MB Chapter 14

【 Past 】

"What...?"

Entzi Bethelgius repeated the words. With a face grave as stone, Ekser said it again.

"Lady Goiyo Rubiette has passed away."

"Wait — died, you say..."

Entzi's expression twisted. The castle that had been so close to completion crumbled into nothing. He bit down and composed himself and asked.

"Did Therio Alte finally lay a hand on her?"

"No. By all accounts, it was an accident."

"An accident — and conveniently, the same word used for what happened at Bethelgius."

Almost as if staged. Entzi's mouth curved into something that was not quite a smile.

"What was the cause of death."

"She had been taking Silverbell as a blood pressure medication. They say cardiac arrest came on as a side effect, and she passed before anything could be done."

"Why was she taking a blood pressure medication."

"She had been taking Snowdrop — an oral contraceptive — on a daily basis. For — prevention of pregnancy, that is."

The tapping of Entzi's fingers on the desk came to a stop.

It was not at all uncommon for blood pressure to rise as a side effect of contraceptives — and taking a blood pressure medication in response was entirely plausible.

But if the contraceptive happened to be Snowdrop, and the medication taken to lower her blood pressure happened to be Silverbell—

A name moved through Entzi's mind.

"Snowdrop and Silverbell. Cardiac arrest as a side effect. Am I supposed to consider this a coincidence?"

"There is no one in Solaris who would know of it. Topeche and Solaris are distant countries, and even within Topeche, few people are acquainted with such things. Is this not something we ourselves have kept hidden?"

"I was already aware that your mind is not particularly sharp — but it seems it has gone beyond merely unsharp into becoming stone."

What was meant as concern, no doubt — but from Entzi's position it was interference, and he had held his tongue to spare them both; yet now he found himself possessed of the most thoroughly useless subordinate imaginable.

If only he would simply do what he was told. Entzi clicked his tongue, inwardly.

"Do you know who Goiyo Rubiette's mother was?"

"Arzla Rubiette... do you mean?"

"Yes. Before her marriage, her name was Arzla Balverdi. She was from Balverdi, of Topeche. And the cause of Arzla's death was likewise recorded as an accidental death — an accidental overdose of Silverbell."

Balverdi! Ekser's mouth fell open.

Driving the point home like a nail, Entzi said, his tone sharp.

"It is not a coincidence. Nor is it an accident."

Goiyo Rubiette had, in all likelihood, chosen her own death. Had Arzla Rubiette's true story — recorded publicly as an accident — been known only to Arzla's young daughter?

What kind of mother, he thought, tells a child of thirteen that she intends to die. Too cruel, by any measure. Entzi swallowed a small measure of pity.

"In any case — the situation has become considerably tangled. It was a matter very nearly resolved; why she would come all this way only to take her own life is beyond me."

Entzi narrowed his eyes.

He could not be certain of how much Goiyo Rubiette had known and acted upon — but she had likely understood precisely this far: that taking both together would bring cardiac arrest.

She would not have known more than that. Even Arzla herself had not known the full picture.

That Goiyo Rubiette had died was a misfortune — but that the death came by way of Silverbell was, comparatively, a favorable circumstance. Entzi rose and slid his arms into his coat.

"We must take custody of the body from Alte."

"The body?"

"Ekser. You speak far too much. Must I account to those beneath me for every single thing I do? Perhaps you'd prefer to become the head of Balverdi yourself."

There was nothing Ekser could say to his master's contorted words. To say I apologize at this point was worse than saying nothing at all.

Leaving his silenced subordinate behind, Entzi finished his preparations.

The situation had become tangled — but it could not simply be abandoned. There might yet be another way to salvage something from this.

The eyes of the Grand Duke Bethelgius settled into stillness. Whatever the circumstances — a promise had been made, and it had to be kept. Even if keeping it meant discarding every last thing he had gained.

In the Alte house, after the funeral, Therio was staring down at the coffin where the deceased lay.

The day to bury Goiyo Alte in the Alte family plot was approaching — but Therio could not bring himself to send the coffin away.

A preservation spell had been cast against decay, and he had been going to look at her several times a day, doing nothing but looking — and yet the thought of sending Goiyo to a place where she could never be seen again was enough in itself to tear his chest apart.

