Chapter 107

Chapter 107

Cassis lowered his gaze while still in deep thought. He was aware that the Vertiums were paying a visit to the Pedelian fortress and knew that it was the result of Noel Vertium sending Roxana an invitation to visit the Gold manor himself. He even knew that she had sent her butterflies to the neutral zone soon after receiving the invitation. Thus, he was fairly certain that she would visit the Vertiums while he was away. But most of all, he knew that she was much tougher than she looked.

Of course, such knowledge did nothing to put his mind at ease. There were a number of times when he wished he could keep her safely tucked away at his side so that she wouldn’t ever have to engage with outsiders, but he knew she would never want such a thing.

Not only would the Roxana he knew scoff at such an overly protective gesture, she would simply proceed to do as she pleased. With that final thought, he turned his gaze to Isidore before addressing his vice leader.

“Yes, let’s get moving. We’ve lost more time than I had planned.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cassis had taken precautionary measures to mitigate any unforeseen circumstances, so he hoped those would be enough to protect her in his absence. Still, he intended to wrap up the Yggdrasil business as quickly as possible, then return home to her.

* * *

“‘Little sister’?” Roxana spoke as if to herself, but her words rang like an echo over the low murmur of the still crowd. They all, in turn, fell into a hush as if everyone in the hall had suddenly stopped breathing. “Are you implying that you are my late brother Achille?”

The young man staring at Roxana was almost identical to the image of 15-year-old Achille before he died. The wavy golden hair, the wide forehead, the arched eyebrows... Everything apart from Achille’s sapphire-blue eyes was there in the flesh before her. The narrow cheeks and gentle smile of the being couldn’t have been more like her late brother’s, which made it almost impossible to distinguish whether he was actually real or really just a doll. But whether it was indeed her brother or an imitation, they alone had been locked in time.

At last, the smiling youth finally answered her question.

“Yes, Noel resurrected my corpse.” It was indeed an answer, but one that still fell short of addressing the crux of her inquiry. “Unfortunately, I don’t remember anything from before I died.”

He seemed to be avoiding what Roxana was really after, but her instincts were already pointing her in the direction of the truth. The youth before her was Achille, but not the real one. It explained why he went by the name “Nix.”

Nevertheless, she couldn’t deny the effect he was having on her. After staring at him for what seemed like an eternity, Roxana finally opened her mouth again. “Bringing a corpse back from the dead isn’t the power of a puppet master, but a necromancer.”

“No, no. Of course not. Puppetism and necromancy are completely different. If you’re truly interested, I’d be more than happy to explain it to you, Luna.” Noel gleefully made the offer to educate her on the trade secrets of his clan while happily observing the exchange between her and Nix. “But wait... Nix was once called ‘Achille’? Well, I still think Nix is a better name. The other is far too gloomy.”

The Gold master appeared genuinely proud to have reunited the Agrece siblings. His emerald eyes glimmered with unadulterated innocence.

“You know, you two really do resemble each other. This is truly such an awesomely, picture-perfect scene!” Noel’s excited trill reverberated all throughout the banquet hall.

As if it were a cue, the masked crowd began to applaud enthusiastically.

Clap, clap, clap!

Their seemingly endless ovation would make an unaware observer think they had all just watched a hit play. The sound thundered so loudly that an average person’s eardrums would be at risk of bursting.

What a truly... ridiculous spectacle. Roxana closed her eyes as if to shut out the very sight of the fake Achille’s smiling face.

“Noel Vertium.” She reopened her eyes to reveal an expression that was completely devoid of emotion as she addressed the Gold clan’s leader. In truth, could the temperature of her glare have been measured, it would have likely been as cold as a glacier. The iciness of her gaze had actually caused him to halt his delighted clapping in surprise.

“Um... yes?”

“I think you should call it an evening for tonight.” The statement was very clearly not a request. “As for this... We can continue discussing the details tomorrow.”

After saying what she needed to say, Roxana turned and walked away with her heels clacking against the marble floor.

Click, clack

In a white dress with her golden hair bouncing to and fro, she left the banquet hall without looking back once.

“Huh?”

Noel stood transfixed where he stood while trying to process what had just happened.

* * *

“Dante!”

The banquet intended to welcome Roxana to the Gold manor had in fact ended earlier than planned.

“Yes, Master Noel.”

The festive music had stopped playing, and the dancing crowd had been made to exit the hall in droves. Noel had lingered behind In the middle of the empty hall looking almost forlorn. All the preparation that had gone into staging the grand event, and all the dressing up in anticipation of Luna’s arrival had evidently been for naught.

“Explain to me what just happened.” Noel’s normally bouncy voice was somber along with his expression.

Dante turned his gaze toward Nix who had been sitting on a corner table while casually sipping a glass of wine. At some point, the parrot mask had become his footrest. Upon meeting his gaze, Nix smiled at Dante with his eyes. The older gentleman scowled in turn, then huffed.

Nix has never proven to be of any help.

“I was outside the entire time, Master, so how could I possibly know?”

Normally, he would have added a witty remark, but he could see that Noel was not at all in the mood. The one thing the white-haired man knew for certain was that he had seen Roxana exit the hall much earlier than they had planned. Not only that, but there was a glacial-like air about her as she made her way back to her guest room. Dante had only stepped inside the hall after seeing all the puppets leaving the banquet after her.

Evidently at a sincere loss, Noel finally spoke again. “Luna left after saying we should talk tomorrow.”

Noting just how somber his master’s demeanor had become, the steward responded in an equally serious tone. “I’m sure she is simply still feeling tired from the journey.”

“That’s not it at all! She seemed truly upset!” The Gold leader lashed out at his head steward for not taking the matter more seriously. His youthful face appeared more and more troubled as he seemed to dwell on the ordeal. “She glared at me so... coldly.”

“She what?”

“All I did was introduce Nix, then she became ice-cold. She was more like a winter goddess than a moon one.”

The older man couldn’t help frowning as his master speech sounded increasingly agitated. But wasn’t the plan to reveal Nix toward the end of everything?

It was becoming more apparent to him why the Agrece woman had left the event long before the party had truly even begun.

Noel had started nibbling on his lower lip anxiously, then abruptly turned on Dante. “Could it be that you offended my Luna somehow?!”

“I beg your pardon, sir, but why are you trying to blame me for this?”

“Well, you were with her the whole way here from the Pedelian fortress. Plus, you have a knack for riling people up with your personality alone.”

“Sir, you’re being rather unfair. Miss Roxana didn’t seem all that happy when I first arrived at the Blue castle to begin with,” Dante said.

“She didn’t? Then I wonder if the Blue clan is to blame. How dare they upset my precious Luna!”

“But, sir, if she were upset with anyone... isn’t it more likely that it is with you?” The steward’s question made Noel flinch.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean, huh? What did I do?” Noel sounded genuinely perplexed. After all, he had prepared a special present and even threw a masquerade ball in her honor.

Dante simply stared at his master while tutting at his apparent cluelessness. “Please think over the matter logically, sir. For one thing, your letter may have been rather upsetting.”

“Why? What was wrong with it?”

“Well... No matter how you try to dress it up, it was still a coercion tactic, sir. I mean, who in the world would ever react happily to such a thing?”

“‘C-Coercion’? I had no such intention!” Noel sputtered as if he truly couldn’t understand Dante’s explanation.

Meanwhile, the steward simply watched his master while feeling both annoyed and sorry for the young man. Before he could say anything to try to console the youth, Noel looked up again as if he suddenly realized something crucial. Then he glowered at his second-in-command.

“I see now... So it was your fault!”