There Was Nothing At All
"I searched the room with the portraits, but the ring wasn't there. This matters a great deal to me, so please tell me whatever you know."
Bayul was desperate. Finding the ring wouldn't let him do anything right away. He simply wanted to see it with his own eyes.
Unlike the pendant, he had only ever seen the ring in portraits. Whether it truly was the Eye of the Ocean that Quinn was searching for, and if so, where his mother had gotten it — untangling those questions came next.
"I'm afraid I must begin by apologizing for being unable to help you. I don't know where the ring ended up either."
"You don't know?"
"No, my young lord. I'm truly sorry — I can see how anxiously you're searching for it."
"I don't understand. Didn't Father order you, Head Butler Cunning, to put away the portrait and the ring? How could you not know where they are?"
Bayul had assumed the head butler would naturally know. Which was precisely why he was so baffled now.
"Do you remember the time the young lord injured his leg while searching for the portrait as a child?"
"That's not an event one forgets easily."
"It was after that that we built a hidden chamber behind the study. His Lordship commanded that measures be taken so the same thing could never happen again."
And so Cunning had handpicked servants known for keeping their mouths shut, had the room built, and brought in craftsmen to complete a secret door.
"As I recall from that time, the ring was disposed of by His Lordship personally."
"Disposed of? Surely you don't mean thrown away?"
"Of course not. I only mean that His Lordship saw to it himself. I have not seen it anywhere since."
Which meant his father was keeping it somewhere, hidden away on his own.
"…Is there perhaps another place in the castle like that room behind the study?"
"Not to my knowledge, no."
Was there truly no way but to ask his father directly? With Bayil's memorial day drawing near, bringing up the subject of their mother would be far too cruel to him.
The Water Spirit King, Daphnegrande.
Had his mother really received the ring from her?
What connection could she have had with the Water Spirit King?
…Could she even have been human?
Suddenly, far too many thoughts churned through Bayul's mind all at once.
"Young Lord Bayul? Are you quite all right?"
Bayul's complexion had darkened so abruptly that the head butler started in alarm, worried that his young lord's health was failing him again.
As for Cunning, he could not for the life of him imagine what that ring could be, that its owner's son would come seeking him out to ask after its whereabouts.
"Head Butler Cunning."
"Yes, my lord. Speak."
"What kind of person was my mother?"
"…!"
Though Bayul had asked nothing shocking in itself, the head butler's shoulders flinched. It was a measure of just how forbidden the subject of the lady of the house had become within the castle walls.
"…She was a wonderful woman. I did not serve her long, but she was kind even to servants like us, and she smiled often. Even His Lordship, so gruff and stern, would find himself smiling whenever she was near. Even with the nation at war, the castle rang with laughter every single day."
Had anyone asked Duke Randert's head butler when his master had been happiest, Cunning could have answered without hesitation: it was then.
The only person who could bring a smile to the lord's face.
That alone was enough for Cunning to have served the Duchess with all his heart.
"You said Father met her by chance during the war and brought her back himself, didn't you? Do you remember which region it was?"
"The region, I'm afraid, was long enough ago that it escapes me — but I believe it was a village deep in the mountains."
"A mountain village?"
"Yes."
"Was that why, I wonder? She used to climb the hill behind the castle often. And whenever it rained, she would always go out for a walk."
"When it rained?"
For most people it would be the opposite. People liked walking on clear, sunny days; he had rarely seen anyone stroll through damp, rainy weather.
"She had a particular fondness for the rain. Despite His Lordship's protests, she took pleasure in getting soaked, never once carrying an umbrella."
"…She loved the rain?"
"Yes. Sometimes when I watch the falling rain, I find myself thinking of the mistress. I even catch myself imagining something strange — that perhaps she is somewhere up in the heavens, pouring this rain down upon us."
As if he found his own fancy ridiculous, the head butler gave a dry, self-deprecating chuckle.
"I've told you everything I can. Now then — might I ask you something in return?"
"…Yes. Ask away."
Bayul lifted dazed eyes to look at the head butler. The words she loved the rain had blanketed his entire mind, but he forced himself to stay composed.
"Why did you ask about the mistress all of a sudden? Could it be because of that ring — the one said to hold the fate of a nation?"
"…I have ten thousand reasons, so I hardly know where to begin."
Everything had begun with the spirits. Why he had become a Spirit User, why the Eye of the Ocean had been in his mother's keeping, what power slept inside the pendant — every thread he followed ultimately led back to her.
A woman he had never once laid eyes on, who had died the moment she gave birth to him.
And now he had to dig up that mother's secret past.
Where on earth was he supposed to start pulling this thread…?
"If I had to name just one reason — I became curious. I found myself wanting to know what kind of person she was while she lived, the woman who gave birth to me."
That was the truest reason of all.
It didn't matter whether his mother had been human or not.
All Bayul wanted was to follow whatever traces of her remained.
After parting with Head Butler Cunning, Bayul returned once more to the study. Not to read. He simply needed time and space to think.
She had a particular fondness for the rain.
Why did those words keep circling his mind? It bothered him to an almost unnatural degree. Plenty of people in the world loved the rain. As long as it wasn't the endless downpour of these past days, Bayul himself was fond of the sound of it.
