Mimi stomped his cotton-bat-like paws on the floor and rolled the red glowing artifact toward the Duke.
“Look, Astel, she told me the light turns red when she’s in danger, and now it’s red…!”
“Let’s go, she must be at the café by now.”
“We won’t be late, will we?”
The Duke whispered faintly as he lifted the body of the divine beast to his feet.
“We won’t be late.”
Mimi still looked uneasy. Not that it mattered, the fire was burning too brightly.
To Mimi’s surprise, the Duke hadn’t explained the specifics of the imprinting technique. Nor did he tell her that if Astel was in danger, he might not be spared.
Instead, he looked down at Mimi, who was still wielding the small artifact and whispered harshly.
“If anything happens to Astel, or even if she dies, don’t worry, I’ll bring her back to life.”
His words were like a mantra to himself.
Anyone else would have laughed at the absurdity of it, but when the Duke said it, there was no ridicule. Mimi had a vague idea of how the Duke of Anais had survived this long.
“Alright, let’s go rescue our Princess, oh right!”
Mimi’s jaw clenched and a gleam shone in his eyes. To do what Astel said…
“First, we have to go somewhere other than the café.”
“…?”
“Astel told me to come and ring the bell in the clock tower, right next to the Duke of Cornwall.”
“You go to the clock tower, and I’ll direct that way.”
“And where will you go, young man?”
Duke Anais didn’t know exactly what Astel wanted. But he trusted her. Even when she was much younger than she was now, she was stronger than he was.
Though, of course, he didn’t have the heart to gamble with her safety.
“For now, I think it’s time to get rid of the danger to her.”
He smiled cynically and ran a hand through his hair. Still clinging to his arm, Mimi blinked at him, ears perking up. It meant he certainly agreed with the Duke.
Tonight, the café was deserted. The Duke had offered to pick her up, but she had declined his visit, saying she would rather take a walk and enjoy the scenery alone.
Nevertheless, the Duke had a coachman and carriage waiting for me. Before I boarded the carriage, I sat lazily on a small, decorated bench outside the café.
“It’s all cherries today.”
Nibbling on the sunflower seeds and cherries constantly shoved into my mouth, I closed my eyes tightly and stretched.
By the time I felt exhausted, the carriage and coachman hadn’t arrived.
“…No one’s coming.”
The wind whirled around my body, unsettling today. I stretched my legs, breathing in the cold night air. As I leaned back, eyes closed, and relaxed, I felt a subtle touch near my shoulder.
“You.”
A voice, husky and raspy, as if it had scraped the bottom of its throat.
Blinking, I opened my eyes.
I spun around immediately to see a man with a dark complexion and the smell of whiskey on his breath.
It was the Duke of Cornwall, with the appearance of a madman.
“You remember who I am.”
Presumably, the Empress had moved quickly to my advantage.
I stifled a laugh at his faster-than-expected approach and stared at him.
“You used my artifact to dazzle them without fear.”
“What? Me? That’s not possible.”
I glared at him, my voice trailing off in a slightly raised tone. Then he cackled like a maniac.
In the pitch-black darkness of the night, I could only see his venomous eyes.
But I grinned back at him with an unfazed countenance.
“You’re in the wrong place.”
Though he said no more than that.
Instead, he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and pulled me to my feet with a frighteningly cold look on his face.
I reached out and tried to push his hand away, but the overwhelming size difference only made me shuffle my feet.
Taller than me, he lifted me so we were at eye level and whispered sinisterly.
“I came here knowing that it was you who framed me. Who do you think is behind you now, the beast?”
Despite my best efforts to hold it together, my tone snapped at the insult to the Duke.
“If you’re going to spout useless crap, why don’t you get lost?”
The sharpness of the tone caused him to stiffen for a moment, but then his face broke into a cackling, macabre grin.
His maniacal grin made me clench my fists in a rage that I didn’t need to summon the courage to muster from the start.
A panorama of my brother’s and my life so far flashed through my mind.
