Revenge (7)
Revenge (7)
The man was now sitting up.
Not in a comfortable position, of course. He was bound tightly to the chair. His arms were gathered behind his back and tied, both legs were secured to the chair legs, and a strap across his chest was fastened to the chair back. If he wanted to, the man could probably struggle and thrash about. Though all that would accomplish would be falling over sideways.
Like every piece of furniture and decoration in the room, even the chair the man was sitting on was high-quality. Simply falling over wouldn't break it.
"The imperial household was aware."
I repeated the man's last words.
"What does that mean?"
"I mean it literally."
Blood was still flowing down the man's face. Seeing his face directly made the memory far more vivid. The face of the man who had worn a monocle. The distinctive mustache and the well-groomed hair. Though unlike back then, he was dressed only in a shirt with rolled-up sleeves and trousers.
The man's nose was crooked to the side. It seemed he might have broken it when his face hit the floor hard earlier.
Given that he answered my questions without any resistance, it seemed he thought the only reason I was asking was simply because I was from the imperial household.
It couldn't be helped, really. This man had never seen my face. At least, not since I turned back time.
"How could the imperial household not be aware? That there are places in the imperial capital and other cities...... that sell drugs and people."
A small moan sounded from behind me. When I turned, Mia Crowfield was standing there, her face deathly pale. I saw her leaning against the wall; she didn't seem capable of standing comfortably.
But Alice didn't make her leave the room.
It seemed she thought Mia needed to hear this.
After all, Alice had brought her here precisely for that reason from the start.
Moreover, Mia Crowfield didn't seem to have any intention of leaving yet. Though she could barely stand leaning against the wall, her eyes were fixed straight on the man.
"The nobles all turn a blind eye as well. So long as they don't challenge their authority, and so long as managing their territories isn't harmed, they...... didn't bother to arrest us. Controlling an operation gathered in plain sight is easier than having it hide and move somewhere beyond your reach."
And so, the relationships became collusive.
"However, I doubt His Majesty ever gave his direct permission. Unlike some of the nobles."
"......."
But the man offered no further excuses in response to my statement.
It was a convenient self-deception, though. The orphanage I had lived in was being watched by Lucas. If Lucas had wanted to, he could have killed the director and extracted all the children. But Lucas hadn't bothered to do such a thing. And the Emperor hadn't ordered Lucas to rescue the children either......
...... No, wait.
"In the imperial capital, what kind of position did you hold?"
The man looked up at me intently at my words. His expression seemed to ask if I had come here without even knowing that.
The thought of just slamming my fist into his cheekbone did cross my mind, but I held back and waited patiently for his answer.
"I was...... merely a middleman. For those too busy to personally visit the orphanages, I would purchase and resell goods in the form they ordered."
"......."
I turned to look at Alice. Alice, her face rigid, gave a single nod.
She had said that they had crushed them from the top down and worked their way to this point.
This man was nobody special. He put on a gentlemanly facade and spoke with a seemingly unflappable tone, but the ones who actually bought and consumed the goods were the nobles. This man was merely a distributor who received requests, bought raw materials, processed them, and sold them.
Those 'goods' were probably sometimes children, and sometimes drugs.
But, if that was the case.
If so...... then the orphanage this man had visited was simply one of countless others.
Then what was the reason Lucas had been monitoring that perfectly ordinary orphanage in the first place? If the Emperor hadn't intended to annihilate the entire organization, there would be no reason for Lucas specifically to be the one watching the orphanage.
"Sylvia."
Suddenly, Alice called my name, snapping me back to my senses.
"Are you alright?"
She was asking, but her expression was one of someone who already knew I wasn't.
I wasn't alright. But it wasn't because of this man. Though I found him disgusting and thought there'd be no harm in killing him right then and there, a larger problem had surfaced in my mind.
If Lucas had been deliberately watching that orphanage—no, of course, I had already assumed he must have been aiming for something there—
What if the reason Lucas had been there was to find 'Claire'?
There had to be a basis for Lucas choosing me instead of Claire.
And the Emperor had seen me when Lucas brought me in, and he had judged me to be 'something'.
That 'something' the Emperor had been 'searching for'.
How did it go in the original story?
Claire, barely enduring her horrific environment, eventually awakened her abilities under extreme stress and caused a massive fire in the middle of the imperial capital. The cause of that fire was a lamp, but it was Claire's innate talent that let her escape the colossal blaze without a single scratch.
In the original story, Lucas found Claire after witnessing that talent.
In the original story, the Emperor's plans began to rapidly collapse after Claire sacrificed herself for Alice.
In the original story, there were several implications that Claire's birth held some kind of secret.
Then, what about here?
Here, Lucas had seen my talent and found 'me'.
Then, that was a misunderstanding. I had no secret birth or anything of the sort. Such a thing didn't even exist in the first place.
What did the Emperor mistake me for, that he accepted me?
"Sylvia?"
Alice cautiously called my name once more.
I looked at Alice's face.
It was a face I had been seeing for the past ten years. From when I was very young, all the way until now.
Perhaps the reason Claire had sacrificed herself for Alice was because of that. For Alice, who she had bickered and fought with every single day like a sister.
Then, what if.
In this world, what would happen if I sacrificed myself for Alice?
If the story proceeded similarly to the original, while Claire remained alive.
...... Why hadn't I noticed this until now? I knew that Lucas had specifically taken Claire, and that there were countless orphanages besides that one. I had even entertained similar questions in my head several times, so why only now?
*
"S-so, what exactly happened here?"
After the man was dragged away, Mia Crowfield asked, her voice desperate.
"Who is that man? What connection did he have to my father......."
Right, this issue remained as well.
"Mia, have a seat for now."
There were still no knights inside. Only we were in the room.
Alice had offered her the bed, not the chair the man had occupied moments before. It wasn't as if the chair was stained with blood, but she seemed reluctant to seat her where a criminal had been restrained just now.
Though, of course, the bed had been used by the same criminal.
"That man...... he sold goods to your father, that is, to Count Crowfield...... as well."
"Goods?"
Even Mia Crowfield should have been able to figure it out vaguely after hearing the previous conversation.
Perhaps she didn't want to believe it. She asked us as if she knew nothing.
"...... Children. Conversely, the opium must have been what they were selling from their end."
Alice answered after a brief hesitation.
Mia Crowfield's face went slack. It was an expression drained of all emotion.
"...... No."
She murmured after a long pause.
"No!"
And her voice gradually rose.
"No, Father, Daddy could never do that!"
Her blank, unfocused eyes sharpened again. It was the sharpest expression I had ever seen on Mia Crowfield, even including the face she had before the time reversal.
"How dare you—my dead father's honor—"
"...... Your pupils."
Just as Mia Crowfield was about to rise from her seat, I spoke.
"Do you remember your father's pupils?"
"......."
Mia looked up at me. She still wore a confused expression.
"Did you ever see them contracted to the size of pinpoints?"
Mia's mouth fell slightly open.
I had seen it. Every time I had faced the Count, his pupils were tiny as dots. I had never seen their size change.
A pale face. An emaciated body. Dark circles under the eyes. And eyes bloodshot like someone who hadn't slept in days, with pupils shrunk to pinpricks.
Even in dark places, in dim interiors like this one, his pupils had remained contracted to tiny dots.
"Those are pupils characteristic of someone using drugs. The way the pupils remain in a constant state of contraction even in the dark."
"F-Father was...... he was just working so hard for the county......."
"Do you truly believe that?"
At my question, Mia Crowfield, unable to say a single word, simply looked up at me.