An Ominous Dream
Two days had already passed since that day.
I still hadn't been allowed to return to butler duty. The Grand Duke's permission had yet to come down.
I can't even train with the Hunting Festival right around the corner.
My whole body was itching with restlessness.
Granted, there had been a time or two when boredom won out and I slipped out of my bedroom. But every single time I came down the stairs, the hired servants in charge of cleaning would glare at me as if standing guard over a prisoner.
"You're coming down AGAIN, Miss Freya?! You need to rest more!"
"……."
Again and again, my back was pressed by their hands until I found myself marching right back to my room.
You people really won't let me do a single thing!
What on earth did that Grand Duke say to them?
Don't tell me he actually thinks I was on death's door?
Nibble, nibble.
Dragged back to my bed yet again, I spent the morning sighing between bites of the cookies that had been delivered to my room.
"As if preparing for the Hunting Festival weren't busy enough already……."
Just then, the fur ball scratching its right cheek with its hind paw froze mid-motion.
[The Hunting Festival?]
"Hmm?"
[What's that, butler?]
The fur ball was showing interest in the Hunting Festival.
"It's a hunt for the monsters that live along the empire's borders. The imperial family, the Temple, and all the noble houses gather together for it, and the house that slays the most monsters and collects the most monster cores receives a prize."
[A prize?! Like jerky?]
I snorted a laugh.
"Sure. You could call it something like jerky."
[Ahh, I see.]
The fur ball gave a short grunt of understanding, then seemed to remember something and sank into thought. After brooding over it for a long moment, it spoke up very, very carefully.
[You be careful, butler.]
"……About what?"
When I pressed, the fur ball straightened its posture and stared at me intently.
[Butler. Listen to me well. Lately, I've been having strange dreams.]
"Strange dreams?"
[Yeah. Dreams where you get hurt, butler.]
"I get hurt? Me?"
[Yeah, yeah. It was this bull of a thing with one long horn in the middle of its forehead and six smaller ones, three on each side.]
Eyes flaring ferociously, the fur ball described the creature's appearance.
[Its eyes were red, and its teeth looked absolutely terrifying!]
Apparently, in the dream, some horrifically ugly monster charged in and got the people of the Grand Duke's household hurt.
I listened quietly to the whole story, then said offhandedly, "So Lady Annette was there too, I take it?"
[Yeah! The Grand Duke's mama was there too!]
"Then it's a nonsense dream."
[Whaaat?!]
"Lady Annette doesn't participate in the Hunting Festival."
So how would Lady Annette possibly show up at one? I scoffed.
The fur ball took my disbelief as a personal insult, bristling with indignation and honking angrily.
Aren't you just adorable.
I spent a moment admiring the creature—all puffed-up fur and bared pearly-white teeth—before sliding off the bed.
Suddenly, I felt pathetic.
This won't do.
This house-arrest-that-wasn't-quite-house-arrest was a waste of time, and so was lying around admiring a fur ball. The thought struck me hard.
With the Hunting Festival this close, I can't afford to laze about.
The time had come to put an end to this confinement-in-name-only.
Changing out of my butler uniform and into training clothes, I recalled what the Grand Duke had said to me.
"Do not return to work until your body has fully healed."
Right. Then I would simply show him I was fully healed.
He'll let me come back after that.
Humming a tune, I slipped out of my bedroom and marched boldly down the stairs. A few of the servants scrambled over at the sight of me descending in training gear, but my sprint was faster.
For good measure, I dragged a couple of them along as I made a full circuit of the Grand Duke's residence. Then I headed straight for the training grounds where the knights were gathered.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ed, admitted into the Grand Duke's office, set down the teacup with careful hands.
Annette, glancing sideways at him, gave a small smile. "You've had your work cut out for you, I hear."
Ed smiled sheepishly. "Not at all. It's the same work I've always done whenever Miss Freya was away."
"And I heard you were the happiest man alive when you got yourself a butler."
"I only enjoyed it before I knew what she was really like. I couldn't even finish the paperwork His Highness kept putting off as it was—there were never enough hours in the day."
Annette nodded at that. Kadrian, who had been listening in silence, spoke up.
