Aria of the Withered Branch
Chapter 10

One day, the count grew drunk while thinking of his beloved wife. In his drunkenness, he slept with the only woman within reach—a lady-in-waiting who had been moving about his rooms waiting on him. A single night of folly was enough to get her pregnant.

She was the eldest daughter of a baronet who had lost everything due to a gambling debt. She had been working as a servant in the count’s family as a result, but soon, she became my grandfather’s second wife. The old woman before me was once a lady-in-waiting. I didn’t know all the details of their complicated affairs, but my grandfather felt guilty toward my mother as well as her half-sister, who was my stepmother.

The count’s daughter reminded him of his guilt as well as the woman he so sorely missed, so he did his best to avoid my mother. When he finally decided to treat my mother with more affection, she’d had me and died shortly after. I resembled my grandmother and mother to a tee, and my grandfather, in line with his behavior thus far, refused to even look at me. I could understand how he felt. If I hadn’t been born, my mother might have lived longer.

My stepmother wished to take her dead older sister’s place, and she was met with strong opposition from the count at first. But when she claimed she would kill herself, declaring that her sister had taken away her father’s love and even her man, the count was left with no choice but to give in. The count only learned later that the two already had a child between them, but he was afraid of losing his only remaining daughter, so he simply granted me the last name of my maternal family and promptly ignored me.

I saw Jules and Chandy standing in the hall, waiting for me. I stood still for a moment, slowing my breathing and feeling my face. At times like this, I was grateful that my facial muscles hardly moved anymore. This woman had been giving me pills for the sake of her true granddaughter, my half-sister. Or at least that’s what I was led to believe. In that case, I supposed she might be telling the truth when she said it would be our last meeting.

“You’re late.”

We ran into Phay as Chandy, Jules, and I walked back to the hotel, where the suite was located. When we all entered the suite, I noticed Poppi, standing on its hind legs. I stared at it.

I guess that’s possible because it’s part bird… But its front feet aren’t wings, are they? I thought to myself.

“I was so bored. See? I’m yawning.”

Poppi yawned as it scratched its belly with one of its front paws.

Oh, this is no normal animal. Far from it. It walked securely on its hind legs, and the sight of it walking into the drawing room promptly erased the serious thoughts that had plagued my mind. Such mundane concerns had no place in the fantastic world I currently occupied.

“Hey, Al! Take a look! There are even some new games here!” Hellie skipped over, her pink ponytails bobbing. Her cheeks were red with excitement. “Join me, Al. This game can be played by two players!”

“You go and play first. I need to wash up,” I said.

“All right!” she said, nodding eagerly. Turning around, she shouted, “Poppi! Let’s play a game!”

“Oh! Lovely!” Poppi said.

“Tada! It’s even got a battle mode! Summon versus Binah!”

“You’re kidding me…” I said.

Poppi can play games? I stared blankly as the two dashed toward the game console. I was growing more and more disoriented, so I quickly picked up a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. The upbeat tune coming from the game console could be heard from inside.

“Shuffle! Ballet! Samba!”

What kind of battle game is this, anyway?

I quickly bathed and returned to the main room. I found Chandy and Phay seated on the sofa, and they didn’t look happy. In fact, they looked ready to vomit. The noisy, cheerful music was still playing in the living room.

“Now! Left foot! Right foot! Turn! Raise your left foot, raise your right hand, and turn again! Turn around and shake that booty!”

I wished I could unsee what I had just witnessed. There was a magic circle on the floor, giving off a bright light. Above it was a transparent screen of some kind, with two characters posing oddly as they danced. Hellie’s tiny body, in addition to Poppi’s massive one, mimicked their movements.

“Hands up in the air! Skip like a rabbit! Heels in the air and gallop like a horse! Spin around again!”

The movements were no doubt meant to be adorable. But what sort of dance is this supposed to be, exactly?

Hellie shook her bottom and skipped about. I could acknowledge she was cute without too much effort. But as for Poppi… Are summons supposed to be able to dance on their hind legs like that?

Chandy and Phay weren’t even looking, just glaring into empty space. I felt like I could understand how they felt. Jules had been trying to choose between a couple of the books piled in front of him for a while now. The titles were rather odd, however. One of them read, Anyone Can Become Senile—Including You and the other was, Exploring the Mysteries of Your Pet’s Mind.

“Hoho!”

In the meantime, Mahorren was guffawing, the sound as friendly as one might expect from such a gentle-looking old man. Only his words were not so friendly.

“Haha! Goddamn it. What the f*ck is this? Damn you! My eyes are rotting in their sockets! Must I endure watching them shake their hips in my old age? Hoho!”

Never mind. Despite his gentle smile, he was cursing loudly.

Hellie didn’t seem to care one whit about everyone’s reactions. She played the game to its conclusion, then exchanged a high-five with Poppi, a satisfied smile on her face.

“My word, that little— Oh, Al. There you are. Goodness…” Chandy, who had been sucking her teeth as she stared at Hellie, went into the bathroom and came back out with a towel in her hand. “You should dry your hair properly.”

