Chapter 128 - A Dangerous Man

Garnet, the leader of Black Bandana, had lived her life keeping one thing in mind.

That as long as one set foot on this land, even saints could not avoid being sullied by filth.

Ever since she was young, she had been exposed to the ugly underside of humanity.

As the future leader who would guide Black Bandana, she was made to adapt even to stories that could be somewhat harsh for a child.

In fact, when she was young, she had lived so steeped in misanthropy and distrust that it was no exaggeration.

But because she overcame those harsh conditions, she gained cool judgment.

She proved her abilities by judging everything objectively, predicting what lay ahead, and became the best as an information broker.

The conclusion Garnet had reached about Ferda was this.

He was dangerous.

Valdrova’s fiancé.

The lord of Hestia village.

A man with the qualities of a great and virtuous ruler, enough to embrace the Evil Dragon.

No matter how people went around saying such things, through what she had seen, she knew very well what kind of person he was.

“That man will use you until you’re no longer useful, then throw you away.”

Like a dog after the rabbit hunt was over.

“He must have lured you in by promising to help find your little sister, didn’t he?”

“...”

The moment his little sister was mentioned, the smile vanished from Zed’s face.

“That’s definitely a lie. He’s only using knowledge that only you know to make a collar for you and control you.”

“...”

“Emilia. How do you think he knew that name? If he wasn’t involved, it would be a name he could never connect to you even if he spent his whole life trying.”

Emilia.

Zed had been busy searching for his little sister, whose life or death was uncertain.

The reason he went around seducing women was because he needed money.

The reason he needed money was to become a noble.

The reason he wanted to become a noble was to find out Emilia’s whereabouts.

‘Now that I think about it... it is strange.’

Ferda had known that name and brought it up.

How was that possible?

His doubts spread as if lighting a new fuse.

Had he truly said it because he knew a clue about his little sister was in an imperial warehouse?

Or had it merely been a trick to draw him in?

Going back to the root of it, how had he known Emilia and he were connected?

‘No way...’

Was he someone involved in the Red-Eye Clan massacre?

Was that the reason Garnet had called him dangerous?

Had he been wearing a mask all this time and manipulating him?

-Pfft.

At the same time, Valdrova’s laughter came through.

That laughter pulled Zed out of the sticky swamp of suspicion.

“He’s not that kind of person.”

“That is the textbook pattern of someone getting conned.”

“I know. Suckers always ruin themselves like that.”

Garnet was the leader of Black Bandana.

Black Bandana’s information was so outstanding it could practically be called foresight.

But Zed had watched from beside him.

Whatever sort of person the Ferda she had grasped was.

He was undoubtedly far removed from the person Zed knew.

-The moon is beautiful.

-I hear tonight is the night the moon is at its fullest.

Upon hearing those words, Zed reflexively turned his head and clicked his tongue.

“Good grief, what am I supposed to do with this kid...?”

“What?”

“Wait a bit. I’m going to go somewhere and come back. Stay here.”

Zed quickly ran off somewhere.

The conversation continued.

Garnet learned that Ferda and Valdrova wanted to dance with each other.

A short while later, Zed, who had run off somewhere, returned holding something in both hands.

“A violin?”

“I asked the band, and they said they had spares left. Here.”

He handed something to Garnet.

It was a flute.

“What is this?”

“A flute. You know how to play the flute. We played together before, too.”

“And?”

“Let’s go to the garden and play together.”

“... You’re telling me to go along with this too?”

“If I play Moonlight by myself, it won’t have the right feel. It has to be a duet.”

“...”

Garnet was inwardly startled.

Zed would not know because he had left midway, but Valdrova herself had spoken about the Moonlight Step.

Had he figured all this out from that talk about the moon being beautiful?

“You said we should try acting like the Swallows, didn’t you? Let’s confirm our harmony from back then through music. How about it?”

“... Haa.”

To think he would use those words at a time like this.

Garnet glared at him resentfully, but Zed brushed it off with a sly smile.

Unable to withstand Zed’s smile, Garnet accepted the flute.

And so, going along with Zed’s intentions, she moved with him to the garden.

They played a moonlight duet and drew out that atmosphere.

Their eyes met Ferda’s.

Then, as if he had made up his mind, he asked Valdrova to dance on the spot.

They danced.

Beneath the moonlit night, they glowed softly as a beautiful pair.

Even Garnet, who sought information rationally, could feel nothing but beauty from that sight.

‘Is this what he meant?’

Seeing them dance, she could understand a little of what Zed had seen that made him so certain.

He was a cold man who did not hesitate to kill.

But what she saw now was one boy who wanted to look good in front of one woman.

