The Shadow Behind the Enemy
Why had she done it?
Perhaps she had no lingering attachment to the position of Eina, or perhaps it simply hadn’t been necessary. One of the two, then?
‘As I thought, something’s off.’
Dorothea. Dotricia. Tiana.
Cassel recited the three different names in turn before boarding the carriage that would take him and the Klein Duchess back to the ducal residence once the ball had ended.
He asked naturally, “By the way, Mother. Was it true that no one knew about Tiana’s silk robe when she first entered as an Eina?”
“That’s right. It was something from her childhood, so she must have brought it out of sentiment. We had it made by hand and sent to the temple when she was little, so there’s no way we wouldn’t recognize it.”
“Did the servant who was in charge of the sewing discover it?”
“No. Unlike the other clothes, it was so small and soft that the maid was startled and pulled it out. She thought it looked unusual, so she went to the head maid. I happened to be outside at the time because I had something to discuss with her.”
The timing was far too convenient to be mere coincidence. Out of all the countless moments, she had chosen to report it precisely when the head maid and the Duchess were together? And after rummaging through someone else’s belongings?
It felt as though someone had known the item’s location in advance and waited for the perfect moment to act.
Cassel was already beginning to suspect that the entire sequence of events had been orchestrated by an insider.
‘I stayed away from the estate for too long. Four years on the border, hoping everything would remain peaceful… how foolish. I knew both Father and Mother lose all reason when it comes to Tiana. I should have stepped in myself.’
He clenched his fist tightly, hidden from view.
He also reassured the Duchess that he would speak with Morris and calm him down if the opportunity arose, since the knight had not returned to the residence.
The new commander’s insignia on Cassel’s shoulder carried not the weight of responsibility, but only resolve.
He was determined to face whatever came next without regret.
* * *
Pay sat blankly near a window on one of the Magic Tower’s floors.
“…Pay?”
“Ah, Holtdein.”
Pay had learned that the Klein ducal house had found the daughter they lost long ago.
In truth, she had already sensed it, however faintly.
The Undine she had stationed near the Selfia House reported that Dot had left one day and never returned for several days afterward. Then maids had stormed into the Selfia House, taken only a few belongings, and sealed the area.
She had thought the outcome would be one of two possibilities: either Dot had been driven out, or she had somehow managed to be recognized as the ducal daughter once more.
…It had been the latter.
That was as far as the information Undine could gather.
The spirit had endured the distance from her summoner as long as she could before returning to the spirit realm, exhausted. Since Pay had been steadily consuming her own mana, she decided against summoning Undine again for the time being.
If Dot had truly become the ducal daughter and moved into the main residence, there was no need to send Undine again.
It would be pointless.
Now that things had come to this, Pay knew Dot would finally extend her claws. The event she had vaguely sensed would one day occur had suddenly drawn several steps closer.
She did not remain idle, either.
First, she sent three of the Fine Echo Nets near Grace Monastery. If anything suspicious appeared, they were to inform Number Four through telepathy, and if a fire broke out, they were to extinguish it immediately.
That way, Pay could rush over to help the moment trouble arose.
She had no idea when the woman who had once again stolen the title of ducal daughter would set the place ablaze. …Even this kind of preparation had only become possible because Pay had continued to grow as a water mage.
When she had first arrived at the Magic Tower, the combined power of the Fine Echo Nets had been inferior to even a single Undine. The heavy rain that had fallen on the day of her regression had only been possible because the Fine Echoes lent their strength to her wish.
In the end, they still could not accomplish much on their own. Now that she could share her water mana with them, she felt somewhat reassured.
Holtdein, completely unaware of the complicated thoughts running through Pay’s mind, muttered, “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen much of Lord Lucius lately.”
“Yes. He’s probably at the library.”
Pay answered lightly, but she had long since felt Lucius’s absence. Momo still remained by her side, after all.
Yet Lucius, Momo’s master, had been visibly avoiding her.
His room was still across from hers, but the door was always firmly shut. In the past, he had kept it open most of the time, so she could often see him reading when she stepped into the hallway.
Lucius went to the library early in the morning and disappeared somewhere in the afternoons. Pay usually spent her mornings researching and picked out books after lunch, but Lucius’s schedule had suddenly diverged from hers. She only realized it now because he had once arranged his entire routine around her needs and daily life.
She had heard he borrowed stacks of books and read in some secluded corner on another floor. If she went looking for him, they could talk that day, but the next time she checked, he would be gone from that floor.
It wasn’t that he was actively preventing her from finding him, but this was clearly deliberate distance.
‘Why is he avoiding me? Did I make some terrible mistake with Lucius?’
The thought troubled her.
Back when she lived at Grace Monastery, her dull and docile personality had caused similar situations several times. People drawn to her pretty light-pink hair would soon grow tired of Morgana’s gloom and rigid nature and leave.