— ‘The Vietry family is truly horrible and disgusting.’
— ‘How dare they try to overthrow the royal family, aren’t they a species of wizards?’
— ‘Stop talking about things that are too dirty to even mention.’
— ‘It’s a good thing they’re all dead, right?’
You have no idea what heinous insults I’ve heard from you in my life.
How dare you speak on such subjects…
My brother and I have suffered injustice all our lives, and yet you come to me, falsely accusing you of ‘cursing’ the Empress?
“You must have gone off the deep end if you’re laughing after I cursed at you.”
I laughed at him sourly.
“You’re finally showing your true colors, you lunatic.”
He gritted his teeth and threw me off with a grimace.
My body crumpled to the floor, my knees buckling on the gravel.
It seemed like I was bleeding. Being alone in the dark with a madman was a frightening enough experience.
But I squinted and looked up at him.
‘Never mind.’
Because after everything I’ve been through, pecking would be even stupider.
Pulling myself to my feet, I squinted up at him with a fierce gaze and smirked.
“Aren’t you the one who’s crazy? I thought you had a reputation for being a madman?”
He mumbled in a low, sullen tone, as if he wasn’t even listening to what I was saying.
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re… ah, maybe you’re related to Count Vietry, or something like that, and that’s why you’re doing this, hahaha!”
My wrist, the one with the stealth enchantment, throbbed and ached as if it would tear at any moment.
But I gritted my teeth, never showing any sign of pain.
“A former servant of the family? A loyal dog, perhaps. The wretch’s right, seeing as how you came here knowing of the impending death.”
Although he was fairly close to the truth, he didn’t seem to realize that I was a direct blood relative of House Vietry.
But even so, the certainty of his words made my wrist throb.
I took a step forward, as if to provoke him, and asked, “Speaking of stupid bastards, isn’t that you?”
Before I could retort, he roughly grabbed me by the throat. His bloodshot eyes stared straight into mine.
My head continued to spin, presumably as he tapped into my memories with his mind-reading magic.
“Not here, not now… If I torture you, you’ll talk.”
He chuckled and hoisted me up again.
“I’ve removed any binding magic from you. Very well.”
I was familiar with the Duke of Cornwall’s notoriety for his ability to torture. It was dangerous enough that one of his descriptions said, ‘Some have been driven mad by torture.’
The prospect of being tortured by him was not without its horrors.
But the physical pain was only temporary.
He was the man who had tormented my parents relentlessly and eventually framed and killed them.
Glaring at the Duke of Cornwall, I muttered through clenched teeth.
“You hate wizards terribly, and yet you want to use magic to torture me?”
Scowling at my words, he snickered again and choked me. I couldn’t breathe, and my eyes were turning white.
When the pain was too much, and I was almost blanched, I felt my feet floating in the air.
Stretching my feet out into the air a few times, I tried to move them, but they didn’t move, as if my body had been spellbound.
“You’ll find out where you came from soon enough. You will answer with every piece of flesh that falls.”
After that, it was pitch black. But I could hear the breeze and the unsteady clacking of the Duke of Cornwall’s teeth.
I knew enough to know where this strange man was taking me.
To the mansion of House Cornwall.
Filled with the only people he trusted, the only people who followed him…
It was filled with mud, creaky, and treacherous.
Finally, to the final, dark, dangerous mansion, where he had been invited, albeit uninvited, to enter.
‘Everything is as I expected.’
Never forgetting it, I tried to ignore the pain in my flesh until my bones ached.
I wondered if he’d cast a freezing spell, but the flesh-crunching cold made my ears prickle.
‘I mustn’t forget what I have to do before Mimi gets here.’
As I continued to think and ruminate, the wind, like a well-sharpened knife, ceased to blow.
A shiver ran down my spine, and I remembered the face of someone who cared more about my well-being than I did.
Would the Duke be alright?
And, if he found out I’d been kidnapped… would he be worried?
