She picked up the necklace and held it up to the light, her expression filled with interest. Seeing her masterpiece after so long brought a sense of renewal.
“Oh, that’s right. This is the work of this great body.”
"Yes, I understand. I brought you here to confirm that statement. Stay here for the time being and await your punishment. I'll take care of your cat for the time being. Don't worry, I'll take good care of it."
Roderick turned away, coldly, as if he'd seen everything she had to offer. But then, Suki's words stopped him in his tracks.
“But was this the only one? My masterpieces were not one, but two.”
“What does that mean?”
“Why... a woman my age with bright red eyes and a fierce look asked me to make one more as a spare.”
Suki frowned as if struggling to recall a long-ago memory.
As far as Roderick knew, there was only one woman with a fierce appearance and red eyes.
Capella Air, not yet caught.
If she still had the necklace, there might be a way to find out her whereabouts.
“...Is it possible to track that item?”
When Roderick asked in a serious voice, Suki opened her mouth with a slightly excited voice.
"Tracking that thing? That's a very tempting story. Let's give it a try. Of course, I'm a genius, so I'm sure it'll be easy."
She seemed a little excited by intellectual curiosity, like a child discovering a fun toy.
“You seem to be having fun with this situation.”
Roderick looked slightly annoyed. He was fed up with Suki's attitude, which seemed to find every situation merely amusing.
"Well, of course it's interesting, but that's not the only reason! If you're asking me this, doesn't that mean you haven't caught that woman yet? I'm also hoping you can help me atone for my sins, even if only a little."
Suki cried out in an uncharacteristically embarrassed voice. Her expression revealed a sincere reflection on her past.
“...Wait a moment. I’ll bring you some magic tools that you can use.”
Roderick left the prison with a somewhat complicated expression on his face. He planned to quickly go to the mansion to retrieve the magic tool detector that Candice had made and sent him.
He figured it would be easier to have something to reference than to start from scratch with nothing.
And Roderick, who returned to the prison with the magic tool, freed Suki from her magical bonds using the method Isidore had told him to use.
"Don't think about useless things, and just use your magic to track that thing. And don't forget, I have Pumpkin with me."
He had a vague feeling she wouldn't do anything foolish, but he made a veiled threat and handed Candice's invention to Suki.
“Oh, that’s right. This is the work of this great body.”
"Yes, I understand. I brought you here to confirm that statement. Stay here for the time being and await your punishment. I'll take care of your cat for the time being. Don't worry, I'll take good care of it."
Roderick turned away, coldly, as if he'd seen everything she had to offer. But then, Suki's words stopped him in his tracks.
“But was this the only one? My masterpieces were not one, but two.”
“What does that mean?”
“Why... a woman my age with bright red eyes and a fierce look asked me to make one more as a spare.”
Suki frowned as if struggling to recall a long-ago memory.
As far as Roderick knew, there was only one woman with a fierce appearance and red eyes.
Capella Air, not yet caught.
If she still had the necklace, there might be a way to find out her whereabouts.
“...Is it possible to track that item?”
When Roderick asked in a serious voice, Suki opened her mouth with a slightly excited voice.
"Tracking that thing? That's a very tempting story. Let's give it a try. Of course, I'm a genius, so I'm sure it'll be easy."
She seemed a little excited by intellectual curiosity, like a child discovering a fun toy.
“You seem to be having fun with this situation.”
Roderick looked slightly annoyed. He was fed up with Suki's attitude, which seemed to find every situation merely amusing.
"Well, of course it's interesting, but that's not the only reason! If you're asking me this, doesn't that mean you haven't caught that woman yet? I'm also hoping you can help me atone for my sins, even if only a little."
Suki cried out in an uncharacteristically embarrassed voice. Her expression revealed a sincere reflection on her past.
“...Wait a moment. I’ll bring you some magic tools that you can use.”
Roderick left the prison with a somewhat complicated expression on his face. He planned to quickly go to the mansion to retrieve the magic tool detector that Candice had made and sent him.
He figured it would be easier to have something to reference than to start from scratch with nothing.
And Roderick, who returned to the prison with the magic tool, freed Suki from her magical bonds using the method Isidore had told him to use.
"Don't think about useless things, and just use your magic to track that thing. And don't forget, I have Pumpkin with me."
He had a vague feeling she wouldn't do anything foolish, but he made a veiled threat and handed Candice's invention to Suki.
She looked at the new invention before her with a serious expression, eager to discover what mechanism it used.
And after looking around for a while, Suki let out a voice that seemed to be impressed by the genius of the person who created this magical tool.
"I don't know who it is, but whoever created this tool seems to be quite skilled. Of course, not as skilled as I am."
Roderick shrugged, now accustomed to Suki's way of speaking. This was tantamount to acknowledging Candice's superiority.
“So, can you track it?”
"Yes. Just wait a minute. I think I can modify it in about ten minutes."
She responded with a nonchalant tone, then quickly modified the detector on the spot. Suki was actually quite a skilled magician, though she had used her powers for evil.
