Chapter 88

Sep 05, 2023

I couldn’t do much but stare at Roussel in utter disbelief. His face, however, didn’t show any sign of an ulterior motive. Once he noticed my aghast expression though, he did exhibit mild confusion. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

After I quickly sorted through various responses in my mind, I answered him in a quiet voice. “I suppose I was expecting you to tell me to be on my way.”

“Well, if I had, would you have left?” He peered at me as if waiting for the answer while I sat there stalling. Then after putting down his teacup, he continued as if he were thinking aloud. “But it does seem that Cassis would suffer some heartache were that to happen.”

The atmosphere in Roussel’s office was a bit somber, but not heavy. It was almost identical to the gaze aimed in my direction.

“There’s no reason not to welcome you here. Especially after what happened three years ago at the Agre—” He abruptly stopped midsentence as something apparently more pressing appeared to cross his mind. “What should I call you? Using your surname seems a bit inappropriate. May I just call you by your given name?”

“That would be fine, sir.”

“Very well. Anyway, I heard you were a huge help to Cassis while he was being held captive.”

I stared down into the dark liquid in my teacup for a moment before responding. “Not really, sir. I’m afraid the truth is slightly different from what he concluded.”

I had no doubt that whatever Cassis and the Pedelians had come to believe was the truth was a bit off the mark since I had used him for my own purposes. None of my actions had simply been out of kindness. I even knowingly put him in danger. In truth, I hadn’t given much thought to how many injuries he would sustain in order to achieve my goal. If anything, it seemed an acceptable trade-off. Any and all of my efforts to keep him alive were purely for my own benefit.

Even so, I felt no need to go into that much detail with Roussel since the end result was that there was still the version of me who did want to and did help Cassis back then. Thus, as long as I kept the more damning information to myself, I had no problem being perceived as a saint.

Hmm... Why the heck was I even trying to explain the truth to him in the first place? Was I trying to give Roussel Pedelian a reason not to accept my being there? Was I hell-bent on getting banished from their castle? I suppose since no one was forcing me to stay there, I could have just as easily said I wished to leave whenever I pleased. But of course, I didn’t do that.

Instead, I lowered my eyelids until they were practically shut. There was a bitterness in my mouth and the tea wasn’t helping any. Before I realized it, Roussel’s voice seemed to be booming in my ear.

“Well, regardless of their nature, things rarely happen for only one reason. In the end, they turn out good or bad for someone.” Then he picked up his teacup. “Thus, it matters little what the intentions of the one who carries out the deeds are as long as they benefit the recipient. Besides, I think Cassis is past the point of worrying over such things.”

I was amazed at how extraordinarily kind the Blue clan master was being toward me.

“So again, I find no reason to oppose your staying here.” He said the last statement with so little inflection that I almost mistook it for disinterest. However, his final point made it clear that disinterest was hardly a concern. “There are other far more difficult issues that we—both you and our clan—must all agonize over, but... Still, I don’t find them to be as important as what we’ve just discussed, so why don’t we hold off for the time being.”

The Pedelians were a strange clan indeed. I somewhat understood Cassis, but for their master to be so magnanimous and accepting of me was...

There seemed to be nothing I could say that would be appropriate at the moment, so I chose to remain silent. However, what he said next made me sit up and stare at him intently.

“Although I think I should let you know one thing. It’s about what became of the Agreces.” Roussel stared into my eyes as he spoke. “Cassis said I should first ask whether you wished to hear about them. So… do you?”

* * *

I left Roussel’s office not long after that. As I walked away, someone approached from the opposite direction and seemed to be heading toward the office. Once we were about twenty paces apart I could see that she was a refined and elegant woman.

After closing the distance between us a bit more, we both stopped. She seemed surprised for a moment but quickly regained her composure before continuing toward me.

“I see your meeting has ended already.”

So she was in fact on her way to meet Roussel. Without much difficulty, I soon guessed that she was his wife and Cassis’ mother, so as decorum dictated, I paid her a formal greeting first. “Yes, madame. I just left. I apologize for not having the chance to come greet you beforehand.”

“And what is your name?”

“Roxana, madame.”

“I see. You may call me Jeanne.”

It felt strange to have someone so much older introduce herself by name out of consideration for me.

“And I don’t see how it’s your fault for not coming to greet either of us sooner as we’ve been away all this time. So don’t worry yourself over that.” As Jeanne looked at me her serene gaze seemed to be slowly taking me in. Then she smiled more openly. “While I would love to spend more time chatting with you, I just saw my son and he seemed to be anxiously waiting for your return.”

I reflexively turned my gaze toward the hallway she had just come from, but Cassis wasn’t near enough for me to see him.

“I’d like to invite you to tea soon in order to properly welcome you here.”

I looked back at her with a feeling I couldn’t easily describe. Then I responded softly. “Thank you… for being so kind.”

* * *

“That took longer than I expected.”

As soon as I stepped out into the corridor, I was met by Cassis.

“Really? How long have you been waiting?”

“Only a little while.” He simply stood there watching as I drew nearer. He didn’t ask a single question. He seemed to be mirroring the silence he always took with me, so I didn’t go into details about meeting his father and mother. We began walking back to the annex side by side.

“My word!” Orka approached from the opposite direction with his cousin reluctantly trailing behind him. They seemed to be on their way to meet the Blue Master as I had just done. “I wasn’t sure last night, but now that I’m seeing you up close, you really are human! You see her too, don’t you, Pandora? I’m not just imagining her, am I?”

The White Demon Tamer was once again running off at the mouth, and even pointing his finger in my direction. But as soon as he noticed Cassis was glaring at him, he seemed to sense there was a risk the Blue Heir might snap it off and withdrew it.

All the while, his cousin just stared at me slack-jawed. She seemed almost as taken aback as Orka had been the night before.

“Is that a... d-demon? Perhaps a mythical siren?” Just like her cousin, Pandora had written me off as a demon at first glance.

Cassis’ directed his scowl at her, but she continued to mutter on seemingly unaware.

“Or maybe she’s the last of the extinct nymphs?”

“Let’s go, Cassis,” I said as I had grown tired of their prattling.

“It speaks our language!”

Cassis and I left the two addled cousins behind since I knew no amount of explanation would get through their thick skulls while they were in that bewildered state. Once we reached the end of the corridor we were met with brilliant shining sunlight.

I reflexively raised my hand to block my eyes from the rays. They seemed to have grown weak due to me staying indoors most of the time since my arrival. I could sense Cassis watching me with a worried expression on his face. Perhaps he imagined that I might collapse from dizziness.

“If you’re tired, you should tell me.”

“And what if I am?”

He wasn’t wrong to presume I might, but he really was treating me like I already had a foot in the grave. I had supposed it was partially my fault for letting him see me when I was weak, but I wasn’t so weak that I couldn’t walk around a bit. Even so, my question hadn’t been any sort of invitation.

Yet before I knew it...

“W-Wait!” I said.

...he was already hoisting me into the air.