Chapter 116

"Weakened eyesight?!"

"If you took it for longer it'd start damaging organs too, but I wasn't there yet."

"Weakened eyesight?"

"Yes. But I'm already missing my right eye, so it's not like the left one can really recover anyway."

From the moment they'd first met, Kal had had a deep wound across his right eye.

His left eye wasn't completely blind, but it wasn't exactly fine either.

"So it's all right."

It was fine for now, but someday he might lose his left eye too.

Kal met Iberin's eyes and said,

"Because I know how precious it is to see, even like this, I'm going to tuck as much of what I love into them as I can. So I can remember it longer. And the doctor's been brewing eye herbs for me every day — he's been looking out for me."

"Has he…?"

She'd known his eyes weren't good.

But she'd thought it was because the wound had blinded one eye — she'd never imagined a herb side effect.

In Kal's case it was probably a mix of both.

"…I'm sorry. I should've been paying more attention."

"I'm really fine! Anyway, them buying asquit weed in bulk means something dirty's going on underneath!"

The way Kal said it brightly, as if to clear the air, made it impossible for Iberin and Lyssel to stay sunken either.

Right now, working out what the emperor was up to had to come first.

Lyssel's eyes burned bright as he said,

"Dig a little more, and something's going to fall out."

"Right. Though, since Civelli got caught operating in the capital before, it probably won't be here."

In any case, the possibility of more victims wasn't a good thing to be considering.

"Let's dig deeper."

While they were at it, it would help if they could pin down a connection to the emperor too.

---

What he'd thought would wrap up quickly didn't finish until several more days had passed.

In other words, about a week had now gone by since they'd locked the Sherburn family and Caliman up.

Lyssel had kept the watch tight the entire time, and not one of them had slipped out.

Worried Caliman might be quietly killed off, he'd separated him from the viscount's family and stayed careful about it.

Then Lyssel went to see the viscount's family first.

The moment the three of them saw Lyssel, they cried out about how wronged they were, how unfair this situation was.

Apparently they still had plenty of nerve left for talking.

"What's so unfair about it?"

"…That child has always been sickly to begin with — surely you're aware it's all because of the Lecashe curse?"

It was a line that dug straight into Lyssel.

It hurt to hear no matter when he heard it, and Lyssel couldn't help flinching.

The viscount didn't miss it and pressed again,

"We're grateful you care for her, but you really must understand — her being unwell is also because of you!"

"You speak as if you cherish Iberin yourself, Viscount."

"Of course I do! She's my daughter!"

"What kind of parent sends a beloved daughter into Lecashe knowing she'll be cursed?"

"…Th-that was — she brought it up herself, said she'd sacrifice herself because we were struggling. She was a truly devoted child."

The viscount, lying without a flicker of shame.

Lyssel's face went rigid and cold, and he laughed at him without a trace of warmth.

"And not because she was adopted, so you sold her off?"

"……N-no!"

The viscount, who'd stumbled for a moment in his panic, hurried to deny it.

"It's not like that! Yes, she was adopted — but I truly raised Iberin with love!"

"That's right!"

"We're the ones who took in a child who would've had to live as a beggar!"

The moment the viscount had spoken, the viscountess and Yunet hurried to back him up, afraid the sparks might land on them.

"Iberin tells it differently."

"That's slander!"

The viscountess trembled like she'd been deeply wronged.

She'd clearly keep reacting the same way no matter how much they talked.

"I only trust my wife's word."

"Your Highness, we truly are being wronged! Please let us meet with Iberin and talk it out!"

"Right, does Iberin even know we're locked up in here? She collapsed, didn't she — has she even woken up? This is all Your Highness deciding on his own, isn't it?!"

"If she knew, she'd never have left us like this!"

Lyssel's expression was ice itself, but the viscount's family — terrified they might die in there just like this — kept playing up their closeness with Iberin.

---

Iberin, who'd been listening to all of it from outside the door, snorted in derision.

She couldn't take any more and ended up kicking the door open and walking in.

The moment they saw her, they clung to her as if they were seeing their savior.

"You're awake! Say something to your husband, will you! He won't even hold a conversation with us!"

"The ones not holding a conversation are you."

"……What?"

The viscountess froze where she stood.

"I'm never going to forgive you. Any of you. Not for as long as I live."

"What are you…."

"You really don't know what I mean?"

"I-Iberin……."

The viscount and viscountess had gone white.

"I'll apologize for whatever I did wrong in the past. But we haven't been able to see each other for a while, and during that time I've regretted it and missed you!"

The viscount said it with tears welling up.

If she hadn't recovered Iberin's memories, she might have been fooled, just for a second.

But the beginning of this whole plan had been the viscount himself.

From the adoption to making contact with the emperor — he'd planned and directed all of it personally.

Young Iberin had overheard it in secret, and it had completely broken her.

'You're the one who said to adopt her in the first place!'

