Approaching the Truth
Cassel, left alone, could only let out a hollow laugh.
A dragon attack? And one that specifically targets our family…?
Did that even make sense? The capital, Lapis, sat at the very heart of the Arkan Empire. No dragon could fly in without being detected long before it arrived.
Moreover, the warning had come from Tiana, the woman who had clashed with him from their very first meeting. That only made it more suspicious.
He returned to his office and retrieved something from the bottom drawer.
They say the trend these days is to use the Magic Tower instead of the main temple for paternity tests.
The Truth-Reading Statue crafted by the Magic Tower. One had been sent to the main temple, and another remained at the Tower. It wasn’t something just anyone could commission, and the price was far steeper, but…
Could it also determine the truth of spoken testimony, not just objects?
Thinking of the Magic Tower automatically brought Pay’s face to mind. Given the gravity of the matter, it would be awkward to request a meeting under the pretext of the investigation, yet he suddenly found himself wanting to see her.
But he couldn’t.
His mind had already decided against it, yet the image of Pay smiling shyly made him want to cast everything aside and meet her anyway.
Hah… This is difficult.
Cassel slipped one of the silk ribbons the lady had used into his pocket and stood. Even if the incident was set for next summer, time was short if he wanted to trace every remaining dragon across the continent. He had to move quickly.
Cassel set all other matters aside and headed secretly for the Magic Tower.
Thanks to his name and ample funds, obtaining access to the statue proved surprisingly easy.
So this is it.
He placed the lady’s silk ribbon before the statue and drew a deep breath.
He intended to ask only one question today.
There was another question that constantly tormented him, one he could have asked, but not today.
“Someone prophesied that a dragon calamity would strike our family, the Klein Ducal House, around this time next year. The owner of this silk ribbon. Is that… true?”
The gargoyle adorning the Truth-Reading Statue turned white, then shifted to green.
Good heavens!
Red meant falsehood, green meant truth. Yet something strange occurred. The gargoyle’s eyes, now entirely green, faded back to white—then the left eye remained white while the right turned green.
Cassel spoke in confusion.
“What does this mean? Ah…! This is—?!”
It is the legacy of a forgotten past.
“What?”
He asked again, but once the inscription was complete, the gargoyle’s eyes returned to normal.
When he questioned the Tower staff and tried again, the statue gave no further response no matter how many times he attempted it. He was only told that because it was modeled after the sacred magic of the main temple, it struggled to judge “phenomena” rather than people or objects.
The remaining phrase, “the legacy of a forgotten past,” must hold the key.
Cassel struggled to decipher it.
The legacy of a forgotten past? Does that mean something our family suffered in the distant past? No… No, that can’t be. If the event had already happened, it would mean everyone simply forgot it.
The words were brief and offered no explanation, leaving him to solve the riddle himself.
I clearly asked if it would happen around this time next year, and the statue did not deny it. What in the world is going on…? I have no idea.
He considered several possibilities before shaking his head.
Unlike the Orleans Ducal House, the history of the Klein Ducal House was relatively short.
If a dragon had truly attacked the ducal residence in the past, issuing a gag order to keep it secret would have been impossible. Someone, somewhere, would have recorded it, and those who loved to gossip would have passed it down by word of mouth.
Even in the ancient Orleans Ducal House, everyone knew the story of an ancestor who, drunk, urinated on the emperor’s statue and was publicly flogged.
That left another question to investigate: which dragon would attack the ducal residence.
He returned to the imperial palace and researched every dragon that had existed since the birth of the Tiser Continent.
Around the time the Arkan Empire was founded, the ancient dragons had nearly gone extinct. More precisely, they had been annihilated in battle against the main god.
The only dragon whose life or death remains unknown is Lucius.
The ancient dragon Lucius.
Powerful, endlessly curious, and known for frequently interfering in human affairs. His end was presumed to have come during the war against the Arkan Continent, in the final days of the Sharp Empire, when he fought Emperor Caron and vanished without a trace.
Some claimed he had died; others said he had been sealed away. Yet no concrete evidence existed anywhere.
Lucius…
A name that suddenly overlapped with another crossed his mind, but Cassel shook his head.
It was an uncommon name in the current generation, but a dangerous dragon would never quietly live in human form within the Magic Tower. Unless that dragon was slightly mad, of course.
Excluding the ancient dragons, only a handful of dragons remained—fewer than ten fingers could count.
Three of them dwelled in the sea, having nearly assimilated with it; they had not been observed for hundreds of years. Even if they had not fully assimilated, the chance of them abandoning the sea to appear in the heart of the Empire was near zero.
Of the remaining seven, three had been confirmed slain. Of the last four, two were sealed by powerful magic, and one had become a bone dragon displayed in the palace basement.
Cassel had seen it himself as a child.
Only one dragon remains whose whereabouts and survival are certain.
The Snow Dragon Haisa, dwelling in the snowy mountains of the Logia border region where he had been stationed until a few months ago.
“Haisa attacking…?”
Cassel muttered to himself, then immediately shook his head.
He had served four years in the Logia borderlands. He would have known if anything was amiss.
