Inside the Bonetti carriage, the wheels rolled smoothly over the well-paved roads.
I had managed to get ready and come down, but my mood hadn’t improved in the slightest. I kept my eyes fixed on the window.
Such was life.
Cruello, seated across from me, left me alone for a while. But eventually, perhaps growing bored, he spoke up.
"I'm sorry."
"......."
"I wasn't laughing at you. I just... choked for a moment."
"......."
"You actually did something impressive, darling. Just getting a lead is an achievement. No one would have even thought of Julian Minerva—"
"Just laugh already."
The moment I said it, something inside him snapped.
He hunched over, shaking.
The carriage wasn’t small, but with someone his size, it felt completely taken over by him.
More specifically, by a trembling Cruello, who was barely containing his laughter.
Annoying.
I glared at the top of his head.
"Why did you come in through the window again? This time, we even had a proper appointment!"
He tried to answer, but another burst of laughter cut him off, forcing him to double over again.
I really hate this.
It took him about three minutes before he could respond properly.
"It’s just a habit. Sorry, sorry. Haha."
His eyes even had tears in them from laughing so much.
After wiping at the corners of his eyes with a finger, he finally got serious.
"But really—what's with Julian Minerva?"
"How would I know? All I got was a sudden vision of Julian Minerva."
"Hmm. Does your god usually send revelations like that?"
"No. Normally, they speak clearly in divine language. Something like ‘Save’ or ‘Silence.’"
"Saving makes sense, but silence?"
Ah. Landmine.
The last time I received the command to "be silent" was when I stood before young Cruello.
At the time, I had been struggling with whether or not to tell him the truth—plagued by guilt over deceiving a child.
So there was no way I could tell present-day Cruello about it.
I quickly changed the subject.
"It’s just something that happens. Don’t worry about it."
"There you go keeping secrets again."
"It’s a top-secret matter of the Pebula faith, Cruello. Surely you understand."
"Fine. Since I did something to upset you, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that."
He grinned, which only made me feel worse.
This was all Pebula’s fault.
It wasn’t even that I wanted to keep it a secret.
I swallowed a sigh and spoke up.
"Ah, turn left here."
Cruello relayed the instruction to the coachman.
We were on our way to find Julian Minerva.
Originally, we had been planning an operation to capture the Grand Elder, but since Pebula had so kindly thrown a different lead our way, we decided to follow it.
Besides, Julian’s situation had taken a strange turn.
The last time we saw him, he had been rescued by Daedire and disappeared through a teleportation spell.
We had no idea where he went.
However, since he had cooperated with us and even been advised to turn himself in, we assumed things had wrapped up smoothly.
But after that, Julian Minerva went missing.
Even with the entire Minerva Marquisate in an uproar, desperately searching for him, he was nowhere to be found.
Luckily, tracking him down wasn’t difficult for me.
Because—
"That chain shard thing is really useful."
I still hadn’t removed the fragment I had embedded in his neck.
"It only works when it’s lodged in the neck. If you ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) put it anywhere else, it tends to fall out easily."
"So it wouldn’t work on someone of similar skill level."
"Exactly. It’s only useful if you can subdue them instantly, and even then, it only tracks their location at close range."
If Julian had left the capital, we would have had to search the entire country.
Honestly, its duration was longer than regular tracking magic, but its effectiveness was worse.
"Cruello, do you know anything about Julian?"
"Not much. I think he used to pick fights with me a lot at the academy."
"'Think'? Why so vague?"
"Because I genuinely don’t remember clearly. My memory was foggy back then."
I fell silent.
Cruello had entered the academy right after living and dying as Viga.
Maybe he had some kind of Viga Syndrome just like my Amy Syndrome.
"I did keep an eye on him for a while after learning he was working for the Elders, but nothing stood out."
"Who roped him in? Was it Qudil, the errand boy?"
"I assumed so, but I couldn’t find concrete proof."
"Still, Qudil—"
I trailed off.
Wait.
He couldn’t find out who recruited Julian?
Maybe I was overthinking it.
But right now, everything was a clue.
"Could there be an Elder hiding in the shadows?"
"It’s possible. Your god might have revealed this to you for that reason."
Suddenly, my excitement plummeted.
Pebula... helpful? Ha.
"Either way, it won’t hurt to interrogate him. Ah, take a right two blocks ahead. Then go three more blocks and stop."
The energy from the chain fragment was getting stronger.
Finally, we came to a stop and stepped out of the carriage.
The place we had arrived at was—
"Halt! Stop right there! This is the Crimson Duke’s estate! Identify yourselves!"
The Crimson Ducal estate.
Well, well.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
***
Despite the Crimson Duke’s well-known dislike for Cruello, he was, at the very least, a reasonable man.