Mimi stomped his cotton-bat-like paws on the floor and rolled the red glowing artifact toward the Duke.
“Look, Astel, she told me the light turns red when she’s in danger, and now it’s red…!”
“Let’s go, she must be at the café by now.”
“We won’t be late, will we?”
The Duke whispered faintly as he lifted the body of the divine beast to his feet.
“We won’t be late.”
Mimi still looked uneasy. Not that it mattered, the fire was burning too brightly.
To Mimi’s surprise, the Duke hadn’t explained the specifics of the imprinting technique. Nor did he tell her that if Astel was in danger, he might not be spared.
Instead, he looked down at Mimi, who was still wielding the small artifact and whispered harshly.
“If anything happens to Astel, or even if she dies, don’t worry, I’ll bring her back to life.”
His words were like a mantra to himself.
Anyone else would have laughed at the absurdity of it, but when the Duke said it, there was no ridicule. Mimi had a vague idea of how the Duke of Anais had survived this long.
“Alright, let’s go rescue our Princess, oh right!”
Mimi’s jaw clenched and a gleam shone in his eyes. To do what Astel said…
“First, we have to go somewhere other than the café.”
“…?”
“Astel told me to come and ring the bell in the clock tower, right next to the Duke of Cornwall.”
“You go to the clock tower, and I’ll direct that way.”
“And where will you go, young man?”
Duke Anais didn’t know exactly what Astel wanted. But he trusted her. Even when she was much younger than she was now, she was stronger than he was.
Though, of course, he didn’t have the heart to gamble with her safety.
“For now, I think it’s time to get rid of the danger to her.”
He smiled cynically and ran a hand through his hair. Still clinging to his arm, Mimi blinked at him, ears perking up. It meant he certainly agreed with the Duke.
Tonight, the café was deserted. The Duke had offered to pick her up, but she had declined his visit, saying she would rather take a walk and enjoy the scenery alone.
Nevertheless, the Duke had a coachman and carriage waiting for me. Before I boarded the carriage, I sat lazily on a small, decorated bench outside the café.
“It’s all cherries today.”
Nibbling on the sunflower seeds and cherries constantly shoved into my mouth, I closed my eyes tightly and stretched.
By the time I felt exhausted, the carriage and coachman hadn’t arrived.
“…No one’s coming.”
The wind whirled around my body, unsettling today. I stretched my legs, breathing in the cold night air. As I leaned back, eyes closed, and relaxed, I felt a subtle touch near my shoulder.
“You.”
A voice, husky and raspy, as if it had scraped the bottom of its throat.
Blinking, I opened my eyes.
I spun around immediately to see a man with a dark complexion and the smell of whiskey on his breath.
It was the Duke of Cornwall, with the appearance of a madman.
“You remember who I am.”
Presumably, the Empress had moved quickly to my advantage.
I stifled a laugh at his faster-than-expected approach and stared at him.
“You used my artifact to dazzle them without fear.”
“What? Me? That’s not possible.”
I glared at him, my voice trailing off in a slightly raised tone. Then he cackled like a maniac.
In the pitch-black darkness of the night, I could only see his venomous eyes.
But I grinned back at him with an unfazed countenance.
“You’re in the wrong place.”
Though he said no more than that.
Instead, he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and pulled me to my feet with a frighteningly cold look on his face.
I reached out and tried to push his hand away, but the overwhelming size difference only made me shuffle my feet.
Taller than me, he lifted me so we were at eye level and whispered sinisterly.
“I came here knowing that it was you who framed me. Who do you think is behind you now, the beast?”
Despite my best efforts to hold it together, my tone snapped at the insult to the Duke.
“If you’re going to spout useless crap, why don’t you get lost?”
The sharpness of the tone caused him to stiffen for a moment, but then his face broke into a cackling, macabre grin.
His maniacal grin made me clench my fists in a rage that I didn’t need to summon the courage to muster from the start.
A panorama of my brother’s and my life so far flashed through my mind.
