Chapter 259: Dancing with the Emperor (3)
In a hallway of the house, Epherene clung to Deculein’s back. She closed her eyes tightly and hugged his waist. There were voices in the dark around them.
─.
Muttering incomprehensible words as if reciting a chant. A ghost’s hand caressed her neck.
“Ugh…!”
Epherene’s body trembled, but Deculein stood calm. He wasn’t afraid at all.
Stomp- Stomp-
“W-When will we arrive? I-I feel like my heart is going to explode.”
Even the sound of his footsteps was terrifying now. Epherene asked, stuttering, and at that moment, Deculein stopped. She wondered if they had arrived, but she heard another voice.
“Professor.”
It was Julie’s voice. Epherene opened her eyes in surprise.
“The clouds obscured the sun. Are you okay?”
“We’re fine. What are you doing here?”
“I am on patrol.”
Julie was holding a torch. But, Epherene didn’t know if this was the real Julie or if it was a ghost imitating her.
“Since the sun went down suddenly, I thought there would be a lot of people who didn’t manage to get back to their rooms.”
“…”
Deculein pointed behind him with the tip of his chin.
“Did you see the witness’s signatures?”
“…”
Julie didn’t say anything. She saw them.
“Your father’s name is there. I think I can see why Her Majesty didn’t call Zeit. He would make a fuss to destroy the old house. I’m glad she instead called the calm you.”
“…Please. Don’t talk about my family.”
Julie politely bowed her head. Deculein handed Epherene’s wrist to Julie.
“You take her.”
“Eh, what?”
“Yes.”
Julie took her without argument. In the arms of the knight, Epherene blinked a few times and looked at Deculein.
“Professor, are you going somewhere?”
“I have a soul to explore.”
Julie asked with a hard look.
“Soul?”
“Yes. Souls of those who died in the Imperial Palace, or who had a strong grudge against the Imperial Palace, remain as ghosts and cling to this old house. Beings who couldn’t acknowledge their deaths, or had something to say to the living, or who couldn’t die properly.”
Deculein handed Julie the book he received from Sophien.
“Just to say it, Veron is not here. The same goes for Rockfell. They were weak-minded bastards that weren’t strong enough to remain as ghosts.”
“…”
Julie clenched her teeth. Epherene glanced between them.
“Go.”
“Take care of my disciple.”
Take care of my disciple. Those words pierced Epherene’s heart, stealing the breath from her.
Julie nodded.
“Yes.”
“I want to go with you too, Professor-“
“Follow me.”
“Aww.”
Julie dragged Epherene away, and Deculein went back the way he had come. His body was quickly engulfed in darkness.
“…Disciple.”
Epherene muttered softly in Julie’s arms. Eventually, her fear disappeared, and for some reason, both her cheeks felt hot.
…It felt like her heart was pounding.
* * *
I reached somewhere in the old house. I didn’t know where this was. However, I reached it by walking and walking; this place was pointed to by the sixth sense of the Iron Man, the place where the soul I was looking for existed.
“…I see you were in this kind of place.”
A room where the chandelier swayed, and blood dripped to the floor. A woman was sitting at a tea table in the middle and sipping on a cup. As if waiting for me, she left an empty seat.
“Your Majesty the Empress.”
“…”
Empress. The woman who was murdered by Rohakan raised her eyes and looked at me. Blood still dripped from her neck.
“Sit down, please. Professor Deculein.”
For some reason, I nodded as I approached her.
“Long time no see. No, is this the first time?”
Had I ever met her? The Empress’s greeting was questionable, but I sat without a word.
“Did Sophie tell you to find me?”
“…”
“Or not?”
I glanced at her. She laughed, her voice deep and low.
“…Sophie.”
For a moment, she murmured, and her eyes grew distant.
“The monster I gave birth to.”
Crack—!
For a moment, the Empress’s neck was bent, and she stared at me. Tears of blood flowed from her wide eyes.
“That monster killed me. Not Rohakan, but that kid… she killed her own mother.”
“…”
“That kid is a monster.”
The Empress was calling her child a monster. I listened to her without saying a word or showing any reaction.
