Chapter 41
It had been a long time since Aquila and Shen were alone together in the room.
With Lemonti present, the time had been far more relaxed.
No—rather, it should have been.
If only the door had not flown open without so much as a knock, and a man had not come rushing inside.
“My little brother!”
Aquila, who had been enjoying tea time, suddenly had both of his cheeks grabbed by the man who strode in at a brisk pace.
“…What—huh?!”
“How are you feeling, hmm? Are you all right?”
The man briskly turned Aquila’s face from side to side.
He was a thin man, with a sharp chin and cheeks so hollow they seemed sunken in.
Yet despite his frail appearance, his grip was inexplicably strong. No matter how Aquila tried to twist his head away, he could not break free.
Aquila shot him a glare that clearly told him to stop.
“Lord Erzet. Sir Aquila is saying he does not like it.”
“…Ah! I am sorry. I got carried away.”
At Shen’s sharp rebuke, the man called Erzet finally released Aquila, his tone turning lighter.
“Sir Aquila has only recently gotten back on his feet, so please be careful. Unlike you, he is quite delicate.”
“I said I got it. I understand.”
Aquila stared at the two of them with a dumbfounded expression.
The man’s hair was wavy and disheveled, and the dark shadows beneath his eyes testified to long, exhausting days.
The silver frames of his glasses glinted under the light, yet he did not look like a scholar.
Among his features, however, the most striking by far was his red hair.
A familiar sign, seen countless times—the unmistakable proof of Reschenhardt blood.
“Hmm… even so, your face is awfully pale. Are you sure you are all right? Should this brother fetch some medicine right away?”
Behind his glasses, black eyes similar to Aquila’s brimmed with affection.
‘If that is Erzet Reschenhardt….’
So it really was him.
The genius alchemist who had publicized the Curse Removal Method for the Curse of Deadly Poison.
DING!
【Opening information on the keyword ‘Erzet Reschenhardt’!】
【Erzet Reschenhardt — Second son of House Reschenhardt, eccentric, genius alchemist, one who curses the gods.
Record prior to the 30th cycle: After the death of Aquila Reschenhardt, he publicized the Curse Removal Method for the Curse of Deadly Poison and gained fame as a genius alchemist.
Special note: Ended his life by suicide via poisoning.】
‘Suicide…?’
For a moment, Aquila doubted his own eyes.
No matter how he searched his memories, nothing came to mind beyond the title of genius alchemist and the name itself.
Needless to say, he had never appeared in the main scenario either.
“My little brother, you are awfully quiet today. Are you still in a lot of pain? Are the priests doing a poor job of treating you? Or perhaps…”
Murmuring to himself, Erzet suddenly reached out.
Thinking he was going for his face again, Aquila leaned back, but Erzet’s hand instead sliced through empty air.
Precisely toward the System window Aquila had been staring at.
His thin fingers clawed through the space as though scattering it, but of course, he caught nothing.
It was not something visible to others.
Watching the window blur and then return to normal, Aquila raised an eyebrow.
“My little brother, is there something there? What are you looking at?”
Erzet lifted the corner of his brow in the same puzzled way.
His face looked strikingly similar to Aquila’s—one Aquila saw every time he looked into a mirror.
“There is nothing there.”
“Then you did not awaken after nearly dying with the ability to see ghosts, did you? You used to say you wanted to become someone special like that.”
Erzet grinned playfully.
For a joke, his expression brightened, and curiosity filled his eyes.
But before Aquila could respond, Shen snapped sharply.
“What ghosts, for heaven’s sake? You did not even come see your brother when he nearly died.”
“I did come while he was sleeping. He had his eyes closed every time I came—what was I supposed to do? I wanted to see him too. That is why I mean… it is good to see you like this. You look like you have lost even more weight, my little brother. Look how loose your clothes are.”
“You are thinner, Lord Erzet.”
Shen replied coldly, glaring daggers at him.
“I informed you the moment our young master woke up, so why do you not try explaining why you were late?”
“Obviously… a paper! It just would not get finished!”
Erzet clutched his head and cried out in agony.
“And the estate matters too! Why does it have to be subjugation season every time I am busy, so I am the only one run ragged? Landizel deadlines are already brutal, and now this on top of it…!”
“Take it up with the head of the house directly.”
“As if that would work.”
Erzet let out a sorrowful sigh.
The ‘Landizel’ he mentioned was the name of an educational institution.
A place where one could study not only magic and swordsmanship, but a wide variety of disciplines that existed in this world.
It held a unique position on the Delvion continent, to the extent that it was called an academy city, and it always welcomed intelligent people with a passion for learning.
It seemed Erzet Reschenhardt was an undergraduate there.
‘…I thought his relationship with the family was bad, but maybe not.’
Only now did Aquila understand Erzet’s zombie-like appearance.
“Now that you have seen his face, please leave. Stop showing such an unhealthy face to our young master.”
“I am your young master’s brother.”
“Yes. Safe travels.”
“Why are you the only one who treats me so poorly?”
Shen and Erzet bickered like friends.
Watching them behave like actual children, Aquila silently set his cup down.
“So, why did you really come?”
“Hoo. Right. I almost forgot because of that attendant…”
“Why is that my fault?”
“Shh! Anyway, Quil, have you happened to run into the twins today?”
After shooting Shen a pointless glare, Erzet sat down across from Aquila.
Shen met his gaze head-on, then reluctantly went to fetch more tea.
At the moment, there was only tea prepared for Aquila alone.
Leaning back against the chair, Aquila shook his head.
