Chapter 113

Chapter 113

Lante Agrece had been openly enamored with the idea of immortal dolls for a great deal of time, which likely attracted him to Noel Vertium’s research. It was also likely that such fascination drove him to his repeated attempts to establish a bond with the Vertium clan by offering them his stockpile of fresh corpses.

As his daughter dwelled on this revelation, it occurred to her that even in death the late Black Master proved to have been a truly despicable person.

“When Lante first approached me and said he could procure an especially satisfactory corpse, I didn’t really give it much thought. I trust you can imagine how much more surprised I was when it turned out he was telling the truth.”

At this point, Roxana had moved on from needing to know who had provided Achille’s corpse but listened on in hopes that the Gold Master would move on swiftly.

“Nix was indeed beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I was awestruck the moment I laid eyes on him.”

As Noel’s voice seemed to vibrate with longing, her scarlet gaze became progressively colder. It was becoming increasingly apparent to her that time-wise, her father and the Vertium leader would have discussed the latter’s research prior to Achille’s death.

For one thing, the Agreces weren’t in the habit of storing the bodies of those who had been disposed of. Secondly, and based on Noel’s own explanation, her brother’s corpse had been delivered to the Gold Master intact, unlike every other disposed body as the majority were immediately fed to her clan’s pet demon monsters.

Knowing all this, she began to wonder if it were possible Lante had arranged for his own son to be killed in order to provide Noel Vertium with a fresh research specimen. But she also had to wonder if the carrot top had managed to catch sight of Achille somewhere or other, then asked Lante for his body specifically.

“Tell me, Noel...” Roxana’s hand slinked menacingly toward the back of Noel’s neck. “Did you ever see Achille when he was alive?”

Although there was no threat in her smile, her hand was poised in a manner that boded ill intent. She was prepared to clamp it around her unfortunate admirer’s throat at a moment’s notice, but then...

“No. The only thing I saw was his corpse when it arrived in the casket.” There was audible regret in Noel’s voice. “I was at a complete loss for words when I opened the lid because I honestly thought an angel had been sent to me by mistake. Sure, it was dead, but it was an angel nonetheless. That was the first time I ever truly worked myself to the bone because I really wanted to see that beautiful being open its eyes after returning from the dead.”

Like a child, he shyly cast his gaze toward Roxana as if he were expecting a compliment for his good deed. Her scarlet gaze peered into his emerald eyes as if the weight of the truth would come to light in the midst of their staring match.

She slowly retracted her hand without the Vertium being any the wiser. Very well. I should keep my head on my shoulders for now, she thought.

Even if Lante had been interested in the Vertiums’ puppetism, it was hard to believe that even he would kill his own children over it. And not because he had any semblance of morality, but simply due to the cost-benefit of such an exchange putting him at a greater disadvantage than potential gain.

If anything, it would have been much easier for him to simply abduct beautiful young members of other clans, while offering his own “disposed of” children as bonuses. Therefore, Roxana speculated that Lante must have had a far darker ulterior motive in trying to form a connection with the Gold clan.

However, none of that meant the Vertium leader was in any way innocent. Although he would have been a youth himself at the time, for someone so young and outwardly naïve to dabble in research involving the use of corpses was indeed remarkable. The Gold clan was notorious for their short life spans. It was the very reason they had fallen under the leadership of such a wet-behind-the-ears young man. Between the older clan leader who had spent countless hours trying to coax the other for his own gain and the novice leader who spent his free time experimenting on the corpses the other gave him, there was no doubt in Roxana’s opinion that both characters were undeniably appalling.

As she listened to Noel drone on, her heart grew colder by the second despite the rage flaring up in her chest. Then she recalled something he had previously mentioned. “Didn’t you say you received more than one corpse from my father? So there are others like Nix here?”

“No... Unfortunately, he was my only success. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t replicate the transfiguration. What happened with Nix was basically a miracle. I’m just so glad that it was him.”

Even in Roxana’s icy gaze, he appeared to be speaking from the heart. Then without any prompting from her, he began to explain the basics of puppetism in more detail. It was the Vertium clan’s tradition that only the Gold Heir was privy to learning the spell used to turn their hand-crafted dolls into walking, talking puppets—puppets that were entirely at the mercy of their master’s commands.

To her astonishment, those with strong enough bonds to their master could even develop the ability to converse like real people. However, as they were still dolls, they didn’t possess actual feelings, any of the five senses, or a beating heart. Then he went on to explain excitedly about the difference between puppetism and necromancy, which he had touched on the previous night.

The Gold Master seemed to realize he had been rambling and turned to Roxana. “Ah! I heard you met Nix while I was asleep. How was it?”

“We chatted a bit.”

It was obvious Nix had filled him in about their meeting.

“He said you’re planning to stay here for a while. Oh, Luna, you don’t know just how happy that makes me! You can stay here for as long as you like. Or even live here with me if you wish!” Noel’s gaze brimmed with emotion as he clutched Roxana’s hand.

She, however, just stared into his expectant face.

“Two days should suffice, thank you.” And with that, she shook free of his grip while offering him a thin smile. “I shall stay for two days, and not a day more.”

The Gold clan leader’s expression fell dramatically. “O-Okay... We shall make the best of that time by doing plenty of fun things together.”

He spoke with a bright tone as if to hide his disappointment. With her smile now gone, she offered him no more than a blank stare as a response.

* * *

The spring scenery in the Vertium territory was indeed spectacular with all the flowers everywhere.

“Don’t you think the Gold territory to be an absolutely beautiful place?”

But Nix’s presumptuous remark counteracted the effect the view had on me. Thus, I didn’t bother to hide the boredom in my voice as I answered. “Well, it is, but it’s hardly unique.”

I noticed him smirk out of the corner of my eye as if he wished to make a snide remark, but instead returned to preparing their tea. On this occasion, we were in the garden instead of the sitting room from the day prior, and once again it was just me and Nix.

I, of course, had asked for that.

Noel had readily given his approval, but I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. It was ridiculously obvious that he was trying to swallow his jealousy. His plan had simply been to use Nix to lure me to the Gold manor, but as it resulted in one-on-one meetings between me and his favorite puppet, envy visibly flashed across his green eyes. It took everything in me not to laugh. I had only managed to get him to leave us alone by promising to join him for dinner.

“Your left eye doesn’t look real. Is it a fake?”

I made the observation as he filled my teacup. As the white blooms covering the trees all around us sparkled like jewels, he glanced at me past the petals as they swirled in the wind. His right eye was blue like Mother’s, while his left eye had a somewhat violet tinge like the flowers in the distance.

“Yes. I was told that by the time my body got here it was not in the best condition due to the wounds. So Noel made repairs to me here and there.”

I hung on to the detail he had mentioned since Achille had indeed died with several significant wounds. At his final monthly evaluation, Deon had dealt the final strike by stabbing him through the heart, but not before injuring my brother’s lovely blue eye.

“Noel used the best parts he could find at the time, which resulted in this eye being slightly discolored.”

I wasn’t sure if it was deliberate or not, but both his speech and body language reminded me so much of Achille’s. But I refused to accept this and decided I would work on finding every single difference there was between him and my actual brother.

“I hope you like today’s tea more than yesterday’s. I put extra effort into making this batch.” He raised my teacup toward me with a veiled smile. I accepted the tea without any particular emotion.

Luckily, it wasn’t as sweet as the previous day, but even so, there was something faintly foreign in the taste.