Chapter 20

After hearing Rotte out, Iberin went to find Lyssel with a chest full of worry.

She'd been padding the lead-up with a long, rambling preamble in case he refused—and apparently he'd already picked up on it.

"That laugh of yours is unnatural."

He'd called it out instantly.

"If you have something to say, say it."

If he was telling her to speak, she was going to speak. Iberin opened her mouth without delay.

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd hear me out. You're the only person I can ask. So—there are some things I need from the Forest of the World Tree, and I was hoping you'd bring them back."

"For Ether?"

"Yes…."

She swallowed dryly and stared hard at his mouth.

Please say yes. Please, please.

"Understood."

"What? You will? What part?"

"I'll bring them back."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You'll just help, no strings? You don't want anything?"

"No."

"…If there's anything you do want, tell me. If it's within my power, I'll help you too."

It felt cheap to ask without offering anything in return, so she said it, and Lyssel just sat there looking at her.

"…What."

"Am I supposed to want something?"

"No, not necessarily."

He was already saying he'd help, so if she could give something back, that was nice—give and take, win-win.

Does this man not even understand that?

Maybe he just didn't have anything he wanted.

He'd probably never gotten anything he'd wanted in the first place.

Iberin clicked her tongue at the thought.

"If you don't have one now, you can tell me later. Within what I can actually do, obviously."

And then Lyssel—who'd had nothing to ask for—hesitantly spoke.

"…I want to see it."

"See what?"

"…You said so yourself. That I was brainwashed."

"…I did."

"You're asking me to bring these things back so you can protect that child."

"…Right. Aren't you curious what they are?"

{"No need. What I'm curious about is what kind of choice that child would make if he hadn't been brainwashed."}(#d6f521bohd9z)

She felt like she could understand, even just a little, what was going on inside him.

---

Iberin had never really stopped to think about how strong a Lecashe was.

She'd just nodded along when people called him the strongest.

"You're going right now?"

"Yes."

He'd barely finished speaking before he was on his feet, ready to head out the door, and Iberin scrambled up after him, asking where he was going and if there was anything he needed her to prepare.

He turned a what are you talking about look on her and said he was going now.

"Bare-handed?"

"What's the issue."

She'd asked it stunned, and he'd asked it back like he genuinely didn't follow.

"……You really are strong, aren't you."

What a ridiculous thing to say.

There wasn't a soul in Aleta who didn't know how strong a Lecashe was.

In any case, Lyssel had no further interest in this pointless back-and-forth and gently shook her grip off his arm.

He was already sprinting toward the forest, and Iberin watched the back of him for a beat before shouting.

"Come back safe! I'll be waiting!"

Whether he'd heard her at that distance was an open question.

---

After that, Iberin spent every one of her twenty-four hours trying to be with Ether, minus the two hours of lessons with Elvin.

Ether kept pushing her away, but she stuck to him relentlessly.

The brainwashing must not have fully set in yet, because whenever Iberin let her face fall into something sad, Ether would panic and eventually let her stay close.

"Baron."

"Yes."

"You've been holding lessons every single day. What if Sundays were a day off?"

"…But my time here is limited. Wouldn't even a single day off be a loss?"

"No. Pushing him too hard isn't healthy either."

"But the young master enjoys the lessons. I'm not pushing him."

She was reaching for any way to cut into the time the two of them spent together.

"Still, one day off."

But Elvin wasn't easy to push.

"Even as his parent, a matter this important shouldn't be decided unilaterally, surely. Wouldn't the young master's own opinion be what matters?"

Iberin glanced at Ether next to her, who was poking at his soup.

He'd been losing his appetite ever since lessons with Elvin started, and lately all he ever ate was soup.

The roundness he'd finally put on was melting off him, and it hurt to watch.

His expression was dim too.

"Young master, what would you like to do?"

"I'll go with my mother—"

Ether started.

He was going to say he'd follow what Iberin wanted.

Before the meal, she'd told him privately how disappointed she felt, and he'd come around to her side.

But then—

"When you speak, you should look at the person's eyes."

Elvin's tone snapped, sharp, aimed at Ether's lowered head.

Ether slowly tilted his head up and met Elvin's eyes—

And in that instant, a strange feeling hit Iberin.

A feeling that Ether shouldn't be looking at those eyes.

She slapped her hand over his eyes.

For a split second, Elvin's expression twisted into something monstrous. He smoothed it over fast, but Iberin caught it.

Something's there after all.

A strange standoff held for a moment before Ether, surprised by the hand suddenly blocking his sight, turned to look at Iberin.

Feeling his gaze, she smiled softly and said,

"Ether, you can look at Mommy when you talk."

"Yes. Ether—no, I think one day off, like Mother said, is fine."

"You heard him?"

"…Yes. Understood."

Won.

Iberin let out a low chuckle.

---

Ether kept stealing glances at Iberin.

"What's that look?"

It had been ages since they'd sat down for proper teatime, and there was a spread of cake and cookies in front of him that he hadn't touched. When she nudged him toward it, he asked cautiously,

"Can I, eat this?"