In truth, the fact of Goiyo's inability to return had already been determined and confirmed — and yet his attachment clung stubbornly to the ankle of the sleeping woman, refusing to let go.

When Therio's eyes had grown wet again, a commotion erupted outside.

"You cannot go in there!"

"Get reinforcements — now!"

What manner of disturbance was this, in the place where Goiyo lay — Therio was already moving toward the door with a scowl when the doors to the funeral hall opened.

The one who entered had no business being here. Red-gold hair. A grand duke. The grief that had been pulling Therio under flared instantly into something blazing.

"What an extraordinary discourtesy, Your Grace."

"I have come to pray for the repose of the deceased. And there is something I wish to ask the Duke as well."

"I have not given Your Grace permission to enter this place. Leave. At once."

"It doesn't appear to be a matter that requires the Duke's permission."

The deceased was not the Duke, after all — was she? At those openly contemptuous words, Therio could not contain himself and drew his sword. The blade shone pale and cold.

Just then, the knights who had failed to stop the Grand Duke gathered in greater numbers at the entrance to the funeral hall.

"This is your final warning. Go."

"I cannot understand it. You treated her with such disdain and indifference in life — and yet now that she is dead, you weep over her coffin."

"Do not desecrate Goiyo, Your Grace!"

"It is not I who is desecrating her — it's you, isn't it."

Thud. Thud. Bethelgius walked forward, paying no attention to the blade leveled at him.

The knights, unable to find permission to enter the hall, burned with their eyes alone — and then Therio Alte, unable to endure it any longer, swung his sword. That he had at least not aimed for the throat was the last remaining scrap of his reason.

But the blade did not so much as graze the Grand Duke. The sword broke at the hilt.

Therio's eyes went wide. The rumors of Entzi Bethelgius's inhuman martial prowess were well known — but Therio had never actually witnessed it, and had assumed the man was overrated.

Roughly equal to me, or perhaps a little below. He had vaguely assumed this — and now that assumption was rendered worthless: Therio had not even seen the moment his blade broke. As though an enormous chasm divided the two of them.

"How—"

"The maids addressed their mistress by her given name without propriety, failing in their duty. The butler, who came from Topeche, knowingly delivered a poison to his mistress — knowing full well what the outcome would be, believing it would make you happy."

Heedless of Therio's shock, the Grand Duke continued walking. Therio Alte moved to block him — and then froze rigid, as if his feet had been nailed to the floor, by the words being spoken.

"And that is not all. He courted Goiyo Rubiette all the way into marriage — and then decided his heart had changed — and happened, of all things, to settle that changed heart upon her younger sister — and when Melishi Rubiette died, he attached the blame to Goiyo Rubiette, throwing every manner of groundless tantrum."

And in the end — when it actually mattered — he couldn't even say it to her face.

At last, Entzi came to a stop before Goiyo Rubiette's coffin. He bowed at the waist and placed a single lily on top.

Goiyo Alte. The name inscribed there struck him as laughable. Entzi made no effort to hide it — he let his contempt for Therio Alte show openly.

"I'm rather surprised that the word 'desecrate' can pass your lips, Duke Alte."

"Don't touch her! Now that she's dead — do you intend to dishonor her because she bore the Rubiette name?!"

"That is what you have been doing."

Entzi ran a fingertip along the portion of the name that read Alte. As if it were something out of a dream, the characters for 'Alte' disappeared — and what remained were only the two characters for 'Goiyo.'

"Now that I think of it, Duke — you've been barricaded in here, they tell me, but shouldn't you be making your way somewhere?"

"What nonsense are you—"

"I mean Elly. She must be waiting for you with considerable longing."

Therio's eyes shook violently.

...How does the Grand Duke know of such things. Unable to conceal his agitation, he demanded.

"Know of what."

"Everything that happened with Goiyo, and the matter concerning Elly — how you come to know of it, is what I'm asking!"

The rumors about his household, and about Elly, had circulated — but never to such specific detail. The heart that had been struck to its core ever since a few moments ago beat with a mounting, unsteady dread.

The Grand Duke, who had been gazing down at the coffin, turned his head toward Therio and smiled with an unhurried face.

