TOM Chapter 40

A few people glanced over at us furtively.

"Is that so? You weren't eating at all, so I thought you might be concerned about the taste."

Acting like you don't know when that wasn't what you were talking about.

When I glared at Kruelo, he pretended not to notice and stood up.

"Shall we get up now?"

We were guided upstairs to the second floor.

The wooden door opened more smoothly than expected.

I quickly rolled my eyes and realized that the obvious thing had happened again.

There was only one bed!

I immediately opened my mouth.

"The bed is mine."

Tick-tock, tick-tock, the sound of the clock accumulated heavily.

I blinked blankly and rolled around on the bed.

It wasn't hard enough to hurt my back, but it wasn't exactly soft either.

Still better than Kruelo sleeping on the floor with a blanket spread out.

"......"

The time when most of the castle falls asleep is 1 AM.

There were still two hours left, and fatigue had built up in my body from riding an unfamiliar horse.

But sleep wouldn't come.

With eyes accustomed to the darkness, I stared blankly at the ceiling.

I'd become so familiar with it that I could draw that pattern without even looking.

Sigh.

"Kruelo, are you asleep?"

"No."

An immediate answer came back.

As if he knew what I was going to say, his voice carried a hint of laughter.

"You're sleeping, so I'll wake you up when it's time."

"That's not what I meant......"

"Do you have something else to say?"

I let out a long, heavy sigh.

So this was the kind of pushover I really was.

"The bed is uncomfortable, so I can't sleep."

Gavotte Bonetti.

The second son of the dead count stood in front of the castle gate, steadying his breathing.

When the gate finally opened, he said:

"Please let me meet Minuet."

"Please wait a moment, Young Lord Gavotte."

And so the result that came back was confinement.

Crash, looking at the closed door, the young man let out a bitter laugh.

They told him to wait in a large, nice room.

It looked plausible on the surface, but what was the difference between this and confinement when they stripped away all his escorts and even posted guards in front of the door?

Gavotte sprawled on the bed and let out a big sigh.

"Right, it couldn't be resolved that easily."

Looking at this treatment, they don't seem to have any intention of using him as a successor substitute.

The hope he had desperately inflated was extinguished in one blow.

But that didn't mean he intended to give up obediently either.

Pretending to comply, Gavotte closed his eyes for now.

Leaving the mansion where Siora was, it was actually easier to fall asleep.

After the funeral, his body, which had barely slept two hours a day, relaxed drowsily.

When he opened his eyes again, it was a night when darkness had deepened.

His consciousness, now much clearer, felt refreshed yet anxious, so he hurriedly opened the curtains first.

"Whew, the sun hasn't risen."

He couldn't gauge the time, but fortunately. He needed to move at night.

Gavotte recalled his weapon that the enemies didn't know about.

At the time, he had made quite a fuss about it, but after consulting with Minuet, they had decided to keep it secret.

"Pianissimo."

His spirit.

Air was sucked in centered around a point in the air.

The not-so-large wind formed a roundish shape and was dyed a pale green color.

A small, round bird that Siora called a rice sparrow opened its eyes with a twinkle.

Cheep!

It was still small and could do few things, but no one could match it when it came to having a small presence.

If packaged well, you'd have to call it stealthy.

Gavotte whispered affectionately,

"Please, Pianissimo."

And so the rice sparrow's activities unfolded.

This round, flat bird first surrounded Gavotte with its energy, reducing his presence to no more than a gentle breeze.

Pianissimo majestically passed through the door and put the guard to sleep.

Then, wrinkling its nose bridge as it sniffed around, it guided its master along the path.

When someone passed by occasionally, it would alert him to avoid them, and it was also good at pointing out places to hide.

Gavotte thought he felt like he'd become an assassin.

And so finally, riding on the rice sparrow's activities, the young man succeeded in finding his sister.

To be precise, he only managed to stand in front of the room where Minuet was confined.

Pointing at a door that didn't even have a handle, Gavotte asked,

"Here?"

Pianissimo nodded and then flew as if to enter the door.

Then it made a thunk sound, powerless as it bounced back.

Gavotte hurriedly reached out to catch the rice sparrow.

"Pianissimo!"

Cheep....

At the spirit's dejected cry, Gavotte looked up in confusion.

He carefully placed his hand on the door.

The spirit's energy bounced back, unable to enter inside.

"Damn, unnecessarily thorough."

It seemed they had blocked the energy itself, worried that Minuet might use spirits to escape.

He thought they'd just put on spirit-blocking handcuffs at most, but he didn't know they'd given the entire room special treatment.

No wonder there were no guards.

What to do. If Pianissimo can't open it, I won't be able to get in.

'There probably won't be windows, but maybe there's a connected ventilation duct.'

Gavotte decided to retreat for now and understand more of the castle's structure.

It wouldn't be a room that no one could enter or exit, so there must be some way.

Pianissimo was more deflated, but since it wasn't hurt, it guided Gavotte back to the room where he had been confined.

During that time.

"......do so. The maximum is 30%."

