Crow Henderson (1)
"We'll begin with the appetizers."
The maid appeared, pulling a cart, and placed a dish on the table. It was a dish of halved tomatoes topped with cream. Though Emilia had taught me noble dining etiquette, I'd already forgotten most of it by this point. Left with no choice, I picked up the fork and knife in what I hoped was the least uncouth manner I knew and began to eat. The taste, at least, was quite good.
"Schluss. I wanted to thank you once more for saving my life."
"It's quite all right, my lady. Once is enough."
"That aside..."
"Yes?"
"I understand you made your request through my daughter."
"That is correct."
"If you are my benefactor, then make your requests to me directly. This time, an invitation to dinner is a simple enough favor, but I would prefer you not burden Erika with unreasonable demands on my account."
The Lady of Lichtenburg's expression hardened completely. She was wary that I might demand something outrageous from Erika in exchange for saving her. To the Lady, Erika was her Achilles' heel. Beyond mere affection, she was almost obsessively attached to her daughter. With the Count dead in the war and the second daughter Yulia suffering from an incurable illness, Erika was the only one left to inherit the family. It was only natural. So it was inevitable that the Lady would be sensitive toward anyone approaching Erika.
"You may set your mind at ease. This will be the last time I ask for anything."
"That is a relief."
"Also, I did not ask for this dinner invitation because of Erika."
"Pardon?"
"It was to meet you, my lady. We can discuss that matter later."
"..."
An uncomfortable silence settled between the Lady and me. Only Erika, seated between us, looked back and forth between us in confusion, unable to grasp the situation.
"You seem to love your daughter very much."
"Of course."
"You must want to keep any beggar-like fellows from approaching her."
"How dare you say such a thing."
The Lady's tone had turned aggressive. It was only natural, given I had deliberately asked an impertinent question. From here on, how she reacted would be an important point of interest.
"This is a different matter, but I was actually attacked by terrorists just before the entrance exams. Someone poisoned the water source."
"That must have been quite serious."
Erika, who had been called a prodigy among prodigies since childhood, had been practically guaranteed a place on the elite track. Then a commoner top student had suddenly appeared, which could not have sat well with the Lady. Not only had I stolen the top spot from Erika, but I was also a thorn in her side, someone who could influence her daughter in undesirable ways. And the Lady of Lichtenburg I knew was someone who would not hesitate to use somewhat extreme methods if it was for her daughter's future.
"Yes. It was serious. My attendant and I nearly died."
That was right. I suspected the Lady of Lichtenburg as the mastermind behind the poisoning of the well. I wondered if she had seen me as a dangerous person approaching her beloved daughter and tried to eliminate me. As I spoke, I did not take my eyes off hers. But the Lady showed no sign of panic or agitation, maintaining only an expression of displeasure. It seemed trying to probe an iron-willed person was impossible after all.
"So why bring up the poisoned well all of a sudden?"
"..."
She had taken the bait. I had only said "water source," not "well." This terrorist incident had been thoroughly covered up by the Imperial Academy's investigation department, so it should not have leaked outside at all. Therefore, the Lady mentioning the well was practically a confession. Realizing this, the Lady's lips pressed tightly shut. To think she would make such a self-defeating mistake in an unexpected place. Even an iron-willed person makes mistakes, it seemed.
Pressing further would be dangerous. If I made the Lady of Lichtenburg a complete enemy, it would be troublesome. The fact that the assassination attempt had stopped at one meant she was still undecided about whether to kill me or not. Today, I had discovered who was behind the assassination attempt, and that was enough. I had also conveyed to her that I knew, so it would serve as a warning.
"It was delicious. I will take my leave now."
"Huh?"
When I pushed back my chair and stood, Erika slammed the table in surprise and rose as well. She looked to the Lady, hoping she would stop me, but the Lady only stared at me in silence.
"Butler. Escort Schluss to the dormitory."
"That won't be necessary. I'll walk."
I left the dining room as I was. As expected, hurried footsteps followed from behind, and the door opened again with a thud. It was Erika.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? The main dish hasn't even been served yet!"
"I'm full."
"Does that even make sense? Even if it did, this is rude!"
Rude, my ass. Go complain to your mother who poisoned someone's drinking water. The words kept rising to the tip of my tongue.
"And you said you asked for the invitation not because of me, but to meet Mother... What did you mean by that?"
"It's fine. It's already been resolved."
"What do you mean, resolved?"
"You don't need to know the details. Thank you for inviting me to dinner today."
"Hey! Hey! Aren't you going to stop?"
I walked down the corridor, leaving behind a bewildered and confused Erika. She tried to call me back several times, but when I did not respond, her voice gradually grew smaller. There was no physical restraint. When I opened the door at the end of the corridor, a light rain was drizzling outside. As I crossed the garden through the rain, I felt a gaze from behind.
