Chapter 128

Chapter 128

Roussel’s gaze sharpened as he beheld Nix. The casual curiosity had been replaced with a wholly new expression as if the puppet had morphed into an entirely different person. The back of his head was all that any of them could see, but that had evidently been more than enough for the Pedelian clan leader.

“He does indeed give off a different air than their clan’s other dolls.”

It was difficult to gauge if the Blue Master felt relieved by having his suspicions confirmed due to his deep baritone voice.

“Well, first things first, you all should come inside. It’s clear we have a great deal to discuss.”

After placing Nix in a dungeon cell, we headed to Cassis’ father’s office. There, Cassis and I explained everything that had happened in Vertium. As we did, each of their faces appeared more and more grave.

“I see... The matter does sound rather complicated.” Roussel stroked his chin as he spoke. Noel’s transgression was not far off from performing forbidden necromancy sorcery, thus he and his clan were likely to suffer severe consequences. If not, there was no guarantee turning corpses into puppets wouldn’t lead to secretly turning various clan members into puppets one day.

The fact that my own brother’s corpse had been used only made the matter that much more complicated. Then there was the fact that I had been openly attacked on the Vertium estate despite being an official guest in Pedelian. It was an offense the Gold clan couldn’t simply sweep under the rug.

As we spoke evening soon fell upon us, so Roussel decided any follow-up discussions about Nix and the Vertiums should be shelved until the next day. Cassis’ parents and Sylvia bid us each goodnight before we returned to our rooms while insisting that the fatigue from our long journey would be enough of an excuse for the two of us to miss dinner with them that night. Thus, we returned to the castle annex.

“Welcome back, Miss Roxana!”

Olin’s readiness to greet me so formally told me that she must have heard the details of our trip from Isidore already. She had evidently been waiting at the annex entrance to greet us for some time as well.

“I’m so glad you both made it back safe and sound.”

It was a bit surprising to see that she had been that worried about me. Not that her expression gave much away, but her eyes and voice appeared somewhat more lively upon seeing me compared to when we had first met.

“Yes, I’m glad to be back, Olin.” In truth, I was equally glad to see her. Then for some reason she suddenly became tense.

“Have you been hurt, Miss?” She had evidently spotted the same problematic areas on my wardrobe that Sylvia had.

“No, no. I’m fine. My dress is simply looking worse for wear.”

“But...”

Cassis stepped forward to wrap his arm around my shoulder. “Perhaps another time, Olin. She needs to get some rest.”

Being the dutiful soldier she was, the olive-haired woman backed off immediately at her captain’s suggestion. He, in turn, pulled me forward.

“Thank you for your concern, Olin. Good night.”

I didn’t want to leave without expressing my gratitude, which had evidently been effective since her face softened despite the stiff bow she gave us. Then we were finally back in our chambers. It appeared as though the attendants took special care of things in our absence.

As it was just before dusk, orange sunlight streamed in through the hall windows. Cassis stopped in front of my door, then raised his hand toward my face.

“Go enjoy your bath first. I’m sure they’ve prepared everything since hearing you were back.”

Thanks to his purification powers, I was already quite clean, but a bath did sound nice.

“All right, I’ll see you in a bit.”

I agreed so readily to his suggestion because I wanted to submerge myself in that refreshingly hot water. I also wanted some time alone to think. Thus, we parted at my door.

* * *

As I soaked in the tub, my mind returned to Nix. Cassis charged one of his men with standing guard in front of the dungeon cell and gave him strict orders to inform us the moment Nix woke up. However, I was fairly certain that he’d be unconscious until the next morning at the earliest.

Next, I went over everything that had happened at the Gold manor. While doing so, I couldn’t help feeling infuriated all over again. We had only left Noel a few days prior, but he too would be leaving for Yggdrasil soon.

Normally, he wouldn’t have bothered with such an abrupt event, but with the details of how he created his beloved puppet about to get out, there was no way he could avoid going. Then Grizelda came to mind. The butterfly I had sent out during our trip back to Pedelian had filled me in on her status. As I had guessed, she was able to get away from the Gold lands unharmed. She even sent me a message of her own.

“See you in Yggdrasil.”

