What in the world is this?"
It was the same question as before, but its meaning was entirely different. Marquis Castana understood that well, and this time he answered readily.
"A diary discovered in the spy's room. As you have seen, it is filled with personal sentiments—why she betrayed the marquisate, and what she intends to do next."
Kain's eyes filled with utter disbelief at the marquis's reply.
"...This is ridiculous. What kind of deranged spy leaves something like that lying around in her own room? To my eyes, it looks like sheer madness—as if she wanted to get caught."
Marquis Castana nodded as though he fully agreed.
"My thought exactly, Young Duke. Suspicious—far too suspicious. Their behavior, to my mind, is not normal. As absurd as it sounds, they appear to be acting on the premise that their activities will be exposed. I even had the outlandish thought that they might actually want to announce to everyone that they are spies."
Neither the marquis nor Kain could possibly have imagined that their speculation was, in fact, the truth.
"No matter how I consider it, I cannot shake my misgivings. Is this perhaps a trap? If it is a trap, what exactly are they aiming for? Why orchestrate something like this in the first place? These are the suspicions that plague me."
"And so, what exactly is it that you wish to ask of me?"
At Kain's question, Marquis Castana's expression hardened, and he slowly spoke.
"It is simple. If you look at the very end of that 'diary,' it states a plan to coordinate with another spy within the marquisate and attack you during your engagement ceremony with Bianca. In other words..."
"In other words, you are proposing that we sit still and observe how they move, even though we know their plan perfectly well?"
Marquis Castana nodded calmly at Kain's words.
"I give you my word. No harm shall come to you. Most importantly, is Bianca not at your side? With her skill, scum like that could be subdued in the blink of an eye. All you need to do is wait patiently until they show their true colors."
"....."
Kain fell into deep contemplation at Marquis Castana's words. By all rights, he should refuse such a dangerous affair. But Kain knew all too well what kind of woman Bianca was, and what kind of ability she possessed. Fewer than ten people in this world could get the better of her. As long as Bianca was beside him, he knew he would not suffer so much as a scratch.
...And in the back of his mind, his conversation with Sarah that night played over and over. A curse, a ring, an engagement with political ends. House Sernad, and House Estel.
His deliberation was brief. He gave a slight nod to Marquis Castana. It was an unmistakable sign of assent.
****
Goddammit! He swore no harm would come to me!
Kain screamed inwardly, but now that matters had reached this point, it was nothing more than useless grumbling. No one could have predicted that Bianca would be rendered combat-incapable for reasons unknown.
And the present situation was hardly relaxed enough to stand around whining at Marquis Castana. Because at this very moment, Joshua's sword was being swung fiercely at Kain.
Clang! Clash!
Joshua's sword swept through the air. His slashes descended upon Kain without pause. Thrusting, slicing, rising cuts, downward chops—all executed within the span of a single breath. It was a high-speed flurry of blows almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.
But Kain stepped back and evaded the onslaught. Joshua's blade grazed past Kain's body by the narrowest of margins. Kain twisted his frame. Joshua's thrust skimmed past Kain's heart by a hair's breadth.
"Dumbass."
Kain looked at Joshua and flung the mockery at him. In the next instant, his body spun around and surged toward Joshua. He aimed for the back of the head. There was no need even to use Flowing Star. He put strength into his elbow and swung his arm like a whip.
Crash—!
But it was blocked. Joshua twisted his body to evade Kain's fist and at the same time scattered his blade in a crescent arc. The vicious killing intent contained within it tore everything nearby to shreds.
Slip—
But in that moment, Kain's figure vanished from the ceremony hall. Even Joshua, his reason flown away, was momentarily bewildered and faltered with his sword. And then—
Suddenly.
Kain 'appeared' abruptly behind Joshua. By the time Joshua sensed his presence, it was one step too late. Flowing Star activated. The flow of power concentrated in both his hands was a tremendous force, several times greater than his ordinary physical strength.
Crack!
Kain seized Joshua's right hand with both of his own and twisted with all his might. The horrifying sound of bone being wrenched echoed throughout the hall. At the violent agony of it, even Joshua could not endure and dropped his sword. Kain's eyes flashed. The opponent was disarmed. By any measure, this was an opening.
"Kain, behind you!"
But then, Bianca's urgent voice rang out from across the room. Instantly, Kain hurled himself to the side. And then—
Boom!
