Chapter 94. Villain (1)
Chapter 94. Villain (1)
1
Is there anyone who cherishes you as much as I?
Is there anyone who has treasured you and caressed you as I have?
Have you ever seen eyes more desperate than mine?
Have you ever felt a touch gentler than my hand?
There is none. There has been none.
There will be none.
2
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
A romantic laugh rang through the garden.
The Crown Prince, who had taken that laugh head-on, looked utterly crestfallen.
"S-Sylvia......?"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Speak, Your Highness!"
"Is your manner of laughing not somewhat frivolous? O-of course, your voice is like a baby bird's. However you chirp, it sounds like music to my ears. Still, if you would give some thought to a noble's dignity......."
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! I am quite satisfied with this laugh!"
"I-is that so?"
The Crown Prince muttered, looking uncomfortable.
"I-is that so... I see....... No, now that I listen closely, it does seem fine. Hm... hmm. Hm! It is fine. Quite fine indeed! It is beautiful. Today I have discovered a new charm of yours."
Uh, look at this ramen noodle coil of a man?
Even after that, his love for Lady Golden Thread Plum doesn't cool? Every student watching around them has eyes gone cold with secondhand saltiness, you know?
-You zombie.
The guardian spirit, who had been quiet for a while since we entered the Apocalypse, spoke.
-I've been quietly watching this play of yours this time. And I tried not to interfere if I could help it. But it's so frustrating I can't watch anymore. Hey, aren't you misunderstanding something?
'Misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?'
-You think breaking love apart is easier than bringing people together, don't you?
'Yes.'
-Sorry, but that... is case by case.
The guardian spirit said. He wore the expression of a mountain gorilla that had reigned as king of the jungle and then suddenly got locked in a zoo.
'Case by case?'
-Yeah. You're radiating hardcore forever-alone energy like the lifelong single you are, but love takes a slightly different shape for every person who loves, kid. No matter how much you snip and carve away at it, there are loves that won't be cut. The way I see it, that Crown Prince bastard seems like one of those.......
Before the guardian spirit could finish, the Crown Prince spoke.
"Sylvia! You truly shine with the many colors of a kaleidoscope. Yesterday you fell as snow blossoms, and today you bloom as plum blossoms. Indeed, is a person's laugh something decided from birth? Is a noble's laugh fixed by law? I shall change my laugh as well, while I'm at it. Eum-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
This lunatic?
And so a breathtaking duet soared high into the sky above the garden.
"Oh-ho-ho!"
"Eum-ha-ha!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
"Eum-hat-ha-ha-ha!"
A couple for the ages was born right there.
I was at a loss for words.
'Wh-what in the world is love......?'
It was a shock.
-You're a lifelong single. You don't know what romantic feelings are, so how are you supposed to untangle those kids' twisted relationship?
The guardian spirit clicked his tongue.
-There are people who bankrupted a whole country trying to impress the person they loved. The idea of acting like a delinquent to block the Immersion Rate was good, but it's a bit lacking for breaking love apart. Yeah. It could be lacking.
Huh. Suddenly the guardian spirit looked strangely mature. Was I really getting an inferiority complex because I was single? Toward this mountain gorilla?
Isn't that too humiliating?
"......."
Step.
I stepped between the Crown Prince and the Heretic Questioner. As if to say, look over here. The Crown Prince, having witnessed that, naturally scrunched up his whole face.
"You......."
"Lady Golden Thread Plum has told me that she trusts me above all others."
Now, let's see if your love still doesn't cool.
"Your Highness is noble. I am lowly. But Your Highness dwells far away, while I am always at my lady's side. My lady's house is my home, and my lady's life is the life I am sworn to serve, Your Highness."
A shriek of "Kyaaa!" rang through the garden. It came from the young ladies watching us.
-No. Hey, you lunatic. Hey, hey!
The guardian spirit shouted urgently.