Of course, it took a little longer than the ten minutes she had promised, but she presented the completed tool to Roderick in a matter of hours.
"Here it is. This scorpion in the middle will circle in the direction of the woman. It's like a compass. The closer it gets, the bigger it becomes."
“...Thank you for your hard work.”
Roderick, slightly surprised by her abilities, gathered his magical tools and turned around. He was only anxious to catch Capella as soon as possible.
"Wait! Are you forgetting something? I mean, the magic restraint."
Then, Suki swung her wrist and grabbed Roderick, forgetting to restrain his magic again.
“...Oh, that’s right.”
Roderick looked at her face with a puzzled expression as he reattached the magic bindings to Suki's wrists.
Then Suki asked, stammering in embarrassment.
“Why, why are you doing that?”
"Wouldn't it be better for you if I forgot about the magical restraints? You could probably escape the prison using magic."
At Roderick's question, Suki blinked silently.
"I don't intend to do that. Anyway, I indeed sinned, so shouldn't I pay the price?"
It was an answer that made him think a lot.
“...At least you are a person who knows how to reflect.”
With these last words, Roderick stumbled out of the prison.
***
Laura followed the guard out of the prison with puffy eyes. Her face was swollen from the constant crying over her situation.
Among the people in the other rooms, there were incredible rumors that Uncle Cloud had become a traitor, and contact with her mother was lost.
She herself was caught for her part in the rebellion, so it was clear that she would not be spared.
The tears kept flowing because of the negative thoughts that kept coming to her.
“...Come in.”
The guard unlocked the large lock on the iron door, turned around, and spoke to Laura. His expression was very gruff.
'Uncle must be in a terrible state.'
She grabbed the cold doorknob and felt tears welling up in her eyes again.
She had been thinking that ever since the guard brought her out of the prison, promising to let her meet Cloud.
'Oh, it seems like my uncle is in critical condition.'
If the rumors of his defection were true, it was clear that he had revealed his comrade's name under brutal torture.
When he was about to die from the excruciating torture, they pretended to do him a favor and let him meet his niece.
Perhaps, if she opens this door, her uncle will be waiting for her in such a miserable state that she can't bear to open her eyes.
But her predictions were spectacularly wrong. There were no signs of torture on Cloud's body as he sat inside the prison cell.
Of course, he looked more haggard than Laura remembered, but compared to the other prisoners visible through the bars, he looked very healthy.
Even the prison facilities seemed much nicer than the one she was used to, as if he was receiving some kind of special treatment.
There were no handcuffs or shackles in the room, so he could move freely.
“...Laura, your face looks really hurt.”
Cloud, upon seeing his niece's face, ran over to Laura with a worried expression, trying to caress her thin cheek. But Laura, with a look of betrayal, avoided his touch.
“I truly believed that my uncle... couldn’t help it. I thought that if it weren’t for that, you wouldn’t have betrayed us...! How could that be...!”
“...”
Cloud had a mouth but couldn't say anything as he watched his niece curse at him, calling him a traitor.
Because he was a traitor.
He betrayed his lord, his family, and sold out those who were once his comrades. All for the sole purpose of alleviating the heavy burden of guilt that weighed heavily on him.
So, he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut when his niece criticized him for being a traitor.
"Why on earth did you do that? Did you want to live alone so badly? Tell me! For over ten years, our entire family has been working towards the single goal of reviving our family...!"
Laura let out a sob-filled scream. Her insides felt like they were being torn apart by the betrayal.
She couldn't shake the vague notion that if only he hadn't sold the names of his still-uncaptured collaborators, they might have brought in troops and changed the situation.
"My uncle destroyed my last hope! Why, why...!"
Laura collapsed on the cold prison floor and burst into tears. It was as if she had returned to the days when her father had died and she had been cast out overnight from noblewoman to traitor.
When a cry was heard from inside the room, a startled guard opened the iron door and came in, but Cloud shook his head as if he was okay.
The guard shrugged and locked the iron gate again. He figured it was a family matter, so they'd handle it.
Cloud simply watched his niece cry out in sorrow. He feared that trying to comfort her clumsily would only provoke more rejection.
And after a while.
Laura, who had cried enough, stopped crying and wiped her face with her dirty sleeve.
After finding her senses, she decided to listen to Cloud's story. No matter how much she hated him, he was her one and only uncle.
“Let me hear it. Seriously, why did you do that?”
“...It was painful.”
At his niece's question, Cloud opened his mouth in a weak voice.
"Every single day, living felt so agonizing that it was terrifying. Having to serve as master to allies who believed their positions stolen away based solely on unfounded victimhood, raising an innocent child as a killing weapon to deceive and murder his own father... The fact that I had to do what was wrong, that I had no choice..."
At first, he started off with a listless tone, as if his soul had been sucked out, but as he poured out his feelings, Cloud seemed to become increasingly agitated.
"To survive, for the family... and for you, my brother's daughter. Every single day, I had to justify my immoral behavior, even though I knew it wasn't right. That... wasn't living."
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