Ch. 22
“What are you staring at?”
The man spoke.
Deep inside the dark cave.
White cream was smeared over his smooth mouth.
I watched his red tongue lick it up without leaving a trace and murmured blankly.
“......I was just thinking you’re eating it awfully well when it’s all smashed.”
“What does appearance matter?”
His eyes, revealed by the moonlight, were an uncanny blend of gray and blue.
His hair looked like a bluish night sky.
At the very moment I had tried to end my life with the dagger—
“Why don’t you go farther away if you’re going to die?”
The man, who had spoken to me like an ambush, suddenly wanted the cake box I had dropped on the ground. Because of that, I postponed death for a little while.
“......But why are you locked up in a place like this?”
“Took you long enough to ask.”
Clink. The sound of chains moving rang out.
The man’s hands and feet were bound in thick shackles.
His wrists seemed relatively free, but the shackles on his ankles were fixed to the cave wall, limiting how far he could move.
“Try guessing.”
The man twisted his lips into a long smile.
“Never mind. I’m not that curious.”
“Ah, is that so.”
His bored voice flowed out.
“Then get lost if you’ve lost interest.”
I had been planning to do that anyway, so I pushed myself up again.
“I’ll tell you in advance.”
“.......”
“It’ll be hard to die with that dagger.”
The man added the words indifferently.
“What do you mean?”
“With that length, you won’t die unless you stab very deep and very hard.”
“.......”
I looked down at the short tip of the dagger.
Then Leviathan Zebbert had...... Just how much strength had he used to stab himself?
I looked down at my hands, like dry twigs.
“You’re right.”
With hands this weak, I couldn’t even die by myself.
“Then....... Will you kill me?”
“.......”
“I’ll get you out of there in exchange.”
At that, the man laughed, scratching his neck.
“Impossible. Do you have any idea how complex the sealing formula on my shackles is.......”
“For you, maybe.”
“What?”
“But not for me.”
“.......”
His dark gaze turned on me as if to pierce through me.
The man was sitting on the ground, and I was standing, so our gazes collided diagonally.
Ruby!
At that moment, I heard an auditory hallucination from somewhere. My legs buckled.
It suddenly felt as though water were rushing into my ears. From somewhere came the terrible smell of fishy water.
Rubian!
Bubble, bubble.
What is this?
“Cough, cough!”
I braced both hands against the ground and coughed.
“Never mind, then. Looks like you’ll die soon enough if I leave you alone.”
When I instinctively lifted my head, the man’s beastlike eyes were filling my vision before I knew it.
For an instant, an unfamiliar hunger flickered in those gray-blue eyes.
“Haa.......”
I wiped my mouth and muttered.
“This is because I’m low on magic.”
My vision spun in circles. I pressed a hand to my lower back and said,
“Once I stop my time magic, chains like yours will be simple.......”
“......Time magic?”
A chill rose at his cold voice.
The man reached under the bars. My wrist was caught with a jerk. I felt like prey standing before a beast.
“You can move time, can’t you?”
*****
Slowly.
My eyes opened.
“.......”
The familiar pattern on the ceiling entered my sight. This was.......
The capital ducal estate.
For someone who had just woken after falling into water, my body felt light. But the instant I turned my head, the world spun before my eyes.
A coughing fit burst out like a seizure.
“Cough, cough!”
“Ruby, baby!”
The one who rushed over at once was Grandpa, his face pale.
“Hazel! Borbel!”
As Grandpa called the servants, the outside instantly turned chaotic.
“You little thing!”
A large embrace pulled me in fiercely.
From those urgent, aching hands, I realized more time had passed than I had thought.
“How, how long.......”
“One week!”
A dizzying sensation swept over me.
“Haaah. Now I can finally breathe! Were you planning to tear this old man’s heart to pieces? Hm?”
“Grandpa.......”
My voice was close to the rasp of metal, but Grandpa answered at once.
“Yes, yes. Let me check your fever.......”
“Where’s Dad?”
Only then did Grandpa lay me back on the bed and let out a long breath.
“Leviathan stayed glued to your side the whole time and left for battle at dawn. After confirming your condition had improved with his own eyes. The situation in the south is getting worse and worse.”
“Did Khal...... go too?”
His head dropped heavily.
“Yes.”
I clenched my teeth.
Maybe that was better.
𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
There’s something I want to confirm.
“Where’s Mom?”
As my hoarse throat loosened, my voice grew clearer. At the same time, cold reason returned with it.
“Rose is outside the capital, interrogating those mage bastards. Asking whether they know anything about the southern magical beasts.”
Then Grandpa was the only one left.
“Don’t worry. Rose will be back soon....... Baby, Ruby.”
