Chapter 100
The Flower That Bears a Sword - Chapter 100
Translation: godsn
After boiling water and warming the teacups and teapot, she took her seat. Then she opened the envelope Eki had handed her and read the short letter. Soon, her expression turned peculiar as she looked at Eki.
"What did Lord Yurien say when he gave you this?"
"He said that since Lady Diassant would inform me of the mission details, I should receive the detailed information from you and compile a report."
"Is Lord Yurien's trust in you... purely professional trust?"
"Pardon?"
"He's utterly infatuated with you. So of course he'd trust you... but can I trust Miss Roaz? This is an extremely important matter for me."
Eki hadn't expected to hear such words from Rosalin Diassant, the lady betrothed to Yurien. Flustered, she stammered:
"Infatuated? That's not..."
"Don't tell me you didn't know? It's so obvious. If the young ladies pining for him saw it, they'd go mad with jealousy."
"N-no, it's not that I didn't know, I just mean it's not to that extent..."
Rosalin, who had just heard Yurien might even consider abandoning the Holy Sword, completely disagreed with Eki's assessment. But instead of pointing that out, she observed Eki fanning her flushed face. After much fumbling, Eki finally managed to say:
"Anyway... I'm Captain Yurien's squire. I've sworn to follow my lord, so you can trust me."
Rosalin knew little about the oaths or relationships between squires and lords. Rather than what she didn't understand, she chose to believe what she could see with her own eyes.
If Echinacea Roaz had no feelings whatsoever for Yurien, she wouldn't have reacted like this. She clearly had some kind of feelings. And if she had feelings, she'd have no choice but to cooperate with this fake engagement.
The Roaz family had little political involvement, so she didn't need to worry about them being connected to other factions. From the perspective of the Diassant ducal family—the empire's most prestigious house—they were at best a harmless family, or to be blunt, just another provincial lord without particular value or ambition. Having finished her calculations, Rosalin set down the letter and spoke.
"Miss Roaz, I'll choose to trust you."
"Thank you, Lady Diassant."
"First, the mission Lord Yurien mentioned... is to rescue my husband and daughter."
"...Pardon?"
Utterly unprepared for this revelation, Eki repeated the words in stunned disbelief. Rosalin calmly recounted the circumstances she had explained to Yurien. As she listened, Eki's expression gradually grew colder.
The water had come to a boil without them noticing. Rosalin placed fresh tea leaves in the pot, poured the water, and steeped the black tea. As she set the warmed teacup before Eki, the latter finally spoke.
"...His Grace the Duke of Diassant seems... quite a heartless man."
[He's a bad guy! A really, really bad guy! Are we going to kill him now? I'm excited!]
Eki ignored the Magic Sword's words and took a deep breath. She barely restrained the curses threatening to spill out. Though she thought she knew far more than others after rewinding time, perhaps what she knew was truly limited. She'd had no idea Rosalin Diassant had such a story.
'Now that I think about it, I remember hearing the Emperor purged the Empress's family. There were whispers that after using all their help to ascend the throne, he disposed of even his wife when she became unnecessary. What was the official charge again?'
It was something from the erased past. She wished she'd paid more attention, but back then, Eki had been so focused on gathering Giosa that she'd let everything else go in one ear and out the other. She'd only heard it was the Empress's family and only now realized that meant the Diassants.
At any rate, Duke Diassant had been purged by Crown Prince Cruen after he became Emperor. They couldn't have simply abolished the Empress's family without reason, so there must have been some justification. Eki made a mental note of that point.
Rosalin poured the steeped black tea into the warmed teacup. A refreshing yet subtly sweet fragrance rose from the rare tea leaves.
"He doesn't trust anyone, you see."
As she spoke, she suddenly looked exhausted. She was a woman who had lost her husband and daughter, lived under the constant threat of assassination, and had come to Agenka—a place where she knew no one—hiding her married status for an engagement she knew would be unwelcome. Having concealed her lies from everyone without showing a crack, her heart must have been in turmoil.
Eki felt ashamed of the jealousy she had harbored toward the noblewoman, whether consciously or not. She wanted to say something, but clumsy comfort would only make things worse. So instead, she added nothing and took a sip of the Lepang-san Black Tea Rosalin had poured. It was better to quickly discuss the rescue plan.
"Then, your daughter and husband... they..."
The moment the tea slid down her throat, every nerve in her body screamed to life. Instincts blared like an alarm, and her honed spirit reacted instantly. Her words crumbled mid-sentence.
Before her eyes, Rosalin was lifting the teacup to her lips. Ignoring the spinning vision and the metallic bitterness surging from within, Eki shot to her feet and slapped the cup away. The teacup shattered against the wall with a loud crash. Splatters of reddish tea sprayed across Eki's gloves like droplets of blood. Rosalin stared at her, utterly bewildered.
"Wh—what is this rudeness?!"
"D-don't drink it... poison...!"
The moment she spoke, a mouthful of bright red blood gushed out. Eki clamped a hand over her mouth and activated her mana core. The glove where the tea had splattered was now soaked a vivid crimson.
[Hey, what the hell—that's lethal poison! Master, are you okay?!]
"Ugh—ah—KYAAAAH!"