In true Agrece fashion, my sister made it a habit to remain well-informed. As I’m sure she had assumed, I planned to attend the gathering under my own Agrece moniker once again. With Jeremy as the new leader of our clan, I was certain a number of our siblings were bound to be there as well.

But my only thought on that matter was that I’d finally see my loyal little brother again. Even before the incident in Vertium, I had intended to get in contact with him since I knew he’d wait for my return no matter how long it took.

“I know you’ve never sincerely laughed in your life, so... w-what if I could make the Agrece clan into a place where you could?”

I never did give him an answer, but he had fulfilled his promise of keeping our clan afloat the best he could. Thus, I felt I owed it to him to be the one to seek him out first.

Splash.

I stood up to step out of the bath as the water had become lukewarm.

* * *

The sky was already turning purple as I patted myself down. Since there was hardly any sunlight left in the sky, I realized that I had been in the bath much longer than I had planned. Though I suppose I should have put two and two together when the water had become so tepid.

“Come here.” Cassis had finished bathing first and had evidently been waiting in my room. “Come eat. Even just a little will do you some good.”

Despite the small amount he said I could eat, there was a pretty large spread laid out on the table. I had eaten during our journey, but I couldn’t exactly call any of it a proper meal.

“Have you been waiting long? I took a bit longer in the bath than I expected.”

“No, I only just stepped in when you came out.”

I had my doubts about the truth of his response, but there was no point in questioning him. Not wanting to worry him, I sat down at the table as he had suggested, but I hardly touched anything since I was unable to work up any sort of appetite. Rather than push me to eat like he had when I first arrived, he patiently sat across from me without complaint.

“Your hair’s still wet.”

He took note of my hair after having the attendants clear the table. He had requested one of them to bring him a towel, then after we were alone again, he sat me down on the sofa and began to dry my hair with it. While he was busy with my hair, I placed my hand on his head so I could curl my fingers around his lustrous, silvery locks. Sure enough, he had long since properly dried his hair.

“If your hair is already this dry, that means you were waiting for quite some time, weren’t you?” I turned my head slightly to see that he was watching me intently. His eyes crinkled as he smiled back at me.

“Well, of course it is. Mine’s much shorter than yours.”

Then he continued pressing the fluffy, white towel against my damp strands. Since it was blocking my view of him, I turned away to allow his gentle touch to move more smoothly around my head. Before long, the sensation eased me into a drowse. The emotional fatigue I had likely accrued without realizing, slowly melted away.

“By the way...” The memory of my injuries briefly shook me out of my doze. “All of my wounds healed almost instantly despite not applying any medicine or treatment sorcery to them.”

It was a rather out-of-the-blue thing to say, but I felt compelled to tell him. So much had happened at the Gold manor that I had almost forgotten about that matter. He had asked about my condition the entire way back to the Blue territory, and I had told him I felt fine over and over again. However, his inquiries had been fairly general, so with my mind preoccupied with the inhabitant of my brother’s body, I had forgotten to ensure that one significant detail. Feeling somewhat awake again, I gazed up at him expectantly.

“My powers can be effective for some time, but not forever.”

Then he avoided elaborating any further as to how or why I was able to be that way. As my hair was finally dry enough, he placed the towel down by his side, then began to stroke my hair with his hands.

I was still curious to understand what he had done to me but decided to drop the issue for the time being. The warm, tingly buzz in the air made me hesitant to disturb the calm rhythm we had fallen into. Of course, I may just be a sucker for that sort of atmosphere. If not that, he may just be a master at deterring me from pursuing certain trains of thought.

His hand gently passed over my ear, then his thumb rubbed my earlobe softly. Meanwhile, he traced the edge of my ear with his other fingers. It was the same lobe that I had worn the charmed earring, which Nix had also injured when he threw his dagger at me. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I sensed the slightest bit of hostility in his touch.

“When I found you in that manor...”

Of course, there was no longer any blood on my ear by then, but he continued to rub at it as if he could actually see the cut. His already low voice seemed to drop even more as he continued.

“...I would have killed that puppet right then and there had your expression not looked so conflicted.”

I had no doubt that he was telling the truth since I too had noticed his expression when he arrived, and the lethality of his gaze as he glared at Nix was so full of rage that I might have fainted if I were of weaker constitution.

“Roxana...” Cassis stared deeply into my eyes. “That puppet can’t harm you.”

His voice was full of conviction.