"Of course you can—it's all your favorites."

"Yes. But, before you do somethin' you have to get permission first."

"Who told you that?"

"My teacher."

Asking permission was fine, generally.

But you didn't have to ask permission for every single thing under the sun.

This was cake and cookies.

And he'd been trained to even check in for that?

"Ether, what kind of thing is having teatime with Mommy?"

"…Mm, a good thing. It's nice…"

"Really? Then what about eating these foods?"

"That's nice too. They taste good."

"Then say later on you have something you want to do and you need permission for it. Between that and eating snacks at teatime—which one is more important?"

"Um… askin' permission for the thing I wanna do."

"Why?"

"It seems more important…"

"Then what about asking permission to eat snacks?"

"……Why are you askin' me this?"

"What I want to say, Ether, is that you don't need to get permission for everything."

"…But…."

Ether mumbled and trailed off, and his eyes glazed over slightly before clearing.

"What Mother said is right."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Why did Ether say that…?"

Maybe because he hadn't seen Elvin all day.

Ether's whole attitude had taken on something strange.

So it wasn't just brainwashing—there was hypnosis layered on top?

Iberin was already worried about tomorrow's lesson.

Elvin hadn't been able to pull anything today, but tomorrow the lessons would start up again.

"Mother."

"Mm? What is it, Ether?"

"Ether's sleepy."

His face had gone slightly hazy, eyes half-lidded as he blinked slowly.

Iberin didn't hesitate—she pulled him into her arms and settled him on her lap.

He squirmed a little, but maybe because the hypnosis and conditioning had weakened, he didn't really fight her.

"Mm…."

He ended up resting his cheek against her chest.

"Nice…."

Without seeming to notice, he murmured that it felt nice and let out a tiny hehe of a smile.

Iberin stroked his hair and patted him over and over.

"Sleep well, Ether."

"Mhm."

He drifted off, his breathing settling into a soft, even rhythm.

---

Lyssel came back before a full day had even passed.

Rotte got to work on the elixir right away, and Iberin's twenty-four-hour Ether watch never let up.

"Grand Duchess."

"What is it?"

Elvin had been polite about it at first, but now the way Iberin was hovering clearly grated on him, and he didn't bother hiding his irritation.

"Aren't you the lady of the house? Surely you have things to do?"

"Of course I do. I'm doing this after my actual work. This is a remote estate—there isn't all that much to be done."

"……Even so,"

"Sorry, but who are you to be concerned about how I spend my time? Your job is to teach Ether well as his tutor, isn't it?"

Elvin smiled faintly and inclined his head.

"My apologies if I was rude."

"I'll be taking Ether now."

"…Yes."

"Oh, and—let's have dinner together tonight."

"…Yes."

Watching Iberin walk down the corridor with Ether scooped up against her, Elvin let an icy, murderous edge bleed into the air.

---

His master had said Lecashe was a harsh, isolated house, with no one paying attention to anyone else—but there was an unexpected wrinkle here.

For generations, every Grand Duchess had loathed her own child.

After all, they'd been brides selected through a particular vetting process.

He'd expected the same this time around—but no.

The Grand Duchess was sunny, and the servants adored her for it.

The moment he realized something was off, he'd sent word to his master, but the distance from this remote province to the capital meant a fast reply wasn't possible.

If he'd known it would come to this, he'd have brought a communication device.

Ether was one thing, but he needed to verify quickly whether the Grand Duke's conditioning had held.

That was his master's order, but at this point, even Elvin himself was getting an uneasy what if? feeling, and the urgency was sharpening.

It surely couldn't be the case, but if the Grand Duke's conditioning had weakened, that was a serious problem.

Elvin felt he'd grown too complacent.

Determined to separate the Grand Duchess from Lecashe by any means necessary, Elvin drew a small vial from his coat with a low, ugly laugh.

"Heh heh."

He hadn't brought a communication device, but he had brought poison—just in case anyone got in the way and needed to be removed.

She'd told him they'd be having dinner together. Tonight was the time to use it, he decided.

"You there."

Elvin called quietly to the servant standing beside him, head bowed.

Ever since arriving at the Grand Duke's estate, nothing had been going his way, and he'd been taking it out on this servant.

Days of severe beatings had left the man's body a wreck.

Naturally, he hadn't touched anywhere visible, so the servant looked fine on the outside.

The servant flinched, then answered.

"Yes."

"Slip this into the Grand Duchess's dinner."

"Wh-what kind of medicine is it?"

The words were barely out of his mouth before Elvin's eyes flared with terrifying intensity.

Thwack—

The servant's body crumpled to the floor.

"You do what you're told. Why are you running your mouth?!"

"Y-yes, yes. I-I'm sorry. I was wrong."

The servant pressed his hands together and begged.

Elvin tossed the vial at his cheek and ordered him to get it done today, one way or another.

"Yes… yes…!"

The servant knew refusing meant another beating, so he reached out with shaking hands and carefully picked up the vial rolling on the floor.