My telepathy just drifted by itself, as if the transmission had been severed.
'We succeeded, right?'
I felt the stinging stares of the people belatedly. I turned toward them and smiled awkwardly.
"You must have been surprised. Our Marquis seemed quite displeased, so I just tried to calm him down."
"Hah, well, they say you're newlyweds, and it really is the best time of your lives."
"Even so, in a place like this."
Fortunately, it seemed no one had noticed what the kiss from a moment ago was. Even Rudis was looking at me with a blank expression. In that case, it didn't matter what people said.
"Marquis, shall we put this strange rumor to rest now?"
Eon nodded. He unbuttoned the buttons on his wrist one by one. Unconsciously, I clenched my fist. The white sleeve was slowly rolled up. The vivid red mark...
'Nothing.'
There was no trace left on the pure white wrist where the tendons were bulging.
"Show me the other side, the other side too!"
A meaningless request was heard. In any case, the mark was on the wrist that had just been rolled up. Eon obediently showed everyone his other wrist as well.
"Ah..."
Sighs of relief and lamentations of disappointment mingled. The people who had gathered around Eon returned to their places one by one.
"Duke Razpalin."
At Eon's call, the Duke lowered his eyebrows and wore a look of deep apology.
"I merely intended to ask the Marquis if you would be willing to sell the poorly made—no, no, half-homunculus. I had absolutely no intention of committing such a grave offense. Please let go of your anger."
It didn't seem like a lie. The Duke simply coveted the homunculus.
"I don't know how things ended up this way."
The Duke quietly shifted the blame to someone else. Everyone gathered here knew who that other person was.
"Then designating me as a homunculus was purely Lord Rudis's unilateral action."
Eon singled out that name. Even the eloquent Rudis could not easily find the right words this time.
"How about it, Lord Rudis? To frame a Marquis of a nation as a homunculus—and such an absurd being at that, a homunculus manipulating the country from behind the Emperor's back. I understood when you tried to arrest me without warning last time, putting Captain Hanson at the forefront. I let it slide, assuming it was a grave misunderstanding."
Eon mentioned this purely to sway public opinion. The atmosphere quickly shifted in our favor.
"Perhaps because you are a novelist, you seem obsessed solely with finding entertainment."
The people who had been whispering that Eon might really be a homunculus began to scold Rudis for his rash behavior this time.
"However, I am at a loss as to how to interpret today's events. I wonder if that long story was merely fabricated to slander me, given that you are such a talented novelist. Or perhaps, could I view this as the Pardien family harboring hostility toward Baynan? After all, the Magic Tower is undeniably an organization representing Baynan."
I approached him while Eon was protesting to Rudis in front of the people. After all, as the Marchioness, it wouldn't have been strange if I slapped him on his behalf.
"Lord Rudis. What card do you have that allows you to run wild in front of me, an Archmage? What are you hiding?"
Even though this was a place where magic could not be used, the spell cast beforehand was still valid. In other words, if Rudis lied in response to my question, he would die. His face contorted, and his mouth opened as if someone were forcibly stretching his jaw.
" I have the item."
The title 'Lady' finally disappeared from his lips.
"It is a keepsake of the Archmage Sally."
Judging by his integrity, it was by no means a lie.
'Keepsake...'
Unfortunately, I couldn't remember what it was. If I asked Rudis that as well, he would find out that I hadn't fully recovered my memory. I asked a different question.
"One more thing. Who on earth is the person behind you?"
"Those are... the ancestors of the Pardien family."
The Pardien family. That was so. It was the head of the Pardien family, the ruler of Tartan at the time, who invited the Archmage Sally to Tartan. And that was also Rudis's castle.
"So... you are saying that it was you, Sir Rudis, in the end."
There might be a group of wizards helping him, but they were not the mastermind. In the end, it was Rudis who orchestrated all of this.
"Marchioness, Lord Rudis, I, as the host, will demand appropriate compensation for today's disturbance. It will surely be in the best interest of the Grannois family's honor and the Magic Tower."
The Duke stepped in between me and Rudis. I couldn't tell if he was concerned about my reputation or worried that the fallout might hit him.
"Sally, let's head back now."
"But."