'I'm in the middle of talks with the emperor — stop making such a scene.'

'What if the emperor refuses?'

'He won't. I heard clear as day that no tribute's been picked for this generation yet.'

'And the money? We'll be able to take in enough, won't we?'

'Yes. You and I just need to look after Yunet — never mind honor or power. Money. We're in this only for money.'

'What if that Iberin keeps reaching out to us even after she's married off? She's a handful as it is.'

'We cut ties. Whatever happens to that bitch Iberin doesn't matter to us at all.'

As all the memories came back, her memory of the viscount came back with them.

"No. You're lying."

Iberin's expression was cold as she snapped it out.

"Hh. Then what is it you want, exactly. Iberin. You're awake now, so why are you still keeping us locked up?"

Sensing he wasn't going to talk her around, the viscount's expression hardened a little.

"What is it you mean to do with us?"

"From here on, I'll give you two choices."

"What?"

"One: side with us and testify to every truth of what happened with the emperor. Two: die right here, right now."

"…What do you…."

"Don't think I'm not capable of killing you."

The words were barely out before Yunet broke into open sobs.

"What did we do that was so wrong! You're married and living well now!"

"Living well…. Lyssel is a good person, that much is true."

"Right? Then why — you married well, didn't you!!"

"That doesn't mean the wounds you gave me just vanish."

In the original story this viscount family didn't even show up — they must have gone off and lived comfortably somewhere.

Thinking that, her mood kept sinking deeper.

Iberin figured they'd pick the first option.

People this clingy to their own lives weren't going to want to die quietly in this room with no one ever knowing.

"If we do that…… you'll let us live?"

"Before that — let's get one thing straight. Don't speak to me casually."

"……."

"A viscount, of all things."

The corner of the viscount's mouth trembled.

But he forced the feeling down and kept it in.

The fact was, if Lecashe wanted him dead, there was nothing stopping them.

"I'm going to put you under hypnosis."

"What?! What kind of talk is that — hypnosis?!"

The viscountess, who'd been quiet, suddenly flared up.

"Oh? Then what am I supposed to trust to let you go? Conveniently, you brought Caliman along, didn't you?"

"No!"

"And I told you to stop speaking casually."

"I said no! Waaah!"

"If you don't want to, then drop dead."

"Waaahh… when did you become so cruel?"

Yunet wailed it out, sobbing.

"Yeah. I'm cruel. So stop crying — before I actually kill you."

"Hk…."

"Oh — the casual speech is also forbidden."

Her eyes were full of killing intent.

Yunet, pushed back by the sheer force of it, had no choice but to clamp her mouth shut.

The Iberin in her memory was either stuffed in a corner crying, or trying her hardest to smile and be loved.

This Iberin was a first.

The viscountess hurriedly gathered Yunet — who was silently letting tears stream down her face — into her arms and shot Iberin a look full of grievance.

---

In any case, they seemed to understand that to live, they'd have to cooperate, hypnosis or not — and they didn't put up much of a fight.

After they finished with the viscount's family, they went to see Caliman.

Caliman had plenty of dirt behind him, so threatening him wasn't difficult.

"You introduced yourself as a doctor — but something very interesting turned up. Did you know about it?"

"……Y-yes?"

Caliman couldn't hide the way his eyes were jerking, and he trembled.

Going through Caliman's past, Lyssel had dug up something interesting.

"You haven't been running your clinic in the capital for very long."

"Th-that's —"

"About two weeks? Apparently the people of the capital don't even realize it's a clinic."

"I haven't been advertising…."

His excuses were threadbare.

Maybe feeling the sting of it himself, he blurted out,

"But what does that even have to do with this? It's got nothing to do with me being locked up here, does it? I have a medical license!"

It was true that he had a license.

He couldn't live publicly as a hypnotist, so he must have needed a respectable cover.

"Before you came to the capital, you were in Montiana territory."

"……."

"Doing a little research on the side, were you?"

"……I-I'm a doctor, after all."

After what happened with Civelli, the emperor seemed to have done his own kind of crackdown.

But Caliman had slipped past it and gone on experimenting.

Because of that, the emperor had no idea Caliman had been running experiments at all.

If he had known, he'd never have used him — which was just as well for Lyssel.

"I wonder how things would go if the emperor learned about this…."

The moment Lyssel said it quietly, Caliman visibly shuddered.

He knew well enough how merciless the emperor was.

"A-anything! I'll do anything! Please — let me live!"

Caliman shouted, clinging.

Lyssel looked down at him and asked back,

"Anything?"

"Yes, yes!"

"Then first — what hypnosis were you trying to put on Iberin?"

"…Unconditional obedience to the imperial family."

"Hh."

That was, undeniably, a well-chosen directive — putting Iberin to use rather than killing her, even though she was a thorn in the emperor's side.

He'd meant to use Iberin to keep Lyssel from setting down the Grand Duke title and walking away.