I know… I know my personality is far too single-minded.
After all, even after dying and returning, the path I chose wasn’t to uncover the truth and reclaim my place, but to throw everything away as unnecessary.
Yes, I’m ugly. I know I’m terribly ugly, but even so, I’m trying to change from who I was in the past.
“Oh, you heard too, right? That the Klein ducal house found their daughter. The whole capital was in an uproar.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Holtdein grinned.
“This is an open secret inside the Magic Tower, so you should know too. The parentage test they supposedly did at the main temple was probably done with one of our artifacts. They borrowed something from us and paid for it, but it still hasn’t been returned.”
“Surely not. Isn’t there a holy spell that can detect lies? And sacred relics too.”
“There’s something called the Truth-Reading Statue. That’s what they borrowed from us. You input the questions you want to ask in advance and then ask the subject.”
“Is that even possible?”
Pay was quietly surprised to learn the statue was more advanced than she had imagined.
“Yes. If the subject doesn’t answer, it inflicts a sharp pain. The holy spell you mentioned requires high-level divine power, but our artifact runs on the mana stored inside it.”
The more she listened to Holtdein, the more astonished she became.
“And it can be used on objects, not just people. That part was easier to tamper with, so there was some controversy… but that’s how it is.”
“Really…?”
As Pay repeated the words aloud, old memories surfaced, and she felt a small shiver.
‘No way!’
Long ago, she had gone to the main temple with Dot.
When told to kneel and pray in a private room, she had obeyed. Suddenly, strange words echoed from the empty air.
“…Is this yours?”
“Yes?”
“If you do not answer, you will be punished. I asked whether the pendant around your neck is yours.”
She hadn’t properly heard the first part of the question. Terrified by the word “punish,” the young Morgana had stammered, “This… pendant is indeed mine. What do you intend to do with it?”
But no further words came after that.
Thinking it must be the temple’s sacredness, Morgana had remained prostrate on the floor until the prayer time ended.
On the way back, she had grown even more frightened after hearing Dot whisper, “Morgana, do you know? They say people who don’t pray properly at the main temple hear the devil’s whispers. If you’re possessed or tell anyone you heard the devil’s voice, you’ll be severely punished.”
“Ugh, how scary!”
“As long as you don’t say anything, you’ll be fine. Let’s keep it our little secret.”
Back then, Dot had smiled brightly while soothing her.
Could it be… that was when Dot’s scheme had truly begun?
‘Wait. Not long after that, Grace Monastery burned down. After the funeral and the ball the Crown Prince didn’t attend, Dot was recognized as the ducal daughter.’
If she had taken Pay there to answer the questions in her place and been declared the daughter…!
‘There was a two-month gap between the time she received the verification and when she announced she was the daughter. She did that on purpose…?’
Only now could she piece together how the conspiracy had unfolded.
‘She killed the abbess, Priest Cheryl, and even her own family one by one. She deliberately delayed announcing she was the daughter until she was ready to eliminate the last remaining person—me!’
“…Pay?”
Pay leaned toward Holtdein.
“Could you tell me more about it?”
“Ah, sure. You’ve heard of the current Saintess, Capia, right?”
“Of course.”
She had no memory of meeting Saintess Capia face-to-face, though she vaguely recalled the nanny sometimes saying, “This is a snack the Saintess gave you,” or “This porridge is from the Saintess.”
“People say that Saintess is terrible at prophecies and that her oracles are nonsense. Even before that, the total amount of divine power in the main temple had been noticeably declining.”
Pay’s eyes widened at the unexpected truth, and Holtdein continued.
“They haven’t been able to produce priests capable of using the high-level holy spells you mentioned. So it would be difficult for them to perform the parentage verification spell through multiple stages.”
“Hmm…”
“It’s not just a vague question like ‘Are you this person’s son or daughter?’ The questions are quite detailed. Since there are systems like adopted children, it’s better to be thorough, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Pay had never focused so intently on someone’s moving lips before. Holtdein avoided her intense light-green eyes and went on.
“The Truth-Reading Statue developed by the Magic Tower works on a slightly different principle, but its function is similar to that holy spell. The downside is that it consumes an enormous amount of mana. The main temple borrowed it a long time ago, but they never contacted us saying the mana had run out.”
“Oh…”
A bad thought suddenly occurred to her.
What if they had only left the depleted statue behind and simply issued the verification result after receiving the request…? No, that couldn’t be. No matter how weakened they were, it was still the main temple.
And she herself had been questioned in the past. Probably as a proxy.
“It would be difficult for them to replenish the mana with magic stones on their own. Besides, it wouldn’t look good for mages to be seen entering and leaving the main temple.”
“How long ago did they borrow the statue?”
“I’d have to check the records to be exact, but it’s been at least ten years.”
No matter how many times she thought about it, the feeling of foreboding only grew stronger.