Chapter 56

Chapter 56

* * *

“Those must be the Vertiums.”

I pushed my curtains aside as I heard a wave of noise coming from outside. A number of people were stepping out of their carriages, and as I had suspected, the second clan to arrive for the event was the Gold Vertiums. Lante was heading in their direction, likely intent on greeting them personally.

According to the butterflies I had assigned to spy on him, he had become very keen on establishing a favorable relationship with the Vertiums over the last three years. Inter-clan cooperation was of course not unheard of, but the two clans had been meeting a little more frequently than the others. That was precisely why I had been keeping a close eye on them. Nothing nefarious had transpired between them yet, but I had a hunch that it would.

In the original novel, Lante took a particular interest in the puppets the Vertium clan would create. Their skill when it came to toys was of a completely different nature to how Maria created her so-called dolls. Her toys were in truth just people she had converted or mutilated to her whim in order to further abuse them at will. Whereas the Vertiums did the opposite by breathing life into artificial beings.

I could understand why Lante would be interested in their talents. After all, what dictator wouldn’t desire an army of powerful puppets that knew neither fear nor pain. It certainly proved to be a tantalizing prospect for the greedy evildoer without question.

The only problem was that the Vertiums’ principal figure Noel was meant to double-cross Lante in the novel, then take total advantage of him. After joining hands with Sylvia—who had essentially become something of a vengeful angel of death—they would bring down the Agrece clan together. On top of that, the Noel in the novel was never all that interested in creating a puppet army or any such nonsense like what Lante was after.

With that foreknowledge, I expected the Vertiums to stay out of the way of my plans. It of course pays to be vigilant, but I knew then that I didn’t need to worry too much. I continued to watch, but there was no sign of the head Vertium among the alighting procession. I supposed he had decided to skip the gathering altogether as he had the prior year. That too would be in line with the details from the novel since his character was described as a borderline recluse who rarely left the Vertium kingdom he had founded.

After observing the arrivals a bit longer, I drew my curtains shut.

* * *

The first of the grand banquets was held at Yggdrasil castle that night. As at any large gathering of this nature, there was an overabundance of alcohol and merrymaking.

Naturally, I decided to steer clear of all that the first night. Lante raised no objections since I told him I wanted to concentrate on getting the maximum intel out of my butterflies’ spying activities. Of course, that was just an excuse.

But in truth, there wasn’t anything in particular I needed to do that night. And simply put, the banquet bored me to tears.

“Sis, you really aren’t gonna go down there?” Jeremy asked.

“I will, but only on the last night.”

There seemed to be people shuffling about outside of my room. It was the same nonsense the previous year as well. All I had done was make an appearance at the first night’s feast, then various men began to loiter outside of my room. But that night I had yet to even show myself to the other guests. I assumed they were either the same losers from the previous year, or foolish saps who had heard about me from those losers. Quite frankly, they were all a bunch of spineless oafs in my opinion since not one of them had the nerve to come right out and greet me.

“You go on, Jeremy. You should mingle with some new people.” I casually made the suggestion while lowering my teacup.

Jeremy had been reclining on the sofa in my room after having eaten all the cakes and cookies the servants had brought in with my tea. He tilted his head sideways as if bored by the mere thought of socializing.

“But if you’re not there, it won’t be any fun.” He had started shredding the napkin I had handed him to wipe his mouth with like the petulant eight-year-old passing for an adult. “Besides, I went down earlier to see who all was here, but everyone I met was dull as dirt.”

Even now I wonder if he had met the other main characters of the novel if he might have felt differently...

Many of the guests were late to arrive, so Jeremy’s impression that the guests were duds so far had likely been valid. In the end, I had to concede that those whom I had espied from my room already were fairly average.

Aside from the Pedelians, the main members from the various clans were still in the process of arriving. The novel’s main characters were the most notable guests missing.

The story’s three male leads Orka of the White Fipellion, Luzark of the Red Castro, and Noel of the Gold Vertium weren’t easy people to miss.

Looking back now, I suppose Jeremy was also a somewhat prominent figure from the Black Agrece clan in the novel, but since he was an evil character who met his end rather tragically, I can’t really call him a “male lead” like the other three.

Anyway, just like the “heroes” they were written to be, each boasted unique abilities. On the other hand, I was only meant to play a minor role in the novel, and an evil one at that. The original Roxana had barely been afforded a glimpse of those famous characters. Even that previous year, I had only managed to meet Luzark Castro. The other two had flat-out refused to attend the gathering, so it was yet to be seen if they had changed their minds about attending that year. It was no wonder that Sylvia was originally only able to engage them in the novel by literally crossing the borders into their territories.

Anyway, all of that was to say that I could recognize Luzark by his appearance, but not the other two. My first thought upon seeing him was that he looked just as had been described in the novel. He was a ruggedly handsome individual with auburn hair, violet eyes, and copper-toned skin. He also had deep facial lines etched into his skin that added to his intensity. The previous year, he had been alone in the midst of various attendees who had been thunderstruck by my comeliness.

It was clear that he had noticed me since his pace had slowed down and his eyes widened for a moment, but it had really only been for the tiniest fraction of a second. And unlike the other fools, he hadn’t gawked or drooled over me. In fact, he had furrowed his rather manly brow and resumed his march rather quickly. From what I remember reading in the novel, Luzark had somewhat of a phobia of women.

I suppose that was explanation enough for the ugly expression he had made upon seeing me.

Later that same night, Luzark disappeared from Yggdrasil. It had been so sudden that I doubt anyone would have argued with me if I had said it was on my account. Since being stoic was pretty much the hallmark of his character, perhaps he had found it unacceptable to have felt a stir due to some unknown woman, even if it had only been for a split second.

“I’m keen to meet the Vertium leader. Apparently, he’s around our age. He wasn’t here last year, but I think he’s meant to this time.”

“Yeah, I heard that, too.”

As mentioned before, Noel was the youngest of the clan leaders. Not only that, but he was also the only one among the three male leads who was not an heir apparent in his clan. He also only ever came to the gatherings once every two or three years. Thanks to my sources, I knew there was a good chance we’d bump into him this year, but I hadn’t caught sight of any orange-haired, green-eyed cuties yet that afternoon, so I wondered if he had possibly decided to stay in his kingdom after all.

Meanwhile, the head Fipellion, Orka, had never graced the gatherings with his presence—ever. As his nickname “the White Demon Tamer” implied, he had a deep knowledge and interest in all sorts of demons. So every year as winter approached, he became preoccupied with hunting down certain demon monsters that were only active during cold seasons. Thus, the gathering always served as an afterthought to him.

“Jeremy, why don’t we have some food brought up if you’re hungry?”

“Great idea, sis! I’ll go tell them the servants.”

There was actually a cord we could pull to summon an attendant, but Jeremy was already up from the sofa and marching toward my door. Since the loiterers were still in the hallway, he cracked the door just wide enough to pass through, then shut it quickly behind him to the dismay of their curious stares.

Then there was a sudden commotion, which ended almost as quickly as it had started when Jeremy returned to the room. He was noticeably less antsy than he had been prior to stepping out.

“Darn, I forgot to request our food,” he said.

“Then let’s just ask one of the servants to come and take our order instead.”

He’d been diverted from his true purpose during the short foray, which I suppose had simply been an all-encompassing threat to the hopeless souls in the hallway.

Age-wise he was an adult, but in many ways he was still the same, peevish Jeremy. It was a fact I had resigned myself to accept. So I smiled to myself and tugged on the cord to ring for an attendant.