“You’ve come to see Daedire?”
“Yes, my lord. We became friends recently,” I answered, lying without a hint of shame.
The duke’s gaze clearly questioned why I had brought him along to visit a friend, but I met his silent disapproval with unwavering resolve.
And just like that, we were allowed into the reception room without issue.
“The young lady is currently away,” the servant informed us. “She is expected to return shortly. Please wait here.”
It was surprising that Daedire wasn’t home, but it ultimately didn’t matter.
No way was she going to throw out her own lifesaver.
After placing two cups of tea before us, the servant exited the room.
The moment the door shut, we turned to each other in silent agreement.
“The chain?” I asked.
“It’s upstairs. Make us invisible,” I requested.
“As you wish.”
In an instant, our forms disappeared.
Since this was the Crimson Duke’s estate, it had a stronger magical defense than most places, but it didn’t pose a problem.
Carefully, we slipped out of the reception room and headed upstairs.
The second-to-last room at the end of the third floor.
The moment I pinpointed the precise location of the chain fragment, I grabbed the doorknob without hesitation.
Bang!
The door slammed shut again just as quickly.
Facing the closed door, I took three deep breaths.
Then, I asked, “There wasn’t a presence in there just now, was there?”
“There was,” Cruello replied. “You opened it so confidently I assumed you knew what you were doing.”
“I haven’t fully recovered.”
“You were always like this when not using holy power.”
“Now’s not the time to be precise about details. Anyway, we’re under an invisibility spell. They probably just thought it was the wind.”
“Well. If you wanted them to think that, perhaps speaking out loud wasn’t the best approach.”
...Fair point.
Blatantly making noise rendered the invisibility spell useless.
With a resigned sigh, Cruello dispelled the magic.
And with an equally resigned sigh, I reached for the doorknob again.
This time, I opened the door properly.
Standing inside was Daedire Crimson, the tall knight with striking silver eyes.
“Lady Siora? And Your Grace. What brings you here?”
Daedire spoke with complete composure, as if the awkward situation from moments ago had never happened.
It was embarrassing, but honestly, I appreciated it.
Feigning surprise, I widened my eyes.
“Oh, Sir Daedire! What a coincidence! What are you doing here?”
“This is my room.”
...Right. Should’ve guessed.
“Would you like to come in?”
I nodded without hesitation.
Daedire’s room was quite spacious.
By comparison, it was about one and a half times the size of mine.
For a brief moment, I felt a twinge of jealousy—but it was fine.
My temple was far bigger.
“By the way, Sir Daedire, we were told you were away.”
“Oh, the servants would think that. I returned through the window.”
I shot a look at Cruello.
Is this a trend in the capital?
He blinked a couple of times before flashing a dazzling smile.
...Why?
“These days, I have a lot of nuisances to deal with,” Daedire continued. “But may I ask what brings the two of you here?”
“Oh, nothing much.”
I wasn’t here for small talk, so I immediately turned toward the direction where I sensed the chain fragment.
It was in the wall.
Unless someone had buried Julian’s corpse and plastered over it, that meant it wasn’t really a wall.
Cruello tapped on it a couple of times, and the hollow sound echoed through the room.
Well, well. A hidden space.
I turned toward Daedire, who let out a deep sigh.
Her expression suggested that she had already expected this.
“...I’ll open it for you.”
The moment her mana touched the wall, it slid open, revealing the secret compartment.
It wasn’t large by any means.
A small, cube-shaped space barely big enough for one person to lie down.
Inside, on a narrow bed, was Julian Minerva.
“I recall you being advised to surrender at the imperial chapel.”
“Julian was planning to... before this happened.”
Julian’s entire body had turned an eerie shade of pale violet.
The only part that remained untainted was his neck—where the shape of the chain fragment I had embedded into him was clearly visible.
A piece of my divine power was still lingering there, fending off the dark mana and barely keeping him alive.
The sight left an odd feeling in my chest.
“This is a dark magic curse,” I murmured. “It’s not conditional—it’s remote-activated. A type of curse that requires the target’s consent. And yet, he accepted it willingly.”
I could understand why the Elder Council would need such a failsafe.
But what I didn’t understand was Julian.
What had driven him to willingly put this collar around his own neck?
I turned to his foolish friend.
“When did this start?”
“I don’t know,” Daedire admitted.
She took a slow breath, visibly reining in her emotions before continuing.
“When I heard Julian had gone missing, I traced the teleportation spell’s destination. By the time I found him, he was already like this.”
If it activated right after Elin’s death, then that would make sense.
With Julian unconscious, there was no way to get any answers out of him.
I needed to use my divine power to heal him, but in my current condition, it wasn’t ideal.
As I begrudgingly examined him, I noticed something strange.
“...Huh?”
Something was off about his body.