I stiffened as she cautiously began patting the moisture from my hair. Phay handed me a cup of an iced floral tea that had only been gently steeped.

“Thank you,” I said. “By the way, I’m going out for a walk later.”

“All right. Want us to come with you?” Chandy said.

“No, it’s all right. I’m going to have a look around alone. I won’t be long.”

The two of them didn’t seem to like this idea, but they told me about the tree garden that Madam Voygianna had mentioned.

***

The sun had set, and the heat was dissipating. The air outside was still quite hot, however. I passed through an iron doorway covered in vines and hid among a few trees with white trunks. Only after I had done so did I feel I could finally breathe again. I could see luxury automobiles passing outside the garden every now and then.

Soon, one passed by that I recognized.

“Just as I expected.”

I’d seen a massive black car that drove alongside another bearing the mark of House Voygianna. The house emblem was a black lion with a sword and an ax crossed behind it. I had expected to see House Richardor’s car, and I was right. This is the reason why Madam Voygianna is here.

The Voygianna car stopped, and Madam Voygianna got out. She made her way to my location alone.

“You’re early,” she said when she noticed me. “I was worried you wouldn’t show up.” She held a small case of pills out for me to take. “Those are the last of them. I’m sure you’re aware, but if you’re exposed…” She looked at me sternly. “You will inconvenience her. But this is also for your sake.”

She probably meant that I would die if my identity was exposed, creating difficulty for my sister.

I am well aware. The pills found in this case were probably the same ones that I was already intimately familiar with. She waited silently for me to take them then and there, so I did.

Ugh. They taste just as bad as usual. But today would be the last time. I looked at her, hoping that she hadn’t been lying about this being the last time. I noticed she was smiling at me.

“You won’t need to take them again. You’ve left the family already, and taken as much as you need to. The fact of the matter is…” Her painted red lips formed a ghastly smile full of malice. “It wouldn’t have mattered even if you hadn’t taken them. It’s already too late for you to have children.”

She chortled cruelly as she left the garden. I laughed to myself, shocked and incredulous.

“Haha…”

They lied to me from the start. I was led to believe the drug only affected my physical appearance, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. I hadn’t been interested in living, so the idea of marriage and having children had not really been important to me. But finding out like this filled my heart with an intense feeling of emptiness.

Something suddenly forced its way up my throat, and I clamped a hand over my mouth, retching. My vision suddenly blurred, and I leaned against a tree, trying not to collapse to the ground. My stomach burned, and something kept crawling up my throat. In the end, I had no choice but to throw up.

“Ah…”

It was dark red blood.

“What are you doing here?” said a voice in my ear.

I had heard it enough times by now that I recognized it. For some reason, I felt like crying. I had no idea why, but suddenly I found myself recalling a recent memory—Hellie and Poppi doing their strange dance accompanied by bizarre music, Mahorren smiling and cursing at the same time, gentle hands drying my hair, the kind offer of tea. I wanted to cry, but it was laughter that escaped my lips instead. Perhaps I would let myself be deceived again, just like I had before.

Like an idiot.

“Huh? Wait! No! Al!” came Jules’ urgent voice, but it was slowly fading as my ears began to ring.

I seemed to lose and regain consciousness several times, taking in the faces of my companions through clouded eyes. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I might have smiled at them. Seeing their faces made me wonder what would happen to these people if I died now—I spared no thought for the drug I’d taken, the state of my body, or the situation with my maternal or paternal family. They wanted so badly to live. No doubt they would be upset. Perhaps they would resent me. A variety of thoughts flashed through my mind in the blink of an eye.

I hope they don’t worry. Drugs could not kill me. No doubt they’d suffer a bad scare, however.

“Don’t worry. I won’t… I won’t die. It will hurt… a little bit. That’s all.” That was all I managed to say before passing out.

I was in pain for a while. It hurt so much that I must have sobbed and cried from it. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the pills. I was certain they were the same ones I’d always taken. That only made it harder to bear. I clutched my chest.

I’d been told that the pills, which I’d taken since I was little, prevented my body type from changing. Since it was such a powerful drug, I had expected it to contain slightly poisonous substances as well. It seemed, however, that it was far more than slightly poisonous.

My breath quickened, and it became hard to breathe. I was forced to clutch my chest, my entire body heaving with sobs. I’d always taken the pills while my father, my stepmother, and my half-sister watched. I wondered if they’d been aware of what the pills did.

The tears would not stop pouring down my face. If I died now, perhaps the burning pain in my heart and the choking sensation in my throat would finally stop.

“Hey! Al! Hang in there!”

Something warm and soft was wrapped tightly around my body, and I felt someone patting my back. Finally, I found some relief from the pain.

“That’s good… Don’t give up just yet.”

A hand wiped the tears from my face, and I tried to open my eyes. A bright light was shining in my eyes, nearly blinding me, but soon something dark blocked the harsh glow. There was dark hair falling over my face. My gaze drifted and met a pair of cold, silver eyes. They belonged to Jules.

“You should have just made the declaration when I told you to. Why must you do things the hard way?” he grumbled. But the way he stroked my hair was affectionate.