I looked at Rudis, who was standing behind the Duke, avoiding my gaze.
"It is a place where magic cannot be used anyway. Besides, what could I possibly know in front of so many people?"
It was as if he had read my mind. It was a shame, but he was right.
Eon and I held hands and left the banquet hall.
***
I didn't return to the magic tower immediately. I sent a telepathic message to the little one telling him to come out to the garden. After all, the subordination contract with the little one was still valid. Eon and I waited for the little one in the garden.
"How does it feel to be a free man?"
I wondered what expression the little boy would make as he looked at Eon, now that the formula of the contract had vanished. It was possible that the boy might also change his mind and ask to have the contract broken.
"I didn't know I would be released from the contract like this."
A soft light emanated along the path where some of the garden stepping stones were made of phosphorescent stone. However, it was not enough to disturb the cozy night. Since it was a moonless night, the garden appeared even more secretive and unfamiliar.
"Shall we sit down for a moment? If we go any further, I think we'll be too far away from the little one."
There happened to be a bench. Eon sat down next to me without a word.
"Being here reminds me of that day. When you proposed."
I chuckled softly because it somehow turned into a strange thing to say.
"I can put the ring away now, right?"
I took off the ring that was sparkling even in this darkness and handed it to Eon.
"You didn't want it to be known that you were a homunculus, right?"
Of all the things Rudis had babbled about regarding epics and whatnot, I thought that was the only thing true. That is why the researcher, too, must have been unaware of the very existence of the Homunculus. After all, Eon had destroyed all records regarding it.
"The final boss was Rudis. It seems the Pardien family has been investigating you for a long time. And they were waiting for my resurrection. They said their trump card was my keepsake... but unfortunately, I can't remember it."
As I muttered to myself for quite a while, I realized that Eon was excessively quiet. I turned my head toward him. There was only one thing missing from the garden compared to the banquet hall: the inability to see Eon's expression clearly. I moved a little closer to him.
His face looked excessively pale in the light of the luminous stone. His silver hair emitted a bluish light, like a sharp sword capable of cutting through anything.
“Eon?”
His purple eyes met mine as he answered. It was as if a beast hiding in the wild was shining with light. Was it because the subjugation contract had been severed? Or was it because it was a night without even a moon shadow? His appearance was extremely unfamiliar.
'What is he thinking?'
Ironically, now that the subordinate contract has been terminated, I was more curious than ever about his true intentions. Why this expression...
Is he looking at me silently out of affection? I parted my lips, but I couldn't bring myself to ask.
No voice came out.
I fumbled and took his hand.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?"
Or perhaps the breach of the contract had brought about the physical changes. Once I thought about it that way, I was convinced it was definitely the reason. To be more honest, whether it was true or not, I wanted to believe it.
I wanted to look at him more closely. I leaned my face close to him. A statue-like, beautiful yet indifferent face came into view.
Just as I had gazed into little Eon, a desire to see his past arose within me. It soon grew uncontrollably and took over my heart.
"Couldn't you tell me everything about yourself now? What happened in the past? I'm sick of hearing people tell me to watch out for you."
He carefully brushed back the hair covering my face. It was clearly touching me right in front of me, but he didn't seem to be looking at me. I tried hard to push that feeling away and spoke as if it were a joke.
"If you don't tell me, I will enter your dreams, just as I did to the little one."
Now that I have built a bond, or even greater trust, with Eon, it won't be too difficult to enter his memories.
I expected Eon to strongly object, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he hugged me tightly.
"E, Eon?"
His heart was pounding where we were pressed together without a single gap. It was in stark contrast to his expressionless face. His arms wrapped around me tightened. Then, he buried his face in my shoulder.
“Dear Sally.”
Perhaps it wasn't such a sudden confession after all. There were few places more suitable than this for a man and a woman to whisper words of love.
However, it was because of the cool, subdued voice that didn't feel like a confession. The breath touching my neck was as cold as a blade.
"At las..."
I don't know. Why on earth am I casting mind-penetration magic at a time like this? I couldn't be sure if this magic would work on someone who was fully awake, or if Eon would push me away. However, it felt like if not now, I would never get another chance.
As I was drawn into Eon's consciousness, I heard his voice.
"I can finally kill you."
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment