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IBP 89
“Oh, oh my! Now that I think about it, Coco left something behind! What do I do! This is a disaster!”
“Pardon? What is this all of a sudden....”
The carriage, which had left the East Annex and was heading toward the Ardos estate, came to a screeching halt at my loud voice.
A simple-hearted knight assigned by my sister hurriedly approached the carriage and scratched the back of his head.
“Is something the matter, My Lady?”
“Hmph, I left the ribbon the Duke bought me, so I think I have to go back to the Annex!”
“Pardon? But My Lady instructed me to escort the two of you to the estate as quickly as possible....”
“I said it's the ribbon the Duke bought. Knight. Are you just going to leave it like this? The Young Lady?”
At Caligo's words, the knight's face turned pale.
“A-Ah, I understand. Then could you tell me what the item is? If the servants go instead....”
“N-No way. It's an important item, so Coco has to go herself. Really. I'll just pop into the toilet room at the Annex for a moment.”
“In that case, I will assign servants to accompany you.”
I exchanged a glance with Caligo and quietly nodded.
If I refused to take the servants, it would definitely cause a problem.
And so, Caligo and I returned to the East Annex.
However, the person who spotted us getting off the carriage was someone unexpected.
I looked at the man standing in front of the East Annex garden, smoking a cigar and staring into the void.
His name was Gillen Amadeus.
My sister's former fiancé.
My only memory of him was that he was the person who had hurt my sister.
But....
As I got closer to him, my body began to tremble and shrink back.
‘Why am I like this?’
I avoided his gaze and squeezed Caligo's hand tightly.
Having spotted us, he approached Caligo and me and gave a slight nod.
“Young Lord Caligo, and Lady Coco Ardos.”
He was probably the first person to address a five-year-old child as 'Lady.' That slippery bastard.
But more than those words, what made my mind go hazy was....
“Stupid, pig-like, filthy stray mutt.”
...The person who had said that to me when I was a puppy.
“It's easier to kill these strays by setting a trap. It leaves a bit of a mark, but....”
The auditory hallucinations I had been hearing lately.
The verbal abuse contained within them.
They were exactly the same as Gillen's voice.
Every time I heard his voice, I felt like I was suffocating.
“So, why has our little Young Lady returned?”
I barely regained my composure and glared at him.
The mean bastard who occupied a part of the hallucinations in my head.
The one who habitually cursed at me whenever my sister wasn't around....
A truly wicked fellow who would steal a bone from a stray dog.
‘I didn't know who the protagonist of my hallucinations was all this time.... Was it you, Gillen?’
It wasn't that I didn't know about Gillen, so why on earth couldn't I remember?
But that wasn't what was important right now.
Simply because I had found the owner of the voice in my hallucinations, my entire body trembled with rage.
‘Gillen, just you wait. I'll definitely punish you with my own hands later.’
With trembling hands, I gripped Caligo's hand tightly.
Then, he whispered as if giving a warning.
“Be careful. There are many dangerous things in the East Annex.”
I glanced at the servant following behind me. Since there were many eyes watching, he probably wouldn't dare do anything reckless.
He whispered in my ear.
“I heard the knights are in the middle of completely cleaning up the magical beasts from the hunting competition. Please watch your step.”
To an outsider, it might sound like sincere concern. Yet, it was a disgusting voice that exerted a strange pressure.
* * *
Leaving Gillen behind, I returned to the East Annex.
However, my sister was nowhere to be seen.
When I grabbed a servant and asked where she had gone, I was told she had moved locations with Dahlia.
“Where on earth could she have gone?”
“I'm not sure.”
Caligo hesitated as he tried to use his shadow ability.
“Ah, the barrier stones here are too strong, making it difficult to use supernatural abilities....”
He frowned.
Perhaps because it was the Emperor's annex, a magic circle designed to control supernatural abilities seemed to be active.
However, Caligo soon managed to create a shadow from his fingertips.
A tiny shadow moved like a bolt through the annex, popped out through a window, and then....
Splat!
...It stuck back to the floor.
I heard the knight behind me mutter, “Oh dear, you mustn't play pranks in the Imperial Palace,” but I didn't have time to listen to him.
But it was right then.
Caligo tilted his head with a look of confusion, as if something was strange.
“I think there's a magical beast inside the Dragon's Lake.”
“Huh?”
“I saw it with the shadow's eye; there's a magical beast in the lake. It feels like there's something even deeper. And it seems your sister and that woman, Dahlia, are standing side by side near the lakeshore. I can't see them clearly. I can only feel their energy.”
Which meant....
My gaze and Caligo's gaze wavered simultaneously.
The magical beasts used in the hunting competition were definitely said to be harmless. Therefore, they shouldn't be detected as magical beasts.
