The Heir's Judgment
"...Wh-what did you say? Bayul?"
At the sudden mention of his own name, Derek sputtered and hacked as though he'd swallowed a fishbone whole.
"Bring them in."
At Bayul's command, several laborers filed in through the entrance of the dining hall, their heads bowed low. At the sight of them, Belgofsky's face drained to a sickly yellow—and small wonder, for these were the very men who had helped him smuggle the minerals out.
"It seems Mr. Belgofsky recognizes them. What about you, Master Derek? Do you know them as well?"
"Wh-what are you playing at? Why are you doing this to me?"
"You don't recognize them?"
"O-of course not! There are only so many laborers at the mine—do you expect me to remember every last one of them? Isn't that right, men? When have I ever once pretended to know you and exchanged greetings with you, hm?!"
Derek shrieked it out, brazenly turning the tables as he badgered the laborers. Cowed by the tirade, the men's backs bowed lower still.
"That's enough. You're making a spectacle of yourself."
"Wh-what did you say?"
"Pinning your guilt on others is filthy, despicable conduct. How does a man of your standing bring himself to do it?"
"And why are you doing this to me? What have I ever done that you'd hang such a false accusation around my neck?"
"A false accusation?"
"Yes! Didn't Bel already confess everything? Then punish him and be done with it—why keep sinking your teeth into me?"
Derek protested, drenched in nervous sweat.
"So this is the sort of man you are. In that case, I am truly disappointed."
"Well, I'm truly disappointed in you!"
If one must come out swinging, then swing. Struggling not to be cowed, Derek raised his voice.
Bayul regarded him in silence for a moment, then drew something from inside his coat and set it on the table.
"Then what would you call this?"
"Th-that's... isn't that my bracelet?!"
"Why would your bracelet have turned up in Mr. Belgofsky's room, I wonder? Will you claim next that he stole it?"
"N-no! I never stole a thing! Young Master Derek gave it to me!"
"You—you wretch! Can you not keep your mouth shut?!"
The instant Belgofsky blurted out the truth before he could help himself, Derek roared, stumbling over his own words.
"You also promised to grant him the shop on Snape Street, did you not?"
"H-how could you possibly know that...?"
"Is that what matters here?"
Bayul's voice was quiet, but it carried a heavy weight, and for an instant Derek lost his tongue. Those eyes seemed to know everything. He couldn't fathom how the boy had learned such intimate details, but there was no denying it now—every last thing was out in the open.
Had the man gone and spilled everything while his back was turned? He shot Belgofsky a venomous glance, but Belgofsky looked just as much in the dark as he was.
"Why did you do it?"
"..."
"What you did was theft. How could you, of all people—Master Derek—stoop to such a thing? Does your father know about this?"
Derek's eyes wavered, darting about with nowhere to settle. From that alone, Bayul could be certain: his uncle knew nothing of it either.
"Shall I go and ask him myself, then?"
"No! You can't! Anything but that!"
Flustered, Derek practically shouted out a confession.
"The day Father finds out, I won't be able to show my face in Hamilton again! He'll banish me to some remote mountain village in the middle of nowhere, I know he will! So you must not breathe a word of this!"
"I cannot bury this matter without it coming to light. That it has already outgrown my ability to resolve—you know that better than anyone, Master Derek."
"If you simply say nothing, how would Father ever find out? All you have to do is keep your mouth shut!"
"Do you truly believe that?"
Bayul turned, pointedly, to Ian and Father Juan, who were sharing the meal with them.
"I-I trust... the two of you will keep this secret as well."
Derek flushed red as he pleaded his case. Naive hardly began to cover it.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible."
Father Juan aside, to expect it of Ian—Derek had misjudged the man, and badly. Ian was of the Full Moon Knight Order, and the knights of the Full Moon Order hid nothing from their liege lord, the Duke. Not to know that after all this time... his foolishness ran deep enough to inspire genuine worry.
"Sir Ian! You draw your stipend from my uncle, do you not? And I am his nephew! Surely you can overlook something like this!"
"If you have made a mistake, Young Master Derek, I could overlook it whatever it was. But theft is another matter entirely."
"Theft, theft—you keep saying theft. I only slipped a few minerals out! What is so monstrous about that, that you all descend on me like this? Do you think I bought an entire castle with them?"
"I was just about to look into that very thing. You bought a castle, did you? Which castle, and where, might I ask?"
At Bayul's question, Derek bit his lip. If he had at least bought a castle, it would have been an asset to show for it, and he would never have been cornered like this. He would not have come running in a panic at the news of the mine's collapse, either.
But a castle was the furthest thing from it. All that remained to him was a mountain of debt.
"I will ask you one more time. What did you do with the minerals you smuggled out?"
"..."
"Shall I dispatch a letter to the imperial capital this very moment?"
"...Are you threatening me?"
"I am offering you a chance. You are still my elder, after all."
"Ha! Your elder, am I?"
Derek suddenly burst out laughing, utterly incredulous.
"If you truly thought of me that way, you would never have done this. You call humiliating me in front of everyone a chance? I suppose this is how you treated the late Bail as well?"
"Young Master Derek!"
"That is going too far!"
It was Ian and Father Juan who cried out on Bayul's behalf, aghast, searching his face for any sign that the wound had landed.
"No. Not once. Not a single time."
