The Haunted Sword of the Rose Palace
“Eeeek! Aaaack! Aaaaagh!”
The scream rang crystal clear, impossible to mistake.
Crackle, zap!
A jolt like lightning tore through Miriam’s fingertips, and with a shriek of terror, she released her grip. The blade, freshly drawn from its sheath, clattered violently onto the floorboards.
“Master! Master, heavens above! Thief, thief, thief! A shameless, filthy thief! ૮( ᵒ̌▱๋ᵒ̌ )ა!! You—you came for me, didn’t you?! Beautiful, noble, devoted little me! You’re going to sell me off and melt me down into scrap metal, aren’t you?! That’s your wicked plan! Lady Titania, where are you?! Your darling is in danger!”
Vvvvrm, vrrrm, vrrrrrrrrm…!
The blade began to vibrate with such a deafening frenzy that, had Titania been present, she would have clapped her hands over her ears in despair.
Miriam was scared out of her wits. Although the voice shrieking directly into her head had cut off, the pristine blade was now trembling violently across the floor. Naturally, Miriam couldn’t understand a word the sword was saying. All she knew was that the moment she touched it as if possessed, someone had screamed bloody murder inside her skull, an electric shock had stung her hand, and now the blade was droning like an angry spirit. That alone was more than enough to terrify her to the bone.
It was as if the weapon were demanding who dared invade this sanctuary.
As if it were proclaiming judgment upon the sinner who coveted what was not hers!
C-Could it be...? No matter what, this is the Imperial Princess’s chamber. Why would her door be wide open with nobody guarding it? No signs of a break-in, either... Could this mean...?
Did this sword devour everyone like me? Were the rumors true? Am I cursed?
Flustered and half out of her mind, Miriam’s wild imagination leaped to the worst possible conclusions.
In truth, reality was not so different from what she had initially assumed. The Rose Palace was simply empty because nobody cared about it. The guards, whose dereliction of duty had been egregious from the start, had incurred the Emperor’s fury and been thrown into the dungeons, and no replacements had yet been assigned.
With all the original staff fleeing in panic, who would dare linger in a ruined, ominous residence? Especially when the terrifying Castrein Duchy was involved. Caught between fear of Consort Cleo and terror of the Castrein family, ordinary palace servants didn’t dare take a single step near the grounds.
Miriam, blessed with more nerve than sense and a cunning that worked exclusively for petty gain, had simply been the very first maid bold enough to sneak into the Rose Palace for plunder.
Her audacity had been particularly grand in daring to loot the Imperial Princess’s bedchamber first, but now...
Vvvrm, vrrrrm, vrrrrrrrm, vrrrm...!
The sword shuddered with renewed fury, thrashing against the floor. Miriam’s heart leaped into her throat. Bare and exposed, the blade radiated an unnervingly cold, ghostly white light.
Is that thing going to fly up and chop my head off?!
“H-H-Help! S-Someone save me! A haunted sword—it’s trying to kill me! It’s going to murder me! Aaaack! I’m sorry, I was wrong!”
Completely beside herself, Miriam fled the room in tears, screaming at the top of her lungs.
And that was precisely how, in a mere three days, a wildly absurd rumor spread like wildfire through the Imperial Palace:
“There is a cursed blade in the Rose Palace! Princess Titania’s fall was because she was possessed by that evil sword! Now that the Rose Palace is empty, that demonic blade is preying upon passersby to devour them! That sword must be destroyed for Princess Titania to awaken!”
The day after I sent Bibi and Raymon away with a firm "let's stop meddling."
A day when not a single member of the Castrein family set foot in the palace.
The fourth day since I had awakened—though I was still pretending to be unconscious.
Early in the morning, Prince Adrian walked into my room with an utterly indescribable, ambiguous expression.
“So, apparently, there’s a ghost haunting the Rose Palace.”
I froze mid-bite, chewing on my soft-boiled egg. A golden streak of yolk dribbled down my chin.
“…Huh?”
“A maid who snuck into the Rose Palace yesterday ran out in absolute hysterics, wailing that a haunted sword was trying to kill her. Everyone saw it before the guards arrested her and dragged her off.”
“...And?”
“Consort Cleo took custody of the maid, claimed this matter is grave, and declared a formal investigation into the Rose Palace.”
A cold sweat instantly trickled down my spine.
Ah, right. The Emoticon Sword...
I completely forgot about that thing!
Even if I had remembered, I would have hesitated to ask the Castrein Duchy to fetch or move it. But for Consort Cleo—the very person who had handed that sword to me—to insist on investigating it herself?
Suspicious. It reeked of suspicion from ten miles away. Gulping down the rest of the egg, I asked, “…And then?”