And the dangerous magical beasts were said to be sealed inside the Dragon's Lake. These, too, shouldn't be detected.
Neither I nor Caligo could feel the presence of any magical beasts when we first arrived at the annex.
But for Caligo to suddenly feel the chill of a magical beast now meant....
“Could the magical beast in the lake be waking up?”
“What?”
That shouldn't happen. If it does, my sister could be in danger.
‘In the worst-case scenario, if the magical beast touches my sister....’
My sister had stabilized a lot, but you never know.
If she used all her internal mana to deal with a magical beast, she would enter a berserk state again.
‘It'll be a disaster if my sister goes berserk while I'm not there...!’
I panicked, my eyes darting around.
This was an unprecedented situation that I hadn't anticipated.
It's fine if I get hurt, but my sister absolutely cannot!
‘I have to go!’
I turned around to head toward the Dragon's Lake.
And then....
“Gasp, wh-what.”
“Greetings, My Lady. You must move to the carriage immediately. It is Lady Chloe's order that you arrive at the estate before midnight.”
I'm doomed.
Numerous knights had crowded in front of me, blocking my path!
My sister had assigned so many knights to overprotect me!
I stepped back awkwardly. But there was a knight behind my back as well.
‘There are knights in the hallway, and Gillen is on the first floor.’
The knights would never let me go to the Dragon's Lake.
And Gillen on the first floor would find it suspicious if I headed toward the lake. Based on what he said earlier, he seemed unaware of where Dahlia had gone. If Gillen intervened, things would get more complicated.
At least for today, it seemed that taking my sister to the lake was Dahlia's sole decision.
‘In that case, the only thing I can do right now is.’
I racked my brain before pausing.
“Hey, Caligo.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you help me just once?”
Caligo replied.
“Anything.”
“Then....”
I glared at the door in front of me.
Opening the door labeled <Toilet Room>, Caligo and I stepped inside without hesitation.
Because I said I had something to find, the knights let us into the room without suspicion. Since the event was nearly over, it seemed no one was inside.
And finally.
When I opened the window and whispered softly to Caligo, Caligo's eyes widened instantly.
“...No.”
“Why?”
“It's impossible. No, even if I do it, you might be in danger.”
“No.”
I whispered toward Caligo.
“It's okay. I can do it.”
* * *
Chloe and Dahlia had already passed through the East Annex and arrived at the lakeshore.
Unlike what they had felt during the hunting competition, the Dragon's Lake was emitting an ominous atmosphere.
“I've placed a barrier around here. No one can enter anyway.”
“So you broke the Imperial Palace's barrier with your own power. You must have overexerted yourself.”
Dahlia's eyes turned bloodshot.
“Yes. I'm prepared to be punished.”
“If you claim it was a mistake, you won't receive such a severe punishment. It seems you've used your head. And seeing how spiteful you are, I suppose you intend to do something important in your useless life today.”
Chloe's expression remained noble.
And that arrogant attitude, as if she were above Dahlia, was equally obnoxious.
For a moment, Dahlia forgot the purpose of calling her here and muttered out of sudden anger.
“Chloe, you've always been like that.”
“Like what?”
“Always pretending to be noble, pretending to be precious. You always take all the good things.”
She stared at Chloe with bloodshot eyes.
Though it was a hushed topic now, Dahlia was the daughter of a concubine.
Because of that, she grew up hearing verbal abuse, being told her birth was impure and vulgar.
When everyone turned away from her, only Chloe treated her without prejudice.
A person who was equally indifferent to everyone.
Until then, she had liked Chloe.
But a few years later, she turned completely away from Chloe.
Because she couldn't stand the talk—that she didn't suit the noble Chloe, or whether she even dared to be on the same level.
So, she had simply taken one of the people who loved Chloe.
She had done nothing wrong.
Everything was the fault of Chloe, who pretended to be noble all alone.
Dahlia let out a sneer through her teeth.
‘To use that “bead,” I'll have to shake Chloe's mental state.’
And as someone who was once close friends with Chloe, she knew Chloe's trigger very well.
“Do you know?”
“I'm not particularly curious about what you have to say anymore. I assume you have nothing more to say about my sister.”
“There's something Lord Gillen used to say every time.”
Chloe didn't have much interest in things that merely breathed.
Instead, there was something else she loved most.
Her adorable puppy, Coco.
“You probably wouldn't know, Chloe.”
“Know what?”
At Chloe's cold words, Dahlia smiled brightly.
“Gillen did some mean things to Coco when you weren't around, didn't he? Actually, I did too.”
“...What?”
“The way that stupid dog would tumble over every time I kicked it—it was so vulgar.”
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