The performance came to an end.

Ferda and Valdrova parted and went their separate ways.

Looking down at that scene with satisfaction, Zed murmured this.

“If not me, who’s going to give that kid a push from behind? Right?”

Zed let out a sigh as if he had no choice.

Garnet opened her mouth while looking down at them.

“Zed.”

“What?”

“You know women quite well.”

“Well, one wrong move and my head could get cut off, so I was desperate.”

“There is something even you do not know.”

“What’s that?”

Zed turned his head with a grin, then was struck speechless.

Under the moonlit night, Garnet was sending him a deep gaze.

Her golden eyes stared intently at Zed.

She seemed about to give some sort of answer, but then abruptly turned her head away.

Zed did not understand the meaning behind those eyes.

After savoring the lingering feeling, Ferda tried to return to the banquet hall.

He had thought that even if he went back to his room, he should at least show his face a little before leaving.

Then, in the corridor, he unexpectedly ran into someone he knew.

“Oh! At your service! Where have you been, sir?”

It was Malcolm.

“I went to the garden for a bit. What about you?”

“I went to the restroom for a bit. It looked like you went with a lady, so what happened?”

“She went back.”

“Pardon? At this late hour... would that not be dangerous?”

Seeing Malcolm look worried, Ferda blinked.

“Did you not know? That lady is Grand Duchess Valdrova, the one you ought to swear loyalty to.”

“Pardon? Y-You mean that lady was the Red Dragon, Lady Valdrova?! Now that I think of it, she had horns on her head...!”

Everyone else had noticed, yet he alone was realizing it late, and Ferda let out a sigh at the sight.

Let’s never invite this guy again.

“Did you carry out your mission properly?”

“It was a mission given by you, Lord Regent, so I performed it with all my heart and soul, but I could not see it through to the end.”

“Why not?”

“Because I had to dance with the Princess of Arken...”

Hearing that, Ferda grew genuinely worried.

“Did you eat something bad?”

“No. Everything I ate was delicious, but...”

Malcolm scratched the back of his head as he spoke.

There was no reason for him to lie, but it was still difficult to believe him blindly.

Ferda looked at Malcolm with pity.

‘It seems he must have suffered quite a bit in all sorts of ways.’

When people were overworked, they sometimes heard and saw things that were not there.

Malcolm himself seemed to know that what he was saying made no sense, so he glossed over it vaguely.

“A-Anyway, is there anything else you would have me do?”

“Hmm...”

Ferda had not expected much from Malcolm, so he would have nothing more to ask if things could end safely like this.

“There is.”

But Malcolm would want to be needed, so Ferda gave him another mission.

“Please give the order!”

“It seems someone cursed at Her Highness the Grand Duchess when she danced, calling her a murderer and a slaughterer.”

Ferda recalled what he had discussed with Valdrova and asked him.

“I do not know whether it was true or not, but do you have any idea who that person might be?”

“Someone like that, sir...?”

It was effectively a question he could not expect an answer to.

Since it was an issue even Valdrova herself had said might be an auditory hallucination, Ferda would surely be chasing only the tail of a ghost.

Still, in case Malcolm stupidly grabbed someone and went around interrogating them about whether they had insulted her, Ferda was about to say it had only been a joke.

“I know who that person was.”

“Yes, that person was... what?”

Ferda’s eyes sharpened.

Had this guy just said he knew?

“Say that again.”

“Uh... so, I mean I know who it was that insulted Her Highness Valdrova, whom you were talking about, Lord Regent...”

“You mean someone really said that?”

Ferda’s face twisted ferociously.

Malcolm was frightened by that look, but he answered for the moment.

“Yes. Since you had already given me a mission, Lord Regent, I was keeping an eye on several people. It was very quiet, but when I passed by, they said it. They laughed scornfully and said, ‘Why is that murderer here?’”

“...”

“It was just muttering to themselves, and I only knew they must be someone high-ranking, but I did not know that was Grand Duchess Valdrova...”

Hearing that, Ferda felt his mind go faint.

Valdrova had said that when she was surrounded by people, she heard auditory hallucinations.

He had thought they simply came from psychological pressure, and she too had regarded them that way and tried to overcome them.

‘Then that means those were not auditory hallucinations.’

It meant there truly was someone trying to torment her, someone for whom the line between illusion and truth was blurred.

-If I heard those words from someone...

“Malcolm.”

Ferda uttered that two-syllable name.

Even Malcolm, fool that he was, recognized the gravity of the situation.

“Yes, y-yes, sir!”

“I know you are an extremely dull man. But I value your loyalty more highly than anyone else’s.”

“Th... thank you, sir?”

