Chapter 47 An Unfamiliar Desperation
“I, I don’t know exactly… but I’ve heard there’s a ‘factory’ somewhere in District 3.”
The man shuddered, as if fearing further torture, and quickly added
“I don’t know the location, I swear, I was the newest and last of His Majesty’s faithful servants!”
“…”
Belly, who had been watching Delphine silently, interrupted.
“I think we’ve heard all that needs to be said.”
Belly smirked and turned to Delphine.
“You’re very pale, so let’s go outside and finish the story.”
Delphine nodded slowly, then turned away from the man.
Behind him, he heard Nicolai sobbing softly.
Turning to face the man, Delphine suddenly asked.
“Why?”
The man’s tear-stained face lifted as he stroked his ruined finger.
“Huhuhu… Huh?”
Delphine repeated, looking at the man, who was dumbfounded by the sudden question.
“Why did you seek such an unknown power, to do such inhuman things?”
The man’s expression changed from childlike sobbing to fierce.
He glared at Delphine with a ferocious expression.
“Why? Why? I don’t know. You don’t know. The wealth of the Astrax Empire, the Red Peony, the young lady of Pembroke, who has had it all since day one!”
“Hey. Watch your tongue.”
Lynn frowned and lightly tapped the bars with his hilt.
But the man didn’t seem to mind, and continued to shout.
“I’m not like you, I’ve been playing the violin since childhood, but I’ve always been somewhere in the middle, neither in looks, nor talent, nor skill!”
The man crawled over and rattled the bars, shouting like a madman.
“No matter how hard I tried, I could never reach the realm of talent, until one day, in despair, the Emperor came to me and asked, “What do you want most?”
The man took his hands off the bars, sobbed, and whispered.
“So I said I just want to… play in front of people, and I’ll do anything for that.”
“Let’s go, there’s nothing more to hear.”
Belly led the hesitant Delphine toward the stairs, her face impassive.
Delphine followed her, a confused look on her face.
“The violin. Where is my violin? Give me that. I can’t live without it!”
At their backs as they walked away, the man called out desperately.
“Come on.”
Belly, noticing Delphine’s hesitant steps, said firmly.
“…”
And with that, Delphine ran out of the dark dungeon, never looking back.
***
As Delphine exited the dark dungeon, the world suddenly seemed strangely bright.
“His Majesty… No, the Emperor has been plotting such a thing behind our back.”
Delphine said in disbelief as she sat in her wooden chair.
“Why?”
She couldn’t understand it.
Wasn’t it the Imperial Court that had purged the Empire of all traces of magic, calling them evil and against the will of the gods?
“I’ve told you before, there’s something off about this Empire.”
Belly said quietly, his smile gone.
“Those walls, and the presence of the Northern Continent… and the things that came down from above, I thought.”
She looked down at the elaborate Northland object on the table and frowned.
“Are those walls really meant to keep out invaders, or are they meant to trap the people inside…?”
That wall is meant to keep them in?
Seeing her sitting there with a confused look on her face, Belly added.
“The factory that man was talking about. I have a feeling it might hold some clues to the secrets of this Empire.”
“The only way to find out is to infiltrate the place ourselves.”
Lynn interjected in a somewhat harsh tone.
“That’s how we’ve always approached the truth.”
“But didn’t you say you didn’t know the location of the factory?”
“Not that I don’t have an idea.”
Belly narrowed her eyes and muttered softly.
“Maybe… is probably right, but I need to be sure.”
Delphine, who had been staring at them, suddenly spoke up.
“Me too, I’ll come with you.”
She was offering to join them on the factory raid.
The two reacted in stark contrast.
Belly smirked, as if she had expected it.
Lynn, on the other hand, scowled and immediately retorted.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Why is it nonsense?”
“This is a much riskier operation than you realize. We’re going to be sending in operatives who have been trained for a long time.”
“But you’ll have to come with me to charge the phosium.”
Delphine was unfazed by the comment, her tone nonchalant.
“The amount of phosphorus you have at your disposal is very small.”