But the moment he'd heard the head butler's words, Bayul had somehow thought of Innocent. The spirit, too, darted outside the instant it rained, as if off on a stroll. Watching it laugh and frolic in the downpour, he could feel how much happier and more alive it seemed than usual.
Innocent was a spirit of water.
The previous owner of the Eye of the Ocean had been the Water Spirit King, Daphnegrande.
And his mother had loved the rain.
Could that really be pure coincidence?
Was the unease gnawing at him nothing more than baseless speculation?
No matter how he turned it over, no answer came. The person who knew the most about his mother was probably his father. He wanted to run to him right now and ask.
But the timing was wrong. And in truth, it was doubtful how much his father even knew about her.
An abrupt meeting, followed by a brief marriage.
Perhaps his father, too, had never learned all that much. He was the type to wait, rather than ask.
"Young master! You've skipped dinner and now you're sitting up here? Just what do you think you're doing!"
While Bayul was lost in his brooding, Rita suddenly flung open the study door in a fury.
"How many times have I told you that you have to eat on time? And this is what you do the moment we're back in Hamilton?"
She stomped into the room.
"What if you collapse again, huh? Do you actually want to watch me worry myself sick?"
Hands planted on her hips, Rita marched right up and planted herself in front of Bayul.
"You're going to go eat this instant, or so help me, I will never — young master?"
Only then did Rita sense that something was off. Seeing Bayul sitting utterly motionless, leaning on nothing but a single guttering candle, her heart lurched, and she quickly pressed a hand to his forehead.
"No, that's not it. No fever."
"Oh, Rita. There you are."
Bayul surfaced from his thoughts and greeted her with a faint smile.
"Young master, are you feeling ill? Why are you so low on energy today of all days?"
"…Do I look that way?"
"You do. Just this afternoon you seemed so happy…"
Looking pained, Rita plopped down heavily onto the sofa.
"Tell me what it is. Talk to me."
"It's nothing… really, nothing at all."
"I might be able to fool you, young master, but you know you can't fool my eyes, right?"
"And your acting isn't exactly great either, Rita."
"Even so, I'd say I'm halfway decent — you're down at rock bottom, young master."
Gauging Bayul's mood was Rita's job. He'd come back to Hamilton on good terms with the lord of the castle, and she'd heard something wonderful had even happened at the temple — so why was he sitting there like a man at a deathbed? She needed to know.
"Out with it. Then you can go down and eat."
"…It's just… my mother…"
"You mean the late mistress?"
"Yeah. I stopped by Head Butler Cunning's on the way. I had some things I wanted to ask about her."
"Like what?"
"Just… that special story from before, that kind of thing."
"And? Did you learn anything?"
"No. Not much at all."
As Bayul let the words fall limply from his lips, pity spread across Rita's face. The mistress hadn't been able to endure the agony of childbirth and had passed on at once — a poor soul who had never even been held in his one and only mother's arms.
When he was small, there had even been times he'd called Ariel — Rita's mother and his wet nurse — "Mom."
Rita. You must cherish and care for young Bayil and Bayul as if they were your own flesh. Can you promise me that, my daughter?
His mother's dying wish had been for her to follow after her and serve the young masters well. She had said I love you over and over after that, too — but Rita had been sobbing too hard to answer properly.
Those happy days with her mother.
Though she was gone, Rita still held a wealth of memories of her. But her young master didn't have a single shard of one. It had always broken her heart.
"Then… shall I tell you something?"
"Hm? There was something special you knew about?"
"Of course. I used to hear it from Mom now and then. The mistress adored the rain. Watching it, getting caught in it — all of it."
"I know. The head butler said the same thing."
"But here's the strange part — they say she never caught a cold. Not even once."
"…A cold?"
"Yes! When you get soaked in the rain, your body temperature drops and you start shivering, right? But the mistress never felt the cold at all. And that wasn't even midsummer, mind you."
Why did Innocent come to mind again at this exact moment? Thinking back, he had never once seen the spirit shiver from the cold either.
"Was there anything else strange about her?"
"Strange? Like what?"
"Yeah, things that are hard to believe even when you think about them… you know."
"Hmm. Let me think…"
"…Rita?"
All at once, Rita's face froze. She had clearly thought of something, and she clearly didn't want to say it.
"What is it? It's all right, just tell me."
"N-no, it's nothing… I probably just misheard, that's all."
Rita shot to her feet, hastily dodging Bayul's gaze.
"Rita."
Bayul caught her hand at once. He said nothing more — but Rita was no fool; she knew exactly what he wanted.
"It might be nothing at all… It's just something Mom said once in passing…"
Rita kept glancing at Bayul's face with unusual care, searching it.
"…They said there was nothing left."
"Nothing left? What does that mean?"
"It's just… they said she vanished… like the rain."
"Vanished?"
"Yes. When the rain dries up, nothing's left on the ground, right? That's how they said she disappeared — leaving nothing behind at all."
"Rita… what are you saying? The lady passed away, but nothing remained…? Don't tell me you're saying my mother's body disappeared?"