“Ershan and Mei? No. I was caught on my way back from the underground dungeon and brought straight to my room.”
“Oh, right. I heard you went to the underground dungeon as well. They decided to leave them there, did they? In that pitch-dark place where no light reaches, with their hands, feet, and mouths tightly bound… really, whoever’s brother you are, you have quite the personality.”
Erzet let out a crooked grin, but then his expression stiffened slightly as he looked at his brother.
“I will say this first. It is going to be an uncomfortable story for you to hear.”
From his words alone, Aquila could already guess what was coming.
There was only one matter that would make ‘Aquila Reschenhardt’ uncomfortable.
“That… it is about that woman. Have you heard that there will be no memorial service?”
“I heard it from Shen.”
“Yes. And let me be clear—I intend to tell Father not to hold a memorial service for that woman even if he returns.”
Anger, not sorrow, drifted across Erzet’s sharp, gaunt face.
“I do not think it is unjust. Everyone in this estate knows what that woman did… deeds so vile they cannot even be spoken aloud. People simply avoided the subject. And although we managed to separate things somehow…”
Celsia’s room and Aquila’s room were placed at opposite ends.
Their paths were arranged so they could never meet.
Driving out a spouse who had already married into the family was impossible in a world where divorce was not permitted.
That was even more true among the nobility.
So that had likely been the best solution.
“I never thought she would do something like that. But when I learned she had cast a curse… I also thought that it was something only that woman could do.”
As Erzet spoke calmly, Shen returned and set a cup in front of him.
A faint scent of rosemary spread through the air.
“Even if Father feels indebted to that woman, that is his emotion alone. I neither wish to mourn her death nor to see anyone else mourn her.”
Lexenbert Fad Reschenhardt was known to feel indebted to Celsia.
This was an open secret.
After all, the poignant love story between Lexenbert and his first wife had been famous enough to spread even among commoners.
A love that transcended status.
People were enthralled by the tale and sent their blessings.
But happiness did not last long.
His first wife—Aquila and Erzet’s mother—succumbed to illness.
After that, despite vowing to live alone for the rest of his life, Lexenbert was eventually pushed into a second marriage.
That woman was Celsia.
A marriage to a woman he did not love, after the death of the woman he did.
From then on, even if Lexenbert could not give her his heart, he tried to grant her everything else…
‘At the end of an unhappy marriage, only unhappy children remain.’
Aquila shrugged slightly.
“Still, the story about the monster is shocking even now. I did not see it myself, but everyone who was here must have heard those chilling screams.”
Erzet shuddered as if sick of the thought.
“Anyway, you may have defeated that monster, but we can talk about that later. Returning to the matter of the twins…”
With a troubled expression, Erzet sank back deeply into his chair.
A heavy sigh spilled from between his lips.
“I would prefer not to hold a memorial service at all, but those children complicate matters. At the very least, they should be given a chance to say goodbye. That is what I mean.”
At present, Ershan and Mei’s position within the Reschenhardt Estate was delicate.
There was no doubt they carried Lexenbert’s blood, but what Celsia had done could not simply be overlooked.
More importantly, the children had witnessed Celsia—after eating mud—transform before their very eyes.
And what about seeing Celsia, turned into a monster, fall to Aquila’s and others’ blades?
Aquila could not rashly guess what state of mind the twins were in now, but he knew it would not be simple.
“I do not think I can give you an answer…”
“Yes, I understand. But you were fairly close with the twins, so I thought you might have an idea of what they would think.”
“Me?”
“Were you not that close? You talked with them often. Especially with Ershan.”
Aquila recalled the boy twin’s face.
A ponytail, and features resembling Celsia.
‘So Ershan really is a nickname.’
The moment that thought crossed his mind, a familiar notification rang out.
DING!
【Opening information on the keyword ‘Ershan Reschenhardt’!】
【Ershan Reschenhardt — Twin of House Reschenhardt, unfortunate scapegoat, corrupted sacrifice.
Record prior to the 30th cycle: After Celsia Reschenhardt was discovered and executed after being named the culprit, he and his twin sibling Lemei were exiled to House Ludovika. They were offered as sacrifices by corrupted believers.
Special note: After rampaging as the twin Wraith monsters of the ‘Count Anette Subjugation,’ they were defeated.】
‘What… what kind of monster?’
Aquila found himself staring blankly at the System window.
In the previous cycle, he had accepted a request with Ark and visited a certain count’s estate.
There, Aquila had encountered twin Wraith monsters with infuriatingly complex patterns.
After barely defeating them and investigating the estate, they had discovered numerous traces of experiments in the basement—an extremely important plot thread.
After all…
‘That was one of the main quests. And they were Ershan and Mei?’
Aquila could not hide his astonishment.
Yet alternating his gaze between Erzet and the System window made the feeling even more surreal.
‘What a mess the Reschenhardt family is….’
The older brother died by poisoning, and the younger siblings turned into monsters.
Feeling stifled, Aquila lifted his cup and drained it in one go before setting it back on the saucer.
Though unexpected, this situation might actually be an opportunity.
Erasing his indifferent expression, Aquila looked straight at Erzet with his usual blank face.
“Do not worry. I will meet them myself.”
“Ah—uh… my little brother. Your enthusiasm is admirable, but I did not mean to tell you to meet them…”
“I said I will do it.”
Brushing his hair back, Aquila maintained a firm expression.
‘If the twins are not sent to Ludovika, then one main quest disappears… is that it?’
His mind began to turn rapidly.