Chapter 90

A deep smile spread across Cherity's mouth.

It had been a while since anything had felt this interesting.

"What will you do then, sir? You haven't actually carried out His Majesty's order yet."

"If we try to kill her again, you think Lecashe is going to sit still?"

"He'd come for you right away."

"Right. So we wrap it up here and head back."

It was true his curiosity was piqued, but that didn't mean he wanted to take Lecashe — the strongest house in the world by reputation — head-on.

Cherity was strong himself, but he wasn't the type who needed to prove it.

"Dig into Marquis Civelli's background."

"Sir? Why the dead one?"

"He was close to the emperor. I never cared before, so I let it slide, but the Grand Duchess and the emperor are both tangled up in Civelli's death."

"Ah."

"My guess is that the answer's somewhere in there. And while you're at it, look into why the ones who'd been keeping their heads down on Lecashe land suddenly came up to the capital."

"Understood."

He'd planned to stay a few more days and look in on the Forest of the World Tree, but right now the relationship between the emperor and Lecashe was the more tempting thread.

He might even turn up the emperor's weak spot.

The emperor's hold on the throne was uselessly strong at the moment.

He didn't like it.

If there was any way to drag a man like that down a peg —

"The search for the god's name might just move faster."

Cherity's lifelong work boiled down to one thing.

Find the forgotten god.

He'd come all this way for it, with the Forest of the World Tree right next door, and now he left it behind to chase the emperor's weakness instead.

---

Once Iberin had recovered to some extent, word about the Lecashe assassination attempt reached the people of the territory.

Hearing about it after the fact, the residents were stunned.

So Iberin hadn't been showing her face all this time because she'd been poisoned.

"Quartering wouldn't be enough for the likes of them."

The residents who liked and respected Iberin choked up as they said it.

"Thank god she's back on her feet, at least!"

"Hey, then she wasn't refusing to help Gelta — she didn't have the strength to."

"Are we saying that's how it was?"

"Lady Iberin's been out of sight a good long while, hasn't she."

"Right enough."

"But who was behind it?"

"Don't know, but — d'you think it could've been the Gelta nobles?"

"They sent assassins themselves, then dropped a bad rumor to drag her name through it."

It didn't really hold together, but stories like that had a hook, and they spread fast.

The same way the earlier story — that Lecashe had stayed out of it on purpose — had spread.

The people who'd been blaming Lecashe for Gelta's suffering went quiet.

On top of that, Lecashe had sent out an enormous shipment of relief grain, and the rumors had already been dying down.

After Lecashe had thrown itself into helping with Gelta's misfortune, they had enough shame not to keep cursing Lecashe for not doing more.

Their own lord had been more in the wrong from the start.

Even if the common people couldn't see every detail.

---

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm stepping back from this whole business."

The moment Cherity returned to the capital, he was granted an audience with the emperor and laid his thinking out straight.

The emperor couldn't keep it off his face.

"Are you flinching after one failure?"

"Naturally."

"Hah."

"It isn't really my business, either. I've no reason to make an enemy of Lecashe."

"You've already made an enemy of them. And it's not as if you have any love for Lecashe yourself."

"True. But what I don't care for is Lecashe — not the Grand Duchess. And what would be the point of killing someone who'll die on her own anyway."

"Hng."

The emperor had nothing to say to that. He'd used Cherity for the express purpose of getting Iberin out of the way faster.

"At any rate, please leave me out of it."

"Where I sit, a promise is something you keep. You think Lecashe doesn't know what you did?"

"Of course he knows."

"Right! Then you think he's going to sit on his hands!"

The emperor jumped on it like he'd scored a point, but Cherity didn't so much as blink.

He'd made up his mind, and he had no intention of revising it.

The emperor must have realized it, because he chewed at his lip.

"Your Majesty, may I take my leave?"

"Go."

The emperor managed it through a face like thunder.

The moment Cherity walked through the door, the emperor slammed his fist down on the chair as if to break it.

Emperor or not, he couldn't lean on Cherity however he liked.

Cherity had the broadest popular support of any of Aleta's great houses.

The temple was in Cherity's corner too.

He'd wanted to use the man to be rid of Lecashe cleanly, and instead all he'd done was draw suspicion.

What got him most was that Cherity had cut himself loose so flatly.

He'd expected the man to at least go through the motions.

That had been the emperor's misread.

Cherity's house was obsessed with holiness, so when he'd been told to wipe out Lecashe — a house born of demonic energy — the emperor had figured he'd take it as righteous work.

If Cherity wasn't going to do it, the only option was to use the hypnotists again, and the risk on that was too high.