-You idiot! Ah, you single bastard! This kid really doesn't know the equation of romance! That guy is the Crown Prince of an empire, so how huge do you think his pride is! If you do that, the Crown Prince will just get more jealous—!
"Hah!"
The Crown Prince ground his teeth.
"You've been hovering around the lady using your butler's excuse, and now you've grown insufferably arrogant. Fine. Then I shall attend to Sylvia myself! While we are at the academy, I will look after Sylvia on my own, so you may see yourself off to the countryside."
No.
You're the Crown Prince of a nation!
Just because you're crazy in love, did you actually go crazy?!
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
Heretic Questioner. You're giving me a headache now, so let's stop laughing.
"...What in the world is all this commotion about?"
That was when it happened. The students' murmuring stopped.
For just a moment. In an instant no longer than one second, the commotion subsided. The silence lasted only a second, but that was enough.
The young lords and ladies of noble houses bowed their heads and cleared the path.
"...Lady Silver Lily."
Only the Crown Prince looked on with a furrowed brow.
From there, a young lady with moonlight in her hair was walking toward them.
3
"I heard you submitted a sick leave this morning."
The Crown Prince spoke.
"So I thought you would be absent from the academy today. Has your body recovered? Hah, your heart truly seems to be a troublesome thing, my lady."
"......."
Lady Silver Lily did not answer right away. Instead, she swept her gaze once over the gathered crowd.
Flinch.
When her eyes met theirs, the students ducked their heads low. These were the students who had been buzzing hotly over the royal scandal until just now. Only after they had frozen stiff did Lady Silver Lily finally part her lips.
"Are you in good health? Thanks to Your Highness's concern, I passed the night in peace."
"...Is that so? I am glad. You spend half the year lying ill on sick leave, so a day like today must be precious to you. The spring sun happens to be pleasant, so take your time and enjoy a stroll."
A cold face.
[Enjoy a stroll] meant the same as [leave this place]. The Crown Prince clung so desperately to Lady Golden Thread Plum, yet he was harsh toward Lady Silver Lily.
Perhaps a little strangely harsh.
'No matter how royal he is, it should be difficult to treat a ducal house so coldly......?'
But Lady Silver Lily was composed.
"A stroll. That sounds lovely. If the spring wind grows even a little rougher here, the magnolia leaves will fall. If I enjoy it alone, I worry the flowers will be lonely."
Unlike how she had struggled at the ball last night, Lady Silver Lily rolled her tongue as smoothly as gliding.
"Your Highness, do not let the dust settle on you in such a clamorous place. How about walking with me to console the spring?"
"Hah. Why should I......."
"Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter."
Lady Silver Lily looked at the Heretic Questioner.
"You shall walk with us as well."
The Crown Prince shut his mouth.
Every gaze around them gathered on the Heretic Questioner.
"Hm."
The Heretic Questioner fanned himself and glanced back at me.
'What shall we do, Death King?' his eyes seemed to say. 'Would it be better to follow along?' His gaze said he would leave the decision entirely to me.
Would it be all right?
Lady Silver Lily and the Crown Prince. Both of them were dangerous. Merely being with those two deepened our Immersion Rates. The Heretic Questioner drew closer to Lady Golden Thread Plum, and I drew closer to the butler.
It was that dangerous, but staying still would solve nothing.
"...What is your Immersion Rate right now?"
I whispered in a voice meant only for the Heretic Questioner.
"Has it risen?"
"Yes, it has risen a little."
The Heretic Questioner answered in a whisper.
"My current Immersion Rate is 17 percent. Aha, it rose 1 percent while I listened to the Crown Prince speak to me. Seeing Lady Silver Lily raised it another 1 percent. It has risen a total of 2 percent since yesterday."
2%.
Compared to how it had surged madly last night, the speed of immersion had definitely slowed. Should I risk danger now and enter the tiger's den? If not now, then when would be the right time?
I looked into the Heretic Questioner's eyes.
"When spring comes?"
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly.
"The magnolias fall, Death King."
Okay.
