Viper's Den (5)
The chamberlain suddenly emerged from somewhere and stood before me.
"Have you finished your audience with Her Majesty?"
"Yeah. I'm about to head back. Is the saintess in the drawing room?"
"Follow me. I'll show you."
The chamberlain turned with a stern expression and started walking. After a long stretch of silent corridor, he finally spoke.
"I didn't expect you'd actually come through on your promise, Mr. Balder."
"I had business in the capital anyway, and if Queen Elua loses it completely, that's a problem for me too."
"Whatever your motives..."
"Yeah. Think whatever you want."
A brief silence.
"By the way, chamberlain. Since I left the inn—no, since I left the palace—has Elua's condition gotten any worse?"
"It has. Galia Grancis is the only reason she's held on this long."
"Worse how, exactly?"
The chamberlain stopped and turned to face me.
"Doesn't the state of the kingdom right now give you the answer?"
"Hmm... so, basically, she's making moves on the chessboard while not in her right mind."
"Her Majesty is undoubtedly trying to choose the most righteous path. But there are times when it feels like an invisible hand is forcing her down the wrong one."
That's a classic symptom of mental illness. In Elua's case, it wasn't full-blown madness—just rational moments laced with crazy impulses.
"Things keep going awry. The territory lockdowns, the mess with Prince Gobert—it's all gotten incredibly complicated."
"I see... But what do you mean, 'Grancis is the reason she's still like that'?"
"Exactly what I said. Grancis is why Her Majesty hasn't killed herself yet."
"Pardon...?"
The chamberlain resumed walking down the corridor.
"Grancis underwent personality extraction. She's become a doll that only moves on Her Majesty's orders. And she stays by Her Majesty's side all day. Even at night."
"And?"
"You know Her Majesty's erratic behavior well enough. Even when you worked at the palace, there were several dangerous incidents, weren't there?"
Yeah. She'd tried jumping off the terrace once, and nearly gotten trampled by horses in the middle of the guard's riding practice.
"Guess. She must have ordered Grancis to intervene every time she attempts suicide."
"Correct. Her Majesty can't suppress her own self-destructive urges. Grancis has saved her life countless times."
The chamberlain recounted a recent incident. When morning came and Elua hadn't emerged, they checked her bedroom and found the two tangled on the bed. Elua had been clutching a sharp shard of glass from who-knows-where, trying to stab her own throat—Grancis had held it back with her bare hands...
Damn...
"Blood from Her Majesty and Grancis soaked the bedsheets and their bodies red. Can you even imagine it?"
A snake-eyed queen covered in blood, trying to kill herself, stopped only by a living corpse... Horrific.
"Sorry, chamberlain, but if it's that dangerous, why not use binding magic? Or station a female guard in the bedroom."
"Impossible, for three reasons."
"What could be more important than protecting the queen's life?"
"First, Her Majesty refuses. Second, in the current climate, no one can be trusted—not even the guards. Third, magic doesn't work on Her Majesty."
"What...? Magic doesn't affect her...?"
Magic doesn't work? What kind of nonsense is that? Nothing in this world is immune to magic. Not even me—and Elua's supposed to be?
"This is top secret, Mr. Balder. If word got out that the queen is immune to protective spells..."
"Understood... Damn... the world..."
I'd just dropped by, but I was learning way more than expected. Elua... what the hell are you?
That's when the chamberlain halted abruptly—I nearly crashed into his back. Brione was blocking the corridor.
"Chamberlain. May I escort Bertrand from here?"
The chamberlain stared at Brione silently, then gave a curt nod.
"Thank you, chamberlain. About Her Majesty..."
"I won't say a word."
"Thank you..."
Brione bowed her head, and the chamberlain turned without a reply and vanished down the hall.
Once he was gone, Brione glanced at me awkwardly and smiled.
"Bertrand."
"What? Suddenly?"
"Just... it's been a while."
"Yeah, it has. But what's this about? You're not here just to say hi."
Brione fidgeted, twisting uncomfortably, before finally speaking.
