Chapter 37

"I'll play it by ear."

"Why would you be the one playing it by ear, my lady? I won't have it."

"What am I supposed to do, then?"

"…Have nothing to do with Cherity."

It was a party being held at the Cherity ducal house — whether that was even possible was an open question — but she nodded vaguely anyway.

Even so, she had to keep listening to the butler fret all the way up to the entrance.

---

Iberin stepped into the party hall alone. So far, no one was coming over to her.

She could see Countess Megan's group, but they were only whispering among themselves; Iberin didn't seem to be on their radar at all.

Iberin didn't feel any particular need to approach them either, and stood in a corner sipping a drink.

"Ibel!"

"Emil."

Emily was the only one who came over without hesitation.

Only then did Iberin let a small smile touch her face and welcome her.

"Did you come alone?"

"No, my husband's over there too."

When she looked where Emily gestured, she saw Marquis Civelli surrounded by a cluster of people.

"He's always the busiest one whenever he comes to these parties."

"I see."

Seeing Marquis Civelli for the first time, he looked older than she'd expected.

He was smiling kindly, but knowing what Emily had told her, it came across as put on.

Then, just for an instant, their eyes seemed to meet.

When Iberin flinched, Emily asked,

"What's wrong?"

"…Nothing. Has Marquis Civelli said anything about me?"

"It's hard enough to lay eyes on him once a day. I can't stand the sight of him either. But we'll go say hello together in a bit. That's what you came for, isn't it?"

"I'd appreciate that."

This was the man who'd personally laid the hypnosis on Lecashe.

He probably wasn't entirely uninterested in her.

---

Party or no, it wasn't fun.

It was as if a barricade had been thrown up around Iberin and Emily — no one came near them.

The only thing that piqued Iberin's interest was when Duke Cherity, the very man the butler had fretted about, stepped up onto the platform to give his greeting.

"Isn't he just too handsome?"

Emily made a whole production of the duke's striking looks.

He was, admittedly, good-looking.

"He has a similar feel to the Crown Prince."

A sculpted kind of handsome, but with something a little more sacred about him.

She'd muttered it to herself, but Emily caught it and asked,

"Ibel, you've met the Crown Prince too?"

"Yes, not long after I came up to the capital. His Majesty invited us."

"The Crown Prince is handsome too — that upright, proper look."

"He is."

"I'd love a chance to talk with him up close. All I've ever managed is seeing him from beside my husband."

Emily had been holding forth about the Crown Prince's looks, and before Iberin knew it she'd uncorked the floodgates and was launching into a list of every handsome noble.

The duke was young.

She'd heard he'd lost his father young and inherited the title at an early age.

Even so, there was nothing shadowed about him.

"My deepest thanks to everyone for attending my birthday celebration tonight. I hope you all have a wonderful time."

It was a short greeting, but it drew a thunderous round of applause.

Iberin was clapping along out of formality when she met the duke's eyes head-on.

The moment their eyes locked, he creased the corners of his into a small smile — and she froze.

"What is it."

"Yes?"

"Ah, never mind."

What's he smiling at me for, exactly?

Here, there, everywhere — the whole place was nothing but uneasy little snags.

---

"Emil. I'd like to go say hello to Marquis Civelli."

"Oh, let's go! I'll introduce you!"

Civelli had been the whole point of coming tonight.

Iberin fingered the small remainder of the elixir she'd used on Emily.

There wasn't much left — just enough for one more person.

She didn't want to use it carelessly and have it fail to take.

On top of which, Roto Civelli was still in the middle of a crowd.

Just as she was about to follow Emily, Cherity — who'd somehow already come down from the platform — approached Iberin.

"Good evening."

"…Oh, yes. Good evening."

She hadn't expected him to come over to greet her first, and Iberin returned the greeting on reflex, startled.

Emily, meanwhile, was making a fuss.

"Hello! I'm Emily Balkan Civelli!"

"Yes. A pleasure."

Duke Cherity returned Emily's greeting with a gentle smile.

Emily also seemed to know something about the duke's famous fanaticism for holy purity — she glanced back and forth between Iberin and the duke.

Not that it didn't surprise Iberin a little too.

"I don't think I greeted you properly, so let me do it now. Happy birthday."

"Thank you. I never once dreamed Lecashe would come to celebrate my birthday."

"Oh, right."

Is that a backhanded jab.

Just as Iberin was thinking it, the duke went on, still smiling.

"How does it feel, anyway? Having demonic energy inside your body?"

