Raga of the Dry Branch - Chapter 15

“Indeed, you thought that I would die.”

As I spoke with a smile, she flinched. At that moment, the thought of being alone in this place, with just the two of us came across my mind, as I was about to stand up, she moved back.

“Stay there…”

“If I believe in something, for example something like this. Like how the ‘Visra’ poison was used in the ceremony when the new lady of the house was being crowned, or if the gems which were given for someone as a reward to execute the plan was hidden well or not.”

She did quite a lot, and there definitely were a lot more disgusting things she must have done.

“However, you should have made sure not to leave any traces behind.”

“N-No way!”

I stared at her as she was sitting stiff in her cold-sweat soaked dress. This was just the beginning.

Honestly this was information which I got by accident. It was necessary to check if that information could be trusted or not, and for a long time I would go round the backstreets for this. My hobbies and specialties, which were known to be nothing special by my family, were of great help in the backstreets. After collecting and analyzing the incidents and the evidence, I came to the conclusion that the information I stumbled upon was true.

Honestly, no one could have doubted it. Even the information guild didn’t have an idea as to what poison was used. She must have felt so confident that no one would know since the only person whom she used was a maid who was loyal to her.

However, down in the backstreets as she ignored the matter, words floated around, despite them speaking in their own language, secrets flowed. They ignored the backstreets and discarded the person once the task was done, what she didn’t realize was that even a discarded hand can play a role in shifting the positions.

Of course, if it wasn’t for those words I heard that day, I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, and I needed confirmation that it actually happened and wasn’t some kind of baseless rumor, and the confirmation was in her current reaction.

“Why have you been quiet till now…”

“You see, I didn’t want to do anything, and even if I did, they would rope me in with you. I just wanted to rest. And even I do know, you could kill me to silence me.”

As if that thought just struck her mind, she tried to call for her escort. It seemed like he wanted to silence me by killing. Now that I look at her, how dumb could she be…

Before her knight could come, I asked.

“Are you going to kill me?”

I swung my hand and touched my braided hair which was to the side.

“I see.”

The woman kept silent as she looked at me.

“I am lucky that the days have changed. The moment I die, the messenger pigeon would fly out right away. That is the moment it notices that my heart stopped beating. Of course, you don’t have to worry about the pigeon going and mis-delivering it because the item won’t be a paper but a video. Aren’t we developing a whole lot these days? Though it cost me quite a lot of money.”

Saying that I smiled looking at her face which went pale. For the first time I felt relieved.

“Why are you doing this? Tell me.”

She clenched her teeth as she looked into my eyes.

“Could it be because I want to burn down the Baliares estate?”

“You!!”

“Actually, it would take a lot of passenger airships and we would have to crash them, and then maybe what I want can be achieved.”

“Huh! T-that… you, you.”

Uh. Ah, I should take a picture of her, this face suited her the most.

Unable to control her trembling body, she moved back as I tried to get close to her. And they yelled.

“Don’t come! You monster!!”

She paused for a moment, and then waved her trembling hands as I went closer.

“Monster you say, don’t spout such sad words.”

How could someone who knew me since birth even call me a monster?

“You seem to have forgotten this…”

I touched the wrinkles on her face and said.

“I am the product of your actions.”

She covered her pale face with both hands and moved away. Terrified and struggling, but she was too shocked to move.

Maybe it was because she never thought that my slender, weak body could ever have such confidence.

However, since I took the medicines, I was forced to train as a knight, so I knew how to handle myself.

“From now, you will go back to ignoring me like the other people of Baliares.”

“Ugh!!”

“I am going to move to another country soon, so don’t bother me, that is what I wanted to tell you.”

“You!! All you have is that one piece of information. What do you think you can do with that? Don’t make me laugh!”

“No.”

Our faces were so close that we could feel the other’s breath. With the fear clearly on her face, I spoke with confidence.

“But you know, you are the only one who suffers from it, I can throw you into an abyss. The noble countess, who loves to gamble so much.”