An explosion erupted in the spot Kain had occupied a second earlier. He whipped his head around. Across the way, a middle-aged man holding a staff was unmistakably the culprit who had fired that spell.
That bastard was a spy too?
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Kain quickly surveyed the area. A semicircular barrier had been erected around him, Bianca, and those goddamned sons of bitches. He realized at once that even if others wanted to help, it would be impossible. The one small consolation was that the middle-aged man, occupied with maintaining the barrier, was unable to cast any proper spells.
And what the hell is Marquis Castana doing?
Kain ground his teeth without realizing it. But he understood that at this moment, blaming anyone was utterly meaningless. The priority was surviving these bastards.
Shhk.
Joshua picked up his sword with his uninjured left hand. The posture with which he held the blade was so natural that he was clearly ambidextrous, or had at least trained to wield a sword with his left hand. Still, it was an undeniable fact that his combat strength had been greatly reduced.
Thrust!
For the first time since the battle began, Kain charged at Joshua. Watching Kain fold space and surge toward him, Joshua swelled his killing intent. Something rippling began to bloom from his blade.
It was not aura. But Joshua was reinforcing his sword strikes by some other means. Seeing that, Kain raised his guard another notch.
The distance between them shrank in an instant. Joshua swung his sword. The target was the solar plexus. But at that split-second, Kain's hand moved with the swift grace of a painter's brushstroke. His hand, strengthened by Flowing Star, possessed hardness rivaling that of decent steel, if only for a moment.
"Kh!"
Yet every time Kain's hand clashed with Joshua's blade, he felt a stinging pain shoot through it. He had tried to imitate the Imperial Princess, but he was only reminded once again that his own Flowing Star fell far short of her mastery.
Crunch!
Though he had suppressed its force with Flowing Star as much as possible, Kain's fingernail was crushed against Joshua's blade. In that instant, Kain's brow twisted in pain. It was only a split-second opening, but his hand, which had been focused on defense, left a gap.
Without missing the opportunity, Joshua's sword lunged for Kain's throat. The blade flew in at a speed that far outstripped everything before it. Joshua's eyes, devoid of reason, were suffused with ecstasy. At this distance, in this posture, the enemy could never dodge the blade!
...And that was precisely what decided Joshua's defeat.
Thrust—!
Kain extended his hand. The sword that had been hurtling toward Kain's throat at a lethal speed was deflected elsewhere at an equally alarming velocity. The sight of a blade thrust in a straight line having its trajectory wrenched in another direction was astonishingly natural—and for that very reason, utterly bizarre.
But Kain was far from unscathed. Both his hands were already drenched in blood. Because he had unleashed Flowing Star from an unreasonable stance, the flow of power he had failed to dissipate burst every blood vessel in his hands. Yet he ignored such trivialities entirely and swung his fist at Joshua!
That was when it happened.
"Kain!"
Bianca's cry rang out once more. Kain glanced over. The middle-aged man who had been maintaining the barrier had fired a bolt of lightning, aiming for Kain's defenseless back. It was too late to dodge. At the gruesome scene about to unfold, Bianca closed her eyes without meaning to.
But what unfolded next was something no one present could possibly have imagined.
Crackle—!
The lightning bolt that had clearly been loosed at Kain's torso gathered instead around Kain's swinging left arm. The golden lightning wreathing his left arm coiled around it with the docility of a servant acknowledging its master.
"Thought you could ambush me once, but not twice. Right?"
Gritting his teeth against the pain of his left hand being seared by the lightning, Kain flashed a grin. His left hand struck Joshua squarely in the chest.
Booooom!
"Gaaaaah—!"
The power condensed by Flowing Star combined with the force of the lightning exploded inside Joshua's body. With an ignoble scream, Joshua was hurled against the banquet hall wall.
"Keugh... huh..."
Those were Joshua's last, death-rattle words. His eyes rolled back, and slowly, he closed them.
"....."
Silence filled the hall. Kain's ragged breathing was the only sound that saturated the space. When he glanced around, he saw the mages of House Castana surrounding the middle-aged man who had been maintaining the barrier. And then, Kain gently patted Aria's back as she threw herself at him, and in a small voice, he let out a lament.
"...Where exactly was the 'easy and simple' part, goddammit..."