“Professor Deculein. Why do you think, I, who died a long time ago, am living here? Because I felt wronged? Or because I hate her?”
The Empress shook her head with a self-deprecating smile.
“No. It’s because of Sophie. Sophie must die. That child is a disaster that will destroy this world. I can’t get Sophie out of here.”
“…Is that so?”
“I am not lying. You have to believe it too.”
I watched the Empress silently.
“A long time ago. Ever since I was alive, every time I saw that child, I had this artificial, unnatural feeling. Isn’t it too weird? She’s too perfect.”
Perfect features, as if someone had sculpted them. Skill with swords and magic, administration and scholarship, military and leadership. She was a talent capable of reaching the apex of all fields.
An extremely impeccable human born of Imperial blood.
“Can such a perfect child be called human?”
The Empress handed me a teacup and poured out a black liquid into it. Blood, thick with the scent of iron.
“No. Absolutely. How can you call such a child a human?”
She answered herself. The Empress continued to chew each word.
“If there were such a perfect human. If there was a human, who was truly perfect and without lack.”
Slam-!
At that moment, the door I entered closed. The teacup’s blood gushed out over the table.
“They would be distinct from humanity, and humans would call them god.”
God, the being that the Altar was looking for.
“Is that so?”
I smiled a little. The Empress looked at me.
“Do you believe me?”
“No. I don’t disbelieve you, and I don’t believe you either. I merely regard it as Your Majesty’s argument.”
The current Sophien had too many flaws to be perfect. Her deficiencies and defects were clear to my eyes. Therefore, I could neither believe nor disbelieve the Empress.
“Then. Will you still serve Sophie? Even if the world perishes.”
The Empress clenched her teeth, shedding further bloody tears.
“I am on humanity’s side. If you do not believe, the world will perish!”
“…I see. Thanks to you, I learned one thing for sure.”
I shook my head, then stood and adjusted my clothes.
“You are not the soul Her Majesty seeks.”
“…”
RUMBLE-!
A roar that rippled out like an explosion. The window was smashed, and blood flooded in.
“Then, who is Sophie looking for? If not the one she killed, the mother she stabbed in the neck with her own hands, who the hell?”
The Empress trembled with rage, but I answered briefly.
“The soul that shares her memories.”
* * *
A cold night with darkness creeping around just outside the window. In Julie’s room, Epherene sat down on the bed.
“Take a rest.”
On the other hand, Julie was ready to go out again. Epherene asked with a slightly tense look.
“Are you going out?”
“Yes. Others may be lost. I have a map, so I can’t hide as a knight.”
Before she could leave with her map and a torch as a weapon, Epherene stopped her.
“I heard.”
“…”
Julie halted.
“This special petition. I heard that you planned it. Targeting the Professor.”
Then, Julie looked back at Epherene.
“I know it too. That he’s hard to deal with. Even if we try to talk, he never says anything he hates to say. But…”
Epherene sighed for a moment.
“The Professor still loves you, Knight Julie.”
An awkward silence settled like dust over them. Epherene wiggled her legs, avoiding her gaze. Julie muttered in a low voice.
“It may have been because of that love that it turned out like this.”
Love. Because of that love, Julie couldn’t live much longer, Veron and Rockfell died, and because of that love, she lost her dream. Because of the love that Deculein had.
“…I’ll just go.”
“Is that true?”
Julie, who was about to leave, was stopped once more by Epherene. Julie stood still, clutching the doorknob.
“Did the Professor kill your subordinates?”
“…”
Epherene’s sincere question. Julie pondered for a moment.
“Yes. He killed them. I asked for a petition to find out why.”
And then, she left. She didn’t seem to want to say anything more.
Creek- Slam.
“…Whew.”
As soon as the door closed, Epherene sighed and fell flat on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. Then, she took out a card from her pocket.
“What do I do with this?”
[Julie von Deya-Freyden]
It was the name of the person she must protect. But how do you tell a wizard to protect a knight? And it was a strong person like Knight Julie.
Thud-
At that moment, Sylvia’s gift tumbled out of her pocket. Epherene stared at it silently and then slowly raised herself.
