IWIAHC Chapter 31

Aiden spoke abruptly.

[If I had my way, I'd tell you to throw it out right now.]

"That might be a bit difficult, don't you think?"

Lily was flustered. Aiden looked as though he genuinely wanted to carry out his own suggestion.

Fortunately, instead of pushing the point, he looked down at the ring with cold eyes and said:

[I suppose it would be. Julius's soul does have its uses, after all.]

Lily responded immediately, lest Aiden change his mind.

"Exactly! If we think about His Majesty's guilty reaction, he's definitely involved in what happened to Your Grace, so we need to extract whatever he did. We might be able to figure out some kind of principle from the ring too."

Both Wolfram and Julia showed agreement with Lily's words. However, Aiden's face remained dark.

[Lily, the problem is your safety. Julius is in no condition to communicate with me, so someone else will have to approach him. And that will clearly be your role. Whether I want it to be or not.]

Aiden looked at Lily with a serious expression.

[But just carrying it briefly exposed you to multiple dangers. We must address that problem first, above all else. If something worse were to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to bear it.]

At the grave words, Lily's eyes widened.

'C-can he really say such things with other people present? Oh, but no one else can hear him. Still, even so, how can a person say such...'

To the stunned Lily, Wolfram asked what conversation was taking place. Lily barely collected herself and performed her soul-interpretation duties.

"His Grace mentioned the ring's danger. Since we can't throw the ring away, but it's dangerous to keep it, he says we must first establish countermeasures."

"At least the table isn't cracking," Julia said quietly.

At those words, Lily looked at the table as well. Until now, she'd been so focused on the ring that she hadn't paid attention to the table itself.

Though considerable time had passed since placing the ring there, as Julia noted, the table hadn't suddenly split or rotted. The ring simply sat there forlornly atop it.

Wolfram spoke.

"The ring's influence appears limited to its bearer."

[Well, there's no need to keep carrying the ring on one's person continuously. We can proceed by confining it in a narrow place where it would be easy to find even if it fled.]

Lily chimed in with her own opinion.

"Considering the possibility of the Emperor experiencing emotional disturbance midway through, somewhere removed from the main buildings would be best. So people won't notice the commotion."

Wolfram quickly selected a suitable auxiliary building on the estate. After discussing transportation methods as well, what remained was precisely how to achieve meaningful communication with Julius.

Lily described the Emperor's soul's reactions thus far to Wolfram and Julia, then added:

"It's fortunate that he's only shown screaming and fleeing responses instead of physical destruction, but honestly, even if we arrange a meeting, I don't know if normal conversation will be possible. All I've heard so far is 'give me back my body' and 'my ring.'"

"Wait a moment. Let's organize this first."

Wolfram raised his hand in suggestion.

"First, His Majesty's and His Grace's souls are each restricted by their respective talismans. For instance, unable to leave the space where the talisman exists, or unable to move beyond a certain distance. Correct?"

"And the shimmer attached to the talisman and the soul's condition synchronize in real time. Ah! Come to think of it, when I touched the shimmer, His Majesty reacted!"

"Truly?"

"Yes, he clutched his head and everything."

[Try it.]

At the calm suggestion, Lily was taken aback.

"Um, but His Majesty isn't here..."

[My talisman is.]

"Will you be all right?"

Aiden nodded. Lily carefully took out his rosary and placed it on her left palm. The mysterious heat haze caught her gaze.

She looked down at it for a moment, then glanced around.

"I'm about to test this with His Grace's talisman, so could someone..."

[You do it.]

"Miss Dienta should do it."

"I don't think he'd want me to."

All three responded in unison. She'd rather suspected it would come to this.

She took a deep breath. Why was she trembling when all she had to do was touch a rosary?

"Th-then I'll begin."

Lily lightly brought her index finger to a pearl bead and checked Aiden's face. He narrowed his brow slightly, looking puzzled.

She moved a bit more boldly. She fiddled with the shimmer itself using her thumb, index finger, and middle finger.

[Wait.]

Aiden hastily stopped Lily. He covered his mouth as though flustered.

[Ah, so this is what it feels like. Mm... Lily, if possible, you should minimize handling that directly as much as you can.]

"Oh dear, was it very distressing?"

