A Warning and a Whining Blade
“Do not touch Her Imperial Highness Titania.”
“……”
“I harbor no particular thoughts regarding Prince Brian—at least, not yet.”
“B-Brian is currently…”
“I am not here to persuade Your Highness. House Castrein has no need to do so.”
Step, step. Raymon closed the distance, his heavy boot coming down to crush the remains of a demonic beast beneath his heel. Black ichor mingled with foul blood, pooling outward in dark, wet stains across the polished floor.
“Therefore, I have no choice but to issue a warning.”
He spoke with absolute composure, as though stating the most self-evident truth in the world.
“…Are you really doing this over such shallow pretenses? Merely because she is your fiancée, and a benefactor to your house?”
The Imperial Consort struggled desperately to maintain her composure. In truth, she knew those reasons were hardly shallow.
House Castrein was… an adversary far too monstrous to provoke over someone as insignificant as Titania.
“You acted as though you had no interest in the succession, never once paying it any heed until now. I find it difficult to comprehend why you choose to intervene at this late hour. Is this truly the will of the Ducal House of Castrein?”
“I believe I made it quite clear that you have no need to comprehend it. I am merely delivering a sentence.”
The man who had spent far more nights sleeping among piles of demonic carcasses than in the comfort of a warm bed delivered his words in a flat, tranquil drawl.
“Do not touch her. If you do, you will undoubtedly come to regret it.”
“……”
No matter how one framed it, today had been an unequivocal defeat for the Consort.
In fact, the one who had dealt her that humiliating blow was Titania herself!
Yet here Raymon was, rushing to the scene only to threaten her not to lay a finger on the princess—promising that if she dared harbor resentment and retaliate over today’s incident, he would not stand idly by.
It was utterly baffling.
Had House Castrein not always been notoriously aloof, unyielding, and impossible to budge?
Even if they had lost their wits over their newly adopted daughter, rumors had long claimed they cared more about demonic beasts than fellow human beings.
Even in the height of the social season, they scarcely set foot in the Imperial Palace unless summoned by an explicit decree from the Emperor himself…!
“A benefactor to the family… the official pretense of a fiancée… If you seek reasons beyond those, I do not possess the answer either. However…”
Raymon Castrein drove the final nail into the coffin, his expression cold and unmoving.
“When the time comes that Your Highness witnesses that answer with your own eyes, I am quite certain you will regret it.”
His voice was chillingly detached—as though he were casually describing the path of a beast about to be carved to pieces.
“Hey, are you alright?!”
The Emperor and the Consort had finally departed, leaving me to contemplate my next moves and how to wrap up the remaining mess, when someone came charging up in a panic and seized my shoulders.
I flinched, terrified that my emoticon sword might accidentally impale him, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest as he shook me back and forth. I stared into the trembling crimson eyes hovering inches from my face with a rather bewildered expression.
“You! Hey, you idiot! Did you really have to pull a catastrophe like this the one time I happened to be away?! And within a single day?!”
“There are still plenty of people around, Lord Lisianthus.”
“Does that look like it matters right now?!”
Looking at Lisianthus, whom I felt like I hadn't seen in ages, he thumped his own chest repeatedly as if his insides were scorching to ash. I cast a discreet glance around our surroundings.
The demonic beasts that had infiltrated the palace had already been swiftly purged the moment the Emperor ordered Raymon to investigate, and almost everyone remaining in the courtyard was under the influence of House Castrein anyway.
Even so, throwing a tantrum like this when you never knew who might be listening was reckless… Wait, no. Could it be? Was he furious because it looked like I had brazenly thrown House Castrein’s name around to put on a grand show? Come to think of it, Raymon’s attitude earlier had been quite bizarre as well.
Though I had boldly declared to Raymon that I intended to break off the engagement, wouldn't cause any trouble, and wanted him to find true love and marry whoever he wished, my conscience still pricked me a little.
After all, the ducal house had successfully stayed clear of the imperial court’s disgusting mudslinging for years. Dragging them into the fray under the guise of an unpaid debt certainly made me somewhat guilty.
“It matters because we agreed to deduct it from the debt!”
So what if I did?!
I decided to put on a brave front.
As long as the outcome was favorable, that was all that mattered. Besides, House Castrein couldn't possibly want to linger in an ambiguous limbo forever, wondering how long they’d have to keep showering me with favors just because I was their benefactor. The current Duke Castrein was a man of terrifyingly sharp judgment, after all.
Lisianthus glared down at my defiant posture with an expression that suggested everything about me was rubbing him the wrong way. His burning gaze felt like a lit fuse on a firecracker.