“So I will ask you. Can you swear there is not a single shred of falsehood in those words?”

“How could I ever lie to you, Lord Regent?”

“Yes, I do not think you would lie. But if what you just said is true, then I can no longer stay still.”

The last thread of Ferda’s reason was hanging by the tip of his pinky finger.

Because he wanted to feel the lingering traces of the dance he had shared with her, and he did not want to stain this night with blood.

“I will ask the name of that blasphemous wretch this very instant and try to take his head. In other words, that man’s life will depend on your answer. So I will ask you again.”

Ferda asked in an even deeper voice.

“Did you truly hear those words clearly with your own ears?”

That eerie voice was enough to make even facts feel deniable.

But Malcolm did not deny it.

Though he might be slow-witted, he was a knight who held fast to his convictions.

A knight had to do his best in the mission he had been given, and Malcolm had done the best he could.

“I-It is certain! I heard it clearly, sir!!”

“Then speak. Tell me who it was.”

“The person was... well.”

Malcolm mentioned the name precisely.

The Start of Spring Festival ended before midnight, but the music and laughter rang out past midnight.

The hot blood of youth burned beneath the chandelier flames, unaware that the moon was waning.

Those who got cocky without even knowing their own alcohol tolerance naturally became dead drunk and collapsed all over the castle.

Whenever that happened, the servants who had been keeping a close watch quickly carried them on their backs and handed them over to the servants waiting outside.

Of course, there were also those who did not enjoy the late-night banquet.

In the depths of the forest, the procession of carriages leaving in the middle of the night, while the joyful banquet was in full swing, could be seen here and there.

They belonged to houses where the heirs were handling a lord’s duties as part of their successor training and thus had tight schedules, or to houses so conservative that they would not even allow them to stay in another’s castle.

Night was the time of monsters, but it was no problem for them.

Their escorts were the finest elites representing each house.

Protecting the ground somehow or other was their duty.

BOOM!

But they could not block everything.

Something flew down from the sky toward a carriage.

“Cough, cough...!”

“A-An ambush!”

“Young master!”

Unlike the ferocity with which it had flown in, the carriage was only half-destroyed.

If something had struck at that speed, not only the carriage but even the people inside should have been reduced to pulp.

The wooden wheels were intact, and only the roof had been blown off.

There was no time to admire the exquisite skill.

They merely recalled the information given to them.

In any case, that had been an attack fired at the carriage carrying the young lord.

And what had flown in was not a cannonball, but a living, breathing creature.

“Crossbowmen! Volley fire!”

The elite crossbowmen, who had been ready to shoot at any moment, aimed their crossbows at the intruder all at once.

WHOOSH!

From strings so powerful a man could barely draw them with both hands, the bolts left only sound behind.

They moved faster than sound, but slower than light.

A single blue flash in the moonlit night split them in two, and they fell to the ground.

They had expected it, but the opponent was no ordinary foe.

The captain of the guard drew his sword and unleashed his aura.

“You filthy monster bastard! I’ll stain my sword with your blood—ugh!”

He had drawn his sword, but that was all.

The captain of the guard could not move.

The captain of the guard himself found it strange.

He was, after all, a knight of a ducal house, and he had been the top graduate of the knight officer academy after surpassing more than a hundred talented people.

He had also roamed countless battlefields and proven his courage, earning the epithet Lightning Tiger.

He was overflowing with spirit, and his martial skill was outstanding as well.

But he soon came to understand.

No matter how impressive that might be, it was all futile compared to the being before him, who was like a god.

However much one excelled, one was only outstanding among ordinary people, and remained within the limits of humanity.

There were things humans could not face, no matter how much courage they mustered.

The being he was witnessing with his own eyes was such a thing.

The forest was dark, and beneath the leaves lay pitch-black shadow.

What could be seen within it was the figure of a girl.

And the silhouette of enormous wings that seemed several times larger than that figure.

Glittering gray eyes.

Alien eyes split vertically.

“Aah...!”

Though it was night, when the five senses were uncertain, they recognized the being clearly and spoke it aloud.

“D-D-D-Dragon!”

The knights, who had been trying to form ranks bravely, lost their will to fight and wet themselves.

The captain of the guard could barely remain standing.

‘If I swing my sword, no, if I show even the slightest killing intent...’

That girl would take his head without hesitation.

The girl’s figure wasted no words.

She lifted something from within the carriage she had smashed as if it were a piece of luggage.

It was the young lord they were supposed to protect.

WHOOSH!

And just as quickly as she had flown in, she disappeared from that place.

That entire sequence took less than a minute.

The escort had failed, and the young master had been abducted.