[Rather than distressing, it's a strange feeling. It feels like my soul is being touched, so it's a bit confusing.]

Aiden's face showed far more than "a bit" of confusion. Though he smiled kindly, his inability to settle his bewilderment was plainly visible.

Reading the atmosphere, Lily set Aiden's talisman down far from the ring.

[Ahem. In any case, since it's now clear the ring and soul are completely synchronized, let's make use of this.]

He touched the rosary with his hand that could grasp nothing, explaining:

[The talisman is producing an effect that binds the soul against the heretical sorcery. If we further strengthen the Sovereign God's power contained within, it might positively influence the connected soul as well. If Julius's soul is purified and returns to a normal state, communication should become easier too.]

Lily asked Wolfram:

"Could we receive the High Priest's blessing on the talisman once more?"

"Inviting the High Priest here is impossible. He never leaves the cathedral. Instead, I'll obtain some holy water. If that doesn't work, then we'll have no choice but to take the talisman there directly."

With that, they'd finished all the immediately urgent matters. They decided to monitor Julius's progress for a while and devise their subsequent plan accordingly.

In truth, even if Julius did return to his right mind, expecting ready cooperation from him would be difficult.

He was a man who screamed and fled at the mere sight of Aiden's face. There was no way he'd be cooperative. Which meant some stratagem would be necessary.

'In books, what do they usually do at times like this...'

Lily recalled literary works—her only source of knowledge.

From children's fairy tales to novel books circulated secretly among reading enthusiasts who discriminated against no genre. Among them were quite a few stories with female protagonists who had beguiled those in power.

And thus Lily remembered a strategy that had boasted high success rates with male counterparts.

'That's it! A honey trap! Let's use a honey trap!'

Regrettably, Lily couldn't immediately execute the scheme she'd so ambitiously conceived. She couldn't do anything conspicuous while guests remained at the ducal castle.

Fortunately, the false Emperor departed the day after ransacking the castle. He seemed to have decided to return the moment his search proved fruitless.

Though they'd stayed only three days, Lily felt as exhausted as if they'd remained for three years.

It was the effect of constant anxiety—would Aiden's soul be discovered, would they storm even the servants' quarters claiming to search for the talisman.

Thankfully, none of her worries came to pass, and the castle's maids and manservants bustled about cleaning up after the departed guests.

Lily too rolled up her sleeves and threw herself into the postponed study relocation. It was the work of moving the study to the east wing before beginning full-scale repairs on the main building.

To be precise, she was in the midst of removing and organizing ledgers, books, and miscellaneous supplies from the crates filling the room.

However, not in her capacity as a maid. The astonishing truth revealed here—She no longer wore a maid's uniform!

After receiving Aiden's emphatic will, Wolfram had discussed it with Angela, and as a result, Lily had been reassigned from the maids' department to assistant aide directly under Wolfram.

She wore civilian clothes and received a private room right next to Julia's in the east wing. Now most servants had to address her as "Miss Dienta."

Lily diligently organized the study to fulfill her role.

[I want to hurry and get my body so I can help you.]

At the unexpected remark, she turned her head to find Aiden rummaging through a crate with a melancholy face.

Though she'd occasionally requested his cooperation in finding his body, this was the first time he'd stated so clearly that he wanted to find it. Lily was bewildered.

'Is he that desperate just because he can't help with maid work? Oh right, I'm not a maid anymore. Anyway, even if he did return to his body, he wouldn't particularly be able to help, would he?'

One couldn't very well assign luggage sorting to someone of ducal rank.

However, Lily didn't bother to shatter the noble lord's pleasant delusion. It was enough to remember his kind heart in wanting to help her.

"You've already helped me more than enough."

She spoke while pulling out an armful of books.

"I'm receiving things so excessive I never could have dreamed of them in my lifetime."

[Excessive? Compared to your efforts, it's woefully insufficient. In fact, I'd like to tell you to have others do even this sort of odd job, but...]

"If I did that, my reputation would fall to the ground. They'd say Lily Dienta got a bit uppity just because she took off her apron."

[I thought you'd say that.]

Aiden sighed softly. Then he bent his waist slightly and made empty-handed gestures toward the crate.

The sight resembled a cat batting at a tuft of fur, and Lily couldn't help but laugh quietly.