“What on earth are you doing swinging a sword around with hands that look like dried kindling?! Have you completely lost your mind?!”
“Ah…”
For a moment, words failed me entirely.
—Master! ✧٩(ˊωˋ*)و✧ The automatic weight-adjustment function is currently active! Shall I lighten it further if it's too strenuous?
This utterly clueless blade…
Self-consciously, I gave my wrist a tiny flick, testing the weight of the sword. Lisianthus’s eyes tracked the subtle wobble of the blade back and forth.
…I’d seen a look like that somewhere before. Back in my past life, my friend’s cat had the exact same look in its eyes whenever someone waved a feather teaser in front of its nose.
Of course, Titania’s physique was the very definition of a sheet of paper.
She ate next to nothing, and physical exercise was a foreign concept to her.
On top of that, having recently survived two brush-with-death experiences, she still looked like a frail, undernourished wraith compared to healthy people, even after convalescing in the Empress’s palace.
So when a girl who should have keeled over from the mere weight of a hilt suddenly went around putting on a demonic beast extermination show, it was only natural for him to be suspicious…
“Wh-What’s more, you don't know the first thing about demonic beasts! How could you do something so terrifying?!”
Having reached some sort of conclusion, Lisianthus suddenly snatched the weapon straight out of my hands while I was still staring down at it in contemplation. My jaw dropped in sheer astonishment at the unexpected theft.
“Wh-What?!”
Bzzzzzt!
A crackling burst of static electricity and intense tremors erupted, as though he had grabbed an electrified wire. Hummmmm, buzzzzzz! Gripping the wildly protesting blade with visible strain, Lisianthus barked at me:
“Slaying demonic beasts with a sword’s raw power? At the cost of shaving away your own lifespan?! Just because everyone calls you crazy, did you actually go and pawn off your sanity?! Do you have a death wish or something?!”
“……”
…How in the world was I supposed to explain to him that everything I told the Emperor had been a bald-faced lie?
The blade thrashed frantically like an enraged feral cat trapped in a stranger's arms. The vibrations were so violent that my heart leapt into my throat.
“Y-You’re bleeding?!”
Because he had wrenched the sword away so abruptly, I hadn't realized that he had gripped the bare edge with his naked palm. Crimson blood dripped steadily from his fingers, yet without so much as a grimace, Lisianthus grunted sullenly:
“A little spit will cure it.”
“Stop being insane and let go of the blade, you lunatic! Why is a swordsman treating his own hands like garbage?!”
“Being insane is when a weakling like you swings around a sword without even knowing what it is!”
“Just let go of it already! Let go!”
It was right at that moment that an ethereal voice echoed inside my skull—the very same voice that had asked earlier before the Emperor whether the Power of Horus could be unlocked.
Direct contact with Gloriana's Insignia verified.
Master Succession Ceremony unapproved.
Contact with an individual other than 'Contractor' Titania confirmed.
Would you like to summon <Nigredo> to the Contractor's side?
“…Pardon?”
What is that supposed to mean?
Fwoooosh!
Thump.
An instant later, the emoticon sword—stained brilliant scarlet with Lisianthus’s blood—slipped straight through his grasp and landed neatly into my arms.
“……”
“……”
“……”
“…Hey. What is that thing?”
Lisianthus’s voice had turned unnervingly calm. That sudden shift was far more terrifying than his yelling. It was like watching a snarling guard dog abruptly fall dead silent right before sinking its fangs into its prey’s throat.
He stared down at his bleeding palm, then raised his quiet crimson eyes to fixate on the sword resting meekly against my chest.
Under the weight of that bizarre, suffocating pressure, my eyes darted frantically in every direction.
—M-M-Master! Th-Th-That savage, violent brute of a man! How dare a crude brute like him touch me! Waaaaahhh! ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽!! Oh, the absolute tragedy! The sheer indignity of it all!
‘Would you shut up for just five seconds?!’
—Masteeeer… You’re so cruel…
“What kind of sword is that? You picked it up? You expect me to believe that lie?”
“It may not compare to Flamberge’s Rage, but it’s still an exceptional weapon!”
Lisianthus froze. The fury that had been blazing inside him seemed to extinguish all at once, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. Meanwhile, I offered him a bright, radiant smile.
“…You.”
“Wondering where I heard that name? I did hand over Gloriana’s Insignia, after all—well, to say I handed it over is a bit much since I’m currently borrowing it. But you wield the power of fire so brazenly, and you carry such a magnificent blade! And because of that sword, the past… well, the past me threw an enormous tantrum over her fiancé dancing the first dance at another girl’s debutante! It’s elementary deduction!”
“You…”
Lisianthus’s crimson eyes wavered violently.