Chapter 127

“Did you do that on purpose yesterday?”

Rosetta asked as she patted down the man’s wrinkled collar.

“Maybe, maybe not. There was so much going on yesterday that I don’t know what exactly you’re talking about.”

A sly smile followed.

He looked so innocent.

Rosetta glanced down at him for a moment, not saying anything. Then, deciding that she’d let herself be fooled by that innocent act just once, she nodded.

“You were so shiny and ostentatious when you fought with the lizard yesterday. There was one second that I thought might’ve turned into Pikachu.”

“Pika… what?”

Suddenly hearing an unexpected word, Cassion blinked in a daze.

But he wasn’t met with an answer.

This was a small act of revenge against his small lie.

Smirking, Rosetta gently pushed the man’s chest away.

The distance between them, which had been so close just now, grew wider.

He still didn’t know what ‘Pika’ meant, but he knew what Rosetta’s earlier question was about.

So, he replied.

“To be honest, the amount of my mana increased so suddenly that it became difficult for me to control it.”

“Ah, goodness. So I was mistaken?”

Well this was a little embarrassing.

And a bit disappointing.

Just as Cassion sugarcoated his words, he also smiled without reserve.

He shook his head.

“Well, you were only half wrong. When I spun and changed the trajectory of the sword… I did it on purpose. Because everyone was looking at you…”

And you looked so fatigued.

“…You saw me from there?”

“You’re always in my line of sight.”

The answer came back nonchalantly.

Without any hesitation.

Even so, the ears protruding from beneath his dark blue hair became bright red.

Rosetta kept her lips closed, unable to answer.

Meanwhile, he continued speaking.

“And that’s the role I was given in the first place, isn’t it? To make a strong, lasting impression on everyone.”

“…And it certainly seems like you were successful.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It was impossible to look away. At least, that was the case for me.”

This time, it was Cassion who’s rendered speechless.

As each of them exchanged such words, it ended in a draw.

Rattle, rattle.

In the meantime, the carriage began moving slowly.

“Yesterday was too long, wasn’t it?”

As Rosetta murmured, she leaned her head back onto her seat on the carriage.

“Let’s take it easy today, Cassion.”

Starting tomorrow, so many things would be lying in the wait once more, leaving them with barely enough time to breathe.

Her drowsy eyes blinked a few times, then closed gradually.

In fact, if one were to pick the person who was the most tired out from yesterday, then Rosetta was by far in the lead.

She ran from here and there, day until night, collapsed in the middle, then…

Her head kept pounding as she was hit with memories of the past. And she was shaken and filled with shock because of the confirmation that Urien really had followed her all the way here.

She couldn’t even sleep a wink last night because she was so worried about Alicia, who she had given sleeping pills to ensure that she wouldn’t wake up.

No, even if it wasn’t for that reason, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep nonetheless. Her mind was in complete chaos.

In any case, as she stopped talking and sat still, all her fatigue came rushing in.

She fell asleep in a daze.

Her head drooped as she slipped into slumber, but a large hand reached forward to support her.

And, the hand slowly pulled her close to his shoulder, making her lean on him.

Her closed eyelids trembled for a moment, but that was all.

Her breathing was even, and it echoed in the silence around them.

* * *

Cassion watched Rosetta’s sleeping face, then turned his head to look out the window.

The smile on his face had subsided, and his expression turned grim.

Because a memory of yesterday came to mind.

The moment the lizard collapsed with a thud, both he and Leo were left alone in the rising dust.

“Just who the hell are you?”

Leo did not hide his hostility as he said this with a vicious tone.

For a moment, he felt his blood go cold.

Not once was the name ‘Cassion’ uttered. It didn’t need to be confirmed, considering that he was seen using magic.

However, his heart pounded for just a moment because he thought that suspicion had been thrown on him right then.

Looking out the flitting scenery out the window now, Cassion’s eyes turned to Rosetta, who was now fast asleep.

Ever since that happened yesterday, he’s been thinking.

‘Have you always felt this way?’

The woman who was Rosetta, but was not Rosetta.

The woman who always had to hide herself as she lived in someone else’s body, worrying and not knowing when she would be caught.

How much had she suffered… that such an expression of exhaustion and of relief came over her face as she confessed the truth.

“…I don’t care who you are. You only… You only need to be yourself in front of me.”

You don’t need to suffer anymore.

Just rest.

His eyes turned to look out the window once more.

A heavy wave of fatigue sank over him.

Just as Rosetta said, it had been a long day.

Monsters. Leo. Transmigration. Rita. Urien.

A day full of unknown things, to the point that it was suffocating.

Soon, Cassion’s eyelids also sank slowly.

So, he did not notice.

That her long eyelashes fluttered open once more, revealing a golden gaze that furtively looked up.

Her silent eyes held him in her gaze for a while, but those eyes were soon hidden beneath their lids again.

As her eyes were closed, her lips turned up slightly, comfortably.

Soon, their breaths synchronized and filled the space.

At that moment, the world around them was uncharacteristically calm.

* * *

As the hunting festival, that lasted too long, ended, the ensuing aftermath was massive.

The knights spent more than a week in the woods, trying to hunt down any trace of the monsters.

However, their efforts proved to be futile.

Funerals for the deceased have been held every single day since then, and the doctors were busy running around, trying to treat the seriously injured patients.