"..."
The moment I turned around, a curtain in one of the windows was hastily drawn. It must have been one of the mansion's servants. Or perhaps it was Yulia. Well. I didn't know.
An unexpected encounter. And a greater harvest than anticipated. It had clearly been a successful dinner, yet strangely, my mood was gloomy.
"Wow. That really is one rude bastard. He was the one who asked for the invitation, and yet..."
As she returned to the dining room, Erika walked while tapping the floor in rising irritation. The words she should have said to the back of Schluss's head kept coming to mind. When Schluss was right in front of her, her lips wouldn't move, but now that he was gone, they flooded out. It was even more irritating and frustrating, driving Erika to the brink of madness.
"What on earth did the two of them talk about...?"
Recalling the brief conversation between the Lady of Lichtenburg and Schluss, Erika tilted her head. No matter how she thought about it, the two had been having a meaningless conversation. It had been a disjointed exchange without context, but one thing was certain: the Lady had looked extremely displeased. It didn't seem to be simply because Schluss's tone had been rude. There was no evidence, but Erika's intuition told her so.
"Ah...!"
Erika froze just as she was about to fling open the dining room door, calling for her mother. Through the narrow gap, she could see the Lady of Lichtenburg. Though the main dish, steak, had been served, the Lady was biting her nails with an anxious expression, not even thinking of picking up her fork. It was the human side of the iron-willed Lady, one she would never show in front of guests who were not family.
Besides, for Mother to be this anxious... What on earth had Schluss said...?
"Ugh..."
No matter how much she pondered, she couldn't find the answer alone. She couldn't understand at all why the conversation about loving one's daughter had suddenly shifted to the topic of terrorism. And what did he mean by saying the reason he asked for the invitation wasn't her, but her mother?
"Ah!"
Erika clapped her hands lightly as a brilliant idea struck her. Schluss had said he knew Yulia von Iceburg. That meant he had come here not for dinner, not to see her, not to see the Lady, but to see Yulia. But when Yulia didn't come to the dining room, he had left in a bad mood.
"That's it. That's right!"
Erika felt a refreshing sensation, as if the puzzle pieces had fallen into place. Schluss must have been overlaying the image of the already deceased Yulia, who had lived in a distant land, onto her younger sister Yulia. Perhaps with lustful eyes... At that thought, Erika felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
'I have to protect Yulia...!'
An unprecedented sense of mission was welling up from within her.
*
Tap... Tap...
A rhythmic sound echoed periodically through the quiet dining room. Crack...
And at some point, the Lady's nail broke. Blood beaded at the tip of the split nail. The Lady brought the blood from her finger to her mouth and furrowed her brow.
'How on earth did he know...'
Schluss suspected her of being behind the terrorism. No, it wasn't suspicion; it was certainty. Had he had any grounds to figure this out? No matter how much she thought about it, the answer was 'no.' The person she had hired was a man known as the strongest Crow in the capital. It was hard to believe that someone who had built up that much trust would betray her and tell Schluss everything. Therefore, Schluss should have had no basis for knowing this fact.
'Could it be that he only had circumstantial evidence...?'
What if Schluss hadn't actually been certain? What if he had only been pretending to be certain? What if he had used his rude tone to provoke her irritation and set a trap for her to make a slip of the tongue in the process? In reality, the Lady had been checkmated because she had made the mistake of mentioning the 'well,' which Schluss hadn't even said. Until then, it had only been suspicion, but it was impossible to ignore the possibility that she had become certain after hearing what was essentially her own confession.
If that were the case, then Schluss had been so rude to the head of one of the prominent families, the Lichtenburg family, in order to turn a mere suspicion—whether true or not—into certainty.
"Ha..."
He was no ordinary hot-headed youth. At this point, it was practically a provocation.
'I know you sent the assassin. If you're upset, send another one.'
A provocation.
'Then I'll grant your wish.'
The Lady of Lichtenburg took out a note and a pen from her bosom and began to scribble something. It was a letter—or rather, an order. A command to be given to Henderson, the strongest Crow.
Kill Schluss Heinkel.
By any means necessary.
Make it certain.
It was a short and concise order. With Henderson's capabilities, it should be more than doable. And since it would be a surprise attack, no matter how extraordinary Schluss was, he would surely die without even letting out a single scream.
"This... Tsk."
Just as she was about to call the butler to hand over the note, the Lady put it back into her bosom. On second thought, for security reasons, it would be better to deliver it to him personally. Now that Schluss had discovered something he shouldn't have, she needed to be even more careful about security. But the thought of hearing that Crow's vile and unpleasant laughter again made her feel nauseous.