As the name Snow Dragon suggested, Haisa thrived in cold environments and had remained active only in the snowy mountains for hundreds of years.
In other words, the probability of him flying all the way to the capital was almost nonexistent. Even if he did appear, the heat would put him at a severe disadvantage.
Besides, the lady had specified late summer, not winter.
“Then the only dragon whose whereabouts and life or death remain unconfirmed is Lucius.”
Cassel’s head throbbed.
Everyone merely assumed he had been sealed, yet he was an ancient dragon buried in legend without a trace.
His probability was even lower than Haisa’s.
“So once again, no conclusion.”
He still did not know why the Orleans Ducal House had pressured the Latzel family into breaking the engagement, nor why they were fighting the Huante Marquisate. The mysteries only piled higher.
Cassel let out a deep sigh, then realized he had gained something after all.
Dorothea. You. Dotricia.
Something was definitely wrong with her.
It was no longer mere suspicion. She now felt like an existence that would bring dark clouds over the family. A dream? Receiving a prophecy from the main god through a dream and accurately predicting a dragon attack?
No saintess in history has ever prophesied in such a manner. If this isn’t fraud, then how did she know such an event had happened or would happen? Does it mean she is a divine being who has seen our future in advance?
Even he, who enjoyed the crown prince’s protection and led the Blue Rose Knights, had been unable to uncover the truth.
There was something about the lady of the Klein Ducal House—something about Dotricia, Dorothea.
Before he knew it, he had begun separating Tiana’s existence from the lady who had taken the position of the ducal daughter, Dotricia and Dorothea.
Strangely, that realization brought him a small measure of peace.
“…Hm?”
Crackle—
As Cassel tried to rise, a sharp pain shot through his mind.
In the vision that unfolded before his eyes, he was reading a long letter sent by his father.
…She says. We were all quite surprised, but Tiana’s consideration is truly admirable.
She asked to delay the announcement out of consideration for the sense of loss felt by her Eina, who has always worked tirelessly for her sake. We wouldn’t mind whether that Eina remains in the ducal residence or not.
However, since Tiana dislikes the whispers of others, we have no choice but to send her back to the monastery…
“Ugh…!”
An intense heat surged through his mind all at once.
What was this? What was he hearing? Do…rothea, Dotricia—that girl had acted as her own Eina, and now they were sending her back to the monastery? Why would anyone say something so impossible…
“Kugh!”
His vision blurred and burned. Even through the pain, the Cassel in the vision continued reading the duke’s letter to the end.
I had Paul give that child a pouch of gold coins. The abbess and her daughter, the priestess, died in an accident, and there are many repairs needed at the monastery, so I told her to use it generously.
After all, she worked hard for two whole years. There’s nothing to worry about here, and His Majesty the Emperor has ordered you to return to the capital around next year. Just wait a little longer, and we’ll be together for the rest of our lives.
When you return, Tiana, whom you’ve been wanting to see so badly, will be here…
“U… Uaaargh!”
Unable to endure the pain from the heat, Cassel staggered and collapsed onto the desk.
Several hours later, he regained consciousness.
What exactly had he seen? What had he remembered?
It was something he didn’t know—why had he been reading his father’s letter?
It was difficult to immediately determine the truth of what he had experienced at the Magic Tower.
After days of agonizing over it, Cassel brought up the matter with only the duke and duchess present, just as the lady had done.
“Father, Mother. What do you think about postponing Dotrothe—no, Tiana’s debutante ball? There are matters that require careful verification.”
“What?”
“……”
The duke listened in silence, but the duchess erupted in fury.
“How could you say such a thing! Our Tiana has been waiting only for that day. This is truly too much.”
“I am aware of that.”
“Furthermore, His Grace has been working day and night to arrange for Tiana to be escorted by His Highness the Crown Prince, whom she admires. Are you saying you want to turn all of that into nothing? Postpone it to autumn? No. Absolutely not! Even if dirt enters my eyes, I will not allow it!”
The duchess’s anger was fiercer than expected.
“Mother.”
“Cassel, there is nothing in this world I would exchange for you. You are the one who will inherit and protect our family, so if my life is needed, I would give it without hesitation. Who could deny that? But understand this one thing. The time I have waited for Tiana’s return began the moment I gave birth to her and sent her far, far away!”
If the duchess had openly tried to suppress him, Cassel would have resisted.
The Klein lady.
If the parents’ only daughter—the one who had become his younger sister—turned out to be a cunning demon who had stolen someone’s soul, then presenting her to society required caution, did it not?
That was Cassel’s reasonable suspicion.
“……”
When her son offered no reply, the emotionally charged duchess finally burst into tears.
“Cassel… The only reason my life has continued until now is because of Tiana. Is it so wrong that I want to return a proper status to that child, marry her into a good family, and if possible, place her by His Highness the Crown Prince’s side?”
“Mother.”
“Yes, it may not happen. I know that. That is the imperial family… Even so, a debutante ball happens only once in a lifetime. Is it wrong for a girl to dream of being escorted by His Highness the Crown Prince…?”
“……”
“A mother wants to grant her daughter’s earnest wish. Is that such a great sin that I must inevitably give it up…? Tell me what you think.”