"If you're going to waste breath on pointless chatter, get out."
"I was just heading out for a patrol of the storage rooms anyway……. That's another of Miss Freya's duties I've been—"
"Out."
"Yes, my lord."
Ed bowed briskly and hurried out of the office. Annette chuckled at the sight of his exhausted back, then set her teacup down slowly.
When the smile had drained completely from her lips, she spoke. "What would you say to having Fredika meet the Tower Master?"
"……."
Kadrian said nothing. His violet eyes, unreadable, gazed at the tea rippling in his cup.
Annette spoke again. "If black magic is involved, the Tower Master may prove more useful than the High Priest."
"……."
The Tower Master, Bantes Ortean.
It would be no exaggeration to call him a mage of the century—a man who had ascended to the ranks of the Grand Mages. He was brilliant, undeniably so, though the peculiarly deranged scholarly obsession common to all mages had made his name a byword in less flattering circles as well.
Annette was one of those who despised his cunning streak. But she couldn't let her personal feelings take precedence where Freya was concerned.
Studying Kadrian's face, Annette caught the traces of deliberation written across it.
"And here I expected you to refuse outright. So you've considered it after all, haven't you?"
"……Yes, Mother."
Kadrian nodded. Annette tilted her head, puzzled.
"Then what are you hesitating for?"
Kadrian chose his words with care. "The Tower Master is a cunning creature who will stop at nothing to sate his own curiosity. If he were to learn that another soul resides in her body, there is no telling what he might do."
Since she was going to appear at an official event regardless, someone was bound to recognize Freya. The High Priest had seen through her at a glance; the Emperor and the Tower Master would likely recognize the girl she'd grown into just as easily.
But there was one pact between the imperial family, the Temple, the Magic Tower, and the Grand Duchy of Ballot: nothing concerning the heir of House Flanker was to be spoken of until the family's safety was absolutely certain.
Even so, Kadrian could not shake his unease.
Of course the Tower Master would be a slippery bastard.
He was the man who had exploited the Grand Duchy to extort the cores of mutant monsters just to build a resting place for Freya.
As Kadrian clicked his tongue, Annette looked at him and asked, "Do you still believe there might be another soul inside that child?"
His gaze lifted to hers.
"……I merely mention the possibility. As a hypothetical."
"No. Forget the hypotheticals. Your mother wants to know what you believe."
"……."
At her words, Kadrian drew a quiet breath.
"I……"
Annette swallowed nervously. After a brief pause, he finished.
"I believe her soul is her own. Beyond any doubt."
His voice and his gaze were firm. There was a resolve in them—a vow that this one belief, at least, he would never surrender.
Kadrian recalled the voice, the expression, the eyes that had called out to him without thought, time and again. When she addressed him as Grand Duke. When she called him Highness. When she spoke his name—Kadrian, simply his name.
Every one of those moments had been Freya.
It wasn't that nothing about her raised suspicion. No—it was too much, far too much. That she had lost her memories, yet somehow knew too many things for a woman who had lost them. That she had awakened her aura out of nowhere. That she wielded a sword with practiced mastery. On and on, the doubts piled high.
And still, in the end, Kadrian had never been able to cast her out. He had kept her at his side.
The reason was simple—yet all the more certain for its simplicity.
Her manner of speech, her way of moving, were exactly, precisely those of the Freya he had known as a child.
On that point, no one alive knew better than Kadrian himself.
Which was perhaps why he'd grown all the more confused, and all the more determined to learn the truth.
But none of it mattered anymore.
Whether she lied about losing her memory or truly lost it—either way, it changes nothing.
If she had truly lost her memories, then he would simply help her find them again. And if she had lied, then there was some reason she had no choice but to hide the truth.
Kadrian intended, quietly, to wait for her.
Whether Annette saw that resolve written on his face, she smiled with evident satisfaction.
"Good. That's answer enough. We'll speak again about the Tower Master once the Hunting Festival is over."
"Yes, Mother."
It was at that very moment—
From outside the office door, Ed's voice came rushing in, frantic and breathless.
"Your, Your Highness! F-Freya—Miss Freya is on a t-terrible rampage!"