Nobles gathered in twos or threes, talking about and lamenting the horrors that happened that day.

After every discussion, the last line would always be the same.

‘The fiend responsible for all this needs to be caught.’

Originally, such a thing needed to be taken care of before their fear and panic would disappear.

The number of casualties and the injured was low, so the drive to find the culprit was proportionally the same.

However, if the damage was greater than this…

‘In other words, the whole Empire would have been completely overturned.’

Wasn’t it only natural for those who lost family members to be so consumed by emotions?

Contemplating this, the emperor pressed down on his throbbing temples.

His violet eyes scanned his surroundings.

The long table inside the grand hall was full.

The great nobles—including the three dukes—and the nobles who were present at the scene of the tragedy.

They were gathered here today to talk about the ‘hunting festival incident’.

“This is certainly a premeditated scheme!”

People had already started flinging out high-pitched remarks.

No one objected as one nobleman shouted at this at the top of his lungs. A vein could be seen clearly throbbing on his neck.

This one person’s vigorous shout was the trigger.

The hall was quickly swept into a fiery discussion.

“That’s right! Isn’t the monsters’ appearance on that very day too coincidental?! Besides that, pandemonium broke out at the barracks where the powerless onlookers had remained…”

“The monsters seemed intelligent as well. As if they were taking someone’s commands and following them.”

“And didn’t it look like they were purposely acting weak against divine power?”

“Hoh, that’s definitely a plausible inference!”

“Additionally, there was even that giant monster… Everything seemed orchestrated, in many ways.”

“The fallen body of a beast—a white-yellow deer—was also found high up in the mountains.”

“What? Is that true?”

“Yes, it’s true. And it also died long before the reconnaissance team found it.”

“Hooh… That’s extremely suspicious.”

“In any case, the culprit behind this all must be found and punished.”

Amidst the heated atmosphere, the nobles each said their piece, but they also craned their necks to furtively glance towards one spot.

There, towards one man who was sitting with a straight, rigid posture.

The iron duke.

Valentine.

In the end, they would avert their sneaky glances soon after.

Although they expressed their opinions with such exuberance and candor, they were all in tacit agreement.

‘Rosetta Valentine’ was suspicious.

Therefore, in a roundabout manner, all the words they’d been throwing were implicitly aimed at ‘Ducal Lady Valentine’.

So, they’d say whatever they wanted to say first, then glance sideways towards the duke.

However, not everyone chose to do it in this manner.

“Among the people in the background who’s been pointed out, one of them was your daughter, Duke.”

That single sentence brought the entire hall to a grinding halt. Everyone turned to look at who said it.

Duke Carter just sipped his tea with an air of nonchalance that matched his tone of voice.

The most pointed, most provocative first stone was thrown.

A tantalizing bait.

The one who threw the bait was of the same peerage as Duke Valentine. Duke Carter, too, was the head of his ducal household.

One by one, the people who watched with bated breath started murmuring amongst themselves.

Although they no longer spoke in the same volume as they did earlier, their small voices flooded the conference hall like pollen in the spring.

“Come to think of it, she was the one who showed the technique to defeat the monsters…”

“Right, she knew the weakness of the monsters that no one else knew.”

“Huh, yeah. My injured son told me that he begged her to save him, but she merely left him like that.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Good gracious.

Hoh, really.

At the same time, such lamentations erupted from several seats.

“How can someone be so unfeeling like that? Does she not shed any blood or tears?”

This was the catalyst.

The buzzing inside the hall, which had just been like pollen in the spring, grew larger, as big as petals now.

“I heard that she ran around the mountain with a tall man on her back.”

“And yet, there was not a single scratch on her.”

“But the most suspicious thing is… No, the most peculiar thing is that… The monsters— they all stopped moving as soon as they saw her.”

People nodded and agreed with those words.

Many nobles here had witnessed the very scene.

As they recalled that moment, the vague suspicions they had that day soon solidified and became almost certain.

Memories had a tendency to be manipulated, if anyone so desired.

“That’s not all. I was there and I saw it. The way the monsters looked at her, well, it’s as if they were greeting her right then.”

“Right, right. I saw it, too. Like obedient dogs!”

“Exactly. They looked so respectful when they retreated… Tsk.”

“As if they’re her pets.”

“That’s right. Dogs tend to be calm around their owners.”

Various testimonies poured out.

As soon as one person said such a thing, others followed suit, their memories distorted accordingly.

Even though no one urged them to speak up, they did.

Because the culprit was already clear in their minds.

Rosetta Valentine.

A noble lady who’s been absent from high society for a long time.

A noble lady who was mesmerizingly beautiful, and who had an exceedingly sharp look in her eyes.

And.

The ‘noble’ lady who was the daughter of a criminal.

The stain on House Valentine repute.

The duke’s unwanted illegitimate child.

No matter how much they thought about it, wasn’t she the perfect match?

However, one vicious voice cut through the commotion that had beset the hall.

“Are you all done with what you have to say?”

No one replied.

For a moment, the people who shut their mouths were busy exchanging glances in cold sweat.

Subsequently, the slow voice filled the hall once again.

“This conversation maliciously implicating the esteemed daughter House Valentine as the culprit of this incident. I’m asking if you are all done.”

A violent glint flashed through Duke Valentine’s eyes.