— ‘The Vietry family is truly horrible and disgusting.’
— ‘How dare they try to overthrow the royal family, aren’t they a species of wizards?’
— ‘Stop talking about things that are too dirty to even mention.’
— ‘It’s a good thing they’re all dead, right?’
You have no idea what heinous insults I’ve heard from you in my life.
How dare you speak on such subjects…
My brother and I have suffered injustice all our lives, and yet you come to me, falsely accusing you of ‘cursing’ the Empress?
“You must have gone off the deep end if you’re laughing after I cursed at you.”
I laughed at him sourly.
“You’re finally showing your true colors, you lunatic.”
He gritted his teeth and threw me off with a grimace.
My body crumpled to the floor, my knees buckling on the gravel.
It seemed like I was bleeding. Being alone in the dark with a madman was a frightening enough experience.
But I squinted and looked up at him.
‘Never mind.’
Because after everything I’ve been through, pecking would be even stupider.
Pulling myself to my feet, I squinted up at him with a fierce gaze and smirked.
“Aren’t you the one who’s crazy? I thought you had a reputation for being a madman?”
He mumbled in a low, sullen tone, as if he wasn’t even listening to what I was saying.
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re… ah, maybe you’re related to Count Vietry, or something like that, and that’s why you’re doing this, hahaha!”
My wrist, the one with the stealth enchantment, throbbed and ached as if it would tear at any moment.
But I gritted my teeth, never showing any sign of pain.
“A former servant of the family? A loyal dog, perhaps. The wretch’s right, seeing as how you came here knowing of the impending death.”
Although he was fairly close to the truth, he didn’t seem to realize that I was a direct blood relative of House Vietry.
But even so, the certainty of his words made my wrist throb.
I took a step forward, as if to provoke him, and asked, “Speaking of stupid bastards, isn’t that you?”
Before I could retort, he roughly grabbed me by the throat. His bloodshot eyes stared straight into mine.
My head continued to spin, presumably as he tapped into my memories with his mind-reading magic.
“Not here, not now… If I torture you, you’ll talk.”
He chuckled and hoisted me up again.
“I’ve removed any binding magic from you. Very well.”
I was familiar with the Duke of Cornwall’s notoriety for his ability to torture. It was dangerous enough that one of his descriptions said, ‘Some have been driven mad by torture.’
The prospect of being tortured by him was not without its horrors.
But the physical pain was only temporary.
He was the man who had tormented my parents relentlessly and eventually framed and killed them.
Glaring at the Duke of Cornwall, I muttered through clenched teeth.
“You hate wizards terribly, and yet you want to use magic to torture me?”
Scowling at my words, he snickered again and choked me. I couldn’t breathe, and my eyes were turning white.
When the pain was too much, and I was almost blanched, I felt my feet floating in the air.
Stretching my feet out into the air a few times, I tried to move them, but they didn’t move, as if my body had been spellbound.
“You’ll find out where you came from soon enough. You will answer with every piece of flesh that falls.”
After that, it was pitch black. But I could hear the breeze and the unsteady clacking of the Duke of Cornwall’s teeth.
I knew enough to know where this strange man was taking me.
To the mansion of House Cornwall.
Filled with the only people he trusted, the only people who followed him…
It was filled with mud, creaky, and treacherous.
Finally, to the final, dark, dangerous mansion, where he had been invited, albeit uninvited, to enter.
‘Everything is as I expected.’
Never forgetting it, I tried to ignore the pain in my flesh until my bones ached.
I wondered if he’d cast a freezing spell, but the flesh-crunching cold made my ears prickle.
‘I mustn’t forget what I have to do before Mimi gets here.’
As I continued to think and ruminate, the wind, like a well-sharpened knife, ceased to blow.
A shiver ran down my spine, and I remembered the face of someone who cared more about my well-being than I did.
Would the Duke be alright?
And, if he found out I’d been kidnapped… would he be worried?
