Chapter 175

Chapter 175

“Xana, do you think we can eat these refreshments right now?” He glanced around at the platters of bite-sized biscuits and drinks that had been placed in front of every seat. The servants had prepared them for those who might get hungry during the hearing.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah... I woke up late, so I missed breakfast.”

I sighed. I honestly wanted to give him the platter in front of me as well. Instead, I lowered my eyes and pretended to have a serious conversation with him, but I couldn’t help smiling a bit. “Just endure it for now, little brother.”

His gaze sank after hearing my firm answer, but he seemed to realize the severity of the situation and proceeded to place weight on his expression once again.

I turned my gaze toward the entryway.

“By the way, I noticed a black-haired pup leaving your room with something of yours a little while ago. Do you think it might have resorted to stealing because its owner forgot to feed it often enough?”

For whatever reason, Grizelda’s words suddenly popped into my mind.

“Don’t you think you should rein it in before things get out of hand?”

Then almost like a chain reaction, the conversation between Cassis and Deon also replayed itself.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“What was?”

“You’re the one responsible for the Gold steward’s absence, and the one who set fire to the Castro wing of the castle.”

The more I lingered on those memories, the colder my heart became. As my mind was occupied with such thoughts, the empty seats inside the hall soon began to fill up. Then Cassis finally walked in. Our eyes met for a moment, but I looked away first.

“N-Nix?” At the promised hour, just as the attendants were about to close the hall’s heavy doors, Noel Vertium was escorted in. In truth, he appeared to have been dragged half of the way there. “Where’s Nix?”

Even as he made his way into the hall, he kept looking about and asking to see it. I couldn’t help furrowing my brow at the very sight of him. From what I had seen back at the Gold manor, his obsession over the damn doll was already pretty bad, but at that moment it seemed over the top even for him. Even more recently, he still appears extremely unstable.

It wasn’t until seeing the Gold Master walk in that I realized the steward Cassis and Deon had been referring to must have been Dante. I supposed then that his inexplicable absence was likely also the reason the second Pedelian caravan wasn’t attacked in an attempt by the Gold clan to recover the puppet.

Then Noel appeared to spot me and smiled like a slaphappy fool. I supposed he had already long forgotten how harshly I had rebuked him upon his arrival to the castle because he was smiling so brightly that his emerald eyes seemed to twinkle.

“Luna!”

He had evidently also forgotten my firm warning not to call me by that name ever again. Of course, I had also hoped he would do just that. Although I was to serve as a key witness to the Vertium leader’s crime, there had been no express reason for me to sit up front with the other clan masters. I had asked Jeremy to arrange for my seat to be up front where Noel could easily see me since I was fairly certain he would call out to me just as he always did.

“Luna, N-Nix... Where’s Nix? You said I’d be able to see him here! Where’d you hide him?”

I had overheard that a guard had been forced to stop him on several occasions after he attempted to leave his room to go search for the doll. Apparently, he had made an even greater fuss about needing to see his creation after he had heard about the commotion in the garden the day before.

“‘Luna’?”

“Did he just say ‘Luna’?”

“I think he’s referring to Miss Agrece.”

Everyone who heard Noel began to murmur.

“Gold Master, I think it’s best you take your seat.”

The masters frowned as they stared at the young leader, but that orange-haired eccentric began to frantically move about in front of me instead.

“Gold Master...” Jeremy spoke up as his patience had finally reached its limit. “Were you by any chance... referring to my sister?”

Noel stared at him with a foolish expression as though he had done nothing wrong.

“How dare you?” Blue flames appeared to erupt from my little brother’s eyes as he spoke. “First you treat my sister like your own personal plaything, and now I hear you’ve dubbed her some ridiculous name! Just how much more do you intend to insult her?!”

As a young clan master himself, Jeremy was doing an exceptional job of reminding everyone that they had reason to watch themselves around him. Of course, just as I had struggled to do so back in the garden, it was hard to tell if he was being sincere or simply putting on an act. Even so, the murmuring from all around us began to intensify. Thanks to the rapidity with which the rumors had spread within the Yggdrasil castle walls, everyone there had apparently come to believe that Noel actually tried to turn me into a puppet as well.

My siblings and I were the ones to spread that little lie. Of course, not everyone would believe such a tale, but there was not one soul in that hall who didn’t agree that the head Vertium’s behavior was odd.

