The Key Was Always Yours
That single act of help still lingered in her memory.
To Odelli, Belloa was unquestionably a villain without peer, the rarest sort of antagonist. And yet a thought crossed her mind. If Belloa had never been born into a house called Cardel, she would never have committed so many sins, nor stained anyone's hands with blood.
Without Belloa, Gawin would collapse in the most wretched way.
Even now he was probably thrashing about, unable to tell heaven from earth, without the slightest sense of how precious his younger sister was.
Odelli regarded Belloa with a strange little smile.
"Did you know?"
"Know what...?"
"That fool can't do a thing without his sister."
That... fool?
At first Belloa seemed not to understand what Odelli had said. Soon, though, her gaze wavered, ever so slightly. It did not take her long to realize whom the word was meant for.
"Always hiding behind you. Shoving the responsibility aside, dumping the dirty work on someone else, leaving every decision in your hands, never acknowledging the credit—and yet the honor and the glory belong to him alone..."
As Odelli began to recite it all in a steady stream, Belloa's face grew paler by degrees. Glancing around, she cut her off in a rush.
"I don't know what you're suddenly talking about."
"No. In truth, you know better than anyone."
Which was why her heart had grown so twisted.
My brother can't survive without me. House Cardel needs me...
Odelli had once thought the same, and so she understood better than anyone. That this world might fall to ruin without a Purifier. That she had to sacrifice herself for the world's sake.
It hadn't been true.
The only ones left in trouble by Odelli's absence were House Cardel. The world had gone on turning just fine.
"You have the right to choose another life."
"......"
"The key was in your hand from the very beginning."
"......"
"Mine as well..."
Though, honestly, it isn't my place to say so.
Odelli let the words trail for a moment, then cast out the last of them.
"Looked at this way... we're rather alike."
At that, Belloa forgot even her performance as the gracious elder sister and let her displeasure show. How dare she compare me to some Purifier, born from the start as a consumable. That was the look on her face, as if the words were poised on her tongue.
Well. It was a natural reaction. That was how Odelli had always been treated in House Cardel. Belloa would have been raised on the indoctrination that the girl was nothing but a tool—borrowed from her mother's womb, wearing the shell of a younger sister.
Even now, all she can think of is killing me.
Odelli let out a soft laugh and shrugged. She hadn't said any of it in the hope of growing closer, after all.
"Thank you for staying through the reception. I hope we'll meet again."
With that, she took Ludville's arm and left without a backward glance.
Left suddenly alone, Belloa stood dazed for a moment. Then she composed her face once more—the familiar smile, the familiar hypocrisy, the familiar mask.
...She definitely noticed.
She knew everything, and she had spoken anyway. That Gawin and Belloa were plotting something dangerous at the reception. Otherwise there was no reason for her to seek Belloa out while she was alone and say such things.
She's trying to drive a wedge between my brother and me.
A transparent little scheme.
The fact that nothing happened at the wedding could mean Exepsion noticed first and tampered with the array.
No. There was no doubt. Belloa had inspected it thoroughly—twice, three times. When Gawin blamed her, when he said it was her mistake and her fault, the only reason she had accepted it in silence was one: she had not confirmed it with her own eyes.
But if it was not some absurd blunder on Cardel's side—if Exepsion had already grasped everything, left the Chaos-Tuning Stone where it was, and erased only a single circuit so that it would look like a mistake...
They deliberately induced Cardel to take the Chaos-Tuning Stone back.
Which meant they knew how to counter it.
Belloa pushed quickly through the crowd in search of Gawin. Among the guests he stood at his ease, a glass in hand, and when he saw her his eyes narrowed.
"Brother!"
"What is it? Your brother is rather busy..."
"I have something urgent to tell you."
She looked so desperate that Gawin had no choice but to follow her into the lounge and lock the door. Once he had confirmed they were alone, his irritation spilled out.
"I told you I'd be winning over the vassals, didn't I? We're already short on time... Do you think swaying them is easy? Even dropping hints is cutting it close..."
"I believe the Purifier knows everything."
Belloa cut him off and hurriedly relayed the conversation she had just had with Odelli, along with the conclusion she had drawn from it.
And Gawin, having heard her out, only asked her this.
"Belloa. You really think that wench possesses knowledge of the sort? Tampered with the array? How would a thing that spent its life locked underground ever learn an array?"
"...That is..."
"Exepsion is the same. How would they know anything about our Chaos-Tuning Stone?"
His gaze went cold.
"She's sounding you out. Suppose, by some stroke of luck, they found the array and erased it. Do you think that luck will hold the next time? Even if they sense danger coming, they'll have no way to answer it. They'll have no choice but to take the blow. So she's shaking you, hoping our side stops first. That's the classic strategy of the weak."
Gawin flicked a finger against Belloa's forehead.
"And you came running to me, taking it at face value. I spelled it out for you, and you still don't understand? For all your pretending to be clever, you're still naive."
"......"
"I've told you—you still can't manage without this brother of yours. My poor little sister."
Belloa's face grew paler and paler.
"But I'm certain... there were signs..."
"Ah. I see."
Gawin laughed and snapped his fingers.
"You're embarrassed that you made a mistake, so you wanted an excuse badly enough to invent one?"
"......"
"Ha ha. How adorable."
And then, as if handling a child, he stroked Belloa's hair.