What was worse, Lyssel didn't look like he was going to keep taking it lying down, and the fear of that was only mounting.

"Your Majesty…"

The chief attendant, who'd watched the whole thing play out, wore an unhappy face.

---

Every threat hanging over Lecashe was gone.

The Gelta nobles, and Moana.

There was still the mountain of the emperor to deal with, of course.

"Seriously, what is Lyssel doing?"

"His Highness has been busy. He took the failure to protect you hard, my lady, and now he doesn't skip a single day of training."

"He never skipped training to begin with."

"He's giving it more time."

"On top of that?"

"Yes."

Iberin had been sulking, but it wasn't as if she didn't understand.

If Lyssel had narrowly survived being killed, she'd be acting the same way.

"Still, after that confession, how does he just vanish like this."

"Hehe."

"What are you laughing at, Pons?"

"It's just nice to see, my lady. His Highness has been missing you a great deal himself."

"Funny. He sneaks in every night after I'm asleep to check on me. He says he likes looking at me?"

Pons looked a little startled by Iberin's edge.

"You're really not happy about it, are you."

"Sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you."

"No, not at all. I'll speak with His Highness."

"Yes. At least ask him to come before I'm asleep."

"I will."

It had been a while since the incident, but she could count the times she'd seen Lyssel on one hand.

Even those had been only a few minutes here and there. There was no way not to be unhappy about it.

"By the way, I haven't seen much of Kal either, lately."

"He's been training with His Highness."

"Kal too?"

"Yes. He says he wants to be stronger…"

Pons let it trail off.

Iberin dropped her gaze with a heavy look.

It hit her how much this had landed on all of them, and it left a bitter taste.

"Rozelia and Ether have been at it too, hard. I can't just sit around."

"What were you thinking of doing?"

"Something. My body's pretty much recovered."

"All right. One moment."

Pons had neither the means to stop Iberin once she'd dug in nor the inclination.

He simply brought her work without a fuss.

There was a little calculation in it — keeping her busy would mean fewer cycles spent worrying about Lyssel.

"What's all this?"

"I put together the documents on the relief grain and the shift in the rumors, the ones you mentioned earlier."

"Oh."

"And once word got out that you'd nearly been assassinated, my lady, the reaction was significant."

"I see."

Iberin focused on the papers right away.

---

That night.

She'd sorted through the papers enough for one evening and was getting ready for bed.

Knock, knock—

A tap at the door.

"Come in."

She'd assumed it was Tami or Rotte, so she didn't even turn around, but the room stayed strangely quiet.

When she did look, Lyssel was standing there, looking a little awkward.

The moment she saw it was him, Iberin's face went flat.

"Iberin."

"What is it. Why are you knocking on the door to your own room, Lyssel?"

"It felt like the right thing to do."

"Hmph."

"I'm sorry I haven't been around. I've been a little busy."

"Are you actually sorry?"

She'd been genuinely hurt up until then, but the second she saw him in front of her, her anger dropped — laughable as that was.

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Just words?"

"What do you want me to do? Whatever you tell me, I'll do it."

Lyssel answered with no hesitation. Iberin appeared to be thinking it over, picking out something to make him do.

A small part of him was bracing in case she pulled another stunt like the kiss-on-Ether thing.

She was unpredictable, after all.

But Iberin only smiled gently and opened her arms.

"You can come here and give me a hug. That'll do it."

A small laugh slipped out of him, and he stepped forward.

He gathered her carefully into his arms.

"That feels less like a punishment and more like a reward."

"Who said anything about a punishment?"

"Well, no, but."

"You'll stay the night, won't you?"

He'd kept working on breaking the hypnosis, but lately he'd been pushing harder, and time had been short.

He was nearly there.

Breaking the hypnosis came first — then he could even consider going against the emperor. Lately Lyssel had been giving up sleep itself to keep working.

But at her words, Lyssel found himself nodding.

"I'll stay."

---

Not long after, Lyssel decided on a trip to the capital.

"You're going to the capital all of a sudden?"

"Yes. Not all of a sudden — I've been thinking about it for a while."

"It's because of that matter."

"That's right."

Iberin was a little surprised, but she didn't push back, either.

She didn't insist on going with him, either.

If Lyssel had set his mind on going himself, he had to have a reason.

"All right. Have a safe trip."

He hadn't expected her to agree so easily without asking for details, and his face showed it briefly. Then he nodded.

"You're going alone?"

"Yes. I'll just meet the emperor and come straight back. Iberin…"

Lyssel let the sentence trail off.