Chapter 55
The Duke of Partin returned only after a week had passed.
Upon hearing the news of his return, Elicia went straight to the duke’s office.
However, the Duke of Partin refused to see her.
Only Dale, who stood guard at the door, met her eyes and told her to go back.
Though her anger rose to the top of her head, she had no choice but to leave.
As she stormed down the stairs with furious steps, Ariel appeared before her.
“Ariel. I told you, when Father is home, you should stay in your room as much as possible.”
Elicia spoke in a voice full of concern, suppressing her anger.
“You… you just kept refusing to see me…”
“Ah…”
Having shut herself away in her room for days, this was the first time in nearly a week that Elicia had seen Ariel.
Right. Ariel must’ve been worried about Eden, too.
Thinking of how Ariel must have been suffering in silence made Elicia feel guilty.
“Elicia… what about Lisbet?”
“…”
Unexpectedly, the person Ariel brought up was not Eden, but Lisbet.
Why Lisbet and not Eden?
Perhaps she was worried because there had been no news of Lisbet either.
“She’s fine. Just… a little hurt, so she’s resting now.”
Elicia knew Lisbet was alive, but not where she currently was.
That much was all she knew—that she was alive.
“…I heard she got hurt because Eden… changed.”
Glancing around, Ariel brought up Eden’s name.
Her face stiffened in an odd way.
“Ariel.”
“You got hurt too.”
“It’s not Eden’s fault.”
“How can you say it’s not his fault?!”
Ariel suddenly shouted.
Unlike when she had looked around just before, now she had lost her composure.
Elicia could fully understand Ariel’s reaction.
“If you die too, I’ll be…”
I’ll really be all alone.
In the end, Ariel burst into tears.
Elicia pulled the crying Ariel into her arms.
—It’s your fault.
Ariel’s tears soaked through Elicia’s clothes.
The wetter they grew, the more Elicia recalled what Pi had said.
Even if Pi’s story had no romance, could the same be said for her own?
From Elicia’s perspective, Ariel and Eden had always seemed very close.
They were always together, and sometimes subtly kept Elicia at a distance.
Not knowing that this closeness was an act, Elicia blamed herself, just as Pi had implied.
She felt as if she had provoked his rampage.
And because of that, Ariel had come to resent Eden.
It all seemed like her fault.
“I’m sorry I made you worry.”
Burying her face in Ariel’s shoulder, Elicia apologized softly.
“But Ariel, this isn’t Eden’s fault.”
At Elicia’s stubborn defense of Eden, Ariel’s body went rigid.
“This is all my fault.”
Ariel’s shoulder became wet with Elicia’s tears as well.
The mansion’s atmosphere felt strange.
At times, it seemed to be quietly subdued, and at other times, oddly restless.
It took her three days of searching for Eden to notice the change.
“The knights have been around a lot lately…”
Rachel, glancing at one as he passed, made the comment.
“…It’s probably because of what happened the other day—they’ve tightened security.”
It was a plausible guess.
Although Elicia was lying, Eden was indeed related to the incident, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.
If they’ve tightened security inside the mansion, then the chances of him being here rather than outside are high…
Elicia kept wandering around the gardens in search of Eden.
If they were hiding him somewhere inside, that would explain why she hadn’t been able to find him until now.
They seemed to have decided to go all in.
Deploying this many people meant the Duke had staked everything on Eden.
What the Duke of Partin wants from using Meldion’s Legacy is probably eternal youth.
It was the conclusion she had drawn from what Pi had told her.
Like Meldion, who might have lived forever had there been no war.
Immortality was the most coveted of taboos.
—Not aging doesn’t mean you can’t die.
The Duke’s words had clearly meant immortality. It was strange he’d said that to Delphir, but if she had once used Meldion’s Legacy herself, it made sense.
How had Delphir used Meldion’s Legacy?
The answer came soon enough.
She must have met someone who met the same conditions as Eden and Ariel.