My resolve was set.
"Very well. Let us follow along, my lady."
"I trust your judgment, butler."
The Heretic Questioner snapped his fan shut.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Lady Silver Lily herself has invited me for a stroll, so I cannot refuse. I shall accept the invitation with a joyful heart!"
Lady Silver Lily furrowed her brow. Then she lightly turned her back.
"Follow quietly."
4
The place she led us to was her lodgings. Perhaps because her family's influence was so great, Lady Silver Lily did not stay in the dormitory. As if living in a villa, she lodged in a detached building standing apart from the rest.
"You mean to say we are to [stroll] here?"
The Crown Prince, who had been dragged along half against his will, grumbled.
Lady Silver Lily's lodgings were lavish, unbefitting a place where a student stayed, but that was all. The Crown Prince was a man raised in the imperial palace. He did not seem newly impressed by such luxury.
"How could that be?"
Lady Silver Lily spoke as if it were nothing and walked on. Click. Click. The lady's shoes struck the corridor, making sound.
"The stroll was an excuse."
"What?"
"There were too many watching eyes in the garden. I could not speak of the facts as they are. For it is a matter requiring secrecy."
"...Secrecy?"
"Yes."
Click.
"It is a matter of dealing with the assassins who dared to violate the cradle of the nobility, Your Highness. I must not let it slip carelessly from my lips and allow public sentiment to be shaken."
"......."
The Crown Prince shut his mouth.
By my deduction, the one who hired the assassins was the Crown Prince. Maybe it was just my imagination, but Lady Silver Lily's composed tone seemed to say, [I already know what you did].
"...You mean to say you have caught the culprit? I have not yet grasped any leads in the investigation. How could you."
"Lady Golden Thread Plum's attendant gave me a clue."
Click.
"Last night, I expelled Lady Golden Thread Plum and her servant from the ball. It was an oversensitive reaction. However, I only said to cast them out of the ballroom; I never ordered that the two of them be locked up anywhere. It seems some among my subordinates harbored wicked intentions."
In the ducal lady's lodgings, there was a staircase leading down to a basement. Standing before it, Lady Silver Lily turned to look back.
Her face was expressionless.
"Shall we go down, Your Highness?"
"...I do not see any servants. How strange. Where have the ducal house's servants withdrawn to?"
"Are you concerned? I suppose you would be. I shall go first and lead the way."
Lady Silver Lily did not take the question and descended the stairs. Click. The sound of Lady Silver Lily's footsteps seeped down into the basement. Click. Click....... Lady Silver Lily was buried in the darkness of the basement stairs.
The Crown Prince swallowed dryly and descended the stairs.
We followed behind.
The further down the stairs we went, the thicker something became. Something all too familiar to my nose, to my life. The smell of blood. The Heretic Questioner and I were not startled, but the Crown Prince walking ahead flinched his shoulders.
"...I apologize for bringing you to such a shabby place, Your Highness."
In the basement, three people were bound to chairs.
All three were servants of the ducal house whom I had glimpsed last night,
"These are the ones behind the assassins who attacked Lady Golden Thread Plum."
All three were drenched in blood.
"......."
The Crown Prince's hands trembled.
Even I furrowed my brows a little. Among everyone here, the only ones whose expressions did not change between before descending the stairs and after were the Heretic Questioner and Lady Silver Lily.
I understood why the Heretic Questioner was unruffled. He was the guild master of the Pantheon, who had carried out countless tortures and interrogations in the Tower.
But the other person was a ducal lady. She resembled moonlight, seeming as if she might sway and collapse at any moment, and she looked frail. Yet she stood there as if she were thoroughly accustomed to such a place.
"As a result of my investigation through the night."
And I remembered.
"It has come to light that these people committed the crime out of mere personal vengeance."
That the lady before my eyes was the person who would destroy this world.
"Personal... vengeance, you say?"
"Yes. Would you care to hear?"
