Estribal quickly answered the emperor’s cold question.
“It’s nonsense. Didn’t I tell you before? She’s nothing. Just a plaything…”
“Ah, haha, hahaha!”
The emperor began to chuckle, clutching his stomach. His large earrings jingled, making a sound like clashing chains. Each time, Estribal struggled to hold back his nausea. The emperor, who had been laughing for a while, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and spoke.
“Ah, it’s the first time I’ve seen you talk so hastily. It was a bit fun this time.”
Estribal bowed his head. The emperor laughed, dragging out his words as if to tease him.
“What’s so serious? I just said to get rid of those who are after weaknesses, didn’t I?”
“…I misunderstood. Please forgive my rudeness.”
The emperor chuckled and waved his hand.
“It’s okay. It was fun, wasn’t it? Anyway.”
The emperor’s expression turned cold.
“Kill them all. I have to become a perfect, a very perfect emperor.”
At the emperor’s words, Estribal’s expression wavered. Until now, he had no hesitation about murder. After all, everything in this world was going to be erased by his hand.
But.
[There’s not just one way in any place.]
Ciello’s voice echoed in his head. Estribal carefully opened his mouth.
“Does it really have to be done that way? There might be another way.”
“Another way?”
“Yes. Without necessarily having to kill…”
“You dare…discuss another way now?”
Thud. The emperor stood up from his seat and kicked him in the solar plexus.
He didn’t feel the pain. Estribal bit his lip and interjected again.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to become a perfect emperor? Staining the throne with blood…”
“That’s why I’m ordering you!”
The emperor shouted roughly.
“Because I don’t want to dirty my hands! To avoid any blemishes on my perfect path! That’s why you exist!”
Every time he cut off his sentence, the emperor stepped on and kicked Estribal in anger. But he just bowed his head deeply with patience.
“Already, without Serpiente, we can’t even hold a founding ceremony…”
The emperor, who had been swaggering, glared at him and spoke.
“If there’s one mistake I made, it’s that I made you unable to feel pain directly.”
The emperor snapped his index and thumb together with a thud. At that moment, a rough groan flowed from Estribal’s mouth, which had been keeping silent.
“Uh, kuh…”
“Get up. You.”
The emperor grabbed Estribal by the scruff of his neck and stood him up. The cravat that had been tightly tied up to his neck was torn. The thorny vine wrapped around his neck began to strangle him.
“Heh, ugh…”
Estribal’s face twisted in pain. The emperor raised his gaze and glared at Estribal as he spoke.
“You should remember. When I was the emperor before the last, I didn’t kill a young nephew. He grew up and rebelled. There was no way to salvage it, so I had to abdicate in the end.”
The thorns dug deeper into his neck. Estribal’s face turned pale and the veins in his neck writhed.
“I hastily inherited the throne, so the throne of the previous generation was a mess from the start. If only I hadn’t made that mistake, I could have remained a truly perfect emperor!”
The emperor gritted his teeth and threw Estribal to the floor. At the same time, the thorny vine that had been strangling his neck slowly loosened. Estribal took a deep breath.
“Honestly, this is a bit boring. It’s fun to watch, but there’s no satisfaction in it.”
The emperor grumbled as if he was disappointed.
“If you were a body that could feel pain, I would have broken your fingers one by one like before. You have a good voice, so it’s nice to hear you scream. Or tie you up with chains…”
The emperor, who had been listing the tortures he had done, sighed wearily.
“It’s a shame, but it’s all in the past.”
The emperor sat back down in his chair.
“Find those Peregrine guys. And get rid of them immediately. This is…”
The emperor snapped his index and thumb together with a thud.
“An order.”
At that moment, the emperor’s words turned into a cold turquoise magic. That magic seeped over the thorny vine that wrapped around Estribal’s neck. The emperor looked at him and raised the corners of his mouth.
“Remember. There is no way for you.”
****
“Yawn…I ate lunch early, so I’m hungry.”
The next day, Estribal didn’t come in all day. Ciello, who had no idea what was happening to Estribal, was leisurely talking to herself.
“What should I ask for dessert…”
Then, the necklace Ciello was wearing emitted light.
“Ah, oh my!”
Ciello, who was startled, took out the necklace she had hidden under her blouse and fiddled with the scales. Then Noah’s voice flowed out.
–Hey, can you hear me? Why haven’t you been in touch!
“Why is this shining so brightly? What if someone sees it!”
Ciello whispered to the necklace. But Noah’s voice was calm.
–It’s okay. That light is only visible to those with Peregrine blood flowing through them. Anyway, how’s the situation?
“Well, that…”
Ciello hesitated for a moment.