From that one deduction, several questions unraveled at once.
Why, unlike his ancestors, had the current Duke learned how to use Meldion’s Legacy?
It was Delphir. Delphir told him.
It was highly likely that someone who had used it herself had taught him directly.
From the start, she’d had the premise wrong. This story didn’t begin with the Duke of Partin.
It began with Delphir.
Because Delphir’s role in the novel had been so small, Elicia had overlooked her.
She should not have dismissed her as a minor side character.
But what did “seizure” mean?
It was like scooping water from the ocean—endless and tiring.
Elicia stopped thinking.
These were questions to solve later.
For now, finding Eden’s whereabouts mattered most.
Her eyes took on a deadly glint.
Meanwhile, Rachel, trailing behind her, kept gauging her mood.
Lately, Elicia’s spirits had seemed especially low.
At some point, she’d stopped hiding her irritation, showing it openly.
She no longer pretended to be fine as she used to.
It seemed like she was searching for something.
The quick-witted Rachel thought of the white-haired boy.
And at the same time, of the rumor she had heard yesterday.
She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. If Elicia was looking for Eden, she didn’t feel much like helping.
“Sigh…”
From ahead came a sigh. Rachel stared at Elicia’s back.
Having made up her mind, Rachel spoke cautiously.
“Did you know this mansion has a basement?”
Elicia, who had been walking slowly, stopped in her tracks.
“No.”
She turned toward Rachel with a short reply, as if urging her to go on.
That curious gaze made Rachel uneasy.
“I only found out recently. Most people probably don’t know about it.”
Which was likely why rumors had been multiplying.
“They say… from the floor at the far end of the right-hand corridor on the first floor, you can hear an animal crying.”
Rachel had, in fact, gone to check it out that very morning.
One of the maids who had actually heard the sound had rushed to report it to her.
As head maid, Rachel felt obliged to verify the rumor herself.
And indeed, it was true.
“I just came from checking it myself this morning… It definitely seems like something’s there, so I thought I should tell you.”
Could this have anything to do with that white-haired boy?
Whether it did or not, Rachel felt uneasy.
Whatever it was, it seemed dangerous.
Elicia’s eyes widened at her words.
Seeing her eyes open to their limit, Rachel fidgeted with her fingers.
Elicia looked as if she knew something.
Back in her room, Elicia opened the window with a pale face and shouted:
“Elicia! I know you’re nearby! Come out right now, Elicia!”
The animal cries supposedly coming from the first floor’s floorboards—
No one understood their meaning better than Elicia.
The same went for Elicia, who had entered Delphir’s body.
“You’re the one who should be sulking, not me! Why are you pouting?!”
Since their last conversation, Pi had suddenly vanished.
But she couldn’t have gone far.
Elicia had still heard her crying on the neighboring balcony late at night.
Letting her hear the crying was probably Pi’s way of showing she was still close by.
“You’re the one who said those awful things about it being my fault!”
Had she stayed to confirm whether Eden killed the Duke?
No—Elicia thought it was for another reason.
“Is Eden in the basement? You would know, wouldn’t you?”
Pi’s behavior reminded her of Ariel—
How Ariel would hover nearby, making sure it was obvious she was upset.
Perhaps being sisters made them alike even in that way.
“Elicia!”
She called her name loudly and looked toward the neighboring balcony.
But no one was there.
With a hollow feeling, she looked down instead.
The garden came into view.
All her wandering there in search of Eden had been for nothing.
She hadn’t even considered the basement.
She hadn’t known it existed, and in the original story, the place where Ariel had been chased by beasts was the garden, so that was where she’d focused her attention.
The cries… animal cries…
Elicia gripped the window frame tightly.
A basement was far more closed off than a garden. And they had heard animal cries from there?
If Eden was down there…
Her mind conjured something horrible.
Her legs gave out beneath her.
Elicia collapsed to the floor.
It felt completely different from when she had read about it in text.
It was a feeling that made her mind go blank.