But contrary to their fears, Bayul was perfectly steady. Not long ago, the mere mention of Bail had been enough to plunge him into a panic where he could do nothing at all, and he had always taken care to steer clear of the subject. Yet somehow, now, it seemed to have no hold over him whatsoever.
"My brother Bail never behaved the way you do, Master Derek."
"What?"
"He was a brother for whom looking out for his sickly little brother—looking out, and looking out again—had become second nature. To compare yourself to Bail... I find it deeply distasteful."
"You...!"
Derek glared at Bayul through gritted teeth. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the boy who used to hide behind Bail as a child, too timid even to pass along a message properly, would persecute him like this.
"As for you, Master Derek, I intend to report everything to Father and your father the moment they return. Your punishment will be decided then."
"You—you truly mean to do it? I am your elder cousin, and you won't even grant me a chance?"
"Smuggling out the minerals is a grave crime, plain and simple. You know better than anyone how dearly Father prizes this place, do you not?"
"I do! Which is exactly why I'm begging you to let it slide, just this once! Bayul, if you let it pass this time, I swear I will never do it again. I'll swear any oath you like! No—if it's needed, I'll put it in writing!"
Derek threw his pride to the wind and begged.
"Even so, we are family. I will not throw you in prison."
"Wh-what? You mean to say you were going to throw me in prison? You—you have truly gone mad!"
"In exchange, until the two of them return, you will not set a single foot outside the mansion."
"Who do you think you are, daring to give me orders...!"
"I give this order as the heir of House Randert."
When the father is absent, it falls to the son to act. This was one such duty, and it was his to bear.
"And do not even think of sneaking away. The Full Moon Knight Order will be guarding the mansion."
The name of the Full Moon Knight Order carried terrible weight. The killing glare Derek had fixed on Bayul wilted at once. He might well have been contemplating flight, but it would all have been for nothing.
"Only until Father and my uncle return."
"Heh. Then that day will be the day of my funeral."
Derek laughed, a sound of pure self-mockery.
"Curse me all you like; it changes nothing. This has already passed beyond what I can settle on my own. And it was you, Master Derek, who brought it to this."
"Is that really the only reason there is?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"It isn't that you're afraid of me?"
Bayul could not make head or tail of what Derek was suddenly saying.
"Well—now that what ailed you has been cured, I suppose it might not be."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Your place. That position you spoke of just now."
My position...?
"The sole heir of House Randert. And yet until only recently, a sickly little whelp of a young master who couldn't do a single thing right."
"...What is that supposed to mean?"
"You've become quite the expert at playing innocent, haven't you."
"Your own talent for talking in circles is far greater, Master Derek. Could you not simply say it so a man can understand?"
"If you insist."
Derek, suddenly parched, drained a glass of water in one go.
"Do you truly believe you are worthy to be the heir of House Randert?"
"...!"
"If it had been Bail, perhaps. But it was never going to be you. So people whispered about it endlessly. You must have heard some of it yourself, at the very least?"
Of course he had. After Bail's death, it had circulated for a time that for the sake of the family, it would have been better if the useless one had died in his brother's place. Bayul had thought the very same thing, and so he had never been able to refute it—which made it all the more agonizing.
"For you to succeed my uncle would have plunged the entire household into dread. So naturally, my name kept coming up."
"...What did you say?"
"That look on your face says you're hearing this for the first time? From what I understand, my uncle gave it consideration as well... You really are ignorant of a great many things."
"Y-you are saying Father thought so too?"
"If he hadn't, why would he never have stopped me from coming to the ice mine? A place of such importance! That you never even suspected—you truly are hopeless. Are you actually learning anything at that Academy of yours?"
"That is quite enough, Young Master Derek."
Ian warned at last, unable to bear any more.
"A mere knight dares give commands to a member of House Randert?"
When the tide turned against you, there was no surer weapon than brandishing rank. But Ian was hardly the man to be felled by such an attack.
"At this moment you are no member of House Randert—only a common thief. That is quite enough of your nonsense. Stand up, if you please."
"What?"
"Bar."
At some point, the three Des brothers had taken up position at one side of the dining hall. Ian singled out Bar, who looked to be the strongest of the three. He had only the one arm, but his musculature was terrifying at a single glance.
"See that the man is confined. We shall be departing for the main estate before long."
"Yes, sir!"
At long last, the hour had come to leave for the place where Master Rita awaited. Overjoyed at the very thought, Bar seized Derek's forearm and hauled him along without the slightest consideration for the man's feelings.
"Aaargh! Let go of my arm, damn you!"
Under that monstrous grip, his arm felt as though it would be torn clean off. But no matter how he shouted, not a single soul spared him a glance.
Flung into a carriage like a sack of luggage, Derek was to be kept confined from that moment until they reached the main estate, with no hope of setting foot outside.
"Sir Ian, I would ask you to look into how Derek used the minerals he smuggled out."
"One can only pray he did not squander them on anything reckless."
Even as he said it, Ian knew better than anyone that wherever the money had gone, it was nowhere good.
"There is no telling what he may attempt. I leave the watch in your hands."
"Rest assured. He will be kept safe and soundly guarded until His Grace the Duke arrives."
"Thank you, Sir Ian."
"Shall we return to our meal, then?"
The savage exchange had run its course. His heart was uneasy over the quarrel with his cousin, but having settled the matter of the mine lifted a weight all the same.
After the meal, they would return to the main estate. And once there, he meant to put it all out of his mind and throw himself into the search for the spirits in earnest.