Episode 127

Arzen’s eyes, fixed on the necklace, were trembling uncontrollably.

“T-this is the necklace I gave to Jenna.”

“What?”

‘Jenna’s necklace? Why is that here…?’

He soon muttered with a pale face.

“Don’t tell me that damn dark mage touched Jenna?”

Arzen, now in a panic, spoke with a voice full of despair.

“Jenna must’ve evacuated to Flora Palace with Father when the monster appeared!”

“Calm down, Arzen.”

I placed a hand on Arzen’s shoulder and spoke.

“Calm down? Jenna might’ve fallen into that dark mage’s hands!”

“……”

Arzen, who had shouted at me, soon regained his senses and covered his forehead.

“……Sorry, Sierra. I wasn’t angry at you.”

Arzen was especially sensitive when it came to Jenna.

I already knew how deeply he cared for his long-lost twin sister, and it was something I had to understand.

‘Still, this guy dared to raise his voice at me?’

He used to not even be able to meet my eyes when we were kids, and now he seemed to have changed quite a bit.

I barely held myself back from smacking him on the head and let out a small sigh.

“I know. And Lady Jenna is fine. So quit getting all teary and look over there.”

At my words, Arzen lifted his head.

In the distance, Jenna was walking toward us, accompanied by Duke Selber.

Looking perfectly fine.

“……Jenna? Jenna!”

Arzen immediately dashed over to her in a single stride and checked her from head to toe.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“What’s wrong, Arzen oppa? Why are you making such a fuss all of a sudden?”

“With me around, where would Jenna even have a chance to get hurt, Arzen?”

The duke beside her lightly chided him, and only then did Arzen seem to come to his senses and muttered.

“Thank goodness… really, thank goodness.”

“What happened, oppa?”

Jenna soon shifted her gaze toward me, Ludwig, and Theodore, then looked at the black powder scattered on the ground and said,

“That’s… the remains of a dark mage, isn’t it?”

Jenna stared wide-eyed at the black powder.

“Yeah. I found the necklace I gave you among that dark mage’s remains. It’s only natural I was worried.”

Duke Selber spoke with a puzzled expression.

“Jenna was with me the entire time. There wasn’t any chance for her to encounter a dark mage.”

Amidst the confusion, Jenna calmly explained the situation.

“Sorry, Arzen oppa. I must’ve dropped it when I was scrambling to evacuate. It was such chaos with all the people rushing around.”

At Jenna’s words, Arzen let out a low sigh.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I’m just relieved you’re safe.”

Jenna smiled brightly and gently wiped Arzen’s reddened eyes with her hand.

Watching the two of them, I looked down at the necklace still in my hand.

One side of the necklace was broken — as if it had been yanked off in a rush.

And sure enough, there was a faint reddish mark around Jenna’s neck.

A mark that could only have been made by someone forcefully pulling on the necklace.

‘Maybe it just got snagged while she was rushing to evacuate…’

But why was it in the dark mage’s possession?

The Flora Palace, where everyone had evacuated, was in the complete opposite direction of this back garden.

It was only natural to doubt that there might be some connection between Jenna and the dark mage.

But Jenna had a very clear alibi — she had been with Duke Selber the entire time.

‘The duke’s not the kind of man who would ever leave Jenna alone in such a dangerous situation.’

As I stared at Jenna, feeling suspicious, she came closer and said,

“I’m so glad everyone’s safe. Thanks to Grand Duke Karsian, we were able to get through it unharmed.”

“It was nothing.”

Following her, Duke Selber asked Theodore,

“More importantly, Your Highness, how could traces of a dark mage be found within the Imperial City itself?”

“We’re still investigating. We suspect it’s connected to the monster gate that just opened.”

“…It must be related to the recent surge in dark magic activity.”

“That’s right. Until the investigation is complete, please keep this matter strictly confidential.”

“Of course.”

“Is Lady Drenihan alright? I saw the monster charging at you.”

“Thanks to His Grace’s help, I wasn’t hurt.”

“That’s truly fortunate. Ah, come to think of it, I should be calling you the Little Duke now.”

“Please call me whatever’s comfortable, Your Grace. I’m still not used to being called Little Duke either.”

At my words, Duke Selber let out a hearty laugh.

“Haha, you’ll get used to it soon enough. More importantly, I remember you used to get along well with our Jenna when you were little.”

At Duke Selber’s words, Jenna’s expression stiffened ever so slightly.

“I only found out through my escort knight. I was so young then that I don’t really remember.”

“Well, that makes sense. You were only five years old, and you only knew each other for about a month.”

“Only a month?”

From what Desar told me, it sounded like we had been pretty close, but it was a much shorter time than I had expected.

“That’s right. Around the time a month had passed, you suddenly fell ill, and not long after that, Jenna went missing…”

Even hearing about those times still felt like listening to someone else’s story.

‘Because I have no memory of it at all.’

I wondered how Jenna felt.

Did she remember handing me the Fruit of Betrayal?

Even sensing my gaze, Jenna didn’t avoid my eyes and instead smiled.

But she couldn’t hide her pale complexion.

Or the awkward curve of her lips.

Normally, the real Jenna would’ve been bursting with curiosity about childhood stories, asking all sorts of questions, but now she kept her mouth tightly shut.

‘She remembers.’

The look of someone hiding guilt was obvious.

I smiled gently at Jenna and said,

“It would be nice to share stories about our childhood memories sometime.”

At my words, the slight stiffening of her expression confirmed my suspicion.

* * *

The Founding Festival, which had turned into chaos due to the unexpected appearance of a monster gate, gradually settled down as time passed.

The Imperial Family, unable to let the festival that only opened once every four years end with a monster incident, hastily held a follow-up banquet at Flora Palace.

“It was my first time seeing a monster in real life. It was such a terrifying creature that I just collapsed right on the spot!”

“Is that so? Even I could’ve beaten that thing to a pulp.”

“Didn’t you run away faster than anyone else, Viscount?”

“A-hem, well. If it were back in my younger days, that’s what I meant.”

The nobles, rather than being frightened, chattered away as if they had just enjoyed a show.

The fear of that moment had long been forgotten, and each was busy embellishing their memories with lively stories.

“We could’ve died if things went wrong, yet everyone’s smiling so brightly.”

“No one got hurt, and it’s not like people born into noble families get to see monsters often.”

I chatted with Ludwig while sipping wine on the terrace.

After a moment of hesitation, Ludwig spoke in a low voice.

“But… maybe it’s just me, but it felt like that monster was specifically targeting Sierra.”

He said exactly what Arzen had pointed out earlier.

And it was something I had felt as well.

“Since I was the one actually fighting it, I could feel it for sure. That thing couldn’t focus on me — it kept aiming only at Sierra, who was behind me.”

Ludwig recalled the situation.

“If the creature hadn’t been so distracted, it would’ve been a tougher fight. I was able to defeat it easily because its attention was divided.”

“Monsters fundamentally have an instinctive hatred for humans. But… I felt it too. Right after it appeared from the gate, it ignored everyone around and charged straight at me.”

It was something completely beyond the bounds of common sense.

But recently, I had experienced too many things that couldn’t be explained by common sense.

At the same time, I had come to realize that someone was targeting me.

It was only natural to suspect that this incident was connected.

“Someone might have targeted me, hired a dark mage, and deliberately opened the monster gate.”