"Because my memory is reasonably good. At first I thought her unremarkable — but Melishi Rubiette's features were quite rare, so it took some effort to find the right person."

That meant—

"I did find her in the end — but even so, her eye color was different. I was a little concerned, but it seems that in the end, that was no great obstacle for you."

"You — you dared—!"

"Don't shout. I am not such an insignificant person as to be spoken to with 'dared' by someone like you."

Having lost all reason, Therio seized the broken sword and lunged — but was deflected uselessly and slammed into the door.

What felt like cracked ribs made every breath a struggle, and Therio rasped, forcing air through his teeth. The knights who had been watching from outside, unable to enter without leave, were struck with horror and surged toward Therio.

"Your Grace!"

A handful of the most loyal knights surged forward in fury toward the Grand Duke — but they were stopped by an invisible wall and could not even enter the hall. The grinding sound of clenched teeth rang out from every direction, unsettling in its uniformity.

Unmoved by the ferocious gazes aimed at him from all sides, Entzi's fingertips came to rest lightly on the coffin.

"Falling in love on no other basis than a resemblance to Melishi Rubiette — I'll be honest, it was so easy it was almost tedious. Whether that was truly love, or merely an obsession with something he could not have."

"Why — why would you do such a thing — why, why—"

"To separate you from Goiyo Rubiette."

Therio's face collapsed.

For such a petty reason, he had planted someone who resembled Melishi in his life. For such a trivial reason, Goiyo Alte had been made to die.

In truth, the one who had fallen for a scheme that amounted to nothing was Therio Alte himself — but without the cause, the effect would not have followed.

If the Grand Duke had not done what he had done. If Elly had not approached him. Then Goiyo would not be lying in a coffin right now. She would have been beside him with that faint smile of hers, the way she always—

The fury that had found someone to blame blazed up savagely. Even the pain of the body seemed to have vanished — it burned shamelessly, without scruple.

"I thought that if you had a new lover, a divorce could be arranged without difficulty. Isn't that your particular talent? Changing your mind — and once changed, discarding without mercy. And even if Goiyo Rubiette had resisted, she had nowhere to return to — turning her out of Alte would have been simple enough."

I did not anticipate it coming to this. Swallowing those words, Entzi lifted his shoulders slightly.

He had prattled on long enough. If he drew this out any further it would only become troublesome — and so Entzi Bethelgius decided it was time to conclude the main matter.

"In any case — what has happened has happened, and cannot be undone. So I will at least take the body."

What did he—

Before Therio could even process the words, Entzi's fingers moved — and the coffin in which Goiyo lay vanished. Therio stared at the funeral hall that had been stripped of its reason for grief.

Then he rushed frantically to enter — but after the blow from the wall, he too found he could no longer pass through.

Therio's hands beat against the unseen barrier. He could not approach, even by a fraction, the place where Goiyo had been.

With trembling hands he wrenched a sword from the knight beside him, channeled his aura into the blade, and swung. But even that was blocked. Meaninglessly.

There is nothing I can do. Therio Alte screamed in helpless anguish.

"Give her back — give Goiyo back. Give her back to me, please, please—"

"You were the one who discarded her."

Looking at someone in the agony of grief — though his expression made such a thing impossible to imagine — the Grand Duke answered, without feeling.

"Rather than rotting in the embrace of someone who has no right to hold her — it would be thousands of times better for this person to come into my hands, where something might still be done."

"Do you intend to make Alte your enemy?! After already destroying Rubiette — do you think you can make Alte your enemy as well and still survive long enough to matter?!"

"I don't trouble myself with that kind of useless worry. The board is already ruined — I intend to overturn it entirely. Whatever I do from this point on will all become as if it never happened. It stings a little, knowing that everything I've worked toward will disappear — but."

As if it never happened — what does that— Therio's eyes trembled with the question — but the Grand Duke had no intention of answering it.

"I'm someone who, unlike you, takes promises rather seriously. That is all I have to say to you."

Farewell, then. With that quiet, parting word, Entzi Bethelgius disappeared from the room.

Only then could Therio and the knights of Alte step foot inside the funeral hall — but by then it was already meaningless.