Gavotte stopped walking at a conversation he heard from inside a room.

It was a voice he was hearing for the first time.

Low and thick, a threatening sound like a beast growling.

But he knew the voice of that conversation partner.

"May I ask what would happen if it exceeds that?"

'The 2nd Elder!'

The person who had taken control of the council of elders in place of Bonetti's aged grand elder.

Gavotte clenched his fists and concentrated on the conversation flowing out.

"Of course, we'll be especially careful on our end too, but there are unforeseen circumstances, you know."

"The expected effect will appear several times over. To a level that you'll find difficult to handle."

"Hmm, I understand. Then when will you collect the remaining amount?"

"Do I look that idle to you? I gave you plenty in preparation for emergencies, handle the remainder yourselves."

Because they spoke without using direct words, he couldn't understand what they were talking about.

However.

'It seems like they're instigating.'

He got the feeling they were urging the excessive use of whatever that unknown thing was.

Gavotte narrowed his eyes and pressed his body close to the door.

Just then, Pianissimo tapped Gavotte's cheek.

A signal that someone was coming!

The young man hurriedly pulled back his body.

Where he was standing was a straight corridor, and the only places he could go were forward or backward.

But no matter which way he tried to go, the round spirit slapped his cheek.

'Damn, are they coming from both directions simultaneously?'

In desperation, Gavotte headed for the window opposite the door.

He hurriedly opened the window and went out onto the balcony, but it was an awkward space to hide in.

Someone outside might discover him, and if anyone passing through the corridor just approached this way, it would be over.

Even if Pianissimo reduced his presence, it wasn't invisibility magic.

Gavotte placed his hand over his chest, which was beating as if it would burst.

'Should I jump down?'

Gavotte glanced outside and his complexion turned deathly pale.

It would be better to get caught.

Finally, the footsteps of two soldiers reached his ears too.

One from the left, one from the right.

The sounds grew closer and finally they encountered each other.

"Sir, no abnormalities in sector 2-C."

"Sir, no abnormalities in sector 2-D."

Thump, thump, thump.

Gavotte's heartbeat grew increasingly violent.

He gripped the balcony railing until his knuckles turned white.

'Don't come, please!'

But contrary to Gavotte's wishes, one of them turned toward the balcony.

The distance was just three steps, two steps, and......!

"Emergency, 2nd Elder!"

Another person appeared, shouting.

At the urgent voice, the door across from them burst open.

All eyes were drawn to the sudden commotion.

The guards who had been patrolling the area looked that way in confusion, then walked past each other, seemingly unwilling to get involved in their superior's complicated affairs.

The balcony was safe.

Gavotte let out a sigh of relief and patted his chest.

"I'm in the middle of hosting a guest, what's this sudden matter!"

"I'm, I'm sorry. But it's such an urgent matter...!"

"What is it."

"The Duke of Whitedesert has come to the castle."

......What came?

Gavotte blinked.

"I'm surprised, I didn't expect a guest at this hour......"

An old man in silk clothes greeted us.

With deeply sunken cheeks, inwardly curled lips, and a stingily grown mustache, he gave an extremely mouse-like impression.

Bonetti's 2nd Elder—according to Kruelo—his appearance was quite honest.

"Excuse me, but we didn't receive contact from the checkpoint. May I ask when you arrived in Whistle?"

"No, you may not."

"Excuse me?"

"The night is deep and I'm tired. Does Bonetti not offer even a cup of water to a guest who has come with difficulty?"

Somehow, even though Kruelo was smiling, he looked annoyed.

Even I could see it was shameless behavior, but the 2nd Elder couldn't dare confront the Duke of Whitedesert.

Instead, he just hurriedly called a servant to bring tea.

"But the person who came with you...?"

"Don't you know who it is?"

"I was just curious how you happened to come together. Yes. I know it's the third child of the dead count. The name was Siora, wasn't it?"

"Speaking down to her?"

"No!"

The 2nd Elder raised his voice briefly.

Well, of course, how frustrating it must be to be told to speak respectfully to me.

The council of elders doesn't speak completely respectfully even to the family head.

I don't know about Bonetti's situation, but Whitedesert was like that, so it's probably similar.

I pretended to be well-behaved and said,

"Please feel free to speak comfortably, 2nd Elder."

"That's right! Child, you might not know, but I'm Faspy's little uncle."

"Wow, really? Then you really should speak comfortably!"

"Well—"

"Until the wedding."

What are you glaring at!

Outside, status is everything, don't you think I don't know?

If you speak down to me and then use honorifics, it'll feel absolutely amazing!

"Anyway, you must tell us the reason you came here—"

"Ah, wait a moment."

The 2nd Elder, whose words had been interrupted three times, couldn't manage his expression and twisted his face.

But that wasn't important.

The door had been rattling strangely since earlier.

I hadn't felt any particular presence, but my intuition had been whispering that something was there.

Shh.

I put my index finger to my lips and moved carefully.

Then I suddenly yanked the door open.

"Aaahhh!"

The person who had been leaning against the door poured down like spilled water.