“Huh! Fine, let’s say you do know something. But, do you think things will change for you after pushing me out of your way? Wake up from that dream! Nothing will change! Do you really think that someone would even look at you!!”

“No. I don’t even expect something like that to happen.”

It was a wish which I had, but abandoned a long while back.

“I hate you! Hate you!! Please, just disappear from my eyes!!!”

She seemed lost. The countess’s eyes were full of hatred as she looked at me. Thinking back, she always had such a look in her eyes.

A troubling relationship.

“You hate me? I know that. It is probably my face which you don’t like. The face which you kept losing to all your life.”

“And since you are close to people who do your dirty work, you might find ways to deal with me. But then, by that time people will be suspicious of you. I want nothing to do with my step sister of her life. All I want is to live quietly away from everything. Get that?”

The old grudges and hatreds are nothing more than one stepping on their own tails. All I wanted to do was live happily.

“So, please let me go from the past that you are trapped in, grandmother.”

I believe that the greatest revenge I could get was already served.

“Was it true, the messenger pigeon?”

The moment I walked out of the room, the manager who was waiting there asked me. But seeing that he asked me, it meant he was listening in on our conversation.

When I looked at him with narrowed eyes, the manager, shocked and scared, hurriedly bowed his head.

“I-I am sorry! I have a good ear, so I was here in case some kind of emergency happened while you were inside… please keep it a secret for Mr. Mahoren!”

It didn’t feel good, but it didn’t matter. But why was the manager of such a huge place, who is supposed to be skillful and dignified now acting like a suspicious person?

“It is fine. You seem to have cried.”

“Ah, that, it was really gut-wrenching.”

I felt bad seeing the manager’s face, who sighed. How the hell did Mahoren get these people into his palm? How did he make the manager of such a place so flustered and scared?

As an apology for it, I decided to let him in on the fact.

“Actually, I lied.”

The manger couldn’t understand, he looked at me blankly wondering if he understood it right.

“I did write down the truth. But, it isn’t something that I can just release.”

I couldn’t, because I wanted to die quietly. However, I couldn’t tell that to him.

“It is a bit expensive to get those pigeons. But soon I will get them. And then everything I said inside would turn out true and we would have done nothing wrong.”

Right? I smiled at the manager.

On a warm afternoon in the late afternoon sun, at the hotel. The last place to stay in Cheiva, I will fulfil the promise I made to the party.

As the Vina people moved and memorized a spell, a huge red magic circle appeared on the floor. The light emitted from the circle engulfed the entire room. It was spectacular to see everything in the room shine.

While my eyes were drawn to the weird things, the party gathered in a circle around me.

They looked at me, with one of their hands on their chest, exactly where their hearts lay. And I said the words of the Oath, a prayer of sorts. I didn’t understand it at the time. Was it an ancient language? I wasn’t sure. Curious, I asked later, but it was rejected by them. They told me it was better to not know the content as it could cause my body to shrink?

After the chanting had started, which was initiated by Shang-di, my turn came. I placed my left hand forward and spoke the words which Mahoren had helped me with.

The pronunciation was difficult, but I was glad they wrote them down on paper and stuck to the wall ahead of me. Perhaps it was because of how serious the mood was, the back of my hand began to sting.

“Ah…!”

The moment I read the last word, a round magic circle appeared right under my feet.

And a flood of golden light shone around ,e.

[The declaration is done. The oath has been engraved.]

A voice of an unknown gender spoke in my head. In the dazzling light, I listened to it blankly. Something warm filled my entire body.

“Are you fine?”

Once the declaration was done, and the magic circle disappeared, Fay asked, I nodded as I went and collapsed on the sofa and Mahoren covered me with a thin blanket.

“But is it normally gold?”

Juli asked, tilting his head.

I was curious, but sleepy too. As soon as Fay put the pillow below my head, I went straight to dream land.

But suddenly, even as I was asleep, why was my chest feeling so stuffy? Blocked?