Grandpa’s thick, hard fingertips rubbed my cheek. A faint wetness came away on them.
“Why are you crying, hm?”
“Grandpa.”
I held his hand and sat up.
“Help me.”
“.......”
“Please take me to Zelox.”
His heavy brows shot up. Grandpa let out a low sigh and patted my shoulder.
“All right, so rest today and.......”
“Now.”
“Ruby.”
“It has to be now.......”
If he said no, I was going to go by myself.
Perhaps he read that determination, because Grandpa’s strong mouth closed firmly. His neatly groomed beard twitched.
“Miss!”
The door burst open, and Hazel, Borbel, and the servants appeared.
Grandpa patted me a couple of times, then rose. Then he gave an order to Butler Morris, who was standing a little farther back.
“Morris, tell them outside to prepare a carriage. We’re returning to Zelox. Leave Rose a letter for now, since it’s urgent.”
“Pardon? Right now?”
“Tell the stationed mage to bring every acceleration magic tool. Pack as little as possible.”
“But Miss still hasn’t—!”
“That is an order!”
Grandpa roared.
At that lion-like bellow, everyone clamped their mouths shut.
“Understood.”
Hazel moved first.
“But most of the knights have gone to battle, so the guards left behind are.......”
“I’ll go with you.”
Those words came from the man who pushed through the crowd. As if he had run here with all his strength, he was panting, which was rare for him.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but.......”
Boyd glanced at me while gripping his sword and sighed.
“Rather than trying to break that one’s stubbornness, I should just guard her.”
*****
The carriage raced north at full speed.
I had no idea how many days passed.
My fever rose again along the way, so I spent most of the journey drugged on medicine.
Every time Grandpa’s thunderous shouting erupted, our destination drew closer in huge leaps. As expected, he was the loudest voice on my side.
By the time we crossed the northern gate and kicked open the Zelox castle gate, it was already deep night.
“Whatever it is, rest for tonight first. Hm? You can’t do anything in the middle of the night anyway!”
Grandpa pleaded like that over and over as he pushed me into the bedroom.
When asked why I was so determined to go north, I used the excuse that since mutated magical beasts had appeared, we had to inspect Zelox’s barrier at once.
The north was the land of magical beasts.
Grandpa could not hide his uneasy expression, but he seemed to accept it roughly enough.
“Ruby, call me if you’re going out. Got it? You have to call me!”
Boyd said that as he left the room.
I nodded meekly and sat in the bedroom, waiting for all of them to leave.
Night deepened.
A night full of dark clouds, without even moonlight shining in.
Now.
Zebbert ducal castle in Zelox, a place no different from my hometown.
There was nowhere here my footprints had not marked. While exploring every corner with Khalid and my older brothers, we had even secretly made side paths and shortcuts.
I don’t need Khalid’s squirrel.
Of course I didn’t.
Because this was my home.
I secretly slipped out of the castle and headed for the Zebbert memorial garden.
“Hah, haah.”
My steps quickened on their own, and my breath quickly climbed to my throat.
My head spun, and I could not tell whether it was because I was short of breath or because I was afraid of the truth I would soon confirm.
The black, dark memorial garden slowly drew closer. In the distance, a faint light shone from the gravekeeper’s cabin window.
I pulled the black cloak lower over myself so I would not be seen and entered the memorial garden.
My steps headed toward the small garden without hesitation.
Saaah—
The wind blew.
My cloak slipped off, and my long silver hair fluttered loose.
“.......”
The black stele stood there.
I stared at it in silence.
The grave of the baby who had died before receiving a name.
What are you?
What am I?
What am I?
My palm slowly touched the ground.
There was probably a sturdy stone coffin below this spot.
A few months ago, I had attended a funeral in the capital.
In Babilon, there was a custom that considered preserving the dead body intact to be the greatest courtesy toward the deceased.
Thus, funerals were held after preparing an extremely thick stone coffin and anti-decay magic tools.
So.......
Though the baby died long ago.
According to custom, the baby’s corpse should remain beneath this ground.
......If it really exists.
Swallowing a dizzy breath, I sent magic flowing beneath the ground.
It was search magic, mainly used when exploring ruins. Even though it was cold winter, sweat dripped from me. Because I had chewed my lips so much, one had split open, and I tasted blood.
Blue magic stretched downward.
It pierced through the ground, passed through the soil, and finally touched the stone coffin. Bzzzz. The magic that touched the object reflected back, and I felt a vibration at my fingertips.
I focused my entire mind and felt inside the coffin with my magic.
A moment later.
“.......”
My eyelids slowly opened.
“The coffin.......”
No magic was coming back.
The meaning was obvious.
“The coffin is empty.”