“…It’s not polite.”
Imagine someone else opened your gift. Even she would be angry.
“It’s not the time yet.”
Sylvia said to give Julie the magic stone when Deculein was in danger and standing still.
“…Wait. He is in danger now.”
Come to think of it, he was. If something went wrong with this special petition, he’d be doomed.
“Um… uuuugh…”
Epherene, who sat with her arms crossed and pondered what to do, finally reached a decision.
“Can’t help it. Let me just see.”
She infused mana into the mana stone.
Fssss…
A video rose faintly as if through the sand to reveal Bercht from a long time ago. This was an event that Sylvia observed with her own eyes and recorded in the mana stone.
* * *
The next day at noon, in the square of the old house.
Sophien sat on her throne, smiled as she looked over the list of names.
“There are quite a few witnesses.”
Signatures of countless dead were written on the pamphlet. The servants nodded with frightened faces.
“Good. It doesn’t matter anyway. It is now noon so I will begin the Emperor’s Hearing.”
Sophien put her hand on her chin. She pulled out the petition from the inner pocket of her royal robe.
“Listen. The object of this special petition is…”
She closed her mouth and looked around the room. Numerous servants and nobles, including Louina, Adrienne, Ihelm, and Maho, were waiting for the Emperor’s words with nervous expressions. However, she didn’t see the person she was looking for.
“…Deculein von Grahan Yukline.”
There was a momentary commotion. Everyone murmured and looked around, but the sinner, Deculein, wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere in this room. His disciple, Epherene, was missing too.
“Is Deculein not here? The bastard signed the list of witnesses.”
Emperor Sophien frowned. Deculein had to be there so that she would be able to do anything.
“…Did he give up and run away?”
Lawaine said. Sophien raised an eyebrow.
“Run away. That guy?”
“Yes. The evidence we present is so solid—”
“Quiet. Even if he died, he wouldn’t run away.”
“…”
Sophien unfolded the evidence presented by Julie and Lawaine.
“Anyway, even without Deculein, the Emperor’s special hearing will proceed. Just there won’t be anyone to object.”
The Emperor snorted and pointed at Isaac and Julie with the tip of her chin.
“Tell me. Why do you think Deculein committed these crimes? Why did you appeal to me and ask for a petition?”
It was when Sophien said that, and Isaac and Julie were about to go up on the podium-
Bang-!
The gate to the room swung open. The atmosphere was shattered in an instant.
“Your Majesty! This is terrible!”
A knight, drenched in blood, came rushing in.
“Please, leave this pla— aaah!”
A blade pierced his chest, and hooded men rushed in after him. They scattered their mana filled with murderous aura without hesitation and swung their blades.
“…”
The Altar. Sophien sat still and stared at them without even a whit of agitation. Of course, she expected it.
“It’s a surprise attack! Protect Your Majesty!”
The knights, including Julie, quickly drew their swords and engaged them, and a dark cloud fell overhead. It blocked the sun piece by piece and threw down lightning and rain. The old house was dyed with darkness.
“Haah. Damn bastards.”
Sophien watched them fight with a grin.
Clank-! Clank–!
Swords met fiercely, kicking up sparks. However, magic was of no use here. If destructive magic were used, they would all be killed.
“Gosh. Their timing-“
“Your Majesty.”
Suddenly, a person appeared through the darkness.
Stomp- Stomp-
A man dared to approach the throne after stepping out from the shadows of the battlefield. Sophien’s brow furrowed.
“Deculein?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so late?”
“I’m sorry, it’s been a long time, Your Majesty.”
“…Long time?”
Sophien tilted her head suspiciously, but then she remembered last night. The uncertain favor she asked of Deculein. She didn’t expect that he would be able to do it, and she didn’t think they would exist here.
…No way.
“Follow me. It is dangerous here.”
He grabbed the Emperor’s arm and lifted her. While leading her as he pleased, evacuating from the chaos, he explained his existence.
“It feels like it’s been hundreds of years.”
“…”
Sophien’s face turned blank.
“I’m the professor in the mirror.”