Lady Silver Lily grabbed one servant by the hair and lifted his head. "Aagh!" The servant cried out in pain and opened his eyes. Perhaps his right eye would not open. The servant looked at us with only his left eye.
"His Highness the Crown Prince has graced us with his presence. Show proper respect."
"My lady, ugh... my lady......."
"You conspired with your comrades and hired assassins. You targeted Lady Golden Thread Plum. Confess truthfully to His Highness why you sought Lady Golden Thread Plum's life."
"My lady... my la-dy......."
"If you tell the truth, no harm will come to your family."
This woman.
"Th-that Lady Golden Thread Plum... the daughter of a lowly frontier baronial house dared, without knowing her place, to wag her tail at His Highness the Crown Prince... M-my lady is the one who is His Highness's rightful... yes, his betrothed. It was decided long ago, and that—."
Dangerous.
"That baronial daughter threw it into disarray... I grew angry, and my fury boiled over... I ended up committing a foolish act. I am sorry. I am sorry, my lady. I am sorry, Your Highness......."
"Is there someone else behind you who ordered you to hire the assassins?"
"N-no, there is not. There is no such person behind us......."
No.
"You mean to say this was done solely by the three of you?"
It was false testimony.
"Yes... that is so, my lady... that is so......."
To protect the Crown Prince.
"Is that truly so?"
"There is no mistake......."
"I see. So it is."
To protect this country's Crown Prince, Lady Silver Lily had deliberately fabricated [false testimony].
I could guess that she had aligned the three men's statements, manipulated alibis, and perfectly fabricated all the evidence.
The fact that these men were [the Crown Prince's puppets] would never be revealed.
The fact that the Crown Prince was the [mastermind] who had lured the two of us into the warehouse.
The fact that he had then appeared when the two of us were in danger and tried to play the [hero].
All of that truth, Lady Silver Lily was trying to bury underground.
For none other than the Crown Prince.
For the man who would suffer the greatest blow if the truth came to light.
"Your Highness."
Lady Silver Lily raised her head and looked at the Crown Prince.
"Pass judgment."
The Crown Prince flinched.
"Pass judgment, you say......."
"These are the ones who tried to kill Lady Golden Thread Plum, whom Your Highness holds so dear. They are criminals who violated the cradle of the nobility. Judgment is only proper, and you are capable of passing it. Your Highness is presently the heir to the throne."
"......."
"What are you hesitating for?"
Perhaps, Lady Silver Lily spoke.
"Is there some truth different from what I have investigated lurking in this incident?"
"......."
"I speak not as a student of this academy, but as one who would become Your Highness's subject. As heir to the throne, if my investigation is insufficient, postpone the punishment. As the matter is grave, I shall send word to His Imperial Majesty's special task force."
His Imperial Majesty's special task force.
The moment I heard those words, the memories of the 'butler' came flooding back.
Hounds second only to one man, and yielding to none. Composed of the empire's finest swordsmen and mages, they were granted absolute independent investigative authority.
The reason the current Crown Prince had been able to assume the position of heir was also because they had devoured the former Crown Prince, who had committed corruption.
"However, if Your Highness is satisfied with my investigation, there will be no need to handle the matter through such troublesome means."
Lady Silver Lily bowed.
On the basement floor lay a sword that looked as if it had been prepared in advance.
"Pass judgment here and now,"
Lady Silver Lily rolled up her sleeves with practiced hand movements.
And the arms thus revealed were covered in countless scars.
"And upon me, who failed to properly manage the servants of my house."
Scars from stabbing, cutting, scratching, tearing, beating, and burning were gnawing away at the ducal lady's arms, which must once have been as white as lilies.
No, it was not only her arms. Judging by the long gouges running up to her shoulders, as if burrowing worms had been ripped out, I somehow knew that her whole body must be a wreck.
Lady Silver Lily, head bowed, whispered.
"Bestow punishment upon me."
Silver Lily.
The villainess of this world.
"As always, I shall bear the sin."
The Crown Prince trembled.