"…I'm sorry?"

"I'm truly curious. It's my first time meeting someone like that."

What kind of new flavor of crank is this, Iberin thought, frozen in place. Emily must've felt this was a step too far as well.

"I get told I'm very blunt myself, but you might give me a run for my money, Your Grace."

"Is that so? I can't stand letting a curiosity sit unanswered. And I've never met someone carrying demonic energy before."

"Are you curious about the curse too, Your Grace?"

"I don't believe the curse is the truth. It isn't the curse that's killing the Grand Duchess, is it?"

Iberin stared straight into Duke Cherity's face without a word.

Does he know something?

The only ones who knew the secret were Lecashe and the emperor, as far as she'd been told.

She'd thought perhaps the marquis, being complicit, would've worked some of it out.

But Duke Cherity wasn't an existence she'd factored in at all.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

What was this?

Pretending he didn't know a thing, pointing out facts, smiling all the while.

"If you're curious about demonic energy, you should come visit Lecashe sometime. I'd welcome you."

"If you're extending a formal invitation, then I'll take you up on it."

The duke gave a bright smile and drifted off, saying he ought to greet the others.

"What's with that guy?"

Emily said, no filter.

"Right?"

"He was nice to look at, but I just lost all interest. Anyway, let's hurry over to my husband."

Honestly, Emily had been just as bad, if not worse, on first impression, but Iberin let it slide and tried to start walking again — only to find he wasn't there.

"Huh? Where did the man slip off to?"

Roto Civelli was gone.

He seemed to have stepped out of the group he'd been in. When Emily asked them, they said something had come up and he'd already left.

"He'd barely been here a minute — what kind of something could've come up?"

"How long ago did he leave?"

"By the sound of it, just now."

She'd have to tail him.

"I need to go."

"Huh? You're going after him?"

The way he'd left in such a hurry — there had to be something to it.

"Yes."

"I'm worried…"

"I'll be fine."

She had the teleportation scroll, and since the butler had fretted so much on the way over, she'd hired escort knights for the night too.

Iberin excused herself to Emily and headed to where the butler was waiting.

"My lady? What's the matter?"

"The marquis left in a rush, apparently. I'm going to tail him."

"Ah, then that carriage…"

"You saw it?"

"Yes. It pulled out in quite a hurry."

What could it be?

Iberin scrambled into the carriage, and they set off.

The butler, who'd been worried about her the whole time, waited until the urgency had eased somewhat before asking,

"Did anything happen inside?"

"Ah, Duke Cherity came up to me and acted like he knew me."

"What?!"

The butler practically shouted, his eyes raking over Iberin to check on her.

He was making a whole fuss of it.

Iberin let out a small laugh and tried to calm him down.

"Nothing happened, we just said hello. But he was a bit rude."

"That's a relief, but — rude?"

When she gave him a quick rundown of what had gone on inside, the butler's brow furrowed too.

"What do you mean, not cursed? Why would he say something like that?"

The butler asked, as if he couldn't make sense of it.

"But House Cherity is genuinely the polar opposite of Lecashe — there's been no point of contact between us. And Cherity isn't on good terms with the imperial family either."

"What? Not with the imperial family either?"

"No. The Cheritys are zealots for the divine, generation after generation, so with the emperor wanting to consolidate imperial power…"

"Ah…"

"There's also talk that Cherity goes around searching for traces of the god."

"Traces of the god?"

"Yes. Since the Holy-Demonic War, the god has vanished completely."

The god — well, he showed up around the time Ether was fully grown anyway.

Iberin nodded without much thought.

"And that was the extent of it?"

"Yeah, then he left."

While they were talking, Marquis Civelli's carriage, which had pulled out of the venue, came into view.

"Oh, there it is —"

Then, in the dark, Civelli stepped out and switched to a different black carriage.

Iberin and the butler held their breath and watched everything.

From here on out, they really couldn't afford to be spotted.

The carriage Civelli had originally arrived in set off in the direction of the marquisate, and soon the carriage he'd switched into slipped away into the deep darkness.

"Should we keep following?"

The coachman asked once they'd tailed it some distance.

"No. I think we should stop here."

The alley was narrowing, and continuing to follow in the carriage would tip him off, so they climbed down partway and gave chase on foot.

The black carriage came to a stop in front of a narrow, shabby building. Civelli looked around once and stepped inside.

There's a hundred percent something in there!

The question was whether to follow him in now, or come back later to check.

Iberin shot the two men a meaningful look.