"Not that... just...?"
I knew exactly what Brione wanted. I'm no eunuch—I could see she liked me and was clinging. But understanding her feelings and empathizing were two different things. I wasn't the type to blindly accept someone throwing themselves at me, and Brione wasn't free anyway. She belonged to Elua, and I knew how Elua felt about me. Expressing affection toward me would displease her mistress. Giving false hope to someone in Brione's precarious position was torture. Better for her to cut ties cleanly and focus on her duties. Otherwise, she'd end up like those maids Elua had butchered—carted out and dumped beyond the palace walls.
"Alright. See you next time."
"Huh...? Oh... yeah..."
Brione stepped aside, eyes downcast. Pitiful, but I didn't want to stir up her heart and make her suffer.
I rode back with Celereja in the palace-provided carriage to where the hell horse waited. Celereja, on her first visit to the capital, seemed disappointed to leave so soon. But there was no choice—I had to get back to the inn immediately.
"If you ever come to the capital again, I'll escort you. Don't be too sad."
"Okay... I understand..."
I loaded the sulking Celereja onto the hell horse and galloped off.
"Still, it worked out well, Saintess."
"What did?"
"The cardinal looked like he was ready to do something for you. You'll probably get promoted before winter ends."
"I don't know... Honestly... they all know it was your doing, Bertrand..."
"We'll see. Anyway, promotion means more budget, more priests and nuns under you—you'll be busy."
"All thanks to you, Bertrand..."
Celereja fell silent for a moment, then asked abruptly.
"What was your relationship with Chief Saintess Blaze?"
"Huh? Blaze? Why suddenly?"
"The chief saintess... told me about your past. So..."
Ah, that sharp saintess had already figured out I'd shared some truth with Celereja.
"Just comrades who traveled together briefly."
"Is that all...? She seemed to like you a lot—and miss you."
"Did she? We were close. She helped a ton fighting the Demon King's forces."
"The Demon King's army..."
Blaze had used her signature Healing Rain to nearly wipe out small Demon King detachments operating apart from the main force. That's how she'd become chief saintess despite being around Celereja's age.
"Someday... I want to wield holy power that strong too..."
Celereja mumbled, trailing off. Aigoo, is this wolf-in-sheep's-clothing saintess jealous of the chief saintess? She doesn't suit the role at all, except for her actual holy power.
Back in Rosens, I dropped Celereja at the temple and returned to the inn.
"Huh? Boss? Where've you been?"
Marim, just back from deliveries, greeted me.
"Yeah."
I brushed her off and entered the inn. Behind me, Marim grumbled.
"What the hell? When someone says hi, you say hi back."
Calling your boss 'that guy'? You little furball...
"Hehe... Bertrand... you're back...?"
Idwild, serving tables, greeted me with her creepy smile.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Hehe... what..."
I ignored Idwild's crestfallen look and bounded upstairs.
"Whoa! Hey, you bastard! Watch where you're going!"
Ukun, emerging from his room with a beer, plastered himself against the wall and yelled.
I stood before Kosa's guest room door and knocked slowly.
"Come in, Master."
Opening the door, the room was filled with her signature mystical incense. Kosa sat in the center like mist, a faint smile under her black eyepatch etched with the Demon Seal Mandala—as if she'd known I'd come.
"Kosa. Got a question."
"Sit."
I sat facing her, and she asked,
"What do you wish to know?"
"When you see someone's past, do you need their birth date and stuff?"
"Not necessarily. It's helpful for clear, vivid visions like reality. Without it, only fragments—faint ones."
"So you can see anyone's past, even if they're not here?"
Kosa shook her head with a smile.
"No. At least light physical contact is required. Without that, if I could see everyone's past, I'd be called a god."
My hunch was right. Then...
"Remember when the queen visited our inn? You shook hands with her, right?"
During the audience, Kosa had claimed blindness and groped the air. Elua had taken her hand, saying she was right there.
Kosa's lips curved softly, as if she'd anticipated this.
"Yes, I did."
"Did you see anything?"
"Yes."