Luzark Castro had also heard the nickname when he watched my previous interaction with Noel in one of the corridors the day the Gold Master arrived. The memory seemed to make the Red Heir’s expression harden as well. Then the realization of the potential meaning behind the ridiculous nickname appeared to startle him.

“Noel Vertium.”

The masters once again called out to him but in much sterner tones. They could have signaled the guards to drag him to his seat, but not one of them issued such an order. It seemed they were planning to treat him like a dignified clan master right till the bitter end. I sneered inwardly. Just then, Cassis spoke in a chilling voice after he had finished examining the situation quietly.

“If we’re going to waste time like this, we might as well bring out the puppet.”

The leaders nodded their heads in agreement upon seeing that the Vertium leader seemed to be immovable without Nix’s presence. That also ended up being the first time he had fallen silent since arriving.

Before long, the culprit responsible for causing mayhem in the garden the day before entered the hall.

“Nix!”

Chains meant to restrain demon monsters had been placed on his wrists and ankles. I supposed they had decided to change them since he had freed himself so unexpectedly. Noel rushed toward the puppet the moment he saw him.

“Noe—” The creature in my brother’s skin also began to welcome the reunion with his master, but suddenly flinched when he caught proper sight of him. He proceeded to shut his mouth and take a step back as if in defense of himself.

I noticed that there was a mysterious lunacy in the green eyes of the Vertium leader as he desperately called out to the blond teen. Even I couldn’t help subconsciously clenching my fists as I observed him, so it was understandable that the doll felt the need to retreat. Then the guards appeared to sense some sort of danger and moved to block him.

“Get back! Don’t touch him! Niiiix!” Noel reached out for him as he spoke, and it was only then that the whites of his eyes were visible enough to see that they were bloodshot from what I assumed was a severe lack of sleep. Nix must have continued to sense the looming cloud of danger since he continued to cower away from his creator.

“Gold Master! I insist you get a hold of yourself!” Hiakin Fipellion roared as he slammed his fist down on the tabletop in front of him. Despite being known as a rather lax character, he was visibly incapable of restraining his anger any longer. Roussel and Badrisha also stared coldly as they witnessed the young leader’s undignified behavior.

“What the hell’s gotten into this guy? Has he actually lost it?” An exasperated Jeremy muttered under his breath, but only just loudly enough for me to hear him.

“We can’t proceed like this. Get that thing out of here.”

“Yes, that might be the wisest choice for now. Remove that creature at once.”

Both the Blue and Red Masters took charge by issuing the order to remove Nix from Noel’s sight, but that only served to incense the Gold Master further.

“Nix! Where are you taking my Nix now?! Nix is my puppet! Mine!” he shouted.

It was evident that he had lost all sense of control and screamed at the top of his lungs like he was being set on fire. There was not an ounce of sanity left in him, and all those who witnessed his behavior were left speechless.

“Give... me... back... my... Niiiix!!!”

The chaos within the hall only subsided when Cassis took it upon himself to rise from his seat and knock the Gold Vertium leader unconscious.

“Take him to the infirmary.”

In the end, master and puppet were removed from the hall almost as soon as they arrived.

“Tsk. What a fiasco.”

Hiakin tutted to himself as he shook his head disapprovingly. Badrisha ordered a few of her men to watch over both Noel and Nix, while Roussel stepped away from his seat to speak to his son.

“Did the Gold Master behave like that when you last saw him?”

“No. He did seem somewhat unstable since arriving at the castle, but this was the first time I witnessed him acting in such an unhinged manner.”

Jeremy also tutted after hearing Cassis’ answer. Then as if he had been struck with a sudden epiphany, he turned to me and started to put on yet another show.

“Sis, are you all right? I’m so sorry you had to go through that, especially when you’re still unwell. Here, have some water.”

Try as I might, I couldn’t recall having been ill in front of him once in my entire life. Let alone during that gathering. Nevertheless, I played along and took the glass of water he handed me. I was in fact slightly disappointed ever since learning of Dante’s death.

I was fairly certain Noel relied on that bespectacled, white-haired man far more than anyone realized. It was truly regrettable that I couldn’t make use of my hallucinogenic butterflies to show him Dante’s ghost and ultimately plunge him into even deeper madness. But after seeing his behavior that day, it became painfully clear that such a tactic would have made little to no difference, which was the true source of my disappointment.

Still, I couldn’t help smiling at myself as I delighted in the mere thought of doing so.