“His Majesty officially approved the investigation yesterday...”
“...And?”
“And he publicly declared that he will uncover and execute the culprit behind the personal curse inflicted on Princess Titania and the disaster that followed.”
“...You said the investigation only started yesterday. They’ve already decided it’s a curse? As an established fact?”
“The High Priest’s treatment should have healed any external wounds sustained from the demonic beast, yet while the Castrein Duchy’s adoptive daughter emerged from the exact same ambush without a scratch, you remain comatose.” Adrian dabbed a handkerchief to the corner of my mouth as he continued. “Add to that your previous fall and coma at the Rose Palace. With one sinister misfortune following another, they claim Princess Titania must undoubtedly be under a curse... and that there might be something more to it.”
“Wow, what a total circus!”
A complete and utter circus! I was going to lose my mind!
Letting out a hollow, incredulous laugh, I clutched my head. Adrian folded the handkerchief he had used to wipe my chin and gave me a wry smile.
No question about it—this was Consort Cleo’s own staged farce.
Wow. Here I thought I’d dealt a decent blow by sending the Rose Palace maids to do penitent prayers under the priests' supervision, and she stabs me in the back like this?
“So... do you happen to have any idea what this is about?”
“…W-Well, about that sword. The truth is, Imperial Consort Cleo was the one who gave it to me. She called it a magic sword, or a masterpiece blade, or something...”
“Consort Cleo? Gave you a sword?”
“She told me to deliver it to Young Duke Raymon and go to the Offering Festival in his place...”
“No wonder you volunteered for the festival out of the blue.” Adrian clicked his tongue, pieces falling into place.
Darkness seemed to cloud my vision.
I had been staying at the Lilac Palace for quite a while now. While I had kept my distance from Adrian at first, being an invalid and feeling awkward about putting on airs in someone else’s home, I had eventually thickened my skin and settled into a comfortable rhythm.
Adrian himself treated me casually, like a real sister, regardless of how I acted, which put me at ease.
Besides, staying in the Empress’s palace right under Consort Cleo’s nose had undoubtedly branded me in the consort's eyes as a useless piece that needed to be eliminated. I had no choice but to ally with Adrian and the Empress.
Leaving out the bizarre contract and the fact that the sword literally talked to me, I gave an explanation that blended truth and tactful omission.
“I suspected something was wrong with the blade, so I held off on handing it over. Then the accident happened and I ended up bedridden. It’s not like a sword resting quietly in my room grew legs and walked off, so why did it suddenly—?”
“Do you have any idea how many servants sneak into empty palaces to steal things? Some brazen maid probably broke in to loot your room.”
“…Natalie is still on Consort Cleo’s side, so fabricating evidence of a curse wouldn’t be hard for them. But at this point in time, what does she gain by framing someone for cursing the Rose Palace...?”
Ah.
My eyes locked with Adrian’s.
“…Unless the Consort has lost her mind, she wouldn’t try to pin this on the Castrein Duchy, would she?”
“She could claim that a guilty Castrein Duchy attempted to silence Titania before she woke up, only to fail... but that would mean picking a fight to the death with them. Surely she wouldn’t go that far.”
“Then who? Don’t tell me... Her Majesty the Empress?”
Adrian pondered the thought. “She might not name a culprit right away. After all, you’re the victim who almost died. If you wake up and openly deny it, her story falls apart.”
“And the Consort will never admit she gave me the sword in the first place?”
“Of course not.”
“Right. Even if it came to light, she’d just feign innocence. ‘My goodness! Your delicate hands have never even held a letter opener properly. Why on earth would I give you a sword? Perhaps if it were our darling Brian...’ She’d spout nonsense like that and deny everything.”
“Whoa, Titania. Your Consort Cleo impression is eerily spot-on!”
Adrian’s heartfelt admiration only plunged me deeper into gloom. I downed my entire glass of orange juice in one gulp.
“Ah, but... I need that sword. It can’t fall into anyone else’s hands...”
“Why?”
Because in anyone else’s hands, it becomes a literal demonic sword! For real! If someone else wields it, they might actually die!
Unable to voice that aloud, I could only twitch my lips in silent agony.
Adrian shrugged. “Though, it does seem to be an unusual weapon. They say anyone who touches it gets shocked with electricity, so nobody could move it. In the end, only a knight at the Sword Expert level managed to finally hold it.”
It didn't have that feature originally... Did it develop that after recognizing me as its master?
Does it shock anyone who isn't its contractor?
Either way, the sword had unintentionally managed to cement its reputation as a bona fide demonic blade.
The more I heard, the more my head throbbed.