Rosalin shrieked sharply upon seeing Eki vomiting blood—a scream so loud it drowned out the magic sword's alarmed question. The commotion drew the knights guarding outside, who burst into the room in a clamor.
"My Lady?!"
"What's happening?!"
The moment the knights rushed in, Eki drew Amethyst. Then, removing the hand covering her mouth, she seized Rosalin and yanked her close. It was pure instinct.
Mana surged violently from her core, fighting against the poison attempting to melt her insides. The pain was intense, but bearable. If anything, it reminded her of the days when she had been utterly alone. With nerves honed razor-sharp, she assessed the situation.
A lethal poison—one that would have killed her instantly if not for her resistance. Where? The tea. The Lepang-san Black Tea. It was unlikely Rosalin had poisoned it herself, given how calmly she had been about to drink it. There was no way poison could have been slipped in while brewing—Eki wasn't careless enough to miss such suspicious movements. Similarly, coating the cup beforehand was impossible.
The culprit wasn't Lady Diassant. Rather, the poison was meant for her. This was an exceedingly rare tea, one even a noblewoman wouldn't drink often unless for a special guest. Perhaps the poisoner had hoped to catch Yurien as well, if possible.
Judging by the way the tea had been presented, it seemed to have been brought from the Empire. Meaning this was a trap prepared long in advance. The Second Prince's faction was the most likely suspect.
But would those meticulous enough to prepare poison have left the knights escorting Lady Diassant untouched? Even if not the poisoner themselves, what if one among them had been bribed, waiting for an opportunity? This chaotic moment was the perfect opening.
It might have been excessive suspicion. But when it came to safety, overcaution was no loss. Without hesitation, Eki followed her instincts and raised her sword. Through her blurred vision from the poison's effects, she saw four knights closing in—two guards and two junior knights of the Blue Sky who had been stationed at the entrance.
The junior knights, caught off guard, froze in momentary confusion. Eki, gripping Rosalin with her sword drawn, looked suspiciously like a hostage-taker—but she was the Captain's squire, and blood was still dripping from her mouth.
In contrast, one of the two royal guards reacted swiftly. The moment he took in the scene inside the room, he drew his sword and charged straight at Echinacea. Prepared for this, Eki immediately pulled Rosalin behind her back and kicked the table over. The guard twisted his body in surprise as the table flew toward him.
That split second was all she needed. In an instant, she closed the distance and struck the side of his neck with the flat of her blade before he could regain his footing.
"Ghk—!"
Even in her dizzy state, her movements were swift and precise—though slightly lacking in strength. The searing pain, as if her insides were being scorched, made it impossible to exert full force. The guard, struck in the neck, didn't lose consciousness but staggered before reaching into his coat. Eki frantically seized his wrist and shouted:
"Restrain him!"
The moment she yelled, she coughed up another mouthful of blood. The junior knights of the Blue Sky, who had been frozen in hesitation, reflexively moved at her commanding tone. One of them immediately subdued the other royal guard beside him, while the other rushed toward the man Eki was grappling with.
Taking advantage of Eki's loosened grip as she spat blood, the guard wrenched his wrist free. In his hand was a thin, glass-like plate—small enough to fit in a palm, densely inscribed with a shimmering crimson pattern. Without hesitation, the man hurled it toward Rosalin.
[Ah, that's a magic tool—!]
Eki realized it before the magic sword could even finish speaking. That object—a thin crystal slab engraved with a magic circle—would activate its inscribed spell the moment it shattered. Designed to break easily, it was the kind of item that required a specialized case for storage. The moment it hit anything, it would shatter and unleash the magic sealed within. And there was no way it contained anything beneficial.
Her reaction was faster than the glass plate cutting through the air. A white blade flashed, deflecting the magic tool away. If she had misjudged the force even slightly, it would have shattered on the spot—but in that brief instant, she focused all her strength and successfully altered its trajectory.
The moment she knocked it aside, Eki shoved the frozen, pale-faced Rosalin to the ground and threw herself over her. Rosalin's red dress was soon covered by disheveled pink hair and the hem of Eki's dove-colored gown.
The deflected magic tool flew toward the balcony. Upon hitting the glass window, it shattered.
BOOM!
A crimson explosion of flames erupted from the balcony. Above the two of them, shards of glass, embers, and debris shot out like arrows, ricocheting in all directions. The startled junior knights flung themselves behind the sofa to avoid the fragments. Still pinning Rosalin down, Eki turned her head to assess the situation—just in time to see the royal guard who had thrown the magic tool struggling to rise.
Was that the only one? Or were there more?
A broken bronze balcony handle lay nearby. She snatched it up and hurled it at the man.
"Ugh—!"
The heavy handle struck the guard squarely in the head. The staggering man collapsed.
All of this had happened in mere minutes.
Once she confirmed the guard was unconscious, Eki, still braced against the floor, finally released the blood she had been holding back. A thick, blackish-red stream gushed from her lips. Her mana core was working furiously to sustain her body and resist the poison, flooding her system with mana without restraint. There was no room to regulate the flow to protect her muscles—her entire body ached as if it were being torn apart.
[Hey, hey, Master—you know, right? If you pass out now, you...]
The magic sword's muttering barely reached her ears.