“What should I say?”
It was strange to think that I was doing well even though I was confined because of you.
Ciello decided to beat around the bush.
“I moved rooms. It seems like a room that the duchess uses…There’s nothing special when I look around.”
–What?
A startled voice popped out. Ciello responded calmly.
“Why are you so surprised? We’re not sharing a room.”
–But the nobles’ bedrooms are all connected…
“Ah, is that so? So that’s how he could come in even at night.”
Ciello belatedly realized that fact and nodded her head. At that, Noah shouted.
–What? How, hey, how can that be possible! That shameless bastard…
“What, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
–What do you mean, of course…
Ah. Ciello caught on to what Noah was saying and closed her mouth. In the end, nothing happened in the bedroom. But according to what Noah said, it hurt her pride to deny that natural situation. Ciello snapped back.
“Can you stop caring about my personal life? Who are you to care and make a fuss?”
–Because I’m worried!
At the immediate answer that popped out, Ciello asked in surprise.
“Why are you worried about me?”
This time, Noah closed his mouth. Noah, who had been hesitating for a moment, spoke somewhat awkwardly.
–Ah, well, that’s because…
“Ah, I see.”
Ciello nodded her head as if it was nothing and continued speaking.
“I said I would cooperate in front of the adults. So that’s fine, right?”
–Ah, you, I didn’t mean that…
Noah stuttered, but Ciello chuckled.
“Someone might come in. If there’s nothing more to say, I’ll hang up.”
Ciello with a snap, closed the scale. Fortunately, the contact was not fruitless.
“Why did I forget that? The bedrooms are connected.”
Ciello muttered. Then she could have entered his room, and if she did well, she might have been able to go outside through his room. Of course, she had no intention of escaping from here right now, but anyway, it was important to open up several ways.
Ciello got up from her seat and headed to the short corridor attached to her room’s reception room. At the end, there was a door leading to Estribal’s room.
“Hey. It’s locked as expected.”
Ciello grumbled softly. But if Estribal also came and went, it wouldn’t be completely blocked. Knowing that, Ciello inserted a thin pin she had brought into the keyhole.
“Like this…”
Fortunately, because it was a door connecting the rooms, the lock wasn’t particularly strong. After moving the pin a few times, the door opened easily.
“I did it!”
Ciello’s eyes sparkled as she carefully pushed open the door. The bedroom, which she was seeing for the first time, had a coldness about it as if no one lived there. It felt more empty than tidy.
There’s nothing here. Ciello instinctively sensed this.
‘The office must be connected too.’
Ciello tiptoed to avoid disturbing the furniture and opened the door to his office, which was connected to the bedroom.
The office gave the impression of being used by someone, with a few file folders giving it some semblance of order, but it still didn’t feel quite right.
“It’s a bit smaller than I thought.”
Ciello furrowed her brows and looked around. Thieves always had to consider escape routes, distances, and widths. From Ciello’s perspective, this space gave off a sense of unease.
Then, a section of the bookshelf caught Ciello’s eye. It was intuition.
“Hmm…I’m sure there’s something here.”
Ciello approached the bookshelf. Among the neatly arranged books, one book was slightly tilted. Ciello’s eyes didn’t miss it.
Ciello carefully pulled out the book. And she stood on her tiptoes to check the place where the book had been. There was a strangely sunken part on the bottom of the bookshelf.
“…This is it.”
When Ciello pressed that part with her hand, the bookshelf creaked and opened, revealing a narrow entrance that could fit one person.
[We are all people who have lost something precious. The Duke must be similar.]
Ciello’s heart pounded wildly. The reason he lost all his senses, the reason he hated the present so much. It seemed like all of that was hidden here.
Ciello cautiously entered the bookshelf. As Ciello expected, inside was a large library that made up for the lack of space seen from the outside. Various books and materials, and magical tools were densely packed.
“…About the summoning of spirits, the history of war and colonization, how do you read this? Ugh…”
The books on the bookshelf had too many difficult words for Ciello to read quickly.
Instead, Ciello looked at the items next to the bookshelf. Perhaps symbolizing the ducal family, a signet ring, a heavy jewel, and the like were neatly arranged on one side of the bookshelf. But there was nothing that Ciello could recognize at a glance.
“Ah, I want to take something and check it, but I might get caught if I do it wrong…”
Ciello bit her lip and scanned the items. Then, a small snake-shaped ornament that seemed to have broken off from somewhere caught Ciello’s eye.
“What is this…I have a feeling.”
Ciello carefully picked up the ornament and examined it. The broken part at the bottom seemed to suggest that it had been attached to the top of something…
Just then, something tapped Ciello’s shoulder.