It couldn’t have been much, given that it had been taken from a smuggled shipment from the Northern Continent.
It was also easy to deduce from the fact that Lynn didn’t carry a lot of it.
Lynn flinched for a moment at the sharp point, but then spoke up again.
“But…”
“What a but.”
That’s when Belly cheerfully interrupted Lynn.
“We’d be very grateful if you’d come with us.”
“Belly. You…”
Lynn let out a harsh expletive that made Delphine wince.
But Belly was completely unfazed and smirked.
“But, My Lady. You must be especially careful with your husband.”
“What…?”
“The Marquis of Pride.”
Her heart dropped with a thud.
Belly wiped the smile from her face and spoke with a deadly seriousness.
“I left a replacement for him in the theater, but I don’t know when he’ll notice.”
Lynn chimed in, glancing at Delphine’s face.
“He’s got an animalistic sense, and he’s got his eyes lit on this one in particular, and he says he’s searching for the source of the fire.”
“…”
Delphine lowered her eyes, uncomfortable.
He was the reason she was so focused on this case.
Belly, who had been watching her with piercing blue eyes, suddenly asked.
“My lady. Just a moment ago, what were you thinking when you saw that man?”
“Suddenly…?”
Delphine stammered, a confused look on her face.
The image of the ragged, crying man flashed through her mind again.
Suddenly, Ioannes’s words to her the day of the blizzard flashed through her mind.
“I’m willing to kill anyone to protect you.”
Belly blurted out.
“You don’t happen to feel sympathy for that man, do you?”
A sudden sharpness flashed through Belly’s eyes, which had been cracked by a smile.
Delphine couldn’t stop a hot look from crossing her face.
Surely, just now, she had seen the mess of a man and thought of Ioannes’s burns.
The sight of a man desperate for something was not unfamiliar to her.
“…”
Delphine could easily see why Belly had bothered to mention it before they’d gone undercover in the factory.
No matter the process, Ioannes was her husband now.
They’ve been sharing a bed for a season now…
He was asking her if she had the courage to walk in direct opposition to him.
“…”
Delphine fell silent and thought for a moment.
What the man had said in the dungeon was wrong.
She hadn’t grown up having everything, enjoying everything.
There had been a time when she had craved the praise of her father, who had suddenly turned cold, just as he had craved the praise of others.
… But she would never, ever, throw away her humanity for it.
Delphine shook her head, trying to forget the image of the sobbing man and the badly burned Ioannes.
“Whatever truth lies there, I am prepared to face it.”
Belly smiled, finally looking completely satisfied.
“In three days.”
The blond with the angelic face turned to her and announced.
“In three days, we will infiltrate the factory.”
***
With those words, Delphine returned to the manor.
As safely as she had left the barrier, with the help of Lynn’s magic.
As she entered the window of the study, a doll in her likeness, reading a book wordlessly, smiled brightly.
“It’s a strange feeling… I feel like I’m moving in a mirror.”
Muttering softly, Delphine walked up to the doll and recited the spell Lynn had taught her.
Suddenly, the faintly smiling doll disappeared, leaving only a thumbnail-sized piece of phosium in its place.
Delphine scooped it up and tucked it carefully into her pocket.
As she stepped out of the study, the maids guarding the hallway greeted her.
“…”
Trying not to show too much displeasure, Delphine made her way to her quarters on the same floor.
She was tired of being watched again, even though she had escaped her father’s harsh supervision at best.
Shake it off.
Delphine flopped wearily down on the couch in the quarters and closed her eyes quietly.
So much had happened today.
Not just today, but lately, a series of events that had turned her life upside down.
‘Something. I’m tired…’
Delphine breathed evenly as she buried herself in the plush couch.
***
“My Lady…?”
At the sound of her own voice calling out to her, Delphine opened her tightly closed eyes.
Ioannes was before her.
He sat down on one knee and looked down at her fondly.
“You must have fallen asleep.”
She thought she must have blinked for a moment, but the room had gone dark.
